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11-06-2008, 10:51 PM

Tifa was now looking a little more nervous as the other grunts arrived. One nervous kid was one thing but the others seemed quite focussed. "A-as f-far as I-I k-knew they had l-left!" she stammered in response, trying to keep her voice together as she spoke through her nerves.

Around her neck one of Seraph's eyes opened, the jade dragon spirit begining to rouse from his forced slumber.

11-08-2008, 03:46 PM

"So what? The end justifies the means?! You guys are horrible!" She tried not to show her increasing feeling of fear, especially since Ajiryn was throwing himself right in the middle of everything. She couldn't help but pity the warthog, too.

"This is looking like serious trouble already..."

Kazuki clutched her flute, ready to magick anything that could be deemed 'threatening'.

"Aji..." "Don't do something stupid, now..."

11-08-2008, 04:49 PM

"So in other words, you get... children like this boy here..." Ajiryn made sure to stress ever syllable on that last phrase, while mimicking Sly's pronunciation. "...to do your dirty work."

"Wow, kid, you've got a lot to look up to." He said sarcastically towards the warthog.

He had to try extremely hard not to add "Wanna bet!?" to Sly's remark that sounded almost like a threat. "There's too many here for all four of us... But... maybe the fifth...?" He cast a glance at Seraph- Didn't he crash a shop minutes ago? "...Huh..."

11-08-2008, 07:34 PM

Sly gave a long sigh at Ajiryn's comment about the warthog kid. "Do you really think I am that heartless? He's here because he doesn't have a choice. And I'm not talking about a choice I made. The aliens have killed many of us. We don't have enough proper soldiers left to gather food, so we have to make up for it somehow. Either we use our boys or we die of starvation."

The warthog turned back to face Sly. "But...you said we wouldn't have to shoot anyone..."

Sly sighed again. "I know. I'm sorry. I was hoping this would be a quick in-and-out deal. Unfortunately..." he gave a sideways glance to the small group. "...people want to be Sonic the hedgehog and fight 'bad guys'." He chuckled a little bit at the last word. "Well 'good guys'... Way to go for forcing our younger folk into making an awkward decision. Fight you, or let their families starve. But, if you want to redeem yourselves, all you have to do is walk away. We don't have any quarrel with you, and I'd like to keep it that way if possible."

Sly smiled, and gestured towards the empty street behind the 'good guy' group.

11-10-2008, 10:31 PM

Tifa was torn completely down the middle. On one hand there was her disgust at the looting, on the other was the likely fact that it was justified in some way and she shouldn't stop it. The conflict likely showed on her face although attention seemed to be more focussed on the louder characters in the group.

Seraph meanwhile had been listening quietly. As Sly finished talking though he rose his head, the seemingly inanimate snake scalf rising into the air although his tail remained coiled round Tifa's neck. "Your intentions appear to be good but your tone betrays you."

Seraph was entirely focussed on Sly, the spirits eyes burrowing into him with an unblinking stare. "I do not know much of this world but you are not all you appear. Soldier's do not exist without a purpose...what, pry tell, is yours?"

11-13-2008, 01:41 PM

Kazuki's mind had already been planning an escape out of this awkward situation. Well, several, actually:

"What a jerk! Throwing kids in between all of this! And there's no way we'd be able to justify taking out a child. Unleeeeeeeeesss..."

She took note of everybody's position. "What can I do with this...?"

"I can put the kid and this... guy to sleep. Easy, and nobody gets hurt. But... then all the other grunts will get all angry an' stuff... Or, I can sleep the kid, so he'll be out cold in case we decide to smack Mr. Deception around. But that'll also get the grunts on us. Can I put all the grunts to sleep? Eh... not likely." She was still very much starved, and her magic was diminished just the same. "But if I put the kid to sleep, that'll get rid of this excuse he has for such a stupid cover..."

She knew then what would be best. No harm would come to the child, and they'd be free to handle the rest. "Whatever. Loser." She said with a disgruntled sigh. That would make it seem as though she'd lost all interest in the matter. "Now's the hard part."

Turning her back on the group, she lifted her flute to her lips. "I gotta do this so I don't seem offensive..."

