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 Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2011 3:24 pm
Jason nodded, and called to Mist. She came in from the office, and floated through the passenger door of the jeep to float above the seat. "How fast do you think we can get there?" he asked. Then, as an after thought, he shouted a question to Sharpe. "How much fuel's in it?" He wanted to know if the fuel was likely to run out half way there.
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Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2011 4:09 pm
I was found outside a dumpster in a coma? Toby tried to relate the events that would have led to such a thing, but his long time knocked out had blurred the events of that night to the point where, aside from vivid and disconnected details, he couldn't quite remember how he got there, or here. So, best just to look forward, I guess... He rubbed his shoulder as Juno (passive-aggressive as always, he thought, but then again, aren't we all) asked if he was alright, and realized that even if he felt alright now, all this time he apparently spent out of it was gonna come back to bite him in a hurry once he started moving. "Uh, something to eat would be fine, if there's anything nearby... I can hold off otherwise. Thanks for..." He shook out his arm where he had been hit; it hadn't been a hard punch, but he could feel it. "...all the attention, yeah."
He then listened to a man he didn't recognize, but that Juno obviously trusted, say a string of words that made so little sense they almost convinced Toby he must still be in a coma. "We have to go to Glenville and... save the world? With pokemon? Could you expa-" But he heard the man say he had no more info than that. "Huh. Here, let me walk around a bit, get my bearings and all..." ...and THIS is what you get for "just looking forward" from here on out. As he sat on the edge of the bed, he thought back to that nigh once more to answer the last question: "I don't have anything on me, really. I was pulled out of bed in the middle of the night, didn't have time to grab anything. Past that, I dunno, but what I have now is what I've got..."
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Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 3:36 am
"Yeah, maybe we should go for a walk. Get your blood flowing again, but why don't you just lay back for now. I'll find a nurse and get you some water and an apple or something. We gotta get some sugar in you. Oh and, about the gun. I wasn't asking to see if you had it on you, but if you don't have one at all, we're gonna need to get you one. Never know when you'll need one." He stood up and walked out, looking for a nurse. He was gone about 5 minutes before returning. "Well, I managed to get you that water and a pear. Hoping for an apple seeing as apples are better but hey, what the hell." He put them on the table attached to Toby's bed and sat back down in the chair. "I'll let you talk to Juno now. Sorry about probably interrupting you guys."
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Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 8:37 pm
Juno watched Ramsden and Toby interact. She wasn't sure if it was a good idea to give Toby a gun, but she really had no right to talk. The main issue she had with giving Toby a gun was whether he knew gun safety and how to shoot one. Excluding her mental thoughts, there wasn't much more she could add to the conversation. Ramsden pretty much covered the gist of their day trip mission thing whatever. When the sailor went to get Toby something to eat, she sat on the nearby stool...not really knowing what to say. The kid just came out of a coma, was told he had to go to a nearby city, and potentially save the world. She didn't envy him the confusion he had to be feeling.
"You know, we could stop by your place and pick up some of your things before we head off. Our trip to Glenville shouldn't take too long and I doubt they'll get mad at us so long as we get there before evening." Ramsden popped back into the room holding food and water. She waved his comment off, "Nah, you didn't interrupt anything."
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Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 11:48 pm
"Nah, I can walk, I can- ooh." Toby stumbled a bit and had to catch himself on the edge of the bed... maybe it would be best to take this slow but sure. "Yeah, that sounds good, actually... thanks." Either the apple would be enough for now as his stomach adjusted back to a regular eating schedule, or it would just make him ravenously hungry... either way, he felt like some quick energy would help him out. It'll be nice to be able to walk around, stretch my legs a bit... then maybe I can ask them some more questions about what on earth's going on. I'm sure that guy was being sarcastic when he mentioned saving the world and all that, so I'll sound like a moron for asking about it... but at least it'll be a good icebreaker, I guess.
