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 Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2014 12:09 am
Signal
Standing at the lighthouse portal made Chel feel small. A handful of suns had gathered and Chel thought her coat felt a little ridiculous next to so many intermediates. She wished it had sleeves so she could've tied it around her waist and disguise it a little, but nope. She was out with pink fade blazing in the blueish light the portal was giving off.
One full hunter- she was leading. There was an envious pang as Chel realized that should've been her, leading a bunch of babies towards the portal and ramming some Halloween stronghold. A full goddamn sun hunter and she hadn't done a single thing to prove it. Even her promotion had just been sticking some daggers in the ground. She should've been miles ahead of where she was. Instead she was lumped in with a bunch of intermediates, wielding two comparatively flimsy runic daggers. Around the metaphorical campfire she saw guns, swords, spears-
( Craft we're not taking a liability. End of discussion. )
She was cradled in an odd position- sitting on a crate with her legs tucked in like a five year old. The squad leader was giving a rousing informative speech (for a sun she was really a stick in the mud- not really suited for leading at all). It couldn't have mattered what she said. It was the same speech - "Some people have gone missing, we're going to fight back, we're going to kick a**, we're going to be suns, we're doing it for deus" - Blah blah blah. Chel wasn't here for any of it. She tucked herself into the background (hard to do when her hair was a fiery pink with a little extra) and tried not to draw her attention to herself.
( I can do it, seriously I won't ******** it up. I'm a ********' full hunter whether my weapon shows it or not. )
Her bracelet was on full display. She didn't want to have to hide her bracelet for the entire mission. Figure it's better to air it out now, let 'em judge me now and move on.
< That seems disadvantageous. >
So is bringing a music player but ya don't see me leavin' that neither.
Hands grip the plastic around her neck- just making sure it's still there. The squad leader gives a signal with her hand and Chel hefts her duffel bag over her shoulder. There's a small car-analogous machine they're given to carry all the gear for setting up camp for a few weeks. Into the fray.
( Fine. This mission will be routine so you shouldn't make too big an impact. )
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Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2014 2:24 am
China
"S'like ********' Mulan up in this b***h," Chel comments as they set up camp. It's a beautiful place too once you get high enough up and stop looking down at the muddy brown s**t trails they excused as rivers. They're right on the cliffsides of the Yellow River, wandering in the mountains of ********. Portals couldn't be fine tuned to get the exact location, so they had to take some backwards trails up the side of the mountains. Nothing too steep- the soldiers that had created the battleground had at least thought to create long, winding wooden paths that clung to the side of the cliffs like wet hair, but it's a walk they all have to take and talking is the only thing that fills the time.
"Mulan was on a completely different side of the country." One of the hunters- some history buff that was chosen for the mission due to her extensive research of the area speaks and you can hear the pure disdain for Chel's lack of sobriety in her voice. She continues to detail the entire Battle of Zhuolu for them- a historical battle that took place between the Yellow Emperor and surrounding tribes under the leadership of Chi You. The human history yes, but she glazes over that quickly and moves on to a more extravagant, lustrious side of the tale- the Halloween history.
Supposedly Chi You had advanced weaponry ("speculated to be primitive reapers!") and immense fogs that he covered the battlefield with ("just think- it could have been ice creatures working in congregation with one another, or maybe a bunch of weather reapers or even-"). The Yellow Emperor only won the battle because he had the compass chariot ("maybe it was a magically enchanted chariot given to him by a witch!" Sorcerers do object s**t "Whatever") and he made a contract with a demon to kill off the remaining troops ("local legend holds that the demon was his daughter Nuba, but we know how silly that would be!"). In the end the Yellow Emperor got dragon to finish the job.
"So basically he didn't do a ********' thing on his own," Chel commented coarsely. A few people chuckled (mostly out of relief for ending the history buff's tirade). "Any chance yer textbooks got s**t about how to defeat drought demons and dragons? 'Cause I dunno if some history books are gonna be real effective against them."
