It Feeds On The Blood, It Feeds On The Heat

[itstillhurt]

Who: Azula and various CR
Which: Noctaere Plot Log (Closed)
Where: Various locations in Reverein, the Wastelands and Interactive Dreamscapes
What: On the night of the 21st, the heat becomes unbearable. A thunderstorm rolls over Reverein, but there's no rain- posing its own problems when lightning strikes the dry earth. The shape of a bird made of blue flame can be seen fleeing from the village, but the weather disturbances remain, as does the damage it's causing. Fires are a serious concern. The unnatural storms will last until the end of the 22nd. After that, the unnatural dry and intense thunderstorm will subside into a normal heavy rainfall.

Warnings: A lot of violence, possibly including arson and burns. Also some examination of a backstory including abuse, neglect, war crimes, and themes of genocide.

Comments

[toph_luck]

[ Great...Some kind of weird... Azula monster. So just Azula. But this one can fly.

Her body's already aching fromt he blast, but she just grunts and powers through it, pushing herself back with a wave of rock after the first blast of flame scorches one of her legs. She cant find it!

Pushing, pushing, listening for the wingbeats in her struggle before she feels like it's safe enough to spin around and throw up a wall of stone between herself and the blasts. Then another, and another, until there's several layers of stone shielding around her.

Okay, breath. Breath Toph. Where is it... ]

[itstillhurt]

[The Noctaere goes high at first, wary of another counterattack, but Toph is clearly on the defensive. It wheels around taking another pass and breathing fire at Toph, but her stone wall blocks the flames. It tries to circle around and attack from another angle, but she's clearly able to track its movements by sound now, and every time it tries, it's met with another layer of defense, until Toph is entirely shielded by slabs of rock.

A new approach, then. It circles tighter as it begins breathing another slow, steady stream of fire at the rocks themselves, trying to heat the air around her and force her out. It stays in motion, hoping to avoid another letting her track its movements, but there's only so far it can go without disengaging.]

[toph_luck]

[ Be patient, and wait for the moment to strike. That's her style.

Easier said than done when your feet are half-burned and there's a blasted mark of fire and stone across your arm. It's fine, she's fought through worse... Probably.

When it comes to fighting Toph is nothing if not endlessly creative, something necessary for bending. By the time the bird starts trying to heat up her dome, she's gone, deeper underground and somewhere else, letting it attack an empty area.

A few moments later? A decoy figure of stone shaped like her in rock armour, not unlike the armour version of herself that she launched at Aang once emerges from the dome, dashing off in one direction away from the town. It's time to lead this destruction elsewhere. ]

[itstillhurt]

[The onslaught continues until the Noctaere sees the rocky figure fleeing from the makeshift shelter. Then it swoops toward it, breathing fire on it in an attempt to burn her inside of it.

The good news is, the ruse seems to work- it's thoroughly distracted by what it assumes is Toph wearing a protective layer of stone, and it follows away from the village, still trying to force out the girl that it thinks is inside.]

[toph_luck]

[ Not quite as smart as Azula then. Hmm... That earthbender brain sure is ticking, thinking of what to do. The decoy's directed along while Toph moves underground with it, slightly struggling with the concentration required but otherwise holding up.

A bit further from the town, she has more room to shoot out pillars, mostly guessing at where the creature is based on the impact of the blasts and the tremors of the wind.

Jeeze, what a nightmare to fight. ]

DID YOU JUST-

[itstillhurt]

[The pillars force the Noctaere upward and away from the ground, disrupting the attack on the fleeing figure, and finally, the Noctaere loses patience.

It swipes its wings, and twin arcs of blue flames shoot toward the rocky form, ready to slice through it and reveal... nothing.

It was a trick.

There's a moment where the Noctaere does nothing, simply staring at the empty rubble it cut down. And then it seems to show a rare emotion again- frustration. It begins flinging fire around the place, trying to inflict as much damage on the landscape as possible in an attempt to smoke Toph out. When that fails, it swoops around and begins to fly away toward the wildlands]

:>

[toph_luck]

[ Oh no you don't. Stone pillars launch out after the fleeing bird once the jig is up. She can't just let a monster like that escape and come back, can she? Especially if it's her.

Toph follows, popping out of the ground with a deeper, stern expression. Hmmm, this isn't good at all. She can deal with those burns and rock injuries later. ]

[itstillhurt]

[As the pillars begin erupting around it again, it suddenly whirls in the air. And then it sees her.

As soon as it spots its target, it hurls a small, glowing orb of energy directly toward her, a ball of explosive flames. It doesn't wait to see if its attack was successful before it turns and continues to flee.]

[toph_luck]

[ This is why she hates fighting flying things. It's nearly impossible to read their attacks. All she can do is hope to make contact and go from there.

There's a startled yelp, throwing up a barrier as she feels the explosion ripping towards her. It's a moment too late, softening the blow but replacing it with more flying rocks to send her hurtling off to one side, caught in a slide of earth to ease the crash.

Pff- When she stands a few seconds later the bird is gone, spitting dirt from her mouth and frowning. ]

Great... That's another thing to deal with...

[ She can't tell where it is anymore so... Hmm. Time to walk along. She'll catch up eventually. Maybe when it's calmed down. ]