9th Protocol--[Action sort of]

[idkmybfforin]

[In front of 1248 Williams Road]

[Well, that plan hadn’t worked. Somewhere along the line Utsuho had fused Virginia’s “find Caesar or Balin or these other people” ideas, to the news breaking around the carnival that there were rifts opening to strange places accessible by those trinkets people were carting with them, to the fact that she didn’t have one of said trinkets. So she stole one.

It disappeared after she went across, and then—then there was nothing but fog, suffocating and dissolving at once. Like each particle of her body had broken loose from the bonds that held them in place and scattered in every painful direction.

Okuu did not exactly think her clever plan all the way through. But then again, she never really did. Thinking was bad!

And thus there’s now a pile of an…ash-like substance in the front yard, and has been for several days. Minus the blood everywhere aspect, it could be assumed that that was similar to what the hellraven looked like just before she revived. The ash is smoldering, very warm to the touch, and seems as much liquid as powder whenever it’s disturbed. It also stays heaped up over something in the center, no matter what breeze kicks up or when the drones try and sweep the mess away. The pile either stubbornly resists extraction or flows all around the broom or rake like some bizarre liquid. Other than that, it doesn’t do very much.

Utsuho hadn’t reappeared, so her precise location was probably easy enough to guess by now.

Today, though, was a bit different.

A blue jay, emboldened by the usual blue jay hating inhabitant’s absence, fluttered down to investigate and peck at this ash pile.

—but as soon as it does, the inert heap of powder comes alive, forming into a spit of molten, red-orange slag that surges up and out and consumes the bird completely, before it can do much more than a single alarm squawk. The pile returns to being properly ashy in a moment, though it seems to…ripple, like something liquid, even as it does so. The smoldering light has grown brighter, shining through all the cracks and crevices.

Though, aside from hating bluejays from beyond the grave, the ash-pile-that-was-probably-Okuu does little else.


For the moment.]

Comments

[walking_nuke]

[... Yeah, that warmth gets his attention fast. He looks down, and—]

Holy FUCK!

[—jerks his offending foot away from that pile of ... magma? And backpedals.]

[idkmybfforin]

[The burning talons are startling, yes--but not particularly strong. When the metal failed to melt the talons skittered and sparked off the surface instead. It couldn't maintain its grip at all when Balin twisted his foot away, and left the claws grasping at air for a moment before falling to the grass, burning the green into an ugly black.

The talon looked like a bird's, for a moment--before it retracted into the ash...magma pile.


...or, no. The ashes were moving forwards.]

[walking_nuke]

[After a few seconds, the portion of Balin's boot that had been damaged by the severe heat and clawing of that magma slowly starts to repair itself.]

[Ladies and gentlemen, the merits of Mech Armor.]

[Meanwhile, Balin's staring incredulously. Magma doesn't scrape on armor like that. That thing scraping him was solid, and it looked like a—bird's talon ...]

[Balin watches the pile of ashes moving toward him and enveloping the talon where it lay. Though he feels he's far away enough that he can at least get a good look without being attacked by that talon hiding in the pile of ash.]

[Enough time for him to gawk at what Mayfield has done to the hell raven upon her revival ... if one can call this revival.]

[idkmybfforin]

[The remains are moving at a...very...slow pace. It might be neck and neck with a slug in a race.

The yatagarasu's eye seems untouched by the damage, at least now; as the pile started to pull apart and advance, little glimpses of the eye in the center of the mound came through. It seemed to focus on Balin after a moment.

...and then the ash pile seemed to gather and heap itself up a bit, just like a sadly flattened bird puffing out its feathers.]

[walking_nuke]

[The talon already gave him good enough reason to assume these are Utsuho's remains—glimpses of that eye within that ash pile just confirm it. What's shocking him is that the ash pile is mobile, however slightly. Its Utsuho conscious? Or is this just the yatagarasu trying to control whatever it could of the host body?]

[... was that ash pile actually puffing itself up?]

... You awake in'ere?

[He's not expecting an answer.]

[idkmybfforin]

[He doesn't really get one; display or not, the heap of ashy magma or whatever it was intended to be keeps creeping along.

...though there is a fraction of a pause after Balin speaks.

So maybe she had.]

[walking_nuke]

[Even with the ash pile trying to come toward him, Balin doesn't move yet. In fact, he kneels down to get a better look. The Mech Armor suit ought to keep him safe even if he's exposed for longer to the magma or whatever it is contained within all that ash.]

