The Bunny-Slayers[job w/ Seenter]

Job Deets:

A crimson-clad figure stood out among the harsh white snow of Phoenix Mountain, there was nary a shiver emanating from the figure, a light blue aura protecting her from any would be cold. This figure was Cerise Arledge a novice mage who was going to soon start her first combat job. The job in question? Slaughtering snow-bunnies. She was, of course, horrified when she first saw this job. Bunnies were adorable animals and the thought of actively going out of the way to kill them sounded horrible at first. However, upon further inspection, she realized that said bunnies were apparently aggressive and breeding at an alarming rate, a rate too high to be of natural means. While she still felt morally wrong about actively trying to kill bunnies, she knew that if any action wasn't taken, this could prove to be a serious problem.

While she could have just spared herself the guilt and let someone else take the job instead, she knew that with her natural immunity to cold temperatures she would be really well suited for this job, as fighting without the hinderance of cold would prove to be extremely useful. Thankfully, she would not be alone in this endeavor-as someone else had also taken the job. She had no idea who the person in question was, as she pretty much immediately set out upon taking the job. She could have honestly waited, but she figured with her natural immunity she could scout out the surrounding area without any repercussions as opposed to having to make her partner endure the cold in her stead.

She had seen a massive amount of what she assumed to be bunny tracks to the west but quickly came back to the main trail so that she and her partner could head in that direction together. Thankfully her clothes clashed really hard against the white environment, making it easy for her partner to spot her when the time came.

WC: 327/625

A portal opened up near the path leading up the mountain, and a single figure stepped out before the portal closed. Looking down at the snow on the ground Chris let out an involuntary shiver that had nothing to do with the cold, though he began to feel the cold shortly after. The initial shiver was the storm he had to walk through in order to get to the guild. Now that he knew where the guild was he could use a portal in order to leave and enter, but storm still left a lasting impression.

Shaking his head Chris turned his attention back up the path and noticed a red figure against the white background. Must be the guildmate I’m suppose to meet. As with his negotiation job he was thrust into this one with little warning. Again it was Theo who asked Chris to help the new guildmate, even though Chris himself was new. Not everyone had portal magic, so he was expected to be able to help with all sorts of different jobs that required travel. Shaking his head he did a quick jog towards the crimson figure.

As he got closer Chris could feel his body stiffen as he noticed the figure had a figure. His body began to move a bit more sluggish the more he realized his ‘partner’ was an attractive female. Crap! Not good. Keep it together. Now he was glad for the snow on the ground and the brisk cold air. It gave him an excuse if his voice began to stutter out of fear. He held onto that thought as strongly as he could, as if it was a lifeline to keep him afloat.

Chris approached on almost wooden legs, but he tried his best to appear that it was the cold that made him stiff. Already too many people teased him about his fear, and he didn’t want to give this new guildmate ‘fuel for the fire’ so to speak. In all honesty the brisk cool air wasn’t really that cold to him, especially since the air was relatively calm and not it wasn’t snowing at the moment. However if he pretended to not be used to it then maybe he could use it to mask his fear.

Once he got close enough Chris called out to the figure. ”H-Hi. A-Are you h-here to i-investigate t-the rabbits? M-My name is C-Chris.” Crap! Even with the cold I probably sound like an idiot. However he was determined to help to the best of his ability. He did his best to give a friendly smile, but like the rest of his body it appeared stiff.

[Word Count= 465]

Cerise raised a delicate eyebrow as her partner to be approached, he was a rather tall individual with brown hair and eyes-the latter feature having a slightly reddish tint to it. She probably would have thought it apt to do some customary flirting if it weren’t for the fact that the poor guy looked like he was freezing to death. She probably would have felt bad for him if she had some way to relate to his plight, but due to her bloodline, she simply couldn’t. It was sort of like a ghost, always watching but invisible to the naked eye, refusing to go away despite multiple attempts. She had a feeling that there was a way to switch the odd power off, but with being an orphan and all she never got the chance to learn anything about it. All she knew was that it gave her immunity to the cold, and a minor control over ice-switching on before even a semblance of a chill could beset her.

