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 Posted: Sun Aug 07, 2011 6:19 pm
  This is a private roleplay between Jianyu [kuromeez] and Yue Lao [Face Your Demons].
Setting:
The Ichi-Koi Inn and Bar.
What starts off as a simple meeting turns into a deadly game of cat and mouse.
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Posted: Sun Aug 07, 2011 6:54 pm
A few days before his wedding, Jianyu found himself walking towards the Ichi-Koi Inn and Bar. He was on his way to meet Yue after she finished her work, as he did not particularly like when she had to walk home in the dark by herself. She denied needing his assistance, of course, but she did not deny him (nor herself) the opportunity to spend time together.
He had spent most of his day working with his father at the Qian Tattoo House on a particularly busy day. At least five patrons had come and gone through the doors of Jianyu's room alone, and near a dozen had passed through his father's. They had made good money, at least; money that Liwei was very generously donating towards his son and future daughter-in-law's living expenses, for which Jianyu was very grateful.
It was growing into late evening now, the sun slowly setting, the sky streaked a dark purplish orange. Yue was due to be finished within the hour, so Jianyu hastened his stride a bit, making his way across Main Street. There were the usual sounds as the city prepared itself to sleep; doors creaking shut, the sounds of locks clicking, tumblers falling into place, footsteps retreating, and the quiet lighting of lanterns. At this time of day Lunaria smelled like sea salt and smoke, the fire from the lanterns illuminating the well-worn streets.
As he neared the Inn, Jianyu could hear the voices of the owners within, getting ready to close early for the evening. He smiled, hearing Yue's voice rise above the others as she mentioned something about wine, and he had just taken a footstep up to the landing when a clatter to his left caught his eye.
Instantly on his guard, Jianyu's hand dove towards the crossbow at his hip, but it was too late. Something heavy swung at him, catching him in his abdomen, and with a grunt of pain, Jianyu staggered backwards completely winded. There was a loud bang as the doors to the Inn were slammed shut, the commotion inside growing suddenly dangerous, startled voices muffled through the wood.
"YUE!" Jianyu yelled, trying to get to the door again, but there were more of them now - one, two, three - four Nobles, all advancing towards him, and Jianyu's lips pressed together in a grim line. He could not take all of them at once; there was simply no way for a partially blind archer to attack four men at once.
He was outnumbered.
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Posted: Sun Aug 07, 2011 7:52 pm
It was mostly regulars in the bar, now. Over time, they had all become Yue Lao's friends in some respect; many of them were old, or lonely, but they were great for conversation, and she had become their ally since she had started working at the Ichi-koi since she joined the Academy. Her life prior to fighting had been focused around brewing, so it just made sense to continue the passion in her place of employment. Not that it was her only job; she also worked for Yowai, but she hardly worked at the Ichi-Koi nowadays anyway.
They were going to close early, and Yue looked forward to sneaking out to surprise Jianyu. Unless he was early, again. Still, as she cleaned the tables and collected leftover glasses, she chatted with her friends. "--I remember your wife. She was very... curvy," Yue added into one of the conversations as she passed by, a tray of glasses balanced on one hand. She winked at the older man: Kato, that was what everyone called him. His wife was maybe half his age, and very pretty. He was some kind of merchant, as far as she knew.
Then, as she passed by, two of the patrons were having an argument with a third, unrecognizeable one. He seemed to be rather sober compared to the two regulars. She was familiar with them both. Akela and Edena, Laotian twins who were considerably fierce, if not the prettiest to look at. One of the twins had beautiful curls, and a cute and slightly upturned nose, but her face was covered in scars. The second twin was relatively unmarred, but her features were not as cute as her other twin. They could drink far more than Yue could even visualize. They often joked that wine ran like blood through their veins.
The argument they were having was over wine. They were telling the stranger that the Heaven's Garden wine was best for certain white grapes, but not for red. Yue couldn't help herself, as she walked by.
"The girls are right, Heaven's Garden isn't as good for other grapes," she told the stranger, with a wink. Akela and Edena gave her matching grins. The stranger mumbled something that sounded like we'll see and Yue frowned as she turned her back to him. There was something she did not like about that attitude, and that he seemed so sober.
As she walking towards the tables at the front again, she saw Jianyu through the door, but startled as they were shut suddenly. Before he was out of her sight, she saw something dark strike him. "Yu," she said, quietly. In the commotion and the noise, Yue escaped into the back with the owners while the regulars shouted at one another and tried to sort out who was responsible. She didn't look at the ones who had shut the door. There was something else on her mind. As she hopped the bar counter, and crouched behind it, she heard Jianyu call her name.
Her face, devoid of its usual grin, was a mask of irritation and determination. As she reached into the cabinet below the bar, closing her hand around her meteor hammer's cord, she knew that someone would pay if any of her regulars got hurt. Crouching and slinking around the side of the bar, she whispered to the owners, "Go hide in the store room, if you can't fight."
Then, preoccupied with the main room, she surfaced to see that Akela and Edena had knocked the stranger out, and both seemed to have spat on his face. Akela said, "He tried to punch me in the face," and gestured to her scarred, though once cute, cheek. Edena growled, and crossed her arms over her chest.
One of the other Nobles knifed Edena in the side, and she looked down, as though it was a toothpick or even just some kind of insect. She didn't remove the blade. It would just worsen the bleeding, and she wasn't yet sure what he had stabbed her with. Akela took out her iron fan and smashed the Noble in the face.
All around, the regulars were brawling with Nobles. There weren't a lot of Lunarians left in the bar, and Yue ran to help Kato. He was on the ground, the Noble's boot against his throat, when Yue spun her meteor hammer into the noble's back, lodging the spikes there before pulling it out with a sickening, damp sound.
