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Post by hermes on Nov 1, 2008 19:26:32 GMT -5
Pardas Rafe Idris Magnus Elder was looking at a very odd young lady, who'd just materialized a sword out of thin air, when the world around him changed. He looked around at the extremely odd room with a sense of confused de ja vu, and quickly decided this was not a place he wanted to be. Two people incinerated, with instructions that almost blatantly stated that the gathered were to kill each other.
Now, for the most part, he wasn't afraid of anyone in the room. A few exceptions to that of course, but he was a big guy. His red hair and large frame had, occasionally, marked him as a target. Due to that, he tended to keep to himself, and avoid trouble. But in this case, it seemed trouble had come to him, in one of its most unpleasant forms. He sat down slowly, leaning back against one of the corners of the large featureless room.
He massaged his temple, and contemplated ways to get the hell out of this room, without getting killed in the process. Or saying 'Victory.' that would also be extremely bad for his health. He scanned the room again, no one else seemed to have any weapons. But still, he kept his distance. Better to be safe than sorry, and his leather bikers suit was a poor substitute for leather armor, or any kind of armor for that matter.
He cursed, scratching at his head, and looked around for a weapon. He didn't think any would present itself, but hell, he'd just been ripped from reality. Stranger thing had happened.
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Post by Tout-Perd on Nov 1, 2008 20:44:13 GMT -5
"We'll survive. I've always managed to do it before, and I'll do it again. Nothing can kill me, it seems." Joseph growled, taking a puff on a cigarette he had lit while the others sorted them out.
"A lot of people live into their forties. It doesn't require some special luck." The man who had challenged their captor earlier said with a dark smile. "Was that impolite, guessing somebody's age like that?"
"Good guess. Somebody slap a gold star on the kid's forehead." Joseph took the cigarette from his lips. "Or just slap him in the head. Both work pretty well, right?"
"Hey, not a way to talk to somebody who's your new team mate." The man said, smirking slightly. "My name's Rit Kairos. I already know that the green guy there is called Tsubota, and you're Joseph. As for the rest of you, well, you'll need to introduce me to you. Best to know eachother's names so we can coordinate ourselves as a squad."
"Did anybody say that you could join-" Joseph started.
"Hey, I'll have that piece of gum. Might help my throat, right?" Tsubota said, taking Emily's offer up.
"Sure! Here's two pieces. One for now, and one's for later." Emily tossed them to Tsubota, landing them neatly in a stack on their narrowest edges on his palm. "By the way, my name's Emily. It's not the best name, but I like it a lot."
"Anyways, all of you, I think we should try to gather up the people who are the weakest and easiest to hurt." Tsubota said, looking over his shoulder. Many other people were forming into groups, much to the omission typically of the very young, very old, and the physically unsound.
"Cannon fodder, right?" Joseph grumbled, fetching a dirty look from Tsubota.
"You're armed, I'm a healer, and that girl is concealing like eighty things that are either knives or something more exotic."
"I thought you would never notice."
"Just because I don't gawk at every girl that goes by doesn't mean I can't spot hidden weapons... Anyways, it's our duty to protect the weak." Tsubota said, still glaring at his friend. Though they had similar tastes in company, there was certainly quite a wide bridge in ethics there.
"Hey, go round up your cripples. We'll hold the fort here, and keep an eye on the other teams." Rit said, walking past Tanner and Sebastian to Joseph. "He said you're armed. What do you have?"
"Just..." Joseph paused, fumbling through his pockets as Tsubota walked away. "Well, I'd normally go and throw it all on the floor and make a big show of it, but that'd cause some kind of riot. I've got my trusty old shotgun, four knives of varying size, a pair of brass knuckles, a length of chain, a taser, four Saturday-night specials, and my fifty cal JTL-E." Joseph didn't notice the gawking of several of his companions, seemingly trying to work through the rest of his inventory. "Oh, and three hand grenades of indeterminate origin... What? I packed light today."
"I'll take the fifty cal." Rit called.
"With wrists like yours? You'd be lucky to get one shot off, and that's if I didn't break both of them when you reached for it. I spent too much on that sucker for me to go around letting kids play with it." Joseph snarled. He thought for a moment, and reached inside his jacket. He produced a small handgun with a wooden handle. "This'll be good enough for you. It's got six rounds in it, and..." Joseph reached into his back pocket, and handed something more to the youth. "Here's another twelve. The safety is here. If you can't reload it, you're a moron."
"I'll be fine." He slipped the ammunition into his pockets, and tucked the weapon into his belt, pulling his shirt over it.
"How about you three?" Joseph asked Tanner, Gideon, and Sebastian.
