video > text; un: white_lotus

[pummelling]

[Happy.... approximately.... 1 in the morning, Team Ophelia. The video greeting the network is tough to make out, but the faint cries of insects in the dark, otherwise still night seem to indicate that Kung Jin's outside. A small oil lantern near his feet bathes him and the farmhouse he's sitting in front of in a faint orange glow.

Anyone looking carefully will also spot a young boy in his mid-teens, head bobbing occasionally into the side of the frame as he nods in and out of sleep. Jin glances over at him, rolling his eyes.]

Hey, team.

[Jin settles forward in his seat, fiddling with his robe and continuing in a low whisper.] Some ronin geniuses, on both sides, are trying to overtake farmhouses in the Flowerlands and convert them into makeshift bases. If you're still up and not too far, I'm gonna need some help keeping watch out here.

[Jin's shrugging out of a sleeve, now; the fabric slips from his shoulder to hang loose at his waist.]

The farmers aren't exactly equipped to deal with this alone.

[Right on cue, there's a rustle of definitely not cicada-noise in the background. Jin's eyes narrow. On his way to notching an arrow, he swats the kid beside him in the shoulder with the longbow. (He comes to with a snort, looking around wildly and brandishing the farmer's scythe he has gripped tightly in both hands.)

He pulls his arm back, muscles taut and steady as the bowstring that's a second from letting loose--

annnnd he switches, abruptly, to text.]

And you might want to make it snappy.

Comments

[refashioned]

You know what the chances are, which is precisely why we need to stop it in its tracks. Without a leader, these raids aren't going to last much longer.

[Veronica thinks it's common sense. It might not be.]

text ; @z }

[hackedhistory]

Do you still need a hand?

[She doesn't know how long this is going and things may have been settled by now.]

text; un: cyclops

[evenslimmer]

Do you still need backup?

[ And, just in case he's missed the action: ]

Could you tell where they're mounting their attacks from? Maybe we can track them back to their original base once we've rescued the farmers.

[opensup]

[ tonight... ugh... well ok he did offer, clearly this was a miscalculation on his part. but trekking out all the way there... ]

How long would I need to take?

[ he'll do for the team. sigh. ]

[signifies]

[ Clark checks the pin as well as listens for Jin's voice. Thanks for using audio. ]

I will be using them to get to you.

Anything else I should know?

[pummelling]

Yeah. Be careful. The second these ronin are spooked, we're starting a fight-- and I wanna avoid that as long as we can.

[pummelling]

Just enough to get SOMETHING out of one of the ronin who're skulking about. These girls are stealthy, but they're not THAT stealthy.

[rohan this is a mistake he is vastly overestimating his abilities but MAYBE ?? THEY WILL GET ONE]

[opensup]

She must be tired. That would happen to someone trying to pull this sort of nonsense at this awful time of night.

[ like why you do this ronin?? but he's too interested in learning what she might be hiding to think twice - he's invested in this idea now, don't break his heart jin. ]

[pummelling]

[Cyclops has just missed the worst of it. Some minutes later, Jin replies back, sticking to the text:]

the forests just outside the farms and off the paths.

It wont be TOO tough to track them - humans make a real mess camping out in the forests - but the sooner we can get to it the better.

[pummelling]

[She's late enough that things have evened out, but...]

Only if you're not going out of your way. Otherwise, lets see how tomorrow night goes.

[....]

I'm more worried that I'm gonna fall asleep before the night's up.

[becauSE HE'S STUPID ENOUGH TO TRY TO STAY UP ALL NIGHT HONESTLY]

[pummelling]

Right? I just have to outlast her.

[and he's made of willpower and stupidity. he's. he's gonna do his best for u rohan]

I've got, literally, all night.

[opensup]

And what if morning comes? Will you pursue even into the literal day?

[ will you do this for him? ]

[pummelling]

Till the next evening if I have to.

[u fool]

[pummelling]

Dammit.

