niteo_logs | when in rome...

Entry tags:

when in rome...

Characters: Espedon, Open
When: About an hour after the smoke appears
Where: Outside the apartment -> The warzone
Rating: TBA
Summary: Espedon hauls it to the warzone with anybody who wants to go along.

Espedon stood beside his unmade bed, looking down at the backpack sitting atop it. He took a quick mental inventory of the pack's contents. The full complement of survival gear would be far too heavy to take, so he limited himself to dried pigeon, torn-up strips of bedsheet, some water, and a few other sundries. Always best to go prepared. Satisfied, he slung the pack over his shoulder and left the apartment. He checked his PDA on the way out.

Moments later, he was outside. The backpack, mostly empty, was slung from both his shoulders. A thin trail of smoke was barely visible over the buildings; not much of a lead, but the city wouldn't be a problem to navigate. Traveling quickly would be the more difficult problem.

As he walked down the steps, he looked to the street to see who had decided to join him.

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Ritsuka had headed down before Soubi, his school bag unpacked and then repacked with anything that might be of use. He sat on curb, playing absently with his cellphone (still no bars), flipping through pictures of his friends, Soubi, and then hovering on Seimei.

When he looked back and saw Espedon he gave a small wave, ears perking.

Soubi exited the apartment building with his own school back over his shoulder. No proper showers for how ever long they'd been in the stupid city and less than stellar meals had him crankier than usual. And he was pretty annoyed at the idea of this new threat popping up close enough to see the smoke and smell the death. No way he was letting Ritsuka go out alone with a stranger.
He left his text books of course. No need for them on this trip. And the dirty gym clothes, which were just as dirty as his current clothing as they had nothing to change into. And the shoes of course. No, he had a drawing pad and some pencils and erasers and the small first aid kit (assorted band-aids really) and of course, his phone. It might get bars at some point.
Ears low, but not quite flat, and sticking out to either side of his head, Soubi stopped a few inches behind Ritsuka, "Ready."

Ritsuka pushed himself to his feet, hanging his phone back around his neck and moving close to offering a small hug and a quick kiss to the cheek, standing on toes, "We'll be fine," he promised with a nod, ears perking encouragingly, hoisting his bag back up onto his shoulder, "Hopefully we can find out what happened, and maybe help some people; nothing bad is going to happen."

All of... two people, Espedon thought with a smile. Of all of the residents, he hadn't expected Ritsuka either to show up or to want to go. Less people means faster travel, at least.

Espedon worked the voice translation function on his PDA. It seemed most of the apartment building's tenants spoke 'Japanese'; he made a mental note to learn a few rudimentary phrases when he got the chance.

He looked up from the PDA and eyed Soubi for a moment. Ritsuka had mentioned him a couple of times. Espedon hadn't been aware that they were that close. Not common, but not unheard of, either. Neither of them looked like fighters, however. The hunter didn't much feel like babysitting, but he wasn't going to let them get hurt, if he could help it.

"Hello to both of you," he said through the translator. Briskly, he stepped over to the other two. "We need to move fast, because the fighting's started a while ago. I know you want to help, Ritsuka, but we need to be careful, too."

Espedon started walking past them, in the direction of the smoke. There was a sense of urgency in his footsteps.

"We should be able to run in the open until we get closer. Then we'll move to the rooftops, where we're less likely to get drawn into the fighting."

"Is the fighting within this ruined city's limits? Or will we have to travel to another close town before we... move to the rooftops?" Soubi replied, not bothering with his PDA or attempting to translate for the other man. His tail swished violently behind him as eyed the adult, not particularly liking the man giving orders.
Turning to Ristuka, he murmmered for his sacrifices' ears only, "I don't think we should go to the roofs with him. We'll be easier to see and thus easier targets. When we get close, we'll see about a change in plans."

Ritsuka flushed lightly at Soubi's attitude towards the man Ritsuka had been on his way to making friends with, and he repeated what he had said in the PDA for Espedon before giving a murmured hiss of, "Soubi Be polite." A briefly stern look crossed his features, which was quick to twist into more of a pleading one, wanting everyone to get along.

"I'm sure he knows what he is doing," he said, back towards Soubi, offering a small smile along with his hand, "We'll do what is safest when we get there," he promised.

