1025/This Wardrobe Is a Menace!

This Wardrobe Is a Menace!
Date of Scene:	25 November 2014
Location:	Fall
Synopsis:	Thranduil learns that some fashion choices are very, very bad for fighting zombies. Thankfully Haru is there to run interference.
Cast of Characters:	143, 592

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Haru (143) has posed:
Fall is a place of perpetual harvest and autumn. The leaves on the trees are always falling, and the crops are always offering up their bounty. Celebrations of autumn and the harvest are almost perpetual parties here, and sweets and pastries tend to be favored thanks to the 'Halloween' celebrations.

But not everyone who looks like a ghoul is in costume. And while there are zombies that live like normal people... there are also those who don't. For every one that does, there's another that only pretends to. For them all it would take would be the sense of life, the scent of living flesh that is oh-so alluring and delicious to those who pretend to mean no harm, for the illusion to fall...

The sight of the zombies living as normal people is likely to shock one who is not accustomed to such sights. They mill about the village, stopping to converse with each other (in more than just 'areeeeeeooooww' sounds, mind you... these can actually speak), even harvesting in the fields. There are, however, a few that don't speak with the others. They group together like a typical gang of toughs, in dark places and alleys, peering out to see what mischief they can get into...

Thranduil (592) has posed:
     Thranduil loves autumn, and is strolling through the environment, hands clasped behind his back. His long robe trails on the ground behind him yet never seems to get dirty. His long, pale hair blows back in the wind as he closes his eyes, taking a deep breath to take in the smells of autumn. It's been a long time since he's been near a forest that wasn't tainted and sick.

     Glancing around to observe the locals, Thranduil's promenant eyebrows lower when he takes in the sight of undead, the fingertips of one slender hand lightly touching the hilt of his ornanate sword.

Haru (143) has posed:
Most of the undead either ignore Thranduil completely, merely glance in his direction and then look back to whatever they were doing, or wave pleasantly. There are a few children (somehow) that, much like human children, stop and stare at him in awe. He is so very tall! And pretty! And his clothes are shiny! And he does not have skin missing!

Though, that said, these zombies are in better states than some-- only their clammy-looking skin and sunken eyes really betray their undead-ness. Very few have missing skin or visible bones. Most have both of their eyes, and those that don't have been polite enough to not leave it hanging out of their faces. So there's not really much gore going on here.

But Thranduil's passage doesn't go completely unnoticed. There are eyes in the alleyways, gleaming yellow, fixed on the Elf-King. The eyes follow him, when he leaves the sight range of one alley, they pop up in another. Watching, following... waiting....

Thranduil (592) has posed:
     Thranduil's senses prickle at the back of his mind, causing him to turn his ice blue gaze toward the alleys briefly, then looks away to continue watching the undead walk. He can't help but feel that something is watching him, so he keeps turning his eyes to the side, then begins walking more swiftly, his hair and robe bouncing slightly with his gait.

     His hand wraps around the hilt of his sword, ready to draw it if his paranoia turns out to actually be a threat.

Haru (143) has posed:
As it so turns out, this time his paranoia most definitely is warranted! The first sign that something is amiss is that the 'normal' zombies just... disappear. Not literally, no... but they seem to very quickly vacate the area. As if they know something's up. Or that something is about to happen. And... it does.

There's a shriek and something leaps out of the darkness of an alley... lots of somethings. They move like a blur, but Thranduil's greater speed is likely to give him a bonus here. He's used to MOVING faster, so he should be able to see things that also move faster than a human. So he'll see what it is. It's a handful of zombies! Their hands reach, mouths are agape, and teeth ready to tear into flesh!

Thranduil (592) has posed:
     Thranduil's sword is drawn and swept in a wide arc to try and clip at least a couple of them and remove their heads. He tries to compensate for being taken slightly off guard. He wasn't expecting these, so he is a hair slow to respond.

     "Begone, foul creatures. You are not welcome."

