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[flaredo]

"Heeey, you've reached Yang! Well, actually, you didn't reach far enough, 'cause I'm not here right now! But don't yang up! Just leave a message on this baby, and I'll get back to you soon enough, okay?"

[ Please specify VOICEMAIL, TEXT or CALL. ]

Comments

[adornmental]

[IF ONLY. He shakes his head, brow furrowed.]

Nope. That stuff's what Taroutachi, Kousetsu or Ishikirimaru handle. [He's too #kegare to be a priestly or holy sword.] So I can't really purify or cleanse these guys... I can only make sure the stuff they inhabit doesn't go off to kill people. Or give 'em massages, I guess.

[Those poor, lost ghosts, trying so hard.]

[flaredo]

Well... it's something. I can hurt 'em if I use my Aura, so we could do a little bit of clean-up around here. Unless you're traumatized, I mean.

[adornmental]

[Waves his hand!!]

I can still fight! Just cover me if any of those creepy robots comes back for another hug. [Fighting them off is a true struggle...] Sooo, I guess we should go after the ones that can actually move first.

[flaredo]

That's a good plan of attack. Some of these guys can be pretty fast... so we just have to be faster.

[ JOG WITH HER, KASHUU. She'll keep you safe from painful embraces! ]

[adornmental]

[KASHUU WILL JOG!! Time to defeat evil at a moderate pace.]

That's fine, that's fine! Speed's one of my strong points. [Thanks to gaming stats, it truly is...]

Have you seen any nasty ones running around? I was gonna head into the city center since it seems like most of 'em are heading that way, anyway.

[flaredo]

Not any that I haven't already [ punched really hard ] taken down. Geez... I wonder what they're aiming for this time.

[ They never really like to stick around and talk, man. ]

[adornmental]

Were you around when they showed up before?

[Kashuu's heard about it by now, but wasn't there himself. WHY ARE GHOSTS ALWAYS RUDE.]

Sousei said they're probably after CERES. [And he just sort of accepted all of the info Sousei dropped on him because he's a trusting dumbass.]

[flaredo]

Yeah, the first time... [ And here, her voice goes nice and flat. ]

One of them took over my body once, and I was stuck being just a voice for awhile.

[adornmental]

Oh. [OH... Well, then. Possessions are No Bueno... His shoulders seem to tense a little, even though he's seen no sign of these particular ghosts doing the possession tango just yet.]

What happened? Did someone exorcise your body?

[flaredo]

No, I kind of just... got it back. And then I got thrown into a lingerie store in the middle of a night with a ghost I couldn't hurt...

[ Yang trails off now, uncharacteristically. She still hates thinking about that part. ]

[adornmental]

["A ghost I couldn't hurt" doesn't ring too strangely to Kashuu, who's used to normal humans not being able to hurt ghosts anyway. But with the way she trails off, it's easy to tell she didn't have a good time during that ordeal, and he's both empathetic on her behalf and miffed at whatever set off that upsetting haunting.]

Did anyone else see that ghost? D'you guys know if it's still around? Something like that probably needs to be sealed.

[flaredo]

It disappeared... I mean, by the time I got out, I was trying to get help, but there was someone with me, and he died--

[ Yang breaks off again, shaking her head a little more fiercely this time. Seren's since disappeared from the colony, but it's still all too easy to remember his weight in her arms and how the life had just drained out of him before she could do anything. ]

That was... the last time I saw it.

[adornmental]

[Kashuu's heard little snippets here and there - death is cheap, things like that - but a death is still a death in the end, isn't it? Even if a person comes back (like he had done), that doesn't erase the trauma of dying.

Or of being around, helpless to stop it as someone else died.]

...I'm gonna let Haruji know that there's something like that out here, okay? If it can't be hurt but it can still kill, it'll need to be taken out right away if it's ever seen again.

[There's something about his clipped tone that sounds more suited to battlefields and captain's tables than the usual flighty lilt it carries, but that's probably not a surprise. Before anything else, he is still a sword - even if she might detect some empathy, too.]

[flaredo]

... Yeah. That's fine.

[ Like Yang's going to protest. She hasn't seen the thing since, but that doesn't mean it's not still out there somewhere, waiting to strike again, claim more victims, and disappear with no one being able to leave a scratch on it. ]

[adornmental]

D'you have a description you can give? Something specific to look out for, or...

[Was it just GENERIC GHOST... like the ghosts here... That would definitely be a problem, if it could just vanish and blend in with these lesser harmful ones.]

[flaredo]

It had a chainsaw.

[ THE LEGIT ONLY GHOST WITH A CHAINSAW. It's hard to miss. ]

[adornmental]

[WHAT...]

Seriously? That's a first. [A dangerous first that he doesn't want at all but it appears this is just going to be their collective lives now.

Also, that sure is an OMINOUS SOUND up ahead...]

[flaredo]

It makes it easy to spot him, but--

... What is that?

[adornmental]

[Apparently whatever's causing this noise isn't as easy to spot, since... nothing looks particularly off. HM.]

...It sounded like it was coming from over there, didn't it?

[Gesturing up ahead and toward a small cluster of buildings!]

[flaredo]

Then let's go!

[ Screw jogging, we are gonna book it like a library!! ]

[adornmental]

[Hopefully not a possessed library! But off Kashuu goes, tailing after her quickly.

The source of the noise is definitely between those two buildings off to the left, so they won't have to go too far. Seems like a street-sweep bot has been possessed and is now cornering a few helpless NPCs, presumably to remove them from the sidewalk and place them in the dumpster! Or incinerate them, who knows, cleaning robots are a mystery and a terror.]

I'll take the right!

[He slides right into a potential attack grouping with ease, at least.]

[flaredo]

[ Bless you, Kashuu, it's like fighting with her team. ]

I've got the left, then! Keep it away from the people!

[ That's all she says, before she picks up speed to place herself in front of the NPCs and shoves the bot back with both activated gauntlets. It rocks a bit to the left in protest, but she's darting back to the side to keep it from pursuing any further victims.

You know, besides the two picking a fight with it. ]

[adornmental]

You got it!

[Ah, it really is like a taste of home... Kashuu darts over to the right as he's said, guarding a path and ushering as many NPCs as he can away from the robot while he's ensuring their safe passage. He steps forward as soon as the last one is gone, aiming a strike toward the bot just to see how sturdy it is.

PRETTY STURDY, AS IT TURNS OUT...]

D'you see any weak spots over there?!

[flaredo]

No helpful glowing red lights or dents or anything! Does your side have a hole?? A button?

[ Bot, you're kind of annoying. ]

[adornmental]

Nothing like that at all! [OF COURSE. He makes an irritated sound and skirts under the robot's menacing sweep-arm.]

Maybe under it?!