Of course, there was a mission to do and worrying about annoying bloodlines could be saved for a time when feral bunnies weren’t running rampant. As she examined the man in front of her she couldn’t help but notice that his ‘shivering’ wasn’t nearly what it was supposed to be. The man could honestly be mistaken for wood with how stiff he was, and it was rather easy to tell that his introduction was laced with a myriad of stuttering instead of shivering. Of course, it wasn’t Cerise’s buisness to pry-he was probably just nervous about the job and whatnot. Honestly if Cerise didn’t grow up the way she did, she was sure that she’d be just as much of a mess as Chris.

Without a second of hesitation, she would give the man her sunniest and most reassuring smile. “It’s very nice to meet you! Name’s Cerise, and yes I am here to investigate the rabbit problem.” Not wasting any more time, Cerise would point directly west towards what appeared an upwards slope. “I went ahead and did some reconnaissance and found a large number of what I assume to be rabbit tracks in that area. It appears they were moving in a uniform fashion up the slope, which I can only assume means the source of our troubles happens to be that way.”

Giving her partner another reassuring smile she would then motion for him to follow, before pausing midway as if she’s just remembered something. After closing her eyes for a moment a small light would appear, with a neatly folded jacket landing in her arms. It was a simple crimson coat with a thick black fur around the collar. She would then proceed to casually toss the jacket to the taller man. “It’s going to get a lot colder the further we go in, and one of my abilities happens to uh..bring even more cold, so some extra warmth might help ya’ out. Sorry if the color isn’t to your liking, I just figured anything is better than nothing-especially with how cold you already appear to be.” She would make sure to punctuate that last part with a teasing wink, letting him know that she knew he was just a bit nervous.

Chris almost dropped the coat into the snow when it was tossed in his direction. He did have enough movement left in his body to be able to catch the fringe of it with his thumb and forefinger, but just barely. She’s going to be trouble. Not that she’d be a problem on the job; from what he could tell she was very capable. No, if she ever knew how much of a problem she’d be with his….condition then she’d be the type to exploit it. Or at least tease him about it.

As Cerise made her up the mountain Chris began to feel his body relax a little the more distance between them. It allowed him enough movement to slip on the jacket without him looking like a statue given life. After he was clothed he followed along, but kept the same distance to keep himself from going stiff again. An accurate analogy, and yet it can be taken the wrong way. He shook his head and filed that line of thought to the back of his mind. Under no circumstance can he ever tell anyone of his condition. There was no right way to explain it.

When they had made it up a decent distance up the mountain Chris began to pick out what the female mage meant. Rabbit tracks that were moving in the same direction up the mountain. They were like she said, moving in what appeared to be unison like a rabbit army. He let out a small shudder, but this time it wasn’t from the cold or from Cherise’s presence. Who could do something like this, and why?

Following the line in snow with his eyes Chris noticed something poking up behind a hill from where the rabbits apparently came from. ”What’s over there?” He forgot who he was talking to, and moved more normally as he headed for the hill. Peeking around he beheld a large device with an antenna poking up towards the sky. Various knobs and gears were apparently ‘glued’ onto the surface without any real use, though the control panel looked to be functional. A blue crystal, a lacrima, could be seen through a glass enclosure and was powering the device.

”Looks like this might be what’s cause the rabbits to act funny.” As Chris spoke he noticed a slight shift in the snow near where he stood. With a yelp he jumped backwards as a large creature forced itself out of the snow and came at him. A second followed soon after, and he could see what he missed earlier. While he could find the device easily enough he couldn’t see the ‘guards’ that were protecting it. Namely the two large bunnies about the size of lions. A third ‘shaking’ showed him another. Three of them?!

