The Roof of The Boards, Saturday Afternoon

[furnaceface]

Normally, Jonothon would be decidedly more concerned about waking up deaf. Normally. But he'd lived on the island long enough to take actually waking up a certain way with a grain of salt, and seeing the monsters flying around outside through his bedroom window had actually been something of a relief when it came in conjunction with the total silence. After all, experience dictated that badness at the same time as another, different sort of badness was inevitably going to be temporary, either because the island got bored and righted itself in a few days, or because the residents of the island took it upon themselves to go out there and make things better.

And that was why Jono was standing up on the roof of the theatre today, clad in his long coat and keeping an eye on both the streets down below for unsuspecting passers-by in danger and the circling creatures up above. He didn't need to be able to hear in order to use his sonic tech, but the killer bird-people certainly didn't seem to care for it any.

He wasn't playing hero, though. He was venting war-related frustrations by protecting his home, and incidentally, the people living or walking near it. Not the same bloody thing at all.

[Open streets, open sky, open Boards!]

Comments

[whenshewasnice]

Don't ask why Natalie was in the streets with her quiver and her bow. She just was, with the intention of getting the hell off the island until things blew over. And that involved keeping an eye on things above. The sky as well as the rooftops, even if the latter was mostly for the off chance that Clint was somewhere.

But Jono was an okay choice too. She waved when he spotted him. Wasn't like screaming for his attention would do anything.

[furnaceface]

On the other hand, when Jono screamed, it was a scream that you could see. He returned Natalie's wave when he noticed her own the street, and a moment later looked up again, loosing a howl that sent a descending monster careening back into a wall across the road.

A moment later, he was waving his hand again, gesturing for her to come through the building to meet him up on the roof. She did still have the key, right?

[whenshewasnice]

Indeed she did. And it was one of the few things she had on her, currently, that wasn't a weapon. Phone, wallet, all her keys. And even the keys could probably work as weapons in a pinch.

She nodded up at him before hurrying for the door. If she was going to be standing around, she wanted rather to do it higher up than the street level.

[furnaceface]

Jono kept an eye on both her and the sky until she disappeared into the Boards below. A few more screams, and then a low hum, and not only were a few more of the flesh-eating bird creatures severely disoriented, but he was also holding a blue, glowing hard-light sword, looking upward and just daring those birds to come face him head-on.

It passed the time until Natalie could join him on the roof, at least.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie was pretty quick about it. No rush, really, while she was indoors but it just didn't feel like a day for leisurely strolling along. She moved with a sense of purpose at the best of times, anyway.

She emerged on the roof soon enough, already reaching for an arrow from the vine at her back.

[furnaceface]

Jono wasted little time once Natalie was up on the roof, moving to stand in front of and just to the side of her, facing the opposite direction so that they could cover each other's backs.

She got another nod in greeting, and an afterthought had him switching his hard-light sword into a bow. Some of the Glacian hunters had taken it upon themselves to teach him proper archery form over the past several months, and it certainly had better reach than a sword.

A sword was just more immediate, more visceral, and Jono had needed to vent.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie was an archer for exactly that reason. Despite her natural skill at close combat, she preferred to stay further away. It gave her a little more time to focus and actually think about what she was doing.

And to breathe.

She gave Jono a quick nod back before her eyes were right on the creatures again. Whatever the hell they were, she was setting her sights on one in particular, swooping closer to them. And she focused, a look of determination on her face. She'd been practicing for closer to a year now. She knew how this worked. She didn't do things half-assed.

She didn't lead her target quite enough but the arrow still hit the thing in the arm enough to hurt it. Enough to knock it off its course for a while.

[furnaceface]

Jono, meanwhile, was a little less selective about his targets. He hit any that he figured he could get a clean shot at, and the rest, any that came too close for comfort, he'd simply scream at. It lacked some of the finesse of Natalie's bow, but it was effective, if a drain on his power packs.

Thank goodness he had several more charged in his pockets, and a few more still charging downstairs.

Another monster swooped down at them, and Jono let this one get close enough for him to punch it in the face. Because sometimes you just had to punch flesh-eating bird people in the face, okay?

[whenshewasnice]

Or kick them in the side? Because that was Natalie's contribution, far quicker than most people would have expected her to be able to move. Also with more precision.

Sadly the faint video game like sound effect was something only the creatures could enjoy right now.

[furnaceface]

Only the creatures were going to be able to appreciate the low whistle that Jono gave in appreciation of that kick, too. He hadn't seen a move like that since the last time he'd been around the New Warriors, before they disbanded.

It was actually kind of refreshing.

He gave a quick grin, and then threw three quick hard-light blades at the monsters one after the other, catching one in the shoulder, one in the chest, and the third tearing a ragged hole through the thin membrane spanning its wing.

He couldn't hear the creatures' screams, but he was pretty sure they were either horrifying or satisfying. Possibly both. He'd lament not being able to know later.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie was betting on horrifying. She had the physical skills to deal with a situation like this, and the kind of cool head that allowed her to deal with the situation as it happened. But she was glad she couldn't hear the screams. She had enough nightmare fuel from past Fandom encounters with things to last her for the rest of her life.

She wasn't congratulating herself on a flashy kick performed right. She already had another arrow in place, aiming off into the distance at an advancing creature, a hard look of determination on her face.