[AT LEAST REASSURE HIM A LITTLE.... they're all screwed lmfao.]

Any bright ideas on making THAT happen?

[pummelling]

[By the time Inuyasha's in the mix, Jin's only picking up on the network sporadically, due to... you know... everything being h e l l tbh god help them all. (The kid's long gone, having chickened out and ducked back into his home to fortify his mothers' doors.) But he eventually catches him on his jewelcomm's feed, and the frantic cacophony of battle seems to echo as their feeds pick up near-identical sounds from different directions.]

Think I can hear you, Inuyasha! I've moved to the next farmhouse, they're starting there! Look for the ronin going down in--

[Jin strings his arrow, the tip shimmering with a halo of blue magic...]

--now! [and lets it fly loose. His aim's true, and there should be a sea ronin not far from Inuyasha's left who goes down, wounded but only stunned by the arrow.] Look for my staff, the eyes glow red! [Sure enough, there's a pair of gleaming red dragon's eyes shining a short distance away from him too.]

[refashioned]

Let's back up.

Someone is organizing these attacks. Someone has to be organizing them.

Right?

text | un: shelby

[soldiersminute]

That seems an uphill battle you're fighting.

[signifies]

I understand.

I'll be there within the next few minutes.

[pummelling]

that's how it usually works on this team, yeah.

[pummelling]

I'll be waiting.

[When Clark arrives, Jin's distracting the young farmer's son by having him refill the oil lantern: he won't spot the man flying down out of the sky if that's how he is choosing to arrive.]

[boxedcrook]

[There's no way Tessaiga will transform in the middle of all of this. The only thing he can do is use the regular blade to ward of offenders on both sides of the battle and try instead to protect farmers, civilians.]

Don't get cocky and kill them!

[For lack of better, he grabs a fistful of ronin clothing in the front and suplexes them over his head onto the ground about the time Jin releases the arrow. Not only is he a dog, but he's also a demon. Both ears swivel, focusing the arrow's whistle, and his eyes easily catch the domino pile, then the staff. Red eyes? DEMON.] What the--

[He ascends to an adjacent roof. Sure enough, there's Jin.] I see you! [And Jin can probably spot his dumb ass in bright red robes, yelling at seemingly nothing when he's talking through the beads around his neck.] Behind you!

Some are coming over the hill!

[pummelling]

Obviously. But I don't think tracing these women back to their leader is going to be all that simple.

And there might not even be one group organizing the attacks for all we know. They're ronin. It's more likely that they're working with some leader, but they're just as likely to be patriotic idiots working alone.

[evenslimmer]

Before they hit anyone else. Or manage to cover up their tracks.

[ Although this guy makes that sound unlikely, but be prepared. And uh. ]

I know this isn't the point, but— humans as opposed to...? Animals? Ghosts?

[ Neither of those are actually sarcastic or humorous suggestions. ]

[pummelling]

Yeah, over my dead body. We're routing them no matter what [HE'S SERIOUS. JIN'S A SHONEN ANIME FOOL.

and, unfortunately, sarcasm's hard to parse out over text. as in, he totally thinks he's being a smartass about it.]

Um, yes? You know how much easier it is to track a person tromping all over branches than an animal? Even the stealthiest of people aren't untraceable.

[pummelling]

[It's very, very hard to miss the bright red idiot yelling into the open night air-- especially when he's standing on top of a building. It's a huge distraction, enough that Jin lowers his bow to stare.]

You're seriously in bright red when we were supposed to be stealth?

[That's all the time he's got to complain, though, and the glow of the top of his bowstaff swerves: if not for Inuyasha's warning, he'd have gotten jumped by a woman just behind him. He clocks her upside the head, his staff sweeping under her to knock her into the dirt.

There's not enough coming up over the hill to be completely unmanageable, but...]

I'll thin 'em out. The arrows I'll use won't kill. [He gives the man atop the roof a nod, then notches another arrow.] Then I'll follow you to the front lines. Sound good, chief?