savetheearth | 8th Bravery | Closed Action, Open Video

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8th Bravery | Closed Action, Open Video

[Action - Locked to Toushirou and Robyn]

It's late in the day, and Torin is heading home. He's got a bit of a routine going now; he goes to Espresso Yourself in the late morning and stays through the afternoon, at which point, he goes home. He'll fly a few blocks to a bus stop that he'll take to his neighborhood, and he'll fly home the rest of the way from there. He's on the first leg of that journey when he spots something odd in a broken mirror sticking out of a dumpster in an alley. It's...some sort of orb of light? That's only in the mirror? Curious.

The little parrot flies over to perch on the edge of the dumpster in order to get a better look at this. Whatever could it be? A lesser parrot--and even some humans--might have been spooked away by what appeared to be a ghost. Torin, however, shifted his perch, even taking a moment to stand on the ground in order to watch the strange orb resolve into a more humanoid shape.

He probably shouldn't have done that.

The area around the parrot grew dark, distracting him both from his investigation of the supernatural and the telltale pulse of an Echo. He turns around to see what has caused this, only to realize he's surrounded by a bunch of large, brutish-looking humans in dark suits. "Well, well, well," one of them said as some of the others pulled out chains, clubs, and knives. "Looks like Polly ain't going to get any crackers tonight."

Torin could have tried to fly away, but one of the chains might have caught him. He was a brave sort of parrot, and he didn't seem as alarmed as the goons would have liked. "What do you want?"

"Just to send a message," one of them said with a grin. "From Albero."

[Video - Open]

[The video feed opens on a scaly blue, red, and white birdman. The birdman is naked, though, mercifully, the video only shows him above the waist. He gives the camera a little wave.]

Ah, hello. This is Torin. I appear to have changed.

[His baritone voice sounds much the same as ever and matches his body much better now than it ever did when he was a ten-inch-tall parrot, though there is a note of confusion in it.]

I would like to take this moment to warn you all of the dangers that the mafia poses to us all--they specifically targeted me as a Numbered even though I was much smaller than they were. They believed I posed little threat to them, yet they attacked me anyway. I proved to be a bit of a surprise for them.

[That is a definite grin in the birdman's voice.]

I would hope that a parrot using a sword taught them a lesson, but I fear they won't be smart enough to learn. Be cautious.

[The birdman goes to end the feed, but then looks down at himself.]

Ah! And one more thing!

[There is a pause as he tries to work out exactly what it is he wishes to say.]

I would like to request assistance with clothes. I echoed back a set of them some time ago, and I suppose I should wear them now. I just...do not know how, exactly, to put them on.

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He wasn't quite sure at first what had prompted him to follow these guys. Men in suits weren't, of course, inherently suspicious. But there was something about the way they'd been moving, the way they'd looked up a little too often, like they were following something in the air. It was weird enough to notice.

Toushirou, on the other hand, wasn't anybody who would catch a suspicious eye. Just some small kid, wearing a baseball cap to keep the sun out of his eyes. It had been a bright summer so far, much too hot for his tastes, and the cap was only because of that. The advantage it had in this case was covering up his rather distinctive white hair.

He stopped short, blinking when he noticed them stop and draw weapons. But no, he hadn't been seen. The way they were talking . . . the parrot? And Albero's name was mentioned. Terrific. Well, this wasn't going to happen on his watch.

That he didn't have his sword didn't matter. He could find other ways -- that hopefully wouldn't involve blowing anybody up, but that was there as a last resort.

"Seems he's been trying to send a lot of those lately."

Perfectly calm, perfectly confident. What did it matter that even the smallest of these guys had more than a foot on him?

One of the thugs cast a dismissive glance back in Toushirou's direction. "Beat it, kid."

Another flipped open a switchblade. "We've just gotta clip Polly's wings, and then we'll be on our way."

Torin knew an opening when he saw one. The thugs were momentarily distracted by Toushirou, if only a little, and they had spelled out their intent quite well. He extended a hand and fired a blast of gold energy. It knocked the switchblade out of the stunned goon's hand, and before anyone could react, Torin flew up and grabbed it. He was now holding the knife like a sword. "Perhaps it is you who should, as you say, 'beat it.'" The parrot, like Toushirou, was perfectly calm.

Toushirou hadn't exactly been expecting that, either, but after all this time being Numbered, all the battles he'd fought, he recovered quickly. So the parrot could fire energy blasts. So what?

The smart thing for the thugs to do would be to back off. But thugs typically weren't that bright. One of them -- the one that had told him to get lost -- recovered from his surprise and made a move to swing his club in Torin's direction.

Telegraphing your movements, much? Easy solution to that.

In the next blink, Toushirou seemed to briefly vanish, and said thug flew back against the dumpster, crashing hard against it. Toushirou might have been small, he might have been no stronger than an average kid -- but he could move faster than human perception, and that came with a lot of momentum. Just a shove had been enough.

Robyn wasn't really following or being followed by anyone. She was just on her way home when she stumbled upon- ...Was that a bird being threatened by a bunch of goons with chains? And was that the kid who saved her from the crazy monster car? It kind of sounded like him. Of all the days she decided to leave her superhero get up at home, she decided to choose today. ...Not that there was really much she could do to help out in a situation like this anyways.

For now she's just going to step back around and the corner. She'll poke her head back out as Torin fired the blast of gold energy at the thug and claimed the switchblade for himself. Her eyes went wide as the fight broke out. This was so cool.

Torin merely chuckled when Toushirou apparently vanished. Very brave of the kid to step in like this--he liked that.

