[1 v 1 + extra 1] Playing Hero [Cass v Shun + Tomoko]

[demon_pachabel]

Tomoko had never actually gone to the Haunted House. It was one of those things that crossed the peripherals at the edges of her mind, but overall didn't seem to cement all that much. In fact, she hardly thought about the place at all. All she knew was that bad things happened in it and well...she didn't really like bad things all that much. In fact, even slightly stressful things could have been considered too much for Tomoko to handle sometimes.

So she was the last kitsune in the world she ever expected would walk down that hallway. The hallway that at first she hadn't realized was unfamiliar. Then she'd taken a moment to press her fingers to the walls, her other hand cradling her ball of stars to her chest with a small frown - it wasn't an illusion either. She was going down a hallway she'd never seen before.

As a timid creature, Tomoko didn't possess the type of curiosity that was required to keep going down the hallway. Instead, she whimpered and made a small terrified noise as she tried to navigate her way back down the way she'd come from, just to become hopelessly lost. All it had taken was one incorrect door and she'd become a victim of mostly aimless wandering.

----

Unlike Cassandra Norris who was a hardy and always battle-ready type of creature. A walk through the haunted house was just a piece of normality, after all, in her strange and warped life (she could have written a book on a life that was never normal, yet also was). A little blip on the radar and, as Cass hadn't done a Haunted House Round in a while, she was more than content to make her way into the building that had proven to be the start of a rather interesting adventure.

But she knew to keep Nicodemus summoned at all times, keeping the gunblade close to her body. She'd use it as defense first if it came to that. It wasn't the 'fun' route, but it was the route that kept her alive. The route of 'attack first, ask questions later' had also been one that had kept her rather living as well.

Which was why when she stepped through the door into a room with a rather golden individual in it, she hadn't even thought about it when she'd lashed out.

---

Tomoko had just been trying to find the exit to this strange twisted wonderland of a room, where it seemed like each door was a bookcase (so was every bookcase a door? That didn't but also did make sense!) and up was down and just....

the entire house...

it baffled her. Baffled her, and the hunter had been able to take clear advantage of that with a slice across her shoulders, causing the kitsune to whimper in pain and immediately retreat into a corner, cradling her ball of stars in her arms. This was just bad.

Just bad.

They needed to go home. She needed to go home. She didn't like this place already!

---

And despite the pathetic noise, Cass wasn't about to let up. In fact, she took that ball of stars right out of the little kitsune's hands.

"What's this? Something that shouldn't be in your hands?" Cass inquired. Perhaps it was another strange artifact that the hunters could have used in their labs. Maybe H would know what it was. She wasn't sure.

"Maybe I should hold onto it."

---

And for it, Tomoko made the most high pitched and frantic noise to ever cross her lips. No no no nono!

No!

That was hers! She needed that! The human couldn't have that! Give it back! Ofasj;ldfkdhsf dflksafh;askdfj;lk!K She wrung her hair anxiously, but every time she moved to grab at her ball of stars, the hunter pointed that blade back at her.

And if she dissipated, she wouldn't get her ball of stars back!

Rolling a 1: ALL DAMAGE IS MULTIPLIED BY 2, but you CANNOT USE FEAR/ CHARGED ATTACKS  

[Blade Kuroda]

It might have been a good thing then that Shun was out wandering about with the intent of training. He was going to work with the dummies in the gym, but actual combat was always something more preferred. And before he knew it, he found himself in a place that certainly wasn't the gym.

But it was somewhere he was still rather familiar with.

Narrowing his eye, he paused to listen for signs of life. This time around, he hadn't been trying to get to the haunted house, so he wasn't sure what it was going to throw at him.

Sure enough, he soon heard a rather high pitched set of noises, along with another voice. There were two people here.

"..."

The last time the house sent him to a room with two others, he ended up taking a fireball to the chest almost immediately. Needless to say, he quickly summoned his daggers and went on his guard, slowly and quietly making his way around to see what was going on first and foremost. It didn't take him long before he spotted a vaguely familiar kitsune along with who could no doubt be a hunter. It didn't surprise him to see that she was tormenting the poor girl too.

Though he intended to remain stealthy, his increased blind spot had him miss something to his left, causing him to bump into a small end table that had been sitting ********.  

