Mazes within a Steel Jungle (Shrike7)

[Courage Wolf]

Re: Mazes within a Steel Jungle (Shrike7)

As Vorlan made his final pass, River threw something at him, which impacted with a loud splat as she made her move, before the lycan did something she had forgotten, and was going to be highly annoying. He phased through the gunk, coming out very quickly, and catching her port out of the corner of his eye, turning quickly and following with a snarl, fully intent on barreling through the wall, perhaps mistakenly thinking that River could only come out in one place.

Looking around the tunnel, Vorlan calmed considerably as he raised his nose to the air, and started pacing, waiting for something, anything, most likely fully prepared to check this tunnel like he had the last. It seemed as long as he had an Idea of where River was, that he'd inevitably flush her out. She needed distance.

 

[Shrike7]

Re: Mazes within a Steel Jungle (Shrike7)

River remained still again as Vorlan resumed his search in the new corridor, using the precious seconds to come up with something new to try. This time, the parted the veil to otherworldy dark zone behind her, willing the shadows forming her to stay in place as she fell backwards into her portal, effectively leaving a copy of herself for the fox to stumble upon.

Catching on that he thought the direction she entered the portal in was the direction she travelled, she popped out a tunnel forwards, just in case he caught her slipping out of her skin and backtracked. Again, she stopped and waited, sensing through the dark how well her ploy did or didn't work.

 

[Courage Wolf]

Re: Mazes within a Steel Jungle (Shrike7)

River, taking a different approach this time by creating an empty shell of herself, before popping into her void, and out in an entirely different tunnel, waited, feeling things out. She knew she'd moved in the complete opposite direction that Vorlan would expect if her hunch was right, and sure enough, as he blitzed into her little copy, it took him a little while to puzzle it out, before a harsh laugh echoed through the tunnels.

Bounding through the wall in the wrong direction, and presumably searching for her again, River knew she'd gotten a good amount of time to take advantage of her trick, before Vorlan decided to reveal any other tricks up his sleeve, probably best to move now, and quickly.

At least the game was interesting, neither of them really sure what the other was fully capable of, and true to the purpose, Vorlan was forcing River to think of new ways to avoid him, and use her abilities, so far, this had been much more productive then her helter skelter pelt through the underworld.

 

[Shrike7]

Re: Mazes within a Steel Jungle (Shrike7)

River slid down to a crouch where she was, resting on her heels as she took the time given to mull things over. Most of her ideas had worked pretty seamlessly, so what could she do to fix the one that hadn‘t? The kitsune could pass through the shadowstuff as easily as anything else, but he said he didn‘t leave to somewhere else when he did so. Wracking her brain for her old high school science class, she recalled that stuff was mostly empty space, the atoms floating far from each other with the electrons holding it all together. That was probably what he meant by ‘electron space‘. She was pretty sure her shadows didnt have atoms floating around in them, but could she make it denser anyways?

Figuring that warranted an experiment, she called another glob of the stuff and tried to compress it, the action seeming to work. Only one way to test it though. Striding out to the middle of the tunnel she was in, she called and compressed as much shadow as she could draw, laying it across the ground in front of her like a sheet. She stood perfectly still, covered in a fresh layer of shadow herself, arms to the side with palms forward, and let out a shrill whistle to get his attention, waiting silently for him to catch up, and hoping by all appearances to look like another shell-copy, which should buy her the second she needed to draw the denser shadow up to envelop him.

 

[Courage Wolf]

Re: Mazes within a Steel Jungle (Shrike7)

River, working in the shadows, the shadows of the sewers jumping to her call, hesitated. For the first time since she had acquired this power, she hit a barrier to her ability, the shadows trying to obey her command as River strained and forced the unnatural to obey natural laws. And then, there was a small shimmer, something in her shadows cracking, warping. She was winning, she just had to push harder...

With force of will alone, River molded the darkness around her into a form it didn't want to take, the creature in her blood, in her mind, the remnants of the Old Manifestation crying out at her, whispering to stop, to halt, she wasn't ready, this was beyond her...

But River was too stubborn to heed the call. Rising up as if a dark maelstrom had formed, a haunting form of twisted spires and jutting spikes arced into the air, before humming violently, and twisting down to the floor, laying flat and docile... But to her eyes, the shadows glowed, glinting and shimmering with a dark light that wasn't light, a kind of energy boiling off of the incredibly dense, and heavy mass.

