sirenspull_logs | you shoot me down but i won't fall

Entry tags:

you shoot me down but i won't fall

Who: Ino Yamanaka and whoever else is out in the Darkness
When: Sunday night
Where: All over the city
Summary: Ino encounters a strange figure in the Darkness and spends the rest of the night on high-alert trying to get away from it.
Warnings: SLENDERMAN.

Ino crouched in the shadows, blue eyes watchful of the scene before her. A man was being ripped to shreds by a group of dog-like creatures. It was disgusting and horrifying; she looked down, throat dry. It was risky being out here on her own, and she wasn't taking any unnecessary risks. She didn't want to die here.

She slinked away, maneuvering on to a ledge above her in one swift movement. She decided then and there to invest in a solid training outfit in black; it'd blend in a little better with the shadows. She couldn't remember which sector she had gotten to, but she knew how to find her way back. Ino slumped against the rooftop of a taller building to catch her breath. She held out her wrist to pull up a map; midnight was the time for her to get back home.

A pained howl echoed close by. Her head snapped up, the sillouhette of a tall figure (man?) visible several rooftops away. She couldn't tell if he were facing towards or away from her. It was time to go. She disappeared in a flurry of leaves, appearing on a rooftop several buildings away. She did a quick survey of her surroundings and scowled when she spotted the sillouhette several meters ahead of her.

Static filled her ear, a complementary accessory to her NV, and the map on her NV was nothing more than bits of flickering color. The man was closer, an intimidatingly tall figure, and Ino jumped down from the rooftop, sprinting away. The unfortunate thing was no matter how far she ran, he was there, on the streets or a rooftop. It was unnerving. She tried to head him off with kunai, smoke bombs, and henges; he saw right through them.

Only when she was by the ocean was she aware that his presence was gone. The hair on the back of her neck was no longer standing up straight, nor was her NV acting up anymore. She sighed and brought up the map again, ready to head back. Ino turned around, a scream erupting from her lips at the tall man in front of her.

She threw a flurry of kunai and ran back into the streets, heart thumping loudly in her ears. Her headache seemed to affect her entire body but no way was she going to die out here, or in this city. She didn't trust that the Core brought people back after they died.

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Allen has spent many a night patrolling the streets of the city after dark. The monsters here are not the same as the ones back home, but they're trapped souls all the same, and he can't ignore them. Even if attempts to exorcise them thus far have been nothing but futile, he hasn't yet proven to himself that it's a hopeless cause—

and even if it is, there's still people who may be in danger. Like right now, if that scream is anything to go by.

He drops from a rooftop behind Ino, massive white cape billowing behind him, his face hidden by his white hood and masquerade mask. In his right hand, he's gripping a rather oversized sword, that he appears to be wielding without much trouble (and, notably, his left arm is missing entirely), eyes on the monster that she's fleeing from. With a shout, Allen swings the blade at the figure before him just as he lands heavily on the pavement — but the strange man seems to disappear before contact is made.

Edited 2012-07-29 05:02 (UTC)

Ino pants heavily, turning around and stopping abruptly at the commotion behind her. She ignores the shaking of her limbs and instead adopts a professional nature fitting for a chuunin.

"It teleports." She glances around, paranoia nearly suffocating her. Fear has never been so prominent until now, this night in this strange universe filled with monsters Ino had never even dreamed of. The pale light illuminated from the moon - somehow not even it is affected by this strange curse of the night - only gives Ino a vague outline of her savior.

Allen straightens up, briefly glancing behind him at the girl, satisfied that she doesn't appear wounded. His demeanor is decidedly no-nonsense right now, though, voice lowered, "Where did it go..."

He hoists his sword up and scans the area as he moves around her, steady but cautious. The fact that it can teleport at will is plenty unnerving on its own, but he has no idea what else he might be dealing with here...

Her eyes narrow and scan the area. There were other darkness monsters roaming around, feral and dangerous. Compared to whatever that .. dark figure was, they were nothing. She pulls out a kunai and turns, nearly screaming at the tall shadow a few meters away from Allen.

"Behind you!"

Whoops. He whirls around, holding the flat side of sword in front of his chest like a shield as he stumbles backwards. The figure lashes out with shadowy tendrils that clang against the steel-like surface of the blade, but it vanishes a second later.

And reappears even closer, looming over the both of them.

"Gah!" Her eyes widen at the tendrils coming from the figure and she steps back. Running away was what she did best, but she couldn't leave this man who had tried to save her alone to face this alone. Well, she could, technically, but she didn't think she could live with herself if she did.

The crackling white noise in her ear isn't doing much for her nerves, either. It holds its arms forward, stretching out in an unnatural way to reach for them. A memory of Kakuzu flashes in her mind and she ducks out of the way, keeping a crouched position and throwing a handful of shuriken at the figure.

