[Jessica wakes with a hangover, which is weird because she hasn't had a hangover this bad since her freshman year of college, and also she doesn't remember drinking. Actually, she doesn't remember much of anything? With a groan, she opens her eyes and then immediately squints and raises a hand to block out the light that assaults her.
Okay, ow.
Carefully opening them again, she's startled by the feeling of something tumbling from her chest into her lap and furrows her brow as she glances down, eyes widening in surprise at what she finds blinking back at her.]
Oh. Hi. [The...creature blinks once more for good measure and then opens its mouth to let out a strange...meowing sound that her ring completely fails to translate, which means it's probably just a meow and not a language at all. Unless, and her breath stops for a moment—but no she is wearing her ring. She sighs in relief and reaches her hand out hesitantly to the tiny grey blob of an alien, (obviously) running one finger along its back and winning herself a more pleased sounding chirp. Well okay then.]
So this is weird. [Still petting her new friend, she finally looks up again and begins to take in her surroundings and wow she definitely couldn't have gotten drunk enough to forget flying out of the post apocalyptic city she'd been holing up in and landing on a new planet.
Right. Okay. This is fine, she can figure this out. She's beneath a canopy of purple trees and something that she'd been sure was a branch just slithered away into another tree, but this is fine. Clearly, something had happened in The City. Another alien attack or some more glitching with the transport system. She can figure this out and get back. Jessica stands and tries not to cringe at the squelching sound the ground makes as she does, eyeing her new companion with a raised brow that it immediately imitates (which is especially great because it doesn't have eyebrows.)]
Looks like it's just you and me, Bud. Think we can handle it? [The creature answers by hopping onto her shoulder and beginning to chew on her hair and since Jessica is feeling like an optimist, she decides to take that as a yes. She has her ring, she has a small grey alien on her shoulder, clearly she's ready to conquer the world.]
Right, we got this. [She takes a step to work herself around the tree and nearly trips over a human leg that is apparently also attached to a human torso and arms and even a head.]
[Laine struggles back into consciousness, with a pounding headache and the heavy scent of jungle in his nose. He groans out a wordless sort of acknowledgement in response to the questioning voice as he makes sure his eyepatch is in place and squints his remaining eye open to the hazy purple light and the concerned stranger.
Ugh.
He sits up, one gloved hand rubbing against the ache in his skull and the other one sinking slightly into the soggy blueish moss beneath him.]
I'll survive. [He manages, after a second, and drags himself to his feet. The stranger is vaguely familiar, he's probably seen her face on the Network but he can't quite place her yet.]
Any idea where we are?
[A jungle, that's obvious. The plants here skew towards blue and purple and the air is humid enough that the scents hit him hard enough that it just intensifies his headache.
In the distance, something screeches, sounding large and hungry.]
[Jessica's head whips toward the screeching sound and Cat—that's its name now—scurries into her hair to hide.]
Aside from the obvious alien jungle, not so much. [Like Laine, Jessica recognizes him now that he's standing up and not a body she's tripping over. He's from The City, and even if they haven't met before, relief washes over her with the knowledge. At least wherever they are, she isn't alone.]
We should probably start looking around, maybe figure out how we got here. [Her eyes drift upward and she bites her lip, considering.]
[Cat pokes its head out from Jessica's hair to peek at Laine and lets out another chirp. Jessica smiles and reaches into her hair, tugging the small creature free.]
No, better not. I don't think it flies and I wouldn't want him to fall. Do you mind? [She holds Cat out to him and before Laine can answer, Cat is hopping onto his shirt and clinging there. Jessica can't help the soft laughter it draws form her. Cat is definitely the cutest alien she's ever met.]
Alright, I'll be right back. [Oh.] Oh right, uh, I'm Jessica. [It'd probably be good for them to know each other's names if they were working together now.]
Laine Brick. [He says, introducing himself at the same time as he raises one hand up to gently cup the creature clinging to his shirt. It doesn't seem hostile, but he's not so sure it's a good idea to be handling anything this tame (it might have an overprotective parent in the area).
And while she flies off he takes a look around. Nothing here is emitting SPH (it shouldn't be a surprise by this point, but it's still hard to believe his universe is the only one with that particular ever-present form of energy) and the scents of the jungle are heady and confused, especially for someone who's spent most of his life on space ships with air scrubbers.
There are trees, of course, and moss, and something sickly-sweet nearby, like rotting fruit (it's one of the huge silvery flowers hanging from a tree, sending out a signal for its pollinators). Something rustles the leaves overhead, and Laine looks up to see something long and branch-like slide its way through the dripping purple foliage. It moves too quickly for him to be able to tell if it was plant or animal, which is frustrating but not too much of a problem.]
[The sky is hazy purple with puffy pink clouds that look so much like cotton candy she has to resist reaching out to try them. In the distance, some sort of avian life form soars in the opposite direction, its wingspan and general shape bringing to mind the image of pop culture informed flying dinosaurs. As far as she can see, there's only unending brightly colored jungle and while her ring picks up on thousands of animal life signs, it doesn't know of any sentient species out here. It's not really a surprise since this universe hasn't been charted by Oa. A quick scan also informs her of the complete lack of tech in a one hundred mile radius which means whatever brought them here, definitely isn't here anymore.]
Okay, anything around we can use for shelter?
Yes, amiga, sensors are identifying an elevated mass of dry land with stone covering approximately 6.2 miles east. It should provide some shelter from wildlife and the elements.
Got it, thanks! [She swoops back down to Laine a moment later, landing lightly on her feet and gesturing east.]
No evidence of how we got here, but there's an area that's probably safer to make camp in about six miles away. How's a hike sound?
Sounds terrible, but we don't really have a choice. [Laine is tall and kind of scrawny and not dressed for a hike in a suit and tie and dress shoes, but he shrugs the shoulder that doesn't have a squishy grey creature sitting on it.]
How did you locate the area? [It's time to clarify abilities as they walk.]
[She's gotten used to explaining herself in the last few weeks, and even back home from time to time, so it's with understanding that she lifts her hand, knuckles out, for him to see the ring on her gloved finger.]
I'm a Green Lantern, that's what this ring means. In my universe, the Green Lantern Corp is a sort of police force charged with protecting the universe. [She lets her hand drop as she wonders at how much to say. Someone back in the City had tried to take her ring after learning it was the source of her abilities (not that it had worked for them) and since then she's been wary of how she explained it.]
I asked the ring to do a scan for me. It's kind of like a mini computer. [The ring chirps the inaccuracy in her head and she apologizes. It's a necessary downgrade. She gestures in the direction they need to walk and begins working her way through the weird moss sludge, feeling awkward and nervous. She just admitted that she's the kind of person who should be prepared for this but she still has no idea how to get them out of here. It makes her chest feel tight and she takes several deep breaths, wondering what Laine must think of her incompetence.
Conversation. That's probably better than staying in her head right now.]
Guess that's why The City picked me up in the first place, this sort of thing is kind of my job. Now it's like an unpaid promotion. [She snorts and then frowns.]
Uh, not that Green Lanterns get paid either? I don't even get benefits...
[She grins at the familiar colloquial for her title as she nods. The corp didn't like it when the Earth lanterns referred to themselves that way, but they all did. It was accurate after all.]
Well, I can tell you the space donuts aren't what you'd think they are. [Oops, dumb Earth joke.]
It's...not what I would have expected? Not that I ever expected to be a space cop. I'm not really sure what I was going to be but I can tell you it didn't involve space. It's sure come in handy through this mess though. [She gestures at their surroundings though it's likely to mean not just this right now but also the City.
She still hasn't really answered the question, though it isn't an intentional dodge so much as she just isn't sure she knows how to answer it.]
It's hard. [She finally continues, moving some brush out of the way for them as they go.] But rewarding. I didn't sign up for it but I wouldn't trade it for anything.
If you didn't sign up for it, how'd you end up with the job? [Laine follows her, keeping up the friendly chatter.
