damned_institute | Night 59: Courtyard

There had to be something said about Chipp Zanuff's complete inability to listen. When Venom had politely suggested not to do "that" again, he was referring to the taller man's latest taste for grabbing him by the arm and pulling him through the halls. He had planned to correct Zanuff's actions the second he again felt a hand curling around his forearm, but he was sadly yanked back and his feet again left the ground. Once that occurred, the air left his lungs as easily as if he'd been trapped in a vacuum and the only sound he could make was that of an unhappy, and only partially surprised, gasp.

If there was one thing to be thankful for, it was that lack of complete surprise. Somehow, be it through determination or just good luck, his own hand stayed tight around his cue even with the constant jerks and turns of being pulled around by a madman. He'd someone managed to pull it closer to his chest as the rest of the institute flew past in a blur of motion, and his legs pulled further away from the floor once the distinct sound of crunching bone pierced through what should have been deafening wind. What on earth was--

There was another bang, that of metal being forced open, followed by the sudden feeling of cold air. There was only second to place their current location before the back of his mind became acutely aware of the fact that there was no longer a hand on him.

Panic hit first, followed by reasonably justified anger. After that, the world flashed to white.

This was not a good night. His nights were never good, not really, but it deserved mentioning: this was not a good night.

"Nngh..." That was all he could manage, really. He'd always been plagued by headaches, but the one he was currently suffering through... It was as if there was a weight sitting on the very top of his skull, causing cracks just at the back of his neck and behind his eyes. Everything was still too blurry to focus on, that obnoxious weight making him too dizzy to pick one thing apart from the other. Everything had gone dark, yet the corners of his eyes were flecked with white and cold and--

He forced himself to sit upright (he didn't recall lying down). Snow fell off his face and onto his lap. What didn't fall seeped into his hair and weighed it down, enough so blind him. Damn it... He pushed the thick bangs from his face, temporarily tucking them behind his ears in order to reorganize his thoughts. Had that been Zanuff's plan? To throw him into a snowdrift?

He was going to chastise him. He was going to get up the instant his head stopped pounding and slap the man with the metal-plating of his gloves. That had been the plan, at least until a dark shape swept out of the sky and shot itself toward his partner. Thoughts of retaliation were quick to take a back-seat and the Guild Head pushed himself back onto his feet before pointing his cue at that monstrous form. He slid the weapon between the fingers of his right hand and pulled it back with his left, taking aim as if the enemy was nothing more than another 9-ball to be hit. In the second he struck the cue forward again, Magic had solidified into a sphere less than an inch before it--the strike of the cue was enough to send it flying at the beast.

Edited 2011-10-31 20:14 (UTC)

"Shit!"

There was sudden pain when Chipp saw something dive at him, knowing he'd been too late to completely dodge the attack. It was his right arm, an ugly cut marring his skin and making blood soak through the rest of his sleeve as Chipp rolled to the ground, keeping a defensive crouch as he looked up and saw the creature that just attacked him get knocked by a billiard ball. Without missing a beat, Chipp followed up on the attack with a fierce one of his own, taking advantage of the bird's downed status to smash the blade of his axe into its skull with a satisfying, yet somewhat sickening crunch.

The nice thing about surprise attacks was that they generally only worked once, so the ninja managed to avoid being divebombed by yet another bird, jumping back and out of the way as yet another one swooped in, followed by a second one that was hovering on the outskirts of the battlefield, as if waiting for a chance to strike. In the weak moonlight, Chipp could finally make out what they were fighting exactly: Bigass, ugly birds with silver knives for beaks and claws. He looked at Venom, pointing to the bird hovering over the corpse of the one they just killed.

"I'll take care of this one! HEY, CHICKENSHIT! BRING IT!" Far from being afraid, Chipp looked almost eager to get those creatures out of the way; if only because his extremely low patience was all used up at this point. If it took a couple of corpses to get these monsters off their backs, then it had to be done!

The return of his Ki meant a return to Chipp's impressive mobility and jumping skills, so it was probably a sight to see a man able to launch himself to reach the bird's hovering height and greet it with a punch to the face and an axe to the head.

Edited 2011-11-01 18:29 (UTC)

...

