sirenspull_logs | (no subject)

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Who: Maria Barcelito (

murasamia) and Jake English (

gunsling)
When: January 31, after sirens!
Where: Sector 9 streets.
Summary: What's the point of loving weapons if you're not going to use them? Sword-loving senorita and gun-loving lad go out to fight monsters on their own. Perhaps unwisely.
Warnings: VIOLENCE... maybe language.

Sure, it was sort of a shock to suddenly appear in Canada one fine afternoon. And sure, it was even more shocking for that Canada to also be about 80 years in the future. But let's face it: Maria was a girl of few ties to the world. For the past ten years or so, she'd been a free agent, roaming around the country and sticking around whenever work was good. Only in the past few years had she started settling down in Manhattan, and only in the past half a year or so had she actually found a permanent employer. These few ties were due entirely to the fact that she had even fewer wants - or rather, just one big want.

All she wanted to do was cut. And what Siren's Port lacked in familiarity, it made up for in the amount of new, perfectly sliceable objects, just asking for a taste of steel from Murasamia and Kochite. Vino was here, for one thing; though she was still working out whether it would be appropriate or not to cut him up without orders from Mr. Luck, she was pretty certain it would end up being a matter of whether or not she could control her swords' urge for blood. But in addition to Vino, there were the monsters. Maria never believed in monsters. So, naturally, when she heard from several sources that they were supposed to be here, she went out looking for them. And once she saw that they really were here, they were promptly added to the list of things she wanted to test her blades against.

So that was exactly what she was doing, of course.

There was still a decent amount of snow on the ground from the recent blizzards, but that didn't seem to be much an obstacle to Maria's footwork; it wasn't like she'd gone out looking for a huge gaggle of these small, apelike monsters (though their faces looked more like human babies), but that's what she got. Or had gotten, anyway. There were four or five of them laying motionless or even in pieces around her, the snow blackened with their oily blood, and the one still left moving, currently in the process of trying to rip her face off, by all appearances, was quickly and neatly impaled before being thrown to the ground with a swing of her sword arm. Her immediate reaction wasn't to clean the gore off the delicate blade, but rather to wipe off some icky monster residue from her face.

"That's nasty, amigo... Better come out of my hair." Mumbling to herself as she flicks away the debris, but it only occupies her attention for a moment - in half a second, her grip tightens on the two Japanese swords in her hands, and she raises them in front of her, pivoting in a circle.

"Is that all there is? That wasn't even hard! Come on!!"

Because shouting blindly into the darkness (or Darkness, rather) is always a wise course of action.

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Jake was a different story completely. He'd never worked in any sort of organized crime group, hell, he'd never been in a city before in his life. If they were being completely honest Jake wasn't exactly used to being people either... any people. His little island was completely isolated from human contact, and it meant a lot of the hustle and bustle that went around the city during the day really throw Jake for a loop. It didn't matter how many movies he'd see with large crowds of people walking down some street or another, nothing on the screen could really prepare him for being in these sort of situations.

There was one thing that Jake was familiar with here, however, and that was monsters. Yes, for all he had no idea what to do with buildings and people and crowds, he was completely at home with a blood thirsty beast trying to run him down nightly. That, on top of his recent homeless stint had sort of forced Jake into a night of nocturnal living. Not that he really minded that much when he didn't have a home, he was going to be chilled to the bone no matter what time of day or night it was. Of course he was a boy from a tropical island, so the cold was terribly cold no matter what, but he'd slowly been adjusting to it. Now that he had a place to say, however, it was noticeable how different the cold night air was compared to the day, especially when the only pair of pants you happened to own stopped midway down your thighs.

Of course, all of this history wasn't on his mind as he was slinking through the darkness, it was more just variations of thinking about how friggin cold it was outside, and wondering why he'd decided to head out. The better question was where he even was? He was fairly certain he'd yet to be in this part of the city, and he wasn't too keen on the idea of trying to contact one of the few people he vaguely knew here in Siren's Port to come and fetch him, and the only person he was comfortable enough to ask something like that from was newer to the island than he was.

He was jolted out of those thoughts however when he heard the sound of a girl yelling. It didn't take long for Jake to spring into action, dashing down the street in the direction of her voice having already made the assumption that someone yelling at this time meant something had gone south for them in a fight with a particularly nasty monster.

