Summary:The Ray and Fandral fight off something slimey trying to wriggle its way into an apartment building. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
Related LogsTheme SongNone |
  |
Where the boardwalk ends, near Brighton Beach, begins the disaster zone that stretches northweard all the way up Brooklyn and across the East River toward Turtle Bay. To the west and south stretches the boardwalk and Coney Island, mostly closed up for the winter, though there are those that come and go to some of the open shops year round. It's here that Fandral's wanderings have taken him today. He's dressed in his Asgardian clothing today, making no attempt at all to blend in — from the soft leather boots that reach to his knees to the sword at his hip and leather vest that serves as protective armor rather than purely decorative.
For the moment, his gaze is on the water, at something moving in the distance, some sort of dark shape near the surface, though it's not apparent what it might be.
The young man sitting on the edge of the roof of one of the nearby buildings is probably not that noticable at first, despite the fact he's dressed in white spandex and a black jacket, a golden helmet perched on his head. He's also eating a hot dog he likely got from one of the local street vendors. His eyes are out over the water as well. His eyes flick down toward the arrival of someone else, well, someone in a weird outfit. He takes a bite of hotdog, watching the other man thoughtfully. It's hard to tell with the helmet on, but he looks almost quizzical.
There's something out there in the water, but what it is still remains a mystery. Frandral's brow furrows a bit as he squints at it in the distance and he mutters to himself, "When he mentioned great serpents, I didn't think he meant here in New York." It's loud enough to be heard by the young man on the roof, who he knows is there out of the periphery of his vision, but hasn't actually taken a good look at. Instead, he puts one hand on the railing in front of him and hops it, landing on the sand on the other side, and begins to walk out toward the water as that dark shape seems to slither closer and closer to shore. It definitely looks longer than it is wide, but whether it is indeed a serpent is still unclear.
It's hard to miss when Ray follows towards the beach. Flying makes him light up like a beacon, even for the short hop it takes to get from the roof top to the sand a handful of feet from where Fandral stands. "Could be a whale." He's still got his hotdog in hand, though he's close to finishing it as he takes another bite. He looks sideways at the man, at the sword, then back out to the water. There's no worry on his face as he takes the last bite of hotdog, dusting his hands off together.
"It could be a whale," Fandral agrees, not having considered that. He seems to relax a bit in posture then, at least not at the ready quite so much anymore. He lets his hand rest on the pommel of his sword. "I've never seen a whale in person. Do they come up close to the shore?" hea asks Ray, who seems to be the closest thing to an expert in the vicinity at the moment. He studies him from head to toe for a moment and says, "You're quite bright when you fly around. That must make it difficult to be stealthy at night."
Ray shrugs. No, he's not an expert on whales, "Just seems more plausible than a big snake." Though maybe Fandral's idea has some merit in his book, because he's keeping his eyes on that dark spot out in the water. He blinks and looks over at Fandral, or at least is looks like he's looking that way, his eyes are a blank white through the helmet's eyeholes. "When I'm not trying to be, yeah." He looks down at the sword. "Must be some sword if you're going to try to take on a sea monster with it."
The dark shadow out in the water seems to make a change of course, and rather than coming up toward the shore, begins moving toward the mouth of the East River where it comes in from the disaster zone. The way it moves is not particularly whale-like, and definitely faster than a whale.
Fandral begins moving over in that direction, along the shoreline, keeping his eye on it, and trying to get closer to get a better look. He grins over his shoulder at Ray. "I'm passably skilled with it," says one of the most skilled swordsmen in Asgard cheerfully at the prospect of taking on a sea monster. "I haven't fought a beast of the seas in some time. Though, if it's not doing any harm, then that adventure will have to wait for another day. Shall we go see what it is?"
Ray nods at the question and follows after Frandral. No reason to fly everywhere, though his fingers twitch at his side as if he's getting ready. Even he seems to be doubtful of his own whale suggestion as he watches the thing. "You fight sea monsters regularly then?" He sounds amused as he asks the question, but not at all doubtful. He knows this is a weird town when it comes to what people can and cannot do.
