8th Protocol--[847 Goldberg and the surrounding property]

[idkmybfforin]

[As hollow as her head was at times, even Utsuho couldn’t not notice the changes that had come over the town lately.

It made her realize she had been slacking in chasing intruders off of “her” territory…mostly, because she was confused as to where that was supposed to be. The old house…there was no one in it she recognized as family in it anymore. This other house had a Satori-like figure in it and was a place to get food, so it probably counted…

In any case, it was reason enough to get the hell raven perched on the roof in her humanoid form, wings spread and braced against the peak of the roof like bipods. Her crouching posture doesn’t stop her from glancing furtively down the roads whenever something goes by—a person or a car. As long as it keeps on moving—or she recognizes the person in a favorable way—things are rosy and Okuu does nothing.

It’s if whatever-it-may-be doesn’t that things might get festive, as this is obviously a challenge! And made Okuu puff up her feathers to look twice as big as she already did and hiss.

…yes, even if you just stopped at the mailbox. Or with the daily paper.]

((OOC: Okuu is unaffected by any AUs.))

Comments

[walking_nuke]

... You came after her 'cause you're tryin'a eat her?

[Balin's still trying to get over the fact that yes Meiling's a dragon and yes she can actually put the nukebird in a world of hurt. Or ... likely kill her.]

[But, he doesn't want to risk checking on Utsuho with Virginia here. Lest Meiling decide she wants Southwestern fare instead.]

[bantorain]

She's not food for you to hunt! She's my friend! Leave her alone!

[not_so_great_wall]

Yes! [ Directed at Balin because duh? ] Big bird means a big meal.

[ But then she looks past his head toward the cowering girl, and blinks. ] ...friend? [ Sniffing the air. Oh right... birds aren't supposed to be able to catch themselves on fire, are they? Cooking one's own flesh seems counterproductive to survival. Something was... off about this one but, to be honest, she didn't focus on that because she was just that damned hungry. ]

[idkmybfforin]

[Had Utsuho been in a better state of mind, she might have idly wondered at her sudden popularity.

As it was, her neck goes CRACK again as it snaps back into place and she spasmodically thrashes, toppling out of the tree to land on the ground with a rather solid thump. She's followed down by roughly half of the tree's worth of leaves and branches. She probably landed on some of them, but she didn’t seem to notice.

What she did notice was that Meiling was between her and Virginia all of a sudden.

This is like what happens when someone gets between a bear and its cubs. BEAR GOES BALLISTIC.

And so does Okuu.

The yatagarasu responds instantaneously to the sudden upwelling of instinctual rage, fiery light pulsing out from it and racing to the very edges of her feathers, where it stayed in an ominous glow. An remaining twitching seems to have been banished in the display, and the hell raven gets to her feet and takes off and comes roaring up behind Meiling in a single movement. Her arms are outstretched as if she were reaching out to give Meiling a big hug.

...except there was a big burning eyeball in her chest so it probably wouldn't be a very pleasant one.]

[walking_nuke]

I thought you said you don't try to kill people!

[... granted he's still feeling weird about trying to make a case for Utsuho, of all people, to someone who sounded like the type to avoid killing/eating sentient beings for her own gain.]

[Speaking of which, what's that rustling noise? Balin glances in the direction it's coming from just as Utsuho's become a glowing, roaring mass of feathers. Almost immediately, he turns back to look at Virginia.]

Get down!

[And throw himself on her.]

sorry for the late

[bantorain]

-It doesn't take much. Virginia curled into herself beneath her human shield, her mind blank with panic.-

s'all good. I was off at the movies anyhow

[not_so_great_wall]

When? [ Her memories are a bit hazy. Sure, she was questioning how she was getting along with people as well as she had, but there were probably reasons for that.

It's all a moot point as she hears that sound and turns toward the... bird?

That's not a bird. That's not a human, either. Did she just attack another being like her and not even realize it?

That didn't matter, either, as she was charged and grappled with. Meiling screamed as her skin was being seared. ] HOT! HOT! TOO HOT! [ Not just stating the obvious, but sounding quite pained and surprised while doing it. Close fighting is what she does best, but like this all she can do it beat and claw at Okuu's shoulders and head. ] LET GO! LET GO!!!!

[idkmybfforin]

[Utsuho hisses as the blows land on her head, on her shoulders--pulling the former back to avoid any of this neck-snapping business of before. But she answers the grapple in kind, grasping onto Meiling long enough to lift off the earth and away from the humans now on the ground and out of the way.

She sails over and past them for a short distance, before the pain gets the better of her and she lets go of Meiling convulsively, as if she were a thing that burned even the hell raven.

She has a rather spectacular black eye forming already, and her jaws don't seem to mesh together quite right. Her arms are a bit sluggish coming up again, but...that tended to happen when your shoulders were broken.]

[walking_nuke]

[Balin gets up from tackling Virginia once he's aware that the dragon and hell raven have taken to the sky—giving the once-Drifter her space. Good thing he still has a tight grip on that sidearm with one of his hands ... but as he watches the fight unfolding in the air he's not sure whether he should try to intervene.]

[Or even who to shoot.]

/cuts in

[not_so_great_wall]

[ Meiling grunts and brings her legs up as if to vault off of Okuu, to gain some distance... except distance might mean she will start hurling those big fiery balls of death again! Rather than risk it, she clamps her hands down on the youkai's arm.

And then she clamps down her teeth. Damn it all, she will leave with at least a wing for her troubles! ]

GEICO NOT GECKO

[idkmybfforin]

[Okuu promptly bellows, because FUCKING OW.

Meiling's teeth sink into her upper arm--and as Utsuho thrashes, they strip away a sizable chunk of flesh all the way down to her wrist with a gush of near-black blood. The hellraven lashes back out with her other un-mauled hand, beating about the dragon-human's head and pulling at her hair--something, anything, stop it STOP IT.

Okuu finally gains enough altitude to lash out at Meiling with her feet, kicking at her shoulders as she tried frantically to writhe away; precisely like a pained animal.]

WHAT A BIG MOUTH YOU HAVE, OKUU

[walking_nuke]

[Oh jeez. Balin got to see that flesh-tearing bite in its full glory. If Utsuho is killed and/or eaten here, Virginia would be really distraught—even if the nukebird might have it coming to her concerning the things she's done in the past.]

[So he grips the sidearm with both hands again, taking aim at Meiling's shoulders. Might as well even the playing field for Utsuho ...]

[After a moment, Balin fires a few shots skyward.]

[bantorain]

W-what's happening?! -Virginia cowered, covering her ears and refusing to open her eyes.-

[not_so_great_wall]

[ That chunk of meat comes off with a satisfying sound, and were she not in so much pain, herself, she would have such a pleased grin on her face. As it is, she is taking pot-shots from below as well as Okuu's own assault in kind, so it's time to take her spoils and split.

With one final tug, she spins in the air and aims to fling Okuu down at the man, so that he will STOP SHOOTING AT HER and then she will take that opportunity to hightail it out of there, arm meat flapping in the wind as the blood leaks down her jaw.

It wasn't a kill, but a meal was a meal. ]

[idkmybfforin]

[Virginia may not be looking up, but the party's coming down to her anyway.

Or rather at Balin, since Okuu was deliberately thrown straight down at him to foil his next shot. Even though Okuu scrabbled as much as she wanted, she didn't exactly have proper talons just now. So down she went in a mass of shrieking, flailing wings and feathers that have lost their flame. Blood splatters practically everywhere as she does so.]

[walking_nuke]

Meiling just tore a chunk outta her arm—

[Balin continues to watch what Meiling does with the hell raven as he stands up uneasily. But the moment he sees Meiling start spinning with Utsuho in hand, he lowers his sidearm ...]

—aw, shit!

