yumemigaoka | Hunt, hunt, hunt! Another one bites the dust!

[Yep, this was definitely a disaster.

On one hand, Hanako liked Stardust Sanctuary-- the enemies were largely predictable (aside from the occasional giant dragon), and he'd been on enough hunts here already that he could take care of these critters without breaking a sweat. The scenery itself never failed to put him in a good mood, either, so he was usually content to stick around and admire the view long after everything was mopped up and taken care of.

Except... well. Of all the people he had to wind up on a hunt here with, why did it have to involve these two? At least Zeke seemed more occupied with fighting Torments than grabbing faces this time around, thankfully, but Hanako couldn't trust himself to be ten feet from Ango without breaking his stupid glorified glasses in half. It was his fault he'd been a nervous wreck here most of the month-- even if it was in the name of digging up more information on Reverie (literally), it was just common sense NOT to dig up graves in the creepy, haunted labyrinth zone, okay!! Especially after he told him not to mess with anything!!!

So that was why Hanako was going to do the wise thing (for once) and keep himself at the edge of the group, opting to stay closer to the one unfamiliar face among them than give himself more headaches. Better to help keep an eye on the Novice amidst all the activity than distract himself with arguments!

... or so he had thought, until Ango's knives whizz past his face and straight towards his target in front of him, the blade's edge close enough to shave off a few strands of his hair in the process. OH. So this is what they were doing now, huh?]

... hey. Old man.

[Hanako's mouth might be smiling, but the look in his eyes is absolutely murderous, focusing it dead on Decadence as he swivels his head in their direction.]

I think you missed one! ☆

[And at that, his Hakujoudai rockets into another incoming Torment, driving it hard enough in Ango's way that the force makes it burst into an explosion of sparkly dust right over the other man's head. GET GLITTERBOMBED, BITCH.]

[Siren, meanwhile, is trying so hard to focus on the Torments around them, and not the bickering. They summon water and as they send it towards a Torment, they freeze it into sharp points. They do this a couple more times. Its their new favorite trick, sue them.

But between Hanako's close call with the knife and the glitterbombing of Decadence, Mitsuki is starting to get the feeling there's some history here.]

I'm starting to get a bad feeling about this hunt...

[And their focus is now split not so evenly between the Torments around them and what's going on with the two.]

You're telling me.

[Grumbling, Chaosbringer spins his sword around, shaping it into a scythe that cleaves through the fallen Torment with a thunderclap and a fierce hiss-rush of electricity. No having fun today, not when the Hunt is practically half-staffed and any delay on his part might lead to a superpowered slapfight back there.]

[Turning to face the others, Zeke gets ready to start trying to be inspirational, and wondering just what the HECK is going on.]

[Seriously, a glitterbomb? What a middle-school-level prank! Ango may be a 40-year-old juvenile delinquent, and Zeke may be a permanent 8th grader, but Hanako's the biggest brat here by far.

At least Siren seems to have their shit together, so Ango ducks behind them for a moment to attempt to shake the glittery stardust from his hair. Ugh, gross. Will it disappear when they leave the Dream Sphere, or is he going to keep picking little bits of glitter out of his Dreamer costume for the rest of his life?]

Yeah, that's anxiety. The trick is to never let those bad feelings catch up to you.

[Ango dodges a volley of fireball Torments and swaps his default throwing knives for a more substantial weapon: a samurai sword not unlike the one he had in his Disturbance. What it lacks in range it makes up for in cutting power as he hacks through a larger-than-usual Torment.]

Uh, is it just me, or are these guys a little bigger than they were last time?

[Wait 'til Ango finds out that Hanako's an actual middle-schooler-- wouldn't that just blow his mind??

He can't help but shoot the man a reproachful look when he scuttles over behind Siren, though, moving away out of instinct; couldn't he just stick to his own side?? Gratifying as it was to bombard Ango with a year's worth of Art Herpes, they still had their duties to fulfill, and he didn't exactly like to be considered the weakest link just because some crappy adult decided to pick a fight.]

Are you sure you should be the one saying that...?

[After all, it was Ango's Bad Feelings that nearly broke the Dream Sphere a few months ago, but for as uncharitable as Hanako was feeling towards the older man these days, he wasn't about to put lemon juice in that proverbial cut, either. It's not like he's any more qualified to talk about anxiety himself, especially now that the weird roiling feelings he'd been having lately have finally died down. But at least he's not offering up advice about it...!!

But right now, the only sniping he should be doing is towards the Torments, and they didn't seem to be letting up just because he had to needle at Ango a little more. In fact, they seem to be bearing relentlessly upon their little cluster now, and while Hanako can hit some of the further ones with his Hakujoudai just fine, some get close enough that he has to fall back upon his trusted knife to cleave his way through. He'd done this enough times by now to know their usual patterns, but--]

I dunno if I'd say bigger, but they're definitely coming down a lot faster than usual. Maybe something's got them agitated...

[Yeah, like THE RANCID VIBES, maybe????]

[Siren looks between Decadence and Hanako.]

No, I don't think its anxiety that's giving me this feeling.

[Honestly, Siren is a little relieved to hear that this isn't normal for the Torments here, because its kind of an exhausting pace if they aren't going to let up soon. And the two more experienced Dreamers using them as a barrier isn't helping them at all. They take an icy shot at another Torment, a little bit away from them, making sure not to hit the two problem Dreamers. They don't trust their ability to not hit the two Dreamers near them if they attack anything closer.]

Can you two at least try to behave yourselves? I may be inexperienced, but I doubt this is how your supposed to act in a Hunt.

Right! We can still pull this off, it's just going to take a little teambloody hell, duck!

[That horrible statement and an earsplitting shriek are the warnings they get before a jolly massive bird races low over the island they're standing on, close enough to reach out and touch if not for the vortices of air swirling around and past it. A couple of Torments go tumbling off the edge and none of them manage to hold their ground entirely. Chaosbringer does, but that's pretty much because he stabbed his sword into the ground and held on for dear life.]

[Ango is about to retort that he is behaving himself, and that the fact that he hasn't yet drop-kicked the brat into the yawning abyss of darkness surrounding their little island is really a testament to his commendable self-restraint...but that's when something big swoops over their heads like a fighter jet doing stunts. The turbulence is enough to knock him off his feet, although he's able to keep from being swept off the island by materializing a grappling hook and catching it on one of the bridges. A fallen feather the size of a palm branch slowly drifts towards them.]

What the hell is that!? Isn't dreaming about an eagle supposed to bring good luck!?

[As if Ango's luck could possibly get any worse, it looks like the bird is coming around for another swoop...]

Hunt, hunt, hunt! Another one bites the dust!

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