The history buff goes silent and Chel's scolded by the squad leader- but it isn't really a scolding because Chel can tell everyone has warmed up to her a little bit more. She appreciates that.
The squad leader asks the same question Chel did, but in a nicer way. The history buff begins dealing the types of monsters they might see up here.
Chel's mind wandered elsewhere because she didn't care, instead choosing to focus on some of the more colorful birds that flutter past. It's maybe a trick of the light, but she thinks one of them has a third leg. She's about to speak up and say something (animals having third legs didn't seem normal- even tiny details like that could be important), but it flies off before she can squeak a note. Most notably, it only has two legs when it flies.
I don't care what we find up there, I'm gonna kill it either way.
< I believe you instigated this trip as a mechanism for healing and self-preservation; do you intend to alter your initial decision? >
She takes a long breathy sigh because she knows Tenebrae is right. Sorry. It's just the waiting that's doin' it.
Supposedly men and women have been going missing in the area, enough to alert Deus Ex when one of their own went missing as well. A spunky girl by the name of Amber- wielded a sword. She'd been gone for a few weeks- nobody was really expecting to find her. That wasn't the point of the mission anyways.
The hike ended up being a lot shorter than Chel had been expecting. She thought it was going to be a full day thing, but in reality it only took twenty or thirty minutes. The trails cut into the mountain and revealed the rest of the countryside. It's gorgeous, but it's flat and this time of the year its brown. Leaves are crackling off the sides of trees because they've given up on life just the same as the rest of the greenery. The entire area looks ... tired.
Tired is the word Chel picks.
She thinks its perfectly fitting.
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Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2014 2:30 am
China
The mission is simple. They aren't the first to come through here- the old group was here a month or so ago, and they found an influx of Halloween creatures coming from a central point. It's suspected that the central point is the source of the monsters.
"Wow you don't ******** say," is what Chel says to the squad leader as she's explaining. The group laughs and she's finding her place.
"So what's at the central point, ma'am?" a deeper sounding voice says. He's built and he's broad and Chel isn't above looking at his a** a few times as he walks around the camp.
"Well if you'd all shut up I could tell you."
Nobody's gone to the central point because of all the monsters, but Deus had deemed it an important study site. Hence why the mighty suns are coming in to break more than a few faces. They need access.
The meeting is adjourned- they start the attack tomorrow, but for now let's get those tents up folks.
(Chel snickers).
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Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2014 2:44 am
I Left A Note
Chel made sure that her note was put under Chris' pillow with a very big lYDIA DON'T READ THIS PLS I MEIN IDC IF YOU DO IT DOESN'T RE ALLY MATTER written across the back of it. The other side had a typed note (because Chel was not so stupid as to think her writing would get across any of what she wanted to say). Spellcheck was not just helpful, it was necessary.darkheartedsorrow Chris, Going to be in China or some shot four awhile. Watch my room. Will have cell if shot hits the fan or if you want to text me late at night because you're dying from heartbreak. We're just doing routine stuff don't picnic. You can tell people I'm gone I don't really care, but maybe don't try to make it known. Kind of want some time to clear my head and shot- can't really do that with my phone blowing up. You know what I mean. I ******** hate computers. - Chel PS get laid while I'm gone, you need it PSS you smell PSSS you get all my stuff if I die PSSSS you still like potstickers right? I'll bring you back real ones if they let me
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Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2014 9:24 pm
Shower
Dawson's right outside the door- she can hear him moving around even. He's probably getting up to make that hot chocolate- no he's definitely getting up to make hot chocolate.
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Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2014 12:28 am
China
It feels a little like summer camp. Except summer camp didn't have mythical weapons and big stomping boots that destroyed everything in the forested field they were bushwacking. Maybe back in the day this had been a flat battleground, but now tourism and time had warped the cliffside into a cornucopia of trees, bushes and other herbaceous and woody understory.
One good thing: the sky is huge and it's open. One bad thing: ******** bushwacking.
They're supposed to be looking for any signs of monster activity. Reports say it's most likely ghosts, but the squad leader whines enough that everyone's prepared for anything at all.
Chel's grateful for the freedom. They're supposed to keep an eye out for monsters, but nobody's seen anything. Despite it being winter, it's relatively clear. 30 degrees- it's freezing, but clear. No rain, no snow- she's glad of that. She rubs her hands together and puts her nose in the neck of her jacket- anything to increase a bit of the convectional heat.
The buddy system is what ultimately shackles her back to Earth. It was idiotic to go hunting and not have hunters pair up. "Do whatever the ******** you want. I'm gonna wander where I want, and yer not gonna do a thing about it. Just stay where I can hear ya," is what she tells the frightened trainee she's with. Maybe it was a little cruel, but Chel enjoyed the fact that she had control over this trainee. Less insuborindation meant less time she had to worry about her. But Chel's soft and she tugs on the girl's hair lightly. "If somethin' happens, just holler. I'm a damn good Prince Charming."
At this point she'd be willing to cozy up in a tent with the random trainee- not even for sex, just to stay warm in this cold a** climate. It had been fine yesterday- sweaty and hot as they walked up the cliffside with a weather prediction of muggy temperate rains- so why had the weather dropped to Santa's a*****e all of a sudden-
"Yo, pigtails- ghosts drop the temperature, don't they?" A knowing look gets shared between the twosome. The trainee summoned her sniper rifle (it's gorgeous, deep blue runes and a shiny black-and-gunboat-grey surface) and Chel chuckled. "You that nervous, cutie? Don't worry I'm here~"
They don't see anything the entire day. They returned home to the base just once for lunch- Chel snuck a few handwarmers when no one was looking. The trainee even holes herself up in a tree ("Better vantage point, ma'am!" to which Chel just hollered laughter) but nothing ever shows it's face.
"My damn good looks musta scared everything off," Chel insisted.
But after a whole day of conversation and awkwardness, Chel's assured she's at least won pigtails over. "No, it was most likely the way you laughed so loudly! They were afraid you were a tiger that might pounce!"
"Yer sayin' that like you want me to."
"Chel."
Despite her previous warnings, Chel mostly spent the day by the trainee's side, swapping stories about movies and life on and before Deus. As much as she wants (needs) the alone time, Chel's a people person.
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Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2014 12:42 am
China
The night's equally boring. Everyone forms a clingy sort of camaraderie- the kind where they know it's going to end after the mission is over, but it solidifies as a way of validating their humanity. They sit on the supply crates and talk well into the night. Chel really likes one of the guys (she can't remember his name the next morning though) who shows off his tattoos (she can tell he's incredibly insecure about it- the way he throws the conversation out there. She throws him a bone and compliments the one on his arm. The less heartache the better). He smiles and she can tell he appreciates the comment, but her eyes are already on the next person talking. She's attentive like that- she likes letting people know that someone cares, even if it's that pink haired obnoxious chick.
Tomorrow she has two trainees metaphorically clinging to her side. "Y'all know yer askin' to saddle up with runic daggers mcgee, yeah?" They tell her it's so they look better when they take the first kill. "S'at ********' so?" They nod. "Then it's gonna suck major d**k when I killsteal your asses with runics."
She straps in her runic torch and an extra dagger. She's got motivation now. They tell her she looks like a bionic woman. She sarcastically informs them she's half robot.
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Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2014 12:50 am
China
There's one kid in the group that doesn't like her. She can tell by the way she's leering at her wrist.
"Yer mom ever tell you it ain't polite to stare?" Chel says blatantly, calling the girl out. She hates this sort of passive aggressive warfare- she'd rather just wrestle it out on the ground and call it good.
"Strange that you act so friendly when you have a bomb on your wrist."
The chatter from the group dies down. It's so quiet Chel heard a twig snap under the boot of one of the trainees. It occurs to Chel that some of these poor suns are so new they don't even know what the death shackles look like.