[... and holsters it just in time for Meiling to throw her prey-and-would-be-predator at him and Virginia. Clenching his jaw, Balin steadies himself by spreading his feet to shoulder width apart, tensing his body, and reaching out with his arms open wide. He's going to try to catch Utsuho and hopefully not get hell raven butt to the face.]

[Either way, this is going to suck.]

[bantorain]

-Virginia chose a bad moment to open her eyes. Because the site of the chaos before her could inspire nothing short of a horrified scream. DON'T GET DISTRACTED, BALIN.-

[idkmybfforin]

[Oh no, he'll probably just get bowled the fuck over instead. Meiling didn't bite off that much mass, and the momentum the hellraven's built up despite her flailing wings means she's going right to the ground wings-first, whether Balin's in the way or not.]

[walking_nuke]

[Well, thanks to seven years of non-stop war—with the fall of the AFS now on his mind as well—Balin's more used to blood-curdling screams than he'd like to be.]

[Not that it matters, with the speed Utsuho's coming at him. Buffeted by wings and half a second later with six-foot-plus of woman slamming into him, about all Balin can do is cough as the wind is knocked out of him, falling backwards onto the grass. The force of the blow causes his arms to flop inward, wrapping around Utsuho's stomach.]

[... well, hopefully he made Okuu's fall less painful. Because for Balin, lying on the grass with Utsuho on top of him, he is in a world of hurt.]

[idkmybfforin]

[Okuu's form starts to shrink, once she lands. Even with that convenient Balin-shaped cushion her head still reaches past his shoulder to bounce off the ground, so the transformation stutters and stalls a few times--

--before it all reverses itself as Okuu shrieks again and flails away from Balin.

Just prior, there seemed to be something sticking out of her chest that wasn't supposed to be there and a few sticking out of her back. Balin probably knocked against them on the way down. From the charred and burnt but still quite sharp edges on the visible one, it seems the tree she crashed into had been less than pleased that she had done so.

Fucking splinters, man.]

[bantorain]

Okuu! OKUU! -Virginia was quick to rush to the girl, panic still fully claiming her. The sight of her, so badly damaged, drenched her in fear. Her body felt seized.-

W-what do we do?

Finally able start tagging again! Sorry about the long wait!

[walking_nuke]

[Give Balin a moment here; he's a little dazed from having a hell raven land on him.]

[idkmybfforin]

[Utsuho almost immediately attempted to scramble to her feet, when she heard a voice calling her name. Was that Satori...? Must get up, Satori is talking to her--but no, no it wasn't.

She manages to sit up, at least, and starts to scrabble at her shoulders, where the cape she wore seemed to be anchored. The precise mechanisms that held them in place were obscured by the blood splattering from her still-regenerating arm, which was vainly trying to assist in pulling the cape away.]

...off.

[She manages part of it, anyway.]

[walking_nuke]

[Well, most people would use ice cold water to wake somebody up, but hot blackish hell raven blood is fine too!]

[Balin blinks a few times at the sensation of almost-too-hot-to-handle liquid dripping on his face and arms. Not to mention what feels like one or two people sitting on him. And then he's reminded of what's going on by seeing Utsuho sitting on him, impaled with splinters and sticks, and trying to reach around to her back to do ... what, exactly?]

[Oh, she's reaching for her cape, and—]

Hngh—hold still.

[Balin tries to sit up so he can help Utsuho with her cape, although with the way she's sitting on him he can't get very far in that endeavor without bonking his head into her body. Still, he tries to reach around to her cape to help unfasten it.]

[idkmybfforin]

[Had she been in a less-scattered state of mind, Utsuho might have hissed at him out of reflex. PERSONAL SPACE, MAN.

As it was, with some actual hands helping, the cape came off at once and the hell raven flailed her wings and staggered away as if cut loose.

The regeneration process was slower than usual; her body couldn't quite prioritize between the limb and the obstructions in her chest, and it was making Okuu feel a bit out of sorts. To put it lightly.]