Reaching Salvation: Post-Acer

"Yeah, sure do," Neo said, before poking Erika's throat. "Go for it."

"Why d'you want to be burnt to a crisp?" Luke asked wryly, diverting the question, and firing lots of small fast fireballs at his opponent when he felt his pulse begin to quicken.

"I've taken way to many risks that normally would'a had me done so," Heidi pointed out, ducking behind her shield, continuing to raise Luke's pulse. The shield then shifted into a spear as she ran at him.

Luke felt his pulse continue to rise, and realised with a pang of fear that Heidi could affect his blood stream while moving. But shifting it back into her spear could prove a mistake, he thought, as she might not be able to block his attacks. He jetted into the air, boosted slightly by adrenaline, and fired his flames down from the air above her, trying to make it rain fire.

Heidi let out a long string of curses, trying to dodge the fire rain to no real avail. She broke off a bit of her spear, throwing it at one of Luke's feet. On the hopeful contact, it would explode into liquid. Hopefully.

Erika started to speak. "Everyone in the village please listen to this because it's very important. In about a weeks' time there will be a battle here. Anyone who is too young or does not wish to fight, there will be a caravan that leaves tomorrow for another village. Think about this carefully, though I implore all villagers under the age of fourteen to go. Thank you."

Luke tried to fly away from the spear fragment, but since he was weak and out of practice he lost control in the rush, launching himself away from Heidi. He tumbled forward and put out a hand to slow himself down, but sprained his wrist as he did, rolling to a halt. He was used to much worse pain, however, so he sprung back up, eyeing Heidi cautiously.

Heidi glanced at his wrist. That was definitely going to bruise. She hung back a bit, before coughing awkwardly. "You should 'prolly rest that wrist a bit. It's gonna bruise something nasty," she offered.

"You think? I figured it wasn't too bad, just wrenched a bit," he glanced at it curiously. He supposed Heidi did know best though, and Kira might get upset if he hurt himself badly. "Thanks. Sorry for not putting up much of a fight, you at least feel like you blew off some steam?"

"Bruises are just blood under 'yer skin," Heidi shrugged. "I know blood. But yeah, thanks for that. Now I'll probably not kill anyone," she added, laughing. Probably. Maybe just Paul now. Yeah, she'd kill Paul and that would be it.

"Always a good thing, I s'pose," Luke replied with a grin, guessing that his pregnancy guess had been spot-on and that she'd just found out for sure. Still, that wasn't his problem at the moment. He had to figure out what was wrong with his Flow, and it was hard to take a problem seriously when he was still buzzing off being healed.

Heidi rolled her eyes. "Not necessarily. Have fun with your bruises and shit," she shrugged, turning away and heading back towards the village. These burns were going to hurt like a bitch. At least she wasn't feeling the need to kill everything anymore. Maybe Tom could help her or something. She wasn't sure with what, but at least he could usually stay calm. Maybe it would rub off on her.

Luke shrugged, figuring that it was a matter of opinion, one he happened to disagree with her on, but a matter of opinion nonetheless. He could see the arguments for her side. He sat down on a hillock, lighting a cigarette with a gesture from his hand. They were always good for calming down.

Tom was helping tidy up at the small kitchen Kira and Luke had set up for the refugees. It had been the rule at his house that if you didn't make dinner you tidied up, and the habit had stuck, he supposed. It was a nice idea anyway, he thought, and he figured they might as well thank the pair for it. After all, Tom had moved his house from the village, and had lost quite a bit of his belongoing to the destruction. The food was a nice pick-me-up.

Kira eyed Tom a bit nervously. While she was grateful for his help, the cleaning up gave her something to do. It wasn't like she was going to strike up the courage to protest, though.

Heidi wandered around the village for a while, before heading towards where the Illuminati were gathered. It would be a good idea to actually work on her Flow sensing a bit, even if she wasn't good at it. Then again, she was having trouble getting farther than what little she could do now. Which wasn't much.

Nathan continued smiling at Sage before letting out an inner sigh. With his flow sensing he could feel everything and he knew that soon he'd have to get to work on the defence and training.

Hearing Neo's announcement didn't help either.

"I should probably go..." He said wistfully. "Got to sort everything out for the fight..."

Despite his words he didn't relinquish his hold on the girl. His thumb still gently caressing her cheek.

Paul sighed, looking at the walker.

"What's the plan boss?" Kendra asked him, stepping beside him. Most of the crew, a total of twenty people, were wondering the same.

"Well, whoever doesn't want to fight can head out with them," Paul motioned at the Acer village, "but other than that, we're up against a force about 200% larger than us, probably better equipped, better trained, and with better flows. We have a limited supply of ammo and will be fighting with limited cover. Our only advantages are the flow shield generator and Joey's crazy side Percival. Our cover will be a forest valley between mountains. Oh, and we're all out of gum."

"So all that's left is to kick ass, eh?" Kendra grinned, catching the joke. The odds weren't very good, but the fact that they wouldn't have to deal with Flow was a good thing. The forest would make it nearly impossible for vehicles to move, so that meant they'd have to either dismantle the walker and use it as artillery and it's guns as ambush points, or hold it back as a last resort.

"Pretty much," Paul chuckled, "Make smoke grenades. We'll need them."

"Got it, sir," Kendra mock saluted, before walking off.

Sage sighed, and pulled him tighter. "If you have to..."

---

"I better go check on the Illuminati now. Else I may never hear the end of it from Nathan."

Or anyone else really...

As Heidi wandered towards the Illuminati, she easily spotted her giant of a friend. "Oi, Tombo!" she called out, starting to wave, before realizing how pointless that would be.

"Sorry, excuse me for a moment," the large man told Kira quietly, neglecting his cleanup duties temporarily to stride over to his friend, through the group of now-homeless Illuminati. "Hey, how's it goin'? Felt you sparrin' earlier."

"Yeah, Luke was helping me not kill everyone," Heidi coughed embarrassedly. "I'm kind of better now, but I figured it be better if I hung around you for a bit. You're good at all the calm mojo shit."

"Any particular reason or did Joey just breathe too loudly again?" Tom asked wryly, a twinkle of amusement in the stoic man's blank eyes. He realised it could just as well be Mary or simply one of Heidi's violent Moissan gs that arose from her Flow.

"A particular reason that I'm not gonna share with you," Heidi retorted childishly, punching Tom's arm. "But I'm sure I'll find some way for it to be Joey's fault later."

"'S up t'you," Tom nodded amicably. He knew better than anyone that a oersin's thoughts should be their's to share and no one else's. Though going back to her earlier statement, he wasn't sure how to keep other people be calm, except maybe through osmosis. "But I'm sure you'll manage. You've never had difficulty finding where Joey's put a foot wrong before. So're you staying for the fight or what?"

"You think I'd miss this?" Heidi laughed. "It'll be like the tournament all over again. I may not like the killing part, but the adrenaline rush is pretty wicked," she stated happily. That's why she enjoyed sparring so much, she could fight without killing anyone.

"Figured you might," Tom replied with a rare smile. He himself was a bit worried about it, especially if they had more bruisers like Tabaris. Speaking of which, he had a nasty feeling he might have to be the one to take out Tabaris, especially since Nathan had made a mug of himself last time. Eithne was a capable fighter though, he'd make a valuable addition.