[Open] Unreasonable Behaviour

[vvaylon]

A . (for your character to end up a snack or escape and spread the word; indicate which in your subject line!)

He’s found the underwater lake. It’s nice, for the most part, but just like the fish in the river the fare is disappointingly slimy and unappetizing. Seeing as he hasn’t found the kitchen yet (a shame!)  he turns to the next source of food—those wandering about the castle. The first to go is a small white cat lazing about on a chair; tufts of fur remain on the floor, and he continues on. The castle is large enough to  send him on af ew circles; but finally, he sees someone down a hall, and makes his lumbering way towards them.

B. (for your character to lay a beatdown on Croc, or for Croc to lay a beatdown on your character….)

He takes to roaming the halls during the night. It’s quieter, the birds are asleep, he has free rein; it’s daresay, nice. He’s still angry. It bubbles up in his chest like a red foam, leads to clawmarks being engraved in the stone, chairs turned on their head or otherwise made into splinters.

Croc is a simple man, sometimes. Sometimes he likes to scheme and plot, and finds himself quite adept at that! Other times… well, other times, someone’s just gotta get their head caved in. Said someone is going to find a big, scaled surprise in the library.

Comments

A muse has gotta do what a muse has gotta do.

[oldmantiger]

Kotetsu definitely gets the feeling that he's being watched. He has good instincts for dangers and threats - he's had to develop such instincts as a hero, and especially as a hero growing weaker by the month. He stiffens slightly when he realizes that someone else is in the library with him, his eyes widening fractionally. But he doesn't call out first. He just replaces the book he'd been browsing back on the shelf, and moves a little more carefully when he sets off again.

It's a relief to have the mounting tension of anticipation broken by a voice. And for a moment, he even thinks that it sounds like a reasonably friendly voice...before he hears the claws. Even then, his first thought is "knife", because...well, why would his first thought be "claws"?

"What can I say?" He shrugs expansively, faux-casual, before glancing back over his shoulder. "I didn't see a closed...sign..."

He trails away in shock, his eyes widening much more noticeably at the sight of the creature at the other end of the aisle. Okay. This is new. This is not a good sort of new. He's not terribly afraid of crocodiles, as a rule (or is that a giant alligator?). So he has no idea why one might be in his dream. But it does look...very big and menacing, all things considered. All the moreso because libraries are supposed to be a place you go to in order to get away from crocodiles. Aren't they?

"...around here," Kotetsu finishes, somewhat awkwardly, after a very traitorous sort of pause. He follows that up with a most eloquent: "Um. Hi?"

[vvaylon]

If Kotetsu's watching as he keeps talking, he'll see the piecemeal transformation of Croc's face from viciously amused to murderously annoyed!

He'd let the kid go, out of some tiny goodness of his gamey little heart that he wasn't even sure he had. This was an adult; he wouldn't be so kind. His claws finish splintering the bookshelf.

"You're in the wrong place, wrong time."

He takes a step forwards to plan out his next move, bulk in full sight.

"Didn't your mama teach you to stay out of a croc's territory?"

That's purely rhetorical; Croc roars and dives for Kotetsu, teeth bared.

(actually looks up truck types)

[oldmantiger]

Kotetsu is most definitely watching as he keeps talking, and...well, transformations into being murderously annoyed as he talks aren't unheard of, for him. He's pretty sure Barnaby used to plan point grabs around his tendency for that.

He steps back as Croc steps forward, his body tense and his gaze darting this way and that. But Croc doesn't even give him that much time to react. The human lets out a most undignified yelp of alarm as the giant crocodile lunges for him, looking visibly alarmed at this. He tries to throw himself out of the way...but he's not quite near enough to the end of the aisle to effectively do so. And so while he'll he able to keep Croc from turning the pounce into anything immediately lethal, he still winds up getting knocked down into an ungainly heap.

Croc will only have a brief moment to do anything about it, though - then Kotetsu recovers his wits, and starts glowing blue.

"Get off of me!"

At which point the kick that follows will probably feel somewhat similar to getting hit by a pickup truck.

croc: ow wtf

[vvaylon]

Croc tackles him down and his maw snaps shut mere centimeters from Kotetsu's face.

Shame. They skid a few inches as Croc tries to maul Kotetsu with his claws, succeeding only in scoring furrows in the stone. A mad croc is not an accurate one; maybe, if he keeps his wits around him in the future, he'll present more of a deadly opponent instead of one more concerned with pummeling the intruder into a vaguely-red blotch on the stone.

His prey is blue now.

"Well, don't that beat all-- augh!"

Croc goes hurtling back and slams into a bookshelf, toppling it. The second he leaves the room it'll reconstruct; is still enough to make any reasonable bibliophile wince in sympathy. He recovers, tail swinging and smashing even more things.

"You'll pay for that!"

[oldmantiger]

Getting slammed forcibly onto his back by what looks and feels to be several hundred pounds of angry reptile doesn't do much for the half-healed injuries Kotetsu is already sporting, bruises and burns both. So even now, he's a little slower getting back to his feet than he might otherwise be. Fortunately, his kick bought him enough distance from his opponent to manage it. Just for good measure, he backs up further as Croc gets back up.

"Didn't your mother ever teach you any manners?!"

Kotetsu hastily considers his options, taking another look around the library. He needs to avoid that tail, and if at all possible he needs to avoid those teeth. Super-strength won't do him much good if he loses an arm. That last attack still hurt.

...wait. It hurt.

Dreams aren't supposed to hurt.

Acting on instinct, more than anything, as his conscious mind struggles to deal with that fact, Kotetsu hastens over to try and shove another bookcase down on top of Croc. Even completely laden down with books, the weight is barely noticeable to him now.

calm down croc. why are you like this

[vvaylon]

Croc laughs.

It sounds like a snarl; something that's seen a way to get a killing bite and now is waiting for the right angle.

"Don't you talk about my mama, runt. I'll hang your guts from the ceiling." A pregnant pause as he stretches out claws that go a long way in proving he's perfectly willing to make good on his threat; "might not even wait 'til you're dead first."

He lunges again, teeth bared and claws extended.

[oldmantiger]

Well, that's...disturbingly evocative imagery.

Fortunately, Croc seems a lot slower now that Kotetsu is moving so much faster. With the nearest bookcase now toppled over, it's easy as anything to hop up onto it in an effort to avoid that charge, instead. This time, he aims a punch up and into the monster's stomach. "What the hell did I ever do to you?!"

On some level, he's still very much aware that his time is limited - though without his clock, he doesn't know by how much. Much as he doesn't like the idea of leaving something like this roaming around...wherever this is, he mostly wants to find a door and get away, even if only to catch his breath. Unfortunately, with so many shelves still left standing, he's not seeing many options. Probably best to try and just knock Croc out, if he can.

[vvaylon]

It might be best to stun and run. Croc doesn't look like he's going to give up any time soon, and barreling around the library can really only be entertaining-- or viable-- for a minute more at best.

"Not die!"

What the hell's he saying?

It's time to finish this. He dives again, broad shoulders forming a block against the light.

[oldmantiger]

Unfortunately, Kotetsu's powers aren't really geared towards stunning. Or perhaps it might be more accurate to say that Kotetsu's instincts aren't really geared towards stunning. And with too many impossible things happening all at once, those instincts are more-or-less holding sway.

Except, when Croc dives, Kotetsu gets one of his very rare strategic ideas, all as a bolt from the blue. He has a good memory for details.

Light...light!

Oh, this is a bad idea. This is a very bad idea. But Bunny's not here right now, and so there's no one to tell him that.

Kotetsu runs towards Croc this time...only to execute a neat slide under the lunging beast, shove himself back upright, and keep going towards that light. He ducks around one bookshelf, knocks another one aside...and then the blue glow around him fades as his powers run out.

"Oh, come on!" No way that was three and a half minutes. Three twenty-five, maybe.

But it looks like the time might not have been entirely wasted, because as Kotetsu rounds a corner, he can see a wall at the end of the aisle, and set into that wall there is indeed a window.

He keeps running for it.

want to have him escape now?

[vvaylon]

It seems that this one is in the bag; and then the blasted creature slides underneath him, skidding easily under his tree-trunk chest and legs. Croc goes tumbling head over heels for a good three seconds before he can dig his claws into the stone and launch himself after Kotetsu. But it looks like his luck (or rather, stamina) is running out on him, and he manages one last brutal swipe at Kotetsu's ankles before he falls back. The bookshelves being placed too close (or placed as hobbles) for him to make much of a gain in distance, not when his prey can scramble over what he has to bull through.

He roars, again, in lieu of shouting obscenities. That was generally frowned upon (not that savaging innocent library-goers wasn't)and if there was some sort of librarian Croc wouldn't want to anger them.

His idea is that a stately (formerly) library like this must have something guarding it.

Maybe that something's him, now that it's been given substantial thought!

Now is perfect!

[oldmantiger]

Kotetsu only musters up a harder burst of speed at the sound of that roar - he's still in pretty good shape for a human, even without his powers. And besides, he needs the extra momentum for what he does next.

Namely, throwing himself shoulder-first at the window.

For a second, he just thinks how stupid he'll look if this doesn't work and he winds up eaten anyway. It's a small comfort when, in fact, his makeshift plan works out and the window glass shatters under the force of the charge.

His next thought, as he goes tumbling out into open air is wow, when did I get so high up? This library was on one of the castle's very upper floors.

Fortunately, this is where his trusty watch has never let him down. Or, more specifically, the miniature grappling hook it contains. Kotetsu has just enough time to take aim and fire it at the castle wall. The little hook clicks firmly into the rough stone a couple of feet to the right of the window, and he's left suspended still a good twenty feet off the ground - bruised, bleeding from the glass, panting for breath, desperately confused, but alive.