For a moment, the assassin just had to admire how completely ridiculous his life was. For most people, it was something more subtle that would inspire that train of thought; watching their family members argue over meaningless issues, losing their job to someone far less skilled, getting into a relationship neither them or their partner was interested in... For Venom, it was watching a presidential hopeful leap ten feet into the air to punch a bird in its mutated skull and feel too jaded to be impressed.

Hm.

Regardless, they were still being attacked. The attention mostly stuck with Zanuff, considering his more active role, but the creature that lurked in the back was obviously considering which human was an easier target. Its eyes flickered back and forth between the two men, its talons reflexively digging into the air as it contemplated. Ultimately (and unsurprisingly. Even a blind man could tell starting a fight with Zanuff wouldn't be worth it at this point), when its focus settled on the quieter of the two, Venom pulled his hand up in front of himself and toward the creature.

Energy solidified against his palm in the shape of a white sphere and the bird watched the seemingly pointless display unfazed, its wings flapping harder. He pulled his hand to the left of where the sphere floated, creating another ball, then made another in the center of the two. After taking a few steps back, he pulled his weapon in front of himself and formed one more billiard at the cue's tip, one that began to crackle with a dark energy.

The bird most obviously could care less. It had made its choice and, without waiting another second, swept through the sky and at the assassin. Yet Venom remained standing right where he was, only watching as it drew closer and closer, past the first three spheres, until--

"Wrong way." In the blink of an eye, the assassin was gone and the bird's talons caught onto nothing but the electrified billiard ball he'd left in his wake. When he reappeared, it was in the air behind the creature--right where he'd put the last spheres--and he took no time to forcefully strike each ball toward the demon's back.

The cracking of the monsters spine rung out before he could even land back into the snow. Once his shoes meet the cold again, Venom's attention turned back toward his colleague. He'd only suffered a scratch, hadn't he...?

Punching a bird in the face was not something Chipp got to do every day, but his blows weren't enough to completely kill the creature. The bird (he felt weird calling it a bird; it was clearly unlike any kind of animal he'd seen. Definitely not edible either.) screeched in pain, but remained stubbornly in the air as Chipp landed back down, not even slowing down despite the incredible fall. This time, he didn't have to bring himself to the creature's level; it angrily followed him back down, something that Chipp was hoping it would do. The bird had probably anticipated him to take some time to recover from his landing, trying to strike before he had a chance to get up, but the ninja had already anticipated that kind of movement. He rolled out of the way, and without even hesitating, jumped again and this time managed to grab onto some mottled feathers on the bird's back, righting himself so that he was fully on its back.

"HAHA, YEAH!" His weight was too much for the bird to handle, but it put up a good effort by trying to use momentum to throw Chipp off... and it might have succeeded, had Chipp not taken this chance to bash the bird's skull with his axe once more, scoring a direct hit. No longer having the energy (or life, for that matter) to fight, what tried to go up only had one way to go: down.

CRUNCH. It only occurred to Chipp, as he heard (and felt) the bird's body hit the ground, that he was probably lucky that he was on top of it and managed not to flip over during the fall. Huh. "Bastard put up a good fight but... Kamikaze! Victory is mine!"

The adrenaline in his veins naturally wore off to feelings of pain, as the wound on his arm throbbed and also... his hand? Chipp looked at his hand, noticing a gash where his knuckles were; not deep, but enough to sting. Huh? Oh, right, when he punched the bird in the face... its beak was mottled with blood, from where Chipp sliced his knuckles on it. Damn, too sharp!

"Guess I should take care of this." Chipp chose to do that by ripping at his other sleeve, the good part, in order to make some kind of makeshift bandage. It was then that he seemed to remember that he had company, although maybe Chipp simply had confidence that Venom also made it through the fight; he wasn't exactly a pushover, and Chipp knew that personally. "Venom, you alright?"

Hmph. So it was just a scratch.

"I'm fine," Venom stated quietly as he made his way back to the other man. He craned his head to the side, examining the wounds Zanuff had begun bandaging. Yes. Just scratches, as estimated. They would hurt a bit, but ultimately do nothing to slow the ninja down. The most concern was saved toward whether cutting oneself on those monstrous appendages could cause infection, but... "Worry about yourself." Venom wasn't going to do it for him.