The tone of Soubi's response wasn't lost on Espedon, but he didn't feel there was enough time to sit and argue about it. From the rooftop of the apartments, it had been impossible to tell exactly how far out the fighting was, or where it was; if it was in Nesreca's borders, high rooftops would be safe. He estimated it to be about twenty miles, twenty-five tops altogether.

He moved at a reasonable jog, unless it seemed like Ritsuka and Soubi would be able to run faster. It would take some time to get there on foot, but he was used to traveling without a vehicle.

"It's going to be a long run. The fighting may be over by the time we get there."

Soubi rolled his eyes, but took Ritsuka's offered hand and began following the adult. The pace was easy enough for him, with his long legs and all, but he did keep Ritsuka's hand firmly in his just in case his sacrifice stumbled or started lagging.

"Of course we will. I'm not letting some adult get you hurt." he murmured back to Ritsuka as they began to follow Espedon. " What language does he speak? I recognized some English, but the rest were odd."

Ritsuka was the smallest of the group, but he was determined not to hold everyone back. He could run. He was better with sprinting, especially when his mother was in one of her moods, but he could run too. "How far?" he asked into the PDA.

He gave a breathless laugh at Soubi's worrying. "You don't need to worry about me, Soubi. Or Espedon. He's been nothing but nice so far," he said, "Common. That's what he told me. I don't know what that means. I guess it's a language we don't have in our world."

"Twenty miles at the most," Espedon responded. It was a pain trying to carry the PDA and run at the same time. "At this pace, I think... an hour and a half, we'll be there."

This was low-balling it, of course, but he didn't want to discourage either of them before they'd gotten started. The blonde one looked protective of Ritsuka, and they both seemed lithe, but he didn't want to leave their safety to chance if he could help it.

How strange it was, he thought, that whatever drew them into Nesreca would take two so young. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason behind who came, no commonality that bound them.

Maybe there were answers at the base of the plume of smoke.

"If you need to stop, say so," Espedon huffed through his PDA. He wanted to be careful, but he hoped the rest of the trip would pass with few interruptions.

"Tell him we're fine," Soubi huffed with a pout, ears flattening. "I tire of hearing the hiss of his translator. And if you need to rest, tell me and I'll carry you for a bit."

Outside of other minor puffs of annoyance, Soubi would follow along until they got to the outer limits of the destruction.

"I'm fine," Ritsuka said to the both of them, pocketing the PDA for now. They would need to save their breath for the journey. He was determined to prove that he didn't need help from either of them right now, the words of a particular individual echoing in the back of his mind. He wasn't weak, and he was going to prove it.

The first hour of the trip was spent navigating the city streets. Nesreca's ruins stretched for miles around the apartments, a maze of empty streets and abandoned cars. While they made the first leg of the journey, Espedon alternated his attention between navigating the roads, tracking the plume of smoke above the high-rises, and keeping an eye out for a functioning bicycle or any other mode of transportation that was easier than walking. There was no luck.

Espedon led the two youths along a main road which joined, eventually, with Highway 106. There was still snow on the ground, deep and, from all appearances, impassable. As the snow-banks rose to a point where traversing them proved too difficult, Espedon slowed to a stop. He paused for a few moments, and extended his hand ahead.

Then, there was a blade in his hand. Its hilt shined an otherworldly gold, its blade gleaming purest platinum. Its form was that of a simple arming blade, bearing red streaks of fiery luminescence. Heat radiated from the weapon, bending the air around it, melting the snow in reach of its aura.

The blade-seeker let the weapon go, and it hovered away from him, controlled by some unseen force. The heat-aura around it expanded and intensified, such that even Soubi and Ritsuka could feel warmth. Without stopping to explain this action, he began to run again. The blade continued ahead of him, about eight feet ahead, clearing a path for them.

Eventually, Nesreca's borders were reached, and a the way ahead came fully into view. Ten miles north of the city, a large plume of smoke rose into the sky, fire barely visible beneath it. Occasionally, an explosion would rise into the sky, adding to the black column rising above what once was the village of Cronoss.

Low hills gave texture to the expanse of snow between Nesreca and Cronoss. Espedon found himself wishing he had worn some sort of camouflage, anything at all to keep them covered . There was very little to hide them on the way there, but the fighting was still distant. Assuming there were no aircraft overhead, Espedon wouldn't be terribly concerned.

Cronoss was, fortunately for the trio, at the low point of the surrounding hills. It would be tactically advantageous, but they would have to get off of the roads and into the snow.

Espedon slowed before finally coming to a stop. He ate a bit of his dried pigeon and took a swig of water before placing the cloth pigeon-bag and the waterskin back in his back. Withdrawing his PDA, he turned to the other two.

"We have to get off of the road," he said into the PDA. "Let's climb that hill there, and see what we can see."

Angelfire, the Blade of Heat, returned to him, gliding into his free hand. He extended the weapon before him to clear the path off the highway. "We're almost there."

"Show off," Soubi muttered. They didn't need the man to pull the whole big, adult protector thing. Soubi could have melted the snow or - better yet - had the snow part for their passage and return to where it was without leaving obvious evidence of their presence. Ears flattened in full annoyance, and shoulders hunched ever so slightly, Soubi's grip on Ritsuka's hand tightened.

"We should stop him from using that thing. It will only make our location easier to see this close to the fighting. Tell him we'll handle clearing the way from here on out. I'm not risking your life to some glowing knife."

Ritsuka knew Soubi took issue with adults, but he had never seen him this annoyed before, and his face twisted uncomfortably, ears falling and then flinching at the explosions. "...Soubi," he pressed gently, making a pleading face.

"You can talk to him too you know," he said, tail twitching for a moment, "He's a nice adult. Not like-" he cut himself off, "He doesn't know about your magic."

His eyes flickered to Espedon's sword, wondering what let him control it like that, and he offered him a breathless smile, speaking into the PDA, "Soubi wants to help you," he said, then looked pointedly to his Fighter.

Hearing, but not understanding, their conversation, Espedon glanced back and forth from Soubi to Ritsuka. His breath was still very even for somebody who had just jogged for two hours, but there was a fatigued look to him.

The cat-ears on both of the boys made it easy to read their thoughts; it didn't appear as though they were trying to hide anything, anyway. At the offer of Soubi's help, Espedon looked to him.

Commanding Angelfire had been difficult. More difficult than it should have been, at least. The Seventh no longer spoke to him, and apart from what he willed it to do, it did not listen, either. Under normal circumstances, he would have given the command to the Seventh and the Seventh would have controlled Angelfire for him, leaving his mind free to concentrate on other things. Now, it was his will alone that forced it to move. Even Angelfire's own inborn spirit was silent. It had required unwavering focus to keep the blade manifested and activated, and he was drained.

Espedon nodded to Soubi. In his other hand, another blade glimmered into being. This one was a thick shortsword, simply-enough made, but the hilt was large and round, reminiscent of a circular shield. The heat pouring forth from Angelfire subsided, and the weapon stopped glowing.

"Lead the way," he said, motioning toward the village with one of the blades. "But be careful."

Soubi huffed and frowned at Ritsuka's purposely inaccurate translation of his words. But at least the other man stopped using the glowing knife.

Magic wasn't really a tricky thing. It depended more on the confidence and inner strength of the person performing it and only those with true names or those called 'fighters' could use it - in or out of battle. In battle, it was tradition to expand the field and set a boundary so that no magic would pass from it. Outside of battle it was frowned upon to use one's magic. Soubi, being the fighter, was the stronger of the two with the offensive magic, even without the true name of Loveless upon him.

Making sure to keep Ritsuka's hand firmly in his, he pulled his Sacrifice close and gave the boy a deep kiss. Drawing on the extra power their intimacy provided. When he broke away, cheeks flushed with satisfaction and a little desire, Soubi took a quick glance around for what he felt to be the most useful look out point. Lifting his hand in that direction, he called, "Part and conceal."

Anyone else would have had to elaborate and be more precise in their words. But Soubi was strong enough, had enough experience that the simplest of spoken concepts would convey his power in the manner he desired.

The snow swirled, as if caught it a strong wind and in a moment, the air around the three was whistling and heavy with snow. Anyone looking their direction would see a thick cloud of white stirred up by the wind. But despite the chaotic dance of snow around them, the three were not touched. Whatever wind was doing this didn't even move the edges of their coats.

Soubi shot a rather smug, and very full of himself, look at Epsedon. With a mocking bow he, gestured toward the odd tunnel that formed, all obstructions to the hilltop cleared and fully concealed in a veil of white.

Ritsuka grew slightly weak following the kiss, both from the kiss itself and the energy he gave to help power the spell. His cheeks were flushed a bright pink, and he took a moment to catch his breath, ear twitching shyly. His eyes widened slightly in excitement at the spell, feeling half as though Ritsu-sensi would come out of no where to admonish them for using magic outside of battle.

His pride at Soubi's work was quickly suppressed with a frown at his attitude, and he gave another warning grumble of, "Soooubi," though he couldn't stay cross for long and was soon smiling at him again, pressing on through the tunnel.

Espedon's eyebrows went up at the kiss. He had thought, for a second, that perhaps 'lead the way' in Common meant 'kiss Ritsuka' in Japanese- but Espedon did sense a transfer of power rising immediately from the act. It was like feeling a displacement of water while submerged, growing from a minor disturbance to a strong flow. Power extended out, shaped itself, and the snow obeyed.

His gaze followed the path of the tunnel as it extended up the hill. It would be better camouflage than the path he had been burning.

"Convenient."

Espedon looked back to Soubi to find him in the middle of his sarcastic bow. The boy's expression was priceless; so sure and so satisfied. Espedon hadn't been aware that they'd been in a contest, andthis elicited a 'hm' from him. He shrugged and gave Soubi a look that said 'yeah, okay, alright.' It was impressive dancing snow, he'd give him that.

Resting Angelfire on his shoulder and letting the shortsword dangle loosely in his hand, Espedon walked, in unsnowy comfort, up the hill.

Soubi's smug expression remained as he followed Ritsuka up the hill, his triumph recognized by the adult only adding to his feelings of superiority.

The trek to the top of the hill was a short one, easily done now that their path was clear. Once the three were up there, the spell would end and the wind would settle it all back down, likely covering them as it did so. But that would fine as they'd still be able to survey the city while staying under cover. In anticipation of the falling snow, Soubi subtly moved around behind Ristuka and wrapped his arms about his sacrifices' waist, chin settling on his head. To keep him warm just as the spell gave out.

Ritsuka's smiled as the snow fell about, and Soubi's arms settled around him, but the smile faded as the burning city came into view. His eyes widened and he pressed back into Soubi. He'd never seen anything like this in real life. Movies, and history books, but never like this. He wasn't completely ignorant to violence, their spell battles were far from school yard scrapes, but they were nothing on this scale.

When the trio reached the crest of the hill, Espedon squatted down, leaning on Angelfire for balance. They had no binoculars, but it wasn't hard to see what had happened.

Cronoss had been a small village, barely more than a main street with a few farms dotting the land around it. Where the houses once stood, there was only blackened rubble. Burned-out skeletons of the few stores and restaurants the village had lined the main street. Splashes of red peppered the snow in the distant, bodies left unburied.

On a road leading out of the village, a line of humvees and troop carriers were on the move, away from the three and away from the destruction they'd caused.

Espedon's expression became grim. He scanned the village for movement- troops, survivors, anything. This had been a complete massacre.

"Everything. The women. The... children," Espedon growled. He edged closer. "I'm going in to get a better look. There's got to be some survivors. Anything. I want to know who they were."

Soubi's ears twitched and while he didn't understand most of the words, he did understand the way Espedon was scooting forward.

Growling slightly, he reached out a hand to lightly grip the forigeners shoulder and hold him back.

"We need to wait until they are gone or it won't be safe," he said to Ritsuka.

Ritsuka looked torn, wanting to help and wanting to stay out of sight, ears twisting in his dilemma, and he looked away with a guilty blush on his cheeks, again translating Soubi's words. His tail had fluffed up in his worry and twitched back and forth, eyes darting about in a way which said he agreed with Soubi in this instance, as much as it pained him to leave the people suffering any longer then needed.

"...If we get hurt too no one will come for us."

Espedon waggled the shorter blade in the direction of the humvees winding their way out of the city.

"I think they're done. Whoever's left would be the cleanup crew," he said, squinting a little, hoping to get a better view. "There's not much we can do for the survivors anyhow. Unless that magic of yours can teleport people."

Which I doubt, unless you just like two-hour winter runs.

"If you two decide to stay here, I can come back and tell you what I saw. To tell the truth, I hope there are a few of them left."

Soubi's grip on Ritsuka tightened and he nodded at Epsedon. He'd much rather have the adult run off into danger while Ristuka stayed safe.

"We'll wait. Please be careful," he said, offering Espedon a small smile, then looking back to the city with a frown, laying his head against Soubi. Too much death. It frightened him, and this in turn embarrassed him. Too scared to help. What good was he?

Edited 2010-04-08 15:25 (UTC)

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when in rome...

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