Taking care of business

[shurikenfemale.livejournal.com]

Characters: Cissnei, Reno, Rufus, Tseng
Progress: Incomplete
Summary: More myrrh drops for the chalice
Location: Soil Desert
Date: June 14
Warnings: Violence, cussing, regular Turk shenanigans

After a hard several weeks with reparations of the city, the Turks finally set off to getting the myrrh. There had been posts and rumors of more trees; It was high time to go see if it was true. Cissnei had managed to salvage a few potions from Lindblum but thankfully the smaller fiends in the desert yielded handy items.

But she started to notice that more and more monsters started showing up, tougher ones too. "I think we're onto something here."

Comments

[shurikenfemale.livejournal.com]

Cissnei grit her teeth at the barrage of needles, covering her face and ducking at the same time to avoid getting hit anywhere vital. When she stood, she sliced off the edge of the needles with Rekka. She then sent it flying towards its legs. If it could fall over and stop moving, it would be better for them.

"Bombs," she said shortly. Cissnei scanned the area and frowned deeply at seeing no visible area to hide behind. "And attack from behind." Those were really the only two viable options right now. They should've brought along a white mage. Hindsight is always 20/20, she snaps to herself.

[turks-reno.livejournal.com]

Bombs!

He had bombs!

He reached into one of his pockets to grab one of the smaller explosives he'd made. Small, but potent. "Gotcha," he muttered, passing Cissnei to circle around behind the creature while his fellow Turks kept its attention forward. The bomb was lit and thrown, and even as it traveled toward its spiky target, Reno was already darting away. He was NOT about to get hit with those needles again - if he could help it.

The explosion was pretty. Nice, bright, and was it his imagination, or was there the light scent of burnt cactaur on the breeze? He snickered, diving and rolling away from the last of the needles. They could be dodged, it would seem. Just not easily. "Anyone else wanna give this bastard a whirl?" he asked as he held out another bomb. He wasn't sure if he could do it again so soon after the first.

[nogoodpeople.livejournal.com]

Attack from behind. Easier said than done, in Tseng's opinion, especially with something like these. Without a distraction, there was little guarantee they'd even get behind it in the first place. Yet another of the problems of dealing with cactuars. But there was no denying that Reno's attempt had worked.

"I will." Admittedly, he didn't have Reno's turn of speed, but that didn't stop him from taking the bomb all the same. If he ended up getting hit with more needles, that was a problem, and he trusted the others enough to keep the monster's attention focused away from him as he circled around behind it.

Much like the first, the second bomb went off with a thoroughly enthusiastic explosion, Tseng already in motion to get out of needle-range as he did so. As he'd expected, he didn't manage quite as well as Reno had, but he did manage to at least minimize the amount of needles that hit and that would be enough for the time being.

[whitecladprince.livejournal.com]

Rufus raised his eyebrows for just a moment, then his eyes narrowed with curiosity as he carefully watched Reno.

When the bomb exploded, he couldn't help the pleased smirk that spread across his face to see the results of Reno's pet-project.

His smirk faded when the monster's rage at being hit led to him getting pierced with another barrage of needles. He grit his teeth against the pain, lips pulling back into a grimace. With a low oath, he dug a potion out of his pocket, pulling out the cork with his teeth and swallowing it in two long swallows. He didn't make a face at the taste, nor did he wince as scratches knit closed and the healing flesh forced the needles buried in his skin out once more. Instead he glared fiercely at the hopping cactus and fired off a few good rounds into the thing's face in retaliation.

"The bombs are working! Keep hitting it with them!"

[shurikenfemale.livejournal.com]

Cissnei snatched a bomb from Reno without hesitation. She had at the very least Reno's speed, but not quite his strength. But strength wasn't needed to throw a bomb, just deadly aiming.

She slid across the sand, dodging most of the needles, but not all. Only one side was riddled with needles, but she ignored the pain. Wait for it, she told herself. The cactuar turned to face them, making its way towards the group. Cissnei lit the bomb, still waiting, waiting... It approached closer.

At top speed, she ran forward and flung the bomb straight at its face, doubling back just as fast, Rekka in hand. She dove and rolled next to Reno, gritting her teeth and wincing with pain. "Tell me you've got more of those," she said to him.

[turks-reno.livejournal.com]

His eyes went wide when Cissnei flew into a tuck-and-roll toward him, ducking a bit himself to avoid the last of the needles aimed in Cissnei's direction. First, he handed the girl a potion. Then he flashed her a smile that most of his coworkers might recognize. A smile filled with pure wickedness laced with the humor that came with having the upper hand. He reached into his pockets and pulled out four more.

"Not many, but enough to weaken our spiky little friend - hopefully enough to beat his ass into fertilizer." He handed Cissnei one of the four bombs, then tossed another to Tseng, and still another to Rufus. The fourth he held, eying the green monster warily. Looking for his opportunity.

He watched the creatures pattern of movement - what little pattern it had. But there it was. Every time the monster got ready to strike, it would leave itself wide open - literally - for attack. For a split second. Limbs splayed, and it'd stand up straight and tall - and then the needles would fly.