Chel enlightens them. "Yup. It could blow at any given second. We could all die."
"So what did you do? You should tell us- it's only fair."
"I will tell you what I did," Chel says decisively, "When you deserve to know what I did."
There's an awkward sort of tension between the twosome before one of the trainees breaks it with a "Sooooo...."
Chel stays with the group, but she's quieter after that. She just focuses on the mission.
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Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2014 1:45 am
The Same Old Process
Where are you?
Her heavy breathing only outranks her heart in a competition of speed. It's blurry and she can't see because all the blood has gone to her head.
You're in your room.
Storms crack over the sky and she watches the pieces shatter. She's never noticed how the chunks occasionally sag against her broken strings- it's one of those details that sits in the background of the dream that only comes to fruition when she's seen it so many times. She tries not to look at the figure in the center, because that's always the point where she wakes up.
Think.
She's gone to the lifers because it honest to god scares her to the very center of her bones. She asks them if he might be influencing her. She needs to know if Merlin is back- she's afraid what will happen when he comes back. He made it very clear the next time he visited her it wouldn't be on friendly terms. No, he severed that link when Grixlie left her body to bleed out in the quarantine.
Think!
They assure her with tired patience it's only the typical nightmares that every full hunter probably has. Statistically speaking, it would be unusual if she didn't get them. They offer her a sleep aid- lots of hunters take them.
It was just a dream.
She declines.
They aren't real.
The room is silent, and this assures her that all is as normal as it can be. She pulls the blankets closer. She is alone.
Your name is Chel and Merlin is not in this room right now.
She has to say these words to herself. It's mostly to calm down. She doesn't want a single scrap of false security, which is why she doesn't say things like "it's safe" or "it's okay." Because no, it's really not okay. It's never been okay and it never will be. She has to say these words to herself, because her room is empty and she's the only one that will. There's a deep hollow in her chest that hurts when she remembers this.
You're alone.
Now she just feels silly, whispering these words to herself. What a ******** baby. What a ******** disgrace she's become- she can't even sleep without ******** it up. Tenebrae takes over.
< Are you going to sleep or stay awake. >
She closes her eyes again and again and again and again.
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Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2014 2:17 am
China
It happens on the second day. A huge mist bank clouds in over the east side of the clearing. It comes from the river itself and fills the ancient battleground. The squad leader's on her toes.
It's Pigtails who spots the first one, through the elegant neck of her spotting scope that's mounted on top of her sniper rifle (Chel is still jealous, and she takes inventory every time Pigtails summons her weapon. Tenebrae is almost disgusted that Chel is ogling something and reminds her how pretty he is. Chel agrees, if only because a jealous Tenebrae is not something she wants to have to listen to in her head).
Then Broad Shoulders McNice a** gets hit by a flaming arrow- but it's a strange sort of misty flame. Ghost flames. He doesn't go down, he just plucks the arrow out of his shoulder like he's annoyed. Chel vaguely remembers thinking that the motion is really hot.
In a matter of seconds it's a warzone and Chel feels more free and comfortable than she has on any part of Deus. She doesn't have to think about these ghosts as friends like Shun or Edel- they're just targets, and they're targets that she can hit. She's one of the first few to charge (mostly because she's batshit insane enough to attempt to take on an army of ghosts without wondering if her fellow hunters are even behind her).
The mist makes it hard to see much of anything, but she sinks her dagger into a ghost (which, yes, is a strange and bizarre feeling to describe due to the intangible nature of her enemy) and rips across their sternum in a way that reminds her that yes, she is good at her job. She is a damn good sun, even if she's got wayward goals. A part of her felt guilty about all this bloodshed, but the other part of her knew there was a bomb tick tick ticking at her wrist, and she'd rather kill a few ghosts than blow up. She's only human.
(Well not only human.)
The squad leader shouts that they need to take out the archers- Chel agrees, they've got too many flaming arrows for their own good. That's where Chel heads. She wishes she still had Tenebrae. An arrow fight with a ghost army seemed like a great story to tell.
They're a small bunch, but they're fiesty. Pigtails is up in a tree and she's sniping across the whole battlefield- one of the shots grazes Chel's arm and she says, "Oy monkey, you flirtin' with me?" She gets a second bullet in her arm for that one.
For each ghost soldier that goes down, another one pops up in it's place a few moments later. Each one is a mangled corpse- most of them are famished and dilapidated. Many sport fetching burn marks that ooze down every part of their flesh. They're hardly a threat- they all move slow and aimlessly, like they aren't even trying to fight. Chel suspects there's something larger at play, but who is she to interrupt a perfectly beautiful battlefield?
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Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2014 11:25 am
China
Chel still insists this is like supernatural summer camp. The ghosts occasionally relent, and when they do they begin a tedious process of setting up runic dagger barriers. She's reminded a lot of her promotion.
"Perimeter's clear!" one of the hunters calls. Chel looks around the area just to be sure- she never trusts any eyes but her own.
"You wanna do the honors?" she asked.
The other hunter fumbled around their belt and said, "I'm out sorry."
"Wow. Wow. I gotta do everything myself," she chided sarcastically. She only has one dagger left herself so she shouldn't really talk. The metallic strip comes out of her belt bag and she fiddled with it a little. She clicked the handle a few times and nothing happened. So annoying. She squatted closer to the ground and clicked a few more times. "Hey I think this one's-"
Then the barrier exploded outwards (not hurting her or anyone else of course- that was against the point) and Chel said. "Nope. Got it." It was buried in the ground. It was then that Chel took the time to pull her goggles up. She wished she would have brought the radio piece to go with it, but it had seemed too clunky at the time.
It was still freezing and Chel pulled her jacket closer and her scarf tighter. It wasn't a bad kind of cold though- it wasn't wet or windy or snowy (those were the worst). It was just sort of damp and teeth-chattering, which all in all Chel didn't dislike entirely. It made her feel a bit more alert, a little more alive. "Radio in and tell them zone four's g-g-" A sneeze shook her whole body and she wiped off her nose with a sleeve. "Good to go."
"Bless you," her partner said politely before radioing in.
God she hoped she wasn't getting sick.
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Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2014 11:30 am
China
Having not been off the island in nearly three or four months, Chel's immune system wasn't doing so hot. Sure she had the benefit of being a hunter and that meant an increased immunology, but it didn't mean she was a wall of defense against tiny germs. Even hunters got sick. Certainly all her other squadmates were doing fine, but that was because they'd been regularly going off island and exposing themselves to new pathogens. Chel had pretty much been confined to the pod room (sterile) and her own room.
She was curled up in at least two sleeping bags, maybe more depending on how many had been devoted to quarantining her off. "I'll be up real soon I promise," she ensured everyone. It was probably true too- hunter genetics meant she was going to heal quicker than the normal human.
< But my capabilities are not as in tact as they once might have been. >
Great.
She sneezed again. Being sick wasn't fun no matter how supernatural she was.
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Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2014 9:47 pm
China
Flat on her back and she's stretched out like a rag doll that's fallen on the wayside. Only this isn't leisurely and there's a downed ghost trembling and threatening to collapse on top of her because pigtails has shot it right through the brain.
There's no avoiding it and Chel's now got a ghost on top of her (again, a really strange phenomenon to describe). It impacts with her loud, "Oof," and she struggles to get it off. "Pigtails I swear you're killin' me."
She pushes the corpse (it wasn't really a corpse since it was already dead but- well you know what, nevermind) off her body and slaps the runic barrier straight through it's body. It was incredible satisfying to watch the body explode into a mist that dissipates upwards. They've made very little progress, but they're slowly marching towards the central point. Supposedly it's under some beautiful waterfall- Chel doesn't care where it is, she just wants to find it.
"Sorry Miss Chel," her compatriot responds. "I just had a good shot."
"Naw don't you apologize none- you took it right the ******** down." She grinned and wiped off the blueish substance that she assumed was an equivalent to blood. She missed showers quite a bit. They were bathing in rivers and sluffing it old school- Chel liked dirt and getting dirty, but even she got tired of the lack of proper hygiene. Bathing under a waterfall had certainly been cool though.
But she thinks about how pretty the sky is. They're supposed to move on but Chel gestures to her partner to hold up for a second. But then the sky makes her think of how it looked the day she went to the beach with Dawson, her toes sinking in to the sand and she's gone, she's gone ...
"Let's move on."
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Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2014 9:54 pm
China
"Anyone got ghost stories?"
They look at her with incredulous looks.
"What? Just 'cause we're fightin' 'em and we know they ain't real don't mean they ain't fun." One girl offers up a story, but it isn't very good. Chel knows she has to take matters into her own hands.
Pretty soon they're all eating out of her hands and one girl even socks her for telling such a scary story with a terrible ending. But they're all laughing now, because Broad Shoulders McNice a** was so spooked he'd shouted and woken up everything in a three mile radius. Chel's smiling real brightly because she can feel everyone bonding, and it's a nice change of pace to not really need to know everyone while still being on good terms. It's a strange sort of balance they all sit in, and she's okay with the impermanence.
Mist curls into the campfire and no one notices it at first, but the first person points it out and everyone's back to battle stations.
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Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2014 10:56 pm
Day Off
Chel breathes in the city (it smells disgusting) with newfound appreciation. She's been to a Chinese city before, but that time had been under Merlin's influence. She's glad for the crowd. She wants to blend in-no, she needs to blend in.
Which is hard to do when her hair's a pink beacon and she smells like a pig and she's white as wonderbread.
But she makes due with a heavy hoodie. She'd picked Broad Shoulders McNice a** to accompany her, because they both had a quiet agreement that while they were attracted to one another's looks, neither had interest. It led to a very amiable atmosphere, where Chel could leave him alone and he could leave her alone, and neither had to worry about awkwardness.
Everyone on the team was given a day off and they could go in pairs to the city. The mission is a casual one, and not one that requires constant vigilance. It's just running in, fighting easy hoards, placing a dagger and running out. Chel wasn't even sure why there were so many of them on the mission- it could've easily been dealt with by one or two full hunters. The squad leader insists that they're only being allowed time off as a way to keep up morale, and if they do take their day off, it counts as their leave on Deus. Because of that, a few people choose not to give the free day up.
Most chose to spend their day off seeing the sights, renting a hotel and showering or shopping. Chel did a mix of the latter two- there was no point in seeing ancient relics for her because she lived, fought and breathed them in every single day. Unfortunately for her companion, that meant he too had to do all the things she did, because the squad leader ordered him not to leave her side.
Surveillance.
Her shopping bounty results in:
- One pair of shoes. She isn't sure if they're fashionable, but they look like they can kill a man and she thinks that is a good enough result. Chel has no idea how to shop for shoes.
- Three incredibly tacky shot glasses for Ripley, because she thinks it's funny and she wants to see his face. Her money is on awkward, apparent dislike, but there's also a chance for genuine gratitude or approval, and she doesn't know which one is worse.
- One box of potstickers. They're going to be cold when she gets back to Deus, but that's not the point.
- A bunch of hair ties from some vendor on the streets. She thinks he oversold them by a ton, but Chel doesn't really care how she blows her money.
- A handful of figurines. She doesn't know what any of the are, but they look cool and she figures Jack needs something new to bash her head in with if Merlin comes back- she needs her plates to eat off of!
- Fresh Chinese cuisine for everyone back at the camp. One did not live off MREs alone.
And that's it, because Chel doesn't like shopping very much.
"Ey, you wanna hit the bars? Bet we could get mad booze here."
"We have to be up fighting ghosts ..."
"You're a ********' wimp." Chel's already walking into the bar, because she is a very responsible hunter and she came to erase her memories anyways.
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