agentlelog | ( log 02. 🔮 locked. )

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( log 02. 🔮 locked. )

Who: Zita and Mordred.
When: March 03.
Where: The Docks.
What: A normal trip through the city soon makes the two realise there are dark nights ahead. (An influence job log focused on the Dark Knight task.)
Warnings: Depictions of violence.

[ if you asked her how this happened, the most zita could (sheepishly) say is that she's not all that good when it comes to direction. it's never been her strongest skill and it's never been a skill she thought she would need to strengthen over time.

now? she wishes she had given it more focus when she was studying or learning something. at least learned how to read a map properly before her arrival here, mostly because...

well... mostly because it would mean that she and mordred wouldn't be in this very awkward situation of theirs: lost in the streets that should be taking them back to the queen's residence, not sending them on a wild goose chase through alleyways and strange, winding paths that might be taking them further and further from their current home-of-sorts. ]

I think we're... [ zita holds the map up higher, like that would help her understand it better. ] I think we're heading towards the direction of the Docks? If so, perhaps we can finally run into someone and ask for direction...

[ zita looks uncomfortable while putting the map away in her cloak. the evening has come quickly and the darkness unnerves her. she'll like to think one can't blame her for her uneasiness. the past few memorable events - the riots and the fires, the explosion and the assassination - all happened at night. she knows people who worked in the evening could benefit from her free healing services, but she admits she's a coward and scared of getting dragged into the chaos personally like the first time.

the only thing that's keeping her from being too nervous is the presence of mordred by her side. knowing she was there and knowing she had her back is a boon. ]

I'm sorry for getting us lost. I didn't think one wrong turn could lead to this.

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Yeah, I heard it too.

[She glances off in that direction, summoning her armor as a precaution. She doesn’t think she’ll need it, but better safe than sorry. And not that she’ll say it out loud, but she wishes she was like some Servants and had a skill that would help with knowing what’s waiting up ahead.

But since she doesn’t, she’ll turn to Zita, keeping her voice low and sounding a lot more serious than she was before. No jokes about lunch now, that's for sure.]

Stay close, okay? I don't know what's going on up there, but it doesn't sound good.

[She’ll start heading in the direction of the scuffling, trusting that Zita’s going to stick close to her and not lag behind or run ahead. That wouldn’t be good.]

[ zita is definitely sticking close to mordred now that there's potential danger lurking around the corners. she knows when she won't be helpful in a situation if she went against the grain. this is the situation.

the pair move closer to the scuffling, doing their best to stay quiet. the docks are rather eerie at this hour and in this location, for dock workers aren't around in these parts. this is where the more remote warehouses are, used only when the dock workers really need to store supplies or materials and there's no other place to stash them away.

so getting close enough to see dark figures up ahead is not a sight that comforts zita. ]

Oh- Men. They don't look like they work here. [ their clothes aren't suited for the environment the dock often faces.

zita leans forward to confirm what she sees: a group of men, four or so, who happen to be standing in a circle. one man, with his back turned to the two women, is working on something that's on the floor. he later stands up and takes a step back, revealing a sack thats...

that's... ] ... moving. Is that sack he's dragging behind him moving?

[ yes, unfortunately. the sack they're roughly dragging behind is wiggling and squirming like something is inside. the sack is also leaving an uncomfortably dark trail in its wake as the men try to hurry out of sight.

zita can't keep it to herself: ] We need to help them.

They sure as hell don't...

[She's come to the same conclusion watching these guys and the moving...sack. ...and leaving a trail behind it. Oh boy, that's not good.]

Hey, the hell do you think you're doing? Drop the bag!

[She definitely agrees that they need to do something, and while she could use her jewel with her own powers to dash over there with a speed boost, she doesn't want to leave Zita too far behind in case there's others around that she hasn't noticed yet. So she'll settle for yelling and stomping over there, quickly, but her pace should be easy enough to keep up with.