"No, mostly these days I make nice and play about at diplomacy," Fandral admits with a bit of a forlorn sigh. "Fortunately, sometimes some excitement breaks out so that I don't become old and fat." He flashes another one of those smiles before turning his attention on the slithering form as it makes its way toward the mouth of the river. When they get there, it's clear to see that the thing is approximately fifteen feet in length and as big as a log around, and it is undulating in a way that is not at all like a whale. When a long fin stretching its entire length comes up out of the water and then disappears beneath, revealing a slick body such a dark green as to almost look black, Fandral considers. "Eel? Do eel /get/ that big on Earth?"
Another look from Ray passes over Fandral, expression unreadable behind that helmet. "That doesn't seem like it'd be much of an issue." The fact that he lights up when he sees that fin break the surface should be enough of an answer for the fencer, but he shakes his head. "Not normally. I don't think. At least not in Long Island Sound." He's not going in for the attack though, if the thing is just minding its own business, why rile it up?
No, no they do not. The giant eel looking thing slithers further up along the river, and then it does something even more unusual. It pulls itself right up onto land and it has.. legs. Lots of legs. Like a slithery eel and a centipede got it on, and produced a slithery eel-centipede hybrid, and it seems to be making its way toward the Brighton Apartments. That could be trouble, depending on what it does.
Fandral begins to move a bit faster, picking up speed to a run in order to keep it within his sights as it approaches the apartment building, and then begins to climb right up the wall and in through a window. There's a blood curdling scream that follows. I mean, wouldn't you scram if /that/ came in through your livingroom window?
"Oh.. yuck." And then the eel slithers into the apartment. "Okay, I guess it's sea monster blasting time." Ray takes off in a burst of sand and up into the air. He keeps pace with Fandral, no doubt the man is going along to the fight too. But Ray tries to get the monster's attention by firing of a pair of quick blasts at the monster's backside. Not strong. He doesn't want to scare it inside the apartment, he wants to annoy it into coming out.
Ray's beams catch the thing in the tail just as it slithers into the apartment, which earns a deep hissing sound from within and the sudden flash of the creature's head out the window. From this angle it's easy to see that its mouth is on the underside, and seems to be built for grinding through things, with a kind of circular maw of teeth that point inward. From within the apartment, there are more screams and the sound of things crashing. That thing must be knocking everything over in there.
While Ray takes the aerial route, Fandral grabs onto the side of the building and begins to scale it, using the rough exterior to make his way up toward the window. Even so, it will take him a little longer to get up there than it did Ray or the creature.
Well, that seemed to work. Ray flies in closer, firing off another of those gnat bites of light blasts. He gets an idea, and begins to fly annoyingly out of reach of the eel monster, a few feet away like a bright, flashy fishing lure. He zips around in the air, trying to pull the monster out of the apartment by being a much more tantalizing target. "C'mon you big stinking fish. Come get the tasty bug."
The plan seems to have the desired effect, as the thing slithers back out the window and makes an attempt to lunge toward Ray with its top half, which brings its bottom half swinging around, almost knocking Fandral off the building. Instead he pulls a small knife from his side and he jabs it into the thing, at which point a thick black ichor begins running out of it. He manages to hold on by the blade as it thrashes, but the thing is becoming slipperier than your average eel pretty quickly.
Ray zips back out of reach for a moment, getting to an elevation hopefully just outside of the creature's reach. Now that the thing is outside of the building, he doesn't want it creeping back in as they fight it. He creates simple plates of golden hardlight over the windows that are still open to cut off the monster's retreat in that direction. "You doing okay down there, Silverblade?" He uses the name almost jokingly, even as he turns his attention back on the monster.
"Oh yes, doing just fine," Fandral calls out as he manages to get his grip on the thing, which once more lashes toward Ray, trying to catch him. But it also notices that it has an annoying gnat biting it's backside again as well, and so it slithers higher, dragging Fandral with it as he climbs along it's back, getting covered in black goo on the way up. The hard light over the windows prevents it from disappearing inside, which it seems to be trying to do, so it instead heads all the way up for the roof, perhaps to try to find entry there.
With the people inside the apartment safe from the eel, Ray ramps up his blasts. He doesn't want to damage the building, so they aren't full strength, but the beas of searing light he tosses at the monster are more than the annoying gnat stings he was tossing before. "C'mon slimy, off the building!" He directs a blast towards the eel's head, searing heat and light doubtful pleasant for a sea creature.
The blasts of light sear the slimy skin of the creature, raising steam and the smell of burning fish, and mud, and whatever that other smell is. Not good. That's what that smell is: not good. The creature then buries its head into the floor of the roof and begins to gnaw itself an entrance into the building. Fandral, once on the roof leaps off of the thing and draws his sword. With Ray burning it, he begins to expertly slice at the flailing tail, lobbing off legs and cutting gouges into it. Now that he's on his feet, he moves easily out of the way, avoiding the motions of the flailing creature, "Quickly, we must not let it re-enter the building!" He lobs off a six foot section of the tail, which writhes and flops and black ichor gushes out all over the roof in a flood of goo, yet the thing keeps on going as though the head could continue to propel it without need for the rest of its body.
Ray zips around, and perhaps inspired by Fandral's weapon, he forms a shard of hardlight in the shape of a sword in his hand. He loops around to come directly at the front of the monster, flying at high speeds with the sword pointed in front of him as he aims like a beam of light on a straight course for the monster's head. It must need it's head, there must be a brain, right? Right?
One would assume there's a brain in there somewhere, and as soon as Ray zips in and pierces it, the entire thing gives one last violent shudder and eventually falls still, even as Fandral slices off another hunk of its body. It's only when the thing stops wriggling, and continues to ooze onto the roof, that Fandral cleans off his blade. His clothes are covered in goo, and yet despite that, he has nothing but a brilliant grin. "That was fantastic!" he exclaims and offers the non-goo-covered hand to Ray to shake, "Fandral, of Asgard. A pleasure to fight alongside you."
Ray opens his hand and his hardlight sword vanishes, as does the seals over the windows. He extends the hand and takes it, offering one quick pump of a shake. "I'm Ray. The Ray.." He laughs softly. "Wait, of Asgard? As in not human?" He gives Fandral another assessing look, then over to the chopped up eel monster. "I guess that kind of makes sense." He doesn't sound bothered by the fact, just curious.
Fandral gives Ray's hand one firm but friendly shake, careful not to shake too firmly, and then he says, "Pleasure to meet you Ray." He glances back down at the giant dead leggy slimy thing on the roof and says, "I have not fought a creature like this before. The Russians were not a challenge, but this, this was slippery." He glances down at himself and says, "And I need a bath." This doesn't seem to dampen his spirits though, "Yes, of Asgard. Asgardian, as it were."
"Russians? You were fighting.. Russians?" Ray sounds mildly confused, but keeps a grin on his face. He looks over at the eel and wrinkles his nose. "Well, glad I could join in on your, uh, fun. I hope it didn't end to soon?" His nose wrinkles again as he looks over at Fandral. "Yeah, I'd be itching for a bath if I were you, maybe three baths."
"Ah, yes, I ran into the Spider-Man the other night on the docks breaking up an arms and drug deal between some Triad and Russians. I lost count, however, on who was ahead in the fight. He was defeating the Triad, and I the Russians, like your game of billiards but with more unconsciousness," Fandral explains as best he can. Then he glances back over toward the eel and says, "Well we saved an apartmnet building, so I think it was time well spent." He then glances down at himself and laughs. "Perhaps, then, I should head back to the embassy. It was nice meeting you, Ray. May we meet again!" And with that, he could dashingly swing himself over the side of the building and climb down, but there's a perfectly good set of stairs right there, so he opens up the door, gives a bit of a bow with a flourish, and tracks goo all the way down the stairs to the first floor.
"Well, I guess I'll see you around, then." Ray watches Fandral head to the stairs, then looks up to the sky. "And, uh, good fighting with you." He taps his brow then he zips into the air, but a few feet after launch he just sort of vanishes from sight.