[demon_pachabel]

Bump went that end table, and... well, Cass actually had to shove the Ball of stars into her handy side-bag before she had her blade pointed at the kitsune, and the gun aimed at the reaper. Oh cute, he only had one eye. Okay, that actually wasn't cute at all. It just reminded her of when Marcus had to wear an eyepatch because of that stupid Horseman.

Peh, he was dead now, it didn't matter.

"Oh, so now you two are going to gang up on me? How pleasant." she half smirked, looking to Shun..then to Tomoko, then to Shun again. It only took her half a moment to slice through the little Kitsune's skin again, causing another pained noise and for Tomoko to retract into the corner further. Full panic had set on her face right then. Total and utter panic.

Cass, on the other hand, seemed perfectly calm about the situation.

"Well, it looks like she won't be fighting back for a few minutes. So I might as well focus on you."  

[Blade Kuroda]

"Che," Shun hissed as he saw her suddenly strike down Tomoko like that. The girl wasn't even putting up a fight and yet she had been struck. Hunters. He didn't expect any better of them really. Narrowing his eye at her, he just held up his daggers and crouched down to get ready to attack.

He lost his element of surprise, but he wasn't out of the running because of that.

Looking over the hunter, he took note that she had both a blade and a gun. Interesting. Hm. She had a fuzzy hood too, and was definitely aggressive. As it stood, she sort of fell under one of the entries in the hunter compendium. Minus the fact that she didn't have a male counterpart. But it was possible this was 'Cass'. Or someone else that happened to fit that. It wasn't like him to taunt in battle unless the other spoke first, but this was one easy way to figure out if this was her. Not to mention, it may give him a quick idea to her style to start with.

"Do your worst, Cass," he hissed lowly.  

[demon_pachabel]

The use of her name was answered with a raise of her brows - but not an overly surprised expression. They'd been learning their names, so it was about time for the abominations to be learning those of their euthanizers.

Still, she'd never even met this one before. That meant her name was being passed around to some extent. "How sweet, you know who I am." she grinned - absolute confirmation. She had no shame in her own identity, even as she adjusted the strap of the bag around her shoulders.

A look toward Tomoko, but the Kitsune seemed to stare at Shun with a transfixed stare of 'Halp'. She wouldn't be attacking her, so that left Cass to, at least with her advantage of distance at that time, fire upon the reaper.

HP: 50/50
Damage: 8  

[Blade Kuroda]

Confirmation. A little more so than he expected, but it was a confirmation nonetheless. He quickly looked her over for further details to add to the list.. seeing how the current description was a tad vague. Brown hair. Blue eyes. Swirly clouds on the jacket.

Shun's gaze soon flicked over towards Tomoko, and it definitely seemed she wouldn't be helping him out in this fight. Frowning lightly, he turned his attention back to Cass just in time to be struck fairly hard by a bullet.

Grunting, he faltered slightly from the impact, but then rushed on forth towards the hunter. As he got within range, he lashed out twice at her, aiming to slash her leg with his right and her midsection with his left.

HP: 42
Damage: 12  

[demon_pachabel]

There wasn't even a flicker of fear in her eyes as he lashed out at her in turn. No blood was drawn, even as his blades sliced through clothing. Simply calm. He wasn't Mr. Face, he wasn't Pyramid Head (although Ash had been a rather snazzy individual to meet), and he wasn't a ceiling master.

Urgh. Ceiling Masters. Wall masters? Floor masters? Bah, they were giant hands and they liked to grab you all of a sudden. That was all that mattered to her.

However, while Tomoko was not going to be much of an attacker in this battle, there were only small things she was capable of doing while she didn't have her ball of stars in her possession. When Cass swung at Shun, it seemed almost like she ripped right through him.

Until it became apparent he hadn't even been there in the first place. Cass's nose crinkled, turning to look back at the duo while the ball glittered and began to function in her bag while Tomoko pulled FEAR from it to start twisting illusions. She could keep Cass from hitting Shun.

It would just take some effort to keep it up effectively until she got her ball back.

Cass didn't seem too fond of that at all.