Speaking of icebreakers, Toby sure wished he had one to talk to Juno... Juno, yeah, I think that's her name. It sounds right, and goes with the face... but all the same, he didn't want to say the wrong name and make things any more awkward than they already were. They both just sat there for about five minutes... he felt terrible about it. He could look back and see her in several memories, usually in the background from his perspective... she had been Shaniah's good friend, before she had been... lost. Without the common friend, he and Juno had kinda gone their own ways in the community... he saw her around but hadn't ever spoken, never bothered to break that silence. He wondered why that was... maybe he just didn't want anyone around who reminded him of Shaniah. Still... "So... yeah..." It was a pathetic attempt at striking up conversation, not that he had ever been very good at that. She picked up on the cue and dredged up something to talk about: "You know, we could stop by your place..." As she was talking, the other man came back in with some food and water. A pear, huh... I normally don't really like pears, but I've never been so happy to see one as I am now. "Thanks, I appreciate it, really." He took a sip of water, which turned into a drink, and before he knew it, the glass was drained... he needed it more than he thought. "...hehe sweatdrop " So her name is Juno, he said... well, there's that mystery solved.
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Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 10:11 am
Alyssa was pleased to hear she'd be recieving two guns, but was utterly clueless to model type. No one ever bothered to tell her what she was carrying and she never looked at the guns while she held them, they were poor reading material.
So she bluffed for the question of what she wanted, aiming for bigger but stayed away from the magnum, she at least knew that meant revolver. "I'll try the 1911," almost as if she had something to prove. To who? Probably Paul, she knew she was tough, he didn't.
Alyssa moved to the door and kept a wary eye on Zoidberg, still not entirely trustful of the pokemon. "I am going to get my stuff, it should not take long, and there is nothing out there. I will be ready to go when I get back."
She stepped outside and followed Paul's instructions until she got to the parts she remembered. On the side of the road opposite Paul's house, just before one could see the roof, she tied her day-hiking bag up a tree. She untied the rope attached to a sapling and carefully lowered her bag.
It was blue and green and decorated in some spots by little doodles, Alyssa doing these in her times of boredom. The bag consisted of two side pockets (which held jewelry in one for trade and her spray bottle of lye in the other for leather), a pocket on the main flap (with rolled construction paper), the big inside (with plenty of room, two manuals, ground/grass compendium and her haddymack, two R.L. Stine books, Ghost Camp and Say Cheese and Die, and a bag of jerky), and a pocket out front, with an almost empty water bottle in it on its side.
It wasn't heavy and could obviously carry a lot more. When she put it on made her look like a post-apocolyptic highschooler, complete with raggedy armor and dirty skin.
Alyssa was happy to have the weight on her back again, it actually kept her more balanced than she was without it. She didn't really think of this as Paul was right, she had seemed to come a ways from being unconcious and offbalance, and on her way back reflected on how long that might last. Last night was a desperation attempt, she guessed, so she wouldn't be so crippled when actual danger arose. This had its own flaw however, as coming out to this armoured house was more dangerous than a few days wobbling through the woods.
Maybe she was closer to bad things last night than she wanted to admit to herself, whatever it was, the weakness in her legs when she reached the doorjamb of Paul's house, backpack in tow, was enough to tell her she didn't want to be walking anywhere for a long time.
((I'll edit this for grammar mistakes when I get back Thursday night posting this in a hurry cause I'm going camping and I didn't want anyone waiting too long))
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Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 3:57 pm
Dirk shook his head, recovering from the pain that had suddenly flared in his chest; felt like he hadn't moved in weeks-approximately 3 of them, to be exact. He shook his head again, clearing out the cobwebs, and nudged Trouble's side with his foot. The arcanine shot forward, gathering speed, as the group charged towards the northeast side of town. Tavish nudged Trouble again, and his speed increased, the arcanine virtually sprinting now, as they neared the fence. Tavish kept a close eye on the surroundings, as they neared the fence around town. The guards likely wouldn't be able to stop them...but it would be a hell of a lot better to avoid them than provoke a fight. He steered the pokemon just behind the defensive perimeter, and then gently dug his heels into the arcanine's side. Trouble came to a stop, facing the northeast defensive perimeter, and more importantly, the fence that surrounded the town. Tavish kept a wary eye on the guards patrolling the perimeter, looking for an opening in their ranks. Seeing it, finally, he nudged Trouble in the side, harder this time, and the arcanine took off at top speed, dashing towards the fence as his passengers hung on for dear life. He leaped, a powerful jump that was almost a lunge, yet still more than high enough to clear the fence. Trouble came back down to the ground in a shuddering crash that lacked as much grace as it possibly could without either him or his passengers falling to the ground, and somehow managed to go all the way back up to top speed again, as the guards sufficiently recovered from their surprise at seeing a giant dog leap a fence, enough to pull firearms and start shooting. Trouble was in the trees before they could get off more than a few shots, however, and slowed his speed down to a loping jog, his tongue lolling out of his mouth as he ran through the forest, an ear to ear puppy-ish sort of grin on his face. It would have been a lot more endearing if he wasn't taking a path that seemed to lead through every spiny bush, or into low-hanging branches. After some muttered curses, Tavish nudged the arcanine in the side again, and Trouble slowed to a leisurely trot, as Tavish readjusted his heading to avoid all the painful shrubbery and branches. He took out his guns and Deadeye's weapons, checking them for cracks or breaks sustained in landing. The guns were easily checked; Deadeye's weaponry required more scrutiny. There were two of them, instruments resembling blowpipes, made to aim and concentrate the water blasts made by the pokemon. One had a rifled inside, designed to further correct the trajectory of the water shots, the other had what looked almost like a miniaturized sieve attached to the end, made to spread water blasts shotgun style. They were the oldest weapons he still owned, and therefore more prone to breaking. A single crack or break would ruin them-he had to be careful handling the things. They met his standards for now, however-he detected no damage to either device, no thanks to the bloody dog. He looked back at Lexi and grinned. "Hoo was that fer an auspicious start tae oor journey, aye?" His smile was cut short at the sounds of shouting, not to mention what might have been gunshots, coming from town. "Wae'd better get a move on..." he mumbled, nudging Trouble into a faster speed.
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Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 11:20 pm
Aaron Cummings, Within Cliffshire Limits
It had been a long time since Aaron had ridden in a vehicle; he had not ridden in one since he was blinded. It was a strange experience to say the least, hard to describe. Humans rely on their eyes for so much without realizing it. The first initial lurch, without his sight to reference his location, was the worst. It felt as if he were going to fall out of the craft and as expected, he braced himself in a moment of pure fear. All he could hear was his heart beating the drums in his ears in a fast staccato rhythm.
It eventually became easier, and he only cringed at sharp turns or sudden stops. It was even rather relaxing as all of the sounds of everyday life were drowned out by the wind whipping past him, a storm created by the machinations of human kind. He knew they were traveling fast, but sitting while doing so was too surreal for his brain to comprehend. He caught himself smiling again at the inconceivable concept of modern travel.
"Madelyn.. I-I mean Maddy? I thought I overheard that we are going to be meeting up with another group of people," he called out over the wind, "Is that true?"
It slightly irked Aaron that he would have to share this adventure with others, that yet more people were going to see him in his blinded state. He was not ashamed of himself (at least that is what he told himself) but having been a wanderer for so long, it just did not sit well that he would have to be forced back into the social graces of a group. People were so predictable when it came to meeting a blind person, they would see the cane first, the eyes second, and the person last. When they did finally look at you, you could feel their pity or scorn burn straight into your soul. Aaron already knew this, he had grown accustomed to it, it hurt him every single time. He clasped his hands to stop them from shaking. No, he did not want to go through it again.
[[Tweaked my location as well as smoothed out some sentences in the last paragraph]]
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Posted: Fri Jul 29, 2011 1:28 am
When Alyssa opened the door, she found Paul sitting on the box-furniture, wearing the full harness, flak jacket included, wearing a hefty backpack, and at the moment popping the last .45 ACP round into a 1911 magazine. That done, he slapped the magazine casually into the handgun, then pushed the handgun into a holster sitting on another box, clipping the belt to keep the handgun in. On this table sat the holster, designed to be strapped to the thigh and a belt, a similar arrangement for the other leg designed to carry magazines (this held four more), another harness, this one's pockets filled with shells, and an M1014, its stock collapsed. In this case that meant it simply slid along a short pole of a sort, but it decreased the length of the whole thing and kept weight down.
"This is all yours, at least for the trip," Paul informed Alyssa, looking up over the box. "How you handle it is my first indication of how competent you are, so suit up carefully. I'm not sure how the harness will fit over the armor, so you don't absolutely have to carry it, but it seemed more convenient and definitely safer than just jamming it into the backpack. I don't know if you're familiar with the firearms I've chosen - the handgun is the 1911 I mentioned, it's got an 8-round magazine and it fires .45 ACP, which means it kills people but it doesn't break your wrist doing so. The shotgun is an M1014, it's a semi-automatic weapon and it'll handle six shells in the tube underneath and one in the chamber. The stock collapses, as you can see, it's got good sights for night-shooting, and it's got an appropriate spread so you can hit things that aren't right in front of you. It'll kick, because it's a 12-gauge, but it shouldn't be too much for you, you aren't a child."
Paul sat calmly and waited for her to claim the equipment, whichever parts she wanted. His backpack was quite heavy, possibly a little more than the ideal weight limit for hiking, but ideally there wouldn't be much hiking involved. If he had time, he'd have her fire a few rounds off, but he thought it might be time to start moving. The Hilux was kept in a garage that it was a bit large for (Virginia, as a state, apparently featured rather small garages, at least compared to those he'd seen further west), and it would be a bit of a task to get it off of the dangerous portions of his lawn and onto the road, so they'd want to get on that as soon as possible.
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Posted: Fri Jul 29, 2011 1:36 pm
It didn't surprise Maddy when Aaron jumped, a lot of people had gone the last six years without even riding a bike, let alone anything with the same sensation as a car, not being able to see surely didn't help things. Still, it never occurred to her to instruct Roger to fly softly to make the trip easier on the boy.
At first she didn't respond to him, zoned out to the sound of the wind, her eyes moving around rapidly as she constantly evaluated the terrain and environment, falling into the habit of looking for scrap as she normally would on a ride. With her right hand she fiddled with a simplified joystick, in response a small rod in front of Roger moved left to right, and up and down, the craft loosely responded to this conductor's baton. "Yes and maybe" It was a couple of minutes before she figured out that he probably expected more than just a confirmation
"We'll be meeting up with a friend of mine in a few hours, a commando named Paul, and I take it he's got a guest along for the ride too. We might be meeting up with some guy named Ulysses, apparently he's headed the same direction. Beyond that I don't know anything about him. Well, me may have a car, he lives down the street from the depot after all. Which by the way we're almost at."
They had just crested a modestly sized hill and off in the distance, still a few minutes away, the large compound where Cliffshire sequestered all of it's vehicles was already impressive. Certainly dwarfing Maddy's workshop, and yet it was somehow already annoying. Normally Maddy prefered to keep her vehicle out of view of the bureaucracy, they had a habit of planting flags on things other people owned and she hated paperwork. Today there was no avoiding it.
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Posted: Fri Jul 29, 2011 10:27 pm
Aww…Blast!
Riding through town on Trouble: awesome. Leaping the fence: also awesome. Even the landing wasn’t that bad, even if it did almost unseat her. What was bad was what followed them into the foliage. Damnit we almost got out of there without any shooting. Lexi had grabbed a good hold on trouble and brought herself close to the arcanine’s body in anticipation of the jump, but she stayed there afterwords, as she was not half as well protected as the man she sat behind. All she could do was keep a low profile and hope she was moving fast enough to avoid the projectiles. Keeping a low profile was probably an understatement too. She was clamped tightly to her position, and her grip only got tighter each time she heard gunfire. It was only once the sharp cracks subsided that it occurred to her how handy it was that she wasn’t riding behind a younger man, as her position would have been close enough to be awkward.
After a while she loosened up enough to sit up and actually think about the road. The spiky bushes had gone unnoticed during the run out of town until then, and even now her small size meant most of the bushes missed her legs and all of the branches missed her head. Actually, once she let herself forget about the running away and began to just think about the running, she started having fun. She could see enjoying climbing onto Trouble’s back and just running until she or the dog (and she knew it would probably be her) tired out. That brought a frown on. She had wanted pokémon of her own for the longest time, but she had pretty much accepted that there was no way Woodmount was going to waste a pokeball or a pokémon on her. Now the ride was just beginning to remind her of what she didn’t have. Sure, it was her choice to shift away from the positions that could get her a pokémon and some freedom, but…
Trouble slowed to a trot, which made Lexi peer around Dirk’s shoulder to see what was up. Then she noticed the odd weapons he was messing with. So that’s why they slowed. She wasn’t exactly sure what it was, but she guessed it was something for water since they were shaped a little like pipes. Comfortable enough, she just sat back and watched the world go by until Tavish turned back to look at her. She met his grin with a nod and a slightly sarcastic smirk of her own, before the sarcastic part dropped. “I don’t suppose you’d be looking for someone to exercise Trouble…I could get used to traveling like this.” Then shouts came on the breeze and they took off again. "Well, minus this part." She got out quickly
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Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2011 8:18 am
Tavish inwardly cursed-he should have assumed getting out of town would be a complete pain in the a**. Not to mention the timing; the night after the town is attacked, two of its(not so well liked) citizens leave? Aye, tha's noo suspicious at all... Trouble sped on into the forest, Tavish urging the pokemon a touch faster-he didn't want to tire him out, but he DID want to get far enough away to make the town give up on looking for them. He chuckled to himself wryly. It was certainly going to be hard to go back there... He realized Lexi had just said something to him: "Aye, s'a foon way tah travel, aye? Nae as fast as soome, but there's summat tae be said fer travellin' on ae pokemon." He peered at Trouble, and then continued, more loudly: "As long as dae daft fool ain't roonin through every goddamn thorn bush in dae forest." He looked back over his shoulder, checking for pursuit. Didn't see anyone...and he didn't hear any automobiles, or transport pokemon...Seemed like a clean getaway. He relaxed noticeably, as Trouble eased up on speed, but kept a way eye out as the group loped deeper into the forest.
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Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2011 7:54 am
Alyssa considered her armor. Homemade, worn enough to be almost useless, but comfortable. It wouldn't stop a bullet, but it could still stop a knife, and it was with that thought that she decided it'd be better to leave it on. She did drop her back pack, and released the belt which held her knife's sheath on her stomach, she dropped the belt to her waist and retightened it. She then took the harness and, albeit hacknyed, made it so the gun took the old position of her knife. It was uncomfortable, but at least this way the movement she made to get it would be natural and familiar, she just had to remember that she was holding a gun at the end and not a knife.
(To detail her armor, imagine a tighter version of what football player's wear with more amiable movement for women. There are extra pieces at belly level and back level that are loose enough to store things under. Being leather these pieces are made just flexible enough for a strong core to move and linked by a leather strap on each side. She also has braces [leather, full forearm] and shingaurds [the soccer kind]. Why I didn't describe this earlier? Couldn't figure out which pattern she used. The knife's belt was positioned just above the diaphragm, the harness now takes that place.)
She finished and looked at him, "Might you happen to have a belt? This harness will make it hard to breathe if I have to crouch." She unholstered the gun and took it out, setting it carefully on the "end table".
Alyssa then crouched and swung the upper half of her body from sidee to side to see if her statement held true, it did, but was not as uncomfortable as she thought it would be.
She looked at Paul, then at the shotgun. Carrying that would be a bit harder for convenience but she supposed she could just shoulder it, it would be a sign for people to back off.
"Is this using the scatter or the rifle?" She had seen this before at a Marine encampment in the South. She did not know the terminology of it but she did know that one guy could shoot far off and hit one thing, whereas another simply had a standard round. So she called the far off "rifle mode" and the close ranged "scatter". These terms suited her fine.
Alyssa reholstered the handgun.
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Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2011 8:02 pm
Paul watched Alyssa run through this process. It was a bizarre kind of half-familiarity; she was careful enough with the handgun to not point it at him, and she was checking the firearm and the harness he'd provided for comfort, yet she didn't know the difference between buckshot and slugs. He was surprised by her decision to place the handgun across her stomach, but of course everyone had a different taste for these kinds of things. Now, though, the question was where she'd store the shotgun. He'd intended the harness to be a single-point set-up, leaving the shotgun hanging from about her collarbone, just like the G3 hung on his chest. Still, that was possible. It might interact a bit oddly with the handgun, but nonetheless. Still, she began to seem actually competent.
"Scatter. Buckshot. I've got slugs but not many, and I didn't think they'd be of much use to you at this point. Depends on how well you shoot." Paul stood up. "I left an unused target on the tree across the road. I want to see you fire the handgun first, then the shotgun while we've got the chance. You'll be firing from 75 yards, which ought to be sufficient to demonstrate your skill." Paul pushed open the door, then glanced down at the path, glanced up at the treeline, found the target, made an estimation, and drew a line in the dirt with a toe. "C'mon, let's see what you can do. Put a magazine into that target."
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Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2011 9:26 pm
Ulysses started the jeep with a smile, a properly functioning fuel gauge supplying the geezer with an answer to Jason's query: "Full, young man." Like a good driver, he took the time to adjust everything: the seat, mirrors, and even the steering wheel angle. Satisfied, he eased onto the gas and was pleased that the vehicle did not squeak, rattle, vibrate, or otherwise behave in an unsettling manner.
So far, so good.
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