the_last_resort | (no subject)

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(no subject)

Who: Grainne, Open
What: A day in the life of a retired Servant. Running errands, skeleton bashing, turning in bounties and general kerfluffles. See prompts!
When: Month 12, Day 13
Where: Around Blackway
Notes & Warnings: TBA

#1

Skeletons seemed fairly easy these days. Grainne practiced and kept her skills sharp, using the skeleton's weak points against them. She actually felt like she was getting good at hunting, though some enjoyment of that was mitigated by the fact most of it wasn't her doing, but the Servant abilities granted to her.

Her feet were silent where she padded on the grass, barefoot, enjoying the silky feeling beneath her skin. It made her feel closer to the wild, and lifted her spirits where nothing else could these days. It was quite a walk around to the other side of the town, but she had lost count of the trips she had made already.

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#2

When the day came, and the numbers of skeletons went down, Grainne turned toward the security office to turn in the few bones she found and collected. Money had no real value to her except for a few curiosities here and there, but she saw no reason not to collect it for some rainy day occasions, or new clothes.

She waited her turn, as usual, for someone to come and record her bounty, hoping they wouldn't mind a short chat. It might be the nostalgia she had earlier running through the area outside of town, but she felt a little lonely today.
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#3
Whoever had volunteered her for the race may as well have given her a mouse to ride on. The large cat that's supposed to serve as her mount was the most obnoxious, contrary creature she had the misfortune to meet. They may as well have given her a mouse. She hadn't been thrown... yet, the cat could move when he wanted to, but when she rode he just sat down.

Rubbing her rump, she walked into the gardens, wishing they had at least gotten a decent saddle for the beast. Cheetah, she remembered, as she sat down on a bench.

The gardens were a nice spot, though she didn't spend as much time as she used to in there, and that was very intentional...

Anyone who passes by the rose plants may notice that some of the blossoms have been mangled into a petaly pulp, and a few telltale petals may stick to Grainne's skirt and shoes...

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#4

[Need a particular prompt? Have something we need to finish off? Pick this one!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The noise stops, and there is silence for a few moments as Jade recognizes the voice.

"Grainne? It's me, Jade." She turns around and walks through the bushes, not caring about staying quiet for now. The sounds of her footsteps grow louder until she's visible through the greenery.

Alarmed now, Grainne stepped forward to check Jade over for injuries, apparent or not. "Jade? It is very early to be up, isn't it? Did something happen?"

The same questions could be asked of herself, she knew, but she had good reason to worry. "I was just out patrolling for skeleton bounties."

"What? No, of course not." She stands still and lets Grainne fuss over her and find nothing. "I decided to come out here for some training. It's been a while since I got some real practice."

Though she also wondered why Grainne was out alone, too. "By yourself? Wouldn't it be easier with backup?" She smiled confidently as if she was offering to team up with the other woman. "You never know when you'll need a partner to get you out of trouble."

"I am out here every night and there is little they can do to me that would hurt..." Grainne replied thoughtfully, wondering if that was really true anymore with the... changes she noticed in her body recently. She brushed back some hair that had fallen forward and returned the smile. "But I would not mind some company. I could show you my magic. I remember you were curious about it on our, ah, trip."

"Really?" Jade asked, leaning closer. "Is it because of your magic?" She was still curious as to how magic actually worked in battle. "If it helps with the bounty, I'll be glad to help."

Placing a few fingers over lips, she frowned slightly and thought on how best to answer.

"It is more like because of what I am, but it is related. We did not really get into the topic on our trip because of... well, time and circumstance. I could show you. Have you noticed any skeletons around?"

She nodded and continued down the path.

"I think I understand. Your healing thing is completely different from your fighting powers, right?" And can probably activate in any circumstance, unlike her own. "I haven't run into anything yet, surprisingly. It's been quiet so far. What about you?"

"Yes, exactly." Tapping a bag slung over her shoulder with a few bones, she showed Jade the haul so far. "I have found three so far. There are at least a few around every night, but it is sometimes easier when the sun rises because they crowd into the bushes. Would you like to take point?"

"Sure. I've had a lot more practice with scouting, anyway." Her battles always went better when she had the first strike and her partner provided the heavy hitting right after. "So what do you need the bones for?"

"I turn them in to security for a small bounty. It is not much, but it is a living. There are other bounties, like spider eyes, though if I come across something that might be medicinal I bring that in as well." Not that she really needed a living; it was mostly to keep her situation stable and to counter anything unexpected that she would need money for.

She smiled and motioned for Jade to take the lead, indicating the direction she had been going in before their encounter. "I think I heard a few bones creaking that way, but they seem to have moved off."

"Huh," she said to herself as she followed Grainne's directions. "That's one way to get your income." It seemed uneconomic to spend a lot of time gathering treasures barely worth much, especially in dangerous situations like this. Back home, pearls, being the currency of the black market, were at least worth the risk.

Jade continued down her way, careful not to make noise as she listened for the sound of moving bones. About five minutes of walking, she stopped. "Sh. Hear that?"

Silent, Grainne nodded and stopped just a few feet from Jade. She could tell where the skeleton was already, but wanted to get closer before using any magic, so Jade could see how her magic worked.

Once Grainne stopped, Jade drew out her staff and crouched beneath the cover of bushes. She didn't have any sense of where it might have been hiding, but she trusted the other woman's magic senses, if that's what was happening.

Once she got the bearing again, she motioned that way and started creeping along as silently as she could- which of course meant that she was as silent as a ghost.

A silent sparkle manifested the cup she had used back when gravity had failed them, and it tipped over, pouring out much more water than it could conceivably hold. Instead of forming pillars of ice to hold on to, it retained a sphere shape and hovered behind Grainne's head, at least until the skeleton was right in front of them.

Grainne held back here to look at Jade, and the spheres formed into discs with sharp edges.

Jade watched in complete awe as water flowed out of the cup and into the air, completely defying all laws of physics. Water suddenly turning into ice was scientifically possible, but seeing Grainne in complete control over where it went was astonishing even to her.

As the skeleton drew closer, Jade nodded at Grainne. "After you."

There was no movement on Grainne's part. There didn't need to be. Once the skeleton came into sight, the discs of floating water shot out and hit the bones at a pinpoint accuracy; one severing the neckbones, the other just above the pelvis.

With a clacking of bones, the skeleton tried to return fire, but failed as it fell apart.

Walking toward it then, she looked into the dissolving remains for any intact bones. "That was easier than usual, but it is what I do typically on a hunting night."

Jade was ready to rush in with a follow-up attack, but stopped short when the skeleton fell apart. She poked at it a few times to check on it and turned back.

"Those are some really powerful discs you got. Mine can barely make a scratch on this thing. Can you take out a whole group with that?"

Two other skeletons, alerted by the sounds of one of their own, began slowly ambling towards their location, though Jade showed no sign of fear when she noticed them.

There were no bones to be collected.

"I can, but then I am drained for a while and need to recover. Do you wish to take these ones?" Grainne stopped looking through the remains and held back, letting her discs spin in the air for a moment before they collapsed and dripped to the ground to form puddles.

"Can do."

Jade took a few steps closer to the skeletons to put a safe distance between her and Grainne, bended slightly at the knees while holding a wide stance, then moved into a more upright position while holding her staff in one hand.

She let out a powerful cry as her staff begins to glow, not moving from the spot until the two enemies were right in front of her, at which she spun and released the energy she stored in her weapon. The blast knocked both of them over, though one of them was struggling to get up.

Jade took a second to get her bearings straight, then lunged at the moving skeleton and hit it with a powerful blow, knocking its skull off. She waited as the other one struggled to get up, and once it stood, she rushed at it with a flurry of quick attacks. It didn't even have time to counter before it too broke apart.

Staying back, but close enough to intervene in case something went wrong, she watched Jade's movements, and watched in surprise at the energy the staff released.

Walking around to admire Jade's handiwork, she smiled. "I did not know you could work magic, and you use it with such elegance. Are you a magic fighter on your word?"

With one swift motion, Jade strapped her staff on her back again and looked at Grainne over her shoulder. "It's not exactly magic. The daï-jo stores energy, and I know how to release it at the right time."

She never bothered with the science behind it. She already had years of practice in martial arts, and the staff felt like a natural extension of her fighting skills.

"Oh," it must be some sort of science, not that anything scientific she really understood. Mostly, Grainne categorized everything into magic of some sort or another. "Still, it looks very much like it and it looked very natural with your fighting. It is very impressive."

She chuckled at the compliment. "Thanks, but I've been practicing all my life. When you need to defend your home against monsters, you need to find anything that adds on to your fighting style."

Now that the skeletons were down, Jade crouched by them and sorted through the remains. "Anything here you can take?"

That got a short headshake out of Grainne. "No, it is your kill, anything you find is yours." She turned to look out into the area around, listening for more skeletons, before she spoke again. "Was it not difficult? Learning to fight so young, I mean."

There isn't much on them besides bones and the remnants of an arrow quiver, but Jade takes a few bones as a reminder. While the skeletons could move their hands like the bones where still connected, after they were defeated, Jade could only pick on one tiny fragment at a time. She settled for a skull.

Jade pressed a button on the SAC she carried on her belt, and the skull glowed a pale neon green before it was digitally stored inside the device.

"Not really. My uncle's been teaching me how to defend myself since I started living with him, so everything after that came naturally."