     The Elvenking takes several steps back to try and give himself more room to swing his ornate sword, grimacing as sharp fingers scrape his skin.

Haru (143) has posed:
Snip! One of the zombies no longer has a head! It stumbles, and its arms wheels about comically as it seems to search for its missing head for a moment, before collaping. Headless zombies usually means dead zombies. Well, re-dead zombies.

The zombies don't seem to be heeding Thranduil's words, though. In fact a few start to laugh. At least they can understand him, or at least they seem to be able to. Scrape scrape... hands with sharp, split nails grab for the Elf-King. Delicious flesh--

WHAM! A large rock flies in from seemingly nowhere, knocking one of the zombies grabbing at Thrnaduil away. The zombies pause a moment, to see what happened.

There is a young man a short distance away. Human, given his ears. Dark skin and brown hair, spring green eyes, and a bit of a moustache. His hair's partly in a topknot, but left mostly down. He wears a long light green tunic with dark-green trim, greyish-brown sleeves and pants, and darker brown shoes and ankle-wraps. The clothing might look familiar.

This young fellow runs over to where Thranduil is... though 'run' is not exactly what he does. With a sweeping motion of his hand, he raises a large enough stone from the ground for him to stand on, and sort of... flies over. "Are you all right, sir?" Yeah, even Haru knows this pointy-eared dude is a person of some import.

Thranduil (592) has posed:
     The Elvenking's outfit isn't exactly meant for combat, so his usually graceful movements are a bit restricted. He grunts and sweeps his sword out again, merely blinking when one of the zombies is wrecked by an incoming rock. He expects to see Toph but sees a young man instead. "You seem to have changed, Toph." He says flatly, placing his other hand on the hilt of the sword to swing down at another zombie.

Haru (143) has posed:
Thranduil's strike takes the arm of a second zombie! As it reels in surprise from losing the limb, its balance upset, the young man sweeps his arms upwards, raising a stone from the ground, and then using a punching motion to send it into the same zombie. There's now four zombies left.

As for the young man, it's not just his looks that are different. Toph's skills involved a lot of slamming her feet into the ground, in fact most of what she did involved her feet. This fellow seems the opposite, using his hands to move the stones. He's very much the 'crane' of 'tiger and crane'. His eyes are focused, and he's looking around, so he lacks Toph's blindness.

All in mind, this is probably not Toph. In fact, he blinks. "Oh, er... s-she's my teacher, sir," he ventures meekly. DEFINTELY not Toph, with that attitude.

Thranduil (592) has posed:
     Thranduil locks his gaze upon Haru, giving the zombies an opening to get their hands on him. He runs one through with his sword, then trips as one snares his movements by unintentionally standing on the long train of his robe and he clatters to the ground, his sword escaping his hand and slides across the ground. If one were to pick it up, it would feel very light, like an extension of the arm. It might also feel as though it has a faint buzz to it. Thranduil tries to get up, unhooking the lower clasps of his robe, revealing the fact that he does indeed wear clothes beneath the long flowing garment. The Sindaran Elf definitely looks angry at this point. "Your teacher. How can she be your teacher when you are obviously older?" Being attacked by the undead and he still finds time for snark.

Haru (143) has posed:
Now knocked down to three, the zombies take the opening Thranduil provides as he trips on his robe, to lunge at him. That's when the young man interposes himself between the Elvenking and the approaching zombies. And here he displays some of Toph's technique here, slamming a heel onto the ground with a forward 'scuffing' motion, to send up a wall between himself and the zombies. That should give Thranduil enough time to stand up. It gives HIM enough time to answer truthfully.

He doesn't completely take his eyes off the zombies though, instead he turns around to look at Thranduil. "With all due respect, sir... if you'd seen exactly what Sifu Toph can do, you wouldn't need to ask that," he replies to the question. Seems he DOES have some backbone! "Toph Beifong is the greatest earthbender in my world. She learned to earthbend from creatures that do it as easily as breathing. She does it that easily too."

When the zombies come out from behind the wall (these aren't the stupid lumbering ones, after all) he shifts to a battle stance. Hopefully Thranduil's gotten up off the ground by then!

Thranduil (592) has posed:
     Thranduil rises to his feet and adjusts his crown, looking around. More zombies are coming,, and his sword is just out of reach. He looks to Haru and retorts "She is an ally to the woodland realm. She created extra caverns so that we may have a safer place to retreat to should we be under seige by the forces of the Necromancer." One of the zombies manages to crosscheck him, sending him crashing back to the ground in a heap of silver robe and nearly white hair. He is not having a very good day it seems, but it gives Haru a chance to be a hero and save a King!

Haru (143) has posed:
Haru takes the opportunity, though only because Thranduil is in trouble. Toph would have earthspiked the zombies into oblivion. Haru, on the other hand, gives a focused kiai-cry of effort and quickly kneels to slam his fist into the ground. This sends the piece of ground that the zombie's standing on into the air. It's not likely to be fun for the zombie once he lands again.

Concentrating on the zombies, Haru again interposes himself between the Elvenking and the remaining two threats. He sweeps his hands out, then presses them down at his sides, palm down. The ground under the zombies abruptly drops, leaving them buried to their waists. They're not out of the fight, but they'll need to dig themselves out to threaten them further. Which they quickly begin doing. Thranduil has a free shot at the both of the remaining threats.

"I think I heard about that," Haru replies. Well, read a report, anyway. He's still looking at the zombies, though. Just in case. "I'm glad it'll help." Surprisingly no, Thranduil's attitude isn't getting on Haru's nerves. Thranduil can't be as bad as the five years the Fire Nation held his village hostage.

Thranduil (592) has posed:
     Elven Elbows seem to be rather tough as Thranduil demonstrates by thrusting his back to knock down one zombie, and as he straightens he seems to take something from his boot and and swings his left arm out, the light gleaming off a dagger as ornate as the sword as he sweeps it across its midsection. He has a few scrapes upon his right cheekbone which seems to pain him more than it should. The heel of his boot also connects with one of them, giving him enough time to fully straighen and prepare to fight the next group.

Haru (143) has posed:
Haru's impressed by this man's agility. Even in that outfit, the only time he'd fallen had to do with the zombies, not with his own issues with the robes. Luckily there aren't 'waves' of zombies, only two individuals left. And those are sort of multitasking between digging themselves out of Haru's trap and trying to grab the Elvenking. Or Haru, they're not picking. They're just hungry.

Thranduil's dagger rips into the chest of one, prompting it to screech loudly and flail its arms. The second gets a boot in the face and bends back sharply. Something cracks at about the level of its legs, and it also screeches and flails. Haru winces. Augh that sound they make is horrible. he doesn't go on the offensive though, he's waiting for them to act, and aside from grabbing at him (which is relatively easy to dodge), they really haven't.

Thranduil (592) has posed:
     Thranduil is finally free of the zombies and straightens to his full impressive height. He has cuts and scratches, one cut near his temple trickling blood down the side of his face. His clothes are tattered and torn, and the look on his face is one of Dread. Elves tend to become overwhelmed by dread, especially when there's undead around. He wobbles on his feet, moving his hands out at his sides to try and balance himself, but after a few moments just crumples to the ground like a puppet whose strings have been cut. At least they won, right?

Haru (143) has posed:
And in response, Haru just... freezes, looking confused.

D-did he... just faint?

...Well, this is a complication.

Quickly getting over the surprise, Haru heads over to the fallen Elf-King, and tries to check on him. If he's fainted that probably means he's injured somehow. So battle has to stop. Haru will put an end to it quickly.

He sweeps his arms up, to raise the area of ground that he and Thranduil are on, and levitates it into the air. Then he directs it to leave the area, quickly!