She turned her attention to the doors. There were two guards, and they didn't look like they were letting anyone out anytime soon. But why had they chosen to attack the Ichi-koi...? Did it have something to do with Jianyu's presence, given he was a captain, or was it because there were many Legion amongst the Ichi-koi patronage?
Outside, someone behind Jianyu yelled "Overhead!" and thin knives whistled through the air, lodging in the eye of one of the advancing Nobles. A Lunarian with bright purple scales, wearing some kind of scarf over his neck and head, walked up behind Jianyu, slowly and openly to indicate that he was not an enemy. Another Lunarian approached as well, though she seemed like she'd be significantly less useful. She had a generous chest, which threatened her dress's top hem, and her curls and vacant expression made her seem more like a liability. Still, she didn't look afraid, and perhaps there was a use to her yet. "We'll fight with you," he said, "there's some we care about in there. Looks like I chose the wrong time to take a p--"
The woman cut him off, slapping his arm. "My husband is in there," she added, her previously dull pout shifting into a grim line, her jaw clenched. There was a long blade strapped to the inside of her thigh, scarcely visible when she stood with her leg to the side.
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Posted: Sun Aug 07, 2011 9:44 pm
All Jianyu had had was a fleeting glance of Yue before the doors had been slammed shut, surrounded on all sides by a group of menacing looking Nobles. Needless to say, this was not how Jianyu had planned on spending the evening. Instead of holding Yue's hand in his, walking side by side along Main Street, he was forced into dealing with a bunch of lowlife with nothing better to do. Jianyu stared grimly out at the four men in front of him, wondering if he would have time to load his crossbow before they attacked.
"OVERHEAD!"
He did not think twice, or even whether or not the sudden shout was intended for him. Instantly he dropped down to the ground, hands automatically covering his head with his hands. Something whipped past him, whistling through the air, and Jianyu looked up in time to see a small dagger embed itself in the eye of one of the Nobles. He let out a howl of pain, dropping his sword and clutching at his face, which had begun to pour blood. Wasting no time, Jianyu grappled at his upper thigh for the pouch that held his bolts, yanking the crossbow free and loading it within seconds. He scrambled to his feet, backing away so as to not lose sight of the remaining three men and nearly running into the two Legion members behind him. The Nobles, glaring, dispersed, but did not leave. Instead Jianyu heard them running around the sides of the building, securing it on all sides and most likely calling for reinforcements.
"My fiancee is in there," Jianyu told them, and the woman with the curves nodded, flipping her hair away from her face. The man with the scarf said "We need to get in there."
Jianyu could hear thumps and crashes coming from within, followed by a strained yelp, a cry, and then a pleading that sounded desperate. He pushed at the doors, trying to open them, but something was clearly blocking the entrance. Most likely the Nobles inside had pushed something up against it to prevent both entry and exit.
"You go around back and try the windows," Jianyu told the man. To the woman he said "And you come with me."
The woman, whose name Jianyu found out was Ela, skulked after him as they made their way around to the right side of the building. As he turned the corner, something whistled past his ear, narrowly missing his face, and Jianyu flung an arm out, slamming Ela against the wall and out of the line of fire as a barrage of arrows came whipping in their direction.
"They have an archer," he said with contempt, and Ela, winded from the sudden push, said hoarsely "So do we."
He would have shot around the corner, but it would be too difficult to shoot without seeing what he was shooting at. Jianyu loaded another bolt into the crossbow, took a breath, and flung himself out, aiming at the nearest person. An arrow caught him in the arm, knocking him off balance, and the bolt flew off course, embedding itself in the man's shoulder instead of his heart. Angry, and ignoring the bright red stain that had started to form on his shirt, Jianyu loaded another bolt, and this time his aim was true; the man dropped dead to the ground.
"YUEEEEE!" Jianyu bellowed, his voice loud and echoing. "YUE ARE YOU IN THERE?!"
Panic and fright had started to set in, wondering if something had happened to her, wondering if she was still alive. But Yue was very capable of handling herself; she was strong and fierce, and Jianyu knew she would fight to the death.
"Let's go," he said to Ela and without another thought he started around the building, looking for another way inside.
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Posted: Sun Aug 07, 2011 11:27 pm
Thankfully, Jianyu had ducked. Khemkhaeng, the one with the purple scales, was glad that the Lunarian was on the ball. He wouldn't have wanted to be ambushed, himself. When Jianyu, though he did not know that was his name, told Khemkhaeng that his fiancee was inside the building, he started to swear, until Ela hit him again. Some of the colour drained from Khem's face as he heard the pleading from within the building. Who could be responsible, and who was losing in there? Some part of Khem mourned the potentially broken bottles of alcohol inside.
Immediately upon being told to try the windows, Khemkhaeng removed a series of needle-shaped knives from his boot and gripped them between his fingertips lightly. They shone with a strange hue. He was not a normal fighter, though he was nothing particularly special, either. Khemkhaeng loved poisons, most of all. All kinds of poisons. And tonight, not one of the Nobles would be spared his passion.
Khemkhaeng snuck around one side of the building, choosing one he had definitely seen one of the Nobles retreat towards, and as soon as he heard stirring, raked his needles across the ankle of the Nobleman who waited around the corner to ambush whoever might approach. Nothing happened at first, and with lightning speed Khemkhaeng had withdrawn his hand, crouching by the secure side of the wall. Within moments, his opponent lay in the dirt. One more kill. Khemkhaeng dipped the needles back into the pouches at the mouth of his boot and shook the excess poison off rather unprofessionally, splattering it across the dead Noble's face. He carefully looked around the building's edge. Not clear, yet. There were two men, still. One of them sat on a crate.
