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 Posted: Sun Sep 29, 2013 1:04 am
Quote: LIZ TOLD ME TO PUT IT HERE? /obeys Some day practicality was going to start outweighing Taym's crippling insecurities about his appearance, but today was not this day. He was going in still mostly-dressed, although he'd conceded to rolling his sleeves up to his elbow and, for practicality's sake and out of a desire to avoid drowning, he'd found an alternative to his jeans. He wasn't actually sure whose swim trunks he'd ganked when he went to pick up the air tank from the Sun division, and wasn't sure he cared. They were probably a girl's, owing to the fact that they were not falling off his hips. He had the feeling whoever it was would be more offended by the fact that he was wearing something embellished with a sun instead of a pair of scythes than they would be about any theft. There was a certain... cultishness about the Suns he'd met so far that had not escaped his notice. Timing was going to help him dodge being seen, too. He was up almost before the sun--a grey-gold light suffusing the water he was scanning with acute nervousness for any, you know, sudden manifestation of writhing suckered appendages or blue flourescent eyes the size of manhole covers. Nothing appeared. He was going to do this, not because he necessarily wanted power--Taym was accustomed to living off the grid--but because he wanted bartering chips. Peyton would eventually stop humoring him with cigarettes. Something had to be done. Besides, it kept him busy. Anything to keep him busy.
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Rejam rolled 1 6-sided dice:
2
Total: 2 (1-6)
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Posted: Sun Sep 29, 2013 1:07 am
For about fifteen seconds Taym experienced a surge of nostalgia: lazy summers and making out under the pier, eating tuna sashimi and sliced peaches on the boat.
He hadn't been in the water in a very, very long time. Even the intrusive presence of the air tanks wasn't enough to deprive him of a split-second instant of acute pleasure.
And because he was Taym, he swam pretty much immediately into the jaws of a horrific hell-beast.
HP: 40
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Rejam rolled 1 20-sided dice:
7
Total: 7 (1-20)
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Posted: Sun Sep 29, 2013 1:13 am
He'd cracked jokes the day after the Tear about being eaten by a kraken but the situation was distinctly less humorous now that a great oily-looking arm snaked out of the shadow cast by the island and caught him effortless by the ******** hurt.
The key was not to panic. Panic would cause you to drown.
It's really hard not to panic when you're being pulled under by a monster. Taym wasn't a seasoned hunter. Taym didn't have all kinds of monster-fighting experience in his resume to be jaded and witty about.
HP: 35
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Rejam rolled 1 20-sided dice:
14
Total: 14 (1-20)
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Posted: Sun Sep 29, 2013 1:17 am
Luckily, one thing Taym was: wiry and nimble. This held true, albeit to a lesser extent, underwater as well.
The adrenaline-fueled triumph of successfully escaping his first honest-to-god monster threat was dimmed somewhat by the realization that it was still lurking somewhere and now he didn't know where, and by the second realization, close on the first's heels, that he had further to swim than he'd expected.
You're unarmed, Fiona pointed out, her voice very carefully non-panicked.
It takes two seconds--
Two seconds is a long time!
You know what an anglerfish is?
Yes.
You know the principle there?
She was silent.
He'd be damned if he was gonna pull out a shiny little lure for the benefit of every eldritch beast that had decided to camp out in Deus's shade.
HP: 35
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Rejam rolled 1 6-sided dice:
3
Total: 3 (1-6)
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Posted: Sun Sep 29, 2013 1:22 am
The remainder of his swim down was suspiciously uneventful, but every time something touched his leg--up to and including his own swim trunks--he had to stifle what felt like a rising heart attack.
He found his way to the spot marked out in the pamphlets and by the dim glimmer of the stones, and after a few seconds of nervous looting, punctuated by many glances over his shoulder, accidentally kicked his way into a cache.
HP: 35
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Rejam rolled 1 8-sided dice:
3
Total: 3 (1-8)
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Posted: Sun Sep 29, 2013 1:24 am
The cache, on further inspection, turned out to be disappointingly small.
HP: 35
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Rejam rolled 1 6-sided dice:
2
Total: 2 (1-6)
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Posted: Sun Sep 29, 2013 1:25 am
He cast about for a moment in idle hope that maybe he'd find another handful somewhere, rolling the things up in his sleeve and making a mental note to bring a bag or at least something with pockets next time. And that's when it happened. Every thalassophobic's worst nightmare, and now his.
HP: 35
Stones: 3
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Rejam rolled 1 4-sided dice:
3
Total: 3 (1-4)
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Posted: Sun Sep 29, 2013 1:28 am
It's only seaweed! was what he'd always mock his sister with when she jumped terrified out of the water, screaming at some unknown brush against her leg.
Karmic retribution. The thing reached out a tendril that looked unsettlingly like an hand and it bit down with a grip that would have left bruises had it not had to get through his FEAR shield instead.
HP: 32
Stones: 3
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Rejam rolled 1 6-sided dice:
5
Total: 5 (1-6)
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Posted: Sun Sep 29, 2013 1:30 am
He pried himself loose--at least the seaweed seemed stationary and he could watch out for it.
Last one, he promised Fiona, who was growing increasingly impatient with his treasure-hunting.
See? he said seconds later.
HP: 32
Stones: 3
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Rejam rolled 1 10-sided dice:
10
Total: 10 (1-10)
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Posted: Sun Sep 29, 2013 1:31 am
Oh god. Score.
Yes, sir, she said stiffly.
You're just pissed because I was right.
She said nothing, and he grinned inside his mask and stuffed as many as he could into his shirt pockets and his cuffs. Swimming while protecting them was going to be a b***h, but he felt sufficiently buoyed by his success to reckon he could accomplish it.
Maybe.
HP: 32
Stones: 13 bitches
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Rejam rolled 1 6-sided dice:
4
Total: 4 (1-6)
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Posted: Sun Sep 29, 2013 1:34 am
He was so giddy with success that he swam right back out without scanning the shadows again.
Whatever had attacked him last time seemed suddenly insignificant. The vast cavern opening before him was lined with a lot of teeth.
HP: 32
Stones: 13
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Rejam rolled 1 20-sided dice:
15
Total: 15 (1-20)
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Posted: Sun Sep 29, 2013 1:36 am
He'd be damned if he was going to lose thirteen ******** runestones on his first trip down. He nimbly flipped out of the way and jetted in the other direction and tried desperately not to look over his shoulder.
Catfish ate by sitting around with their mouths hanging open, not really actively hunting. Maybe it was just a catfish.
A catfish the size of a generously-proportioned house.
HP: 32
Stones: 13
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Rejam rolled 1 6-sided dice:
1
Total: 1 (1-6)
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Posted: Sun Sep 29, 2013 1:39 am
******** you leviathan bitches, Taym is out.
He resurfaced and scrambled onto the sand more rapidly than he would have thought possible, barely pausing to scoop up his neatly-folded coat and jeans where he'd left them and darting inland as fast as he could, yanking off the mask. For a while he lay in the silent jungle underbrush, staring up at the sky with his heart racing and waiting for the sound of something enormous and hungry to rumble up onto the beach, but it didn't happen by the time he was breathing normally.
In movies people rolled over and kissed the solid earth. Taym didn't do that, but he thought about it.
He kissed his ring instead, and laughed.
No thanks, sir.
I'm just feeling celebratory, you frigid--
Don't you dare. Sir.
He grinned again.
HP: 32
Stones: 13
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Rejam rolled 13 10-sided dice:
4, 7, 5, 8, 10, 5, 9, 5, 3, 7, 4, 10, 7
Total: 84 (13-130)
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Posted: Sun Sep 29, 2013 1:45 am
Taym didn't bother consulting the pamphlet again. He'd just be dripping on it, for one, and for two not looking at it meant he'd have the pleasant mental image of Miranda smoking and barking orders to recall.
You have terrible taste, I observe not for the first time and probably not for the last.
Wow. Thanks for that unsolicited opinion that was insulting to both me and a woman you don't even know.
How chivalrous of you. She referred to a group of hunters as pigs. And I believe used the term 'bacon bits' to refer to--
I'm going to accuse you of being jealous if you keep it up.
You'd be sadly mistaken, sir. You aren't my type. Sir.
He remembered that the pamphlet had said--sarcastically he hoped--that he ought to find inner peace.
That was never going to happen.
What he could do, though, was stop thinking. Taym was a seasoned veteran at using the smallest, most mindless distractions as an excuse to avoid introspection. This was a man who read the dictionary for pleasure, starting on page one. He read the introductions. He read the thanks pages.
He was, he discovered after a few false starts, surprisingly good at this. Maybe they'd put him in the wrong division. When he stood up he was surprised by how much time had passed--he'd been sitting for so long in the grass behind the dorm building his a** was numb--but he had acquired a sizeable cache.
Shrugging his coat on over his salt-stiff T-shirt, he filled his pockets and went to go see what leverage this new development could buy him.
TOTALS
Failed: 1
Regular: 9
Superior: 3
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