The one closest to Chris took a powerful swipe at him, and the young mage opened up a portal under his feet to drop down under the swing. The exit portal appeared in the air next to Cerise, and he dropped down to land next to the young woman. Now that battle was happening he could forget his fear….for a moment. ”So good news and bad news.” He was breathing a little heavily due to his near miss. ”Good news is I found the device making the bunnies.” He pointed as the large ‘creatures’ became more visible against the snow. ”Bad news depends on how you feel about rabbits.”

[Word Count= 576]

Cerise looked over to where her partner was pointing and raised an eyebrow at the sight. Three rabbits, larger than any variety that she had ever seen appeared to be guarding the device that Chris had found.  After taking a good look at the monsters Cerise was relieved to find that the inherent cuteness that rabbits were known for seemed to be completely missing from these creatures.  It was quite the opposite, each one came equipped with visible teeth and claws which when combined with their large red eyes created a rather menacing appearance.  

It was almost comical, the whole time she had been trying to steel herself so that she could slay small and usually harmless creatures without regret, only to find that in actuality that her targets were grotesque abominations of said adorable creatures. Cerise couldn't but grin excitedly at the situation, while Chris might have called it 'bad news' to her it was instead some of the best news possible.

Seeing Chris's ability with portals caused Cerise to reason that his magic would either be a support or long-ranged type, immediately her cause to assume that she would need to be a frontline fighter in this battle. She could be wrong but with the threat of three monster bunnies in her way, she knew she wouldn't have much time to sit and have a conversation about the topic. Looking over towards Chris she would give a small smile. "Alright, cover me."

After taking a deep breath to steel herself Cerise would requip a silver dagger into her hand, before throwing it towards the trio of rabbits. Looking towards her partner again she would give an impish smile and a wink before disappearing in a flash of light. The moment Cerise appeared next to her knife she would go into action, slashing upwards with her blade towards the chest of the nearest one, before ducking to avoid a swipe from behind. Not wanting to relent, she would follow up by requiping a pair of boots on her feet, lashing out in a drop-kick like fashion towards the one that tried to attack her from behind. As she did this she would channel some magical power into her boots to send a shockwave of air from the item-sending the beast flying backward while simultaneously sending Cerise in the opposite direction. Using this movement to her advantage she would sheath her knife at her hip before gracefully landing next to her partner, summoning a green bow as she did so.

Knowing she would need a second to get a steady shot in she would let Chris make his next move towards the creatures.

WC: 453
TWC: 1325

Battle Deets:

Chris watched almost stunned by the ferocity of Cerise in battle. The female mage just charged forward and began hacking and slashing in the midst of the giant rabbits. Well that answers the question about how she feels about rabbits. True these weren’t normal sized lupines, and it was obvious they were dangerous. Still the other women he knew would swoon over small furry creatures. But these aren’t small.

Snapping back to the present Chris noticed that Cerise was having trouble keeping out of the rabbit’s reach. Focusing his magic through the jade ring on his left hand he split his focus on both himself and the female mage. Two portals opened up simultaneously; one within a few feet of both magic casters. From the portals a streamed a faint blue wave of energy that surrounded them and appeared to vanish. With the protection in place he focused on the giant rabbits.

Two of the giant rabbits were hurt from Cerise’s attacks, and the third was now focused on the two mages. It leapt towards them with the height and speed only a giant rabbit could muster. His magic again flowing into his ring again Chris focused at where the height of the jump would be. A different portal opened right before the leaping lupine, and flames shot out of the rend in space and time. The heat was so intense that the portal closed almost as soon as it was open, but the young mage was able to harness some of the fire energy to create a flaming sphere that struck the giant rabbit in the face.

It hit with just enough force to slow the forward momentum, and with a cry of pain and agony the unlucky bunny fell to the snow at both mage’s feet. Steam curled around the face down rabbit’s head as the snow cooled off the burned fur. The rabbit was definitely still alive, but for now momentarily stunned. The other two were almost equally stunned, but quickly recovered and began a mad dash at the two humans.

[Word Count= 344]
[Word Total= 1385]

Battle Details: