Lab of Glass [Azure | Roulette]

Unsurprisingly, Azure looked entirely comfortable with the current environs. To call the stuff that he and Rin were currently sloshing through "water" would be a bit of a stretch, incidentally what this substance seemed to be doing while they treaded it, but the fishman appeared relatively pleased to be here regardless. After all this was, in a way, a homecoming for him-- by some twisted scientific logic, he could be considered a member of sahagin royalty himself, the test-tube spawn of a stately prince long ago captured for research purposes. And, maybe with just one notable exception, sahagin were the rulers here in the sewers, the top of the food chain in this labyrinth beneath even the very bottom of the city.

Some of the smaller 'critters' seemed to be respectful of that fact as well, skittering out of the way of the duo while they finally stepped out of the muck and onto the concrete pathways of the sewer proper, cavernous tunnels of stone and perilous walkways lining trenches filled with... well, more muck. Lucky that nothing chose to engage them. Though human-like, Azure was still a monster afterall, and perhaps it will still well within the instincts of the other creatures to avoid any such encounters with one of his kind, not to mention any mako-infused individuals alongside.

Avoid... for the moment, anyways.

"Though he had already left before my activation, based on the briefing, constructing some sort of hidden entrance would be well within Doctor Glass' capabilities... Still, it must have been quite an investment." Azure gazed at the various machinery still active in the Midgar sewers, prodding at a control panel as they passed though to no avail. "This may be a 'forest through the trees' situation, unfortunately, with all of these mechanisms about, some even still in use. There is no end of things to press."

The fishman stopped for a moment to ponder the team's target, crossing his arms and wondering if there were any hints to be gleaned from either his profile, or perhaps just the various dripping and rushing water noises around them. "... To avoid detection for three years would perhaps indicate a hidden laboratory deeper in the sewers. However, unless the Doctor has committed to sustaining himself on wererats and scissorclaws, he must have quick access to the surface somehow; for resupply. Is it possible... to have both?"

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SPOILER: Click to show

I have a vague idea of where this could go, on the whole, as a thread, though I didn't know if you also had something in mind. Thoughts?

Rin Armada

Azure nodded, peering up and down the length of his side of the walkway as requested. On the one side-- a dead end that included, for some reason, a once-carefully stacked quintuplet of metal crates, each emblazoned with the Shin-Ra Electric Power Company logo. It was easy to imagine the boxes as shiny and bright once upon a time, though they were now not-only covered in the same gunk that coated all other flat surfaces of the sewers, but also had apparently been cleaved in twain by a giant blade of some sort. What the bounty was, perhaps a potion or an antidote, had long since been looted and would forever remain a mystery.

On the other side, the pathway that the pair had originally come from, with nothing much of note aside from the control panel that the fishman had earlier futzed around with. He walked past it at first, in the event that some other more hopeful instrument could be found, but no dice there either. The fishman returned, prodding at it a second time...

"Ah, perhaps?" There did seem to be something there. One of Azure's emerald materia gleamed almost imperceptibly as he took a deep breath and... essentially spit on the console, discharging a bolt of magically pure water from his mouth and blasting away some of the caked on grime, all to reveal an extremely dim, yet technically still shining, red bulb. "Success. Activating now."

With a bit of effort and a weighty 'ka-chunk', the lever fell in place.

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SPOILER: Click to show

Good deal-- I was just worried that the both of us would be spinning our wheels in the thread and wondering what the other person had lined up. I, and Azure, will follow your lead sir.

Rin Armada

Before Azure had even stepped away from the console before him, the tell-tale click-clack of an enormous claw told him exactly what had been revealed by activating those levers and lowering the water level. Just to be 100% sure though, the fishman walked over to the railing and leapt upon it in a single bound, balancing atop the highest bar while peering down into the sludgy depths below... and, lo and behold, scissorclaw. A pair of them actually-- one more than expected, what fortune!

He watched for a moment while Rin drove his broadsword into one of their shells, to a bit less avail than probably either Shin-Ra combatant had been expecting honestly. Looking upon the monsters seemed to put Azure in mind of something else though. "I know that I all but spoke ill of them just mere moments ago, Sir Rin, though gazing upon them now..." Azure interrupted himself for a moment, allowing himself to fall into the lower channel of the sewer while drawing his trident at the same time, landing in front of the tamer of the two scissorclaws-- not yet having been struck and certainly not thrashing as a result.

The lancer extended his weapon out to the beast, really more prodding at it than attacking it. And for its part, territorial creatures that they were, scissorclaw 'B' clacked his appendages meancingly in return, skittering about slightly like a boxer sizing up his opponent.

"... I suppose it would not be all that surprising if Dr. Glass had managed to acquire a taste for scissorclaw. I imagine they taste of crustacean once all the muck has been cleaned away." Azure angled the business end of his spear to the ground, allowing the monster to crabwalk over it in its little dance, before twirling the weapon in a flourish and tossing the poor thing onto its back. Again, more in an exploratory manner than anything.

"Do you enjoy lobster, Sir Rin?"

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SPOILER: Click to show

Apologies for the delay. And also the random nonsense that is Azure. Didn't seem right to just dust the things in a round.

Azure was having a much different time of his opponent, the large crab monster still flipped on its back and flailing rather wildly in an attempt to right itself. The fishman approached it somewhat cautiously, whirling his trident through his fingers and allowing it to come to a rest across his shoulders, though honestly the scissorclaw looked rather harmless in its current state. Pitiable even, to a certain extent, although the lancer was still somewhat wished he had brought a fire materia with him on this mission. For... reasons. Certainly not related to whatever it was he and his companion were currently discussing.

"I've only been fortunate enough to enjoy it on a singular occasion thus far, but I enjoy it I did-- quite a lot, honestly. It is a bit of a mess and bit troublesome, but once shelled, I was surprised at how delicious it was in its simplicity." If he was at all aware of the irony in his statement, Azure didn't seem to show it, readying his trident again to poke lightly at the armored shell on the claw of his messy, troublesome opponent. It snapped at him in return, a rather loud and impressive 'clack!' resulting from the effort.

"Surely Doctor Glass has as well, as a former of the Shin-Ra Science Department. And if he is capable enough to construct himself a hidden laboratory deep within the bowels of Midgar's sewers, then possibly-- whoop, one moment--" It seemed that the scissorclaw had had enough of being prodded at and finally latched onto the spear with one of its enormous pincers. Instinctively, Azure leapt upwards, accidentally righting the monster in his retreat; he landed again upon the railing of the sewer tunnel's upper walkway while the deservedly furious crustacean attempted to climb the walls to give chase, hoping to catch the sahagin-born in its lethal nippers.

"If he can construct an entire hidden laboratory, then it is likely he could catch his own dinners I suppose. Or at least construct some manner of machine to accomplish the task on his behalf."

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SPOILER: Click to show

Sahagins play with their food before consuming it; 100% true scientific fact that I just made up.

Rin Armada

Azure remained crouched on the railing for the moment, peering down at his current quarry who was still attempting to scale the sheer vertical wall leading to the fishman with nothing but the force of its own indignation, though to no avail. To the scissorclaw's credit though, it was making it surprisingly far upwards before those massive claws seemed to be unbalancing the effort and pulling it back down to ground level. Again, a rather pitiable display, honestly.

"That is true. Well I guess we will find out for ourselves shortly after dealing with these creatures."

"Very well then, Sir Rin. It is as you say."

The sahagin-spawned unfolded to his full height, whirling his crimson trident back into a firm grip and pointing the triple-pointed weapon at the large crab just below, still skittering about in a rage. Although this was a sewer, admittedly a rather spacious one by sewer standards, it still didn't exactly make for the roomiest of arenas. But despite this, and strengthened by the dim golden glow of materia, Azure jumped.

And he flipped, the magically powered leap taking him up into the roof of the passage, upon which the lancer briefly gained purchase with his armored boots and 'leapt' a second time, in a sense. This one sent him straight into the ground though, like a missile fired from on high, and the force was enough for the fishman to bury the head of his trident entirely into the floor, bisecting anything and everything that happened to be in the way at the time.

To which, in the aftermath, two separate halves of a scissorclaw tumbled over.

"So what exactly is your story Azure, if you don’t my asking?"

"My story?"  The addressed companion withdrew his weapon from the ground, swiping it to the side once and resting it upon his shoulder again. "I am the Advanced Zoological Underwater/Urban Reconnaissance & Engagement trial, number 6, approved to render assistance to members of Shin-Ra's armed services units, including SOLDIER. Per the mission documentation, I was assigned as your support in this endeavor due to both the aquatic environment and possibility of sahagin-type opponents."

A textbook answer that said nothing Rin likely did not already know, and the experiment's pupil-less amber eyes offered no more than that either... though, given the nature of Shin-Ra's Science Department, it would probably be surprising if there wasn't something horrific swimming around within him, whether it was JENOVA related or something worse yet.

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SPOILER: Click to show

What's worse than JENOVA? I dunno.

Rin Armada