HP: 50-12 = 38/50
Damage: FAIL  

[Blade Kuroda]

The hunter remained completely composed. Then again, so had Stacey upon his death. These hunters were well trained. Well. Some of them at least. He had to wonder just how well they would have been able to keep their cool if it weren't for their weapons however. It was hard to say.

The next thing he knew was that Cass had struck nothing but air. He didn't even have to dodge. It was as if she was trying to hit something that hadn't been there.

His eye shifted over towards Tomoko. It must have been her doing. Nodding quietly to her, he also noticed a faint light coming from the bag. Right. He had seen her place a ball in there.

Shifting closer, he slashed up, aiming to cut through the bag strap if possible.. as well as the person carrying it.

HP: 42
Damage: 8  

[demon_pachabel]

As it was, Cass had noticed the sparkling in her ball, and while she wasn't able to attribute it to the kitsune using a natural ability, Cass was able to quick ascertain that it glowing was part of why the reaper was going to want it back. After all, he had just targeted her bag.

The bag's strap relented, dropping to the floor with a thud that caused Tomoko to wince and make a rather pained noise, dropping to her knees and wrapping her arms around herself.

Well, that was curious, now wasn't it? Cass didn't linger on it for long, however, just stepping back to scoop the back back up, tying the strap back together with one hand while firing with the handgun again.

Damn! She'd liked this bag too!



HP: 30/50
Damage: 8  

[Blade Kuroda]

The bag dropping caused a reaction from Tomoko that was not expected from Shun. He was hoping she would have made a grab for it, but instead acted as if she was in pain. Strange. It was enough that he was momentarily distracted and ended up taking another solid shot from her gun.

Grimacing, he took a step back, and glanced to the spot he had been this this time. A small dark stain formed in his shirt. Cursing lowly, he made a quick swipe at Cass before glancing at Tomo, trying to think of a way to get the bag back.

HP: 34
Damage: 2  

[demon_pachabel]

"It is me." Tomoko whimpered. If the ball was hurt, it hurt her as well as it was a sort of battery for the kitsune. That made it difficult to risk hurting either of her 'selves' for the other half.

Cass didn't seem to notice what it was the kitsune said, however. Instead, it seemed like since the reaper was distracted, she stepped in and sliced into him, expression remaining calm. But she was exhilarated. There were TWO denizens in there and one she was putting on the quits just by stealing that little ball from her?

Beautiful.

Now, if she could get out of there and back with the ball she'd be able to ask H more about it.


HP: 28/50
Damage: 8  

[Blade Kuroda]

Shun's brow furrowed for the moment at Tomo's words. What did that mean? It seemed like a rather random thing to say. But he couldn't think about it for much longer as he felt the sword slice into him, sending droplets of blood splattering to the ground.

Hissing from the pain, he gave Cass a rather sharp look. Regardless of what the kitsune meant, the ball belonged to her. And apparently it was connected to her one way or another.

The Reaper moved in for an attack, bringing his daggers up to strike, but it was a feint. Suddenly he disappeared, leaving only shadowy wisps behind. Within the next moment he was behind and slightly above the hunter, aiming to drive both of his daggers deep into her backside.

HP: 26
Damage: 20  

[demon_pachabel]

Cass staggered away from the blow to her back, hissing as she felt the severe blow to her FEAR shield. Nicodemus was quick to just force a GET OUT OF THERE into her head. Cass's brows knitted together as she didn't seem to need a second opinion on it.

She was getting the hell out of there and she was getting out now!

The second Cass turned to head back through the door she'd came in, the bag adjusted at her side, Tomoko made another whining noise as she pulled herself up to her feet. "Wait!" she whimpered, "I need that!" Even now the Kitsune was up to start pursuing after Cass and that elusive bag of hers.

Cass wasn't going to wait around and get killed.


HP: 8/50
Damage: --ABSCOND!  

[Blade Kuroda]

Shun expected retaliation, but instead the hunter began to flee. He was already planning on giving chase, but Tomoko's cry just urged him even more. Like hell he was going to let her get away.

Flipping the grips on his daggers, he flung them both at her, hoping to stop the girl.

HP: 26
Damage: -ATTEMPTING TO CATCH-  

[Blade Kuroda]

The daggers sailed.

And they hit their mark.

"Give the ball back," Shun hissed.

HP: 26
Damage: 10