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 Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 8:34 am
While Jordan had probably needed some time on his own to think, it was just making Harrison miserable. Their cellphones could light up any moment and they'd have to head out to a mission with Rep minus a shield and weapon.
Worse, they might call Rep out to do something he couldn't come along for.
And he wouldn't know until...
No, that was stupid. Rep would call him. He'd come along anyway, roster or invite list be damned, and they could all just go to hell if he they thought he was going to twiddle his thumbs while they sent out Rep to fight. The worst thing was that Rep would fight too, even if all he had was knuckles or a tree branch. That was the thing about him, he was brave, and he was an idiot, and if they hadn't patronized him so much on that mission...
Allan had told him it was a promotion mission and then molly-coddled him, with lunches and teddy bears and a few scattered shadowlings that weren't anything near the tight-packed density of even the Shadowrun. The one Rep'd cleared of fogmonsters single-handedly. Rep had been up to his eyeballs in s**t and blood, had come to Harrison's rescue on more than one occasion, had fought through monsters the size of trains and the worst of what the Horsemen had to offer- seen what the enemy did to vulnerable hunters and humans, seen kids and the injured used as meat puppets and bait.
Then they don't trust him to do what he does best, they tell him to prove himself by killing a couple of shadowlings in a pen, like that's the sum total of his worth to the organization. He finds a hidden outpost, and nearly loses his head because his team didn't trust him either. All the thanks he gets is the constant reminder that he isn't nice and folks don't like him and he should be expecting a bullet any day now.
He'd fought, sparred, and done more training and Missions than any other trainee Harrison knew. He wasn't even getting paid for it.
And now they were taking his weapon away. And Rep'd take that too, like a dog begging for scraps. H had called him as much. Now give me your paw... Rep wasn't a trained poodle.
s**t. Pieces of s**t. Just because he didn't talk pretty or kiss everyone's a**. They didn't put him in the talking pretty division. Did they want someone who was fun at tea parties or did they want someone who was a soldier?
Worst thing was, he understood the nets, too. It hadn't been a random attack, wasn't the act of some rabid animal. Rep'd been put in charge, and Jerry and Rin had yipped and bitched at his heels the whole time without really doing anything about it. They should have stayed on the path. They all followed him though, traipsing right off into the undergrowth and whining about it the whole time. Even Jordan, though he didn't like to think that. Maybe Jordan was right about sentimentality. He'd wanted to give Rep a chance, but he'd countered every decision Rep'd made. Jordan couldn't help seeing things in the long term, couldn't help thinking administratively, and couldn't help loving Rep either. So in the end he'd done the same thing as Jerry and Rin.
And Harrison had followed last, tight-lipped, because what kind of moon would he be if he let his whole team wander off into the jungle. Just obeying orders, sir. When his first order was always keeping the team safe.
And he'd done his best at that, although maybe it wasn't enough.
He didn't expect his name to be mentioned kindly in their reports. He expected them to say, that poor old lady, and Harrison just stood by.
He wished he had a better read on how Jordan felt about it. He'd expected anger. He would have cussed Rep up one side and down the other if Rep had aimed that gun at him. Instead Jordan had been all business, frosty until he broke down later and after that...he laughed a little. Been gentle. Because in the morning Rep could've been dead, and chewing him out wouldn't have done much good. Harrison wanted to be angrier on Jordan's behalf, he'd told Rep how shitty it was, but Harrison was just scared.
Sasha and he weren't on the best terms, and she didn't owe him any favors. This one was important. So he figured she'd know it was important, and wring every last penny and dirty job from him- Rep didn't have any money, and was too...mortal now, for some s**t. Harrison would give them up- every extra duty, all his savings, anything she asked. He'd grovel, if he had to. Even if all it gave Rep was the difference between a snowball and a snowman's chance in hell.
He had to find her first.
And every minute counted...
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Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 8:52 am
Rep wished he hadn't found Sasha first. He was mentally kicking himself the whole time as he put as much distance between the training fields and himself as possible, a feat that took a great deal of effort, every step sending pain lancing through his entire side. Eventually dizziness got too much for him, adrenaline slipping away. He needed to find Harrison, but he needed to stay concious to do it.
He found a wall and slumped against it. He just needed to sit down, just for a second.
It was only when he did so that he remembered his phone.
Fishing it out, miraculously unbroken after all the kicks he'd taken, he checked where he was and then typed carefully with shaking hands.
Quote: Found Sasha. I'm one of the side entrances main building. Bring a bandage.
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Toshihiko Two rolled 1 12-sided dice:
12
Total: 12 (1-12)
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Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 9:09 am
Harrison had been going through the life labs, at least as far along as he had clearance floor. He wasn't a fast texter, so he only sent Rep a short message-He looked out a window as he punched in the words, thinking he might be able to spot Rep, (must be another entrance) then hurried down the stairs (not this entrance either) and circled the building. He still had his tin, and bandage roll from earlier, which he handled nervously as he jogged.
Bandage. s**t. Maybe it was nothing, maybe he didn't have his shield up, so anything could have nicked him- and he didn't even mention whether he'd gotten a weapon or not-
Harrison didn't want to find Rep how he did, barely conscious and covered in blood.
"s**t," he said aloud, "s**t, s**t, what happened, s**t," he knelt beside Rep immediately, hands hovering over him, he wasn't a real medic, he didn't know how to handle this s**t. "Where....where's it all....? Here. ********. Don't move," He took out his tin, searching for a non-bloody patch of skin where he could stick the bandaid so Tracey could get a boost, at least.
He didn't know if it worked that way any more. Maybe it'd all get sucked into the damn bracelet-
He rolled up Rep's shirt and put it on Rep's side, as careful as he could.
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Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 9:35 am
He wasn't waiting long, but it felt like a long time, counting the minutes and focusing on anything he could to keep his mind off of how much he really just wanted to nap. He knew it was the last thing he needed so he fought it tooth and nail. He was on his way, that was all that mattered.
Now he was off the training fields he felt stupid, like he'd let everyone down all over again, that other person had got in the way of talking it out and reasoning that he he needed this, that other guy who reacted with anger and defensiveness to everything. Though really, who was he kidding? There was no other guy. It was just him. No one else in there but Tracey.
Harrison's arrival was a tremendous relief, but for once, he said nothing at all, just held still as the bandage was applied. It wasn't the usual powerful heal that he was used to, for whatever reason his shield not coming back up with the usual resilience it normally showed. He had a feeling it was to do with the bracelet. Still, it was enough to clear his head.
No longer feeling like he was going to pass out, he finally managed to get words together. Finally removing his hand from the cut on his neck, not healed but at least no longer bleeding.
"She...I don't think she's going to say yes about that weapon."
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Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 10:07 am
"Why the hell not?" Harrison took out the roll of regular bandages, unspooling a few feet and then ripping it off with his teeth.
He dabbed at the blood around the cut, trying to clean up. It was a lot of blood. How much could a guy lose?
He tore off another few feet, wrapped up the cut, hands gentle. "You bleeding anywhere else? What the ******** happened?"
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Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 10:12 am
"Because I upset her. I ******** up. I didn't approach it right at all. I didn't realise like, how upset she even was man, I just pushed and then she snapped."
He outright flinched at the touch to his neck and tensed up.
"N..not bleeding anywhere else I think, on the outside. She..she only like cut my neck. The rest were kicks. ******** sore ones too." he tried to make light of the situation, to draw attention away from how rattled he was. "I knew those big feet were dangerous." He laughed nervously but his heart wasn't in it at all.
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Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 10:17 am
"She could have taken your head off," Harrison said shakily. "She cut it out when she realized? ...What...what about your shield, did it...?"
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Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 10:36 am
"It's there. She just ******** rattled through it like it wasn't though," he said, trying to look indifferent. "And no, she didn't. She only cut it out when I did exactly as she said."
He took a slow steady breath and exhaled with a sigh. "She was ******** crazy man. She could have killed me. I think she would have, if I hadn't said the right things, if I didn't ******** plead with her not to. I told her about the bracelet, I told her I didn't have Tracey. She didn't ******** care."
Listening to himself, he was aware of how whiny he sounded, suddenly self concious and hurriedly backpedalling. "But I brought it on myself like, I thought I could blackmail her I guess, I didn't know she'd ran into Jerry either. I should have been more civil and s**t."
He shook his head. "I don't know what I'm going to do."
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Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 12:57 pm
"Killzone said you were supposed to be apologizing," Harrison said, and smiled wryly, "you can't go five seconds without pissing somebody off."
He checked over the rest of Rep's neck and shoulders just to be sure. He was still shook up, still not sure what he was supposed to be doing, and his hands fluttered over Rep's skin like nervous birds.
"Walk over to the infirmary, for a start. I don't mind carrying you if you're feeling woozy. Weapon-wise..." he quieted. "We got two days of vacation left this month. They won't call you in while you're on leave." Unless it was something big. "I know it's just...avoiding s**t for now, but if Sasha's pissed maybe she'll have some time to cool off and it'll occur to her that attacking you is stupid as s**t, on account of your neck already being on the line, and that she's got more to gain out of this than kicking you around. ...We'll negotiate. Okay?"
And he had to hope it wouldn't be as creepy as the powertrip Rep was describing.
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Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 1:16 pm
"I wasn't trying to piss her off. I just thought it'd be easier for everyone if I just told her I'd give her the flute for her saying yeah okay to the weapon usage. Then we could have gone on our merry ******** way still hating each other. I really didn't expect it to go as s**t as it ended up."
The bandaid had done it's job and enabled Tracey to do a bit of his, he was feeling a little more together. What physical damage remained ceased to matter as much with Harrison nearby. Still, the infirmary seemed a very long way away and he wasn't even sure he wanted to deal with people guessing how he got beaten up, or asking questions about the bracelet. "Do I have to? I.. I feel okay, really. I just need to sit down for a bit and s**t. The blood looks more than it is." It looked like a lot.
There was a moments hesitation before he said "I don't really want to talk to her again if I can avoid it either, what if she doesn't cool off? She already knows she can ******** kick me around like a little b***h, what's to stop her doing it again?" he shuddered. "Leave sounds good though. I want to get out of here. Back amongst the humans. Where I stand a ******** chance."
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Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 1:29 pm
"Next time she'll have to deal with somebody who can summon a weapon," he said. He pocketed the bandage roll, and sat down in the grass, covering his face with a bloody hand.
"...I should have been there."
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Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 1:41 pm
"No." He replied before he even needed to think about it. "No, you couldn't help not being there."
His expression softened more the longer he eyed him. "Its like. Listen. Its not your fault. It's me. It's always me. You can't always be around me, it's my job to be able to go five ******** minutes without saying stupid ******** things and getting maimed. I sometimes wonder if maybe some part of me just likes this s**t."
Once again he decided he hated words as everything he wanted to say sounded sappy in his head. "I'm just, I'm sorry. You shouldn't be."
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Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 1:58 pm
"It is my job," Harrison said, more sharply than he'd meant to. "To protect and serve, and it doesn't matter if it's on the badge or the coat, it's the same ******** motto. s**t. <********>" His head sunk lower into his arms, and he gripped his hair.
"Who the ******** says I can't? It's your job to wreck s**t. It's my job to be there when you do. It's not you making my job harder. These bastards won't give you a <******** break. Sasha, acting assistant, of all the stupid ******** idiotic power hungry bitches-" He sounded more broke than angry.
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Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 2:06 pm
His look of concern shifted into a frown, and with a stab of pain he completely ignored, he moved over to sit on the grass next to Harrison, slinging an arm around him and trying to haul him a bit closer, momentarily frustrated that without his usual strength it was harder to do.
"No." he repeated, this time more firmly. "Naw man, its not your job. Your job is to be a moon hunter. You protect people, sure. But you aren't my nanny. Its my job to not pick fights when I'm on my own right? If I'd done something that ******** stupid back home, with no gang to cover my a** I'd have deserved it. I did deserve it."
He leaned on him just a bit. "I have my break man. I'm alive. Sometimes that's the only ******** break you get. But its enough."
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Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 2:18 pm
"I know you're okay."
Harrison rubbed his face again, stupid, then helped himself over closer, half on the wall and half on Rep.
"I want to. Even if it wasn't my job. You got backup."
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