Soldiers of Light, ch. 1: "Here we go again"

[mauve]

As though the indignity of crawling face-down through the mud wasn't bad enough, now Pyros had someone poking him with a stick.

"Oho, here's somethin' you don't see everyday!"cackled a voice. "A dead tengu!" The stick wedged itself under Pyros' arm and flipped the man on his back.

"All right, birdy. What kinda treasures are you hiding.... Oh! So, you're still alive, eh? Hello there!" Pyros found himself looking at up a withered old woman, barely five feet tall. She prodded him with the end of her walking stick.

"You're awful good-lookin' for a tengu, ain't ya bird-boy?" she asked. "Hoo, but you also look like you've been a chew-toy for a pack of wolves. C'mon son. Don't play around in the mud." The old woman reached down and grabbed Pyros by the collar. With a surprising strength, she hauled the injured Pyros to his feet. She gave him her stick to lean on.

"Now that's better, innit? C'mon, Tengu Boy. There's a village just over there. No need to bleed yerself to death out on somebody's back lawn when you could do it somewhere where there's better food and drink. And of course, once you're feeling well enough to give back my stick, you'll be gracious enough to spare a few coins so good old Oki can eat too." She patted his arm and started to lead him down the road.

[rapter200]

Two thunderous blasts sounded off in the distance, the ground around Matsuoka Katashi erupted into rubble. Sulran had noticed the unfamiliar figure from a far off distance, his face was not one he readily recognized as an ally of Kurama. Thus the two warning shots. The suspect man wouldn't be difficult to hit at a range like this, he was huge. Built like a brick house. He kept his weapon trained on the man as he made his way to the meeting point, he didn't want to kill an innocent man but this man did not look so innocent.

When he reached the top he noticed three familiar faces and one he had never seen before. “Hello Yojimbo, Izuko, Jade.” he greeted each one then turned to the newcomer his face showing apprehension. “Strange this is the second unfamiliar face I have seen around here, it seems like we have attracted unwanted attention.” Sulran readied Kore Wa Desu,“I spotted an unknown man headed this way as I was walking. I fired off two warning shots, hoping to scare him off. If he has anything that could pass for intelligence he would know to start running in the opposite direction. Now tell me who is this man who seems to be quite out of place in our meeting area.”

[lazy man]

Suzume happily took Yojimbo's water, still not quite realizing the danger he was in by apparently not having the trust of these people. He noticed Jade not too far away, not knowing what to think, and then noticed the flaming sword being waved in his face nonchalantly. Suzume may just have thought about fighting if not for Izuko arriving and mentioning chaining him up. Which of two would be worse was something the demon hunter couldn't really decide on, so he decided for introductions instead.

"The name's--" and was promptly interrupted by Sulran. Everyone seemed intent on killing him for some reason. Why was that? He'd just fallen from a large distance, normally people would try and be helpful to the injured person.

"Alright, fine, I give up. I just flew who knows how far, fell through a tree, straight into the ground and into a rock, and you guys wanna kill me or tie me up. Pfeh! Whatever! I'll have you know my first impressions are telling me yer a buncha assholes!" And with that, he went and sat down on the very rock he'd rolled with his back to the group, greedily drinking Yojimbo's water. Might as well get something out of this mess.

[krogothwolf]

"I never said I was going to kill you, you don't offer a man a drink if you plan on killing them." Yojimbo replied to the exasperated man. "We just want to know who you are and why you fell from the sky, you can understand people being suspicious about that in this day and age."

He nodded to Sultan

"What this about another stranger?" He asked as he looked in the direction he heard the shots from and noticed what looked to be a man walking towards them. "Did you get a look at the other one?"

He was still looking at the other one and rested his free hand on the hilt of his other sword, just to be ready for anything and waved his flaming sword at the direction of the sitting man.

"I don't think this one here is much of a danger aside from his ungodly ability to survive falling from the sky and smacking into things. Don't know much about him but we may not have time to ask to many questions."

[Astral Harmony]

Tsubasa watched Kotone and Yoshiro carefully. If the two of them got into a fight and weakened each other, it'd be all too easy to kill them both and be done with it. Now that Daisuke Kurama was about to begin his journey to destroy Lord Talkatz, powerful humans and demons alike were crawling out of the woodwork, herself included.

There was no hurry to destroy Kurama. Let the lesser demons try to deal with him first and if they could, then no problem. And if they died, well that was probably for the best, as well.

[Zero Hex]

Yoshitsune bowed deeply and "searched" the floor for the dropped coin, randomly tapping around before picking the coin up. He was going to thank the man when he suddenly felt...tired? He surveyed the area again and, to his chagrin, spotted members of the crowd dropping like flies. Oh joy, someone with the power to force others to sleep he thought as he shook his head, pushing the unnatural feeling of weakness and drowsiness from his mind. He carefully considered attacking Kotone from the back, but that was hardly honorable and he'd be risking his disguise by doing so, instead opting to follow the spearman's advice and scuttle off in the kind swordsman's direction. It was clear he was the "Kurama" the gauntlet wielding maniac was looking for and now that he'd been involved, he wanted to find out why.

Staying away from the swordsman, he moved at a slow and leisury pace, though a careful observer would notice that he never lost track of Kurama and that his wooden sandals made much less noise than they normally did. It had been a while since he'd been involved in the events of the world but it troubled him to find so many people with abilities with this man in the center of it all, and he'd be damned if he let him out of his sight before he knew what was happening.

[Dauntasa]

A gun? Now that was interesting. Katashi hadn't seen a gun for a long time, they were quite rare in this area, but he recognized it. Guns were perhaps Katashi's least favorite weapon. Powered by some strange force, not magic, because they could hurt him, but some science. His armour hadn't been totally bulletproof the last time he'd encountered one, and he wasn't eager to test it again. This might require more guile than he was accustomed to using. He needed to keep walking, but slower and with his weapon slung, and he needed to get close to the gunman...

[krogothwolf]

Yojimbo stepped in front of Sulran and walked a bit towards the walking man before stopping. His blazing sword still in his hand while his other hand was resting on his second blade.

Sulran, get your gun trained on this bastard." Yojimbo said to him, "He was obviously not smart enough to heed the warning shots, nor does he care his is outnumbered. Unless Flying man is on his team, but it'd still be 2 to 1 odds."

He then watched the man slow his pace and sling his weapon. Ha, that's kind of silly, slinging it or not he still had it out before.

"HO!" Yojimbo yelled at the advancing man. "Come no further friend. If you wish no harm to come to you, leave this area."

[Dauntasa]

The man's flaming sword was most certainly magical. That was good. He'd blocked the gunman's shot, as well. That was better. He was getting close, now. Almost close enough to strike. His naginata would take too long to draw for this, he'd have to use his sword. If he could keep the man talking for another minute, that would be enough. Hmm. But what to say? It didn't have to be convincing; just not immediately obvious. He cleared his throat. "I was told to come here," he said in a gravelly voice, "that there was to be a meeting."

[Arcanum]

Izuko watched Suzume sulk off with Yojimbo's water, and was about to go console him when his attention was taken by the new stranger that was approaching. He didn't like the look of this new man, and he couldn't even see a face that he may or may not recognize. He also ignored Sulran and Yojimbo's warnings without breaking his stride. The man was either very confident or very stupid. Regardless he was getting too close for comfort, and something about his vague answer set off a warning bell in Izuko's mind. Preparing for the worst Izuko withdrew Shirogane, holding the kama handle in his left hand and the loops of chain in his right.

"I think that's close enough there," Izuko called out. "We wouldn't want you within striking distance before we know who you are. If you come any closer I won't hesitate to disarm and restrain you before finding out how you know about this meeting."