More like the monsters had gotten into a fight with a particularly nasty girl. Maria stood around pouting for a few seconds, swords still raised in front of her, before sighing, letting the bloodstained blades fall to her sides. So that was really it? Well, anyone who had been on the island longer than her would probably say "no, they're never done," but she didn't know that. Looks like she'd have to go wandering a bit further to find some more monsters to play with...

Or not. It was (obviously) dark as hell out, and while Maria was already learning the benefits of keeping a flashlight on her person, she found herself relying on her ears more for quick reactions than her eyes. And she was pretty certain she just heard something coming from down the street. A grin splays across her face, and her feet immediately begin moving in that direction.

The thought that it might not be a monster never crosses her mind. Or if it did, she didn't pay it any attention. Truth was, she didn't care. If it was a person wandering around at night, they'd probably be worth chopping up too, right? So when the distance between them has closed (even though she's pretty sure she saw a flash of green and didn't think any monsters around here were green), the first thing she does isn't to slow down and offer a greeting, but to keep moving with her momentum and leap at Jake full-on, katanas poised for the kill.

"Found you!"

There were a few things in life Jake has gotten used to, and unfortunately one of them happened to be maniacs wielding katanas. Now of course his specific sword slinging crazy only happened to have one weapon on him, and also happened to be a robot. This meant that while he was debatably not as dangerously armed, he also had certain benefits when fighting Jake that Maria didn't have... mostly being that he was made of metal and how the fuck do you hurt a metal man?

Either way, it does mean that while Jake was definitely taken unaware by the sudden assault, he's had enough unwitting training forced on him through his wrestlebot to be able to side step the oncoming attack, and move the heck out of her warpath! Which didn't mean much except that for a few more seconds Jake English gets to keep his head attached to his neck. A small victory for the little guy.

The real problem now was trying to convince the girl to calm down and put the swords away, or at the very least not lunge pointy end first at his face. He was making the bold assumption here that she was just overreacting to sounds and shapes moving in the night, what with all the monsters about, and that a little warning that he was in fact human would set things.

"Jiminy Christ!! You could have killed me with that!"

Nuts, she missed! Well, if it was good enough to evade her, it was probably a monster worth fighting, right? She lands a little heavily on one foot, but she pivots quickly, crossing her swords in front of her and preparing to bear down on the... teenage boy?

Wait a minute.

Maria actually does stop, mostly because it's so unexpected (okay, it's helping a little bit that he's not trying to kill her back - that brings her bloodlust down a notch.) Lowering her blades a few inches, she tilts her head at him, looking puzzled.

"Of course I could've! But you're not a monster. Hmm..." Should she press the assault or not? Well, she really shouldn't kill people she hasn't been ordered to, but... "How'd you dodge my swords, huh?"

Jake was able to breathe a small sigh of relief as the swords were lowered and the attack stopped. Good, he'd manage to grab her attention long enough for her to realize he was a human as well! He wasn't really sure why she wasn't putting the swords away now that he knew, but at least she'd stopped and that was the important thing. Besides, a girl like her out in dangerous city like this one, he couldn't really blame her if she wanted to stay ready and alert just incase he wasn't the only intruder that came along, one that may be a little less human than himself.

The question puzzled him for a minute, he was pretty sure how he had managed that hadn't been that hard to tell... had it? Well, either way, it would be rude not to answer her question, even if the answer should be obvious.

"I stepped off to the side."

Maria heaves a very melodramatic sigh.

"Obviously, amigo!! Like I didn't know that! If you hadn't stepped off to the side, you'd be impaled right on the fun end of Murasamia, right?" She carelessly points the sharp katana his way, the tip still smeared with a Darkness monster's oily blood, and apparently thinks nothing of pointing a weapon at a stranger she just met. "But a normal person can't just step out of Murasamia's way, you know? You're not normal? Huh?"

Pause. "You a fighter, amigo?" Her voice has a hint of excitement, dropping to a conspiratorial hiss.

Even in the horrible lack of light they had, Jake could just make out the blood on the end, something about it was particularly unpleasant. And this from a guy who had seen a lot of blood in his time! ... Often his own, but that was neither here nor there.

What mattered was that despite having a sword swung around at his face, Jake only leaned back slightly. As long as she didn't look like she was going to take another lunge at him he supposed it didn't really matter how she wanted to wave it around. No harm no foul in the end. Besides, it seemed she was offering him some sort of praise for being able to sidestep the attack! Admittedly he hadn't done much more than scramble out of the way of certain death, and barely managed that, but vague praise was vague praise and Jake wasn't about to dismiss it.