He doubts that it's Mothers. He's discovered that Mothers really doesn't exist in any of the other universes he's heard of so far.]
They put me in the space cops to try and keep me under their thumb after I got arrested for piracy and treason. [Way more than he usually reveals on a first meeting, but what's the harm of it?] But it's been more rewarding than I could have expected.
[Piracy and treason gets a brow raise and curious look, but she's not going to assume anything quite yet. She's seen enough of the universe to know better by now.]
It's...well. Complicated. The rings choose their bearers. I was just an ordinary person my whole life, then some things happened that put me on the radar of some crazy evil big bad. It was a whole thing. Batman was there. [He probably doesn't know who Batman is because most people in The City don't, but it feels important to establish how much of a Thing it was.] Then I almost died, but didn't, and then because clearly the entire universe is out of its mind, this ring decided I could be a space cop because I did such a great job at not dying.
[She shrugs, smiling and aware of how ridiculous it sounds.] Like I said, complicated. And weird, did I say weird? Because it's weird. [Pause.] You can turn it down. You can walk away at anytime.
[Her eyes fall on the ring and she smiles to herself.] I guess I just like being a space cop that doesn't get paid.
What about you? Treason's pretty heavy, if you're actually guilty. What happened?
[In spite of her concerns, Jessica snorts, unable to stop herself at that reaction. Who is this guy even...? The squishy alien still on his shoulder startles at the sound and attempts to imitate it, making a very strange squeak. She's keeping it forever.]
Oh, now, that's a secret~ [He says, playful as he raises a hand carefully to make sure the little alien on his shoulder doesn't fall off as it squeaks.]
[Her smile doesn't fade but the playfulness doesn't throw her off of the information he's given her, even if it isn't much. She has a feeling Laine is the kind of guy who knows he's charming and it isn't going to make her forget that whole "treason" bit. This isn't her jurisdiction and she isn't about to try and step into the politics of a world that isn't her own, but that doesn't mean she doesn't want to know if her traveling companion is the kind of guy she can trust not to stab her in the back. Before she can try for another more direct question, the alien chirps again just as movement in the thick trees to their left makes itself known.
She has enough time to throw a shield up in front of them both before something propels itself out of the bushes and slashes at them, each of it's unnaturally long limbs lined with blades that make it appear less like a creature inhabiting the planet, and more like something out of a bad scifi movie.]
Wh-- [Laine takes in a sharp breath through his nose, trying to catch the scent of whatever's rushing at them. It came up on his blind side, and it's a good thing Jessica throws that shield up.]
That's not good. [Laine doesn't sound too worried, but he's also keeping an eye out for more.]
[The shield can hold it, it's not strong enough to break through. She frowns though, staring at the weirdly humanoid reminiscent form and mangled appendages. Something tells her this can't be native to the planet.]
No kidding, Ring, what's the deal! [The answer comes to her a moment later in her head.
Inorganic life form. No language available. No sentience detected. J-Bird, it appears to driven only by need to destroy.
Well, great, that's perfect.]
I think someone made this thi—[A shriek in the distance is followed by others and Jessica turns her head in that direction, immediately lowering the shield and instinctively reforming the green light into a swirling mass of tendrils that lift the creature and slam it into the ground once then twice just as several others approach.]
Crap. Okay, maybe run. I'll find you. I got this. [She doesn't feel like she has this but maybe if she says it to herself enough, she'll mean it.]
[She says she's got this, and Laine wants to keep his advantage hidden for as long as possible.
But it's going to be a lot, he can hear those screeches, and the thing doesn't look too bothered by being slammed into the ground.]
We both need to get out of here. Come here. [There's no guarantee that they won't be tracked, but if she'll just get close enough that he can grab her, they can run.]
[She hears it in his voice that he has a plan and isn't aimlessly going to attempt to outrun these things, but before she can do anything, another whose approach must have been masked by the sound of the others jumps out at them from behind and she has to split her focus to make another shield that shoves it a dozen feet away. It buys her time to turn the green tendrils on it and they take both creatures, slamming them together.
They might be able to take to the sky but if they run into one of those flying things, they aren't going to be much better off. The thought has barely passed when the rest reach them and whatever Laine's plan had been she can't reach him now as the wave hits. Tossing the first two into the rest, she changes the light into a long beam that she swings at a dozen, knocking them all over and keeping one of them down for good. It's not nearly enough.
Her eyes find Laine in the throng and she throws up a sphere around him even as she dodges a blade to her side. After using a makeshift wrecking ball to clear a path to Laine, she lowers his shield, unable to maintain so many constructs. They have seconds maybe, before they're swarmed again and her battery won't last forever.]
[He's got something in his hand, translucent and blue, more like the idea of a weapon than anything solid, but it's sharp enough to cut through these things. The bright green of Jessica's not-SPH gives him enough of a shield that he can catch his breath for a second, turn his head to get an actual look at the battlefield instead of just trying to guess what's on his blind side.
It's not good.]
You fly out of here, I'll try and meet up with you later.
[If she weren't so busy being overwhelmed, she might laugh.]
Maybe your space cops are different, but I don't leave my partners behind! [She thinks suddenly, achingly, of Simon as she hasn't in weeks and knows he'd curse her out for staying even though he'd do the same.]
Come on! [She reaches a hand out to him, ready to put all of her power into a shield around them both.] We'll just have to try our luck in the ai—[She doesn't finish as one of the creatures, in a fit of athleticism unknown until this moment, easily jumps from fifteen feet back to land squarely between them and knock Jessica to the ground. In seconds her lantern light has formed a blade to counter the bladed limbs edging closer to her body, but they won't do much good when the rest of the creatures overrun them in moments.]
she's on the ground, one of those things between them, and more rushing at him.]
Are you okay? [He shouts, as he blocks with his blade and tries to figure out how to get out of the press of hostile bodies.
He needs the eye for a fight like this, but even as he blocks and strikes and tries to figure out how to get enough space to get into the air, the eye doesn't give him so much as a tenth of a second of foresight.]
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Okay, ow.
Carefully opening them again, she's startled by the feeling of something tumbling from her chest into her lap and furrows her brow as she glances down, eyes widening in surprise at what she finds blinking back at her.]
Oh. Hi. [The...creature blinks once more for good measure and then opens its mouth to let out a strange...meowing sound that her ring completely fails to translate, which means it's probably just a meow and not a language at all. Unless, and her breath stops for a moment—but no she is wearing her ring. She sighs in relief and reaches her hand out hesitantly to the tiny grey blob of an alien, (obviously) running one finger along its back and winning herself a more pleased sounding chirp. Well okay then.]
So this is weird. [Still petting her new friend, she finally looks up again and begins to take in her surroundings and wow she definitely couldn't have gotten drunk enough to forget flying out of the post apocalyptic city she'd been holing up in and landing on a new planet.
Right. Okay. This is fine, she can figure this out. She's beneath a canopy of purple trees and something that she'd been sure was a branch just slithered away into another tree, but this is fine. Clearly, something had happened in The City. Another alien attack or some more glitching with the transport system. She can figure this out and get back. Jessica stands and tries not to cringe at the squelching sound the ground makes as she does, eyeing her new companion with a raised brow that it immediately imitates (which is especially great because it doesn't have eyebrows.)]
Looks like it's just you and me, Bud. Think we can handle it? [The creature answers by hopping onto her shoulder and beginning to chew on her hair and since Jessica is feeling like an optimist, she decides to take that as a yes. She has her ring, she has a small grey alien on her shoulder, clearly she's ready to conquer the world.]
Right, we got this. [She takes a step to work herself around the tree and nearly trips over a human leg that is apparently also attached to a human torso and arms and even a head.]
Oh, hey, whoa! Are you alright?
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Ugh.
He sits up, one gloved hand rubbing against the ache in his skull and the other one sinking slightly into the soggy blueish moss beneath him.]