"Get 'em!" one of the thugs yelled in frustration. The goons charged.

Torin nimbly danced out of the way and slashed with his stolen knife, causing a thug to yelp at the sudden cut on his ankle. He was hopping up and down on one foot, looking kind of stunned at how that even happened. Another came in with a club and was summarily disarmed by a sudden airborne parrot.

One of the thugs made a grab for him -- which, considering the speed he'd just moved at was pretty dumb, really -- and he dove out of the way. He touched one hand to the ground, concentrated another of his powers, and several feet of the street froze into thin, slippery ice.

Consequently, two of the men fell flat on their faces while trying to follow him, and one of them lost hold of his club in the process. Toushirou snatched it up as he got to his feet. It wasn't a sword, which he would have been far better with, but he could probably still handle it decently if he needed to.

Robyn would've liked to get in there and help the two of them. ...But well she had to be honest, she didn't have any powers and this was a kind of out of her league. ...And she might have been a little bit distracted by Torin and Toushiro's abilities. She'd move to pull her phone out of pocket and quickly turned it on video mode.

This was probably one of the coolest things she had seen since arriving in Locke, she had to record it so she could watch it again later.

The parrot, meanwhile, struck a rather odd pose, and he did a little flurry of "sword"-swiping. "Torinity Strazor!" He spread his wings wide--did they turn into some sort of energy projection?--and slashed, sending a triangle-shaped blast of energy at one of the thugs' clubs, followed by his own speedy dash through to finish the job. The club did not survive the attempt. "I would suggest you gentlemen get out of here, for we can dish out much worse!"

And he was feeling very odd...curious. Was it because of the pulse he'd felt? He didn't think any of the goons had done anything...

He swiped at the knees of the most persistent thug, who evidently wasn't going to let himself get bested by some 'damn pile of feathers and a puny brat'. The blow was a bit harder than Toushirou had intended, but he was using a much heavier weapon than usual and hadn't really thought to adjust for that.

Needless to say, the guy wasn't too happy with this turn of events. But it was hard to make a lunge for somebody when your knee was in that kind of pain and he didn't try it again. Toushirou remained safely out of reach.

"He's not kidding, you know. Get lost."

Whatever the extent of Torin's abilities were, he was unaware. Just like Torin was unaware of the extent of Toushirou's. But given the feats they'd just pulled off here, these guys would have to be monumentally stupid to think that they were bluffing.

Robyn is literally hopping with excitement to see both the parrot and Toushirou show the thugs what's what. ...Which really ruined the quality of the video she was taking at the moment.

She'll poke out a little further from the alleyway she's half hiding in to cheer.

"Yeah! You show those guys who's boss!" ...She should really work on her preservation skills.

The parrot is not at all happy to see someone else there. While it's nice to be cheered for, he's worried about her safety. Can she fight too? If she could, then she would have jumped in, right?

"Get her!" One of the thugs has decided that there can either be no witnesses, or that he'd like a human shield courtesy one poorly-hidden bystander. Either way, he's heading for the girl.

Torin's taking to the air now, trying to menace the guy as best he can by swinging the sword and angrily flapping around the guy's head. He's bouncing around and doing a fine job of making a nuisance for himself. Sure, he could use that knife in a more lethal fashion, but he'd really rather not have to do lasting harm to anyone.

Yeah, Toushirou knows that voice. That same stupid girl again. What is she even doing here? Why is she cheering like this is some soccer game instead of an honest-to-goodness fight?

He sighs. Yep, in the middle of a fight, he just . . . sighs. Idiot.

Another borderline-teleport, weapon aimed this time for the thug's midsection. It's a lighter hit, all things considered, but the force is still enough to knock the guy off his feet.

"Quit being such idiots and just get the hell out of here; you're not exactly accomplishing anything, in case you haven't noticed."

There are days in Robyn's life where she regrets her rash actions. ...Today is one of those days that she feels she would have been much better off if she had've just kept her big mouth shut. She just hopes she can continue to regret that situation into the future.

When the thug starts heading her way she'll freeze for just a moment in startled fear. She'll take a few steps back before finally turning to make a dash out of here.

"You leave that girl alone! She is not part of this!" The parrot takes into the air to pursue that thug heading for Robyn, but then there is a surprise explosion of feathers, as though the bird has suddenly poofed into nothingness. But he has not.

Standing right where the bird was flying is a large humanoid reptilian birdman. A naked large humanoid reptilian birdman. He is still holding the knife he was using shortly before that, and he seems rather surprised at this turn of events, as do the thugs. No one told them the parrot could shapechange!

One might think, after over a year of all this -- of sudden memories, objects, powers coming out of nowhere -- he be a little more prepared for something like this. But no. He stopped, blinking up -- way, way up -- at Torin. Okay, how fair was it that the bird got to be so damned tall all of a sudden?

For the moment, Toushriou's guard was down, but the question remained as to whether anyone had the presence of mind to try and take advantage of it.

Edited 2014-07-29 01:52 (UTC)

Robyn stops mid-dash and her eyes go wide.

Holy crap. That bird just got huge. that has got to be one of the most amazing and awesome things that Robyn has ever seen in her life. ...Or it would be if the giant bird monster had've grown a pair of pants as well.

She'll quickly take a few steps back and quickly cover her eyes for the moment. If she were a smart girl, she'd have started running again. Unfortunately, she is not.

Torin is a little disoriented from that sudden growth spurt, but he can't let that get in the way of making sure these mafia guys don't hurt any innocents. He swings a big, scaly blue fist at one of the stunned goons, knocking him flat. "Hm. I could get used to this."

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