riverviewlogs | [Closed; see note] Trigger Scent Hunting

Entry tags:

[Closed; see note] Trigger Scent Hunting

who: Laura Howlett and You
what: Laura has been afflicted with the Trigger Scent - and is ready to kill.
when: Thursday, Early Friday morning, after this unsettling post.
where: All across Riverview.
warnings: Violence/blood, potential death (mainly NPC).
Note: If you would like to be involved, I may be able to squeeze you in; just hit me up at

simpledog! I have a plurk here regarding this plot.

Laura isn't herself.

She doesn't really feel anything — see anything, think anything. It's more just an all-encompassing need to kill, some sort of mentally paralyzing fog where all she can think is that she needs to track and hunt. If you'd asked her, before the trigger scent was used, what this strange liquid was? She wouldn't be able to tell you. It's new information, something the scarce files Gabriela stole away didn't cover.

Too late now.

She prowls through the city, her steps fast and her nose sniffing at the cooling air. She smells her targets. Some are stronger than others, closer by. Some are moving. Some are stationary. Whatever the case, she stops firstly by a local liquor store where a man is stumbling out with a beer in hand. She doesn't know him, and she won't remember that he's her first victim. Poor guy just got doused with the wrong thing, wrong time, wrong place. With him easily neutralized, she moves on to the next scent—

Likely one of you.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[The disturbing network post hadn't been missed, honestly. So, as part of the Perimeter Guard, Keith decided to take him on himself to try to find Laura. He was worried about her, honestly. He didn't fully understand the entire thing of what was going on, but he was determined.

This, of course, set him up in the sights of some of those hired kids hitting people with 'water balloons'. He got hit, but ignored them. It was just a simple prank, as far as he knew, and started looking again. He didn't realize that the 'water balloon' was designed to bring Laura to him.

Good thing he was wearing his Paladin armor... it might afford him a little extra protection...]

[Laura stalks him along the rooftops, eyes scanning him up and down and nose wrinkled in a displeased snarl; she couldn't think straight, or really much at all — but she also was working on blind instinct. The armor was unfamiliar, and she wasn't sure the material. The smell? Now that was overshadowing everything else. She stepped onto the ledge with bloody claws extended, hungry to appease the mindless hunger in her head for every target she can get a whiff of tonight.

Look out, Keith, she's lunging from the moonlit sky, arm pulled back and fist and claws aimed to try and impale him through the head. She is nothing if not eager to make it quick. That's important in killing, in wiping out your enemy. Making it very quick. Painlessness doesn't matter, but thoroughness does.]

[It was a weird sensation, one he was still getting used to, but something set him on edge and told him to look up. He trusted his instincts, though, and did so just in time to avoid getting stabbed from above.]

Laura!

[No... he'd seen the video. That hadn't been her. Something was wrong, and he knew it. It wasn't as twisted as it had been fighting Shiro. Shiro had been yelling at him, saying things. This was just a blank, feral stare as she came at him, ready to kill.

Keith brought out his bayard, lighting up the particle shield on his other arm for protection. He didn't plan on using the sharp sides of his blade even if she could heal, not yet. He didn't want to antagonize her by causing too much pain.]

[He may be worried about causing her pain, but it rolls off her like water. It only last a moment. Stab wounds or gunshot wounds, burns and broken bones, they only last moments. She can suck out bullets and waste no time watching them close.

Now, it's doubly true. She almost can't feel a thing, her focus is so pinpoint.

... Well, she's not particularly sure what that particle shield does —

But she's more than happy to test how it works by swinging her claws right into it.]

[The shield was strong, and could handle physical hits pretty well. It could take a stronger hit than his armor, too. Still, the strength behind Laura's attacked knocked Keith back. He stumbled, keeping his feet. He found himself fending off her claws like he would a pair of swords. He tried to stay defensive in his moves.

