aterat | Panic at the harbor!

Entry tags:

Panic at the harbor!

Who; Waver and Anyone
What; Smart idiot needs ass saved
Where; Harbor district at night
When; During the event
Warnings; Being attacked by a wererat pack. So there will be fighting/injury/giant rat people.
Note; If you would like something specific or have an idea, you are welcome to talk to me about it. I am also open to writing personalized starters or doing other stuff, just drop me a line over on the plotting post or send me a message on discord @ WhimsicalSpook#8219

Waver had decided to head to his workshop in the harbor district that evening. He cut rather quickly through the more populated area with its businesses. Passing by the forges and the louder taverns where people were being sent away after last call, he started towards the more rundown area where his destination was nestled. It wasn’t too far from the docks, surrounded by a few equally ramshackle, dilapidated abandoned buildings. All he had to do was cut down another back alley stretch and a turn down another and he’d be there.

Truth be told, Waver had been more than a little lucky in his time here. He had picked the area, knowing full-well that it was less desired because of the occasional situation with creatures overrunning the area since they weren’t dealt with as often as they were in the main areas of the city. But he’d set up a solid bounded field to deter things (and strangers) from getting too close to the workshop, and he was mindful of what alleyways had reported sightings of the harbor's less pleasant denizens.

That said, luck had an unfortunate way of running out, considering the recent warnings going out in the city. As the professor fiddled with his lighter to try to get a flame to light a mystic code for the last stretch of his walk, there was the unexpected sound of footfall ahead of him. A group? “Hm?” His eyes narrowed slightly, and he lowered the lighter, the shiny gold glinting in the moonlight as he glanced around, only to spot a group of people-no... Wererats, ahead of him. Those… are definitely some rodents of unusual size… He mused with a growing panic, as one seemed to make a sound and all eyes turned to him.

He had been so confident he knew which routes were best to take to avoid things like this… It was then he realized it was signalling to another of its group, who’d been positioned in the shadow of the building. “When the hell did they get so organized?” The magus jumped back just enough to avoid taking a direct strike, but it still caught his side with a tear of fabric and a shot of pain that caused him to let out a shout.

A follow up curse on the tip of his tongue as he looked to the alleyway’s exit, backing up further to try to keep out of arm’s reach of the wererat that had attacked first. But… Well, there were a few more at either end of the alleyway. A whole damn pack? Fantastic…

Thunder rumbled in the distance as he dug a small glass bottle out from one of the inside pockets of his jacket and considered his options. A storm was coming, probably one of the fast moving ones that had plagued the weather recently. Not something he wanted to be caught in the middle of on top of this. Swirling the liquid inside, he activated his circuits and uttered a quiet word to add a little extra bang to the mixture, then wound back to throw it at one end of the alleyway to hopefully scattered the wererats there. The bang and the flash of light that lit up the night blinding and sending the creatures shrieking. A simple trick, but effective nonetheless. Probably wouldn’t work a second time, so he took off at a run to the next alleyway in hopes of getting to his workshop before they caught up…

Only to get tackled by the first wererat again, the others not far behind to circle around and close them off. Its jaws snapped at him and causing him to recoil and try to push it off of him even as he fell to the street. This was not happening. He was not about to become a wererat himself. Nope. Definitely not!

“Not interested in joining your little club, you fucking demonic beast!” He snapped, tone high in a panic, trying to push back against it and get in a decent opportunity for a feeble gandr shot that might deter it.

This just wasn’t his night.

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See, this will be Zack's first time watching. Which he doesn't actually do. He just jumps from his ledge, throwing himself at the building across the way. And he seems to almost bounce off of it. Yeah, wall-jumping. Totally a thing.

IT takes no time at all with the jumps between buildings for Zack to reach the roof. Isn't he grand?

On the one hand, Waver would be utterly relieved that his embarrassing display was once again missed. It’s a rare thing that he gets to avoid someone poking fun at his slightly sub-par abilities in general. That said, he feels a frown tugging at his face again as he finally managed to get his arms up over the edge of the ledge above and sees Zack literally wall-jumping to get up to the roof with just as much ease as when he jumped onto the window ledge before. “Why do they always have to make these things look so damn easy?” He mumbled with annoyance as he struggled to get a foothold to finish pushing himself the rest of the way up.

