Ghostbusters II

[damn_juicebox]

WHO: Rukia Kuchiki, OPEN
WHAT: With maxed-out Ghostbuster and Beastmaster at her disposal, Rukia's well-suited to do a lot of asskicking in this event. Suit up. Have Ghostbuster adventures with her.
WHEN: October 23rd - October 30th
WHERE: Aqures Ixen


I. It Begins

She'd almost forgotten about her PKE meter altogether until it started beeping wildly. Rukia frowned down at the device as it quivered in its strap at her waist, and she shifted her bag of groceries to the other arm so she could unlatch the meter and study the screen. The Ghostbuster job was left equipped after the Crystal Caves as it had been rather useful, and she couldn't switch Beastmaster to anything else for another week at least. Neither seemed like they'd see much action back in the city, but maybe she was wrong. Why was it reacting like this?

Something was nearby. It registered as nothing more than a white dot on the radar, so she had no choice but to investigate for herself. Hopefully it wasn't just another Hero with a Vampire job--

What she saw froze her directly in her tracks. A man with his head jutting sharply to the left had his hands wrapped around another man's throat, squeezing hard. And the PKE meter was going nuts at the strangler. Rukia dropped her groceries without a second thought, reaching back to activate her proton pack. It hummed to life as she whipped her arm back and seized the particle thrower.

"OI!" she shouted, and flipped the switch. Hot beams of energy lanced from the tip of her weapon to slam into the undead, who released his victim and quivered with a low groan. The other man staggered back, gasping for breath and clutcthing at his reddened throat. Whatever she was dealing with wasn't a ghost; she couldn't capture it in a trap and stash it away. Instead the body vaporized into dust, and she could have sworn she heard a faint sigh of relief.

She relaxed, moving her thumb from the switch before holstering the weapon and rushing toward the man. "Are you all right? What was that?"

"I don't know," he panted, shutting his eyes tightly as his hands shook. "I don't know."

Rukia had an uneasy feeling that she did know. After all, it had died like a certain other creature she'd encountered fairly frequently just last week. But what would something like that be doing all the way out here?

* * * * *

II. Base of Operations

After a few days, Rukia was starting to make a name for herself out on the streets. She posted up fliers telling citizens to contact her, either via Mognet or by sending some sort of magic up toward the sky, if they ran into any trouble out on the streets. Armed with her PKE meter, she was usually quick to arrive on the scene, and she had no qualms whatsoever about jumping on the back of her chocobo Yuki to rush to the rescue.

But formidable warriors were usually the first to make enemies. She'd been the subject of an ambush twice now, and she was certain that whoever was responsible knew where she lived. While she did trust her housemates to be more than capable of defending themselves, she didn't want to put them into danger simply because she needed sleep now and then.

Moving through the city, it wasn't long before her exploration (and zombie blasting) to take her past the fifteenth district. One building in particular seemed a bit more sturdy than the others, and after poking around inside, she realized that it was meant to be a fire station. It was dusty and dirty with lack of use, but hey.

The pole still worked.

Stocking up on food that wouldn't go bad if left out, and bringing a blanket and a pillow, Rukia decided this was as good a place as any to lay low when she needed to take a break and rest.


[OOC: Individual threads available upon request! Partners to team up with, people to save, zombified heroes to capture, possessed heroes to square off with, bring it on. (9'_')9 Rukia's ripped.]

Comments

[damn_juicebox]

It didn't take long for the left door to creak open, a small stream of dust drifting from the edge of the woodwork. One might expect the thousand-yard-stare of a battle-weary veteran to appear on Rukia's face, given how busy she'd been tracking and blasting all of those zombies.

But the vivid sparkle in her eyes couldn't have been brighter. At long last she was in her element, and she wore her confidence well.

"Greetings. Please come inside," she invited him in with a smile, lifting the door just enough so it wouldn't drag on the warped floorboards as she pulled it open for him. "I trust you weren't followed?"

All the horror zombie-based books she'd read (and there had been plenty) indicated that they were supposed to be slow and mindless, but these were far more clever. Either the books were entirely misguided, or there was someone pulling the strings who still retained a sense of intelligence about them.

[shinrasfinest]

At least Sephiroth were savvy enough not to linger in the doorway, as soon as there was room enough for him to step inside he did so, stepping away and leaving enough time and room for the door to be reset exactly where it had been before he came in. He hadn't even caught Rukia's eye contact -priorities first- but when he did for a sharp breath of a moment he connected with that particular confidence about her. It's that type of a sparkle that he used to remember being confronted with every morning when he'd look in the mirror.

Needless to say, the silver warrior's confidence hadn't quite been as sharp as that, for a long time. Seeing it on Rukia pulled harshly at the fact that he missed it. Quickly he turned whatever expression that thought caused into something more appropriate; like double eyebrow raise, to tease a bit; didn't Rukia know him a bit better than that-

"-you can trust that."

