Fandom Limbus Company/ Library of Ruina Setting (Wallflower Office) In-Character

[seasonedcat]

Rank 5 Fixer

Honey Locust

EGO: Thorns of Love

Little Star Hotel

a wave of dull relief flooded through Honey Locust at Hydrangea's choice. He did not want to kill anyone he did not have to, and he was thankful that that included Lupine. What unnerved him, however, was the implication of this attempted hit. If they were after Lupine because of the Corp, does that not mean they would be after him, too? Or had his documents been so classified that no one from the corp even knew him anymore, either dead or too high up to care? Honey Locust shrugged off these thoughts as his head began to throb from suppressed memories.

as the combat started, Honey Locust quickly went to battle, too, though he found himself noticeably slower as he did. His leg was starting to bother him more now that he continued to fight on it, throbbing against the strain he put on it. He fed his EGO some of his blood as he let it pierce through the enemies he was too slow to deal with his daggers, the thorns drinking in the blood joyfully.

despite the fight having not been on for long, Honey Locust was already panting, sweat from exertion falling off his face. The pain in his leg was growing from his continued weight on it, and he was slowing down even more. He ignored the risks and the agony, his clumsy movements being saved by the thorns on his throat that dealt with his fuck ups. He could not let himself become useless in this fight, he had to keep going. Lest he be replaced.
mentions| Juju Euclid Leaf
interaction| Mothman

Code by Serobliss

 

[Mothman]

Juju November Witch

There's a moment of pause as Cal regards Lupine with the bad news. It's a quick pass before feet are moving, and it's even quicker before they realize that Alba's going to slow them down to some degree. Cal mumbles a curse under her breath as Lupine cries out to Doctor Alba, offering to lend her support, before stopping on a dime and hot-footing it to Alba. Without much oif a pause or even a request to make sure the Doctor is fine with it, she hooks a cold metal arm around Alba's stomach and moves to hoists her to sit atop her shoulder. Though, it's as she's turned around that she stops mid pick-up, eyes locking on something behind them and staring. It's not an abnormality, it's not the mother, the child, or her fucked up 'baby', whatever that might have entailed...

But it's a growing parade of Rats. Rats with a dazed look in their eyes that are growing in number, and vaulting out from tattered broken windows, rusty iron doors, and whatever other motley shelters they're hiding in. Cal only stares, dumbfounded, for the brief moment she stands behind Alba. They're leaving the 'safety' of their homes to brave the streets, just for the three Wallflowers on the run, and they're brandishing rusty shovels, 2 by 4s, and whatever other scrap weapon implements they can manage. One of them throwing a crude wrench that knocks Cal on the side of the head from on her right seems to jumpstart her mind back into working order, and she tightens her grip on Alba and finally finishes lifting the Doctor up onto her shoulder.

"Lupine, I-I'm not panicking." It doesn't sound particularly believable, but she seems to have enough grip on herself to talk and more importantly, keep running. Something about the gesture of Lupine grasping at her blade makes her hand twitch, but she doesn't show any more than that before continuing. "I just need you to keep the way clear. We're..." She checks the time. "...not working with a lot of time, for godsake. Alba, hold on tight, and we're going. If we're lucky, the guards at the motel'll..." She grits her teeth and shakes her head. "...throw us a damn bone." With that, she starts up her run again and keeps a few paces behind Lupine, noting and listening to the sound of even more Rats that're busting out onto the street. Plenty of bastards, as they ran, threw shards of glass, or scrap metal, or whatever crude projectiles they had from up above in second story windows, before jumping out of them to join in the case.

It's a run of some ten minutes, if they're at their full tilt, and by the time they hit minute five, they have a Rat parade of some few dozens Rats charging after them. They're not speaking, they're not cursing and hurling insults... They're just running after them with empty eyes and a bloodlust. Though, the Wallflowers have little issue, even with the matter of ferrying Alba via Cal, making it back to the motelier with what's likely minutes to spare, if even that. Though, upon their arrival...

Little Star has no guards outside, and the metal gates out front seem shut entirely. Cal grits her teeth and shakes her head as she moves to set Alba down, taking a glance over her shoulder to see the Rats still on their heels, now truly and wholly closing in. A small scraggly one leaps forth with two rusty daggers in hand, and Cal swats him from the air as he leaps at them without issue. The sound of gunfire and clashing metal becomes quickly apparent, but Cal doesn't seem certain of what to make of it until the matter at hand calls for her to turn and focus on more approaching rats that approach like a tidal wave.

A keen eye might make out Snowball up on the overlooking rafters, slicing guards away with her claws and using her meek size to evade the heavy weapons that aren't currently in the radius of Hydrangea's mist; they're perfectly fine shotgun shells and bullets being fired at the little one.

---

seasonedcat dreadnought ERode

In a room full of armed soldiers and armed Wallflowers, things go from a neutral bearing to a firefight in a heartbeat. People are in motion almost immediately, including dear Snowdrop flying upwards and towards some of the artillery that overlooks the outside, but also has a way to swivel backwards and rain fire on the lobby as well. The crowd is dense, yes, but that doesn't seem to detract from their thoughts on letting loose what could range from cannonballs, to machine guns, to whatever the hell else might make up those artillery. Snowball spares the briefest of glances back to Daisy as she separates from their upwards leap, but smirks as Daisy takes a grip on the chandelier. She vanishes amidst the overlooking balcony and behind the metal barriacades, the talons lining her claws growing forth and stabbing into the throat of the first armored motel staff that she sees.