His second favourite trick involved the flying needle technique. He had used it just moments ago, helping Jianyu out with the unfair ambush. There was no reason not to employ it again, however. This time, the needle he let fly pierced through the throat of the man who sat on the crate. He spluttered a few times, blood dripping down his chin, before falling. The needle wedged further into his throat. Khemkhaeng would have to return to extract that later.
The second man had a chain with him. A heavy chain with some kind of blade on either end, and it was not the blades which Khemkhaeng was afraid of, but rather the weight of the chain. More than once he had fought such a thing and not been the obvious victor. This time would have to be different. Was that a door on the side...?
Inside, Yue Lao was being pushed up against the wall. One of the Nobles guarding the door had advanced upon her. Yue Lao looked small, and she may have seemed frivolous as a waitress, but that would change soon. She tried to wield her meteor hammer again, but the ceiling was too low. It scraped off some of the tiles and insulation, showering it down upon herself and her opponent. Where were the others? The bar had been fairly empty.
Akela was leaning over a pile of discarded Nobles she had clearly kicked the hell out of. Her sister remained motionless, conserving her energy and encouraging a halt in bleeding. One of the guards remaining advanced on Akela as her back was turned, and got the better of her; he had a rope around her neck, and she did not look very healthy for it.
Yue Lao became distracted, and the Noble she faced against threw her against the wall. She didn't realize he was even close enough to grab hold of her. It was the same wall which Jianyu then threw Ela against, and Yue felt like the world was spinning; not only had she been tossed into the wall, but she had also felt Ela's impact from the other side. Yue Lao cried out in frustration and pain, clutching her stomach. Her palms were threatening to tear open again, and she had to put her meteor hammer down. Looked like only her legs were fit for fighting. "Oh good, it's only my weakest point," she muttered to herself, massaging what felt like several bruised ribs. That Noble was stronger than he looked.
She heard Jianyu's voice, although it seemed so distant. "Yu! I'M FINE," she yelled at the top of her lungs, making nearly every available Noble turn her way. "Well, I was fine," she added, likely too quietly. Akela was not doing well, and the Noble was advancing on Yue continuously. She picked up her Meteor Hammer once more, and shot one end at the Nobleman attacking Akela. In return, Akela stabbed him in the gut with her bare nails, and twisted. Her style of fighting was terrifying to behold, truly. She was able to control the organs within a Lunarian, twist until the things inside became shreds.
In gratitude for Yue's help, Akela turned to tackle their next opponent. Kato was still gathering himself up, trying to convince himself he had the energy to get into the back room with the others. It didn't look like he was doing too well... but no one was attacking him at that moment, so Yue did not have the time.
She swung her meteor hammer up at the semblance of a window or duct above her head, hoping it would allow her to hear Jianyu better. "FIERCE WARRIOR, my moon, I hope you can hear me out there! I'm holding my own for now, but there's no room for my hammer--" Yue was cut off as she had to drop the hammer in pain, her palm splitting open. The Noble swung at her with his sword, which bit into her side briefly before she rolled out of the way. Her side dripping blood, and her palm torn open, Yue heaved with sweat. What had gotten into her? She was being sloppy.
Fighting in such close confines was proving nigh impossible. If only she had shown Jianyu how to access the staff entrance, or rather, the Yue-Lao entrance. There was a series of boards underneath the back wall which, when pulled away, revealed an access route previously used to transport goods in times of unrest.
"My husband mentioned... a path? Some wooden boards?" Ela became flustered, watching the blood from Jianyu's wound.
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Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 6:37 am
The sounds coming from within the Inn were muffled, a series of loud crashes and bangs emitting out from the thin wooden walls. It was built steadily, with strong supports, but at the same time it had not been made to withstand constant wear and tear; and from the sounds of it, it was being destroyed from the inside out. Crouching outside, pressed against the wall as he and Ela crept along, Jianyu could hear Yue's voice as if from a great distance, her voice sounding confident, though with a note of weariness to it. He paid no heed to the fact that there was an arrow sticking out of his arm; it hurt, but not enough to impede him, not now.
"Your fiancee?" Ela whispered, and Jianyu nodded, silently making his way around the building towards the back entrance. He was sure that the scarved man would be attempting to make his way into the Inn from the back, but he was also certain that the Nobles would have already thought of protecting this entrance if they were to keep up with their attack.
Yue's voice rang out again, and Jianyu stopped walking so abruptly that Ela ran into him, bouncing backwards. "What?" she hissed, and Jianyu raised a finger to his lips, his heart pounding. Yue had stopped mid-sentence; what had happened? Was she all right? Was she still alive? He couldn't chance a yell back, not when the back entrance was right around the corner, but every possible grim situation had come rolling into his mind. Jianyu half rotated, pressing his ear against the wall, desperate for another sound from his fiancee.
He'd been too careless.
Something huge, something freezing and heavy wrapped around his neck, jerking him backwards, and with a half strangled shout, his head snapping back with a jolt of searing pain, Jianyu fell, dropping his crossbow. He kicked his legs furiously, trying to stop whoever was pulling him, but it was useless in the worn dirt. When he raised his fingers, grappling at whatever was around his neck, he touched solid metal, cold and unyielding - a chain.
"You will not get away from me now, little warrior," came a malevolent voice in his ear, and the chain tightened, Jianyu gasping for breath. "And when I finish with you, I'll kill your little friend over there."
A meaty hand came into view, fingers wrapping around the arrow still embedded in Jianyu's upper arm, and with savage satisfaction, pushed down on it, shoving it further into Jianyu. He let out a roar of pain, the sound echoing horribly around the Inn, and blood spurted out, staining his shirtfront.
Out of the corner of his eye he could see Ela's face peering around the corner, and he shook his head, very briefly; a warning: Do not come closer. If he were to die, Ela would still have a chance to get inside and save her husband.
Except he couldn't die; he had promised Yue, after all.
The man suddenly let out a gurgling noise, his hold on the chain slackening, and Jianyu did not waste any more time. Rearing his lower body upwards, he swung himself in an arc, his feet slamming against the Noble's face, both of them crashing back to the ground. The result of this was that the chain twisted, nearly cutting off Jianyu's air supply completely, and he gagged, seeing stars, his vision going in and out. Then he felt fingers yanking at it, pulling it away, and he rolled sideways off of the Noble, his lungs heaving for air. Beside him stood Ela and the scarved man, who held out a hand to haul him to his feet.
"Th...thank you," Jianyu said hoarsely, a hand raising to massage his neck, which had started to bleed, feeling raw and worn beneath his fingers. He looked at his arm, which was bloodied all the way from his shoulder to hand, and with a sort of morbid determination, Jianyu's fingers found the end of the arrow. He twisted the feathers off until the end was smooth, and then, gritting his teeth, he forced it the rest of the way through his arm; pushing it through, rather than pulling it out, was a better solution, since the man had already shoved it further in. The gesture hurt like the devil, and for a few moments, Jianyu swayed unsteadily on his feet, caught only by Ela, who immediately ripped off the hem of her dress to make a wrapping for it. Once the initial shock had passed, however, Jianyu felt much better, the pain retreating.
The scarved man was bending down, retrieving what looked to be like a small needle from the Noble's neck.
"A dirty way to fight, but we're late," he said, and managed a grim smile. Jianyu nodded, then looked back at Ela.
"Wooden boards?" he repeated, his voice still sounding wavering, and he coughed, spitting blood. "I would not recommend us simply going through the back door; there are probably men on the other side who have an advantage over us because of their positions, but if there is another way in..."
"I heard rumors of another entrance," Khemkhaeng said in a low voice, glancing towards Ela, who looked just as bemused as he did. "Somewhere around here..."
They spread out, each one looking for something, anything, and then -
"Over here!" came the low hiss from Khemkhaeng. Jianyu and Ela stumbled towards him and found him crouching over a series of what looked to be ordinary wood boards. But Khemkhaeng had pried away two, revealing a dark, shadowed passageway beneath them.
All three looked at one another.
"Well," said Jianyu, hoisting his fully loaded crossbow up (Ela had retrieved it for him). "Let's go."
They dropped into the passage.
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Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 8:42 pm
If Yue could have known what was happening to Jianyu just then, she would have likely torn the wall down just to get to him that way. Without the extra motivation, however, she was doing her best to fight. Thankfully, Akela and Edena were strong comrades, and Yue could fight without her meteor hammer. Not as effectively, however. Yue had taken to kicking her opponents firmly, flooring them. Akela would follow behind, delivering the killing blows. No one was spared. The only one that remained was the one by the door, but he seemed ... different, somehow.
Yue Lao guessed that he would be the magic-user. Of course he would be. After all, that was her one severe weakness which she had only lately been trying to combat. And she couldn't use her meteor hammer, or her palm-strikes. So all that was left was kicking, or potentially using her meteor hammer despite the pain and the space limitations.
She picked her hammer up from the floor, palms dripping with blood, her side still bleeding, and approached the Lunarian guarding the door. "You're not getting through here, Legion scum," he spat at her, crossing his arms over his chest. A woman approached from the shadows, and approached her partner. There was something about them that, as they drew closer to one another, seemed more formidable. In fact, he linked arms with the woman and each of them seemed to exude a different temperature. As one, they moved forward to try and snare Yue between them. She rolled out of the way, getting back to her feet, but she fell as she grew dizzy; she'd lost more blood than she thought.
Outside, Khemkhaeng found the entrance, prying away two of the boards. He led the way, his needles extended, keeping the two behind him safe, ideally. He was expendable, and he knew it. The man behind him, however, he recognized as a Captain; he didn't fight under him, but he knew his face. It would be better if Khem ran into any unpleasantness. Which he did, actually; at the end of the passage, his needles stabbed into something fleshy and dark blocking the way. When he maneuvered in the tight space to kick the body out, the quick flood of light made Khem recoil, blinking. Stepping out slowly into the room, he realized they were in the storage, but there were no Nobles to be seen.
Just a huddled group in the corner, and the body of a Legion kicked to the side. "Was he already dead?" Khem asked the Lunarians who were hiding, quietly.
They nodded, shaking; whichever would look up at him, anyway. Khem flipped the second body over, the one which he had moved from the passage. It had its throat slit. Khemkhaeng shook his head. It was at about that point that Yue Lao and Edena stumbled into the storage room, Akela between them. One of her arms was at a strange angle. Yue kicked the door shut with her foot and wedged a couple barrels against it. "That's not going to do anything," Yue mumbled under her breath, wiping some of the sweat away from her head, but swiping blood across her face in its place.
She was about to tell everyone to go into the passage behind her when she realized there were a bunch of others standing in the way. One of which appeared to be her fiance.
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Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 9:26 pm
The passageway was dark and barely lit, save for a few weary patches of blurred light every now and then emitting from the boards at the end. Jianyu held his crossbow at the ready, ignoring the pain in his injured arm and keeping himself tense and prepared for any sort of mayhem that might greet them on the other side.
"Poor man," Jianyu muttered, looking at the dead Legion man as they all made their way somewhat haphazardly out of the passage and into the storage room. He did not like seeing his own men without their breath; it was a morbid reminder that Lunaria was at war.
There was a small group cowering in one of the corners, clearly hiding from the loud crashes and fighting coming from the main part of the Inn. Jianyu's gaze quickly swept across each face, but none were recognizable to him as Yue. Where was she?