Taking far longer than the mage is willing to admit, and longer than he wanted to think about given how utterly drained he was, he finally dragged himself onto the roof properly and promptly sat there wheezing slightly and trying to steady himself. On the bright side, lots of stuff hurt from struggling so it muted the pain in his side… “Please tell me there isn't any more climbing in your plan.” He finally commented once he could breathe properly again.

"Nope, no climbing," Zack agrees as he takes his sword off of his back. He holds it up, pressing his head against the flat of the blade for a moment before inverting it and driving it into the cement of the rooftop. It's clearly well sunk there, it would take an impressive feat to pull out the weighty weapon.

"Okay, piggy back time."

The relief at the confirmation was fairly obvious as his shoulders sagged slightly and he took a moment to collect himself. “Good.” Eyes going to Zack as the man removed the sword from its resting place at his back. There is some kind of reference or comment one could make about swords embedded in stone, but he’s too tired and not keen to invite the nightmares that went along with her at the moment. Instead, he tried to figure out what the hell Zack was doing that for.

“Huh?” Really, he should have seen this option sooner, but to be fair to Waver? He wasn’t at his best at the moment. “Ah, right…” As much as he wants to complain about the idea… Well, it’s better than being thrown over someone’s shoulder like a sack of potatoes, right? That’s happened on more than one occasion. And there’s no way he’s getting down from here on his own, let alone to his workshop. So his pride was going to have to take a backseat to practicality here. “Alright, then. If you’re sure about this plan of yours.” He added, eyeing the guy for a moment. Waver wasn’t heavy, and Zack carried that sword around so… That much wasn’t a concern, but it just seemed right to double check before continuing.

Pushing to his feet finally, he winced a little and waited for things to settle again before going to Zack. Yeah, he was ready to get out of here.

Sacks of potatoes weren't as centrally balanced and thus less useful to have when jumping between roofs. Backpacks were a lot better.

"You're pretty light," Zack says, though he's mostly guessing. He does go down on a knee to help the guy get up easily. "Don't worry. I've carried Cloud and my sword for really long distances before. This is simple."

It’s a decent guess, and Waver couldn’t deny that. The man isn’t exactly built solidly, and he doesn’t really eat enough thanks to his condition. So he’s on the lighter end to the point that even his students have picked him up before. Which is embarrassing to admit, so he’s just going to offer an uncertain nod of agreement to that statement.

“I’m not worried! Just… reasonably concerned about falling at this height.” He responded lamely with a little frown at Zack pointing it out. He was definitely lying about the being worried thing and they both knew it.

He sure hoped this Cloud guy wasn’t as light as one, making the comment less comforting than it at least seemed to be. A person and a sword? Yeah, Zack should be fine to get him down from here. Waver tells himself this several times as he stared for a moment before getting on the man’s back, mindful of not strangling the guy but definitely holding on tight due to the nerves.

"We won't fall. Unless you consider the whole 'well we jumped across a rooftop so technically we're falling to the next one' to be falling. Which, yeah, technically."

He wraps his arms around the guy's legs to hold him in place and smiles.

"Which way?"

Smart guy… Waver raised a brow at that before letting out a half grumble, half sigh. “The only falling I’m concerned about is one involving landing on my damn skull below, but I see your point.” He responded with a frown. He’s used to stuff like this, the mage reminded himself. It’s just alarming because of the situation and because he doesn’t know Zack that well yet. If this were someone who was around regularly back in his world, it would be an easy acceptance.

The lecture he was giving himself was interrupted, though, by the question. Waver took a moment to glance down. He needed a minute to get his bearings, the whole running to get away, and the climbing had taken him a little off course… But after he picked out a familiar landmark and was relieved to see it wasn’t too far off. “Not far. Just follow the alleyway we started in, down to the end, then take a left.” He paused, thinking better of just leaving it at that. “Would be best to get to the ground before going any further than that. I have a bounded field set around the area of the building I work out of. It wouldn’t physically stop you… But it can be a bit jarring to pass through the first time.”

It would bombard him mentally with feelings like ‘there’s nothing to see here?? Let’s go back’ and a little ‘this feels… not quite right. I’ll go another way’ among other things depending on the person. The idea of Zack getting hit by that mid-jump led Waver to again imagine him losing his momentum and causing an accident. Once Zack had been to the workshop beyond it and knew better, it wouldn’t really do more than tug lightly at the back of his mind. He was seen as an ally, after all. But for those unwanted like wererats and other low-level entities or people who didn’t know better? They wouldn’t even realize anyone resided there and would simply ignore the building.

"That seems sorta inefficient," Zack said. And with that he ran for the edge of the building and easily leapt across. This would save the left turn for now. He cut across this next roof at an angle, running easily over the rooftop.

"Keep your eyes open for where you want me to go!"

“You’d be surprised.” The professor responded with a small huff. Bounded fields like the one he’d constructed had kept the school he worked for secret for over a thousand years. His weren’t as strong. Of course, Waver didn’t really have much in the way of power compared to his peers. But it still worked, and it meant the wererats and people he didn’t want around wouldn’t bug him.

He considered leaving it at that, but he needed to focus on something, otherwise he was a little concerned he might pass out, and if this were Gray, he would have been explaining it, anyway. “A physical barrier is something most would question, especially if there shouldn’t be one there.” Then with his luck, they’d come back with something that could break it down. “The way this field works is mental. What each person thinks upon coming up to it differs, but essentially it gives you strong reason to think you should be elsewhere, or that there’s nothing worth seeing. They’re less likely to question their own thoughts and what they think they believe to be true.” And if you were hit by that midair, Waver envisions you getting kind of confused and dropping him, Zack. “You’ll see when we get to it.”

When Zack leaped across to the next building, the mage risked a look down and might have tightened his grip just slightly, even if he’d deny it. This was a hell of a way to get around, and he was trying to realign which way they needed to go as Zack cut across the next roof and saved them the left turn. It’s not hard, since he doesn’t have to focus on walking there, but it takes him a moment to respond, given how light-headed he was between the injury and the way they were getting around. “I’ll let you know. It’s a little further.”

Squinting a bit over Zack’s shoulder a couple minutes later, he picked out the familiar chimney sticking up in the distance. “Just up ahead now. It would be best to try to get down to ground level by the end of this roof if you can.”

It was easy for Zack to move like this, quick and easy over otherwise risky or unstable ground. He was, after all, a pinnacle of human fitness. So he ran and jumped, even clearing the road itself, with quite a bit of ease. He even whooped over that jump, before landing easily and continuing on.

Clearly the guy was having a lot of fun as he had run, almost seeming disappointed when he was told they needed to go down.

"I guess you should probably hold on extra tight."

The disappointment is noted, but Waver could hardly feel bad about it considering he was not having fun himself. He wanted to be on solid ground, in his workshop on the other side of the bounded field where nothing else could (probably) happen. So he could dump as much disinfectant as he had in his medical kit on the wound in hopes of killing whatever germs the claws from the wererats might carry and then dress the wound properly, so he stopped bleeding on everything.

“Right, I can probably manage that.” Seriously, he didn’t need to be told twice as he tightened his hold on Zack with a particular nervous energy that was born from anxiety about the descent ahead of them. He was glad he’d at least warned the man about the field, so he wasn’t as worried about that, but there was still the matter of getting down from the roof.

Awesome. Zack runs for the edge of the building and easily jumps down, landing on the street with no real issue. See, he's managed it.

"Okay, how much further?"

The relief at them being down on solid ground is absurdly obvious, letting out a sigh as he loosened his hold again once they landed. “Not far. The building is just ahead. It has a faded sign hanging next to the door. It used to be a tavern before I cleaned it up.” The counter space was fantastic for his projects… “The edge of the bounded field should be a few feet ahead of us. Around…” He glanced at the other nearby landmarks. “The edge of that broken lamppost.” He nodded, so really close.

"Alright then," Zack said marching forward. And just as he hit the edge of the field he stopped and tilted his head before turning away.

"Sorry, got distracted. Which way next?"

Waver had been slightly afraid of this, which was why he was extremely glad he insisted that they be on ground level when they approached. Taking a deep breath, he put himself in the same frame of mind as he did when Gray didn’t know something. His apprentice wasn’t actually a mage and needed to adjust to things like this or learn something about what was going on frequently. “It’s only natural.” He confirmed with a sigh, “I’ll need you to turn back around and to start walking in that exact direction.” He would have pointed, but from his current place, Zack wouldn’t have seen it anyway.