"I'll be fine." Gideon responded, running his tongue over his teeth.
"Whatever. It's your ass, not mine." Joseph sighed, and patted his front pockets, checking where everything was hidden.
"I was wondering... Where are you keeping the shotgun, anyways?" Rit queried.
"Sawed off one, tied to his left leg." Emily observed. "Hey, you guys pointed out my spikes first."
OOC: One round of preparation, and then we head out. I was gonna make the jump, but I realized it makes more sense to give people time to form up. Anyways, I'll post after we get two or three replies.
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Post by hermes on Nov 1, 2008 21:11:35 GMT -5
At the edge of his hearing, Pardas, also often called Prime due to his initials, heard some people rattling off lists of weapons that they had on them in the actual store. The variety of preparation astounded him, it was as though these people were meant to be here because of their nature. Only a few people, like himself, had been caught out.
He shuffled around the walls and corners of the room, looking for hidden trap doors and the like, or a closet full of guns. He'd be happy either way, out or defense of self were very prominent on his list. He heard a footfall behind him, and turned just as a gun was lowered against his head. "Sorry about this." The middle aged man said, and Pardas watched in terror as his finger started to squeeze.
Like watching himself in slow motion, he darted out of the way, wound up as the gun went off, and punched the guy full on in the jaw. He fell to the ground with a thud, and Pardas waisted no time looting his body. Of the gun specifically, and all the ammo he could find.
He stood up, his hands shaking madly, and avoided looking at the people around him. Killing the man crossed his mind, but it only took him a moment to decide he wasn't willing to live with that, and he quickly moved on. He kept an eye on the groups that were slowly forming, but refrained from taking any action himself.
In all likely-hood, these people found themselves willing to kill. He didn't want to be associated with them, he didn't want to die, and he could live without poking potentially fatal holes in people.
Slowly, with shaking hands, he checked the pistol. He made sure the safety was off, and gripped it tightly in his hand, though he tried hard to avoid squeezing the trigger. He checked the chamber, which was loaded, and slowly released the hammer.
"Oh hell, what is this?" He asked the wall, resting his head against the smooth material, before turning back around and scanning the crowd again. Some of them seemed to be hyping themselves up now. "Ah, hell."
OOC: Hehe, corpse, sorry. Zombie marathon night, lot of corpses going around.
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Post by {WW}BetaBloodWolf7 on Nov 1, 2008 21:43:37 GMT -5
Alyssa moved closer to the main group, they seemed to be talking about something, and she hoped that she could over hear enough of the conversation to save herself, and maybe others, if she could.
One of them was talking about weapons, but what kind, or anything about them she couldn't make heads or tails of it. One of them seemed to be hoarding weapons, and was chiding another person on having wrists to weak to handle anything of power. Once more she gazed down at her own, but with her sleeves rolled down, there was nothing to see.
Still looking down she stepped closer to the group and mumbled "There's not really a plan to save us all though, is there?"
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Post by Beelzebibble on Nov 1, 2008 22:03:17 GMT -5
OOC - Prime, since that punch to the jaw didn't kill the guy, I'm confused about why you used the word "corpse" to describe his prone body.
"Save us all?" Charles Tanner frowned. "I don't think the Lord of the Lamp wants us all to be saved. I imagine he'd be quite frustrated to see us all make it to the beacon intact. No I think the game's meant to turn us against each other. Besides, if we all banded together I should assume those four twenty-man troops he mentioned would convene on us at once and I would rather not see eighty trained soldiers enter a military engagement with a platoon of grocery shoppers."
He looked at the rough-looking man who had had gum on his shoe. He hadn't attracted the King of Clubs' respect back in the frozen foods aisle, but Tanner could see the man was inviting him to join them. His instinct told him to approach this alone, but he could also tell he was standing among survivors. If he needed to cast an allegiance in this first stage, better it should be with an apparently competent group like this. He could always go his own way later once he had satisfied himself that they were holding up well.
He brightened. "I've done enough talking just now that I might well introduce myself -- Charles Tanner -- and no, sir, although I admire very much your arsenal, my cane will be sufficient."
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Post by Tout-Perd on Nov 1, 2008 22:11:16 GMT -5
OOC: Charles Tanner, not a pseudonym? Huh. Of course, I think he must carefully balance notoriety and his trust of others, so it comes down to a judgement call.
I'll post again once we hear from Elliot. If my sister or DL posts, good, but if not, I can just auto through them.
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Post by Beelzebibble on Nov 1, 2008 22:22:15 GMT -5
OOC - Charles Tanner is his pseudonym. At least, "Tanner" is. "Charles" is his genuine first name. The point is, he's not going to go around introducing himself as the King of Clubs. That's what the British headlines have dubbed him, and those who kept up with the British headlines would get to wondering.