"Where are the rest?" he demanded, but they were all too terrified to speak, and Jianyu realized belatedly that his tone had been too harsh. His desire to find Yue was nearly overwhelming, his terror that she might be dead welling deep within his being.
There was a loud thud, and then a few more people staggered in; two girls, hoisting another between them, and Jianyu's heart gave a clatter.
"Yue!"
In one moment he had crossed the room, the arm holding his crossbow catching her around her shoulders and hauling her against his chest, burying his face in her hair. "Thank the goddess you're alive," Jianyu said roughly as he pulled away, shifting the crossbow under his good arm so that he could stroke her face. He wanted nothing more than to kiss her, breathe in her life, but now was not the time. There was blood streaked across her forehead, and Jianyu automatically made to wipe it off, turning to face the others.
"You," he said to the man with the scarf. "Take the rest into the passageway and stay there, near this side of the exit. If they discover the outside exit, you'll have time to move up this way and keep them below. You have strength and intelligence; I trust you are very capable of defending yourself."
His gaze went to Ela, fierce and determined. "You as well," he said, and when she opened her mouth to protest, Jianyu shook his head. "I will find your husband, and I will keep him alive, I swear to you. But this man cannot protect all of these people by himself."
Resigned, her lips pressed together in a grim expression, Ela nodded, moving back. Jianyu turned to Yue and Edena.
"You are with me," he said. "Let's go."
He kicked down the door, and threw himself straight into the fray, leaping at the nearest man without any regard for his injured arm. The man gave a howl of anger, successfully throwing Jianyu over his shoulder and onto his back on the floor, but this had been the advantage Jianyu had been looking for. The move had winded him, but not enough that he did not instantly raise his crossbow, aim it at the man's stomach, hovering above him, and pull the trigger.
Blood spattered over the floor and half across Jianyu's face, who had turned his head just in time. He rolled out of the way as the man collapsed, mouthing wordlessly. Jianyu pushed himself to his feet, staggering against Yue accidentally.
"For you, my love," he said, and streaked with blood, dirt, grime, he smiled at her before jumping back into the crowd of Nobles fighting Legions. He called his ki, and magic leapt at his fingertips, whipping upwards and encircling the crossbow as Jianyu raised it.
"Fiery darts of hell, seize your prey."
He pulled the trigger again; there was a whistling noise and as the bolt flew across the room, bands of flames twisted and contorted around it, bursting into a fiery inferno as it connected with its victim. There was a scream of pain, and the Noble disappeared from sight, dead on the floor.
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 12:06 am
The worst of her injuries was the least visible. Yue Lao's side, though it was bleeding, was less painful to her than the bruised ribs of her side. She sincerely hoped nothing had cracked, though if it had, she would be very surprised. Yue's mouth parted in a surprised oh as she finally realized it was, in fact, her fiance standing there. She choked back some kind of strangled response, until she was able to say, "Dear moon, Yu." She felt her heart give in on itself and craved her fiance's proximity. For a second, she forgot how injured she was, and that she was waiting for the Nobles to burst in through the door any second.
"Your arm is messed up," she pointed out, searching his face to see if his expression betrayed much pain. She was obvlivious to the blood she had smeared across her forehead, as she hadn't actually wounded her face. It wasn't until he wiped the blood off that the situation actually hit him in full force.
Khem smiled to see the two reunited, but wondered where Ela's husband might be. He knew the man; Kato was pretty old, compared to this couple, and he worried for the man's safety. Hopefully he would be alive, if not well. Khem had learned to count on nothing in the war. So he listened to the captain. Khem bowed his head in thanks for the praise, or what was certainly praise to Khem. Without replying, he excused himself from his new acquaintance and ushered the frightened bystanders into the passage, sheathing his needles into his boot. They ranged from too eager to get out, thus stampeding; and being too afraid to go into the dimly-lit passage; so Khem had to try to shepherd them in the correct order.
Ela followed behind the group, calming the upset ones. Every so often, she would look into the group of Legion still preparing to fight, with a worried glance. She hoped that her husband was safe, and regretted not being able to find out right away.
Yue replied, "Of course I'm with you, I'm not fighting without you." She didn't mention his arm, or that he shouldn't be fighting with the wound; to suggest such things would, to Yue, be insulting. So she afforded him the same respect that she would one day wish to deserve. Edena wrapped her torso with some scraps of cloth to slow the bleeding that she could fight. Akela, with her good arm, had pinched something in Edena to make the wound as minimal as possible, and Edena now clutched at the knife she had been stabbed with, fully intending to return it to its owners. As many of them as she could.
Yue Lao removed the looped Meteor hammer from around her shoulder, cradling the shorter end of the cord in one hand, and the longer one held further away to prevent hitting herself or her group members. Yue entered the room in time to see Jianyu put a bolt through the stomach of a Noble. She was more concerned with where the two door guardians had gone, the woman and man who appeared to trigger their magic in combination. Jianyu staggered into her accidentally as he got to his feet, and Yue's thoughts scattered. Even in the heat of the fight, with so much to pay attention to, her skin craved his. She sighed internally at her own desires and replied, "A wedding gift already? I'll have to get you something, too." She admired his fighting as he used his particular style of magic, having never seen him use it before. She had seen others use magic, of course, but never him.
On top of the fact that he was using magic, it was also a rather fiery usage, which made Yue acutely aware of the fact that she had been learning a type of weapon projection magic after she had been denied the fire magic she initially expected to learn. It was fitting that he used it, then, when she was unable. She could, however, concentrate enough to use her own magic. In fact, it was the first thing she did, ignoring the Noble's scream as Jianyu's magic hit its mark. She made her meteor hammer smaller, lighter; hollowed on the inside of the ends so that she could wield it with more speed and less pain on her part. And that was how she used the side near her to block an incoming throwing knife an then responded to the attack by wrapping the long end of the meteor hammer around the Noble's waist and pulling her in, lodging the meteor hammer's small but effective spikes in her back before yanking it free.
"That's one for one," Yue shouted to her fiance, before taking on the next opponent. Where did the magic-user couple go? Yue wondered to herself.
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 6:44 am
Magic was not Jianyu's strong point, not at all, and he rarely used it, but now seemed the time - if any - to draw upon his ki and pull out some of that unused magic. He was strongest at elemental, specializing in wind most of all, while the others were smaller, lesser controlled and not nearly as effective as wind. The fire, once it had hit its target and succeeded in taking its life force, extinguished almost immediately.
Something thudded into his back from behind, and Jianyu staggered, seeing stars. He spun around just in time to see a blast of water come flying towards him and automatically Jianyu twisted and dived to his left, rolling into a crouch water sliding down his face. He pushed his sodden hair away from his face, rising to stand as the Noble who'd sent the water smirked; his magic had done the job - Jianyu's crossbow had careened out of his hand, lying several feet away.
"Not very good without your toy, are you, love?" crowed the Noble, and threw himself forward. Jianyu staggered under the weight, both of them collapsing to the floor, Jianyu underneath. He dodged the hit to his face, ramming his knee upwards and catching the man about his stomach. Completely winded, the Noble gasped for air, but he had enough strength to reach out and seize Jianyu's injured arm, fingers pressing into the open wound.
Jianyu let out a horrible roar of pain, feeling as if fiery spikes were shooting up and down his entire body. With great effort he bucked his lower body upwards, flinging the magic user off and onto the floor. He scrambled to his feet quickly, hand pressed against his arm, which had begun to bleed profusely beneath the haphazard bandages. Eyes mutinous, Jianyu leapt forward, roundhouse kicking the man in the side of his head. He collapsed instantly, eyes rolling back, but he was not dead.
"Not very good without your brains, are you, love?" Jianyu said, and kicked him hard in the face.
It was over. The wreckage of the Ichi-Koi Inn and Bar was terrible, tables lying overturned and smashed, splinters of wood, glass, and other things strewn across the floor along with the bodies of several Nobles and even a few Legion. It was not a pretty sight, but it was over.
Yue was standing a few feet away, still holding her meteor hammer and breathing heavily. She seemed a little dazed, and Jianyu staggered towards her, reaching out with one bloodstained hand. As if he had forgotten they were standing in the middle of a half destroyed building after a horrific battle, his hand wrapped around the back of Yue's neck, and dragged her to him, his lips finding hers. He kissed her with a ferocity unlike anything he had shown before, as if the strain and worry and fear that one of them would be dead at the end were finally being let out.
"I thought I might lose you," Jianyu muttered, his eyes still closed, his mouth close enough to Yue's that he could feel her breath against his lips. "But you fight just as well as I thought you would."
He started to kiss her again, but there was a very obvious clearing of one's throat, and Jianyu snapped out of his reunion, glancing towards the bar where the innkeeper was smiling at them.
"I'm glad you two have found each other," said the man in a voice dry with amusement. "But I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to help us clean up first, and then find solace in one another."
Jianyu glanced at Yue, not abashed in the slightest. He lifted his hand, tenderly tracing his fingertips down the side of her face. "I would be delighted to assist you, Innkeeper," he said with a grin, though he was still looking at Yue. Then he remembered something and quickly turned around.
"Is one of you Ela's husband?"
A few glances from one man to another. Then a man stepped out, older than Jianyu by several leagues, tall and spry with a head of black hair that was sprinkled with grey.
"I am," he said, and there was no denying the urgency in his voice as he said "Where is she? Is she alive? Is she - "
"She is alive and well," Jianyu said with a smile, and gestured towards the back door. "And she is waiting for you."
The man nodded and hurried off, relief crossing over his face. As the rest of the men started to clean up, distracted and not paying attention to the couple anymore, Jianyu turned back to Yue, his hand gripping hers tightly.
"I love you," he told her, and cupped her face in one bloodied hand, kissing her again, wanting to never stop, but knowing this was not the time, nor the place. "Talk with me later." So he let go, brushing his fingers against her collarbone, along with his lips briefly and left to help the men clean.
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 6:33 pm
Given Yue Lao was not the kind to give up, but rather to retreat, reassess the situation and reapproach it from a new angle, she would likely try to learn a kind of elemental magic again another time. Perhaps fire, or that way of studying, were not the right choices for her. She was sure it would make sense soon, in any case, and at least she had the time to learn her weapon projection magic.
While Jianyu was fighting the water-user in the couple, his significant other and partner was trying to light Yue Lao on fire. She had some kind of a fireball ability which involved spitting out a flaming and rather large inferno-hot ball at Yue every so often. Too often: there were a couple scorch marks across Yue's clothing. On the bright side, it was warming her up and making her somehow more eagre to fight. No matter what Yue did, she couldn't seem to hit the female Noble. She was fast, faster even than Yue, and a heat aura seemed to constantly betray her location. After being singed by one too many fireballs, she emitted a sound somewhere between irritation and anger and concentrated her Qi again. She relinquished the form her meteor hammer had been flickering into every time she approached an enemy, and turned it into a weighted chain which snared the Noble's ankles. Yue Lao flicked the chain with her wrist, and twisted, dumping the Noble onto her butt.