"I like to think of myself as more of an adventurer, but I'm never one to turn down a good skirmish!" There's nothing secretive about his tone, the boast is loud, proud and probably a little less well deserved than it should be.

"Adventurer!" That sounds cool - and she's not hiding the fact that she thinks so, judging by her excited voice. She jabs the sword in his direction a bit more, taking a few steps closer. "That sounds pretty snazzy, amigo! Especially the skirmishing! You seen lots of things adventuring? And fought lots of things?"

Only after saying that does she retract the katana, instead holding it evenly at her side, parallel to the other one in her opposite hand. "You ever fight a samurai, amigo?"

Maria retains a playful tone, almost childish, but her grip and stance certainly don't seem to be fooling around - even if she is.

Lots of adventuring? Ha! Jake wished. Then again, he had sort of built himself up with that comment, even if there was nothing particularly adventurous about his actual life, so he couldn't blame her for thinking so. Actually, he was almost surprised she believed him so readily! Which really just made coming clean about the whole thing that much more awkward.

He reached up to scratch the back of his neck before letting his arm drop limp back to his side. A few more seconds of hesitation passed before he actually responded to that question. "Not... samurais particularly. I fought some... thing with a katana once if that counts?"

A robot... the only thing he'd ever fought in his life.... He really should just fess up right now. "It's not that I've really had a chance to go on any adventures yet. But I do have plans for that to change!"

Lesson one about Maria: she can be a little bit gullible. And exciteable. One feeds the other, honestly. Maria tilts her head with a "hmm," staring at Jake suspiciously for a moment while she considers that. Not really gone on adventures yet? Fought something with a katana?

"Alright... Okay! I got it! Since you're in Canada now, your adventure's started! And that means you're gonna have your first skirmish, amigo! Right now, with New York City's best samurai!!" She grins hugely, barely finishing her sentence before lunging towards him -- and immediately getting tackled to the ground with a yelp, an unseen Darkness monster barreling straight into her. Looked like one of the apes she was fighting earlier, except... bigger. And distinctly not-babylike. Whoops. One of her swords immediately shoots up through its back, but its current impalement doesn't seem to distract it from her... not yet.

She was finally going to fight someone interesting, and this just had to happen!!

Her logic made some sense to him. Well sure, of course his adventure had just started! After all he was finally off the blasted island he'd been stuck on his entire life! ... Now he was stuck on a new one, but this one at least had people as well as monsters. It was an improvement of sorts as far as he was concerned. Of course that wasn't going to be something he'd be able to enjoy for long if she didn't stop trying to impale him on that sword of hers.

Before Jake had a chance to even react though she was being tackled do the ground. Who would have though he'd be saved by a monster? There was a moment of hesitation on his part before he pulled his handguns out of his strife deck. While Maria does seem to be handling the monster well enough on her own, Jake wouldn't be much of a gentleman (or any kind of man at all!) if he just let the girl get assaulted by the beast.

So taking aim (easy to do this close up) and waiting for the monster to lift it's head up enough that Jake could be sure he wouldn't hit Maria by accident, Jake fired a shot at its head.

It's a bad sign when her logic starts making sense... But still, Maria's beaten to the punch of killing the monster by Jake's gunshot, and she watches with surprise as it rolls off of her and dies in a smelly heap a few inches away. So he could fight! She rolls to her feet with the grace of seasoned fighter, grinning over at the younger boy and shaking out her ponytail as if she hadn't just been pinned to the ground by a nightmarish monstrosity.

Her voice is equally cheerful and nonplussed. "Not bad for using a couple of those nasty weapons, amigo! I guess that means I owe you one. Just a little one! What's your name, huh? Ah--" Interrupting herself, she darts forward, passing by Jake to swiftly impale another monster coming up towards them - a lucky stroke on her part, considering how tough the Darkness monsters were. And she quickly gets to yelling at its corpse as she tries to bat it off the end of her katana. "Hey! Can't you see I'm having a conversation, amigo? Back off! It doesn't matter if a hundred of you show up! I'll cut you all!!"

There are times when you just shouldn't say certain things. This was probably one of them. Her loud voice seems to have caught the attention of other monsters. A lot of other monsters. Suddenly, the alleyway is filled with growling and slobbering noises.

Maria blinks. She hadn't... really been serious about that challenge...

Jake was just glad to see that she was able to hop to her feet so easily! He hadn't really seen if the monster had gotten a good hit in on her or not, but it seemed like she was okay after all. The whole thing would be a huge relief to him if she hadn't darted towards him again.

Jake's first thought was that she was about to try to stab him again, before even waiting for him to answer her question about his name! It was only until she'd passed by him and started her yelling that he managed to grasp that another monster had shown up and she was returning the favor. Tit for tat, he killed the monster that attacked her, she was taking care of the one sneaking up on his blind spot.

It was actually the growling and sounds of movement from the darkness (not Maria's screaming) that got Jake to turn his head towards her, and just seeing the sheer number of monsters that seemed to be alerted towards their little scuffle took the breath right out of him.

Well... fuck.

He glanced behind them, praying that at least that way would be clear and they could make a beeline out of here. Jake didn't know exactly how strong these monsters were, but he knew a little something about picking fights with hungry enemies stronger than yourself, and how badly that tended to end.

Yeah... Yeah it looked like they could probably make it without having to fight their way out of this.

"Maybe now isn't the best time to test out how literally you meant that."

That was... more monsters than she was expecting. Maria actually looks somewhat frazzled for once, but -- then she puffs out her chest. "H -- haha, what are you talking about, amigo? This is nothing! I'll just cut right through--"

About then, the monsters seemed to get tired of waiting to pounce (or just tired of listening to her voice - reasonable enough), and the shadows shifted as the angry family of the slain baby monsters started lumbering with alarming speed towards the two of them.

Change of plans. She blanches for a moment, and then turns quickly on her heels, running past Jake as fast as she could. She might not be the brightest crayon in the box, but she had enough survival skills to have stayed alive this long...

"Uhh -- this is a strategic retreat!!"

If it weren't for the fact that Maria was a young woman, Jake might actually be ticked about being left behind to be monster bait while she ran off ahead of him. As it was, he had just enough chivalry in him to fire a few shots into the oncoming horde while she whisked past him, before he turned and started to sprint after her.

It was a good thing Jake had become so used to outrunning monsters on a near daily basis, because that old saying about only needing to be faster than your slowest friend was starting to look scarily true where these things were concerned. For all they looked like dumb, lumbering brutes they were keeping up the pace disturbingly well.

Which meant if Jake didn't want to become a midnight snack, he was going to have to speed it up here, because Maria already had herself a nice head start on him.

Directions, directions... Screw it, she was awful at directions, especially when it was dark out. Half-skidding through the grimy streets as she shoves her katanas back into their sheaths, she glances around nervously for some signal on which way to turn. There was a light around somewhere, right? She remembered seeing it... sometimes. Honestly, she'd been planning on going until the break of dawn. Maria didn't think monsters could think enough to gang up on her.

The gunshots made her turn her head, and she was a little surprised to see this kid sticking with her - and apparently being helpful, to boot! That might be a stroke of luck. Even with her swords on their side, 2 people were still better than one for dealing with a whole lot of monsters. And if it made him feel better, she hadn't been intentionally leaving him there as bait...

On the other hand, walls were not something that could be dealt with any better if there were two of them. She skids to a stop at their blocked package - some huge 18-wheeler rusting away in the middle of the street, courtesy of the Darkness. Great. Maria makes the split-second and completely baseless decision to take a left into the nearest alleyway - but this time she does have the heart to beckon to Jake too. "Come on! This way, amigo!"

Alleyways are definitely safer at night.

It didn't even take Jake a moment to consider when Maria called out for him to follow her. The good news was with all his practice Jake is able to run and shoot at the same time. It was always easier to do when facing the target and running towards them than it was when running from something, but Jake had pretty decent aim at least. He wasn't hitting all of them, and he sure as hell wasn't landing a lot of kill shots if any! But he was slowly them down, and right now that's all that really mattered.

Finally catching up the alley she turned down Jake stashed his guns into his strife deck and darted around the corner. He might be able to shoot and run at once, but he could definitely run a hell of a lot faster when he wasn't distracted and half twisted around.

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And then a week later /sobs

no problemo dude! \o/ I BACKTAG FOREVER

OH GOOD!!

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waugh I can't html tonight

it's okay ;asdf

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