monsters in the dark

[animusmods]

Characters: any
Setting: all around the Tower; please specify the date and location in your subject header!
Format: any/party-style
Summary: A general mingle log for characters to encounter monsters.
Warnings: PG-13; please include any more detailed warnings in your threads if necessary.

PLEASE USE THIS POST FOR NEW THREADS.

Comments

[seekinganswers]

Whoa--!

[She sees the swipe coming, but not quickly enough to dodge it entirely. It knocks her from the net and she hisses in pain at the bloodied gash that's just found its way onto her arm; moments later she crashes into the pit of balls and sinks below the surface.

When she emerges, it's with an enraged look on her face as she tries to make her way back over to the net. She doesn't want to fall under again. One hand grabs onto the net, and the other is raised into the air in the monster's direction. There's a crackling in the air and a smell of ozone that betrays what's about to happen, and if the monster's paying attention, it'll have more than enough time to move before a bolt of lightning strikes the platform just where it was standing.]

[themonsters]

[The crackling seems to startle it rather than making it work out anything was happening but the monster still moved, leaping down onto the new, crawling down it towards Sheba.]

[seekinganswers]

[This is bad.

Sheba contemplates what would be worse - getting clawed by the monster, or drowning in the ball pit. She doesn't really like either of those options, though, and her mind is racing as she tries to figure out what to do next.

Well, she can't just stay still. Maybe she can outrun it on the nets - it's moving pretty fast, but she has to at least try. So she shifts direction and tries to climb up, just at an angle so she's not going straight for it.]

[themonsters]

[The monster growled as she moved in the other direction, then all of a sudden it was behind her, below her on the net and climbing upwards, though for Sheba no time at all seemed to have passed.]

[seekinganswers]

What--?

[Her heart nearly skips a beat. That - that can't be right. It was there, and then it was gone, and... she looks down and all color drains from her face. It's too close. Running away isn't working.

She twists at the waist, narrows her eyes, and lets go of the net to launch herself towards it as she gathers her energy. A faint ball of white-violet light emerges from her chest and darts towards the monster, solidifying into the form of a Jupiter Djinn as it gets closer. The Djinn glows brightly before calling down a strike of lightning, just as Sheba brings her legs forward to kick at the monster.

The Jupiter Djinni Squall has been unleashed and is standing by for summoning!

But it almost feels futile. If it can move that quickly - it could easily just dodge again. Still, she feels she has to try something.]

[themonsters]

It tried to move to avoid the lightning and growled loudly, almost painfully as the kick connected and it fell down the rope, landing in the balls at the bottom.

[seekinganswers]

That went better than expected.

Sheba's eyes widen as she sees the monster hit the balls, and she fumbles for the net - managing to curl her hand around it just in time to keep herself from falling in. The stop is jarring and the pain in her shoulder makes her cry out, but -

She doesn't want to be caught down there with that thing.

"Gotta keep moving..."

Flinching, and trying to ignore the pain in her shoulder and the pain from the earlier slash, she reaches up to try climbing again to put some distance between herself and the monster. She doesn't want to make it easy for it to follow her, either; she focuses as she climbs, and another orb of light emerges from her chest. This Djinni swirls around her in a haze of vapors, and when they clear -

The Jupiter Djinni Haze has been unleashed and is standing by for summoning!

Well, the room certainly looks as if it's lacking once Jupiter Adept. It's not, though; she's just invisible and trying to climb the net as fast as she can, constantly glancing back over her shoulder to try and keep track of the monster.

[themonsters]

[The monster leaped back at the ropes, growling again as it noticed it's prey had disappeared. It swiped at the ropes themselves, shaking them, letting out another loud growl]

[seekinganswers]

Eeek-!!

[Sheba loses her grip on the the net, and even though plummeting from high up isn't exactly an unfamiliar feeling to her, it's still startling. Not so startling that she can't think of what to do, though.

With two Jupiter Djinn having been unleashed, that means she can summon Atalanta - and so she does, calling on the dormant elemental energy to call forth a heavenly huntress to rain down arrows made of wind as she falls. If this monster is going to take her down, she's going to go down fighting.]

[themonsters]

[The monster growls in pain as the arrows hit but it doesn't stop it from diving towards Sheba, teeth aiming for her side.

If the bite connects Sheba's powers will disappear and she will attack in a mad rage.]

[seekinganswers]

[The bite does connect, and where Sheba should feel pain - she just feels pissed off. She snarls, not even bothering to try casting magic - even if it would work, that would take too long - and lashes out at the monster in any way she can.]

Would you just die already?!

[It doesn't matter to her that she's bleeding. It doesn't matter to her that at close range, she's a lot more vulnerable. She just wants it to die. So she kicks at it and claws at it, trying to rake her nails across its face to draw blood. And while she's at it, she'll go for the mask, too - it would just be so satisfying to blind it, to pull out its eyes and crush them.

...that's assuming it doesn't outright kill her first, anyway.]

[themonsters]

[Her nails scratch but the cuts heal and she is in range. The monsters claws come down on her to tear, to try and rip skin from her arms and her stomach, using it's size and strength to try and overpower her.]

[seekinganswers]

[Overpowering her is easy, really; with her magic disabled and the monster so close, getting away isn't going to be something that Sheba can easily accomplish. Especially not while she's in a blind rage and hurting the monster matters to her than her own safety does. If she'd been thinking clearly she might have been able to roll away while the monster's claws were raised.

But she's not, and the claws come down, and even then she doesn't try to escape - she just lashes out at it with ineffectual scratches and kicks until her wounds are too much and she can't fight back anymore.

The last thing she sees before succumbing is the monster's red mask. And her dying thought is I'll kill you.

It wouldn't happen tonight, but sometime during this month Sheba was going to get her revenge on the growling monster. She was going to do it even if it was the last thing she did. Now that she knows what it can do, she'll be a little more prepared for the second round.]