The battle between the two girls was otherwise largely, and eerily, quiet. The Noble woman had no insults for Yue, and Yue's only sound within the bubble of concentration was that one outburst of frustration. "I should say something awesome, like Cool off," Yue told the Noble, looping one end of her meteor hammer's cord around the Noble-woman's neck so that if she struggled, she would suffocate herself. As Jianyu staggered towards her, however, she tightened her grip on the chain to knock the woman out, and then unwound her meteor hammer, reverting it to its natural state.
The sudden relief of pressure as she stopped concentrating her Qi made her heave, though she did nothing but bend over in pain. She could not survey the damage. For years, she had worked at the Ichi-koi, and she wasn't yet able to look at all that had happened to her dear place of employment. The place where she had met Jianyu officially for the first time. She was somehow startled as Jianyu pulled him in towards her, her hands going up to grip at his clothing, careful of his wounds. She kissed him back with passion, the passion of having been separated from him and fighting for her life to make sure that she could find him again. No one would separate them. Not if Yue could help it, and she certainly felt like Jianyu would not let it happen, either. Still, the fear and pressure of being separated and attacked viciously made her hold on tightly to him, and press her mouth into his as if she was trying to breathe with him.
"I wasn't sure how I would get to you," she admitted, closing her eyes as well, brushing her nose against his in a gesture of affection. "Do I? You still beat me at sparring," she said, grinning widely. That compliment was lodged away in her heart, and she beamed with pride. She respected him more than anyone else. Yue Lao began to kiss Jianyu back, somehow more determinedly than even before, when the Innkeeper cleared his throat to interrupt them. The look she gave that man was of such displeasure that she could have soured milk and turned pigs into bacon with that look. Her eyes narrowed and her mouth pressed thin.
However, she took a deep breath, looped her arms around her fiance once more and pulled her body against his to kiss his neck before relinquishing him, while he told the innkeeper he would be delighted to assist him with the cleanup. "Yeah, be right there," she muttered, her displeasure showing. It could be a little childish, but she had thought for a moment that she would die, unable to defend herself properly in the enclosed space. Meteor hammers took a lot of room. She had to choke the rope and transform the weapon weights just to wield it at all, and by then she already had several sloppy injuries.
"I love you, too," she replied, her irritation softening in a heartbeat. She leaned her face into his bloodied hand, kissing him back with relish. Her sigh as he finally parted from her was heavy. Yue began righting tipped tables and chairs, salvaging what furniture was available. Shortly after that, she helped them open the doors to drag the bodies out.
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 6:51 pm
"You know...I do believe I have never really seen you fight before, dearheart."
Several hours after the battle of the inn, and Jianyu was sitting on the pallet in his room, slowly and methodically winding a bandage around one of Yue's hands. After having helped the men and women partially reassemble the structure and sent the remaining Nobles back to their own camps, Jianyu and Yue had limped back to the Qian House, where they had immediately been accosted by Ehuang. Without even waiting for an explanation - for Ehuang had seen her son come home in similar conditions many times before - she had ordered the servants to take Jianyu to the baths, giving him a clean, plain black changsam to wear. Meanwhile his mothers and his sisters had dragged Yue off to clean and bathe her, tending to most of her wounds.
Jianyu had to admit; he felt eons better after having scrubbed off the layers of dirt, dust, blood, and grime from his skin, and his arm felt much less painful once it had been washed free of the grit and bound in a tight, clean white cloth. If anything, Ehuang and her daughters, as well as the household servants, were experienced in the art of patching people up, Jianyu being what he was.
Except they had somehow missed the slice down the palm of Yue's left hand, which Jianyu was now in the process of bandaging.
"You were quite impressive," he said to her with a gentle smile, the pride in his voice clearly evident. The bandage that usually covered his left eye was gone, Ehuang having taken it to be washed, as it was covered in bloodstains. Now the scar over his whitened eye was paler than usual, standing out starkly against the darker shade of his skin, but he paid no mind to it, steadily wrapping the cloth around Yue's palm. "I knew you were fierce, my love, but...never have I seen you so...certain of yourself."
He tied a knot in the cloth, securing it, then leaned back against the wall, still smiling at his fiancee. "You certainly have grown into a woman," Jianyu said. "I am very proud of you, Yue."
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 8:07 pm
Yue rolled her shoulder and watched Jianyu winding a bandage around her hand. She peered up at him, thinking, and replied, "That's about right, my " she admitted. There was no previous battle she had been able to actively participate in. When they were ambushed, her skills were minimal; all she could do was throw herself around and try to fend off the Nobles with a broken bottle. This was different. It was the culmination of her studies and her experience in battle. She was definitely far from the frightened and unskilled student she had been.
Being cared for by Jianyu's mother and sisters was an interesting experience. She was unused to it, and Ehuang was so fast and decisive. Yue had not been particularly cared for by another living being in quite some time, and she was certainly not used to so many women seeing her so naked. But the bathing was wonderful, and all her exhaustion and disgust at her condition washed right off with the grime from the battle. She did long for her rose-water, however. And her mothers. It was strange, missing them; they had always been there, so she'd never needed to miss them.
Her discomfort was completely alleviated once she was in the company of her fiance again. Yue cherished his praise, glowing with pride. It wasn't in her nature to be humble, so instead, "You were impressive as well, my fierce warrior," she said. She leaned her head against him, smiling to herself. There was no comfort greater to her now than spending time with him. It was easy. Yue laughed. "While I was waiting for you, all of my attention was devoted to training," she admitted. "After that night I was almost useless, I wanted to be useful next time...so I got stronger."
Yue edged in close to Jianyu as he leaned against the wall, kissing his neck gently. "Thank you for bandaging my hand, dear moon," she said quietly, her lips brushing his skin. "We are going to make for a fairly battered wedding," she said, sighing, though her lips were curled up in a smile.