Running away is, alas, not Allen's forte. He's more of a stand-his-ground and fight 'til he drops kinda guy, and even if this thing might simply respawn tomorrow, he'll work to keep it off the streets for at least one night.

He's seen far worse, but something about this monster-- it's legitimately frightening. It's unsettling him when he knows he should be level-headed. But even so, as she leaps out of the way of its outstretched arm, Allen raises his sword again and takes a swing at the unfolding limb. It deftly dodges his attacks, lashing out with even more dark appendages that have him tumbling backwards into the sidewalk before he can properly block.

He wastes to time getting back on his feet, though, briefly splitting his attention away from the creature to look for Ino. "Ma'am! You should get out of here!"

"We both-" She turns her head briefly to try to locate the figure, scowling, then turns to face his general direction (from what she could tell from his voice). "-need to!"

She had a flashbomb in her weapons pouch, a useful item that would enable them both to at least gain some ground away from the figure. She swallows hard at the silhouette on a nearby rooftop, a cold chill running through her body. Half of its body was illuminated by the light, but it wasn't like the normal monsters. It wasn't mangled, bloody, disgusting.

Its face was blank, as if it had on a white porcelain mask without holes for breathing or sight. There were no eyes to speak of on its face at all, really. She gasps and instinctively holds her right arm close to her chest.

Ugh. He looks between Ino and the monster as he decides what to do-- then makes his way towards her. It doesn't seem like she'll leave on her own, and getting her out of here now has to be the priority. He can deal with the monster later, if he has to.

"Come on." He approaches her, quickly, keeping an eye on their enemy's location. "Let's go!"

"Got it!" She disappears immediately only to reappear on a rooftop. Teleportation Justus were great, really. She quickly attaches an exploding tag to a kunai and throws it across the street in an attempt to try a diversion. Or at the very least attract other monsters to make their escape easier.

Whoa-- that was kind of cool.

The explosion is successful in attracting other monsters, at least. It does not, however, distract their slender, suited friend here. Allen remains at street level, but looking up, he can see the pale, featureless face of the monster, not far from where Ino is.

"Oi!!" He holds out his right arm, shooting out ribbons of sharp, white cloth from his wrist, which latch onto the edge of the roof so he can pull himself up there to join her.

Ino's headache is increasing and she just wants this stupid thing to leave her the hell alone. This game of cat and mouse between them and the figure couldn't go on forever-- for her, at least. Something had to give and she sure as hell wasn't going to let it be her without a fight.

They couldn't out-run it without it showing up, and fighting it was obviously out of the equation. And Ino didn't want to risk using her Shintenshin, either; not around a stranger who may or may not make sure her body was still safe when she got back.

"Go away!" It was a stupid, useless shout, but Ino was out of options and irritated. Obviously the figure did not heed her shout, nor did it move. Which only served to piss her off even more. "It's taunting us," she mused, barely above a whisper.

He scrambles up onto solid rooftop, not looking away from the monster for more than a second; the hair on the back of his neck is prickling.

"Better that than attacking us.

"We just need to get indoors." They have to find a building that's unlocked and well-protect, is all. He'd never seen any of these creatures manage to break through the Darkness proofing on the buildings in this city, and he assumed this wouldn't be an exception. He gestures at her, pointing in the opposite direction of the creature.

"Start moving!" He clearly intends for her to take the first step, and he's still glancing over his shoulder at the figure. The roofs of the buildings are close enough to jump between, and judging from the fact that she appears to be able to teleport just like the monster does, he figures moving across them won't be too much of an obstacle for her. The trouble is, he doesn't know where the monster will appears next-- close to her, or close to him. And while he has some long-range attacks, they aren't exactly the most reliable with an opponent like this.

He'll try to stay near her, then.

Indoors? "Places are boarded up after the sirens go off." True, there were a few places that weren't locked (her apartment being one of them, for her own reasons), but she was so lost in this city she didn't know the first place to look. Her NV malfunctioning didn't help.

She needs to conserve her energy, she knows this, so she's relying on good old-fashioned endurance instead of chakra. Jumping across the rooftops isn't hard, nor is resisting the temptation to keep looking over her shoulder. She swears she can see the figure standing on a rooftop out of the corner of her eye but she doesn't look to check. His idea of getting inside was the best one they had, and she was trying to find a door that didn't look bolted up.

"Do you know which sector we're in?" She had vague knowledge of the sectors, but she knew which ones had the abandoned warehouses from her travels throughout the streets. Surely at least one of the warehouses had Darkness proofing still.

He keeps up pace alongside her, trying to keep his eyes on where he's going and where the creature is, though his success with the latter is limited.

"...No." He is patently terrible with directions, and he really has no clue where they are or what direction they're going in.