"...Goodness. I see there's no other way." The motelier breathes a sigh in, and out, as bullets and weapons start to fly. The two sofas that Zi Hua threw fly on either side and mow down some of her associates. She seems to take a moment to gain her composure, and clicks her pen once again. The needle of the implement shoots out, and the pen itself grows in size to be handle-sized. It's a slim blade, akin to a rapier, and she whips it out to her side with her eyes focused on Hydrangea, even through the pink mist she's started to shroud the lobby in to negate the problem of gunfire. The thicker and thicker it grows, and the closer and closer one has to be for a bullet to have proper effect; of course depending on the caliber. Hydrangea closes in on the motelier like a bat out of hell, and the two clash blades and meet eyes for a brief moment.

The motelier cuts the silence first, as the two separate blades and take another swing each. "Why? Why risk everything, your comrades, and that gentleman you seem to be escorting?" She asks from a place that might be concern, but it more seems to be disappointment ringing in her voice.

Hydrangea responds as she thrusts the blade towards the motelier's torso. She sheds a strip of fabric from her cloth, but doesn't succeed in landing a blow. "She's one of my own. That's all. I can't imagine a future I hand her over to someone who should be sympathizing with her; not hunting her." She pivots low to evade a slash of the motelier's rapier, swinging the blade on her high heel up at the woman's head as the battle continues to blast about. "But I take it there's some history there, hm?" Hydrangea teases as the motelier takes a step backwards, flicking her blade to the side.

The motelier huffs and snaps her fingers, a pair of shorter guards springing to her side and placing themselves between Hydrangea and the motelier. The woman seems to have no more words to spare for the Wallflowers.

Daisy's gambit with the chandelier crashes into a group of armored motel staff, most of which are clad in sorry excuses for 'suits' with some stray armor plating on the torso or shoulders. They crumble to the ground beneath the wait, and the crash of the chandelier is loud enough to be heard by the Wallflowers outside. Daisy vanishes amidst the chaos for the moment, and Wisteria's the next to make herself known amidst the combat. Clean slashes paint bloody traces through the guards she targets, and they fall like trash before they can even admire the workshop quality of Wisteria's implement.

Though, where at first it's merely grunt guards in her way, a short, almost feral combatant charges head-on at Wisteria. They wear a heavy helmet, obscuring their face, and their attire is a tattered grey shirt with a brown vest over the top of it. They hold two spears, and their posture is that of a hunched over, nearly on all fours, figure. "Madame Grimhilde should never have allowed your sorry excuse for a band in here." The words are more of a snarl, than anything, and the figure wastes little time before pouncing at Wisteria with both spears at the ready, with a speed and poise that makes it clear these shorter soldiers are a mark above the rest of the grunts the Motelier has at her disposal.

Honey Locust is met with a similar threat, though as opposed to the feral-esque oen that Wisteria crosses blades with, this one, short in stature like the rest, approaches with a silent and relaxed posture, a hatchet in their hands, and a similar helmet with a crudely drawn, shut eyed face, plastered on the visor. They don't open their eyes, but step carefully enough around Honey Locust's longer vines, and when new ones lash out at them, they find no trouble in evading them. "I take no joy in putting down a wounded dog. But, it's as my Lady Grimhilde asks, so it shall be." With that, they charge Honey Locust, hatchet in hand. They move like a blur, cutting at vines that sprout out, and attempting to get close to cleave at Honey Locust as well.

The Motelier's voice rings across the hall. "Dwarves!" She calls, and for the briefest of moments, the short, elite soldiers freeze to listen. "We've trouble outside. Attend to it." The three Dwarves not engaged with one of the Wallflowers leap, slide, or dash away from the battlefield, and disappear from the room at her call. "Snow White's here. I can feel it." There's a shrill giggle of ecstasy at the realization. The Dwarves dealing with Hydrangea give her ample time to turn on her heel and step away. "Hah~... I'll have the apple ready... I'll peel that Snow White from her pathetic aorta and out."

She steps to the elevator, and only keen ears will hear the rest of her rambling.

"It's a bite too tempting to resist... Lupine." ​

 

[ERode]

The Motelier stepped into the elevator, pushed the button, felt the elevator move…and then the lights turned off.

All the lights turned off, really.

…

While Daisy had considered just relaxing in the space between floors, it looked like there were actually a handful of skilled shorties amongst the guards after all. A quick peek through the hole she disappeared into revealed that not all the members of the Little Star were entirely at the mercy of the Wallflower’s assault, and so, a former Rat did what current Rats always do: start making a mess of things.

Within the crawlspace, Daisy scrambled through, tracing the electrical wiring within until she found the ‘trunk’ where they converged. Ziptied together, bundles of gray, plastic-coated wires met at one side of the building’s wall before drawing down to the lower floors, and Daisy was happy to tear them apart. Her strength wasn’t quite the same as Zi Hua or Cal’s, but she was a Grade 8 Fixer, after all. If she couldn’t do some property damage, what exactly was she good for?

Sparks illuminated the crawlspace as wire by wire, she severed power to the building, and by the time she was done, all that illuminated the motel was sporadic gunfire and the dim glow of emergency lighting.

Was it to her coworkers’ advantage? Maybe yes, maybe no? Regardless of what words may have been exchanged through their communications system, however, Daisy was already onto her next project.

When main power was down, backup generators would supply power to only the most important parts of a building. Now…where was that?

 

[dreadnought]

With each and every body that dropped onto the floor, Wisteria could feel her bloodlust rise as her mind started going into overdrive with new ideas forming from every guard that fell by her sabre. She could feel it deep within her veins, she was finally experiencing the high she needed from such a miserable day filled with bad luck and unforeseen mishaps. Heck this all out brawl was even starting to rival her encounter with the siblings which while their creatures were awe inspiring and all, she merely had a bit of a taster of what those beasts and their owners were capable of compared to the buffet of expressions she was indulging in now. As they always say though, good things hardly last as her current killing spree was drawn to a close via what appeared to be some angry midget who was fiercely loyal to his master and wielded a spear in each hand. On one hand it was nice to finally have a real challenge that she could take her time to play around with without breaking him too quickly but on the other hand she was seriously contemplating whether or not to just kill him right there and now just so that she could shut him up before he could go ahead and lick his boss' boots some more.

