Seeing Spirits

Subject: Re: Seeing Spirits Mon Sep 23, 2013 6:23 am

Naseru & Kozue	With a powerful stamp of his foot, he was able to collapse at least 4 different exits. If nothing else, the frenzy and chaos that ensued would keep most of them distracted, for the crumbling tunnels were loud. As Noriko raced in, Naseru and Kozue followed after her. in the dim light and the tunnels, Kozue pointed in the direction that had the least amount of thugs with one hand, as well as which one would lead them closer to the heart of the place with the other. Sometimes they were the same. These were the directions Naseru followed.
Mood: Content Condition: Excellent	Link:

Subject: Re: Seeing Spirits Mon Sep 23, 2013 7:21 pm

Noriko Tatsumi	The first thug who tried to block her way received two quick slashes across the chest, rendering him immobile. Noriko didn't stop moving, heading deeper into the underground fortress. Because she was in front, she didn't notice Kozue pointing out the route, and so she relied on her instincts; this place was practically a rat tunnel, so there was some rhyme and reason to it. "You alright?" She called back to her two companions, as she dispatched another drug vendor in their path.
Mood: Focused Condition: Good	Link: Character Sheet

Subject: Re: Seeing Spirits Mon Sep 23, 2013 7:49 pm

Naseru & Kozue	If not for Noriko, then for Naseru were Kozue's pointers. She made sure that no one came up from behind them as well in an attempt to surround them or something. "We've got the back covered!" Naseru responded as they followed Noriko. Kozue warned Naseru a few times of impending thugs, but a few crunches of rock and stampings of feet later, and they were dispatched, preventing them from surrounding the little trio. Luckily they had not faced very many thugs yet, although they were not facing the bulk of the horde just yet. Hopefully, they wouldn't have to.
Mood: Content Condition: Excellent	Link:

Subject: Re: Seeing Spirits Mon Sep 23, 2013 8:05 pm

Noriko Tatsumi	"How close are we?" Noriko shouted back, coming to a large connection of different tunnels, "Which way?" Waiting for the other two to catch up, she sheathed her blades, lifting her mask briefly to look at them. She was nowhere close to getting tired, but she was putting forth a lot of exertion, fighting and running as they were. "Is she alright?" She asked, thinking of Kozue, who might not be used to this much physical activity, all at once; being, y'know, a kid.
Mood: Focused Condition: Good	Link: Character Sheet

Subject: Re: Seeing Spirits Mon Sep 23, 2013 8:54 pm

Naseru & Kozue	"We're pretty close!" he called back to her as the two ran and caught up with her. Naseru seemed okay, as did Kozue, although in the dim lighting it might have been hard to tell. Either way, Naseru was unscathed, and Kozue's pretty little dress was not even marred. they had done just fine thanks to Kozue's directions and Naseru's skill. Kozue was a little kid and it was actually for that reason that she kept up so well. her youth was part of what gave her this mysteriously boundless energy that most little children seemed to have. "She looks okay..." Naseru patted her back, tracing symbols into her neck under her silky black hair. Turning to Noriko, Kozue smiled and shook her head up and down (nodded) enthusiastically, also pointing a finger behind the other firebender. "We're all good." Naseru concurred, "that, and it seems that our friend the boss is most likely down that tunnel behind you."
Mood: Content Condition: Excellent	Link:

Subject: Re: Seeing Spirits Mon Sep 23, 2013 10:51 pm

Noriko Tatsumi	Turning, Noriko begins to head down that tunnel, though much slower than before. Hugging the wall, she creeps around, trying to see as far ahead as she can. The quiet was bothering her, but she didn't know why... Should the other two be following, she'd gesture them against the wall without a word, staying quiet. Peeking around the corner, she had to pull her head back, before it was shattered by a flying rock. "Fuck," She cursed, drawing her swords once again.
Mood: Focused Condition: Good	Link: Character Sheet

Subject: Re: Seeing Spirits Mon Sep 23, 2013 11:42 pm

Naseru & Kozue	Naseru and Kozue followed Noriko up against a wall, Kozue's tiny frame being noiseless, and Naseru and his bare feet and lithe frame making similarly no noise. Kozue motioned to Naseru towards the passage in front of Noriko, holding up three fingers. Right around this same time, a rock barely missed the other woman's face. "There's three of them." he indicated. "I'll cover you." His earthbending could surely throw them off if or when they charged at the trio that was working to exterminate them.
Mood: Content Condition: Excellent	Link:

Subject: Re: Seeing Spirits Tue Sep 24, 2013 12:09 am

Noriko Tatsumi	Giving a nod, Noriko thought it through very quickly. "Take the one on the left; I got the right - middle is stun or disarm." Then, looking down at Kozue, she adds, "Ask her to keep a lookout, please, and to alert you if anyone else heads this way." While she wasn't taking the child into combat, she couldn't deny the usefulness she provided. Ready to give the signal, she waits for the other two to be ready; going in on her own was stupid, if not suicidal.
Mood: Focused Condition: Good	Link: Character Sheet