Whistling for Vorlan, River tasted copper and iron, her mouth was hot, and her chest was unnaturally tight, before she felt the heat of crimson trickling from her nose as the whistle turned into a ragged and strained cough, her blood spattering onto the sewer floor, shimmering with that same dread light, as Vorlan shot around a corner at the far end of the tunnel, and blazed towards her, his tails fanned out wide, before splitting himself.

It was like watching silver ghosts fly from the body of a monster, 7 Vorlans exploding from the body of 1, each only bearing one tail, and for a moment, it was stunning to watch, the split marked with a silver flash as the vulpine lycan closed the distance. And then River's trap was sprung. Slamming up with enough force to smash into the ceiling of the sewer, a thunderclap of sound heralding cracked stone, River's barrier resounded with the impact of the lycan moving at full speed, the silver wisps of power from Vorlan signalling his failed attempt to phase through, before the wall of shadows, and now it truly was a wall, arced around all 7, and started to compress, All of River's concentration required to keep the now round and restrictive orb, from suddenly collapsing on itself, and crushing Vorlan like a black hole.

River knew he was trapped, she also knew that she couldn't keep this up for long, she could feel the strain threatening to tear her apart as she fought tooth and nail to keep what could only be a singularity, from reducing Vorlan to nothing more then atoms itself, and tearing the sewers, and probably an entire city block, apart...

 

[Shrike7]

Re: Mazes within a Steel Jungle (Shrike7)

River smiled as the shadows bent and compressed the way she imagined, but the look quickly became a frown, then an intense glare of concentration as the process became harder and harder. The voice in her head warned her, but she pressed on anyways, too stubborn to give up on her idea. It wan‘t until she coughed, tasting the blood and feeling it trickle out her nose, that she realized she had probably taken it too far.

At least she didn‘t have long to wait, Vorlan rounding the corner after mere seconds, splitting into copies and booking it straight for her with all of them. She rose her trap, managing a bit of a smirk when she thought of how well it worked against a group like Vorlan had made. She wrapped them all up, but then came across a new problem. The shadows wanted to collapse on themselves, with the vulpin still inside. She had already felt him try to pass through a few times, she knew her idea had worked, so she pressed her will to break it up again, splitting the black orb at the top and forcing it all around and down her impromptu captive, spreading it back out once it was all on the floor, thinning and stretching it out until it was easy to manage again, simply dissipating it from there.

She got a good look at Vorlan before she remembered she was holding her breath the entire time. Letting out another rasping cough as she sank to her knees, coughing up anotherround of blood before giving a pained laugh. “I win.“

 

[Courage Wolf]

Re: Mazes within a Steel Jungle (Shrike7)

River, having to fight every step of the way now to simply keep the sphere from imploding, did eventually manage to release Vorlan from his cage, the vulpine lycan panting with exertion as he flopped out onto the ground and looked up at River with a mix of shock, and respect. Chuckling dryly at her answer, but too tired at the moment to be bothered speaking, he simply gave her a thumbs up, and was all to happy to take a breather.

After what could only have been several minutes, he stirred enough to speak. Seems we're both full of surprises, that's a nasty little trick River. And remind me not to chase you down into the sewers again, or a cave. Seems I'm at more then a slight disadvantage he said with a wry smile, flailing his arms weakly, still obviously tired, before a familiar looking giant insect skittered around the corner, regarding them for a moment, before scuttling towards Vorlan excitedly, Jess moving just behind him. So you're both alive! Excellent! Who won!? She asked, clearly interested as she sat on her pets back, whose name currently escaped River, and scratching him just behind the eyes, a satisfied clicking sounding deep in it's throat.

 

[Shrike7]

Re: Mazes within a Steel Jungle (Shrike7)

River let out a ragged cough, slipping sideways to sit down at Vorlan's thumb's up. They spent moments in relative silence, punctuated by their harsh breaths and River occasionally leaning over to spit out a mouthful of blood.

Vorlan broke the silence after a while, River giving a halfhearted chuckle in response. "That, was no -little- trick. I sincerely hope I never have to try that again for a very, long, time." She answered slowly, her head tilting as she heard the clatter of insect legs approaching.

"Oh, hey, it's... Skimmer... Skippy?" River said with a sigh, raising a hand When Jess asked about the victor. "Somewhat phyrric, I'd say. Please tell me you aint hungry." She responded with a chuckle, wiping a little more blood off her face.

 

[Courage Wolf]

Re: Mazes within a Steel Jungle (Shrike7)

Slip Vorlan corrected, chuckling again as River mentioned not wanting to use that particular tactic again, simply shrugging from his spot on the ground. Hey now, that was downright scary, I think a little practice could lessen the load of that power of yours, but you're right, probably best if used for emergencies, you know... like when you want to level a city block. he said laughing out loud as Jess stuck her tongue out, pointedly ignoring the blood, though River could see her nostrils flaring.... She could obviously smell it...

I am, but I'll live. Anyway, congratulations, you're the second person to beat Vorlan at his own game. The current title holding champion being Slip here. He Cheated! That didn't count! Vorlan cried out exasperatedly, Jess laughing loudly.

Anyway, I think training is done for the day for you River, if you want it to be. It'll give Vorlan some time to think on how to sharpen you up a little, and Hervo is going to wait at least two more days before tossing you back into the hell pit, by then you should have some serious tricks up your sleeve, and you'll be making the run with Chuck. Our little interloper knows better then to tangle with him.

 

[Shrike7]

Re: Mazes within a Steel Jungle (Shrike7)

"Slip. I was getting close." She answered in apology, listening to the banter back and forth. "I'd rather keep going, maybe once I get some food in me, or something. Maybe some other direction though, I'm pretty much out of ideas for this kind of thing."

 

[Courage Wolf]

Re: Mazes within a Steel Jungle (Shrike7)

Vorlan shook his head Not with you hacking blood all over the sewer floor, I'd judge you just about at your limit after that little stunt, and by little stunt I mean rediculous show of force. Come on, we'll take a lunch break, see how your feeling after, before we make any decisions. You getting hurt would completely defeat the entire point of this.

Jess nodded quietly, still showering the odd bug with scritches as it pulled away from her, and clambered up the wall, starting to lay long silk cords across the tunnel, building a web, much like a spider.

I agree, lets leave Slip to hunting, and grab us something to eat ourselves. Jess said, slipping under the silken lines and heading back towards the tower.

 

[Shrike7]

Re: Mazes within a Steel Jungle (Shrike7)

"Oh, I'm all for a break, i just don't wanna spend another three-quarters of a day failing at keeping busy." River answered with a grumble, working out a final mouthful of blood before dragging herself to her feet, cracking a grin. "Oh, and one more thing: Hervo is not sending me back to that hell, fuck that."

 

[Courage Wolf]

Re: Mazes within a Steel Jungle (Shrike7)

"I Agree Completely" Chuck said suddenly from behind them, standing there in the sewer as if he always had been, "And don't worry about Ideas, I have several, but Vorlan's is correct, a breather is best for now, I may not be as sadistic as Hervo, but I need to teach you enough to deal with our new mutual problem, miserable bitch that she is. The sweep team revealed 3 bugs in your apartment, and destroyed them, two I can trace back to her, but the other is completely mark less, and if I had to guess, belongs to John, how it got there, I have no idea." He continued, before shimmering softly, and fading away, his voice echoing as he left "See you in the cafeteria..."

Damned mages and their projections, that's something we're definitely going to have to have Chuck show you how to beat, because I don't think my way would work for you. You can't smell the difference. Vorlan said, shaking his head.

Yea, they're just illusions, but they're plenty dangerous, I've seen some cast spells, and others just explode when they were attacked, because inevitably, someone gets the bright idea of simply attacking all of them until only the real one is left, and 9 times out of 10, that's exactly what they want you to do... Jess added, shaking her head, before starting to walk down the sewers and back towards the tower, Slip giving her a many limbed hug, before scampering back to finish his web, which was even now, shimmering softly, and fading from site, cloaked by whatever otherworldly power the hell bug used.

 

[Shrike7]

Re: Mazes within a Steel Jungle (Shrike7)

River jumped a bit as Chuck spoke up, turning around to face the man. She frowned at mention of the third bug. "If it isn't already destroyed, I want to give it a look when we get back, at least. May be able to give a clue where it came from, at least." She asked the fading figure, shrugging when it disappeared.

"Heh, 'The Infinite Promise of Magic', pretty sure I read that in a book at one point." She said with a chuckle, shaking her head. "Whatever they can think of, right? That kind of thing would leave me playing catch-up far more than I like, but no way to help that, eh?"

"Whoa, hold up." She said when Jess turned and started to hold back. "If we can grab me a spare shirt or something, I know a burger place downtown we could grab food at. I wouldn't mind actually seeing outdoor sunlight at some point today, heh."

