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 Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 12:09 am
directory
o1 ROLEPLAY WITH ALBERTO [ "" ]
o2 ROLEPLAY WITH LAI [ "I Want To Tell You A Story" ]
o3 OPEN ROLEPLAY [ "Figure Eights" ]
o4 META INTRODUCTION
o5 META INTRODUCTION
o6
o7
o8
o9
1o
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Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 12:12 am
Quote: [ the RP that precedes this journal entry can be located here ] [ - ]
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Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 5:58 pm
Quote: [ the RP that precedes this journal entry can be located here ] [ - ]
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Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 6:00 pm
Quote: [ the RP that precedes this journal entry can be located here ] [ - ]
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Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 6:01 pm
THE BEGINNING - A LETTER His shoes were off, leaving his feet bare save for the stockings that were part of his uniform, and the cold floor was something to be desired thanks to the winter temperatures that now graced the LOTUS compound. Night had long settled in, the hour approaching the midnight ringing, and as life had drifted off into silent sleep the man now moving silently through the dark thought about all that was going to come to pass.
Cold feet was nothing compared to the chill running down his spine.
He knew taking a plane and leaving now to go somewhere for a personal reason would never be approved. He knew that not telling one before hand and just simply going would certainly get him in trouble - if not even expelled. He didn't know if they did that here at the compound, but he wasn't really game to try finding out. At first, anyway. But this was different, this was a choice that had to be made.
If there ever was a reason for Einar to do something as stupid as what he was doing now, this would probably have to be it. The man wasn't really the type to disobey orders, military and all that, but as he found himself sneaking into the hanger were the planes were kept for transport he could only curse himself for it having come this far. Why had he waited so long was his first reason for cursing, the second being that he knew this wasn't going to end well.
The letters had stopped. Entirely.
Not just any letters, because that wouldn't have bothered him, but letters from a certain individual out on the front lines of a bitter war.
A certain individual who Einar knew better than anyone, someone he knew would not just stop sending even if he were dead. Yes, he knew that person would probably still find a way to send them from Hell. He'd probably bet a devil or something up hard enough to get them to run his errands. He was just that much of an a**, without out a debt. Yet despite that - Einar could call him his best friend.
What the hell was wrong with him? To have such a screwed up friend that something as simple as not getting letters would send him into a panic that would drive him to break rules in the building that was serving as his sanctuary?
But here he was, picking the starting system to a plane that he knew to be one of the more silent models developed. He didn't need something that drew a lot of attention, something that would roar and wake the others, so he settled on a nice machine that didn't have a very powerful engine. It would take him longer to get to his destination in Norway thanks to the small and single nature, but that served him just right. Time wasn't too important now, just the matter of him getting there without getting caught.
It seemed like he'd be in the clear now too, the engine slowly and softly rumbling to life as the final wires connected and sparked. Not too bad of a job considering he didn't have any light on him other than a pocket flashlight, and as he slipped himself inside the cockpit to check the different instruments that would allow him to fly he felt a little...worried.
Should he have left a note? At least one for Lai, he knew the Russian would worry, but then that would in turn let Wraith and Shee know where he was going, and he didn't want that. Not yet, anyway.
So he made final adjustments to what he needed and checked the fuel gauges on the plane, pleased to see they were full and raring to go as much as him, and with a turn of the master control he started off towards Norway - more specifically a little area that housed a certain message box he was in dire need of checking.
- ` - ` --- `- ` -
The flight had taken a long time to accomplish, enough that dark had become light and back to dark thanks to how slow his engine was, and as he landed in one of the many, many barren patches of land that decorated the Norwegian landscape Einar didn't even give a second thought to looking about his homeland. His footsteps carried him swiftly to a building he had a key for - all soldiers did - and he fumbled for a moment before he fished out his flashlight.
The tiny beam was just perfect for lighting up the keyhole enough that he could ram his key inside and force the door open, the hinges squeaking loudly with protest thanks to their age. Normally they would have been well oiled, but this outpost had probably been abandoned only recently in favor for a shipping center much closer to the fighting. Not that Einar cared, his box was here and would only always be here.