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 8:57 pm
Jianyu knew Yue would feel a little uncomfortable with regard to his mothers and sisters; after all, it took some getting used to how they worked, especially considering that the Qian household was not one to mince their ways. It was a surprisingly open home, and that was not in regards to its structure. Liwei and Ehuang were two of the most open-minded, tolerant people Jianyu had ever known. Jianyu himself had admitted to having a male lover, whereas his two twin brothers dressed as women, and had been since they were four years old. He knew that they would not have any problems whatsoever with seeing his fiancee naked; and they would not do anything to make her feel awkward, but it was something that took a bit of getting used to.
He pulled Yue into his lap, wincing slightly as his arm twinged, but once she was settled comfortably, her head against his chest, his good arm around her waist, the other draped over her legs, Jianyu laid his head atop hers. It had been a stressful afternoon; scratch that, it had been a fearful afternoon. Jianyu had felt anxiety over the safety of those he cared about in battle, but he had never once known how it felt to be completely panicked, to the point where he had nearly been careless. Yue's safety was more important to him than anything else in the world at the moment; a fact that actually scared him a little, since he knew he could not always be around to help her. Not that she would always need his help, as she had proved, but it was still a worrying thought.
"Waiting for me?" Jianyu said softly, feeling a pang in his chest. "Waiting for me to stop being so ignorant, you mean..."
He trailed off and sighed, shaking his head, but his skin warmed beneath Yue's lips, feeling a tingling sensation against his throat. Closing his eyes briefly he exhaled slowly, worry still creasing his face, but then he looked back down, reaching to tilt up Yue's face with his fingers beneath her chin.
"I cannot always be there for you when it comes to these battles, you know," he said quietly. "Just as you cannot always be there for me. But I promise you, if it is within my capabilities to get there, I will stand by you."
A low laugh escaped him. Jianyu curled his hand around Yue's leg, just above her knee, absently smoothing his fingers across her bare skin, as she was wearing a pair of shorts rather than her dirty pants. "We will be delightful," he said with amusement, nuzzling her neck affectionately. "People across the world will be jealous of our positively radiant selves."
Grinning, Jianyu leaned in and kissed her, sliding his hand up her leg, fingers resting lightly against her thigh to pull her closer. His other hand reached up, cupping Yue's face, sliding to grip the back of her neck as he parted her lips beneath his, wanting to taste her, drink in her life force so that he could know for certain she was still alive and not some mirage. He had tried not to show just how frightened he'd been when she had been locked inside the building; tried not to let on the immense and nearly overwhelming sense of panic at the thought of losing her.
"Three more days, and you will be forever in my arms," Jianyu whispered against Yue's lips, sharing their breath. "Three more days, and then we will be wed."
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 11:08 pm
Yue Lao would certainly get used to the attention of Jianyu's female relatives-- some day, anyway. She would have to work on that one. She had grown up fairly left to her own devices, so in a household where practically nothing went unnoticed, it was a little disconcerting. However, Yue also deeply trusted his family, so she was not half as upset as she could have been.
Yue's thoughts scattered as Jianyu pulled her into his lap. She couldn't feel uncomfortable when he was holding her so close. She listened to his heart, one bandaged hand stroking against his chest. The simple black cheongsam was something she had seen him in a few times, now. She liked the way it looked on him, and she especially liked the texture. Her fear was distant, as it felt like a long time ago in which she had struggled to keep herself alive and safe while worrying about Jianyu's safety. Why had they been attacked, anyway? Had anyone gotten to question them? Yue wondered why they would possibly attack the Ichi-koi with such venom.
Regardless, they had both made it through, and Ela had gotten her husband back relatively safe. The other strangers had vanished before Yue introduced herself. Yue Lao was still worried about having to fight separately from Jianyu. She knew that would happen, as they couldn't always be sent on the same missions, but... She was afraid of losing him. He had become so important to her, that the idea of losing him that way was still frightening.
She didn't reply when he mentioned that he had been "ignorant;" she didn't want him to feel so bad, ever again. What mattered to her was that he loved her, that she was in his lap right now, that they would be married soon. All those months of waiting was nothing to her, now. She had set that down in her past and kept on moving. Yue felt Jianyu exhale as she kissed his neck. He tilted her face up, to speak with her. At first, she was wary; she remained silent, as he said he couldn't always be there for her. Did he think she expected that? All that she wanted was his safety, and she knew that if they fought together there was a higher chance. Then he finished his train of thought, and she was glad she hadn't interrupted him to protest.
"I'll get your back, Yu. Whenever. Because I love you, and I don't think I'd rather fight by anyone else's side," she said quietly. As he laughed, she felt his laughter all around her. It made her feel deeply content, and she was smiling wholeheartedly when he smoothed his fingers across her exposed skin. She couldn't help but shiver, pressing her body into his a little closer. Soon, she would be able to react in more firm ways than just trying to press into him. "Well, you are quite radiant, Yu; the handsomest Lunarian I've ever seen," she complimented him, tugging lightly on his hair, smiling up at him as he leaned into kiss her.
She inhaled sharply as he slid his hand up to her thigh, pulling her closer, gripping her neck. Her whole body grew warm again, and she stroked his side with one hand, tracing one finger firmly down to his hips and resting it there, putting her whole heart into the kiss. Her heart was pounding again. The effect he had on her was so instant, so overwhelming, that she felt as if she would not be able to stand for quite some time.
"Three more days, Yu; but I've always been in your arms. We just didn't know it yet," she replied, stroking the side of his face with her free hand, brushing her lips across his without pressing it into a kiss. "There is nothing I want more right now than..." Yue trailed off, grinning, then pressed her lips against Jianyu's, parting them softly, her kiss lingering. She didn't finish her sentence; she didn't really have a way to express Everything you are, I want all of it.
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