Jumping at Shadows (PM to join :3)

[Larxene]

(PM to join because the other one kinda gone dieded. D: )

The bell around his neck jingled with each step he took, with each movement he made, resounding off the claustrophobic stone walls that lined that back alley, filling the silence that hung thick in the air like a heavy fog.

Traverse Town had always been cloaked in shadow, only illuminated by the countless street lamps and neon signs that blanketed every storefront and street corner. However, this alley that he now found himself in seemed to play host to darker shades, far away from the lit streets, not part of the ways more traversed.

Malakai could not help but sigh.

He was not lost. Not completely. He had some general idea as to where he was. Looking up, he saw several balconies – host to tables and chairs and ornate doors that opened to the rooms they connected to – and suspected that they were part of the Second District hotel. Yes, he had some general idea as to where he was… just not how he got there. He had slipped into thought, got lost in it, took a wrong turn, and stepped through an unintended threshold.

He would retrace his steps if only he knew them.

“And it’s just my luck to wander into the dankest, darkest ally at that,” Malakai said to himself, glancing wearily over his shoulder.

He couldn’t shake the feeling that something was following him, lurking in his very shadow. Then again, he always had that feeling since he had arrived there, Traverse Town. The fact that the world was rife with those living shadows that attacked people, the Heartless, did not help, either. Nor did his nyctopobia: his fear of the darkness.

It was something that he did not speak about openly, a fear as childish as his one of darkness, yet sometimes he could not hide his shivers, his winces, every time he saw something wiggle in the inky black parts of town. Physical cues to his phobia taking hold that began then and there.

Hated it. The feeling. The winces. The fear mere shades invoked. All he wanted was to go for a stroll, to relax and think to himself in the relative safety of the First District. How he ended up in the Second he had no idea, yet –

In a split second, Malakai whipped around, fists balled up and body tense, eye seeking, searching the shadows for what he could have sworn he saw out of the far corner of his eye: a small black figure with twitching antennae like an insect scurrying along the ground. But nothing was there… Nothing was in the shadows. It was just regular shadows, no gleaming eyes, no claws, no hungry –

Malakai whipped around once more, and could have sworn something with twitchy little limbs had sunk into the narrow shadow of a pipe. His fingers flexed, the bell on his collar jingled lightly, and ever so slightly the ground beneath him shook, the earth beneath the cobblestones ready to shift at his command. Waiting for it to show itself again. Wanting it to show itself again. But nothing was there… He hesitantly eased up and the ally stopped quaking.

He was so sure of it this time – inky black with claw-like fingers – was there any place, any place at all, that was free of these damned Heartless? Could he go anywhere in this town and not see their yellowed eyes leering out at him? Their twitching forms, hungry for any unwitting victim, waiting to grab them and drag them away into the deepest darkness –

…Dear Polaris, this was humiliating.

With a sigh, he leaned his back against the cold stone of the alley walls, burying his face into his hands, fingers massaging his brow. He was getting antsy, he thought to himself. He couldn’t focus. He needed to calm down and stop jumping at shadows…

[Deleted]

"What persistent creatures..."

A Shadow went flying through the sky with the flick of a finger, bursting into darkness as it hit a brick wall. The young viera sighed as more and more appeared, but wasn't worried. The Shadows were easily dispatched with earth attacks, and it appeared that was all that would appear to ehr today. The sharp scent of darkness filled her nose, but due to her loss of her Mist, it didn't affect her as drastically anymore. As she walked, she would eliminate the nearest Heartless to her, out of pure boredom. Eventually she reached the door to the Second District, and opened it with a push, looking around.

"I smell a hume..." she murmured as she scanned the District, looking for something more of a challenge then a Shadow. With that thought, a chain of events occurred. She spotted a human-like form, her nose confirming it was indeed a Hume, and her eyes spotted something emerge from darkness to her left. A powerful dark scent filled her nose, and the familiar aroma made her narrow her eyes and crouch low, ready to spring. Already, her lethal claws began to take form, as opposed to their crystalline glove-like form. The sharp claws extended over her fingers, and ended in a razor-sharp point.

