subdivided | week two: mingle

week two: mingle

Week Two
26 in Competition

As the sun rises on Monday morning, all participants will find themselves awakening with a sense of purpose. Regardless of where they slept the night before, they’ll find themselves compelled to return to the main meeting hall first thing in the morning.

Approaching the hall, however, they will find a large, swirling mass grey in color looming near the sakura tree. This swirl cannot be approached just yet, but seems to be locked and waiting for something more.

As the last member of the village enters the hall, they will find Lune and Sol at the head of the room. Though they’re together, it’s Lune who speaks up first this time.

"Good morning, good morning. You've done well to purge the corruption in the previous gateway - allow us to assist with the finishing touches. For the time being, it would appear as though we've been able to locate another. The land might appear a bit familiar to some however... I only advise you watch your step."

When Lune finishes, Sol chimes in from their place at Lune's side.

"The corruption is still out there, and we're going to do all that we can to find a way to contain it. But until then... stick close to others this week. Do your best to protect yourselves and look after each other. Okay?"

The moment participants leave the hall, they will find that the gateway has changed from grey to white, the opening widening enough for multiple people to step through. The Signs will soon take their leave, and all will remain peaceful once more.

The only oddity is that throughout the week, in a noise that extends past the portal but seems to resound even through the village, there will be the occasional, resounding call of a war horn.

In addition, as the week goes on, partners will find ever-growing feelings of anxiety and nervousness dwelling within them the longer they are separated from one another. They will feel compelled to be very close to their partners at all times, and will be on edge if separated for more than an hour by the end of the week. Welcome to surprise codependence at its finest.

Welcome to your week two mingle! As a reminder, murder proposals are open. We will also be hosting a mini-event on Tuesday, so please be on the lookout for that.

In addition, ensure that all of your week one private conversations were reported on the page, and your week two private conversations are reported on that page. If you'll be taking anything from locations, please report that as well.

main navigation.

locations ✧ powers ✧ profiles
private conversations ✧ audiences ✧ faq

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Milla is rolling as soon as the wall bulges—which is lucky, on account of the many bits and pieces of wall flying about. Traps and tripwires spring, lines taut and fire—and she hisses, as a dart buries itself directly into her leg. Nevermind that, for now.]

Julius!

[She looks around, sword drawn and sweeping, looking for the the teen.

In the meantime, at least, there's a horse. A wholeass horse, right here, getting strung up on ropes and shit—and there's the rider, on the other side, investing his attention wholly in her younger partner. For the moment, at least, he seems to have things under control.

Milla has zero sympathy for this horse. This whole is getting its whole ass handed to it, because Milla is just slaughtering this horse.

Horse blood is just everywhere.]

I'm fine--! Check for other enemies first, there's no way this wouldn't have caught their attention!

[ he calls, even as he's forced back a little in blade lock before diverting much of the force bearing down on him to the side and spinning away with a bit more urgency in his pace. boy, aren't we missing the existence of lilium orbs right now. the samurai has darkness steroids and who knows how many friends, and they're--

well, it could be worse, but also, this julius happens to be a 15yo who doesn't exactly have all the bulk and strength of his older counterpart yet. on the contrary; it seems he's more heavily favoring a leading, evasive style as the engagement wears on and it becomes more apparent that despite the blows he's landing, the darkness fueled commander is shrugging a majority of them off with an ease that. well. probably should be slightly concerning, really.

but these two are jrpg characters, so they'll probably adjust. ]

[If there's any more enemies, they are, at least, not coming immediately. And on the increasingly "pro" side of the situation, the horse is definitely super dead! Great. That gives her more time to focus on the guy who was riding it, currently backing her partner away.

And so, here comes horseblood-covered Milla, bounding out of the darkness, to straigtup wail on this samurai from behind. Who needs links when you can just pincer the old fashioned way?]

[ that's a lot of blood, why are horses like this. milla, that's gross.

but it isn't as if julius really cares, because all he acknowledges is that his temporary partner in this matter is approaching from behind the samurai, that he shouldn't give away her approach, and that he should probably disguise his repositioning himself into a better spot to aid in her assault as another simple dodge, before crashing his swords back down onto the samurai's to temporarily keep him in place.

and of course, he'll relent and back off as soon as she's within striking distance. go, milla go. ]

[The wailing doth commence.

Despite the lack of an arte to assist, she manages to execute a perfect spin attack, nearly lifting the samurai himself off his feet—and leave a large enough follow-through opening for Milla to turn her blade inward, rending a clean slice down the length of the assailant's body.

When the enemy reacts, turning, sword already swinging, Milla's is down, blocking with a natural, practiced reply. Twisting the blade, she locks their hilts together, nearly smiling.]

Your turn!

You're enjoying this far too much.

[ he nearly scoffs this out, flippantly-- and that's a rope trap, good grief-- but there's the faintest trace of an overly sharp, faintly amused expression on his face if someone looks, so does he really have any room to talk.

so sue him if it's satisfying finally having at least something clear that they can throw themselves at- which he does quite literally from above, making quite the passable imitation of falling thunder onto the preoccupied samurai despite the lack of arte. the sheer kinetic force of it is meant to stun, and it's with this in mind that: ]

The scroll, remember— are you capable of retrieving it?

Leave that to me!

[The move to stun works well enough—it is more than enough for Milla to maneuver her blade—and run the ghoul through, ripping the scroll free as she moves past, flicking the gore off her blade as she drags it free of the rapidly-dissolving corpse.

She nods to Julius, encouraging and clearly pleased.]

There. That wasn't so bad, was it?

... It could have been worse.

[ he says, picking himself up off of the ground. well, guess we're back to running cold again.

though. maybe the horseman didn't have backup earlier, but by now there's, hm, shouting, from the direction of the collapsed wall. julius' glance over in that direction has the appropriate amount of alarm and urgency involved and no more. ]

Come on. We should get moving before anything else has a chance to happen--

[ like them getting fired at blindly and just barely being missed due to sheer luck?

so yeah! the getting going thing! better do that! ]

[Hm!

Wordlessly, Milla runs directly in the direction the volley came from.]

[ wait what why are you running at the gunfire you crazy spirit

after a moment of hesitation that barely lasts a split second, he's following her to what, try to make sure she's covered? that she doesn't get herself killed? hope this doesn't end poorly? ]

[Another volley whistles by, but Milla seems to be either extremely lucky, or... extremely good at dodging gun projectiles. It doesn't bear thinking about, because a moment later, she's full-on throwing herself on to the besieging gunners.

Incredibly, this is a tactic that seems to be working in her favor—at close range, the guns are largely ineffective, and they seem to be having a lot of trouble beating Milla to death with them while she's juggling them with repeated slashes and stabs.]

[ of all the ridiculous, reckless, and unfortunately and admittedly somewhat impressive things to do,

julius sweeps through and incapacitates a few gunners who'd looked to be attempting to flank them before: ]

Weren't you the one who said we should make this quick? We have the scroll already, there's nothing left here for us!

You think they won't follow us? Besides, they will need to be taken care of someone within this battle—we are here, now, and that someone can be us.

[Case in point: she skewers a gunner clean through, flicking him off her blade, before moving on another target.]

You think we won't attract even more of them, like this? The longer we stay the more we invite further complications.

[ the boy doth protest too much, maybe, considering that he whirls around to- well, it's any of the severed jugular, carotid, or gut wound that will end up taking care of that particular infantryman- face down the targets she isn't taking care of.

this isn't a position he much cares to be in for long, though, between keeping an eye out for traps, the current enemies around them, a perhaps not all that surprisingly battle-eager lord of spirits, and possible reinforcements, but this is where he's at and he'll do the best with it that he can.

(missed by him, unfortunately, a gunner takes aim.) ]

We'll take out this party, but after that we're going back and returning this scroll to whoever the acting commander was that we saw before.

Hmph. I don't think they'll pursue us so eagerly after this.

[Stop talking and start slashing, kiddo. You're missing the gunner to your left—who Milla does not miss, and dashes at.]

Julius! Get down!

[Her brutal downward thrust comes exactly as the unfortunate footsoldier's gun fires, a direct line at Julius.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

week two: mingle

NIJI AND MAUYN WRITE SHORTER TAGS CHALLENGE

ARE WE WINNING THE CHALLENGE???

NO

GODDAMMIT

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject