It seemed that he had made some enemies tonight. Rather than give him the option to retreat as their comrades pinned Cinwi, the pair continued to attack and force Jin to defend himself. Though he managed to weather their attacks without too much trouble, it was at the cost of constantly giving up ground. [i][color=39b54a]‘Right then...’[/color][/i] He’d worry about the other half once they actually joined the fray; not like keeping them at bay would be of much use if both of them died fighting those already here. 

He leapt back to try and open a gap, but one of the Youkai was faster than he had expected. Mid-air when the beastkin caught up in an instant Jin grimaced as its claws raked across his arms, drawing blood and throwing him further back. Nonetheless he could use this and rolled with the blow, his Spirit bringing its firearm up on aim as he came to a halt. Wisps of ethereal smoke drifted from its barrel as it opened fire, and there was no place to hide in the open street. They managed to survive for a moment, weathering the storm of fire before their bodies simply failed. 

Course he couldn’t do the same for the pair over Cinwi, and the other Youkai were probably closing in. [color=39b54a]“Discard M40, M249. Javelin, longsword, ready, set, load.”[/color] The thin spear had barely manifested in his Knight’s hand, still indistinct, before it reared back and launched the projectile at one of the Youkai. With the utter lack of sound their comrades had died and its focus held by Cinwi, the monster didn’t even notice until it was knocked off of her. Propped up momentarily by the ghostly spear, as it faded a nice hole appeared in the Youkai’s shoulder and sprayed blood.

Jin might have tried to close the distance and assist, but was forced to defend himself instead. Sparks flew as his hand met some sort of projectile, and he frowned as all four hands were dedicated to defence; a literal shower of sparks erupting in front of him. 

Cinwi was angry, which in of itself wasn’t too much of a surprise, but that anger only grew hotter every time a claw raked her skin, or a fist struck her cheek. Still, the Youkai pinning her were strong, the angle of her limbs held awkward and impossible to wrench free, all she could do was snap at the hands coming towards her and thrash with her legs in the hopes of kicking them off.

Until of course one of the bastards quite literally flew off of her, propelled by some forceful object moving too fast for her to pay attention to it. The other Youkai paused in its beatings to look after where his comrade had gone, and Cinwi wasted no time in curling her fist, propping herself up, and smashing hardened scale and claw alike into the beast’s face. She heard the nose shatter, but didn’t stop until she was on top of him, wailing slash after slash across his face. In the work of a few moments, the Youkai had been reduced to a pulpy, bloody mess, and while Cinwi herself was dripping red and covered in scratches as well, the key difference was that she was alive. Breathing heavy, she looked back to where the human was, to see if he was still alive as well.

[i][color=39b54a]‘Course… sickles.’[/color][/i] The sharp gashes in the asphalt hinted at the Youkai he faced, but as far as Jin could tell there were only two of them at most. A gale tore through his Knight as it reared back to launch another javelin, but it simply parted like smoke for a moment before its form “solidified” again and the projectile was launched. The brief lull as one of his attackers was forced to take cover was enough for him to spare a glance at Cinwi, and it seemed like the opening he had made had let her take care of her attackers. [color=39b54a]“Move it!” [/color]

Surprisingly, the cutting winds ceased the moment he called out. Still wary, he nonetheless managed to see two figures disappear from the nearby rooftop in retreat. What started as a sigh turned into a painful hiss as blood seeped from numerous gashes and cuts over his body; not life threatening, but certainly unpleasant.[color=39b54a] “Guess they didn’t want to go to the death,”[/color] he muttered, walking over towards Cinwi. Given it was impossible to tell what was and wasn’t her blood, he figured his question was warranted. [color=39b54a]“You gonna pass out on me?” [/color]

When the dust had cleared so to speak, the guy still stood, albeit he didn’t look in any better condition than she was. Nevertheless, the Youkai had fled and she sat back, letting out a long, ragged breath and spitting some of the blood from her tongue onto the ground. 

[color=7ea7d8]”You fuckin’...with me? Pass out? Please, couple scratches...ain’t shit,”[/color] she said, pulling herself up onto her feet. Everything was sore, everything stung, she hated being outnumbered. [color=7ea7d8]”What about you, squishy? You look like you’ve seen better days. How long’s it take your kind to bounce back from being shredded like that?”[/color]

[color=39b54a]“Nice to hear.”[/color] That was one problem he didn’t have to deal with, and as Cinwi got up Jin fished out his cellphone to check something out. He blinked at the message, but was apparently satisfied on reading it and placed the phone away. [color=39b54a]“Oh, better nights have been had, feel like a dozen paper cuts just got opened up, so probably a couple days. Maybe if I’m lucky I’ll find someone to patch me up.”[/color] He frowned as even a shrug caused a bit of pain and clicked his tongue in annoyance. [color=39b54a]“Anyways, feel like sharing why nearly a dozen Youkai wanted your head?”[/color]

She looked herself over as he talked, the scaled portions of her arms were fine, no nicks or scratches to be seen. She only wished the rest of her body was as durable. Ah well, at least the scales on her cheeks had sustained most of the blows from the Youkai that pinned her, and the slashes on her lower neck and upper arms would heal fine. His last question did snap her attention back to him, anger tainting her expression. 

[color=7ea7d8]”Maybe I look like someone they know, got one of those faces,”[/color] she said, looking back to her wounds. She took off what was left of the scarf and tore it to tie separate parts over the larger cuts. [color=7ea7d8]”Maybe it was [i]you[/i]. Fuckin’ chaser walkin’ around you’ve gotta be used to that shit by now, can’t expect a pack of Youkai to resist a free meal.”[/color]

Probably not the most gentlemanly of ways to get information, but the damage done revealed the slight gleam of scales underneath torn clothes. Gave her a dragonic vibe when coupled with her claws and fangs, so that was probably a good start. Since it seemed like she really didn’t want to answer that question and it only seemed to piss her off each time he asked, Jin raised his hands once again with a resigned sigh. [color=39b54a]“Right then, dropping that question then.”[/color]

Seeing as his main reason for dropping by didn’t look like it was getting an answer, he figured it was time to take his leave; already got more excitement out of this encounter than he had bargained for. [color=39b54a]“Cya then I guess. Don’t get jumped by what was left of them after I’m gone.”[/color]

Cinwi pursed her lips at his response. Seemed like she needed to let up on the snappiness, fuckin’ softie. No, dammit no, it wasn’t his fault, this was what happened when you didn’t hold normal conversations with people more than once every blue moon. Either way, Jin seemed done with the subject and the situation as a whole, bit of a stiff about the whole thing in her opinion. Man nearly got mauled by a pack of Youkai and la-di-da on with the rest of the night? Fuckin’ Chasers, weirdos. 

Still, as he would have gone, she looked back to the buildings and the dark alleys that had once promised her cover and protection. He was right to warn her about keeping an eye out, there likely wasn’t a safe nook or cranny in the city at this point, and Cinwi didn’t need tactical expertise to put together that she wouldn’t last through another fight. Not like that, anyway. 

[color=7ea7d8]”Hey, wait,”[/color] she said, cringing at the sound of her own voice. Fuck, swallowing pride was hard. [color=7ea7d8]”You uhh...I don’t think it’s safe for [i]either[/i] of us right now. We’re prolly both on their shitlist tonight so...fuck I dunno, maybe it’s best if we stick together for a bit. You heading somewhere? Maybe I could escort you, make sure you don’t get your ass ripped apart or nothin’.”[/color]

[i][color=39b54a]‘Somebody needs to make a medic rifle...’[/color][/i] Fanciful thoughts aside, Jin had been about to take to the rooftops again when he instead glanced back at Cinwi. A raised eyebrow was about the extent of his reaction, and he crushed the urge to reply with some smartass comment. She didn’t seem like the type of person to reach out easily and there wasn’t a good reason for him to insult her attempt, even if she had to throw in that final jab. 

Well… maybe he did let her sweat a bit as he took a few moments to “consider” her offer before he nodded in acceptance. [color=39b54a]“Right then. Can you handle roof tops or are we sticking to ground level? And we’re heading to Dengeki if you’ve ever heard of it. Should be a healer there tonight since there’s a gathering.” [/color]

Cinwi would be lying if she said she wasn’t relieved to hear him accept her offer, but her composure was kept up as best she could. She looked to the roofs again and found herself wondering how the fuck she was supposed to get up there in the first place, and how Jin imagined he would do it either. Did the guy have wings she didn’t know about? Maybe the steel doll could fly. Either way, she was confident that there was little to no way she could reliably travel across the rooftops.

[color=7ea7d8]”Streets would be best. Don’t know what might be up there. No idea what the hell Damnchecki is, but a healer sounds good to me so lead the way,”[/color] she said, giving her shoulders another roll to test the waters. The scales there were fine as well, but their edges had cut the nearby skin a bit, she couldn’t help but feel bad for the potential medic, the two of them likely looked like they’d be a handful to take care of. 

[color=39b54a]“Guess that’s a no,”[/color] Jin muttered under his breath as he watched her consider the roofs around them and, ultimately and as expected, suggest they stay on ground level. [color=39b54a]“Must be new around here then,”[/color] he said as he began to lead the way, [color=39b54a]“small shop to rest up at. Got a job board where Crimson Sky related “missions” get posted, so pretty popular.”[/color] At that mention though, he perked up as if remembering something, turned, and walked pass Cinwi. 

Jin had been so caught up in the aftermath, but as he checked each “corpse” the Chaser wasn’t disappointed. Though their bodies had either begun to dissipate or already disappeared, a trace had been left behind by each of the Youkai slain. An average Soul Stone marked where they had died and he gathered them without regret, bagging them and slinging it over his shoulder. If she had anything to say on the matter, well she’d have to walk and talk because he simply walked past her and kept going. 

She watched him gather the...actually, she had no real idea what it was he was snatching up. The dead Youkai were more or less dissolved, which in of itself was a bit unnerving. Cinwi never liked to think that if it all really did end [i]that’s[/i] what would happen to her, but it had been hard to run away from that fact as of late. 

[color=7ea7d8]”The fuck’s that?”[/color] she asked, speeding up to walk beside him. [color=7ea7d8]”You digging out dead kidney stones or what?”[/color]

Yet again he raised an eyebrow, glancing at Cinwi in surprise, as he fished out one of the Soul Stones and tossed them towards her. [color=39b54a]“Remains of Youkai apparently, left behind when they die. Red gems are the essence while the black stone is the actual material remains. Least that’s to my understanding.”[/color] Jin shrugged as he finished his explanation as if to say he wasn’t certain if that was the truth. Frankly he wasn’t, but the Merchant hadn’t done him wrong in the years he had known it, and he didn’t particularly care other than they could be sold for a fair bit of cash. 

 Cinwi held the stone in her hands, and she felt a pit form in her stomach as Jin explained just what they were supposed to be. She looked down at it, trying to see if she could find the dead Youkai’s essence or form inside of it, as if the soul itself was travelling somewhere between the glimmers on its surface. The dying and disappearing thing had been bad enough, but leaving [i]this[/i] behind?

[color=7ea7d8]”So these are...like…[i]all[/i] Youkai have these inside of’em?[/color] she asked, trying to listen to her heartbeat, see if it sounded particularly earthy or crystalline . [color=7ea7d8]”And you do what with’em, exactly?”[/color]

It was great to have two sets of eyes at a time like this, so he could pay attention to their surroundings and watch her reaction as she examined the Soul Stone. It was odd that this seemed to be the first time she had ever encountered them since she seemed to have had a fair bit of run ins with Youkai. Nonetheless, Jin eventually turned his attention to the path rather than his “companion”, even as he answered. [color=39b54a]“Some Ferals don’t, but those are the weakest, barely able to form. Beyond that I haven’t seen a Youkai that didn’t leave one behind. As for me, I just sell them. Some Youkai named Merchant purchases them from me for human money. Beyond that I have no idea.”[/color]

 Cinwi grimaced down at the stone, catching her reflection in it and immediately prying her eyes away. If the Youkai she’d killed before left these behind, she’d never noticed them, though she rarely hung around for long afterwards. Now she wasn’t sure whether she wanted to know at all.

[color=7ea7d8]”You Chaser’s are fuckin’ sick,”[/color] she said, giving the stone back. [color=7ea7d8]”No one’s sellin’ my rock if I bite the dust, I can tell you that.”[/color]

He took the Soul Stone back with a slight shrug at her venomous response. It was a reasonable reaction to learning that others profited from the death of her “kind”, even if their associations were loose at best. [color=39b54a]“I suppose we’re pretty horrible for profiting off the remains of the dead,”[/color] he admitted quietly, though it was something he had long since come to terms with. 

[color=39b54a]“For what it’s worth I would hope not. You seem to be a decent person, Cinwi… even if a bit abrasive.”[/color] An honest statement from the brief moments he had known the dragonic Youkai aside, Jin sighed as the smell of blood in the air caught his attention despite of already being covered in it. [color=39b54a]“And we’re so close,”[/color] he muttered softly before he glanced towards Cinwi. [color=39b54a]“Let’s move, we’re only a minute out or so.”[/color] Hopefully whatever had spilt blood nearby wasn’t looking for more.