Action 1: Rising Etude > Self
Action 2: Somnolent Lullaby > Kid Warthog

She played the tune as best as she could; Since her back was turned, she had to work off of memory to picture the kid. A mis-aimed spell right now would not be appreciated, for sure!

"That's gotta work... Uhn, I'm over-doing it with the magic..." Kazuki felt even weaker than before. Turning on the spot, and trying to feign surprise, she exclaimed, "But look how weak he looks!" Which wouldn't be too far off- Even in the unlikely case her spell didn't work, the kid would at least have to feel woozy.

11-13-2008, 02:08 PM

Ajiryn's ears twitched- There was that strange melody again...

Coming from Kazuki, no less. Ajiryn gave her a puzzled look; What was she doing...?

"What is it with her and that... tune...?" As far as he was concerned, Kazuki was only playing away on a flute for who-knows-what.

He shook his head and turned his attention towards Sly. "*Cough* We forced him into? Sounds like somebody's hiding behind a kid. Shame."

***Nail Strafer*** · (This post was last modified: 11-14-2008 04:48 AM by Nail Strafer.)

The kid warthog blinked heavily. All of a sudden his rifle felt very heavy, and he found himself having trouble keeping his eyes open. And it had happened right as that fox said "But look how weak he looks". Did she...do something? She'd been playing the flute beforehand.

"Sly...I think she did something with that flute... I feel tired now..."

Sly looked at the flute player. So...a magic user? Probably the whole party, considering the odd creature the one with the floppy ears had. In any case, the boy moved out of the way to rest off to the side. Which was fine by Sly.

Back to this strange group, Sly figured that since he didn't know how to gauge magic power, he shouldn't take any chances with them.

He figured he would have to fight them eventually, considering they'd seen the looting and any explanation he gave probably wouldn't be adequate for them. Sly had mostly engaged in conversation to give his men more time to keep grabbing stuff, not to convince this party of three to go away. Rather, it would have been a bonus if they did that.

In any case, Sly prepared for his opening move in this battle. The cheetah stroked his chin for a moment, attempting to look like he was in thought about something. You know, put them at ease before he struck. "Okay..." A small pause. "DROP THEM!"

The five grunts opened fire with their assault rifles, spraying rounds indiscriminately at the three heroes. Meanwhile, Sly stood in the back and drew out his bowie knives.

11-14-2008, 07:27 AM

Tifa hit the ground in an instance, giving off a high pitched scream as she did. It was genuine fear, her tone wouldn't be hard to misinterpret.

"Miss Summoner...now is the time...." came a voice in her head.

Tifa hazarded a look upwards to find Seraph now snaking back and forth in the air, his thin fast moving body proving to be a difficult target to hit.

"Gain command of your fears and open the gate...I hear one of them calling."

Tifa's eyes went wide, one of her spirit companions was calling! That could only mean one thing...

"Cover me!"

"Your wish will be granted..."

Around Seraph a sudden and rather odd event began to take place. The very air around him seemed to crackle, his eyes glowing a bright purple behind his green scales. He didn't speak nor seem to command anything...it simply happened.

The crackling air began to contract, forming a visible sphere around the small dragon spirit. Without warning it shrunk to a speck and then exploded outwards, the sudden pulse of air racing out from his body like a miniature explosion, only without the explosion. The shockwave spread out a good ten or so meters in all directions around him.

Tifa felt the force of the pulse and would have been knocked clean over had she been standing. Instead she had scrambled behind a ruined wall and was now kneeling, her hands clasped around a pendant that hung from her neck. The pendant was glowing, the ground around her lighting up with a small magic circle...

11-14-2008, 12:22 PM

Kazuki yelped, taken aback at the grunts' rash course of action. She was starting to wish she had walked around a corner before she lured the kid to sleep.

"That little freak! I just spared him from fighting!"

Kazuki felt a few bullets connect, and let out a cry right as Seraph's shockwave smacked her from behind, sending her rolling along the ground. She eventually came to a stop, lying sprawled and clutching at her chest. It had crossed her thoughts that she'd probably take some form of a hit today, but not something so deep or soon.

She was dazed, and felt a searing pain spreading throughout her entire body. Raising her hand, Kazuki saw blood glistening from it. She'd been nailed, alright. "I-I can't believe it- They shot- shot at-" She struggled to get back up to her feet, but collapsed again.