Subject: Re: Seeing Spirits Tue Sep 24, 2013 12:53 am

Naseru & Kozue	Nodding, Naseru touched Kozue's shoulders and back in various ways to give her instructions. Touching her body was how he communicated with her, it even he was surprised at how many signs the youngster recognized. basically all of them were along her arms, hands, back, neck, or face, although a few signs were on her legs, mostly if he was helping her get dressed or bathed or the likes. "ready when you are." he nodded, and Kozue crouched down as if to spring out, but was really just focusing to ensure that they would not get surrounded or that anyone else would come. She may not have spoken at all, but she could still make noise should anyone be coming. at the signal, Naseru struck, jumping and stamping his feet with a certain skill and precision, aiming to cripple the thug before he could even reach them.
Mood: Content Condition: Excellent	Link:

Subject: Re: Seeing Spirits Tue Sep 24, 2013 1:11 am

Noriko Tatsumi	Charging in, rather than striking from a distance, Noriko ducks another boulder before slamming the thug in the stomach with her shoulder. Dragging a blade across his neck, the blood splatters pain her right side. Taking a deep breath, she breathes a jet of fire at the other man, who had been fumbling for his katana. Badly burned, he falls to the ground, crying out in pain and anger. With another sweep of her blade, he's dead, coloring her leg with his blood. "That's why I don't use a katana," Noriko mutters, wiping her weapons off on one of the dead man's pants, "Idiots carry them without knowing how to draw them, let alone how to use them."
Mood: Focused Condition: Good	Link: Character Sheet

Subject: Re: Seeing Spirits Tue Sep 24, 2013 1:35 am

Naseru & Kozue	Naseru knocked the man off his feet quite quickly, charging in to finis him, whichi his rocks did quite well. Glancing back to ensure Kozue was okay, it seemed she was, as she was still squatting, her ears perked, which meant that she was alert. There was just nothing to report. With the first man dispatched, he stamped his foot towards the man in the middle, but missed a little, instead just making him rock a bit. Noriko finished him off quickly enough. "welcome to gangsterland." Naseru quipped after the carnage. "where idiots control other idiots, to prey on idiots or innocents." That was his only real remark, as based on Kozue's reactions, the coast was still clear. The path still lay ahead of them, as these three had inhabited a straight piece of tunnel.
Mood: Content Condition: Excellent	Link:

Subject: Re: Seeing Spirits Tue Sep 24, 2013 5:45 am

Noriko Tatsumi	Noriko actually favored him with a slight laugh, and a real smile, though it was hidden by her mask. "Yeah, well, grab Kozue and let's keep going; kingpin's ahead," She regained her commanding tone, "We get this done, and then we get out." Sheathing her blades, Noriko began to move down the path, as slow as before, listening carefully. They had both done good jobs; Naseru and Kozue. She was impressed, really, that he had been able to act under the pressure, and that she hadn't just curled up and cried.
Mood: Focused Condition: Good	Link: Character Sheet

Subject: Re: Seeing Spirits Tue Sep 24, 2013 3:45 pm

Naseru & Kozue	"Right behind ya, champ." he reassured her, taking Kozue's hand and following her down the tunnel. He was more of a teacher than a leader, although he knew far better than to ever just blindly follow orders. These ones made sense though, so there was no need to question them. running his thumbs along Kozue's hand, she turned as if to face him as they walked, and so Naseru repeated the motion. this time Kozue nodded to indicate she understood. even this form of interaction had its flaws sometimes. "Kozue's got nothing," he whispered, indicating that she couldn't sense any more thugs down most of the tunnel. It seemed that for the moment, they were in the clear. Kozue was good at handling pressure perhaps because she lived in a dark and quiet world. to her, the people dying was just them falling on the ground and not getting up.
Mood: Content Condition: Excellent	Link:

Subject: Re: Seeing Spirits Sun Sep 29, 2013 8:57 pm

Noriko Tatsumi	Leading the way, Noriko noted the silence with a certain wariness. In her experience, long, empty tunnels or hallways or paths lead to rather annoying ambushes. "Careful," She muttered aloud, though more of out habit, and to herself, than anything else. Rather than more guards - which Kozue would have noticed and alerted them to immediately - there was a different surprise. As soon as Noriko passed a small protruding rock along the cavern, a series of high-volume explosions were set off; enough to completely collapse that tunnel. Rather than throwing more bodies at them, they were going to crush them beneath the earth. Before any of them could react, a large section of the wall was blasted across the room, smacking Noriko straight on. The explosions rendered her temporarily deaf, as well, but they also succeeded in kicking her post-traumatic stress disorder into high gear. Eyes widening, ears ringing and her entire side throbbing with pain, Noriko went into automatic defense mode.
Mood: PTSD Attack Condition: Injured	Link: Character Sheet