Keith also tried to get through to her, calling her name, trying to get any kind of recognition, but he realized after a while that it was just falling on deaf ears. This was like his fight against Shiro, but, at the same time, not. She wasn't talking back, interacting with him. She was just fighting in a blind rage, like nothing else mattered. There didn't seem to be conscious thought, just animal instinct.

That actually scared him a little.]

[She dodges down, crouched low — and as she swings in with her claws, another claw bursts through her shoe from between her toes. Most people never get to see the footclaws, but she is more than eager to use every blade she's got on her target now. She kicks upward, and if Keith had been just some normal civilian with no combat training, she would certainly be slicing his head in half from up the middle.

Look alive, buddy, don't let her add anymore scars to that face of yours.]

[Keith grunted a bit with the effort, but he leaned back, letting himself go all the way over, flipping backwards to get some distance. The good thing about his armor's functions was that they were highly responsive, and the shield was able to react to his need to use that hand to catch himself and push off. It disappeared so he could to do exactly that. But he didn't reactivate it. Instead, he pulled a second weapon... a dagger that, with a flash of like, shifted into a sword.]

Come on, Laura... why are you doing this?

[He was still maintaining his defensive strategy, but he definitely remembered her healing ability. This was going to have to get messy, wasn't it? Not again... Not like with Shiro... please don't make him fight you, Laura.]

[Her response isn't one composed of words — it's simply a growl like a rabid dog someone would put down, a sort of guttural scream as she moves to thrust her claws toward his chest area. And despite the presence of the knife, she doesn't seem remotely concerned with getting impaled on his blade.

She's been stabbed, shot, electrocuted; Transigen was at least decent at training her on tolerance.

... Sorry, Keith.]

[Laura hit his chest armor, and Keith got knocked back a few steps. Her claws left a gouge in the material, surprising Keith a little. If she could do that to the armor pieces, then he had to make sure she didn't catch him where there wasn't armor... like his stomach.

It also meant he couldn't stay in defense mode. He grit his teeth, reversing his momentum from her having knocked him back, and came at her with his bayard first. If he could slow her down enough, then he could bail on the fight and run away.]

[How sharp is this bayard, Keith? She's more than happy to plot her way around it, certainly. She sharply slides to the side, the blade catching her arm; she barely flinches at it, as if it hadn't even touched her. Slowing her down won't be easy — maybe if he focuses on seriously hurting those legs of hers — and she's already swiping again for dangerously fatal areas.

Look alive, bud, don't let those land.

She'd be more than happy to disembowel her opponent today.]

[It didn't take long, actually. She did manage to get a swipe or two more through his defenses... one slicing through the fabric on his shoulder and leaving a nasty gash in his upper arm... but it was hard to go low on someone smaller than him. He was used to attacking low because he was usually the shorter one as of late, since most of his fights back home had been against Galra, a race of much taller beings who mostly averaged between 7 and 8 feet tall. Being only 6 foot himself, Keith tended to stay closer to the ground, under their reach and attacking at their legs if he wasn't jumping in from above. But this situation was the opposite of that. He was a lot taller than Laura.

His weapons were pretty sharp, and could slice through robotic limbs if he had the right angle and momentum, so watching her shake off getting hit by his bayard without slowing down came as something of a shock to him. Enough so that her next jab caught him between the bottom of his chest armor and above his belt, ripping through the suit and drawing a hefty amount of blood in the process. He stumbled back, working to put some distance between them in an attempt to get some recovery time before having to defend himself again, and he fell to one knee.

That put him on the level to actually go for her legs on her next strike, so he did. His Marmora blade might be able to cut through Galra sentry bots, but adamantium infused bones? Most likely not. She wouldn't lose a limb to his hit, but he definitely wasn't thinking defense-only anymore... not with the pain clouding his judgement.]

[The bayard slices a gaping wound in her thigh, and to anyone else it could have been bad, a killing blow even — there are arteries there, veins that pump blood so thickly that the average warrior could bleed out from it.

