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 Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2015 7:22 pm
He remembered inadvertently the last time he had eaten jerky (burnt skin blinding light cold wraps water water water) and seemed to freeze more than pause, just for a split second. And then it was, "Sure. Thanks," and back to business as usual. It wasn't meat exactly, and he was hungry. Nibbling wouldn't hurt. Memories for that matter shouldn't have been able to ******** hurt.
He tore a thin strip off and began to eat in silence as was his wont. Their usual bickering could go fill the space for him.
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Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2015 7:27 pm
Chris gestured at himself, brows raised. "I'm taking a break right now." Forced break, maybe, but he wouldn't even need a break had the crystals not been an a*****e.
"I just don't want you to think I can't do this. I can."
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Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2015 7:41 pm
Chel rolled her eyes and took the jerky back from Jack, weaving her other hand in between his. She pointed the jerky at Chris in an accusing manner. "You wouldn't know a break if it bit you in the a**."
Then she bit into the jerky and chewed. "I know y'can do it. But y'can't do it f'you push yerself forever." She wasn't just talking about this mission.
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Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2015 8:33 pm
His expression screwed up in his obvious disagreement. "I'm taking the pills. I'm actually sleeping and eating now." I'm surviving. He picked at the packaging for his rations, tearing whatever would give under his fingers.
"I'm just doing my job."
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Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2015 8:38 pm
Chel threw a piece of jerky at him.
"Jobs are for slobs. Have fun dipshit." She looked at Jack in an accusatory fashion. Chris wasn't the only one that needed to lay off his job.
She sighed, eating the end of her jerky and stuffing the rest of the package back into the ration bag. "Aight, if y'all gonna be antsy little ********, lets go." Better to use their restlessness than shame it. She gave the ration back to Jack to put in his bag and then tugged his hand up. "We go down mystery tunnel number two."
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Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2015 9:36 am
Handholding was great and all, but he wasn't finished with that, Chel. At least the jerky went to the good cause of hitting Chris. But her judging look was met with a flat what stare, like he had absolutely no idea what she was talking about whatsoever at all nn-nn. He pulled out another piece of jerky and chewed away as he slung his bag back on.
"There was a divide before we found you," Jack explained. "Your path had white crystals. This one was blue with strange symbols etched into the walls. Hopefully it's one without more of those ******** crystals."
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Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2015 12:23 pm
He caught the jerky in his mouth and gave Chel a snotty look. But he helped pack up what he could so they could get back on track.
"What if this other tunnel is worse?" If his tunnel had been teenage daydreams of perfection, the law of the world meant the other had to be a ******** disaster waiting to happen, right?
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Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2015 4:17 pm
"Then we'll ********' deal with it," Chel said, finally letting go of Jack's hand to zip up her bag. Seeing as everything was set, she gave him both a thumbs up. Onwards.
---
The hall was steeped in mystery, strange symbols and Japanese lettering that they stopped to look at for a bit, but ultimately found nothing. It seemed too calm really, but that was probably only because of the hectic scramble they'd just faced. They stopped once to fix Chel's bandages, but other than that it was a straight shot downwards.
Eerie, really, considering the deeper they went the more silent and ominous it became. Eventually the torches had to be switched on because it was too much not to. It was an odd sensation; logic gave that they would be able to pendant away regardless of their position. Fear, on the other hand, asked what if: what if they were out of range? What if they'd dropped them in the dark?
A small sound broke the silence. It sounded like metal or plastic scraping against stone. The fact that any noise was present was horrifying enough, but the fact that they had to inch towards it or make no progress was even worse.
The tunnel led to a small outcropping of rock above another miniature forest. There was a hole in the ceiling that gave light to the grove, leading them to turn off their torches to save power. The only difference between this forest and the ones before was a small, crumbling stone building in the center, glowing with the same blackish crystals. There was an altar in the very center of the enclosure, and a figure leaning over it.
Oh yeah, and ******** giant monsters, not limited to but including a skeletal dragon, an enormous beetle and who ******** knew what was lurking in that water?
"Well s**t."
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Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2015 5:05 pm
Doubt nibbled at him anyway; what was a little more? What was an occasional, unconscious brush against the pendant?
Jack froze at the noise, and for a wild moment he imagined rusty tools again. Then he shook the thought off. Losing sensory input like that, as they crawled through by torchlight, made it a little too easy to stretch the imagination. But then, he had that burgeoning sense of paranoia coming back again. There was a logical explanation to all things—but perhaps that explanation in and of itself wasn't natural. The horsemen had a predilection of showing up the ******** out of nowhere—
They reached a better lit outcropping. Squinting, Jack turned his torch off and rubbed at his eyes. Chel's mutter was heard a split second before he properly made out the figures in the distance. "******** sake...Well, here's our source, I suppose."
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Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2015 7:07 pm
The deeper they went and that darker it got, the harder Chris's grip on his flashlight became. He held it close to his body in an attempt to lessen and hide the shaking of his hands, but this was the most stressful part of the cave yet. It was the most similar to when he'd been trapped.
He grit his teeth and did everything he could to minimize the outward signs, though. He'd already been babied twice. He could do this. He could handle a ******** cave.
The sound made him flinch hard reach out instinctively. His fingers found purchase in a coat - Jack's coat, sorry Jack - without his input and he didn't let go even as they came into the light.
"Jesus ******** Christ. We're supposed to get past all that?"
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Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2015 7:17 pm
"Supposed to and gonna," Chel responded. All things considered she was looking particularly feral given the situation. Yes it had been a shitty trip so far and yes her chest was aching between the air loss and the bandaging, but really? She was itching for action. She was a sun, deep down.
She looked at the twosome and said, "Dude at the altar's shady as ********, but we should have a game plan."
A casual look to the brains on the team.
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Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2015 7:33 pm
Jack dragged a hand down his face and scrunched it in thought. "Knee jerk impulse is throw a ******** grenade and cross our fingers, but that'd probably trigger the cave," he thought aloud.
He studied the area a little more and ten pointed Chel towards a group of trees near the huddled mass. "You find cover in the forest, I'll go opposite of you. Count of three, you snipe the b*****d, I run in and distract the abomination zoo. Focus your attacks on altar boy--more than likely getting rid of it will mean taking care of its pets."
He turned his head to Chris, belatedly noticing the hand clutching his coat and merely giving it a look before continuing. "I'd say you stick with me in case things get hairy. I'm no pushover, but I'm going to be right in the middle of the shitstorm if we go with this." Jack shrugged. "Your call in the battle where to go."
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Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2015 7:39 pm
Chris didnt even notice until Jack gave him that look, but when he did he let go like his hand had been burnt. He even went as far as taking a step back.
He eyed Chel warily, hesitant to split up again, but Jack had a good point - loath as he was to admit it. "Yeah, I can cover you, no problem. You make it sound easier than it's gonna be, though."
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Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2015 8:02 pm
Chel didn't think it was possible to be gayer than her, but right now Chris was acting pretty ******** gay. Did he want to blow his own cover? She gave him an eyeroll. Dumb gay cousins.
"You always wanna play Prince, don't you?" she told Jack with a grin, which mostly meant she approved of the plan. "Alright. Sounds-"
"Excellent. Just an excellent plan."
All eyes snapped to the fourth figure that had now joined them. The cloaked figure that had been down by the altar had somehow snuck right behind Chel and was looming over them all. His face was still obscured by his dark cloak or possibly by an illusion.
Chel immediately drew her bow, aiming an arrow at the creature's face. She was about to launch it, but the creature spoke-
"Hold on! Hold on! Let's just ... be friendly!"
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Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2015 8:32 pm
He scoffed and would have said something along the lines of just playing to our strengths or something as arrogantly teasing (followed by some jab about Chris being an excellent meat shield, being a meathead), but the interruption switched his mind from plotting to battle immediately. He summoned his sword at the same time Chel did, preferring the comfort of a barrier up regardless of what this thing's intentions were. Chel already had one weapon trained on it at least.
"State your intention," Jack said to it, ears straining for any suspicious noises behind them. It wouldn't take much to box them in.
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