787/Little House On The Prairie

Little House On The Prairie
Date of Scene:	11 October 2014
Location:	Lighter Forests
Synopsis:	Just a zombie attack!
Cast of Characters:	320, 381, 401, 558
Tinyplot:	Power Games

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Yagami Hayate (558) has posed:
The little village isn't actually that little. Over a thousand people are in the spread out little area next to the forest, just like most of the villages in this vast swath of territory. Those arriving can see that it is in poor shape... the larger buildings - like the inn/hotel and the city hall - contain most of the people, and one of those is being largely ignored. Well, sort of. A half-dozen of the Mariage are surrounding the inn, but they aren't making much effort to get in. Another three are dragging several bodies toward the middle of the plaza nearby, and a full ten of the creatures are surrounding the city hall, actively trying to get in.

Trying. That is the key word. One of the women dash toward a window, only for a blossom of red to blast out from within it, slamming into the Mariage and sending it tumbling back. The damage is minor, but it packs a punch... the Mariage are being held off by whatever is in there, but since it can't seem to damage them significantly, it's only a matter of time before the tireless zombies break through the defenses.

Flint Hawke (320) has posed:
    "MISTER BLADE," Flint says while on the bridge of his ship, hands folded behind his back. As he says this, a much taller man with white hair and blue-green eyes walks up next to him. Flint says, "Please watch over our two young guests. I have business to take care of. If they grow hungry, please feed them the Raw Man that the Japanese people seem so fond of."

    "Yes Cap'n!" He says cheerfully, clicking his heels together and then striding off. Flint, does so shortly after, heading himself towards the hangars to take a small away ship.

    Some time later, an very small two-person shuttle circles down and touches down on the outskirts of the village. The two doors start to hiss as a ramp comes down out of them and extends up to said doors. As they slide open, there's a dim red light backdropping Flint and a huge rolling bank of smoke comes out of the ship. This is not because his ship is poorly lit or naturally smokey, but because he installed special effects for when he lands.

    He has a pipe in his hand, which he IS smoking. As he exhales some pipe smoke, he casually says, "Now what's all this, then? Are you ladies cheating on me again?" He asks with a tilt of his head and an adjustment of his hat.

Takamachi Nanoha (381) has posed:
This time the Shift didn't happen right on top of the action. This time, the two young girls, Fate and Nanoha, and their Familiars, came in at a higher altitude and are dropping in at high speed.

Well, presumably so! Nanoha isn't anywhere to be seen, since Vesta has thrown a cloak around them for the time being. It's not really good enough to fool anything looking for them, but with Flint and Fate here, it's probably good enough to handle any cursory glances! The idea is for Nanoha to fall through the top of the building, so she can see how the people inside are doing.

Testarossa Fate (401) has posed:
    Wind whipping long blonde hair, Fate and Arf freefall with Nanoha and Vesta, also under the feline familiar's visual distortion spell. A small squeeze of the hand and the formation breaks though. Device in hand, Fate and Arf aren't going to bust through the roof, but opt to arrest their momentum and land atop it.

    Metal boots clank down, followed by paws as the girl and her familiar take up overwatch position for now.

Yagami Hayate (558) has posed:
The Captain steps out and the Mariage do take notice... but only the silent ones dragging bodies. Those three drop the bodies and immediately move for Hawke, dashing at high speed with their arms turning to blades. They've recognized him as a threat, at least. Anything else is up in the air.

Nanoha crashes through the roof, which does have two Mariage crawling on it. She's given them a hole, but Fate can probably keep it safe... and now Nanoha is in there, as the three mages inside can see through the CRASHING THROUGH THE SKYLIGHT WHILE CLOAKED thing. They can also tell that she isn't a zombie though.

Two men and a woman, the last kind of elderly. One of the men demands, "Are you the reinforcements? A girl and a... Familiar?" That seems to be a guess, because they haven't fully managed to see through the veil. They'll probably lose sight of them if they look away.

The Mariage are eying Fate rather... hungrily though, and the two on the roof are turning and stalking toward her with menace in their movements. Meanwhile the ones below appear to be regrouping around one particular unit.

Flint Hawke (320) has posed:
    "Mistake~," Flint croons as he smokes his pipe and sees three of them charging in on him. He twirls the long-stemmed pipe between his fingers and then holds it upside down, tapping out the ash before the fight that he knows is coming. The pipe is placed back into his jacket and then he dusts his hands off.

    "Ah~ Three on one~? I think a normal man hardly has the stamina to handle such a rigorous challenge, ladies." Flint says with a flourish of his jacket and a love of theatrics. He may be having some fun and also trying to keep all the attention on himself while Nanoha goes to help people, since he's inadvertantly nice like that.

    "Luckily I am no ordinary man. I am /FLINT HAWKE/, with the stamina of ten men!" He winks at them, jumping back with a pulse of the Pure in his chest as it HUNGERS for conflict. He skids his boots along, very careful to avoid blades and not letting them do more than dig a few shallow cuts that heal up quickly.

    "Now, I think that should mean that I can go for... two and a half minutes tops?" He asks in a coy tone. And then he twirls his hands, drawing a pair of ridiculously huge revolvers that look very ornate out. There's a CRACK-CRACK-CRACK as he hip fires three shots at the Mariage.

Takamachi Nanoha (381) has posed:
Nanoha isn't sure if these people would even know what the Mariage are... even she barely does, after researching them. So she doesn't want to panic them or anything, or tell them what the Mariage are after. The other people might toss the mages to the wolves! Or zombies. Zombie wolves. Wolbies? "Ah, just um... keep doing what you're doing then. My friends and I will take care of these things! Vesta, keep them safe with some barriers, I'll go out and help Captain Hawke and Fate!"

So Vesta is left inside, saluting, "You got it, Mistress!" A few Barriers will help with keeping the Mariage out, she hopes. Those will be thrown to any break in the defenses, at least that's the idea.

Nanoha streaks out of the broken window from earlier, and she doesn't waste time with the small spells. <DIVINE BULLET>

The stuttering blasts that follow are bright and pink, and the altered spell of Precia's makes for a good offensive, rapid-fire one, though took a bit more prep time. Prep time she can spare, at least, if it means showering the zombies with a half-dozen projectiles.

Testarossa Fate (401) has posed:
    First and foremost, Fate's newest priority is not to let the Mariage on the roof follow Nanoha down into the hole she smashed through. Though there are only two up there with her, right now, the strange, hollow, hungry looks coming from the masked women is enough to make even the small ice queen shudder imperceptively. A tingle down the spine is all it takes for her Familiar to cast something of a worried look before Fate shrugs it off with a shift of her grip on Bardiche.

    [CAREFUL SIR.] Her faithful Device intones, before snapping back at the head and blazing to life with golden light. [SCYTHE FORM.]

    Fate and Arf take up position on both sides of Nanoha's entry through the skylight. "Sooooooooo..." Arf says, punching fist into her palm. "Do I get a treat?"

    "You're spoiled as is."

    "Right right~. So I get some ramen later right?"

    Sigh. "Yes."

    Familiar Bribery complete, Arf unleashes a series of orange glowing chains to start working on binding the Mariage down while Bardiche unleashes a short fussilade of golden blasts. [PHOTON LANCER: FULL AUTO FIRE.]

Yagami Hayate (558) has posed:
These Mariage seem 'mass-produced' compared to the others, and are going down easier. Easier, but not EASY. Flint's shots down one right away, but the other two stagger back before shrugging off the impacts. Damaged but still up, they advance more cautiously now, moving more intelligently to attempt to flank. It's still not much of a challenge... except for the matter of one of the six by the inn has split off and fired several slugs - mass-driver slugs - toward Flint. Those will be the real danger.

On the roof, Fate binds down the Mariage with chains, but their strength is superhuman, and the binding spell is already weakening. This would be a problem, but these two are 'drones' and thus not smart enough to handle the situation, getting blasted full force. One of them topples over and starts to melt immediately, while the other is blown off the roof, where it falls and starts to melt in midair.

Nanoha's Divine Bullets pepper the largest crowd, leaving the others confused thanks to her cloak. The one who was organizing the group has the remaining six - two of whom are now injured - scatter about and start to encircle the window Nanoha has come from, rather than continue the assault on the city hall.

REMAINING FORCES:

    2x Drones on Hawke
    1x Controller shooting at Hawke
    5x Drones bashing at the inn.
    NO MARIAGE ON ROOF
    6x Drones on Nanoha
    1x Controller on Nanoha

Flint Hawke (320) has posed:
    Flint is MORE than a little surprised that Nanoha was able to overhear him. That is unfortunate for him and will continue to mark him as a terrible influence on children. He frowns a bit and then shrugs his shoulders, twirling the pistols in his hands.

    There's a heavy CRACK as one of the slugs tags up against his power shield, being a projectile. The shield can't handle melee, but it can for ranged. But it's a personal shield, and so it has limits. Another slug pegs it and then it flickers, letting the third in the succession go through and tag him cleanly in the side, opening up a pretty harsh wound that bleeds black and red.

    "Well that was quite rude to interrupt," Flint says, diverting off the two that are keeping their distance. Instead he charges right in at the Mariage that shot at him. He flattens his hand out straight and then thrusts the tip of his fingers directly at the center of her chest. There's a burst of energy from his hand as he tries to pierce right through her with that hand. Or at least dig in deep.

Takamachi Nanoha (381) has posed:
So good news is Divine Bullet works just fine. The bad news, for Nanoha, is she's now kind of outnumbered. "Eheh... um... oops?" She floats slowly backward... then dives for the window again, shooting a few weak bolts behind her to try to keep the Mariage at bay. Maybe this way she can rely on the other mages to give her a hand and keep them busy while she powers up something that can blast more down.

"Ah... I think I took care of some but there are a lot left!" She blurts as she flies in. "Vesta, barrier please!"

Testarossa Fate (401) has posed:
    The problem on the roof is handled. Arf pumps her fist, grinning like a wild dog with a glint of fang, before Fate turns. "We're not done. Arf." The last call of her Familiar's name is a silent and implied order, as she motions for the magical zombies trying to batter into the building.

    "Right right~."

    The two split. Fate sees Nanoha, and her priorities take an instant shift, leaving her Familiar to get into a fistfight and throw herself at the ones below, Fate leaps off the roof.

    "Bardiche."

    [SIR DO NOT STRAIN YOURSELF.] The Device warns. "Just a little bit. It's alright. It's for Nanoha." In an instant she's a blur, a streak of black and gold on a course for Nanoha and the Mariage surrounding her, scythe flashing in a brutal series of cuts and slashes.

Yagami Hayate (558) has posed:
The Controller was not expecting a direct attack. And... it speaks? "What...?" That's all that it has a chance to say before Flint's fingers drive into its chest, bursting out the back. It's a gory affair, but quite an effective one, as the Controller starts to melt away like the others right then and there. He'd better get his hand out of there before that goop combusts as usual.

The other Controller isn't attacking Nanoha, though. She's kneeling next to one of the corpses... which a moment later lurches upward, twisting and reshaping into one of the female beings identical to the others. Guess that explains why they were collecting corpses, huh?

Vesta's barrier keeps the incoming two Mariage after Nanoha from penetrating, slamming into the shield. The others simultaneously begin to assault the other windows, leaving the mages to blast desperately. There aren't enough, though, and in another moment they'll break in...

Except that they don't get the chance. A glimmering scythe of yellow slices one, then two in half, with silent convulsions signalling the end of the zombielike beings. The sudden and swift attack has convinced the remainder that it's time to go, and the Controller grabs the newly-created Mariage as she opens a rift in the air, the drones starting to retreat toward it to escape.

Flint Hawke (320) has posed:
    Flint grins a bit slyly, "Not the usual penetration I go for, but effective in making ladies weak in the knees none the less." He states before sliding the arm out and flicking it to clean himself off of gore and goop, leaving a stained sleeve and glove for himself.

    His free hand comes up and flips through his hair, sifting it with his fingers easily, "Ah, the dashing hero is here again. Is he a pirate scoundrel, like the rumors all say, or a gentleman freelancer?" He narrates, flexing the fingers on his messy hand boredly as he puffs out his chest, "The women in his life all call him a good man, but he's quite dangerous."

    "He is..." Flint strikes a pose, "Captain Flint Hawke, Rogue of the Stars." He looks around and then says, "Spread the word!" Hopefully the survivors saw that.

Takamachi Nanoha (381) has posed:
If Nanoha had seen THAT she'd have facepalmed a little, but she missed Flint's little display. Fortunately she's helping protect the survivors. She's not going to be chasing the remaining Mariage, either...

"Thank you, Fate!" Naturally she's going to thank her savior! And as the Mariage are retreating, she turns and looks to the mages. "You should relocate for now. I um... don't think I have the authority to offer you a safe place, but I'll do what I can. I'll ask the Confederacy, okay?"

This will be a little weird, probably. How often does the Confederacy and a space pirate save a bunch of civilians?

"Oh, and Captain Hawke of the Black Sun!"

Testarossa Fate (401) has posed:
    When the flurry of golden death cessates, and the Mariage begin to retreat, Fate is left panting. Normally that would have been a minimal amount of effort for her, but the sweat beading on her brow and deep breaths. She raises her Device, Bardiche switching out of scythe mode into Device Form, and as the portal opens she takes aim.

    "Fire." She commands.

    [NO.] Bardiche refuses.

    It earns an instant look of shock as the Device vents steam and begins to power down.

    [MA'AM WILL BE DISPLEASED.]

    A slow breath and she lets the Device cool down with a "Mn." tugging her cloak closed around her as she takes her place by Nanoha's side. No, she's not going to give her name to the people. She just sticks by Nanoha quietly.