"And I'm starting to get pretty tired of your so called Madame who doesn't understand how basic business etiquette works. Doesn't she know that its hard to have any business if you go around killing your customers over tiny little grudges? Well at least your deaths will be nicely woven into my book and rest assured I'm a pretty good artist so I'm sure your burnt, sliced up body will help me create quite the masterpiece combined with the bloodied form of your boss."

Would such a proclamation anger the vertically challenged soldier in no time flat? Yes it would and Wisteria would gladly indulge in such emotions as her body moved to block the initial attack that moved a bit faster than she was expecting it to but it wasn't anything she couldn't handle as she jumped away from the clash in order to both give herself some breathing space as well as ignite her sabre once more. Possibly explosive gas be damned, if the mist Hydrangea produced really did blow up on her then at the very least it would blow away her opponent too while putting the blame entirely on her boss' shoulders for not mentioning such a titbit in the first place. Nevertheless, she pushed on to engage with her opponent of an unusual size as the thought of simply kicking him coming to mind before she erased it just as quickly as it appeared in favour of trying to flank around him instead after he went in for an attack so that she wouldn't find herself impaled by those sharp spears that he proudly wielded.

"If you're interested then I'm even willing to let you have a sneak peak or two on some of my past works just to give you an idea of my skills although something tells me that you wouldn't have the patience to take a good look through them all."

 

[Juju]

Rank 5 Fixer

Lupine

EGO: Rose-Tinted Reverie

'Hallways'

Mothman November Witch
Lupine seemed content by Cal’s reassurances and removed her hand from the hilt of her sword. “Okay, but make sure to tell me if it gets worse! A bit of WHITE should clear it up!”

The pale woman sprinted ahead at Cal’s order to keep the path clear, following her instructions the mere moment they were uttered, “Agent Lupine en route! I’ll suppress the panicked clerks, you focus on getting Doctor Alba to safety! Information specialists are of high priority!”

She was quick to display her wilfulness to ‘help’ the rats clerks in front of them, rushing ahead in a flurry of monochrome cloth and blade strikes. Those who stood in their path were cut down with ease, and those who stood at the side were intercepted. Any objects that were thrown were either whacked out of the air or blocked by the sturdy fabric of her suit.

Lupine smiled as she worked, focused yet satisfied with her performance. The clerks were put soundly to sleep, ready for transport to recovery, and her two co-workers were safe. Overall, it was just another day at the office department.

The hallway’s twists and turns eventually led to the Main Room, but something was amiss. Instead of opening for their passage, the doors remained firmly shut. Not good.

“Is there something wrong? A special protocol to handle the new abnormality, perhaps?” Lupine asked her two co-workers as she fell in line beside them, holding up her sword towards the approaching group of panicked clerks. “If our ID doesn’t work, then we should get in contact with management ASAP! Here, let me slow them down a bit while you ask them!”

Reality sparked and shifted as she said these last words, a clear indication that what she intended to do was unleash the hypnotizing EGO that made a host of her perception. With sword in hand and a determined look on her face, Lupine darted ahead.

Even at a distance, the iridescent haze swelled up to engulf the senses. The surroundings shimmered, shattered, and reformed into something completely different. Lupine’s reality overthrew the one before it, changing the street into the copper-scented halls of L Corp’s facility. Little Star’s gate was now an ominous, reinforced set of doors held tight by thick locks. The First Trumpet blared through the corridors, off sync with the flashing red lights that indicated the breach of a containment unit.

The rats were still unfocussed and zombified, but now wore the standardized suits of the clerks Lupine knew them to be. It was unclear just how much they could understand of their surroundings, but perhaps they would be able to understand that the street had become narrow and stifling walls, limiting their ability to swarm outwards. They would be forced into squeezing down the halls, slowing them and making them just a little easier to handle. At least, Lupine thought so.

More clerks fell to her blade, creating more obstacles for the attackers as Lupine struck and then retreated backwards. Most of the returning blows glanced off of her now filthy suit, but some had managed to slice into her face, hands, and other gaps in her armour. The wounds didn’t seem to bother Lupine in the slightest, and it was questionable whether she even realized she had been hurt at all.

Code by Serobliss

 

[November Witch]

Bleeding Heart (Alba)

Status: Angry & Exasperated

Alba would have protested if she could. Being picked up and manhandled like this was definitely the last thing she wanted. However, she was panting too hard to get anything legible out and she couldn’t think of another option in their situation. So, Cal picked her up, and started to carry Alba out of the city and towards the motel the other portion of their office was currently at. However, as the rats built up, she wondered what exactly it was this time that had caused them to start randomly attacking. Was it the same music or sound as before? If it was, she should have seen the same inconsistencies with their eyes as before. Well, she’d need to get a closer look to see. But for now, the only thing they could focus on was getting back…

And when that finally happened, there was no one to be seen, but everyone to be heard. Fighting was going on inside too. It was likely they wouldn’t hear them out here. With such a horde bearing down on them, and such little time, Alba made a decision.

“Wait here, I’ll take care of this.”

As soon as she was set down, she’d use her gooey EGO appendages to scale the wall. Alba assumed she’d have to be the one to open the door with all the chaos going on. Once near the top, she felt the effect of Lupine’s EGO. Well, she moreso saw the effects as an imaginary wall appeared with a ceiling overhead. She found though, that it was, as she assumed, not real. Once on the other side, she looked behind herself to see a vent had magically appeared. She also found that the effect on her was gone as line of sight to Lupine was cut off…

But now she felt something else. She recalled her appendages as her head throbbed and slime started to drip from the brim of her hat, hungrily threatening to spill over. Alba lost grip on the wall and fell the other half of the way to the ground. She saw stars for a moment, but that was nothing compared to how hard she was fighting to keep control of herself. She knew she was in the red now. Anymore EGO usage and she was as good as distorted. It was easy to tell by the lack of control she had over the sludge. It dripped from her brim and down the right side of her face, as if teasing her, telling her she was on the precipice and just one slip up would let it assume control.

She would slowly push herself up into a sitting position, wincing at the pain she felt. Cuts bruises, and a sprained ankle. But otherwise, fine. She’d look around the area for any controls she might be able to spot with her one eye that wasn’t covered by sludge at the moment…

Juju Mothman

 

[seasonedcat]

Rank 5 Fixer

Honey Locust

EGO: Thorns of Love

Little Star Hotel

Honey Locust's sharp gaze was focused on the masked person, never faltering even as he let out shaky breaths. His thorns seemed fairly useless against the person lethality-wise, but they were very effective in keeping the person just at arms reach, unable to get close enough to bring down their axe at Honey Locust. Paired with the thorns and Honey Locust's clumsy dodges, the two fell into some sort of dance. Though it was very clear Honey Locust would have to make a move before his body gave out on him.

Honey Locust bares his teeth at the comment, "Loyal dog beats cannon fodder if you ask me. How does it feel knowing your Lady sent you to die like the expendable pawn you are?" he taunted, finally letting his thorns move in a way that allowed the other to charge at him as they had planned. They moved like a blur, something Honey Locust would have been able to keep up with ease if he had been uninjured.

thankfully, Honey Locust didn't need to keep up; they moved exactly where Honey Locust had planned for them to, into the first opening they saw. The opening Honey Locust made, just for them. They came in quick, cleaving through the weak thorns before they reached their target, Honey Locust. The next move was simple, they just needed to bring their axe down at him to seize the opening they had gotten.

it was a shame that Honey Locust had spent so long in the lion's den that he learned how to wear a preditor's skin. Honey Locust dodged out of the way of the axe last second, barely a moment before it would have ended him. The person was in full swing now, their entire form fully into it, and Honey Locust's daggers moved quicker. They sat amidst Honey Locust's thorns, only able to move so much before the thorns would close in on them. As their body extended into the swing, Honey Locust's daggers came swiftly, directly to the weak spot in the swing, right between their ribs to their heart.
interactions| Mothman

Code by Serobliss

 

[Mothman]

Juju November Witch

Cal blinks twice at Lupine's insistence that 'a little bit of White' would fix her up, but there's much bigger fish to fry in the moment than trying to parse together what the woman is talking about. The sprint back to Little Star is a hurried one, but it doesn't make things any less stressful. It doesn't help where she's at mentally that they're met with closed doors and conflict inside when they get back, and a look at the time reminds her that the Sweep is probably under way by now, working its way here. They work in squads, she knows that, but where they start in the various sectors of the Backstreets is anyone's guess. They're out of time, and every second they waste going forward is borrowed. They need inside, and they need inside now.

Alba insists she'll get the doors open, and there's little room for argument. Cal sets her down with a nod and turns back to assist Lupine, bracing herself to block the impact of a metal club being swung at her by a Rat. It clangs through the air and feels like it echoes off the walls of the motel, and Cal grits out some words of... Encouragement? Concern? She's not even sure when she says them.

"We're outta time, Alba! Either make it happen quickly, or focus on finding Hydrangea!" She seems to be ready for the reality of them having to brave not only the Rat hordes, but the Sweepers when they arrive shortly. Surely she and Lupine could fell some Sweepers, from what she'd heard they're a few steps above a Rat but not at the strength Fixers like they would be... But they come in hordes, and hordes that Cal and Lupine wouldn't be able to keep up with in a prolonged matter. She shoots a quick glance at Alba as she scales the wall, just to make sure she's not immediately assailed by gunfire as she vaults over, and looks back to Lupine and the Rats as she throws a straight that hammers through a rat's collarbone.

When she takes back in her surroundings, though, they're another example of what she's seen from Lupine's E.G.O.

Before, it was only a snippit, but now it's a pure picture of just what Lupine's world is. Metallic, eery halls, with the tinge of what smells like blood tapping at her nose. The rats have changed attire, and are much more uniform and professional. The sound of some heavy alarm made her grit her teeth and jump just slightly, looking up at the illusional walls and trying to find the source. It manages to be everywhere and nowhere all at the same time... She ducks low as a 'clerk' attacks her with what, to her, looks like a handgun, though as opposed to a shot, he's trying to pistol whip her with it. It's nothing for her to grab the man's wrist, twist it, and slam him down onto the iron floors beneath their feet.

She looks to Lupine and sees those glasses shimmer more fiercely than she's ever seen them... She's not sure why, but they make her uneasy, nauseous, even. But she's got no option to grin and bear it, and keep fighting until Alba can get them inside. Murphy's Law tells her that the Sweepers must be closing in right now, and that Lupine's illusional halls won't be able to keep them at bay.

But Murphy's Law is difficult to read for unknown threats. A shadow passes overhead, fast and nearly silent, and Cal twists her eyes up to see a short combatant, another of the motel's Dwarves, with a pair of curved, twisted daggers in hand and lunging at Lupine's back as she battles with the Rats. Cal barely has time to attempt to force a pair of Rats from her way, but has no way to aid Lupine aside from a shout. "Lupine, from the ceiling!" She phrases it thusly since, despite knowing there's open air above them, that it might make more sense to Lupine in the midst of her delusions.

Alba, as she gets up from her tumble, is touched by a hand that reaches down and pries some of the sludge away from her face. It's Zi Hua, and he drags some of the sludge into his hand and flicks it down to the ground. "Chrissake, Doctor. Get up. You look pathetic." There's a small scoff as she offers a hand down to the woman, before a pair of bullets look through his shoulder. He grits his teeth as if only bothered, like a fly had just flew around his face, and turns back to them. "Morons! Buzz-" She reaches to the side and grabs a cabinet filled with china and glasses, before hucking it towards the man. "-OFF!" He shouts as the cabinet leaves his hands, before turning back to Alba.

"You left with Cal and Lupine. Where're they? Swept, or just stuck at security?" He clicks his lips as Alba answers and glances up to the rafters, seeing the small figure of Snowdrop seemingly wrapped up with the men on the rafters. "OI! Snow, gates, NOW!"

Snowdrop stops as she hops off the corpse of a motelier staff and looks down to Zi Hua, her single visible eye blinking twice. "Gates? When the Sweepers are coming?"

"Don't gawk, just make it quick! In and out, Sweepers don't need to be a part of it!" Zi Hua sighs as Snowdrop nods and scurries off, before putting a hand to his hip and looking back to Alba. "Don't got nothin' that'll help that hat. Stay behind us, and ju-" There's a guttural sound of pain and splattering of flesh as circular ring blade lands itself just shy of his neck, digging deep into his shoulder blade. A Dwarf is the result of it, but Zi Hua seems to have reflexively tweaked his head enough to the side to avoid a shot to the jugular. He turns and wildly swings a fist to be rid of the Dwarf, who dodges backwards to make himself space. "Lady upstairs never taught you not to interrupt someone when they're talkin'? Alba, stay behind me." Just as he poises himself, a second Dwarf brandishing a rapier lands just beside the first.

---

seasonedcat dreadnought ERode

Hydrangea's in the process of knocking a man to the group and digging her heel into his neck for the finishing blow when the lights all shut off. The bullet spray doesn't stop, though it certainly has slowed down over the course of the battle. There's remnants of the motelier's soldiers, but they're either running out of ammo they don't seem able to afford, or dead. The biggest threat seems to only be the Dwarves and the woman of the hour, at least until she excused herself to the elevator. From where she is, Daisy will hear the screeching gears of the elevator come to a halt. Though, it doesn't crash, and Daisy might be able to hear the sounds of someone or something scrambling their way up the rest of the shaft. How it's managed is difficult to discern from sound alone, but it travels up, reaches a certain point, and disappears from Daisy's senses.

Wisteria's saber lights aflame just after, giving a bit of light amidst a new dimly lit lobby. There's a few traditional light fixtures, likely just for atmosphere, and before long some emergency lights flicker to life overhead, but they're a consolation prize if anything. When she ignites it and begans to clash with the Dwarf battling her, she does so with some quips meant to enrage the man. "Etiquette went off the table the minute the Madame knew who you harbored. None of you know what she is." The man doesn't seem as enraged as one might hope, but his attacks definitely do increase in severity. Lances clash with saber as they weave close and far from each other, before the Dwarf leaps backwards some dozen feet, points both of his spears down at Wisteria, and twists his wrists.

The spearheads of both weapons fly forward like projectiles, and whether they stick into Wisteria or into furniture, they quickly heat up until the metal burns bright red and detonate, shooting off shrapnel in all directions. The man lands on the ground, flicks the spears, and two new spearheads slide out of the handle for battle to continue. At this point, an un-dwarf inhibited Hydrangea has made short work of the remaining soldiers. They battle against the Dwarves in a sea of grubby corpses and spent firearms. She lands her eyes on Zi Hua and Alba, knowing that in her state, Zi Hua will be footing the brunt of a two-versus-one, and she makes a break for crossing the room to assist them as the others fight their Dwarves.

As for Honey, his gambit seems to go off without a hitch. The man seizes his opening, leaping through the vines that have lifted corpses, limbs, and drank from the blood and viscera splattered across the now ruined lobby. He draws close, axe poised and swung with all the might of someone far above your average Backstreet Rat or Fixer, and the daggers dig into his flesh with a sharp THUNK, THUNK, like the sound of two arrows sinking into a target. One would expect a much more deep poor of blood from what seemed like it should have been two hits that would dig into organs. But while there is a reaction of pain or discomfort, the Dwarf smirks through it and knocks Honey towards the head with the blunt of his axe, and then attempts to take a second swing with his axe, using the momentum of his swing to pry himself off the daggers. "Cannon fodder's right. Just like you, for whatever bastards you're here for. You're here, toting your quarry, serving an objective much bigger than you, just like everyone else. Lady Grimhilde will have her Dwarves, and have her way. And, hmm..." The man looks around the room, clicking his lips and bringing his axe up, resting it on his shoulder as him and Honey make some space from each other. "Where is that one, anyways? He was joined at the hip to your boss, last I looked, but... Looks to me like one of the Dwarves must have nabbed him." He smirks and readies his axe yet again.

And Hydrangea realizes it just as Honey hears it. The VIPs gone, weapon, corpse, and all. Had it happened when the lights went out? During the haze Hydrangea created and as the soldiers were creating such a ruckus? Had it been a Dwarf, the motelier...? Those answers would have to be found soon, lest the mission fall to jeopardy.

​

 

[ERode]

No secondary?

Guess it was known as the Little Star for a reason. Big Star would never.

While nothing else started up in terms of power, the person inside the elevator was certainly the resilient type. As Daisy approached, she heard an individual's ascent through the shaft, scrambling upwards at a speed most impressive, before disappearing with the creaking of another set of doors being pried open. Down below, of course, the battle only intensified, whipping up into a fury as the Dwarves proved themselves to not just be short Rats, and thus, she was once more presented a fork in the road. She could descend, or she could ascend. She could pursue one person by herself, or play with her co-workers in the deep night. The third option, of course, would be to break into a motel room and enjoy a nice, soft bed and maybe a ten minute nap, but that...well, that'd be something she could do if Hydrangea was dead.

Until then, Daisy supposed that she was kinda maybe possibly on the clock.

"Alright, Daisy, lets get that bread."

With that proclamation, the Wallflower Office's lowest Grade Fixer pulled off her shirt, twisted it into a rudimentary wrap, and then used augmented strength to pull open her own entrance into the elevator shaft. No ladder was a bit misfortunate and not having a proper weapon on her was also sad (in the future, she will end Cal's career for killing the little girl and not even having the decency to get Daisy's knife back in the process), but if there was anyone who could make do, it was Daisy, the Rat. And so, as a Rat is wont to do, the platinum-haired girl bore a brave smile, hopped off the edge of the floor into the shaft, grasped the corded steel cable, and began to scramble up as well, looking for signs the exit that the other person ought to have taken after their own ascent ended.

 

[Juju]

Rank 5 Fixer

Lupine

EGO: Rose-Tinted Reverie

'Hallways'

Mothman November Witch
Lupine was too focussed on fighting back the swarm of clerks for her to notice Alba’s disappearance. As she swung her blade she couldn’t help but wonder what sort of abnormality had caused such widespread insanity in the clerks. She just hoped that all of it wasn’t enough to spark yet another meltdown.

Leaving the heavy thinking for her superiors, Lupine focused on the task at hand. Side by side, she fought back against the clerks, striking them down with enough WHITE to fully cure the madness. Later, the staff would come to take them away until they had recovered enough to return to work.

Distracted by the task at hand, Lupine was unaware of her assailant until Calendula warned her. The pale fixer whipped around wildly, never doubting her companion’s claims. Just like that, she could see an opened vent and a crazed employee armed with two daggers.

If employees were under the influence, then this was a real problem.

A quick parry was all Lupine could do in time, but it was enough to keep the daggers from her flesh. Despite the immediate danger, Lupine was sure to extend the proper gratitude to her collegue, “Thanks Cal!"

With a grunt, Lupine shoved her sword against the daggers, trying to knock her assailant back enough to free her weapon for a follow-up strike. She would have to be brutally efficient with this one. The quicker she could cure the employee’s insanity, the quicker they could rejoin the fight against whatever abnormality was driving the department mad.

In the Reverie, Calendula could see the WHITE that Lupine had babbled about. While just as basic as before, her Office-issued blade had an unusual white sheen to each of its swings. Little blasts of light accompanied each strike, creating a surreal effect that was completely removed from the blood and gore that should have been shed.

Code by Serobliss

 

[dreadnought]

While their madame was certainly lacking a couple of marbles from her obsession with Lupine, she certainly knew how to pick and train some loyal guards which was starting to become quite a pain to deal with, especially when her taunts were hardly doing anything to the vertically challenged bodyguard. Toying with his strong loyalty towards the madame only seemed to strengthen his resolve more than anything as their weapons clashed within the dimly lit hotel. Both sides seemingly matched blow for blow despite the rising intensity for who knows how long the exchange went for until the guard jumped back in order to deliver the artist something she never expected to be faced with. Spearheads quickly flying her way that she narrowly managed to dodge out of the way off but that hardly mattered when pieces of shrapnel from the blast managed to lodge itself into her arm before she realised that the spearheads had a little bit of an extra kick in their step as she rolled behind whatever remained of the scattered furniture. Luckily her uniform managed to stop the shrapnel too deeply into her arm which meant that she only had a bit of bleeding to worry about for the time being.

"I guess your madame didn't skimp out on giving you some fancy toys to play around with as well. Would have been nice to have known that there was a little more to the fancy spears you've been waving around this entire time but I guess it's about time I brought out some fancy tricks too!"

Fighting him directly like this was going to do her no favours in the long run and those explosive spears too packed a punch that would surely leave her body pretty messed up if they were to connect. She wasn't expecting to use it so quickly after fuelling it in the first place but now seemed like a good time as any to pull out her notebook and start using her EGO once more as she laid low among the broken furniture as she got to painting. She absolutely abhorred doing rushed jobs but she also still needed to live in order to keep on making her masterpieces so there was that too to consider as she filled in every little detail of her current piece like she was possessed until finally the piece of work she had been working on the entire day finally came into reality.

Emerging from the long spreading pages of her notebook was a horrific mishmash of the mysterious creatures the green haired siblings seemed to have under their command. A bulky wolf like creature that bared large tusks on either side of its sharp fangs that were ready to tear apart anything it bit into. It's overall outline would be hard to make out despite whatever remained of the lights that were currently doing their best to illuminate the room although once the fiery glow of Wisteria's sword shone on her creation, it's centipede like lower half would be put onto display with each of its little feet made clacking noises every time they hit the floor while it eagerly sniffed the air for its next prey before Wisteria saw fit to give it some much needed direction. She could only hope that it wouldn't get blown to pieces like the last creation she made as she picked up her sword once more with her non bleeding arm counting herself lucky that she had some practice nailed into her already in utilising her non dominant hand as she gave out the orders for an attack.

"I'm sure you're feeling rather hungry right now but that's okay since I got just the snack for you to munch down on as long as you can avoid the explosive pretaste he has. Don't let his spearheads hit you directly at the very least and follow my lead."

While her creations may not have much going on for them in the brains department, they could follow orders at least and follow orders it did as Wisteria burst out of her improvised cover with the monstrous beast doing its best to follow behind her as they took on the devoted guard with renewed vigour.

 

[seasonedcat]

Rank 5 Fixer

Honey Locust

EGO: Thorns of Love

Little Star Hotel

the hit sends Honey Locust stumbling back, his leg suddenly giving out just as the other swings at him again. Honey only has time to barely roll out of the way, the axe grazing his arm as he did so. Honey Locust's head swam with the movement as he barred his teeth again, wiping the blood as it dripped into his eye in annoyance. Honey Locust stumbles to his feet, agony tearing through his leg as he barely manages to stand this time.

as Honey Locust and the other loop each other like two predators, the statement catches him off guard the same way as it does Hydrangea. His gaze flicks around to confirm the information, feeling a mix of dread filling him alongside the pain. Honey Locust tightens his hold on his daggers, gritting his teeth together as he glares viciously at the other. The fumes he was running on were becoming painfully low; even his high pain tolerance was being tested as both his leg and head throbbed together.

"play with your food too long, and you'll find yourself the one being eaten," Honey Locust growls out as he throws his dagger in one swift motion toward the other's head. As the dagger leaves his hands, he begins to dash in behind it, closing the distance quickly, though a bit clumsily. He begins to slash at the other in rapid motions, barely giving him time to react before he swings again with the small weapon. With each swing, the thorns on his neck come at a delayed speed, lashing out as the others dodge to catch them off guard, and they have to make a choice if they dodge the thorns or the daggers. Honey Locust either needed to finish quickly or get some help before his trembling leg gave out on him.
interactions| Mothman

Code by Serobliss

 

[Mothman]

Juju

There's very little to do at this point except for believe that Alba will manage to get them inside. Now, with the effects of Reverie overlooking her surroundings, she's not even confident that she'll see the Sweepers coming. She's seen them before, with those smoothies of human blood and viscera stored in tanks on their backs (Is it sustenance? Currency? She's not a clue.), the crimson red claws and talons they use to dig into those unfortunate enough, and she's heard from inside the odd language they speak that she certainly can't make heads or tails of. They take everything of those that they 'sweep', until there's not even a spec left of their body, belongings, or anything inbetween. She can't help but breathe in and out a sigh to try and steady herself.

Thankfully, her warning to Lupine is effective enough, and the woman is spared critical damage from the ambushing Dwarf. Still, this one is a step above a Rat, and that's easy to tell at a glance. If they're sending soldiers of this tier out here, despite the threat of a Sweeper... Whoever's running the show in there either has a ton of faith, or doesn't care if this short combatant dies out here to them, or the Sweepers. She clutches her fist and hammers it into the solar plexus of another Rat, sending the recipient into a few more Rats that tumble down and form a pile of guts and broken bones. The strength of the swing requires her arm to take a moment and 'breathe' as she might call it, the way that a few valves open up by her shoulder and exhume smoke into the air as a form of cooling.

Lupine's gratitude is almost casual, like an office coworker thanking their associate for doing some mundane task like speaking with a client or filing a document. That's just how Lupine is, she reminds herself, but even the way that Lupine begins to clash blows with the Dwarf, she doesn't seem laser focused. Not that she's slacking, or performing poorly, no... But just in the sense that Lupine doesn't seem to treat this like the life and death that it is. Still, she's holding her own against the Dwarf, and as much as Cal wants to assist, she's under Reverie's wheelhouse now, and has a torrent of Rats to deal with between her and Lupine before she can consider that.

---

"...Outside, yes. We're not busting through gates like that without too much E.G.O." Doctor Alba gives Zi Hua a blunt answer as to where the other Wallflowers are, and watches as the man's attention is quickly taken by another Dwarf. They begin to clash as well, and these Dwarves mostly seem to be modest challenges for a majority of the Wallflowers. Still, very of them have called upon their E.G.O. to a full extent, and as Zi Hua takes glancing blows in exchange for swinging an arm into the gut of the Dwarf fighting him, he doesn't seem to be in any real danger, E.G.O. or not.

The rapier that strikes his flesh leaves deep wounds, but they don't seem to be anything that Zi Hua can't regenerate from. They're workshop weapons, for certain, and a step above the cobbled together weapons that most of the soldiers used. Crude, ornamental guns made from scrap metal and faux-bullets, as opposed to the good stuff you might find in a wealthy Fixer Office, and pipes and sharped metal that they called spears. But here are the Dwarves, wearing proper equipment in a shithole like Little Star. Alba has little in the tank as far as helping is concerned and, as ordered, she remains behind Zi Hua as the battling begins. Though, she does catch out of the corner of her eyes the way that the VIP is seized by another Dwarf and taken towards a stairwell leading upwards...

But she doesn't comment on it.

---

For Lupine and Cal, salvation comes in the sound of grinding gears and scraping metal as the front doors slowly churn open. Snowdrop peeks her head out of a window meant to aim a gun or crossbow through, and shouts down to the two Wallflowers. "Hey! You've both had plenty of fun tonight, running off to play doctor!" She notes that the child and her mother aren't with the women, and isn't surprised by that at all. "Now get inside!"

Cal bucks a scraggly Rat attempting to stab into metallic flesh on her back off with a shout, before a wide swing of her arm lariats two Rats behind her, snapping shoulder and neck as they flop to the ground. She can't see Snowdrop thanks to Reverie and the fog, but can hear her fine. "Don't have to tell me twice, just...!" She takes a step to go and assist Lupine, knowing that the Dwarf isn't going to simply sit idle and let them retreat. Navigating within Reverie is a challenge enough, but as she's charged by another group of rats-

There's a guttural, churning sound as a sliding figure cuts down the Rats in front of her. They're on the ground immediately, with strange pipes stuck into them that begin to melt and grind them like a damned blender. Cal takes a cautious step back as the Sweeper that's in front of her drains the three corpses with an incredible efficiency, and she looks to Lupine with grit teeth. "Lupine! Sweepers are here, we need to GO!" She wastes little time in turning to sprint back towards Little Star, knowing they might have at least a few moments to kill thanks to the Rats that the Sweepers have to suck up first. Thankfully for Lupine, the Dwarf catches on to the Sweepers breaking into the walls of Reverie, and moves to retreat just the same. Snowdrop is ready to match blows on the balcony that he jumps to, but Cal and Lupine won't be able to see how that battle's going until they're inside.

She wants to support Lupine more, but damn it all, in Reverie, there's nothing to throw or use to her advantage. She could load another explosive charge like she did to that young girl and her Mother, but then that risks Lupine being caught unawares and in a blast, as well as drawing eyes to them. Do Sweepers prioritize easy targets? Targets that try to fight back? The Rats are certainly trying to, but not having even a lick of luck. The only safety is shelter, and she's not so battle-crazed that she wants to go a round with a Sweeper. She'd more than likely lose.

---

ERode

The elevator shaft isn't filled with any other sounds or threats as Daisy begins her brave ploy to ascend it. Though, she could likely hear the tipping and tapping of footsteps making their way up a stairwell, and if her hearing is well enough to follow it, discern the floor that they arrive on with minimal effort. By the time the Rat finishes her climb up the elevator shaft and dismounts into the hallway, notably the only one she's passed with proper lighting still on, she'll see a glimpse of one of the Dwarves with their VIP slung over his shoulder and making his way down a hallway just as he turns the corner. The VIP still seems to be alive, but what fate awaits him in wherever the Dwarf is taking him is difficult to discern. If Daisy were to follow this hallway to the end of it, the Dwarf will be already gone, though a large bunkered door, akin to one you might see at a bank vault, with a large turning wheel for the mechanism and a keypad beside it, asking for what looks to be finger or eye recognition, at the end of it.

---

seasonedcat dreadnought

Wisteria summons forth a creature with which to turn the battle against her Dwarf into a two on one. The Dwarf doesn't seem foolish enough to bite for a ploy like that, and makes some space from the woman and her pet. The two size each other up, for but a moment. Honey's Dwarf takes a similar decision after their clash results in a number of actual injuries from Honey's ploy after hucking his dagger. He lands a few stabs to the Dwarf's midsection, and his thorns manage to grind into his forearms and a shoulder. The Dwarf takes a leap backwards to make space from the onslaught, pressing at one of his wounds with a hiss before looking to the other remaining Dwarf. Before long, the third remaining Dwarf, the one that had leapt back inside and was doing battle with Snowdrop, emerges just the same. Zi Hua's Dwarf meets a different kind of reception, as his body is thrown and lands in a mushy pile in front of those still surviving. The three Dwarves exchange a silent look, before beating a hasty retreat.

Just as they do, Hydrangea, finished with her own Dwarf that now lays dead, returns to the Wallflowers side, blade at the ready. Whether she's one of the circumstances that led to the Dwarves retreat, or they had simply accomplished what was needed, was difficult to tell from their actions alone. She curses under her breath that they got away, but looks to the other Wallflowers and gives them all a nod. "Good work. That's one storm weathered." Zi Hua saunters up beside the group as well, but Snowdrop remains overseeing the situation at the gates, prepared to close the gates as soon as needed once Cal and Lupine are inside... If they manage to get inside.

But Hydrangea's face goes more grim at the realization she had as the Dwarves began to prepare for retreat. "VIP's here somewhere. Must be. Does anyone know what happened?" She looks amidst the Wallflowers, and amidst the responses, nobody seems to have seen. Or at the least, nobody with the knowledge steps up. ​

 

[ERode]

Daisy shook her hands out at the end of her climb. It had been a bit dicey once her hands got sweaty from exertion, but she was never in any real danger. Just a midget man and the VIP man, the former carrying the latter away like a sack of potatoes.

Weird. That yapper-lady didn’t really highlight him in any way, but on the other hand…

“Aaaaah…”

Daisy had turned the corner on the hallway and immediately dropped to her knees in despair. It was a goddamn door without a keyhole! She hated those! Electronic fuckers with biometric bullshit! She had half the mind to impale herself upon one of the wheel’s handles and just force it to spin, but that’d probably just fuck up the door even more and make it impossible to get into the bunker. She furrowed her brows, crossed her arms, and pouted as hard as she could. There were some puzzles that were fun and others that were exhausting and this one, in particular, was looking to be on the more exhausting side of things. So, her solution?

Communications turned on, Daisy’s ever-chipper voice sounding out brightly amid the darkness and chaos.

"Purrlease, listen up, it's nyverybody's favorite feline friend here, meow-tivating you to paws whatever you're doing and lend me your ears. The situation is claw-ful – the fat rat's been nabbed by an even fatter and rattier lad! I'm feline fine and stationed right in front of the bunker door they scurried through. I'm sure you can sense my whisker-twitching presence, so join meow for a paw-some rescue mission. Let's purr-sist together and break open that bunker door like a catnip-filled pinata! Meow-tually, your ever-vigilant office cat, Daisy."

And, just like that, Daisy closed her eyes, rested her chin against her tucked knees, turned off her communicator, and...pretended to sleep, while keeping her ears open for any other weird sounds in this isolated junction of the hallway.