Once it was assured Zanuff could help himself, the Guild Head took to wandering against the Courtyard walls, peering at their snow-covered tops. It'd only been a few nights ago that he and Sora had taken to climbing them to search out Landel themselves. That effort had gone... disturbingly bad, but with Zanuff's speed and both of their abilities back in order, they should be able to clear the area in a timely manner. They had to be able to do this tonight. He was not going to stand for another failure, not when he was so readily able to actually do something.

They had to find him. For Master Zato and Ms. Littleton.

Despite having been sedated the first trip, his memory was clear enough to recognize which direction it was they needed to go. Venom turned his heel, putting his back to the wall to again check the taller man's progress and speak to him directly. "We should be able to get to the forest by going over this wall. If he hasn't fled the area, Landel should be hiding there somewhere." They had to find him, damn it.

Venom's instructions revived an extremely recent memory of Chipp attempting to ask Venom exactly how he knew that Landel was here, and because he was Chipp Zanuff, he proceeded to ask that question. "So, how do you know we need to check around here?" His question was not accusatory though, or not even angry; Chipp merely wanted to know exactly why Venom chose to look in this direction, or why he chose to go outside, or if he had any more information. Chipp just liked knowing where to start was all, and he evidently did believe that whatever reason Venom had for starting here, it was a good one because he started towards the wall once he was finished bandaging up his wounds, pulling tight to make sure the pressure was right.

If his Ki hadn't returned, climbing it would be easy. With it, he didn't even have to touch the damn thing, knowing he could make the jump. So could Venom, Chipp guessed, so he didn't make any offers to help out. Besides, someone had to check if it was clear first, right? With all these monsters running around, Chipp wouldn't be surprised if the forest was hiding something nasty itself.

Daemon did warn him about that, didn't he... He was starting to see what the other man meant when it came to catching food. Damn, was there really nothing he could actually eat out there? The ninja sighed, but finally made the jump, crouching down and then leaping up to grab the top of the wall. Instead of completely climbing over, he stayed on top of it, looking out into the darkness. As he should have expected, only the darkness was staring back at him. He strained his ears, knowing sight was only going to tell him so much anyway. In the distance... Nothing that he could really pinpoint, but the forest wasn't quiet either. There definitely were things in there, and Chipp had a feeling it wasn't anything they'd like to encounter.

"Dunno what's out there, but I bet it's just as nasty as the monsters here." He shrugged, and then motioned to Venom that it was fine to drop down. "Whatever, let's just find Landel and kick his ass."

Edited 2011-11-03 01:37 (UTC)

That question... Should he tell Zanuff about his strained relationship with the vampire and his fiance? The blinking pain behind his eyes that sprung up at the very notion of doing so told him no. It was horrible enough to attempt having Bella listen to him, regardless of whether or not she was a good person. It was horrible enough having Edward listen to him, who, despite all his loyalty, could never be counted on when the woman he adored was still on the chessboard. It was simple to say they had garnered enough of his respect for him to not disdain the two of them, but he couldn't imagine the lengths of insanity they'd drive him to with Zanuff in tow. God only knew what he'd end up encouraging them to do...

The thought visibly creased the line of mouth into a deeper frown. He shook his head to himself to clear it away. "An acquaintance of mine stumbled upon the location of the man on the radio," came the Guild Head's vague explanation, his voice somewhat distant from watching his partner leap onto a six-foot tall wall with zero effort. He still couldn't find it in himself to be impressed. "As Landel is working with that same man, it only makes sense for the two of them to be in the same place." If he hadn't fled by now. He always had to keep that in mind.

With Zanuff having landed safely onto the barricade's surface, Venom made quick work of following. Though he was never one for gaining enough height as the presidential hopeful through sheer strength, there were other means: mainly by placing the bumper of his cue to the ground and putting his weight on the tip to pull it down. When enough force had been gathered and, with the help of his Magic, it was only a matter of leaping upward and using the force of the straightening cue to spring up and onto the wall. It may have been an interesting show of abilities to his company if he hadn't implemented that same method to kick him in the face when they'd met.

He was going to insist that Zanuff deserved it.