I'll survive. [He manages, after a second, and drags himself to his feet. The stranger is vaguely familiar, he's probably seen her face on the Network but he can't quite place her yet.]
Any idea where we are?
[A jungle, that's obvious. The plants here skew towards blue and purple and the air is humid enough that the scents hit him hard enough that it just intensifies his headache.
In the distance, something screeches, sounding large and hungry.]
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Aside from the obvious alien jungle, not so much. [Like Laine, Jessica recognizes him now that he's standing up and not a body she's tripping over. He's from The City, and even if they haven't met before, relief washes over her with the knowledge. At least wherever they are, she isn't alone.]
We should probably start looking around, maybe figure out how we got here. [Her eyes drift upward and she bites her lip, considering.]
I can fly up to check things out.
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No, better not. I don't think it flies and I wouldn't want him to fall. Do you mind? [She holds Cat out to him and before Laine can answer, Cat is hopping onto his shirt and clinging there. Jessica can't help the soft laughter it draws form her. Cat is definitely the cutest alien she's ever met.]
Alright, I'll be right back. [Oh.] Oh right, uh, I'm Jessica. [It'd probably be good for them to know each other's names if they were working together now.]
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And while she flies off he takes a look around. Nothing here is emitting SPH (it shouldn't be a surprise by this point, but it's still hard to believe his universe is the only one with that particular ever-present form of energy) and the scents of the jungle are heady and confused, especially for someone who's spent most of his life on space ships with air scrubbers.
There are trees, of course, and moss, and something sickly-sweet nearby, like rotting fruit (it's one of the huge silvery flowers hanging from a tree, sending out a signal for its pollinators). Something rustles the leaves overhead, and Laine looks up to see something long and branch-like slide its way through the dripping purple foliage. It moves too quickly for him to be able to tell if it was plant or animal, which is frustrating but not too much of a problem.]
no subject
Okay, anything around we can use for shelter?
Yes, amiga, sensors are identifying an elevated mass of dry land with stone covering approximately 6.2 miles east. It should provide some shelter from wildlife and the elements.
Got it, thanks! [She swoops back down to Laine a moment later, landing lightly on her feet and gesturing east.]
No evidence of how we got here, but there's an area that's probably safer to make camp in about six miles away. How's a hike sound?
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How did you locate the area? [It's time to clarify abilities as they walk.]
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I'm a Green Lantern, that's what this ring means. In my universe, the Green Lantern Corp is a sort of police force charged with protecting the universe. [She lets her hand drop as she wonders at how much to say. Someone back in the City had tried to take her ring after learning it was the source of her abilities (not that it had worked for them) and since then she's been wary of how she explained it.]
I asked the ring to do a scan for me. It's kind of like a mini computer. [The ring chirps the inaccuracy in her head and she apologizes. It's a necessary downgrade. She gestures in the direction they need to walk and begins working her way through the weird moss sludge, feeling awkward and nervous. She just admitted that she's the kind of person who should be prepared for this but she still has no idea how to get them out of here. It makes her chest feel tight and she takes several deep breaths, wondering what Laine must think of her incompetence.
Conversation. That's probably better than staying in her head right now.]
Guess that's why The City picked me up in the first place, this sort of thing is kind of my job. Now it's like an unpaid promotion. [She snorts and then frowns.]
Uh, not that Green Lanterns get paid either? I don't even get benefits...
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Other than not getting paid, what's that like?
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Well, I can tell you the space donuts aren't what you'd think they are. [Oops, dumb Earth joke.]
It's...not what I would have expected? Not that I ever expected to be a space cop. I'm not really sure what I was going to be but I can tell you it didn't involve space. It's sure come in handy through this mess though. [She gestures at their surroundings though it's likely to mean not just this right now but also the City.
She still hasn't really answered the question, though it isn't an intentional dodge so much as she just isn't sure she knows how to answer it.]
It's hard. [She finally continues, moving some brush out of the way for them as they go.] But rewarding. I didn't sign up for it but I wouldn't trade it for anything.
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He doubts that it's Mothers. He's discovered that Mothers really doesn't exist in any of the other universes he's heard of so far.]
They put me in the space cops to try and keep me under their thumb after I got arrested for piracy and treason. [Way more than he usually reveals on a first meeting, but what's the harm of it?] But it's been more rewarding than I could have expected.
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It's...well. Complicated. The rings choose their bearers. I was just an ordinary person my whole life, then some things happened that put me on the radar of some crazy evil big bad. It was a whole thing. Batman was there. [He probably doesn't know who Batman is because most people in The City don't, but it feels important to establish how much of a Thing it was.] Then I almost died, but didn't, and then because clearly the entire universe is out of its mind, this ring decided I could be a space cop because I did such a great job at not dying.
[She shrugs, smiling and aware of how ridiculous it sounds.] Like I said, complicated. And weird, did I say weird? Because it's weird. [Pause.] You can turn it down. You can walk away at anytime.
[Her eyes fall on the ring and she smiles to herself.] I guess I just like being a space cop that doesn't get paid.
What about you? Treason's pretty heavy, if you're actually guilty. What happened?
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But I guess I have something they needed, so they couldn't just get rid of me easily.
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And what's that?
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She has enough time to throw a shield up in front of them both before something propels itself out of the bushes and slashes at them, each of it's unnaturally long limbs lined with blades that make it appear less like a creature inhabiting the planet, and more like something out of a bad scifi movie.]
Stay behind me!
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That's not good. [Laine doesn't sound too worried, but he's also keeping an eye out for more.]
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No kidding, Ring, what's the deal! [The answer comes to her a moment later in her head.
Inorganic life form. No language available. No sentience detected. J-Bird, it appears to driven only by need to destroy.
Well, great, that's perfect.]
I think someone made this thi—[A shriek in the distance is followed by others and Jessica turns her head in that direction, immediately lowering the shield and instinctively reforming the green light into a swirling mass of tendrils that lift the creature and slam it into the ground once then twice just as several others approach.]
Crap. Okay, maybe run. I'll find you. I got this. [She doesn't feel like she has this but maybe if she says it to herself enough, she'll mean it.]
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But it's going to be a lot, he can hear those screeches, and the thing doesn't look too bothered by being slammed into the ground.]
We both need to get out of here. Come here. [There's no guarantee that they won't be tracked, but if she'll just get close enough that he can grab her, they can run.]
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They might be able to take to the sky but if they run into one of those flying things, they aren't going to be much better off. The thought has barely passed when the rest reach them and whatever Laine's plan had been she can't reach him now as the wave hits. Tossing the first two into the rest, she changes the light into a long beam that she swings at a dozen, knocking them all over and keeping one of them down for good. It's not nearly enough.
Her eyes find Laine in the throng and she throws up a sphere around him even as she dodges a blade to her side. After using a makeshift wrecking ball to clear a path to Laine, she lowers his shield, unable to maintain so many constructs. They have seconds maybe, before they're swarmed again and her battery won't last forever.]
Ideas?
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It's not good.]
You fly out of here, I'll try and meet up with you later.
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Maybe your space cops are different, but I don't leave my partners behind! [She thinks suddenly, achingly, of Simon as she hasn't in weeks and knows he'd curse her out for staying even though he'd do the same.]
Come on! [She reaches a hand out to him, ready to put all of her power into a shield around them both.] We'll just have to try our luck in the ai—[She doesn't finish as one of the creatures, in a fit of athleticism unknown until this moment, easily jumps from fifteen feet back to land squarely between them and knock Jessica to the ground. In seconds her lantern light has formed a blade to counter the bladed limbs edging closer to her body, but they won't do much good when the rest of the creatures overrun them in moments.]
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she's on the ground, one of those things between them, and more rushing at him.]
Are you okay? [He shouts, as he blocks with his blade and tries to figure out how to get out of the press of hostile bodies.
He needs the eye for a fight like this, but even as he blocks and strikes and tries to figure out how to get enough space to get into the air, the eye doesn't give him so much as a tenth of a second of foresight.]