Subject: Re: Seeing Spirits Sun Sep 29, 2013 9:23 pm

Naseru & Kozue	Nodding and feeling no need for additional reactions, Naseru continued behind Noriko with Kozue carefully scoping out the surroundings, the darkness not fazing her at all. Suddenly, Naseru's ears perked right as the explosions went off. He had not noticed them beforehand, as not even Kozue would have done that, but he reacted quickly. as dust from the ceiling hit them, Naseru dove towards Kozue, spinning mid air to clap his hands together, bringing a large pyramid-shaped slab of rock above them to surround them. He would have done the same for Noriko but he did not know where she was, and was not willing to risk Kozue's safety for her. He would have been fine going by himself, but Kozue was already spooked, which in turn had made her lose her focus for a bit. She'd need a few moments. encased in this triangular shield, Naseru shifted the ground beneath their feet backwards so that they would be out of the blast and collapse range. after he was sure that he had reached that point, he lowered the walls, comforting Kozue and glancing around to see if Noriko was around. He didn't want to call out in case there were others around, and he did not want to draw any more unwanted attention to them.
Mood: Concerned Condition: Startled	Link:

Subject: Re: Seeing Spirits Sun Sep 29, 2013 9:58 pm

Noriko Tatsumi	When she came to after that explosion induced fade out, several minutes later, Noriko found herself sandwiched almost painfully between a pair of large boulders, surrounded by fallen rock. Still alive. Trying to move, she inhaled sharply through clenched teeth; broken arm. Compensating for the pain, she crouched, trying to find a smaller rock. Once she had one in her fist, she began tapping carefully on the cave wall, in rhythm. "Tap, tap, tap..." Then a pause, for about three seconds, before repeating. She knew that Kozue would hear it or maybe even feel it, if Naseru did not, already having come to the conclusion that yelling would be bad. She was pissed, now. Removing her mask, she took several deep breaths, continuing to tap, to help them find her.
Mood: Calm Condition: Injured	Link: Character Sheet

Subject: Re: Seeing Spirits Sun Sep 29, 2013 10:18 pm

Naseru & Kozue	Kozue's ears perked right away, and she managed to regain her focus. tapping Naseru's arm, she pointed in the direction Nori was in, and Naseru quickly got the gist of what was trying to be said. Kozue bounced towards her with her tiny steps, Naseru behind her. With a deft movement, he slid the rocks that were sandwiching her apart, particularly the one on top of her. removing the fallen rocks was as simple as putting them back in the ground just as he could pull them out. "you alright?" eh asked, not aware of what kinds of injuries she had sustained, especially not in this darkness. "what happened?" This was in reference to what happened to her. he knew just as well as she did what had just happened to them--the cave had been rigged. He didn't need to ask stupidly obvious questions. He wanted to assess Noriko's condition.
Mood: Concerned Condition: Startled	Link: Naseru (19)

Subject: Re: Seeing Spirits Sun Sep 29, 2013 11:53 pm

Noriko Tatsumi	"Broken arm," She muttered, getting up once the rocks were shifted and she was able to move. Shaking her hair out, Noriko snatched up her mask, placing it into her belt, rather than on, "I took cover under the rocks, or it would have been a lot worse." Really, she was being defensive. Gesturing at the rubble, she took on a firm tone, once again, "We can't get through this way. We should head for another entrance, to see if we can head them off." Back into tactics, now, though Noriko was completely disregarding her broken arm.
Mood: Calm Condition: Injured	Link: Character Sheet

Subject: Re: Seeing Spirits Mon Sep 30, 2013 12:58 am

Naseru & Kozue	Not being a healer or having any real medical skills, Naseru did not reply, as there was nothing useful he could do or say for something like that. Being useless was just not something he did. "I'd have tried to give you cover," he admitted, "although Kozue naturally got spooked." if that brought about disdain for Kozue, Naseru wouldn't hesitate to offer to leave. She had pulled her weight pretty well for a kid so far, and was already back to sensing their surroundings. As for why Naseru chose Kozue over oriko... hopefully that was obvious. "We took the northeast tunnel at the fork back there." he reminded her, "there were two others, north and northwest. Any idea which one you wanted to take?" The coast was still clear, and so Kozue was still quiet, and would be provided there was no other incident once they reached the fork.
Mood: Concerned Condition: Startled	Link: Naseru (19)

Subject: Re: Seeing Spirits Tue Oct 01, 2013 4:29 am

Noriko Tatsumi	Noriko waved his explanations off with a shake of her head. "I've had worse than this," She mentioned offhandedly, "If you had protected me instead of Kozue, I'd have broken your arm, instead." It was an empty threat, since Naseru would never do that, but it was sincere; Noriko would have been pissed, to say the very least, if she had been prioritized over anyone, especially a child. Thinking quickly, Noriko shook her head, "I don't know the area; where could they run?" She had no problem admitting her current lack of knowledge, since it would get them to their prey faster than grandstanding would - that was something that she'd had beaten into her, during her military stint. "Somewhere underground or well hidden... Does anything give them both cover and anonymity?"
Mood: Calm Condition: Injured	Link: Character Sheet

Subject: Re: Seeing Spirits Wed Oct 02, 2013 3:48 pm

Naseru & Kozue	Naseru just shrugged off her remarks as well. her well-being was not necessarily a concern of Naseru's; for as long as they were surrounded by earth, Naseru would be able to get out just fine. It was mostly him helping her and her needing him, rather than the other way around (or so he saw it) "well obviously they are guarding something if they wanted that passage sealed off. So... while I don't know their exact movements or locations, I would wager to say they're that way." he pointed his thumb in the direction of the way they had just come from. "caving a tunnel in on an earthbender might set us back a bit, but if they think a pile of rocks can truly stop the skilled ones... then these goons really ARE as dumb as they look." pausing, he had an alternate idea in case this one didn't sit too well with her or whatever. "alternately..." he placed his hand against the wall before hitting it and knocking a good hole into it, "we can dig our own way there. thoughts?"
Mood: Scheming Condition: Calm	Link: Naseru (19)

Subject: Re: Seeing Spirits Thu Oct 03, 2013 4:25 am

Noriko Tatsumi	"They likely rigged all the tunnels with explosives," Noriko disagrees, "As a defensive security measure. If there is anything down there, it's likely their 'product'..." She says the word as one might mention a particularly nasty disease. Moving over to the new hole in the wall, she gave a nod, "You dig, I'll cover our asses." Noriko didn't bother to draw her blades; in close quarters, firebending was a better defense.
Mood: Calm Condition: Injured	Link: Character Sheet

Subject: Re: Seeing Spirits Thu Oct 03, 2013 4:15 pm

Naseru & Kozue	Shrugging, Naseru got to work. He wasn't afraid of a few mines, especially if Kozue could sense them. He had technically not tried that out yet, but he'd get to it sooner or later. "In fact..." he had an idea as he went in "if we really wanted to keep them from following us too easily..." once they were in the tunnel, he stamped his foot to seal the wall behind them. "Make it look like they were never there. 'Sides... you probably shouldn't be using that arm... though if you want to light the place up a bit it wouldn't hurt." referring to her good arm of course. He was going off of seismic senses for the most part. Kozue was holding onto the end of his shirt, sensing their surroundings to see if there was anything behind the rock that should worry them. otherwise, Naseru's tunneling began. If nothing else, he could go into full-on abort-mission-mode and just earthbend straight up. they might end up in a house or in the middle of a street or something, but it was a much better option than wandering in a pitch black tunnel or getting owned by the very thugs they had tried to defeat. Thankfully, that was only a backup-backup plan. Hopefully it would stay that way.
Mood: Scheming Condition: Calm	Link: Naseru (19)

Subject: Re: Seeing Spirits Thu Oct 03, 2013 7:27 pm

Noriko Tatsumi	Allowing flames to flicker up her arm and around her fingers, Noriko illuminated the tunnel as it was being created. "Good thinking," She nodded her approval, following the other two along. She wasn't an earthbender, obviously, so she wasn't thinking like one, in terms of what could be accomplished. If anything needed doing that required light, or warmth, or drying out... then she would be doing the practical bending. There were no interruptions as they went along, carving their own path; the Half-Baked Dragon gang must not expect that anyone would take this course of action.
Mood: Calm Condition: Injured	Link: Character Sheet

Subject: Re: Seeing Spirits Fri Oct 04, 2013 12:57 am

Naseru & Kozue	He nodded with a simple "thanks", taking it as a simple compliment that it was and little more. it did kind of make sense for him to get these kinds of practical ideas. She was a firebender, so she probably didn't think the way he did (and vice versa). Using the light from the flames, Naseru continued tunnelling, trying to mostly keep a straight path in the direction they had been going in earlier before the explosions had gone off. Naseru was honestly not sure what they would find once they broke through, but Kozue's little senses were still on, and despite the rock that Naseru was moving, she remained focused quite well, independently of the light. The flames did interest her a little bit though, almost flaring up a tiny bit extra. Kozue did not seem to be doing this on purpose (if it was even her doing), and Noriko was certainly still far more skilled.
Mood: Content Condition: Calm	Link: Naseru (19)