[furnaceface]

Jono pulled in another breath, and loosed it in another scream, this time blowing a few creatures off-course who hadn't even noticed them yet. The skies were rife with them, he wasn't exactly lacking for targets.

He wasn't going to think terribly hard about the last time he'd seen skies that looked even remotely like this, full of Jhinka terrorizing the landen village at Agio, in Kaeleer. It was probably that parallel that made standing up on the roof and taking them down so therapeutic for him, though.

He spun on his heel, and then screamed again, blue-light rings ripping through the air and disturbing the flock.

[ultron_junior]

Victor had no idea how to deal with being deaf. None. All his senses had always been perfect or better; it was a perk of being part robot. So he had no idea how to cope with today's island moodiness, and if he was honest it was kind of bumming him out.

But fighting monsters -- Victor knew how to do that. The killer bird things didn't like electrocution any better than anything else did, so he felt like he was making good progress against them while he moved through town.

Or at least, he thought he was until he got cornered by an especially large cluster of invaders on the street near the theatre. He sent out a few desperate zaps and made a break for the Boards fire escape, climbing up the ladders toward where Jono was.

[furnaceface]

Wasn't it convenient that the crackle of light from those desperate zaps was enough to draw Jonothon's attention, then? He flew to the edge of the building, feet not once touching the ground, and unleashed a scream that would've left a working set of ears ringing for weeks.

Along with the scream, a shockwave of sound and hard light that battered the group of creatures that were tailing Victor, sending them crashing into one another in a daze. Jonothon held out his hand to help Victor the rest of the way, keeping an eye open in case any of the bird-things managed to regain their senses too soon.

[ultron_junior]

Victor's teeth felt that shockwave, even if his ears couldn't hear it. He was wincing a bit as he yanked himself to his feet and checked himself over. One of his shoulders had a dent where a wakwak had started to sink its fangs in, but that'd heal fast enough.

"Thanks," he told Jono. Silently. "I'm okay. You?"

[furnaceface]

That was a fairly straightforward question. Jono watched Victor's mouth just long enough to lip-read what he was saying before returning his attention to the sky with a thumbs-up.

He was just fine. Never better, see?

He glanced back Victor's way with a raised eyebrow and even a touch of a smirk before mouthing a slightly exaggerated, "Out looking for trouble?"

It seemed like a good day for it.

[ultron_junior]

Victor grinned sheepishly in acknowledgement and and rubbed at the back of his neck.

"Do you blame me?" he asked, gesturing to a wakwak a few blocks away. Seriously, if anything justified looking for a fight, bird-demon-vampire things were high on the list.

[furnaceface]

"Can't, really." So help Jonothon, he was chuckling as he replied. He looked out toward the wakwak that Victor had gestured to. "They came looking first."

Jono turned back to Victor, crossing his arms over chest.

"Whatever they are."

Unpleasant. He knew that much.

[ultron_junior]

"I'm going with diablos." Which was Spanish, and probably not the easiest thing to lip-read, but Victor figured the intent would carry. "Or evil aliens."

He didn't actually expect Jono to get all of that, but it hardly mattered. Not when the one they'd been looking at had taken note of them and was closing in fast.

Victor crouched down and sent a bolt of lightning toward it.

[furnaceface]

Yeah, Jono's ability to lip-read Spanish was... nil. 'Aliens' was easy, though. He shrugged. Either way, they were trouble, and that would have to be good enough for now.

He watched Victor's lightning arc toward the creature, kept an eye on it to make certain it wasn't going anywhere but down, and then gave a satisfied nod of his head. Well done, Victor. Well done.

[ultron_junior]

Victor grinned over at him, brushed one palm against the other in a gesture of and that one's taken care of. Nothing to it, right? So he just needed to do that a couple dozen more times and not get killed, and the island would be safe again.

[furnaceface]

Hey, Jono would hold out that long if Victor did! It wouldn't exactly be the first invasion that Fandomites had managed to fend off, after all.

... Maybe the first while deaf.

Jono mulled that over for a moment, and then shrugged and gave Victor a thumbs-up. The lad was doing well, now that he'd found high ground. It was good to see.

[ultron_junior]

Victor returned the gesture, still looking fairly chuffed, and -- since things seemed to have cleared up for the moment -- looked around the roof to take stock. Was there anything he could do besides wait for the next attack? Not that it seemed like the next attack was going to be that long in coming.

[OOC: Sorry, rough night. SP or FTB, whatever works.]

[amthenight.livejournal.com]

Batman was really just passing through as he leaped from the roof of the Devil's Nest onto the Boards' roof and started running. He gave a small salute as he planted a foot on the parapet and jumped off the building, landing on the back of a wakwak that happened to be flying by at just that moment.

Obviously, Batman timed it well. He'd been tracking this one for blocks. As the wakwak flew off into the distance with Batman on its back, the Caped Crusader started forming a plan to bring it down.

[furnaceface]

Well... that wasn't something you saw every day, really.

Okay, in fairness, it was something that Jono had actually seen a fair bit of over the years. Just not in that bat costume in particular. He watched Batman ride off on his quarry, and then fired a little salute right back before getting back to screaming at bloodthirsty birds.

Home sweet home.