[And the way the ash pile stopped for a brief moment after he spoke makes him wonder about how aware Utsuho is of her state presently ...]

[idkmybfforin]

[Closer. Clooooser. Cl--GRAB.


...or at least that was the idea. The talon reforms, though with a bit less cohesion than last time. The top claws catch on the armor plate covering Balin's kneecap, and...stop. The bottom claw scrabbles and tries to anchor itself, but once the initial HOLY SHIT THE MAGMA IS ALIVE shock factor wore off, it didn't seem terribly dangerous. The talon's grip strength was weak, its movement was slow, and all it can do is smolder and scorch black marks into the metal, not dissolve it.

Not at all like a bluejay.]

1/2

[walking_nuke]

[It's not unlike a snake, how sudden the talon's initial latching onto his suit of armor is. It does startle him, but this time he keeps his ground. At least, long enough to watch it scrabble uselessly against the Mech Armor suit's plating and with less vigor than before.]

2/2

[walking_nuke]

[And then with the back of a hand where his gloves are most armored, Balin just ... tries and brush the talon off of his leg, looking a little unamused as he does so.]

[idkmybfforin]

[The talons cling to the armor plate they had latched onto for a moment--no longer, though. Balin finds them easy enough to bat away, back into the ash pile.

It seems to be capable of a little more conscious thought now; anyway. The talon doesn't immediately dissolve, but it doesn't move again either. There was biomass over there! ...yet surrounded by some not-biomass substance.

The pile stops moving completely, almost looking...contemplative, in the barest stretch of the word.]

[walking_nuke]

[Whether it was Utsuho or the Yatagarasu in control of this ash pile, Balin really isn't sure what it's trying to do, but ... it almost seemed like the talon was trying to get a grip on his armor somewhere to climb up.]

[Like someone needing a handhold, or a helping hand, out of a pit or pool of water.]

Whaddya want from me?

[It's going to be pretty awkward if he finds out later that Utsuho's been trying to eat him in this state.]

[idkmybfforin]

[To get enough biomass to respawn! How much Balin needs to be insolved is debatable, though.

Being an extremely dessicated almost-corpse sucks.]

1/2

[walking_nuke]

[Had this happened shortly after his first meeting with Utsuho during last year's Thanksgiving, or after she went berserk and gone on a killing spree throughout Mayfield back in March, Balin would have taken a lot more glee in her current state. He might've tried making it worse for her, like chucking a concussive grenade to blow her ashes all across the street. She'd deserve it.]

[... In fact, he'd be tempted to do that anyway if he had any with him right now, but alas.]

[But now, he's more conflicted about it. More guilt from not having stuck around in the Other Mayfield to find and rescue Caesar himself, combined with the fact that Utsuho has been acting completely different ever since March.]

[Should he try to help her? To make up for having left Caesar and Utsuho to die?]

[He's not a Medic, and it's debatable whether a Medic could do something for a person who's been turned to ash anyway. AFS medical technology, even with Logos at hand, is not that good.]

[But ... there's people in Mayfield who might be. Virginia should know some of them, and ... she deserves to see what's happened to the hell raven, at least. It would probably be a good idea to try and take Utsuho's remains with him, but there's no way in Hell he's going to try scooping up those ashes and carrying them by hand.]

[If she's actually a pile of ashes containing something like molten lava, then glass wouldn't work ... or paper, or plastic ... hrm. Iron, maybe? Cast iron? It's got a really high melting point ... there's got to be cooking ware during the Fifties made from cast iron.]

I'll be back.

[Balin stands up, and heads back to his house to find something to carry Utsuho in.]

2/2

[walking_nuke]

[—but by the time he gets back an hour or two later with a thick dutch oven and a gardening shovel, Gumi's already came and taken the Ash Pile Formerly Known as Utsuho home with her.]

[Leaving Balin to stand around in front of Okuu's house and look rather confused as to where that ash pile could have gone so quickly.]

[Though, you know ... it's probably not a good idea to be hanging around in front of all the scorch marks left by the ash pile with an empty dutch oven in hand. People might get the wrong idea.]

i can word

[idkmybfforin]

[BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME.

There's still scraps of the ashy magma stuff lying around in case Balin wants to take a sample.

You know, as a souvenir.]

[walking_nuke]

[Well, that's better than nothing, he supposes. He'll go ahead and take whatever scraps are left, shoveling them into the dutch oven.]

[And unless someone else encounters him, he'll be on his way home after that.]