The next time it geared up for this? Reno flew forward and jammed a lit bomb right beneath it, then dove for cover. Before even a quarter of the needles from its newest attack could be let fly, the explosion flung their green foe into the air with a ball of fire. When it landed, it staggered slightly before launching into another attack, spraying needles in every direction, and sending Reno flat to the ground to avoid as many as he could.

[nogoodpeople.livejournal.com]

Tseng raised an eyebrow at 'hopefully,' although he caught the bomb that Reno tossed in his direction all the same. Hopefully was better than what they'd had when they'd been dealing with last monster they'd needed to defeat to get at one of the trees and he had to admit the bombs were doing more damage then any of their weapons would have done as far as he could tell.

He didn't comment that Reno would no doubt need to make more than this trip was finished. It was already obvious, and instead he nodded to himself as he spotted what Reno was doing. It was what he would have expected from any of his Turks. He'd trained them well, made sure they could find the best angle, the most useful way of attacking.

And in this case, also the way that made for the most interesting sort of counterattack, although he rather doubted that had been the intent, as he followed Reno in diving to the ground. But wide as the spread of needles had been, it was also mercifully brief and in short order Tseng was pulling himself to his feet, and ignoring the continued pain of the needles. There was no time for that now. Instead, he simply spent a moment watching the monster, looking for anything that looking like it might have been a place where the damage that it had already taken had left a weak point.

Not finding anything, he chose the next best target. A crippled enemy would be an easier enemy (in theory) and so the next bomb struck one of the creature's legs. And as always, it proceeded to retaliate with another barrage of needles, sending Tseng once again diving to the ground.

[whitecladprince.livejournal.com]

Rufus also caught the explosive tossed his way, eying it with the slightest of feral grins. Waiting until Tseng had ducked for cover, he threw the canister and immediately fired two shots after it exploded in the monster's face.

The creature reeled for a moment, and Rufus hoped he had delivered the killing blow, but was proven wrong when it recovered and sent the usual attack in his direction. He swore and brought his arms up to shield his face as he crouched low, relieved to find the attack much weaker than usual.

"We've almost got it," he called out to the Turks.

[turks-reno.livejournal.com]

Almost got it? Reno would believe that when that damned creature was mulch. He staggered as he rose, feeling the sting of the tiny pinprick wounds protesting, and charged. What else could he do? He was out of explosives, out of long-range weapons (unlike Rufus, Tseng and Cissnei), and had no other choice.

With a feral cry, he spun the bladed weapon in his hands, slicing and dodging the spiny swipes that were aimed in his direction. Again and again, determined to kill the thing. His eyes went wide when the creature moved for it's main attack, however - he'd wasted too much time near the creature to avoid getting hit.

He ran anyway, tucking and rolling as the first needles hit him - and far more than before. It was like an ocean's wave of tiny points of death. "Shiiiit!" he gasped, rolling to a halt just a few feet from Rufus - who he hoped had avoided some of the attack, along with the others. A painful scurry later, and he was behind those with range-weapons, hunched over and mentally licking his wounds after his desperate attack. It wouldn't take much more to bring the thing down, at least.

[shurikenfemale.livejournal.com]

First, Cissnei tumbled out of the main line of fire. Then, she whipped around and gave Reno an expression was was somewhere between worry and anger. "Reno, you idiot!" she hissed. "You could've gotten killed and does it look like I could drag you from all the way over and back?!" Never mind that the others were there, she knew she was easily the fastest of them.

She threw Rekka with full force at one of the already-damaged areas, catching it soon after and sprinting towards Reno. Cissnei started pulling out needles several at a time, trying to clean out some of the blood. She hands him a potion. "Don't be so reckless!"

[nogoodpeople.livejournal.com]

Nearly? The attack that had come their way after Reno's latest attack was hardly what he would he would expect from a foe that was nearly dead and he mumbled something under his breath in his native language as he pulled himself to his feet after the needles had passed. The fewer times it did that, the better, as far as he was concerned. But he'd dealt with worse pain. This was nothing.

And given that Reno seemed to be fine for the time being, he wasted no further time in opening fire, aiming for the areas that were already damaged. He could deal with damage control later.

[whitecladprince.livejournal.com]

Rufus' eyes went wide as he watched the redheaded Turk charge the monster and get hit - badly. His brow descended into a sharp scowl as Cissnei chastised her coworker, but as Tseng recovered and open fired again, Rufus blinked, shaking himself and firing as well.

What... the hell was that?! He said they almost killed the thing so Reno mounts a full-frontal charge??

Gritting his teeth in annoyance at the Turk's recklessness, he fired once, twice, reloaded, and fired again, advancing on the dancing monster with each hit. And with his fourth shot, the plant thing made a strange croaking sound and slowly fell back, then disappeared with a burst of soft, swirling lights.

Rufus leaned on one knee, panting and scowling at where the thing had been moments prior, then stood up once more, straightening his suit as he struggled to control his breathing.

"Check it for items. We set up camp, tend to our injuries, then continue tomorrow."