 

[Courage Wolf]

Re: Mazes within a Steel Jungle (Shrike7)

Jess pouted a little before nodding. Sure, just let me grab something to drink, you've managed to make me properly hungry, and we'll go. I take it you wanna walk as well? Ahh well, I'll need to go change then as well, been awhile since Vorlan saw me in a floppy hat... Jessica answered, fishing out her phone to handle a short text to the kitchen while they all headed back to the tower proper.

River and Jess split, Jess to get her meal and change, River just for the wardrobe swap, while Vorlan went along with Jess, talking about how he liked her floppy hat, and Chuck somehow got the message, somehow, probably Jess.

After all was said and done, it was simply a matter of meeting everyone down in the lobby to either grab a car, or walk out to River's burger place, River thinking to herself that it was bright as fuck outside, and probably needing sunglasses and a hat of her own...

 

[Shrike7]

Re: Mazes within a Steel Jungle (Shrike7)

"Walk if we got time, but I don't mind the car if we don't. Though... On second thought, I'm gonna veto that car unless Vorlan is driving, had enough near death experiences recently." She said with a laugh, following behind now that it was decided.

Once she had made it to her room to change, she had the thought o actually open a window and see what the weather was like at least, nearly blinding herself for her effort. "Sunova... Either someone turned the sun to eleven, or this whole 'creature of darkness' thing is getting worse..." She muttered, closing the window again with a sigh, and rethinking her wardrobe.

She didn't own a hat unfortunately, but after digging in a drawer, she fished out an old pair of sunglasses she had gotten for a gift a few years back and never used. Retesting the window, things seemed a bit more bearable, so she went with that, and out of some sense of rebellion, decided to dress down the rest as much as she could. Tank top, short shorts (also barely worn), and her ubiquitous gloves and shoes, and she was ready to go, headed for the lobby to spot the others already waiting for her. "Heh, usually I'm the shortest for things like that. Ready to go, you guys been waiting long?"

 

[Courage Wolf]

Re: Mazes within a Steel Jungle (Shrike7)

You generally are the most efficient, but we just move faster, I think Vorlan said, still poking at Jess, who's outfit took a moment to even comprehend. It was definitely Jess, and the black, low cut dress she was wearing was actually very nice, as were the heels. But the scarf, and the wide shades just made it all look completely ridiculousness, and the hat... o dear gods the hat.

Rather then managing to look like she was going to a high end funeral, the illusion was completely obliterated by the wide brimmed, yellow and purple, floral pattern hat she was wearing.

Don't ask about the hat. Gift from Vorlan, he insists I wear it. Jess said with a little venom in her voice, a thermos stored in the purse she was carrying. And you look lovely in it Vorlan insisted, Chuck failing to hide his snicker, still wearing that same, well cut, black suit he always did, unless he was wearing that ridiculous doorman uniform.

"Well fearless leader?" He said, raising an eyebrow, "Lead on~!"

 

[Shrike7]

Re: Mazes within a Steel Jungle (Shrike7)

"Eh, I wasted a little time..." River answered, her response stopping on her lips as she looked over Jess, eyes locking on the ridiculous hat in rather short order. "You, uhh... Yeah..." She said in response to Jess' little spiel, shaking her head.

"So let's see here,: She said, pointing to each of them in turn, ending with herself. "We have a high power businessman, a pimp at a funeral, a sickly vampire in jeans, and a teenager with daddy issues. We are so going to get mugged. Shall we take the car as well, lose that too?" She asked with a laugh, striding up to the group.

 

[Courage Wolf]

Re: Mazes within a Steel Jungle (Shrike7)

"sounds about right" Chuck said, the first to laugh of all people, before Vorlan finally figured the joke out, and started laughing as well, joining in the weird parade towards the place of burgers and sustenance, Jess grumbling and sipping on her thermos carefully, probably not wanting to get jossled and accidentally drop a pint of crimson all over the sidewalk.

So which burger place is this? That you know of so well, because I confess, the actual fast food fiend here is Chuck, I usually stick to fish.

"It's true, I have a problem" Chuck said, laughing softly as they walked "Damn some hot fries sound good right now. It's my goal in life to make sure that no matter what happens, I can still enjoy a cheeseburger, frigid council bitch be damned."

You're all Idiots. Jess said, bringing up the rear of the pack of mugging candidates.

 

[Shrike7]

Re: Mazes within a Steel Jungle (Shrike7)

"Aaah, Chuck probly knows this place then. Right in the thick of downtown, home to the inside out burger, the pizza burger, and the chicken cordon bleu burger, among others." She replies, raising an eyebrow in Chuck's direction to see if he recognized the place.