"All right." Beating that mess of a man was an easy sentiment to agree to. With a nod, Venom leaped down to the other side.

[To here]

[Coming from here.]

The fall was quick and smooth and surprisingly graceful, despite the fact that Daemon was beyond rusty at this sort of thing and had never been as good at it as Jaenelle in the first place. But he still managed, despite having Claude's weight anchored against his side. The ground rushed up to meet them and he pushed downwards with a pocket of air, slowing their descent the closer they got until only an inch of air separated his feet from the dirt path of the Courtyard and they were no longer dropping through space.

His eyes searched the darkness, spotting the recent remnants of a fight here but spotting no one else for the moment. Judging it safe enough, he deposited Claude on his feet and eyed the pile of dead monsters, recognizing them vaguely.

"...Neither one of you are virgins, right?"

Renji seemed to just appear a few feet from the courtyard wall, sliding to a halt with Lydia in his arms. He set her down and looked between her and the soldier. "If you're going farther than that, we'll take you to the end of the grounds. You're better off havin' a meat shield you can just run out from under if something nasty shows up. Even the crowds of little shit running around tonight'll just slow you down." He grinned. "Assuming you're in a hurry, of course. If you were planning on the scenic monster killing tour, don't let me stop you."

It had all happened so fast that Lydia hadn't even had the chance to protest. She didn't need to be carried and the way that the other man had taken Claude down seemed far more dignified, but there had been the sensation of the man's arms around her, the rush where gravity got turned all around, and suddenly they were down in the courtyard.

She might not have liked the method much, but it was effective.

For a moment the dark-haired man's question caused her to frown at the sheer randomness of it, but then she saw the corpses of those birds and sighed. "So you worked that out, did you?" It wasn't exactly the first thing that came to mind with attacking patterns, so she wasn't going to question how they'd figured that out.

She was more concerned with the redhead's offer to take them further. Maybe it would have made their trip easier, but she and Claude could handle themselves. She didn't want them holding out hope that they could go all the way out with them, because that wasn't going to happen. "And like I said, this is as far as you need to take us. You've already done enough. Just make sure nothing targets us while we climb the wall."

Once they got over, they needed to be alone. They had to be quiet, had to disappear into those trees and blend in and act like they had never been here, even though they had just made one of the biggest impacts on this place in some time.

Falling two stories was hardly an everyday moment. Falling two stories painlessly was a rare break in life, a flawless display of power and grace. Watching Lydia get carried down by a prince-like figure on speed, on the other hand, was a once-in-an-eternity experience, and though being in the arms of another man should have been distracting all on its own, Claude couldn't help but focus elsewhere.

When the four reunited on the ground, the man chanced a snicker at Lydia's expense. A sound that was extended to the rest of the group when he heard the dark-haired man's question. None could have missed the slew of corpses. Most, however, would have overlooked their identities. The man must have been here awhile to have known.

"'Fraid that ship's sailed a long time ago," Claude replied, grin hidden behind a strategically placed hand. Hey, no one said he couldn't be immature about it.

Lydia addressed the redhead's proposal with a polite shutdown, which suited Claude quite well. Escaping the building itself might have been a problem, but here, they no longer had that obstacle. Taking advantage of another's already generous offer was unnecessary. "Kind of you to offer," he added, "but we should be fine. If you can watch our backs until we get over, I'll say we'll be even."

Daemon inclined his head and stepped away, clearing a path to the wall that ringed the Courtyard. "We'll part ways here, then," he spoke politely, giving a slight bow, the barest hint of Protocol. He wasn't giving Harrington and the female his trust just yet, but they had provided an important advantage tonight and would continue to work from the outside. As much as he wanted out himself, the game was far from over and he could play better from within just now, as frustrating as that was.

Daemon was patient, and more had occurred in his past few days here than he'd witnessed in his first three weeks combined. Perhaps it wouldn't be such a drawn-out game after all.

He spared them both a glance, his expression serious. "Good luck, wherever you're headed to. Those of us trapped in here will need all the help we can get, especially after tonight. If they do manage to undo this mess, I can't imagine they're going to be very happy about anything accomplished tonight. Still, don't forget you have allies within the walls if you need them."

Motion out of the corner of his eye had his head lifting, golden gaze narrowing on the too-dark sky above them. "I think our feathered friends are looking for more prey in the meantime, however," he mused, a hint of amusement in his tone. "You'd better go unless you feel like playing a while longer."

His fingers absently brushed against the Black Jeweled pendant that hung from around his neck, testing the strength of his reservoir with satisfaction. If only all nights could be this simple. he strengthened his shield once more before flashing Renji a cool, dangerous smile. "At least we can make a dent in the fodder for one night."

Renji glanced to the top of the wall. "You sure you don't want a hand up that?" he asked dryly. The question was now directed more at Claude than Lydia, since he seemed to be more reasonable about the whole accepting help from a demigod thing.

His eyebrows went up when Daemon let it go that easy. "Now wait a damn minute," he said. "I've got a duty here..." While the monsters weren't Hollows exactly, he still felt like he ought to be protecting the squishy mortals so they could go about their business. Really, being in a position where he actually could effectively do that again had him feeling pretty damn optimistic about life, all things considered.

Except movement in the sky drew his attention as well. He snorted, drawing Zabimaru in one smooth motion. "Well look at that. Enjoy your climb, you two."

It seemed that one of them was reluctant to let them go, but the other was more reasonable. Lydia was thankful for that, because she didn't need either of them being too insistent on coming along. That could have turned ugly rather quickly.

"We'll do what we can. You have my word on that." Lydia knew that her fight wouldn't end here. Part of her wished that she could just run as far away from this institute as possible, especially since she had paid her dues in so many ways, and yet she knew it wasn't that simple. She was more aware of what went on here than most, and that made it even more difficult to turn away from it.

"Good luck." And there was no more time to waste, seeing how the monsters had found them. She couldn't tell if they were aquilas or tempests, but considering that most of them seemed to be without their virginity, she was guessing the latter. Lightning-based birds were the last thing she needed right now.

"All right, Prescott." She nodded to him and then started to run across the courtyard, keeping her distance from the pond. The last thing she needed was to get shoved into the water by a monster.

As fun as taking another man's hand sounded, the group had far more pressing matters than bickering over the nuances of assisting. Their gracious help took to defense, leaving Lydia and Claude to their final obstacle. "Godspeed," the latter called, managing one lazy salute to the brave pair. It was likely unneeded given the circumstances, but luck often served best in the place of gratitude.

His thanks given, the man turned to Lydia with a wide grin. "On it, my lady." He followed the woman closely, eyes on alert for signs of danger. One could never predict the presence of a stray creature. Better to be prepared for an interruption than assume the best, after all.

[To here (http://damned.livejournal.com/1194150.html?thread=81115046#t81115046).]

Godspeed wasn't a term Daemon was familiar with, and he would have paused to puzzle over it for a moment if the sound of wings weren't growing closer. He squinted up into the darkness, trying to make out the shapes in the black expanse above them. Something silver glinted faintly and Daemon gave the subtlest shifts, readying himself for an attack.

"I think these are different," he murmured to Renji with a frown, his fingers absently stroking over the smooth surface of his Jewel as he started a controlled dive into the Black, gathering power just in case. The monsters inside had been simple, but more dangerous things were rumored to exist out here. Would they be more of a challenge?

He caught sight of a shape as something swept high above them, and his expression turned more puzzled. There were wide, silvery wings, but... "Are those even birds?" he muttered in frustration.

It was hard to see the things, and Renji wasn't about to start flailing wildly in the air with Zabimaru just yet. He concentrated on just getting a look at them, frowning. "Think these might've been mentioned on the bulletin board. But all I've really got is that if you can cut one of the wing tendons, they're stuck on the ground." He laughed. "But that's true of any flying thing, so who knows."

One of the creatures dipped low enough for Renji to take a shot at it. He whipped Zabimaru around, the sword flowing from katana to the much larger whip. "Howl!"

His aim was impeccable, as always. Links of the sword wrapped around the creature, but there was something, a flash of blue that crackled down the blade. Renji's muscles locked for a second, his teeth grinding together. He could still control Zabimaru, though, with reiatsu and instinct. The creature disappeared in a rain of bloody flesh and bone, and its death stopped whatever attack it had done to him.

He snapped Zabimaru back, the segments of the sword coming back together even as he dropped to one knee.

Whatever the flying creatures were, they hadn't swooped low enough for Daemon to do anything about them, but Renji's sword had better reach than his. Too much better apparently, as the redhead attacked, slaughtering something overhead. Whatever it was had a backlash, however, because Renji went to one knee even as blood and body parts rained down around them.

"Renji?" Daemon exclaimed, crouching beside him, his expression concerned. Perhaps the monsters out here were more of a challenge than he'd anticipated. "What happened? Are you injured?"

One hand rested on the Shinigami's shoulder as he probed the dark sky above them. There were dozens of bodies up there. Possibly hundreds, it was impossible to tell. The sky was literally crawling with things, one indistinguishable from the next, although some were far too distant to pay them much attention. The massive amounts of fodder let loose this night was making it difficult to pinpoint anything not distinctly human in form.

Renji's breath hissed from between his teeth. His muscles burned, but that was the worst of it. He blinked his eyes a few times to clear them, shook his head. "Yeah, I'm fine. Don't get your panties in a wad."

He pushed himself up to his feet, eying the sky speculatively. "I don't know what that was. Kind of like lightning, I guess. Captive lightning." He wasn't much for science, so he didn't really know more than that, other than that lightning liked metal things, and traveling down them to get to the ground. "Well, this is going to suck."

But they didn't really have that many options, not if they were going to cover the escape of those two humans like they said. Another creature dropped low, and he whipped Zabimaru at it, the sword lengthening impossibly to reach the creature.

He was ready for the tooth-grinding pain this time, but that didn't make it any more pleasant. An instant later the creature was cut in half, and Renji was down on one knee again, trying to remember how to breathe.

"Renji, enough!" Daemon chided in mingled exasperation and concern as the redhead went back to one knee. He laid his hand on the Shinigami's shoulder, his dark eyes worried as he put himself in front of the other male. "Enough. metal and lightning do not mix, even I know that. You're just channeling that force straight into you. Don't waste your strength on these."

His gaze lifted to the dark sky once more. They'd drawn attention, but it was here, at the outer ring of the Courtyard, and Harrington and his female were already vanished over the wall. They'd done what they needed to, so now they only had to move on.

"Renji, get back to the Institute, along the wall. Stay out of sight if you can. We'll head to the roof, but I need to keep these busy long enough for us to get there. I'll be right behind you."

Renji snorted, though his voice sounded a little hoarse as he said, "It's only pain." He scrabbled mentally for some other solution, since it was true that lightning and metal didn't mix. Too bad he sucked at kidou, he thought.

He rubbed his forehead, frowning as he tried to think of a different solution that didn't involve his sword or kidou. Nothing was forthcoming, since there weren't any rocks to throw either. "You have got to be kidding yourself if you think I'm gonna let us get separated," he growled. "What, are you going to do some kind of secret underwear magic that I'm not allowed to see? Just get your shit going and I'll run us up to the roof."

Daemon gave him a lazy look though half-lidded eyes. "Decoys work better when the real things aren't standing next to them. I can sight-shield myself, but I can't hide both of us. Get out of sight, I promise I'll be right behind you," he explained patiently, keeping half his attention on the sky in case more of the strange creatures descended.

Renji snorted. "Decoy. Right. Well, if you need anything, scream. Really loudly. And I'll try to not drag my feet coming back." He smirked at Daemon and sheathed Zabimaru, then sauntered back toward the building. The situation wasn't so desperate that he'd waste the energy on shunpo for it.

A roll of golden eyes and Daemon snorted, waiting until Renji had started back for the building before he glanced upwards once more, gathering Black-fueled Craft to make a pair of shadows. They'd never fool another human, but he was hoping the creatures circling above weren't that intelligent. Shaping the shadows to mimic Renji and himself, he imbedded a hint of Craft in them to draw attention to themselves as they fled over the wall in the other direction that Harrington and his companion had escaped. With luck, the lightning birds would fall for the lure and be occupied for a while.

Cloaking himself in a sight-shield, he sent the shadows fleeing and smiled faintly when he caught sight of a jagged bolt of lightning a moment later beyond the wall. Satisfied, he air-walked on silent feet to where he found Renji once more.

He didn't drop the sight-shield until he stood just before him, shivering into view once more as he gave the Shinigami a lazy smile. "That's taken care of for the moment. You don't have any brilliant plans for getting up on the roof, by any chance, do you?"

Renji looked at Daemon before the sight shield went away. The man breathed reiatsu like a Captain, so it wasn't exactly hard to feel him approaching. "Oh sure," he said, grinning. "We're going to run up the wall." He glanced back toward the way the lightning things had gone; they seemed to be safely out of the way for now, so he wouldn't need to worry about them on the run up.

Daemon blinked at the ease of this explanation, not quite grasping how that was possible. Run up the...? "Pardon me?" he asked, his expression bewildered. That particular expression on Renji's face had him more than a little concerned.

Renji's grin became something distinctly more smirk-like. "Gravity is for losers. So we're gonna run up the wall. Or I guess I'm gonna do the hard part, and you'll just be along for the ride." He moved a little further down the wall, to the corner, since that was easier than trying to run up somewhere flat. And Daemon had seen him sort of pull this trick in the stairwell.

Renji ground the ball of one foot idly on the grass as he looked up toward the roof. "And of course, the other part is where you let me carry you like a good boy, 'cause if you squirm I'll drop you."

Daemon eyed the redhead as if he'd suddenly sprouted a second very-thick head, his expression dubious at best. "You intend to carry me?" he echoed, sure he hadn't heard correctly. "In what realm did you mistake me for a good boy and why would you ever think this was a good idea?" he drawled skeptically.

Renji smirked at Daemon and drawled, "Well, if you want to run on your own you're welcome. But I bet it won't work too well. You can't be that heavy unless you store lead in your ass." They were about the same size, actually, but Renji was also a hell of a lot stronger than people tended to think - it came with the whole territory of being immortal and something approaching god-like. Sure, he wouldn't want to carry Daemon all day, but three seconds while they ran up a wall would be fine. "Oh, I wouldn't accuse you of being good. But you can fake it for a couple of seconds so I don't give you up to the tender mercies of gravity. Since you'd be less pretty if Mr. Face had a meeting with Mr. Ground."

This still sounded like a less than stellar idea to Daemon, but as he eyed the expanse of wall and the distance from the roof, he had to admit that attempting to air-walk it would be a waste of Craft that might be needed later. Resigning himself did not mean he did not still smirk at Renji for that last bit.

"I'm flattered to know you think I'm pretty," he drawled, amusement warm in his tone as he cast the Shinigami a wry look. "Although I'm beginning to suspect your motives now. If you wanted to sweep me off my feet, I assure you there are much easier ways to do it."

All teasing aside, however... Daemon sighed and propped his hands on his hips as he surveyed the wall once more. "Alright, you have a point. Let's get this done with. Hopefully we don't encounter any more of those lightning creatures on the way up. That would be problematic."

Renji grinned. "Can't flirt. Preparing for take off." Renji peered up the wall, finding the little shadows on it that might indicate a rough spot where he'd get a better grip.

"And we'll be up there so fast we don't have to worry about any nasties 'til we get there."

Rather than give Daemon more time to try to do... whatever it was Daemon always did... Renji stepped over to him, wrapping one arm around the man's back and scooping him up into a fireman's carry.

Daemon was definitely heavier than the lady Renji had just brought back down to the ground. But thankfully, it was a short trip.

Renji launched himself at the corner, foot catching the wall a couple of feet up. In full shunpo he launched them higher, bounding back and forth on the walls that met in that corner. In a flash they were up over the railing to the second floor patio and he ran across it to the next corner, using that to launch them up to the roof.

[To here]

[From here (http://damned.livejournal.com/1194150.html?thread=81068966#t81068966).]

They approached the wall in the span of seconds, fortunately avoiding any Landel spawn. Claude halted at the base and began to assess the build of the obstacle before him. It appeared climbable, although he found it difficult to tell exactly what might be lurking on the other side.

Great.

Unwilling to take chances, he threw a glance in Lydia's direction and began to climb. "Watch my back," said the man. "I'm going to make sure we don't land on any surprises."