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Post by Tout-Perd on Nov 1, 2008 22:34:46 GMT -5
OOC: Ah, I must reread his bio. I read it when it was first uploaded, and dismissed it as "Oh, something to do with that accursed airship" from that point onwards. Thusly, I had no ideas of his true capabilities when he came in here, and I approached him with a wide berth just in case.
He'll... be very interesting, and very handy, and very awesome.
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Post by AngelicTragedy on Nov 1, 2008 23:08:07 GMT -5
OOC- OMG DL IS POSTING IN THE RP!!!
BIC- Gideon had begun shifting this weight from foot to foot and cracking his knuckles. His black and white jacket seemed to bludge for some reason and his teeth appeared a lot sharper than they had a few moments ago. Gideon had no interest in the talk of weapons but only the beacon. Gideon had to get back to Earth so that he could find a way back to his home world of Apatros Prime. Gideon assumed a crouched position and held his hands like claws near his knees as he looked over the group he had become a member of so suddenly.
"The name is Gideon. I would suggest that once this all starts that you keep a few feet away from me. I don't want any of you to get hurt." Gideon nearly whispered threw is thin olive lips.
OOC- Short but I really don't have much to play with and I'm half asleep right now...Deal with it.
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Post by hermes on Nov 2, 2008 0:06:00 GMT -5
"Are you alright?" Pardas asked Alyssa, "I know this situation is screwed up, and I can't exactly offer you any assurances." He said, giving himself a mental shake. "But I'll do my best to protect you, and hopefully myself as well. But, please, don't panic? If we get seperated there isn't much I can do." He said, his leather bikers suit creaking as he shifted position.
"My name is Pardas Rafe Idris Magnus Elder, but you can call me Prime, or Pardas if you like." He said, "It's good to meet you, and I hope we both get the hell out of here alive." The red head gave a slight bow as he introduced himself, and produced a long knife the gentlemen from earlier has been carrying. "You wouldn't happen to know how to use this, would you?" Pardas asked, he wanted her to have some means to defend herself, if it was nessisary.
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Post by {WW}BetaBloodWolf7 on Nov 2, 2008 0:50:53 GMT -5
Alyssa jumped slightly, and turned around quickly, startled by the sudden appearance of the red-haired man who called himself Prime
"Oh! Um... Aside from cooking I haven't had much experience with them.... "She looked back down at her feet, and her long brown hair fell in front of her face again. Even with her hair in her face though, she reached out and took the knife, and mumbled a word of thanks to him.
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Post by Tout-Perd on Nov 2, 2008 1:25:07 GMT -5
"Seems like the Shopper's Club ain't so harmless after all, if even half of you aren't talking out of your asses." Joseph said with wry smile, exhaling smoke through his teeth.
"I guess I picked the right group." Rit said with a dark smile, looking from face to face. "There's only eight of us, but we're all strong and armed. There's a few loose people still hanging around, but they're the exception and not really that common."
"How many people overall?" Joseph grunted, seemingly taking an interest in the subject.
"Not quite sure. Too many people moving for me to count. But I think there's like two hundred, total. Maybe two-fifty, tops. The biggest group looks like it's around forty people. About twenty men, two armed, fifteen women, and five children."
"Speaking of women, look who's back." Joseph jerked his thumb, pointing out Tsubota with a single file line of people behind him.
"I picked out ten people to come along with our group. They all couldn't find any other groups with room for them."
"Well, out with them then."
"Each of you, as agreed, introduce yourself." Tsubota stepped out of the way politely, revealing the first individual. A rather rotund man with a prominent second chin and a shining bald head stepped forwards, his black formal shoes clicking on the floor.
"My name's Elkind Benton. My friends call me Elk." He smiled slightly, looking around the group. "Are you all as strong as this gentleman says you are?"
"Stronger!" Emily replied, bringing down her left hand and pointing with her other. Before anybody even had time to question what had happened, there was the sound of metal hitting wood. A steel spike, resembling an oversized needle, jutted from the wall an inch above Joseph's head.
"You know how to use a gun?" Joseph responded, unphased by the closeness of Emily's thrown weapon.
"Yes. Not well, but I did some hunting when I was younger." Elk smoothed some wrinkles in his suit, and cleared his throat.
"Here. Take this." Joseph grunted, and threw a small handgun to the man, who fumbled with it for a moment.
"Aren't you not supposed to throw those?" Elk said, examining the weapon.
"Safety's on."
"Safety doesn't mean it's safe to play around with!"
"Oh well. Get out of my way, so we can see the next weakest link." Joseph said, Elk stepping aside slightly flustered. The next person was a frail looking woman with obviously dyed copper red hair, looking to be in her fifties.
"Bethany Brewer." She said, her throat quivering slightly. "I can't use a gun."
"Choice pick, Tsubota." Joseph examined her for a moment. "Can you keep up with a group like this?"
"I can try. If I don't..." Bethany frowned slightly, looking like she might cry. "Don't worry about me. I don't really have anybody who cares about me at all these days, so if I don't make it, nobody's going to cry over me."
"Don't act like that!" Tsubota said, taking her by the arm. "We care about what happens to you. I know that I do, and Emily there does, too."
"Thank you..."
"Next!" Joseph said, clearly irrate.
"I'm Mervin Lehman. And I can handle a gun, I assure you." A man clearly past his prime stepped forwards smartly, looking straight at Joseph. "Those guns probably were illegal, but considering that they're going to save a bunch of lives, I'll let it slide." He smirked slightly, drawing something from his pocket. "Olivine Police Department. I was on my way home from work, and stopped for some groceries..."
"You got a gun?"
"Desk job."
"Meh." Joseph went to toss another gun to the man, but was stopped by him stepping directly up to him and taking it from his hand.
"I can still handle a weapon. No need to patronize me."
"Meera Starre?" The person behind Mervin piped up, trying to lean around him.
"Is that your name, or a question in some other language?"
"It's my name." A young lady with a dark complexion revealed herself from her place behind Mervin, smiling nervously. By each hand, she had a small child, each one presumably too young for even a formal education. The looked bashfully towards the fighters, and then cowered behind their mother. "Their names are Billy, who's five, and Carol, who's four."
"Can Carol handle a gun?" Joseph asked bitterly.
"Joseph, she's got two CHILDREN with her." Tsubota strained.
"I KNOW." Joseph mocked Tsubota's tone, was cut off by a slap across the face.
"I know that I've got two children with me! Do you think those morons in charge of the other groups didn't remind me of the fact? Listen up. I'm going to get to that beacon, and I'm going to do whatever it takes to get there. Lie, cheat, fight dirty... The only thing that matters to me is that my family comes out of this okay!" She stepped up to Joseph, pulling his sunglasses away from his eyes.
"Is that quite clear enough for you?" She asked, leaning into his face.
"Crystal. Though the slap was a bit much." Joseph reached into his pocket, producing a closed knife. "Don't let your kids get this, okay?"
"I won't." Meera tucked it away, and took her children by their hands. Tugging them along behind her, she stepped out of the way.
"Toback Dougherty, pleased to meet you." An elderly man, evidently in much less active shape than Mervin, shakingly stepped forwards.
"You sure you won't keel over?"
"No, but I'll do my best not to. I can't shoot, and I'm afraid I'm thirty years too old to be fighting with a bunch of thugs and such, but I'll try to help out where I can."
"Well, go limp somewhere where you won't be in the way." Joseph growled, with Toback simply taking the abuse and wandering into the midst of their number.
"Deng Xue." A young lady, evidently Chinese, said. She smiled weakly, awaiting the group's opinion.
"Let me guess, you have a wooden leg?" Joseph grumbled angrily. The girl simply shivered slightly, looking sadly at the group.
"Xue doesn't speak English." Mervin said informatively.
"Any of you all speak Chinese?" Rit asked, looking around. Before anybody in the group could respond, he took her by the wrist and led her aside.
"Well, if nothing else, he's got a new quest." Joseph muttered to Tsubota and Gideon.
"Hey, face front." A short man with an angry expression glared at Joseph, his arms akimbo. "We should stop joking around."
"Sorry, mister, but in a life or death matter, some of us like a little brevity. How about you take the stick out of your-"
"I just think it'd be best if we were to be a bit more focused on the task at hand. Any thought into ascerbic comments is thought not into saving our butts." He walked up to Joseph. "I'll take a gun and a knife, please."
"What's your name?"
"Alfred Lans, a professor at the local college."
"What do you teach, 'Professor'?"
"Anthropology. Though I doubt it'll be handy in this present situation, I'm not going to cower in a corner and let everybody else take care of the situation."
"Good enough. Well, get out of my- Oh. F***********k. F**k. Tsubota, care explaining this to me?" Joseph pointed directly at a cherubic looking blonde woman, probably in her early twenties.
"Well, nobody else would take her." Tsubota said meekly.
"For a GOOD REASON. SHE'S A F**KING CRIPPLE!" Joseph walked over to her, and thumped his fist on the hood of the electic scooter the woman was seated upon.
"I know I am. It's not like you need to rub it in." The girl's face was blank, her voice stern. "But ask yourself; could you all benefit from me being with you? Though I can't carry all of you, I've got room on the back here. I can carry another two hundred pounds of weight on here."
"How fast can it go?" Joseph's tirade stopped, and he examined her scooter carefully.
"Twenty, tops. Less if we load it." She thought for a moment. "Anyways, you can toss the kids on the back, here. They'll be out of your way. And if you need anything carried, I can do that, too."
"Name?"
"So, now you guys want me in your group?"
"You make a good argument."
"Tuica. That's the only name you'll need from me, right?"
"I guess so." Joseph muttered, looking her in the eye. "Can you handle a weapon?"
"Not really... But-"
"Here. Take this." Joseph slipped a grenade into her palm. "I don't like carrying too many of them around anyways."
"Okay... I guess..." Tuica quickly tucked it away in a compartment in front of her.
"That's about all of them." Rit said, looking around.
"Not too horrible, right, Joseph?" Tsubota asked with grin.
"I was expecting at least one of them to have a puppy, but other than that, they're up to my expectations." Joseph growled, turning away from the group. A crack of light appeared at the bottom of the wall, anybody near it jerking away. Emily quickly yanked her spike out of the wall and jumped a good ten feet back, striking a ready stance.
"Seems that we're about to get free." Rit said, smirking slightly and his hand going to his gun. There was a loud creaking, and the walls began to slowly float into the air, leaving a high enough gap to see through. Some of the more ambitious groups began scrambling to get under it, though others were wary of the wall, half expecting it to come crushing down upon them as they scampered through. Once the walls had risen to about waist level, they shot skywards, flying up into the air and vanishing.
"Oh my..." Tsubota glanced around quickly, evaluating the state of the course. There was no clearly marked terrain for a course, although Tsubota thought that he could see a column of light in the distance, over some odd, treelike plants.
"That's a d*** sight longer than a quarter mile," Joseph growled.
"I guess he must've lied." Tsubota stepped down from the platform they were on, a solid two feet above the ground, and helped Meera lower her children from it.
"Somebody give me a hand here?" Joseph asked, and Gideon came over, helping him lower Tuica's scooter over the ledge, lifting the majority of its weight with one hand.
"Sorry about the trouble, guys." She said quietly.
"It's okay. You'll be carrying all sorts of weight for us." Joseph responded, looking at the terrain. They were in a barren looking area, oddly enough, although what appeared to be a short distance away, huge green leafy plants stretched skywards. Boulders were scattered around them, each one the size of a small car, and a swiftly flowing river roared by on the group's right, running from a massive lake. On the far side of that, what appeared to be an immense slope, miles high, rose, covered in a thick jungle of vegetation.
"Wasn't expecting this at all, I'd have to say." Tsubota murmured, tapping his class ring with his fingertip.
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Post by Yoshimitsu on Nov 2, 2008 8:03:02 GMT -5
Sebastian wasn't one for words in a situation he couldn't control. In fact, all he had done once the groups had been assigned was stand there, mouth closed, observing everything that happened. When he was asked about a weapon, he jumped in surprise at being addressed, but the man had clearly forgotten about him, so he continued in silence. Strangely enough, he found himself very calm. That was one of his little qualities. Even in moments of undeniable stress, he could find himself very very calm. The panic could happen later.
The room changed. Well, not changed as such. The walls rose. Then he felt his jaw drop. He was in the middle of a random natural obstacle course. In the distance, he could see some kind of light, like the Aurora gone wrong and put in a set space. However, he was snapped out of his daze when his 'group' started moving. Immediately, he went for Tsubota, the one who he had decided was the nicest of the group. The Joseph man scared him slightly. "So, um... Tsubota was it?" He asked tentatively. "Er... what exactly are we gonna do?"
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Post by Tout-Perd on Nov 2, 2008 15:38:59 GMT -5
"Not quite sure. Unfortunately, I never was trained beyond our basic wilderness survival, and so... This is kinda outta my league. That's gotta be like... Fifty miles maybe? Maybe more..."
"We've got three options here," Rit said, stepping up beside him. "We could cross the river here, and circle the lake."
"No good. The force of the river would only carry us farther away, and going around the lake... I can't be sure, but it would almost double how far we need to go." Tsubota said, watching the other groups as they began moving out. Most of them headed straight along the shore of the lake, obviously hoping that it would be easier to cross at the tributaries. One group of a dozen though had broken off, and now was working on putting together large sticks in a pile.
"Making a raft, no doubt." Alfred spat, striding up beside them with a large, incredibly flawless looking walking stick, improvised from the fallen wood in the area.
"So, either up and around, or straight across..." Meera mused, hefting Carol onto the back of Tuica's cart.
"Could we make a raft that could handle the lake? It seems pretty rough out there." Rit said, gesturing for Xue to catch up.
"Maybe." Tsubota said quietly. He had a trump card that would let them cross the lake, but if he revealed it-
The group might not take so well to finding out what he really was. Three years hadn't lessened the pain of the Slateport incident at all, and in most of the civilized world, admission of being a Summoner was almost on par with being confirmed as a serial killer. His group could lynch him and Joseph, or just as bad, strike out on their own, defenseless...
He couldn't risk the option yet.
"So, what is it, fearless leader?" Joseph growled, having produced his shotgun and loaded it while the rest of the group had been consulting.
"I think it's up to you guys. They're both equally strong options if we do them right."
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Post by Beelzebibble on Nov 2, 2008 19:04:33 GMT -5
To conjure a raft would have been trivial for the King of Clubs, but an additional disadvantage of working with a group was that he had no clear sense of when it would be appropriate to reveal his power. Surely, at least, he would do better to keep it secret for now. In case he needed to turn against his comrades later, it would be much easier on him if they hadn't already taken the full measure of his abilities.
"I'm deeply curious as to how that group's attempt at a raft plays out," Tanner said, "but I suppose we can't simply stand here and observe them or they'll confront us about it. Incidentally, it just now occurs to me that the lake may contain something more than fish and ducks. Are we prepared to take this possibility into account?"
He looked at the woman in the wheelchair. "And, as I now seem to be fully stringing together an argument against trying to build a raft, I confess I see no easy way, Miss Tuica, of safely transporting your wheelchair on anything less than a proper boat."
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Post by hermes on Nov 2, 2008 20:01:04 GMT -5
"Follow me and try to stay quiet." Prime said in a low voice, gesturing for Alyssa to keep low as they entered some of the undergrowth next to the steam. He looked around carefully as they reached the bank, and saw most either looking for a way around, or making rafts. "Not a bad idea," Prime muttered, "But I'm not that industrious, and a huge block of wood is like a big target in the middle of a lake." He ran his hand through his hair, thinking about the mercenaries that were supposedly hunting them now.
"Well, why don't we try something similar. The steam isn't that wide, just deep." He said, looking across it. It was a strong current, so swimming wasn't a wise option. However... He quickly looked around at the tree's, and eventually found what he was looking for. Or almost. It wasn't vine like you find in a jungle, but it was ivy. And ivy twisted together was quite strong. He cut it down with a pocket knife, and started tying the ends together. It took him about half an hour, but everyone else was still busy making their target kanoo's.
"Right," He said, tying one end of the vines to his pocket knife. "Lets give this a shot." He scratched his head quizzically, then started whirling the line around his head. It took him a few tries, but eventually the knife caught in a v, a large branch coming out of a tree. It snapped taught as Prime yanked on it, and tied it off to another tree of similar high on their end. He tested his full weight on it, and it didn't budge or snap. The tree made some ominous creaking sounds though.
"Eugh, its like a hammock." He said, looking over at Alyssa. "Will you be alright across this? It's not very far." He said, hanging impractically from the improvised rope, but he didn't seem to notice.
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Post by Beelzebibble on Nov 2, 2008 20:17:55 GMT -5
"Your chivalric concern for one young madame's well-being is blinding you to the needs of another," said Charles Tanner. "Unless you yourself, sir, possess the handicap of deafness, you will have surely heard me draw attention just now to the uneasy position of Tuica, who cannot cross the river either by raft or by your rope without leaving behind her wheelchair."
Feeling he had perhaps been too harsh, he added, "I grant you, some of us may well be able to cross that way as easily as you can, but Tuica cannot, and I personally don't feel any desire to wager on that vine either. Like others in our party, I am too old and brittle for circus stunts."
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Post by hermes on Nov 2, 2008 21:14:10 GMT -5
Prime shrugged, turning towards the old man. "Of we make a small, double thick raft, we'll be able to pull ourselves across in groups. And it'll probably hold the cart there as well. Balance will be an issue, but hell, do we really have any other choice? It'll at least take us a lot less time to get across the river, even in groups, than those we are trying to cross the lake."
He gave the rope another sharp tug, just to be sure, and looked at the tree's around him. "I hope somebody has an ax, because the best I have is a pocket knife, which is now on the other side of the river. And I doubt a .45 can punch a hole through anything other than a sapling..." He looked around at the group, wondering if anyone might have actually been in the hardware section what they'd been ripped from they're world.
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Post by AngelicTragedy on Nov 2, 2008 21:20:18 GMT -5
Gideon was the last to step into the course and promptly removed his jacket. In a quick movement, Gideon wrapped it around Tuica and showed the group a bit of what was in store. Gideon was very muscular for his size. His olive toned skin pushed tightly against the aged black shirt that he wore. Gideon reached behind his back and pulled out a pair of black steel Sai and flipped them quickly to check the weight.
"Tuica, I'm going to want that jacket back once this is all over and done with. As for our situation, I say that we go the most straight way possible. The lake shouldn't be to much of a problem and I can handle the wheelchair whatever happens. I'm full of suprises as you all will soon find out. If Tuica is alright with the idea, I say we go for the raft." Gideon stated to the group as he pointed a Sai towards the lake.
OOC- I want some action!!
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Post by Tout-Perd on Nov 2, 2008 21:40:24 GMT -5
"Mm. I think that might be the right idea..." Tsubota said quietly.
"But the distance!" Rit gestured emphatically. "It's the longest possible way!"
"Not about time. It's about style. And if we don't let the other groups meet up with us, we shouldn't have any troubles with making it to the end eventually." Toback said, rubbing his chin.
"Only presumably," Mervin stated, "We don't know if there's any traps or stuff like that to mess us up along this route."
"The lake people are going to get the style points." Elk reminded them, pointing to where the raft had been almost fully assembled.
"The trees here don't look right." Alfred observed, pacing around one of the trunks with a measured step. "Too green. Too smooth. And if you look up there..." He made a gesture with his chin. "There's no real branches, just huge leaves the size of sheets of plywood. Maybe bigger, towards the top."
"So? Tree's a tree." Joseph spat.
"Not really. I know seven different general ways to make a raft, and they each are heavily dependant on the wood used. If this tree is the wrong type, we might get waterlogged and sink, or have it snap under our weight."
"That wouldn't be good." Bethany squeaked.
"And besides!" The professor snapped his walking stick over his knee with a single movement. "Look at THIS. Hollow. No trace of any former matter inside it either. If I can break a branch like that, think of what our weight would do!"
"It could just be deadwood." Mervin offered.
"Maybe. But I'm still leery."
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Post by hermes on Nov 2, 2008 21:52:28 GMT -5
Prime sighed, looking at the wood and the rope. "Well, if the wood makes you skittish, despite the rope, I could lower the line and swim across with a second line." He said, "And then we could cut and lay planks of the wood across the two lines, make a really basic rope bridge." He scratched at his chin, and started massaging his temples.
"I think I have a design that'd work, even for the powered scooter, but it'd take us a lot longer to build it that everyone else here. Though I suppose we're not really trying to win any races here, just survive until the end." He sat down hard, and propped his back against a tree. "Still, our...Host, probably has something in mind for the last 'team' to arrive. I personally don't think I want to be on that list." He said, looking at the pillar of light in the distance.
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Clicker
Joyeuse Insurgency
Trunk Monkey Thief Retriever
They're more fun airborne.
Posts: 236
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Post by Clicker on Nov 10, 2008 6:16:05 GMT -5
"I don't know much about would, but something is strange hear.” Emily smiled but looked slightly confused. “It’s just I heard once that almost anywhere in the world if you watch for ten minutes you’ll see a bird. And well I know it’s stupid to be nervous over this but I haven’t seen any signs of life aside from us.” She sighed “never mind it’s just me being paranoid.” “Ok so how can I help?” Emily asked, “I’ve gone camping since I was three so this should be a piece of cake right?”
OOC sorry lee it's not a good post. Change anything if you need to. I hate early mornings.....
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Post by {WW}BetaBloodWolf7 on Nov 10, 2008 13:20:47 GMT -5
"I don't think I would either, but there's not much choice. All we can do is try to get there as quickly as we can... Unless we could all get there at the same time....." She sighed, and moved next to Prime, holding the knife tightly in her hand.
"But that's just how this is...." She looked up at the pillar too, then closed her eyes, as if fearful of what awaited the last group to reach them.
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Post by Tout-Perd on Nov 12, 2008 3:18:31 GMT -5
"Professor?" Joseph said, putting a hand on Alfred's shoulder.
"Nice to hear somebody using my formal title."
"Don't flatter yourself. I just can't remember your real name."
"Oh?"
"But anyways, I think if you know all this stuff about rafts, you should know something that works with wood like this."
"I thought we went over this before... It's too weak."
"That's bull**** and you know it. That piece you broke there was deadwood."
"I suppose. Though I still doubt-"
"Can you or can you not make it work?"
"It'll do. I'll need to run extra supports under the middle, but it should work well enough to last us for three trips."
"Four trips?" Tsubota asked, evidently getting involved in the planning.
"Yes. five people at a time is the most I'd ever want to put on a raft like this, and we've got almost twenty. Since we need somebody to pull it back across..."
"Makes sense. So, how does this raft thing go?" Rit spoke, leading the rest of the group into the discusson.
"We need two twelve foot pieces, two eight foot pieces, and then a large number of pieces at least six feet long. Probably a couple hundred feet of vine or rope, too."
"Hundreds?" Meera asked, tugging at her children's hands to keep them close to her. Judging by how closely they followed, and their frightened glances around, she kept them close more for their mutual comfort than for to keep them from straying.
"Don't worry. It can all be fairly short lengths. Just as long as it holds." Prime concluded, alternating his gaze between the other groups and his makeshift line across the river.
"Since you two know about making rafts, you'll be on assembly. Tuica will watch the children. Meera, you, Bethany, Alyssa, Emily, Charles, and Xue should look for something to tie this with. Toback, you'll be on guard duty right here. The rest of us, we'll go get the lumber," Tsubota spat out orders as if they were burning a hole in his tongue, barely ceasing between commands. "Everybody get that?"
"Yeah. I think," Rit mumbled, "Except for Xue."
"I'm sure that between the five of them, they can pantomime through it." Alfred responded, already stooping to clear some rocks away from the assembly site.
"If something is coming at us, what should I do?" Toback asked.
"Just shout or something. Let the guys on assembly know there's trouble, and then get out of the way."
"Sounds like a plan." Toback muttered, and turned to face out over the shore of the lake.
"Where should I be?" Tuica asked, setting Billy in her lap.
"Between Toback and the guys on assembly," Tsubota instructed, gauging the distance with his eyes. "Keep your eyes on the woods, just in case there's something out there."
"I'll try."
"That's all we can ask. Anyways, guys, I believe it's time we get to work." Tsubota clapped his hands. "Let's move!"
"Are you going to break into one of your cheerleader routines to inspire us while we work?" Joseph hissed as an aside to Tsubota as they walked towards the nearest stand of the odd trees.
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Post by {WW}BetaBloodWolf7 on Nov 15, 2008 0:51:44 GMT -5
Alyssa reached up and pulled her hair back behind her shoulders and went looked around for the rest of the people she had suddenly been grouped in.She spotted Charles and Emily quickly, and went to stand with them before they hurried off to gather supplies.
"Um... Do either of you know what it is we're looking for? I can't really think of anything that we could find out here....." She paused, and then mumbled again, I don't think we'd find any rope or anything here...." As she spoke, her voice faded away, till it was just barely audible to herself. She then looked back up at Charles, who would doubtlessly disapprove of her timidness.
I have to try, if I don't I'll be left behind! I have to my best!
A voice filled her mind, and she was surprised to find that it was her own, but would she succeed? Could she? Almost in answer to her doubts, a voice filled her mind once more I have to do my best!
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Post by hermes on Nov 15, 2008 1:19:27 GMT -5
Prime rolled his eye's as the young man tried to take charge, and arched an eyebrow when he was given instructions as well. "Just because I watch survival TV doesn't exactly make me proficient at this," He muttered, "And besides, I don't see anyone with an ax around here." He scratched his head quizzically, looking around for something he might use to fell a tree.
His search was in vain, however. There wasn't even a sharp pointy rock he could use to smash against one of the tree's. "Ah well, least I can do is gather some more rope." He said, proceeding to cut down some more vines from the area. "Wish I had a bowie knife," He muttered again, cutting down the length of the rope to an appropriate length for rigging. "Or a machete."
He winced as a kukri style machete thunked into the ground in front of him. "Best I can do," One of the other members of the group said, before self conciously wandering off.
"Works," Prime said. He grabbed onto the machete, and turned to one of the good sized tree's behind him. Not overly thick, he tried to remember what he'd seen on the Discovery channel, then set to work. A few good, swift hacks was enough to carve a deep notch in one side of the tree.
A few more on the other side loosened it alarmingly, and he finished off with a good push, felling the tree about much cracking and crashing bush.
He walked around to the tip, and hacked a good eight feet of the end, proportioning it properly for a raft. He looked at the eight foot tip thoughtfully for a moment, then trimmed it of all its branches and cut off the weaker tip. Leaving a good six feet, he set it aside, just in case.
It wouldn't make a good weapon, but it might come in handy if the raft set adrift or some such thing. He dragged the fatish piece of wood he'd just cut down over to the bank, and set it down with a huff. "One down," He said, brushing himself off. "Hey, I need at least two here before the old man and I can even do anything!" Prime yelled.
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