The Guard Armor had fully formed, and Maya was ready to attack. However, she had to distract it, and she had the perfect way to do so. Raising one clawed hand, a wave of earth rolled towards the Heartless, going under it and causing the legs to separate from the body.

With that, she sprang into action, her body briefly glowing green as Mark of the Wild was cast. As she landed, she swiped and ran out of rage, the phantom feeling of cracked bones already making her more angry.

This Heartless would not get the best of her this time. However, she had forgot the hume, and knew not if he was friend or foe. But time would tell.

[Larxene]

Malakai had been hoping for a reprieve from the pervading Darkness, hoping that he would at least have a moment to ease his nerves and regain his composure so he could find his way back to his apartment. That was a hope quickly dashed when a great tremor took him, dread slithering down his spine when he felt it, a palpable dark energy making itself known, nearby. It was much like that of the Heartless, like the little shadows that prowled the streets, only more immense, more powerful. More massive and quite literally, he observed, when he looked up with a sudden jerk, his one good eye not looking far before he saw it: a colossal suit of armor materializing out of the night, its head and limbs swinging around like a disjointed marionette.

Its presence felt much like that of a Heartless, and he wondered if this creature could very well be one as well, that if these shadowed beasts came in countless varieties and sizes. And he really did not want to stay and find out. In this town of stone and steel he did not have much power: the terrain was almost completely urbanized and the earth beneath the cobbles proved difficult at times to command. It was a hard lesson he learned while living there that if the going got tough it was in his own best interests to flee to safer parts of town, and a Heartless of this size… There was no way he could face it along. Not with his limited power.

Pushing himself away from the wall, Malakai made to escape, get out of sight before the towering monster spotted him. But before he could take his first step the ground beneath him trembled, and out of the corner of his eye he saw the giant teeter. He realized then and there that the earth under the cobbles had shifted. Rose up like a wave and quite literally knocked the legs from under the giant.

At first he wondered if it was his own doing, he losing control of his powers without him realizing it. Then something came out of nowhere, quick like a lightning flash, and struck it. Malakai paused when he realized that this something was actually a someone: a girl, it appeared, who seemed to wear a pair of rabbit ears upon her head.

Odd. He thought it. And near suicidal. What was this girl doing? – attacking something clearly larger than her, more powerful? Was she a local that was use to such attacks? – know how to take such a behemoth down? Or was she new in town, like himself? – and in a bout of overconfidence charged the shade? He did not know, but now seeing another in combat with the beast he could not just flee, even though he really wanted to, to get away from that thing that reeked horribly of that dreadful darkness. What if the girl could not hold her own? What if she lost this fight? Could he just leave her to her possible death? No, he couldn’t!

Fear of the Darkness aside, he had to do something. And with her attacking the thing – his eyes scanned over the now exposed earth, feeling its ether now flowing liberally free - maybe he could.

“Girl!” Malakai found himself calling out to the girl, “Keep it distracted a moment longer!”

He spread his legs, planting himself firm on the ground, and held out his hand, palms open and facing the earth. The bell around his neck jingled lightly, and he could feel the ether, the elemental energy that lie within the earth, stir. His finger tips tingled and he could feel the power of the stone, soil and dirt that lay hidden beneath the cobbled streets flow through his entire being. It was a feeling he missed, being close to the earth, feeling power.

If he aimed right, pull all his might into his attack, perhaps, just perhaps, he could take this behemoth down with one Spire Strike. He just hoped that girl with the weird headgear, whoever she was, had heard him, and would cooperate at the very least.

[Deleted]

A few quick ducks and a jump was what Maya used to avoid the Guard Armor's attacks, then followed by a slash to its right hand, leaving long marks on the metal of it. She looked to the hume and simply nodded, then faced the Guard Armor and ran under it, stopping only to cast a Blizzara spell, which Mark of the Wild upgraded to Blizzaga As the spell activated, the Guard Armor's feet froze to the ground, and kept those in place. However, Maya saw one of the hands going for the male hume, and she rushed at it, grabbing it and wrestling it to the ground. The main body looked to her, but did not act at the moment.