The sounds of a fight started up behind them almost immediately, but Lydia forced herself to keep her gaze directed forward. Those two were clearly capable of handling the monsters on their own, so she wasn't going to let herself feel guilty. Right now, she and Claude had a duty to get out of here and that took precedence over everything else.

It looked like Claude wanted to go over the wall first, which was fine by her. She was glad to see that he was willing to trust her to watch his back, but it meant that she had to turn around after all.

Of course, they were far enough away that she couldn't make out much of the fight anymore, though the stray crackle of lightning sometimes lit things up. She had been right about the tempests, then. Lydia almost urged the man to hurry, but that was a given, and so she held her tongue.

Weather and environment and monsters aside, the man had no trouble scrambling up the wall. He paused at the top to scan the area ahead, scowling once as he noted the limitations in his field of vision. There existed no certain way to check for creatures in close range; the area beneath him seemed clear, but beyond that, nothing could be verified.

This was why Claude hated rain. It hindered pretty much everything he could attempt to do without ever trying.

He huffed and glanced down at Lydia. "Looks clear. Better start climbing." If they had more time and didn't have pretty birdies hovering above them at a distance, he could conduct a more thorough investigation. As it was, they had to make do.

As if to add insult to injury, it just had to rain. Then again, Lydia suspected that Landel had possessed at least some control over the weather here, so in his absence it only made sense that the elements had come out in full force. With that thought in mind, she would take the rain and the snow over that man's presence.

When Claude gave the go-ahead, Lydia nodded and reached out for the conveniently placed vines, using them and her own strength to start pulling herself up. She was actually glad for the military-assigned boots she was wearing in this case, since they allowed her a lot of grip against the side of the wall.

She had to grab for the man's hand for the last push, but she eventually got up onto the wall and realized that their visibility was pretty horrendous due to the drizzle. "Well, here goes nothing," she said she pushed herself off.

[To here (http://damned.livejournal.com/1195487.html?thread=81135839#t81135839).]

[Coming from here.]

Daemon controlled his descent carefully. While he was not as talented at this as the Witch who'd taught him, he could still manage well enough, although the distance was a little greater than what he was used to. A bead of sweat escaped down the back of his neck as the ground rose towards him a little faster than he'd intended. He hissed out a breath as he landed, ankle twinging slightly, but not enough to mark any real injury. He brushed it off, eyes already searching the darkness in case there were things lying in wait for them.

Renji was at Daemon's side a moment later; he'd been watching the man descend from the roof. The look he gave Daemon clearly said that he thought the man would have been better off just catching a ride. "That looked... pretty," he said dryly. "I mean, not a bad trick. Just kind of slow." He grinned like the complete asshole he was being.

"Perhaps next time I'll just cause an explosion and fall off instead," Daemon drawled, deadpan as he shot Renji a dry look, propping his hands on his hips. "Which way shall we go?"

Renji snorted. "Only if you can look as awesome as me when you land." He shrugged. "Any direction's as good as the next, I guess. Since we're really just tryin' to see if we can get that far from this fucking place anyway. And it's not like I know which way is which in this place anyway." He picked up a little twig and tossed it in the air, turning to face the direction it pointed when it fell. "How about that way."

[ from here (http://damned.livejournal.com/1191699.html?thread=81220883#t81220883) ]

She mimicked his gesture when she reached the edge of the grass, cleaning off the shoes of her uniform and moving into the courtyard, trying to squint to scope it out. They passed a shed on their left as they found their way to a dirt path that circled the water feature. On the whole, it had seemed a lot more straightforward in the daylight. She took this opportunity to give Dean a once over, since the coast seemed relatively clear. For the time being, at least. Around here, it was hard to guarantee that nothing was gonna spring out and jump you.

"Where'd you get the Brawny man ensemble, anyway? Last I checked, they weren't passing our personal effects back out for the hell of it." Mostly, though, she was a little envious of it. She was over the lack of fashion involved in the smiley face shirts, even if it was a little hard to be taken seriously wearing one, but boots, jeans and leather jackets were a hell of a lot better suited to the weather than glorified pajamas.

Night 59: Courtyard

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