And yet — as she moves to slam the top of her head into his chin — she's not slowed by it.

In fact, should he stumble back from her attack, he'll see her leg has completely healed. And here she comes again, aiming for the thoracic cavity; if she can spear his lungs, his heart, somewhere with a higher percentage of death, she can end this quickly—!!]

[He did stumble back, losing steam as the pain kicked in, and he found himself pushing through hard like he had during the Trials. He activated his shield again, swinging his arm across in an attempt to knock her off her attack line and avoid getting speared, using the force of the hit to also push himself in the other direction. He rolled away from her, hoping to get some distance as he forced himself back to his feet.]

[ gabby comes out of nowhere to block laura's strike, her teeth bared. they look eerily alike, even with the cosmetic differences to their appearance. because gabby is still laura's clone. she knows her sister best. ]

[What in the hell? For a moment confusion strikes her, nearly disturbs the violent fog around her. What is this, this familiar claw? She couldn't remember her talks with Gabby, couldn't piece together that they were friends (family? she's not sure, she's not sure what counts). Right now she's a barricade to her mission, so with a howl of anger she tries to cut through Gabby wherever she can — all to get to the bleeding boy getting back to his feet.

Her strikes are fast and brutal, but if there's anyone who can keep up with her flurries, it's certainly her clone.]

[ gabby never loses her temper. never loses her cool. it gives her an edge her sisters always lacked. gabby saw the brighter side. she was compassionate, kind and rarely wanted to hurt people. but she had the same training, the same instincts. and she never ever balked from the reality around her. perfectly balanced, two sides of her life living in harmony.

so she blocks and parries, hoping to slice a few veins to slow laura down and calling out to the boy behind her. ]

Hey! You better get out of here!

[Keith grunted, managing to push himself up in time to see the new girl come in. He blinked. She was different, but... well, geeze, she could be Laura's older sister or something. He wasn't sure, but she yelled at him to run. He hesitated, taking a few steps back as he watched and attempted to judge the situation. It looked to him like she was better able to keep up with Laura, and could heal just as fast.

Definitely out of his league. This was one of those weird situations where Keith knew he wasn't going to be able to keep up, even more so now that he was injured so badly. He grit his teeth, looking very unhappy about this, but he knew he would just get in the way. He turned and started running as best he could.

Too bad he still had the scent on him.......]

[Too bad indeed — but Gabby is the best person to have in your corner here, certainly. Laura's gaze whips towards the direction Keith is running, a growl of discontent in the back of her throat. She's getting blood all over her outfit, though now it's certainly mostly hers; it's clear to her she can't eliminate the target with this person in her way.

But she also is starting to become aware that it's a fruitless battle that will be too long-winded. She launches forward with aim to put both of her claws through Gabby's shoulders and knock her back.]

[ the launching forward technique. a favourite among all wolverines. gabby isn't too big on it, which is why she crouches first before moving her claws, quick as lighting, to pierce laura's sides. ]

It's no good, Laura. Give it up.

[Keith definitely wasn't stopping. If Laura was going to catch her target, she'd have to break free of Gabby...]

[Laura hisses angrily — but despite how much she wants to chase after Keith, she's found herself pinned by Gabby's claws. She lances her claws forward through Gabby's sides, too, trying to shove her off. Looks like Keith got out of there in the nick of time, and as long as he can get the stench of the trigger scent off him, he'll live another day.

Until then, Laura's gonna just quarrel with an annoying older-younger sister that she can't even recognize in her frenzy.]

Ow, that hurt!

[ just kidding. gabby just grins, letting the claws stay there and using her weight to pin laura down. psych!! ]

[Hopefully, Keith finds someone along the way who knows and will be nice enough to tell him... or maybe being at the hospital and getting cleaned up there so they can treat his wounds will get rid of the scent. Either way, he's gone.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Closed; see note] Trigger Scent Hunting

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject