Wedding by the beach (Wedding Crasher: Mission)

It had been a long time since Fang had been to a beach. At least a couple of months anyway. He tended to travel to the east, to the south, to the west, then back east. He skipped the North as he abhorred the cold. While he could resist the cold given his level of cultivation with relative ease, it was still more trouble than it was worth trying to stay warm. More so because he did not have fire ki. His element was wind after all, and shadow if that could be considered an element to some degree. Neither of which made him warmer.

In this place though, he didn't need to worry about that! It was almost always balmy in the south. And the beach today was warm. He could see the heat rising off the sand, watching the waves churning and splashing beyond it. Ah, he loved the smell of the sea. One day he should really try sailing, that could be interesting! And with his mastery over the wind, he wondered if he could make a ship fly even faster. He thought that it was likely he could make a boat faster by having the wind blow itself harder into the sails. A test for the future then!

More importantly, he was here to guard the happy couple. They were expecting trouble from a crazy ex, or so it had been explained. It was possible nothing would happen and the ex would leave them alone. In which case Fang was getting paid to stand around more or less.

He was just eager to eat some cake and drink some wine really. But getting paid to keep this party safe was also a sweet deal in his mind. He loved parties, he loved the cake, and he loved wine. And weddings were very entertaining to him, especially with the addition of knowing that drama could strike at any moment in the form of a crazy ex~ Oh how he looked forward to it. The drama, the suspense, and the amusement he would get being involved!

He personally hoped the ex did show up. It would not be bad if the wedding went smoothly. He would not be that disappointed to just sit around eating cake, drinking wine, and chatting with people... But a crazy ex would make it a much more memorable experience~ or so he felt at least.

Whatever the case would be, he stood by the doors to the building looking out to the beach and the ocean, watching guests as they flowed in. Since they wanted him to watch and make sure the crazy ex didn't just get to walk through the front doors unimpeded, and he had already been given a description of the person in question.

Fang stood out quite a bit. While everyone else was dressed in suits and dresses, he was in black loose-flowing robes. He might even look vaguely priest-like. (He supposed that cultivators did have some things in common with priests.) His hair was also tied back with a red ribbon into a ponytail.

While he did not fit the party well, he did look perfectly handsome and elegant. A playful smile never left those soft lips. Gentle hands clasped lightly behind his back. For now, standing guard while people gathered to take their seats.

WC: 557

The gentle sound of waves washing against the shore caressed the woman's ears as Ryder's eyes scanned the area, assessing the situation. Here she was, hired on to serve as bodyguard to a wedding and paired with a man of unknown origins. A glance at the man standing off to the side of the dias was all it took to show the soldier-turned-cultivator-turned-soldier all she needed to know about him. The man's eyes were cast out to sea, taking in the sights and the sounds of the scenery when they were on a mission here.

To say she was disappointed in the arrangements was a bit of an understatement. She could feel a trace of his inner strength, the essence of the dao around him. The man hired to work this bodyguard job was clearly a member of the Wulin as well as she was, and in all likelihood of a similar cultivation level, but he was so... so... so unfocused and unprofessional.

Garbed in a long red evening gown perfectly suited to a wedding- albeit perhaps a bit less perfectly for a wedding on the beach- Ryder carefully cast her gaze about the perimeter, using both her eyes and her divine sense to probe the surroundings as best she could for signs of any troublemakers. With none to be found- particularly nobody that resembled the pictures she was shown during her one on one briefing- the woman slowly sauntered over to where her companion stood- her ample hips swaying naturally with her gait as the woman slowly made her way around his side and into his field of vision, capturing his attention and cupping her palms to him respectfully.

"Fang, I believe it was?" she began, repeating the name that had been mentioned to her during the briefing. "Concerned about an attack by sea?"

OOC: 305 words

His eyes shifted to the woman who also seemed to be a bodyguard for this wedding. She was gorgeous, at least to him. A killer sway to those lovely hips, flattered by a wonderful dress.

Her words were a tad disappointing though. She was at a party, but she was keenly focused on the job it seemed.

He extended his senses to her with a little hum, brushing her as briefly and as gently as a breeze, and found they were relatively close in strength. That was all he wanted to know. He assumed she worked hard, considering her words just now it seemed natural.

"Fang if you wish to call me by my given name, certainly. Always a pleasure to have a woman as lovely as yourself speak it." He said cupping his hands and returning the bow.

"It's not impossible. The ex would have to be quite bold to simply walk through the front door, don't you think? And if we don't notice them, the pair about to be married certainly would." He offered with a relaxed smile, clearly unbothered.

"And you are here as well. Which is fortunate. Between the two of us, I doubt any single person could defeat us without being considerably stronger. And if a person like that shows up, well..." He shrugged. "I guess the married couple should have looked for stronger bodyguards. Such is the winds of fate, sometimes we are offered nothing but a failure from which we can grow." He mused philosophically.

The faintest hint of a smile crossed Ryder's lips as Fang offered her his given name. With such formal robes it was impossible to be certain in advance how friendly or formal he would be, though his inclination to gaze out to the sea was a hint that didn't pass her by.

A smile that subtly shifted into a bit of a playful smirk as Fang dismissed the plausibility of that crazy ex walking through the front door... when there was no door to begin with. Maybe they weren't given the whole scenario, but from her briefing Ryder never got the impression that this lunatic they were on guard against was someone capable of attacking by sea to begin with. But then again... to reach out into the Jianghu to acquire bodyguards of their calliber at such cost, perhaps this ex was more than they were made out to be.

The soldier held her tongue as Fang meandered through the twists of fate, discussing what could be rather than focusing on what was. To her relief, it wasn't long before the conversation turned to something a bit more tangible.

"You better believe it" she chuckled coyly, her subdued laughter laced with a little bit of a giggle- but only a little. "For every job there is a proper tool. I'm not going to wear something so fancy every day." What she wasn't about to admit to was how she had to tailor the damn thing to fit. After two years in secluded meditation she had grown a little thicker than she had been before during active military duty and the thing had grown too tight below the waist.

"And yes, you may call me Ryder" she smiled warmly, her delicate features contrasting elegantly with the strength of purpose in her sea green eyes as she once again turned her head to peruse the perimeter, her divine sense cast in a wide net to catch any unexpected interlopers.... and that was when she saw it.

A coffin sized weaving shuttle flew through the sky, a crazed lunatic standing atop it with his arms folded between them. It arrived above the assembled guests just in time for the minister's offer to the crowd 'Should any of you here have any objection as to why these two should not be wed, speak now or forever hold your peace.'

OOC: 469 words, 774 total

"Yeah I've got an objection alright! That's my fiancée down there you ignorant ants!" A voice echoed from above, that voice carried by a modest amount of Spiritual Strength. Though a careful look would show that the flying treasure seemed to be resonating the qi of someone else, as though someone had charged it for the young man. Pointing his open hand towards the dias, a flower made of flames slowly began to form.

Oh good, she wasn't so serious after all! He was quite happy when she seemed to fall easily into a conversation with him, and discuss nothing of particular importance for the most part.

"Mm, yes. If there is a fight then it would be a shame to ruin such a fine piece of fabric." He agreed. "I suppose that you would have worn something different were this not a wedding. As for myself-" He said shaking his robes. "I was hired rather last minute, so I didn't really have the chance to see about alternate outfits. But I suppose I don't care that much either. I like my robes." He mused.

Then nodded when she let him know that he could call her Ryder, but before he could continue to chat with her, it seemed the Ex was making his appearance.

And it was quite the entrance. Fang didn't really know what the thing the man was standing on was. He could detect energy coming from it, and it appeared as though the energy it was charged with had belonged to someone other than himself. So he had some assistance then? How strange.

"Well, I guess it's time we do our jobs." He noted as he moved to step out of the building to make his way with her to face the man outside. As he walked he fell into a naturally flowing stance, his body seemed to grow even lighter as it was filled with the power of the wind. And he raised his hand to call upon the element to contest the flaming flower with his wind. Water would have been more effective for countering the fire of course. But he figured he could at least redirect the attack, if not dismiss it with a strong enough push of his element all the same.

He would have liked to have sucked the air out of the flame to douse it, but his control of the wind was not quite that keen yet. Perhaps as he delved deeper into the dao of wind in the future. But for now, his options were limited.

WC: 354

A subtle smile crossed the woman’s lips as her associate brought up the possibility of ruining her dress. Should it happen, this wouldn’t be the first time she had ruined some beautiful clothes, nor would it be the last. In this line of work nothing was sacred, not her clothing, not her equipment, not even her own body.

No sooner did the ceremony commence and the minister reach the end than their adversary appeared, flying on a treasure that reminded Ryder of an old weaving tool her grandmother used to use, whilst Fang made some quip about doing their jobs.

~Don’t ruin the mood, Lucy, This is the happy couple’s special day~ the soldier reminded herself mentally. Without a word, the woman strode away from the pillar against which she had been leaning. In but a single step, the woman appeared several dozen paces away with a peculiar revolver already in her hand. When had she had time to draw that, and where had she been hiding it? The only ones present who could have seen the subtle movements as Ryder drew her revolver from her thigh holster while she took her step were Fang and the assailant, but whether either were paying her any attention at the moment was beyond the trooper’s knowledge.

No sooner did her step conclude than Ryder raised her revolver to the sky and unload her payload. Six special bullets she had earlier infused with the spiritual Qi of heaven and earth shot quietly from the weapon, each fire sounding more like the sching of a blade being drawn from a scabbard than the explosive report of a traditional firearm. Otherwise pre-occupied with Fang’s interference, the interloper was caught unaware by the woman’s sudden assault. He scarcely had the time to hoist his spare hand up in self defense before those augmented bullets were upon him. The first smashed into his palm, bruising and battering it with the force as the metal disintegrated.... and then the second smashed into his injured palm, knocking it back and opening him up to the remaining four that peppered his torso.

She could have augmented them further, poured her own Qi into each shot, but this was a woman’s special day and if Ryder could avoid it, she would rather not drop a corpse in-front of the ceremony. With his concentration shattered, the fire flower in his palm fell outside of his control. It should be trivial for that Fang fellow to capitalize on this opening, right?

OOC: Long Fang

418 words, 1192 total

He was rather impressed with the weapon that Ryder employed. He supposed that it was not outside the conventions of a cultivator to make use of such a thing. After all, was it not metal? Where he came from at least there were five primary elements. Some places believed in more or less, but this was what he had been taught at least. And metal was certainly among those elements. That being the case, it did not matter what form that took, though some might argue about the nature of her weapon and its place in cultivation. But the way Fang saw it, her weapon was just a natural evolution of weaponry. It was no more or less meaningful than a sword or bow.

However, he did capitalize on her opening up the man for him. He moved suddenly, and swiftly. Having been standing there one moment, then behind the man in the air the next.

"Shadow viper strikes." He breathed as his palm slammed into the man's back, intent on sending him well away from this peaceful gathering. This technique was more suited to assassination, but it was easy enough to use in a non-lethal manner. In this case, he was simply using a great deal of force to send the man away. Ordinarily, he would use his hand or a sword to punch through an enemy's body and pierce through something vital. But in this case, he refrained from such a bloody display in favor of sparing the man's life for now. A technique that made use of his dao of wind, and infused with part of his dao when it came to understanding the nature of darkness. Using wind to guide him, and darkness to cloak him. A shadow carried by the wind to deal damage suddenly from an unexpected position.

WC: 304

The woman's eyes widened in surprise as Fang seemingly vanished from his position by her side; she could feel the breeze as Fang merged into the wind. Ryder made her move in tandem, leaping into the air as well but by the time that Ryder reached their foe, Fang had already struck clean, delivering a powerful open palm to the back that knocked the wind clean out of him.

Under their combined assault, that crescendoed from one move to the next, there was nothing the interloper could do to defend himself as Ryder reached him, her fist flowing into his face even as it was still moving forward in response to Fang's attack.

*Thud* the wet sound of her fist thumping face rang out as the man was knocked off his feet and into the air, severing his connection to the flying treasure even as the soldier solidly stuck her feet to it and grasped hold of him by the ankle.

No sooner did she stick the landing than the shuttle took off, departing from the wedding with the woman and her flailing foe in tow, likely returning to its true owner.

"You don't dare kill me" the man grunted as he flailed, attempting to regain his center and break free of this damnable woman's iron grasp. "My father would kill your entire clan down to the last child. And we're heading home now"

Ryder's grip only tightened as the man flailed, her eyes narrowing as she looked down on him, her heart filled with conviction and hatred at the way the man would dare to threaten even children. "You thought that was supposed to save you? If your old man is half the scum you are then he shouldn't remain in this world, and neither should you" the soldier cursed, feeling his ankle begin to crumple under her grasp as the weaving shuttle finally made its way over the jungle, out of view of the beach.

"But I suppose if you're that confident in what he's capable of, I can't let this thing take me back to him so he can exact his revenge." With a subtle kick, the woman sent the shuttle careening into a tangled thicket while she leaped away, landing gracefully on a tree branch even as she violently smashed his body against its girthy trunk. She had come this far, there wasn't likely any way to peacefully mediate the situation. The best she could do was put him down and hope his old man didn't actually have any means of identifying the cause.

OOC: 428 words, 1624 total

Long Fang shall we wrap this one up with your follow-up post? I dunno whether Fang would just let them go and remain guarding the wedding or follow them and follow up somehow, but I am looking forward to your response regardless <3

After landing his attack, he was rather impressed when Ryder made a final attack of her own with a powerful bare fist, knocking the man for a loop before catching him by his ankle.

Fang hovered in the air momentarily, using his wind to stay afloat, and defy gravity.

He went with Ryder as she flew off on the treasure, followed on the wind. It wasn't as perfect as simply being strong enough to defy the laws of nature and flying without the need for his wind, but he moved fast as least, though flying like this would steadily draw upon his energy.

He was only a step away from reaching the next rank of his foundation though, and at that level, he would not be required to expend any of his energy in order to fly. Instead, he simply could, and then could use his wind to enhance his speed purely to fly faster or attack as he wished.

Still, this was suitable for following along and traveling behind the soldier woman and the man she had in hand. It seemed the item used to fly was basically just a flying sword but with a different shape. It was interesting, but Fang still much preferred a flying sword to the object that had belonged to the violent ex.

Landing with Ryder he tucked his hands behind his back, watching her decide upon the man's fate. The foolish man had pushed too many buttons. What could she do now but kill a man who would swear wrath and vengeance upon her? To leave a man filled with such hatred alive would be foolish indeed. Fang had no qualms about letting her put the foolish man to his final rest. May he find peace in the afterlife, and during his rebirth.

WC: 300/1,831