"Hume, whatever you're going to do, do it quick!" As she said this, she jumped off the hand and hit the ground before jumping and kicking it back a ways, then causing some earth to come up from the ground, bind to it, and drag it down to the road. The other hand shared the same fate, but it would not act for long.

So she ran over next to the hume, ready to attack provided one of the limbs broke free. Her magic was fairly drained, too, so she began to rest and recharge her mana.

[Larxene]

Do it quick.

If he was able to, he would have. The stronger the attack he tried to muster the longer it would take to prepare. While a more experienced Geomancer would be to use similar abilities with more ease and much more quickly, Malakai was in no way a master of his craft. His training was cut short for other life responsibilities. But now was no time to dwell on such ponderings, he thought as he gazed at the massive suit of armor. There were more dire maters at hand.

Apparently the giant either saw him or sensed him preparing an attack, because the metallic being launched its disjointed limbs at him. Thankfully the strange girl acted quick enough – far quicker than himself – and brought the floating gauntlets to the ground. She even froze the things hammering legs in place. He asked her to buy some time and she was doing just that.

Elemental power surging through his body, Malakai was ready to let loose his attack. He only needed to aim first, strike the massive, metal marionette in the most effective way possible, and he needed this attack to count as he might not get another chance to charge another.

He looked other the armored menace carefully with his good eye, taking in its form, it movements, analyzing it carefully. Like a puppet it moved, head, legs, and arms detached but seeming still connected to the central torso, cylindrical in shape.

Cylindrical… And hollow. In a split second his mind was decided. He had his target.

“Try to keep your balance,” Malakai said to the girl now beside him, not looking at her, eye fixed on the Guard Armor. “Things might get a bit shaky.” With that said he feel to one knee, and, with a low grunt, slammed an open palm down onto the ground, unleashing Spire Strike.

The elemental power that had been gathering within surged out of his hand and into the earth below him. The entire Second District rattled as the disturbed cobbles below the Guard Armor shifted, a great, jagged spire of stone erupting between the behemoth’s feet. It blew through the ice that held the hammer legs and caught the rim of the cylindrical torso, grinding against metal as it continued to rise.

Through one end and out the other.

Once the tremors had stopped the massive stone spire stood there, a towering, earthen finger wearing the Guard Armor’s torso like a hefty wedding ring.

Panting, still kneeling on the ground, Malakai regarded his work carefully. “Think that did the trick?”

[Deleted]

So, the boy knew how to use the earth to his advantage, too. With a small smile, Maya braced herself by pushing her claws into the ground and surrounding them with earth, stabilizing herself by bracing her legs. After the tremors were over, she stared at the Heartless, seeing the spire of rock inside its main body, and said in her viera accent,

"I'm impressed. That should do the trick, though." After freeing her hands, she faced the struggling Guard Armor. And with the snap of her fingers, she channeled a flow of earth into the spire of rock, watching more earth be added to it internally, and forcing it to expand. After a efw seconds, the guard armor began to expand as well, and Maya was forced to put up a rock wall as it burst, scattering metal everywhere which slowly disappeared, along with the rest of the Heartless. As her wall lowered, she saw the heart float up into the sky, and dropped to her knees, the nausea of using so much magic overwhelming her.

"You...fight well for a hume, boy. Thank you for your assistance."

[Larxene]

As quickly as it had come, the massive creature was gone.

From its dissipating form Malakai saw a glowing object, almost spectral, float away from it, up into the inky black sky. It was a heart, he had learned, being released from the fallen creature – a trait of a Heartless. So it was Heartless… A shiver went down his spine.

The fight done with and quite exhausted himself - it had been a while since he had last exerted that much power; he was out of practice - he turned to the girl beside him. She had been referring to him as a boy, something he found strange because he didn’t consider himself a boy anymore, not at his age, as well as something called a “hume.” Maybe he was just hearing her wrong and she was saying human. Taking his first close look at her with his good eye he quickly realized that maybe he wasn’t hearing her wrong, that she wasn’t using the word “human” as she wasn’t human herself.

Upon closer examination she had a more bestial look to her, and what he had thought to be an odd headgear with rabbit ears turned out to… actually be… her… her ears…

“You are… ah… most welcome…” Malakai said when she thanked him, eye lingering on her ears.

[Deleted]

(( Maya will be making this face: -3- ))

Ears flattened as they normally did when a hume first discovered she was a viera, but she took a deep breath and looked him in the eye. "Yes, it's true. I am what is called a viera, not a hume like you." She looked over her shoulder at where the Heartless had been and shuddered a bit, the difference in energy sending a small shiver down her spine.

"Thank you for your help with that. That was personal for me. The same exact Heartless...well, that explains these." She raised an arm, showing her scratches and bruises from its previous attack.

"Well, a proper introduction is in order. I am Maya, and I thank you for your assistance."

[Larxene]

(Deep down I think he want to play with those ears. D: )

It took a moment for Malakai to register that he had been staring. With a jolt he peeled his eye away from the young viera’s now flattened ears.

“My apologies, I seem to have forgotten my manners,” he practically stammered, a very faint blush crawling across his cheeks as he sought to lay his gaze elsewhere, settling on just over the viera’s shoulder. “I mean no offense, staring like that. It’s just… Well, I’ve never seen one such as yourself – viera you said? – never ever have I… Your face, and those ears, the most curious thing I have ever seen, and… Well… I’m sorry, this is getting awkward now.” He ran the palm of his hand over his face. “I am very, very sorry…”

He was still jumpy from the Heartless being around, still unable to think straight, unable to articulate. He took a moment to compose himself, taking a deep breath and easing out the creases in his coat, before fixing his eye on her once more. He was careful not to let his gaze wander upward again.

“You are… ah… most welcome, Maya,” he said. “I couldn’t very well just leave you to fend for yourself, now could I? And again, where are my manners… I am called Malakai.” He tried to give her a smile, but it come out more of a grimace. He regarded her battered arm solemnly. “They bother you often? The Heartless?”

[Deleted]

"Only around here they do, which is why I tend to stick around the First District."

With a dismissive flick of her hand, Maya gestured at the whole of the Second District.

"It is certainly a pleasure to meet you, Malakai, and I thank you for your assistance. If you hadn't, I would have most certainly been deceased or seriously injured."

As she looked the boy once over, she noticed the bell at his neck, and smiled, remembering somebody she had once known who wore a similar one. It had been a hume who hid her from the viera trying to kill her, and they had been in contact for a long amount of time.

"I'm searching for another viera, a male one whose name is Note. Have you seen anybody of the sort?"

((FINALLY GOT IT DONE! /dies))

[Larxene]

The man nodded as the viera spoke. He could understand where she was coming from: he, more or less, did the same, like Maya stayed more to the First District than the others on account of the pesky Heartless.

“It is a pleasure to meet you as well, Miss Maya,” he said in return to her, his uneasiness subsiding at last. “Again, I couldn’t very well have left you to some grim fate. I’m glad I that I could help you. As for your friend… I am sorry, but I have not seen any other viera. You’re really the first of your kind that I’ve seen.” A frown creased his face. “I’m sincerely sorry that I could not be much more help in that respect.”

He then cast a furtive glance around the District, eyeing the shadows cautiously. While they talked, another Heartless – or worse, a whole legion of them – could emerge from those inky depths. Perhaps it was best they both get out of there soon, lest they get embroiled in another battle for their lives. Besides, Malakai thought as he eyed the stone spires her raised from the ground during combat, perhaps he had done enough damage to the Second District for the night already.

He offered the viera his arm.

“Shall we, ah, vacate the premises then? To another District… one with fewer Heartless. Maybe then you can tell me about this friend you are looking for, and I could see what I could do…”