And while she's walking, red lightning crackles around her gauntlet and a sword appears in it. She's not really concerned with escalating a bad situation since the group up ahead has definitely beat her to it.]

Mordred! Please be careful! [ zita tries to hurry after mordred, surprise a bit by the sudden flurry of action from the woman.

and it looks like she isn't alone in her reaction. despite the number and the weapons at their sides, they seem thrown off by the fact that 1) someone is here and 2) someone is here and willing to do something about what's happening. and that 'something' is 'respond to their violence with their own answer of violence.'

the leader of the men pulls himself together, rallying the others to fight as he's the first on to pull out his bladed weapon. others follow suit and zita can taste the energy in the air when the men begin to use their jewels to give them an edge in combat. it won't be long before blasts and shields are being thrown in the air.

as the men charge towards mordred, zita takes the chance to press herself against the walls of a warehouse and inch her way towards the sack.

it reeks of both alcohol and blood and something sharper, something more pungent and cloying. zita tries not to think about it while she kneels down next to it and untie the knot, yanking the sack open to get a better look of who is inside it.

it’s a man and he’s seen better days. he’s bound by his wrists and ankles and is wiggling, trying to escape his bonds still. beaten and bloody to the point she can’t tell where his eyes are through the blood, he whimpers at the sound touch of hands on his face. he begins to plead, his voice slurring thanks to his missing teeth and the blood loss he’s experiencing.

i don’t know anything… i don’t know anything… it’s what he keeps repeating over and over again, almost inaudible over the fight between mordred and the men. he doesn't seem to register what's happening from the men attacking mordred to zita untying the ropes on him. please… spare me… i don’t know anything… no sirs...

zita hauls the man up while promising to get him aid, grateful for her height because the man leans heavily on her. the poor thing- ]

Mordred-! [ zita finally looks up to see how mordred is doing and sees a fifth man emerge from somewhere, dagger at hand and poised to strike her since the others are keeping her busy. ] Watch out!

[ it takes some juggling but zita manages to shift the man in one arm and reach into her cloak for an inner pocket, barely getting the ingredients for the warding spell out in time.

she shouts a short incantation and throws at the items at the direction of mordred, making sure the small glass piece skitters towards her. it won't be long before a brief shield shimmers behind mordred, keeping her safe from an attempted stab at her back by the surprise opponent. ]

Edited 2019-03-12 16:35 (UTC)

[Mordred is always wiling to respond to violence with violence. It's kind of a big character flaw. And with Zita checking on the bag, she's okay with cutting loose at the group charging her, bursting forward to throw them off balance before they can call shields and all that other stuff specific to this world that she finds so annoying. Can't do that, if you don't have the chance to, or that's her line of thinking.

Which probably doesn't pan out since they've spent their whole lives here and she hasn't, so she'll be focusing on using Clarent to smash through those shields, only relenting from her assault when she hears Zita speak up, turning back for a second to see what's going on.]

Huh?!

[The shield blocks the would be assassin, sending them sprawling to the ground. She'd complain that she would've taken him, but she's a little busy turning back around to deal with the guys in front of her, swinging her sword wide to clear space, before dashing forward again, slamming into one of the attackers, aiming to take them out of commission. She's got no idea if it's better to bring in one of these guys in or put them all down (though she's sorely tempted to do the latter), but she'll leave at least one of them alive if not exactly well off or conscious.]

Can you get that guy out of here?

[That's more important anyways, probably. Getting the injured guy to safety. While she's talking, she tries to deflect a blast with her sword which...doesn't work quite as well as she thought it would, thanks to jewel logic, but she's still able to defend, turning being knocked off balance into a swing that's going to ensure that assassin won't be trying to start trouble again, as that slash has either broken his knee or cut through it, might be hard to tell in the dark, but she's pretty sure he's not getting back up.Either way, that's two down, and she's fine with continuing to whittle down their numbers if she has to.]

Good luck, Mordred! Please be careful!

[ one doesn't need to say redundant things when their partner is facing a battle to the possible death, but zita hates feeling useless and wants to show support somehow.

stewing on feeling powerless can wait. she's got to get the man out of the scuffles and so, without hesitating, zita now begins to drag the man towards somewhere safer. it doesn't take long for her to see there's a stock of supply boxes in the distance and makes a beeline for them there.

one of the men try to run around mordred, uninterested in letting zita and the man slip from their grips, but the gut wrenching sound of one of his comrades hysterically screaming stop him cold. he turns around and is horrified by the sight:

the man's knee is at a painful and wretched angle. he now sits on the ground, clutching at it in agony while wailing at the pain. it's clear he won't be getting up anytime soon. or ever, if they didn't see to it.

the man's wails forces the remaining three to assess their situation. one man is down, knocked out cold, and the other is clearly out of the count. realising that they're in over their heads, the one a fighter who is made of mettle and merit than all of them combined, the men begin to fall back.

they make sure to grab their fallen friends, wanting sure to leave no ally (or witness) behind. two men grab the man with the wounded knee and the last man tries, once again, to run around mordred. this time in hopes of getting to his unconscious friend.

deciding a distraction is in order, the man uses his jewel to create a force blast that knocks the pile of crates over zita and the man she's trying to protect. zita tries to throw up a shield around her and the man but, at the last second, decides to focus her magic on the wounded man and faces the burnt of the crates onto herself. the pile crashes over her and him, the commotion causing a terrific and terrible conniption of sound as plywood and role and supplies explode and break and zita's strangled shouts soon join in. ]

Ahhh-!

[Decision time, she could try and pursue the escapees, she's pretty sure she could catch them. But Zita needs help what with being buried under boxes. It's a little tougher decision that it would've been for her, but that's probably a good thing because she doesn't make the wrong one here, or at least she doesn't think it's the wrong one, hurrying over to help with the crates instead of hunting down the criminals, unsummoning her sword as she hurries because it's not going to be useful with this.]

Hang on!

[She'll just start throwing wood and whatever else fell out of them away, trying to rescue Zita and the other guy from the crate avalanche. If she weren't focused on that, she'd probably stop to think that it wasn't too too long ago she would've gone after the other guys instead, but she's kind of busy throwing plywood everywhere. Maybe it'll cross her mind later after she's unearthed the two of them.]

[ the man and zita soon come into view after enough of the crates have been torn away. a quick inspection reveals that the man is, thankfully, unharmed thanks to the shield.

zita, on the other hand, is struggling to keep her sounds of pain to herself. it looks like a large chunk of a splintered off board from one of the crates has embedded itself in her shoulder. it looks painful and sounds painful with how zita is trying to keep herself from making too much noise.

oddly enough - she seems fine over-all besides that embedded wound. any signs of cuts and scrapes and other injuries are nowhere to be found on her. huh. ]

Ah.... Thank you, Mordred. [ zita dmisses the shield and pushes the man up towards mordred. with her good arm, of course. ] Please- Get the man out first. I can look after myself and will be right behind you.

[ the sooner they get the man leaning on one of them for support, the sooner they can get out of here. ]

[Okay, good. The guy's okay. She'll register that, and then hear what Zita's saying. Get the guy to safety, sure, she can do that. But that shoulder wound looks bad, so she would normally try to carry them both out at the same time. And it might be feasible with the jewel working with her servant abilities, but she used her burst skill earlier, so grabbing the both of them and using it to get to a less shady area's not going to work.]

You sure you're okay to walk?

[Makes sense to her, it's Zita's shoulder, not her leg, and it looks nasty, but Mordred doesn't think she's in danger of losing it or bleeding out. But she still asks while she tries to get the other guy situated. Doesn't take that long to get him up and leaning on her. If anything, it takes the longest trying to make sure she's not going jab him with the side of her armor.

Once that's done, she'll wait for Zita to get up before starting to walk slowly away from here, she wants to make sure she doesn't lose her or get too far ahead to double back in case there's trouble.]

I'll live. [ she smiles at mordred, trying to be reassuring despite her current state. ] I'll need your help in getting this out of my shoulder. [ but that's for later.

now- they need to get out of the docks and find somewhere more open and public.

when she's sure that mordred and the man are moving, zita forces herself up to her legs and tries to ignore the way her bent ankle. it takes a few steps before her accelerated healing factor she now possesses mends itself with each hobbled step.

the more she walks, forces herself to move, the more her body heals herself of their injuries. soon she's able to jog alongside mordred and the man, helping keep him up.

the only visible wound she has now is the one on her shoulder. ]

I think we can go over there- That bench. [ not a populated area with how empty it is and zita wishes it here. beggars can't be choosers, howevers, so they'll have to make due. ]

Yeah, sure.

[She can handle that, it's probably not going to be as tough as dealing with the guy from the power plant. Especially since from what she can see, Zita seems to be recovering pretty quickly. She'll have to ask about that, but for now getting the guy to the bench is more important.]

All right, let's get him over there then. Should be easy enough to defend it if those guys come back.

[She sounds pretty nonchalant about the whole thing like she can handle things easily if they come back. But at the same time, she'd really rather they didn't. But she doesn't say as much, just leaving it as that as she works with Zita to ease the guy onto the bench.]

You think he's going to make it?

[ zita does a quick examination of the man now that he's laid out on the bench. the smell of blood and worse is overwhelming but she power through, quickly taking off his shirt and jacket to see what's been hidden from view.

she tries to note what the worst injuries on him. those are the ones she'll be healing right away after she's done with her assessment.

while inspecting his body and what he's sustained before her and mordred's intervention, she gives mordred a tentative verdict to keep her in the loop of things: ] I think... I know he'll live.

I don't know how he'll be in the long run but I know he'll live from this after I take care of these injuries on his chest. [ she winces when she shifts her bad shoulder and feels a sharp lance of pain stab through. this is certainly not something she would recommend happening to anyone. ]

Ah- Can you help me get this off while I'm working? I'll be grateful.

[Mordred's glad to hear the guy's going to make it. She would not have been happy if she'd lugged this guy all the way over here only for him to kick the bucket here on this bench. In fact, he'd be lucky he died because if not, there would be words at the least. Just don't try and figure out how Mordred would have angry words at the dude for dying if he had been dead.]

Yeah, all right. You want me to just pull it out or is there a better way to do this?

[She looks unsure, placing a gloved hand on the wooden shard. Her first thought is that's the way to do it, but Zita knows more about healing and medical treatment than she does, so she'll ask first instead of just doing it.]

[ she hisses when she feels mordred's touch on the plywood that's lodged on her shoulder, feeling it cause the wedge move and shift as a result. it reminds her of what's going to happen and, again, not something she would like to experience again.

this is going to hurt and zita almost stops herself from saying this answer but- ]

No- [ she tries her best to sound firm. firm and serious. get this over with and help the man and mordred who both need to be looked at. that's what she tries to tell herself to get through this hurdle. ] Just pull it out in one go.

It'll be faster that way and my magic should be able to handle the rest.

All right, here goes nothing.

[She's just going to put her other hand on Zita's shoulder to steady herself and like Zita said, just yank the plywood out in one go, pulling it straight out so hopefully it doesn't make a bigger wound or splinter. She's trying not to make things worse.]

Fu-! [ even when getting a large piece of broken wood yanked out of her shoulder, zita can't bring herself to really curse.

in that moment, she takes placing a hand over her mouth to suppress her scream. she prides herself in her composure so she steels herself, trying to keep her body from giving into the urge in doubling over and yelling in pain.

thankfully, zita's improved(?) magic kicks in and the wound begins to immediately heal itself. muscle and bone and flesh knit together, the bloody wound left by the plywood almost vanishing within moments. ]

... Thank you. [ she takes a deep breath, shaking but relieved it's finally out of her shoulder. looking over mordred, zita smiles at mordred with gratitude clear in her tired features. ] I owe you for that.

And you? Do you need any help with any injuries you got from that fight?

Nah, nothing I couldn't handle this time.

[She's bragging, but unlike the power plant debacle, she means it. As much as today's events turned into a mess, she's not the one in need of medical attention this time around.]

Just wish I'd taken them down sooner, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to drop all that on you and him.

[Still, she's pretty sure they won't be starting too much trouble anytime soon, so that has to count for something, right?]

It- It could have been worse. [ that's what she's going to keep telling herself for this entire incident. it's how she's going to get through the shock that's attempting to settle on her and she's struggling to shake off. ]

I'm simply happy we were able to get to him in time. If we hadn't... [ taking a deep breath to calm her beating heart, zita now rests a hand where the wound once was. she still finds it that she could heal so easily from such grievous injuries. it makes her wonder if this trade for her immortality was better or not.

but now that they're no longer in immediate danger, it allows zita some time to think about the past events they've throttled through. something about this whole thing worries her the most... ] I wasn't able to get a good look at them with how dark it is. Did you?

Yeah, could've.

[Mordred says this with the absolute certainty of someone who's seen her fair share of worse. And done, but that's not necessarily the point right now.

But as far as descriptions go...]

Didn't get the greatest look at them, but they just looked like some guys to me. I know I messed up that guy's leg pretty bad. Probably going to take a pretty skilled healer to fix that, right? You hear about anybody who suddenly can't walk or needs treatment for some kind of surprise accident nobody's heard of, it's got to be him, right?

[ she nods in reply, looking impressed by mordred's forward thinking. ]

It would take a substantial amount of aid in having something like that treated, magical means or not. [ though it is true that men have been jumped and hurt, someone coming in for a broken limb would be a person a healer would remember.

she hums in thought now, thinking about this more carefully. ] ... We can ask someone to keep an eye out for someone seeking aid for that sort of injury. Hopefully one of them will be caught and be made to answer this.

... And... Thank you, Mordred. If you hadn't intervened, I have no doubt that this man would have not seen dawn. zita turns to him one last time, her expression becoming sad at his sorry state. ] I do wonder how we can help this city. The violence, the hatred, the anger- It almost feels like a cycle here. How are we meant to combat against that?

No problem, it's what I'm good at.

[She's better at fighting things than figuring out all the hard parts of fixing society and things like that. It's stuff she has to learn if she's going to be king someday, but she still has more to learn there than she'd like.]

I don't about all the other stuff though. We're doing what we can, but...

[It's really not enough. And that pisses Mordred off. It's not like it's any of their fault or someone's not pulling their weight, everything here is just awful all the time.]

We could have done better.

[ she tries to make the assessment a touch more gentle for both of their sake after that they've been through. though they both know what the harsher and more truthful statement is, zita feels like it doesn't hurt to lessen the sting of what they've been through.

but the wind blows in that moment, bringing a chill that has zita shivering more than she'll like to admit. the rush of adrenaline is gone and zita feels herself crumbling, crashing from how tired she feels. ]

-Perhaps it'll be best that we try to head back to the Queen's Residence now. [ she pauses. ] After we find a place to leave this man for his sake.

...yeah.

[She won't argue otherwise, looking down at the ground momentarily. There were a few things she could've done better. And the situation shouldn't have happened at all. People shouldn't go around doing stuff like that, things are supposed to be getting better, not worse.]

And yeah, we should find some place for this guy. Don't want to leave him somewhere where somebody else'll attack him.

We should get going then. Last thing I want is a new group deciding to take advantage of the hour.

[ zita begins to sit the man up, apologising to his pained groans as she throws one of his arms over her shoulder so he could brace himself against her tall frame. she looks over to mordred, hoping for help, and ready for the long trek to somewhere safe.

it'll be a while before they can find such a place but there's no time like the present. ]

[ ooc; we can end here if you want! this was an amazing thread to have. :> ]

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( log 02. 🔮 locked. )

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