towerofanimus | Log 022 | Monster Hunting

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Log 022 | Monster Hunting

Characters: Sephiroth, Any Monsters & Anyone Else
Setting: Floors 41 -43 - 45 as in below & Sub-threads - throughout the Monster ~~game~~ event (15th-26th June)
Format: Usual long-Prose, Action prompts as Sub-threads. Can switch.
Summary: Somewhat catch-all: The ~~ULTIMATE~~ Jail-cell Tactic & Sub-threads as described. [Open at any point to All] *OOC Note: This may turn into a 'running-log', depending on how the event progresses. I'll add more sub-threads/update the date range/warnings later. Sephiroth may not even keep this tactic up all event but this is the plan at least to start with.*
Warnings: Monsters-related fights/gore/injury/death. Sephiroth-related general warning.

Well clearly then, he's been playing the game wrong.

Though he's fairly sure that the first monster hadn't gotten back up after being decapitated Sephiroth hadn't hung around to check. Fact remains, it was becoming more and more dangerous every night after dark and more monsters had to be coming from somewhere. He'd started out so keen to hunt them all down personally if that's what it took to end this silly game.

Then there had been Ruana, taunting them all from the safety of the network. Though at least that had been a relatively good use of his time. He'd have to start putting monsters to people before this would get any more out of hand; not just for his own personal safety around the Tower anymore though. No, just to prove that he could do it. He could win. This game called strongly to a part of him that he'd spent a lot of effort keeping in check and only indulging in when it suited, that part that liked to kill. There was a certain jubilation in asserting enough control over another being to have the power to end it's life.

Each victory. Even against the usual fare of monsters in the Tower, reminded Sephiroth that despite the limited containment within the Tower, his skills weren't suffering as a result. He's still as sharp as the first day that he came here, perhaps more-so on account of what he- or rather, his soul- has ~~learned~~ experienced here.

There was a tactic that begged to be tried, but it could only work under the right set of delicate circumstances.

Step One, find a monster.
Step Two, capture/lure, or otherwise incapacitate/kill said monster and drag it to the 43rd Floor
Step three, throw it in a cell until morning
Rinse and repeat.

Then he'd deal with whomever turned out to be a monster, after they turned back.

Simple right? Not really. There was the question of how many floors around the jailcell floor he could afford to monitor whilst at the same time making sure (provided he caught one) that nothing somehow came out of somewhere to release the monster. Dealing with one at a time was bad enough, and sitting all night guarding one jail cell for one monster per night wouldn't be enough. Other monsters could be making more even as he ensured one wouldn't. On the other hand, Sephiroth knew he'd have big problems dealing with more than one of those at a time if they did get loose again before day. He might be an expert, appreciating of the challenge as well but he figured it'd take them all of a few seconds to rip him to pieces.

What a way to go. Though if this proves fruitful...

Sephiroth had settled for patrolling the stairwells between Floor 41 and Floor 45 to see how well this plan could be worked. Two up from the Jails, two down. Seemed logical. Floor 41 is an elevator-serving floor, this would be where the monsters could get under his radar. He wouldn't even have to step onto the floor much to launch a fireball at a mask if he saw one dancing inside the swarming, crushing mass of insects - just to attract attention before darting up the stairs. Floor 42 could be looked in on but he'd best be careful if one managed to chase him in there, he's not too sure about the extent these monsters disable powers but his telekinetic flight would be crucial there. He'd avoid leaving the stairwell on this Floor where possible. Up to Floor 44 and 45 would be patrolled as well just in case any one of them would come down behind him.

15th - 21st June Prompts:
A Bathroom Infirmary Cafeteria Dormitory Level 3 - Dorm 03-02

June 20th: 3rd Floor Library

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[The laughter turns into a strangled sound as the monster is thrown back. It stumbles, falls flat on the ground, and then struggles up to its feet. By then Sephiroth is back on the stairs.

Oh, no, it can't have that. If Sephiroth is going to leave then it's going to follow. The monster darts after him in pursuit.]

[He doesn't even look back for the entire first stairwell, opting even to leap the last few steps down before pausing to look back to make sure the monster was following. He doesn't have room to swing Masamune around much in the stairwells, other than in maneuvers that keep the sword very close to his body. But on the other hand he wants to keep the monsters attention and it will be easier to get into a jail cell if it's at least somewhat injured beforehand. Besides, it's not like they stay dead.

He waits for the monster to catch up, Masamume still curled behind his left arm. The materia equipped to it's hilt flares up in the meantime and Sephiroth's right open hand summons a fireball ready to be thrown.]

[It isn't the sword that stops the monster in its tracks, but the fire. It isn't a cry of terror that it lets out, but a bout of almost nervous-sounding hysteric laughter.

It backs up, pads in a circle on the stairwell, its gaze whipping from the fire to Sephiroth over and over again. It bares its teeth and starts to lunge forward but, but then pauses and backs up with a small whine.

This monster, at least, is not fond of fire. Sephiroth will have a few spare moments as it weighs its dislike of fire against its urge to rip into his flesh, tear his throat out, and feast on his blood. The urge to kill outweighs the discomfort, however, and the monster launches itself at him, claws and teeth at the ready.]

[How intriguing, watching the monster take it's time to decide. Apparently doesn't like fire all that much. He could use this-

-then, without much warning at all the monster launches at him. The fireball he's been holding in his grip is flicked forwards towards it urgently, though there isn't much room at this point and he has to turn his face away from the heatwave when the fireball impacts.]

[The blistering wave of heat washes over the monster and it shrieks, shifting a little to the side so that it can slam into the wall. It throws itself against it again and again, trying to put out the flames.

It's laughing with each sharp thud, and suddenly, with no real warning at all, with smoking limbs and what would undoubtedly be a manic look in its eye if Sephiroth could see behind the mask, it turns and lunges for him, jaws snapping.]

[That would have been goodbye to one of his famous silver bangs had that fireball been an inch closer. The heat left an imprint on his cheek which was a little stingy when he turned his head back to see what had happened to the monster. It was just a little like sunburn though, it would go off.

Instead of taking the opportunity to descend the next flight of stairs though Sephiroth watched, somewhat amused at the odd mix of shrieking, laughing and thudding that was going on with it as the monster puts out the flames.

He certainly wasn't expecting it to suddenly stop, turn and lunge for him all in one fluid motion like that. He backs up, and there is wall at his back. Oh sh- His reflexes are quick though and both arms are thrown in front, crossing horizontally, to block any access to his more vulnerable neck and chest parts; the edge of Masamune lining the forearm closest to the monster. He'd have to take a bite around that forearm again but surely it'd let go once he pushes the edge of Masamune along inside it's mouth.]

[Its jaws lock around Sephiroth's arm and the sword and the monster shifts to try and dig its teeth into the man's flesh. If it succeeds before Sephiroth pushes his sword's edge against his moth, Sephiroth will feel the (familiar, now, since he's already had a scuffle with a Laughing Monster in the past) sensation of absolute euphoria, of unbridled joy and complete happiness, shoot through him.

The monster's teeth dislodge from his arm and it definitely does back up when it feels the cool steel of the sword though. It half-growls, half-chuckles, staring up into Sephiroth's face.

And then it suddenly darts to the left and again, claws out this time. But it's not aiming for his neck or his. It's aiming to take out Sephiroth's kneecaps and force him to double over.]

[If anything the leather of his jacket would give a tough wrapper to his flesh but after a little worrying the teeth find purchase. A sharp intake of breath is taken as those tiny daggers slide into his arm, but any sense of urgency is quickly melted away as that warm rush of euphoria hits as hard as it had the first time.

Sephiroth even relaxes slightly in the monsters grasp before the edge of his sword is forced along the inside of the monsters mouth and it then backs up.

He remembers this feeling, though, and tries to shake it off. He can't let it paralyze him again, last time it very nearly cost him his life...but he feels oh-so elated, on top of the world. Like everything is going completely his way. With a relaxed, rarely seen smile he leans back against the wall again. He catches movement in the corner of his eye-

Feeling joyful only increases his confidence though. Sephiroth smiles wider and Masamune is swept from his side in a diagonal slash at the monster; uncaring about scraping the close-walls of the stairwell now. Though he wouldn't feel unhappy at all if the monster still did manage to catch a knee and bring him down to one in the meantime.]

[The slash of the sword catches the monster and tears open its flesh with a sickening squelch. But the monster turns its head, giving Sephiroth a moment or two to collect himself, and sinks its teeth into its own shoulder.

The rush of euphoria is enough of a distraction that it doesn't care about the pain. It only cares about the joy of the hunt, anticipates the taste of skin and entrails.

It snaps at Sephiroth's legs again, though its movements are staggered, a sure sign that in spite of its willingness to keep going, it has been injured pretty seriously. But that doesn't matter to it. Its prey is so close. If it can get in range of that pretty little neck... but to do that it has to bring the man down.]

[He has no where to go backwards to get away from the monster and so Sephiroth takes the moments pause to circle around the monster some so he's not flat with his back against the wall. He backs towards the nearby flight of stairs a little, before the monster comes for his legs again.

But he's so happy, that wide grin is unwavering. He's even more so pleased with the way he's been able to apparently seriously injure the monster. That squelching sound as his sword tore open it's flesh...just divine...just look at the way it's having to stagger towards him-

He delayed only a second in his overconfident dodge and the jaws snap shut around an ankle as a reward. Boot leather is tough and hopefully prevents the teeth from breaking through right away; though it's enough to knock Sephiroth's balance. Masamune is dropped into nothingness and he makes a grab for the railing to stop himself from being pulled to the floor; how amusing. He's chuckling lowly, in spite of himself as he holds onto the railing and kicks at the monster with his other leg.]

[The monster's teeth dig into Sephiroth's boots and though it can't break through to his skin, it jerks its head back and forth to further try and pull Sephiroth off-balance. The kicking doesn't seem to bother it overmuch. At least, not the way the slicing did.

Eventually, though, a kick does land in just the right way so as to make the monster release his leg with a whine that almost sounds like a strangled laugh. The monster backs off a few feet and then leaps, jaws wide, aiming for Sephiroth's neck.

Of course, with the man's giggling, he could probably easily dodge it. It wasn't as if he was entirely incapacitated.]

[The kicks just got harsher and harsher. If he kicked much harder, coupled with the way the monster thrashed around, he might end up breaking his own ankle inside the monster mouth. He could already feel the captured limb being strained and twisted in ways that wouldn't do him much good for getting away by putting weight on it, the adrenaline coursing is just heightening his euphoric state though. The world is narrowed to this encounter alone.

Though finally, that last kick succeeded to get the monster to let go. Sephiroth finds this highly amusing at this point. He's laughing as he clings to the railing and watched the monster back off-

A split second later and it might well have found it's jaws slipping through silver hair to find the side of his neck but Sephiroth reacts at the last instant. Tucking his head down so that his pauldrons will deflect the incoming attack and then rolling away.

He must move, now. Grabbing onto the railing on the other side of the stairs he hauls himself to his feet. Putting weight on that twisted ankle is like putting the bottom of his leg in molten fire though, he 'hmphs' much too happily about it and takes his weight off. Trying to focus through the euphoria now to get his telekinetic abilities to help. As natural as breathing, a large black wing sprouts from his right side and he makes a leap down the next flight of stairs; trying his hardest not to land not to heavily, if at all, on that damaged ankle.

The result is a part-leap, part-fall, part-fly down to the next level.]

[The monster seems disappointed. Its laughter is less euphoric now and much more derisive and bitter.

It turns to pursue Sephiroth down the stairs, leaving a trail of blood where it steps. It's clearly fatigued, but unwilling to give up just yet. Sephiroth isn't dead yet. It hasn't felt the oh-so-satisfying crunch of bones under its teeth, hasn't torn him limb from limb and devoured his entrails. And it so wants that.

The wing seems to surprise it, but not for long. It hurls itself down the stairwell after Sephiroth, jaw open wide to try and get a mouthful of black feathers.]

[Landing is awkward, concentrating on balancing telekinetically whilst airborne and then having to adjust his weight so he wasn't putting too much on that ankle results in a overcompensated stumble to the floor once he stops levitating. The euphoria is wearing off, though he's still left with a bit of an afterglow which is causing problems with his usually focused concentration.

At least he's got to the 43rd floor now. Even if he kills the monster now, he can drag it's corpse and fling it into one of the cells-

Though instantly Sephiroth has hands underneath him to push him up from the floor; and his wing extended as if to help, the monster then pretty much lands on his back. He can feel it's jaws around the wing but gets rid of the same in much the same way Masamune was vanished - a plume of smoky, disintegrating feathers would be all the monster is chewing on.

Hopefully it's enough of a distraction at least for him to buck the monster off and make for the doorway onto the 43rd floor. Crawling first away before he can his good foot underneath him.]

[The monster looks vaguely confused when the wing vanishes and it's left with nothing more than smoky feathers. It looks at Sephiroth, and if its expression could speak, it would say, Why'd you take away my snack?

The man crawls towards the entrance to the jailcell floor and the monster pads after him before stopping dead in its tracks. It cocks its head to the side, makes a distressed-sounding noise, and then turns around and runs back up the stairs.

It is too close to morning. It needs to find somewhere safe, alone, to transform back. Sephiroth isn't ripped to shreds by the monster, but he doesn't have anything to show for it either.]

[He's left lying on the floor of a stairwell waiting for the rest of the effects of the euphoria bite to wear off before moving. It'll be a long, tired, sometimes-limping climb back up to the Dormitories and his morning clean up.]

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Log 022 | Monster Hunting

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