Hence he'd been much later than he'd intended to be, after all. Sephiroth shrugged the strap of the backpack he wore down from one of his shoulders and gestured with his head for her to lead the way deeper into the building; he wasn't about to drop the bag on the floor in the doorway and leave her to it.

[damn_juicebox]

"I thought as much," she chuckled, amused by his expression. "Let's head upstairs. I try not to leave things down here beyond my gear." She gave a brief nod at the proton pack that hung neatly on the wall. She would have used the lockers, but unfortunately they'd been rusted shut.

Quickly she jogged up the stairs, the light thump of her feet dislodging small puffs of dust from the underside of the staircase. The second floor was quite a big cleaner, as she'd taken a few minutes to rearrange some discarded boards to stack them against the wall next to some other forgotten building supplies, and the constant foot traffic made by herself, Yuri, and his dog Repede had cleared an obvious trail in the thick dust that wound from the sleeping quarters, kitchen, and fireman's pole.

"Where have you elected to stay, by the way? Are you and your roommates well?"

[shinrasfinest]

"Makes sense."

Sephiroth took care to keep the volume to his low tones measured, not that there were any zombies that had followed him, but sound carried in buildings that were unoccupied for lengthy periods of time like this one had been. It was as if the dust itself might resonate any tiny sound out of all proportion.

He ascended the stairs behind Rukia a lot slower than she had jogged up, unsure if he trusted them with the weight of himself plus the pack that he had on his back. Once safely on the second floor, which seemed very much to have only been partly constructed, Sephiroth's iridescent eyes flicked around in the gloom as he surveyed the temporary base Rukia had made for herself and her own. It was good that there seemed only to be a couple of them that had disturbed the dust here, discretion was the best advise that could be given to any Hero of Light staking it out against the undead problem that the city faced.

"I tend to operate between the 12th and 8th Districts, currently. There are a handful of groups spread out still but I for one am tired of this game already. It'll be over soon enough."

That he didn't mention who he was staying with, or how they were, leaned heavily towards the predictable fact that Sephiroth were again trying to spread himself to cover as many bases as possible. Never dedicating solidly in one pursuit or another, always taking on multiple responsibilities and trying to tie them all off without getting tangled.

A few strides later brought him to the small kitchenette area, only then did Sephiroth slowly swing the military-grade backpack around and start to produce the tinned and dried supplies that he'd managed to procure mostly from within the military that had been present within Aqures Ixen.

"How about you and yours?"

[damn_juicebox]

Rukia smiled as she picked up one of the cans, nodding in satisfaction before putting it down. "Thank you. This is exceptionally thoughtful, and appreciated." The less time she had to dedicate toward feeding herself, the more time she had to focus on her duties of tracking down the zombie threats.

"We're doing well. We try to keep our schedules and patrols erratic. Sometimes we go together, other times we spread out. These zombies are not always the mindless creatures presented in my tales of horror."

Because of course she had to have read a zombie horror romance novel at some point.

"Jade and I have partnered up on several occasions as well. You're welcome to stay and rest here whenever you wish. There are four beds," she motioned toward the open sleeping quarters. "And I can perform some healing courtesy of my chocobo so long as I maintain the Beastmaster job."

[shinrasfinest]

"It's hardly gourmet food but it should tide over, especially if you're controlled with the portions." Two or three more tins and a couple of sachets were taken out of the backpack and placed down on the side as Sephiroth closed the bag again, and for the time being set it down on the floor.

"Hm, you're right." He nodded along with her appraisal of the varying levels of intelligence exhibited in the zombies that had been terrorizing the City thus far. It matched his own experiences closer into central Aqures Ixen and that, in a roundabout-way, was reassuring. "There are many unaccounted for, also."

A further nod as the offer was made; Sephiroth was always polite to the last, even if he might never actually get around to taking her up on it. Still, it was good to know that the option were there even if his attention did linger on one of those beds that were made up. Perhaps it wouldn't be such a bad idea?

"It's appreciated. I should make another drop before it gets too late though-"

Though really, given the perpetual gloom in the City there was no way to tell the time of day. Given the short days during this season, it could be already getting into the evening which would make any new excursion outside all the more treacherous. Not that Sephiroth wouldn't be fine on his own, but there was always the chance-

[damn_juicebox]

"I'm not picky," Rukia promised with a grin, appraising the cans and neatly arranging them on the table. How thoughtful to include dog food for Repede as well!

She listened as he spoke, one hand on her hip, then glanced toward the window with a pensive frown. It was definitely going to get dark soon, and might even do so before he departed. If he was making this drop alone, then it was pretty much guaranteed he'd do the next one solo too.

"Why don't I go with you?" she offered, heading for the fireman's pole and resting a hand upon it. Because stairs were for the weak. "The sooner you finish, the sooner you can rest. It will be safer to have someone watching your back as well." Hooking an elbow around the pole, she jumped and slid down to the bottom with a rusty squeak.