So he calls to the air instead; he's got an idea that he figures is worth a shot. "Timcanpy!" --And down from the sky zooms a faceless golden ball about the size of cantaloupe, with long thin wings and a tufted tail. "Find the nearest safe building!"

And Timcanpy obediently darts off at an impressive speed, in search of one. He won't be able to come back and report his findings for a few moments, though.

Timcanpy? And it was a ... flying ball-thing. Right, that totally made sense, for it to appear out of nowhere. She raises an eyebrow at him, but there was a time and place for everything and right now the focus of her remaining strength was to get the hell away from that teleporting thing.

She had been told of the Darkness Guide on the NV, a directory that held information on most of the creatures in the night, and she resolves to check that once they reach safety to try and gain more information on it. And possibly warn others in the Darkness as well.

Don't think too hard about it. They'll have to continue to evade the creature for a small while, before Tim comes zipping back into sight.

Allen immediately turns to follow his winged pal, waving at Ino to join him. Over a few more buildings, and then back to street level by way of a fire escape. There is indeed a conveniently abandoned warehouse that's decently protected, but it's still about two blocks away.

Ino follows, panting slightly and casting paranoid glances over her shoulder. She can't shake the feeling that he's right there, right behind her, only a few meters away. But ... he isn't. He's still the same distance away from her estimations, as if he's - it's - deliberating toying with them. She hates it.

She hops over a group of mutated.... things huddled in a group in the street, gnawing on something that was either another person out or a darkness monster as well. She still wasn't sure what the eating habits were of the monsters.

It's probably best not to look too closely. Allen's doing much the same thing she is. He's well aware the monster is a constant threat no matter where they go or how quickly; adrenaline's keeping him moving, fast. He expects it to show up in front of them at any moment, but it hasn't, yet. What does it want from them? Is its only aim to unsettle them? Or is it simply waiting for them to lower their guard?

Either way, they're coming upon the warehouse soon.

Something makes a lunge for him, but Allen slams it back into a wall with a swing of his sword, and doesn't lose pace. "Hurry!"

The flying golden ball has stopped in front of the entrance, Timcanpy's body shining dimly in the meager light.

"Yes!" She is excited to see safety, reaching forward to open the door to their salvation. Or ram her shoulder into it. Whichever would get the job done. And if Allen would assist, it would be an even simpler task.

She doesn't fully relax until her back is against the door to keep it closed. But even then, it's only a huge sigh of relief and the realization that she's shaking.

All in all, though, she considers it a victory that she's even still alive.

Don't worry, he'll help get that thing open. And help hold it closed as well-- it's fortunate he's a lot stronger than he looks. Even Timcanpy is pressing his squishy body to the door.

In the chaos of getting inside, Allen managed to deactivate his sword, which subsequently and mysteriously vanished, along with the cape he had on; and his left arm has returned, in claw form. He'll likely remain on high alert until dawn.

But he leans back, catching his breath, glancing over at the girl.

"Are you all right?"

She nods, swallowing and holding her breath. She exhales, her panting diminished, and looks up at him. Somebody was looking over them that night for them to have gotten away like they did. She nods again, looking up at him.

"I'm okay. Are you?"

He offers her a smile. The sort that's meant to be comforting and friendly, even if it's a little strained around the edges.

"Perfectly fine."

And, apologetically, "I'm afraid we may have to stay here 'til the sun comes up."

Though he figures she's realized as much.

She nods, and tries a laugh. It's shaky but it helps her relax a little. "I'm not going back out there if I can help it."

Shikamaru would probably give her an earful for going out this late without him - which she probably deserved but come on, Shikamaru, she survived. That had to count for something. She was getting better at combat.

"You won't have to." He hopes... He pauses, listening; he'll take the silence outside as a good sign, for now.

"You can rest, if you need. I'll hold the door."

"I'm okay." She'd rather not move, really. She's thankful her injuries aren't severe, only a few scratches she could heal in the morning when she was home safe.

"I'm Ino Yamanaka, by the way." She figures she might as well introduce herself while they're stuck here.

"Allen Walker.

It's nice to meet you... circumstances aside."

He'd offer to shake hands, but... y'know.

She simply nods. Her thoughts travel to a nice, hot cup of tea she is already planning on having when she gets home.

"How much longer until the sun comes up, do you think?"

He hums in thought, glancing up.

"A few hours, maybe?"

"Ugh," she mutters, rolling her eyes. She wasn't surprised, but she wasn't happy about it. She reaches into the pouch on her waist, pulling out a small water bottle to take a quick drink out of.

She holds it up to Allen. "Do you want any?"

And he looks back down, eyebrows raised at the proffered bottle. "Ah-- Yes, thank you." Dehydrating would probably be bad! He takes it from her, and only takes a small swig before handing it back.

"A few hours won't be too terrible. Waiting may be a bit tedious, but..." It could always be worse! Optimism!

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you shoot me down but i won't fall

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