“As I mentioned, the field affects the mind. Whatever thoughts entered your head and distracted you were likely caused by it. You’ll need to focus very hard on the destination and to keep walking, even as your thoughts suggest otherwise.” He reminded the man before continuing. “If it helps, focus on my voice instead of your own thoughts. My apprentice needed some time to get used to things like this, so it’s a bit tricky the first time. I’ll describe what you’re walking towards and how much further.” And then once he was a few steps beyond the field, he would be fine.

"Okay," Zack said, because that sounded weird. SO he turned around and started walking that way.

Except nope, there's a cart pulled by a chocobo going by now and Zack coos.

"Oh man! That's a cool looking bird!" he says and he is immediately turning them to follow it. "Wanna pet it?"

Waver opened his mouth to keep talking, to make sure Zack stayed focused on the destination, only to find that it didn’t even work. The expression on his face was a mixture of absolute befuddlement and exhaustion. Where the hell did that chocobo cart even come from??? The timing was impeccable, and again the mage is left wondering if some kind of being in the universe found this amusing.

With an exhausted and frustrated groan, his head drooped. “No, Zack, I do not want to pet the bird! I am literally bleeding here. Probably on you at this point, I might add!” Seriously, that makeshift wrap wasn’t going to help forever.

"Oh? We should get you to a doctor then," Zack said with a sound of concern. "Oh wait! Let me put you down. I've got healing materia!"

STill not moving for the man's warded place.

If there were a real doctor around here, Waver would be surprised. He wouldn’t be trying to reverse engineer his own medication if there were. He opened his mouth to respond, to try to re-direct Zack towards the workshop again when the man just kept talking. And… Waver stared. “Healing materia.” Does he know what materia is? No, but he can make a few educated guesses based on the ‘healing’ aspect of it. What wasn’t lost on the mage was the fact that this had probably been an option the entire time?

“Yes, put me down and whether we do that or I lead you to the workshop by hand, I’ll need to be on my feet at this point.” He finally agreed, because it was pretty clear Zack wouldn’t pass the bounded field on his own. While Waver was good at setting them, it was particularly interesting that Zack seemed more affected by them than some people.

"I mean, I could totally heal you right there, but okay," Zack says, lowering himself so Waver could get down onto his own two feet.

“Details like that would help.” He responded with a sigh. He literally didn’t even know Zack had magic up until the alleyway. The man had only ever mentioned preferring swords for a weapon before. Wobbling a little once, he was standing on his own, held his head slightly and waited for things to settle again. “If it’s not going to take long and be something easily interrupted, then I’d appreciate it. If not, then we should get inside where it’s safer. Though if we do, then at this point I think I’m going to need to lead you the rest of the way with how easily you get turned around.”

Waver rambles about where they should consider doing the healing. It's a lot of talking. By the time he's finished talk Zack had already charged the spell and released it, directed as a general curative over Waver because he didn't know where specifically the guy was hurt. Then, just to cover his bases and since he knew he had the MP, he cast it again.

Waver would argue he wasn’t rambling exactly, so much as trying to keep the man’s attention to ensure they got to safety and hoping for some details about what they were talking about here. Except… Well, he stops a moment or two after Zack finished what he was doing so very easily (too easily, the envious part of him would complain) healed the wound on his side. His expression as he glanced down at his side and then at Zack could easily be read as ‘What the fuck?’ with a mixture of something awkward. “Oh… That answers that.” Kind of, but it also didn’t answer other questions he had.

Manners were something Waver did have, even if he was an awkward, grumpy hermit of a man at times. “Uh… Thank for that. I guess I owe you more than one now.” He ended awkwardly, because he’d only have been able to do some basic shit to encourage his body’s natural healing process and patch himself up. Which, for Waver, meant a longer recovery than most mages.

"Oh," Zack said with a smile and a nod. "Those buns at the bakery? The ones with the sweet black bean paste? Those are a good thank you gift."

Because they are really tasty and he'd love to share some with his friends.

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I laughed so hard when I read this. Zack is a precious bean.

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