He followed the beam's path over to where he knew the mailbox assigned to him for personal letters would be located, three over from the left and the top row. There was something white sticking out from the bottom, the corner of a letter perhaps, and with another key Einar opened the box slowly.
He half expected something to jump out at him and attack his face, but instead he was only greeted with the small of dust and old. There was another smell there too, one he hadn't smelt in a while so he was having trouble placing, and he shrugged it off as he took the envelope from where it had been resting. He broke the seal open with his finger, cradling the light under his arm, and pulled the letter out to read it.
A lump rose in his throat as he recognized the writing. Chicken scrawl that could barely pass in class as penmanship.
Min kjære venn, det er blitt altfor lang!
Du har ikke svarade til nogen av mine brev, så jeg er studiestart til tror du ikke komme dem. Eller kanskje jeg sende dem til feil sted. Jeg vil gjerne tror de're hålls fra deg i stedet, som det gir meg mer grunn til å tenke deg og om hvor du har valgt løbe utenfor alltför.
Men jeg digress. Det har vært heller kedeligt rundt her uten deg rundt (stemmen er mistet på den ikke, sømmelig) og de andre wo ikke komme nær mig å snakke med meg eller noe. Du kan si jeg er følelse lonely, men som vil imidlertid ikke gjøre mig ønsker å prøve og få deg tilbake med makt; i stedet, jeg'll får du tilbake gjennom andre midler.
Du se, jeg har vunnet presenterer for eder. Jeg håper du som dem, det er bare en vei for meg å vise deg hvor mye jeg har mistet eders selskapet. lite spillemynter, hvis du vil kalle dem som.
én for hver dag du har gått, og en mer for hver dag du opphold bort. Jeg'vil holde sender dem til du går tilbake til krigen, og for mig.
Med kjærlighet alltid,
AudunMy dear friend, it's been far too long!
You haven't replied to any of my letters, so I'm starting to think you're not getting them. Or maybe I send them to the wrong place. I'd like to think they're being held from you instead, as it gives me more reason to think about you and about where you've run off too.
But I digress. Things have been rather boring around here without you around (your voice is missed on the marches, honestly) and the others won't come near me to talk to me or anything. You could say I'm feeling lonely, but that won't make me want to try and get you back by force.
Instead, I'll get you back through other means. You see, I've gotten presents for you. I hope you'll like them, it's just a way for me to show you how much I've missed your company. Little tokens, if you'll call them that.
One for each day you've been gone, and one more for each day you stay away. I'll keep sending them until you return to the war, and to me.
With love always,
AudunHe flipped the letter over in the darkness, shining his light on the paper to see if anything else was written. It was not unlike Audun to be so cryptic in his messages, but it was unlike him to mention a gift and not specify what it was. The man he knew was hardly the type to keep secrets, and as he moved the beam of light downward he noticed something a little odd about the color of the paper in his hands.
Part of it was white - the standard color for paper - but other parts were a dark shade of red that looked almost black. They seemed to be flaking too, those little patches that he rubbed with his fingers, and as soon as a little puff of dust or whatever tossed into the air high enough for him catch a whiff of what it was. And his face paled.
The flashlight quickly fell from Einar's hand as he thrust it into the mailbox before him, hoping, praying, that he wasn't right. That for once in his life, for as long as he'd known the man named Audun, he was completely wrong about what it was that he'd be finding tucked inside that private bunker that served for more personal letters. But, please. . .
He was right. Entirely right.
The objects he pulled out with his hand into the pale light of the moon that dotted through the window screamed up at him, their different shapes and sizes so obvious in just that simple flicker of light, and as more and more came pouring out as he moved his hand back inside, the Norwegian man had to drop the letter in his other hand and cover his mouth.
"My God....Audun...you..."
He dry heaved as more and more poured out, hitting the floor like noisy dominoes covered in blood and the smell of decay. There were so many, God, so many, and he could only watch with eye that grew wider and wider as they spilled out.
Fingers. Human fingers.
One for each day he'd been at LOTUS, one for each day Audun had been left alone with others. Men. Women. Children.
He didn't even stop to clean up what had fallen all over the floor as he quickly turned on his heels and ran towards the doorway, his flashlight flickering on the floor as the battery threatened to die out.
But he was not there to see it at all, his distance to the plane nearby halved as he dashed blindly. He had only one thing left to do now - only one choice left open now that it had come to this.
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Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 6:03 pm
THE MIDDLE - FOR YOU, IN POLAND *Please note all dialogue spoken here, while posted in English, is actually Norwegian.
He didn't care if there was going to barely be any fuel left for him to return to LOTUS, if he made it back at all, should he decide to do what his mind and conscience were screaming at him to do. The plane engine was quiet as it roared through the night, perfect like it should be, though to the Norwegian pilot inside it made a humming that echoed in his bones and reminded him of why he was now heading towards a small encampment on the borderlands of Poland.
Why Poland? Why did he know to get there? It was probably because of the postmark on the envelope he'd read, or it was probably because he'd set the radio on the plane he was flying to the frequency used by the grounds troops of the army he knew too well. It was enough to remember the channel and as soon as the cracked voices of tired Norwegian soldiers came on talking about what to do for the next day's tactics, Einar knew he'd hit the gold.
After that was simple - he'd asked where his old platoon was currently being stationed it - and he was given an answer rather quickly. Sometimes lying about one's ranking got you what you needed without the need for all the red tape. Now all that mattered was getting to wher ehe needed to go before they would move even a few miles away. From what Einar had been told they were just sitting in an abandoned village, one that had been bombed out by the airforce only a little while ago before the ground troops moved in, and the young Norwegian was glad to know that meant either the people had evacuated or they were all dead.
There was no one for Audun to torture one day at a time, cutting their fingers off and mailing them as grisly 'trinkets' for Einar to count and 'adore'.
Finding the village was easy, seeing as it was on the border and still had little piles of burning items here and there from the earlier bombings, and as Einar flew the plane in closer he felt a twinge of fear spring into his chest. There were no tents here, no sign that the foot soldiers had been dwelling amongst the skeletons of the one proud buildings. There were only mud puddles of various sizes left from the unseasonable rains that apparently had been falling (the radio men had been whining about that) dotting the lands here and there, and as the plane roared with its landing equipment coming down he could see what looked like the footsteps of a march heading off into the distance.
"Are you looking for something, Einar?"
The third voice was right behind him.
Audun.
- ` - ` --- ` - ` -
"I can't tell you how happy I am to see you again. I really missed you, ya know? Did you get my letters? And the gifts?"
Einar turned quickly, to see the person now speaking to him, all color drained from his cheeks like someone had just pulled a plug on him somewhere in his body. Before him stood Audun, the person he'd been looking for, as well as the person he had mentioned idly so many times while he'd been at LOTUS.
The man who was his only childhood friend, the man who drew the smile on his Storm mask; the man who gave odd quotes about how to kill people, and the man who had sent him fingers as a 'present'.
Audun.
"You don't look too happy to see me. To be honest that hurts my feelings a little. We've been so close ever since we were little and now you're here treating me like a stranger. Not a hug, not a hello. I'd almost think by the look on your face that you were downright terrified to find me here, instead of happy."
"Audun, you. . ."
"Oh! So you do remember my name! I thought you'd forgotten, what with you running off to join that little League of Superheros and all. Don't tell me they've made you soft too."
"Audun, you-"
Einar didn't have time to talk as Audun took a few steps towards him, arms open, and he certainly didn't have time to react as he was pulled into a passionate embrace. The cold arms that smelt of dirt and mud wrapped themselves around his body, pinning his arms to his side, and Einar could only close his eyes as he felt the hot breath from Audun's mouth pulse against his neck and shoulder.
He was sure he was probably trembling, mostly from how tight he was being held, but also from the anger that was slowly building inside of him. This was the man who'd killed so many people and mailed their fingers to him - here, just embracing Einar's frame like they were brothers reunited at the end of a long journey.
"Let me go."
Einar managed to push his arms free and get Audun away from him, the expression on his face now moved from terrified to pure anger. How...how dare he do this. His right hand balled into a fist as his other hand reached behind his body, down into the waist of his pants.
"You're sick, you know that Audun? Sick. How could you kill all those people just to get me to come back here like this?! Didn't I tell you I was leaving the war for good, to try and save our homeland?!"
"It worked though, didn't it? You came back to me of your own free will, and now we can be together again. It'll be just me and you, like it was in the old days, unless of course you're here for another reason."
Audun merely shrugged, a grin playing on his thin lips. His own right hand moved behind his back as if he were reaching for something as well. As soon as he moved Einar quickly pulled out what he had been searching for - a gun - and used both hands to raise it steady enough to shoot Audun.
"I'm here to kill you so you can't do this anymore, to make sure you're dead and in the ground."
He cocked the trigger, ready to pull it without a moments hesitation. They may have been childhood friends, they may have been first loves of a sort, but that didn't matter now. Einar was ready to kill him.
"You honestly think you can shoot me? When I'm the one who taught you all you know!?!"
At the last of his words both Norwegian men moved quickly, Einar pulling the trigger just in time to feel something sharp hit his side, right below his left rib. The bullet he had fired harmlessly embedded itself into one of the skeleton walls, the steam rising from the concrete that had splintered when it came into contact.
"See, told you. You couldn't shoot the broad side of a prisoner cabin even if you were two feet in front of it."
Audun's words were mocking as Einar dropped to his knees in pain, his mouth open as he coughed up mouthful after mouthful of blood. He'd been hit, probably a through and through, but this amount of blood was excessive. He would know, having been shot several times before, but as he continued to cough a feeling of fear ran through his veins. This wasn't natural - even for a shooting. This was -
"Looks like you realized it. We're not supposed to use these bullets on our fellow soldiers, but since it was in self-defense I'm sure the committee wouldn't really mind."
The gun Audun had fired was held up so Einar could get a better look at what was sealing his fate, and he could barely mouth the name of the bullet that dwelt inside the chamber of the beast made solely for that type of weapon.
"NK-VB2. . .Audun, you!"
The other man shrugged and smiled brightly before his face turned dark and he stepped forward to pick up Einar's gun, pointing it at the kneeling man's head. He cocked the trigger and took another step closer, pushing the muzzle into the crown of blond hair on Einar's head.
"I could kill you now and put you out of your misery, or I can save your life by giving you what you want. The antidote, right? As much as we believe there's not a cure for this there always is, but you have to get down on yours knees and beg. Look, you're already halfway there."
There wasn't much time now for Einar to think, he knew he didn't want to die at Audun's hands here on the cold field, but he sure didn't want to die somewhere else. Alone.
And then he thought of him. And LOTUS.
Slowly Einar moved like he was going to properly kneel, apparently satisfying Audun, but before he opened his mouth to beg he tackled into Audun's legs, knocking him down just long enough for him to get on his own feet and make a break for the plane. Behind him he could hear Audun curse as he retrieved the weapon and pulled the trigger.
"You think you can get away? You're going to either die on the way home or die here. Take your pick."
The bullets whizzed past his ear as Einar made a move to get back to the plane, his hand holding against his side to prevent the blood from leaking out too quickly. He'd been shot before, he knew what to do, but he never quite remembered the pain to be this unbearable. It was hard to run, hard to think. He could barely breathe yet still he made his way to the side of his vessel and clamored for the ladder that would let him in.
Einar made it to the wing and into the cockpit just as another bullet hit the side of the plane, pinging off the metal like a BB against a train. Beneath him Audun stood with gun still in hand, raised up as if he wanted to fire jsut one more bullet into Einar's ridden body. But he didn't.
Audun merely lowered the gun...and laughed. A deep laugh, one of victory and madness that only a creature like himself could release during moments he felt to consider triumph. Einar had laughed like this only once before, and the sound still haunted him. The laughter continued.
He could only look back at the man on the ground as the plane roared into the sky, the landing gears lifting, and shudder. The pain in his side was growing as he knew what had nailed him was spreading, slowly poisoning him, and the scary thought of only thirty-six hours ahead of him made Einar cover his mouth and cough weakly.
It would take him fourteen to get back home to LOTUS.
And that was if he hurried.
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