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 Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2012 4:39 pm
Those words produced an entirely different effect on Harrison. "....Sahara?" he repeated dumbly. All the color drained from his face. Jerry's question was distant. He could barely hear it.
He'd been having dreams recently, he was going to throw up, don't throw up, Julie tugging him down the halls, Julie asking to meet him under the mistletoe Christmas Eve, Julie smiling, Julie's expression in the tent, blank, her body crusted with blood, and maybe all along it had been-
Ohhhhh s**t, B0nez made a mad scramble for some kind of auxiliary controls.
Julie's death was never far from him, and sometimes when he shut his eyes he could see it still, the rows and rows of sun and moon hunters, the buzzing getting louder and louder, and Julie turning- except now her tiny back and shoulders were replaced by a stronger, more familiar pair, and the ragged hole was still there, and he could see them boiling and rolling over each other, inside, outside of skin he'd gently explored but now was hollowed out and looked more like a sponge or a strange, used cheese-
The edges of his vision darkened.
Jordan tugging them both down the long hallway in Vegas, Jordan kissing him as mistletoe drifted around them into snowbanks...
No, nope, hey, not the time, you piece of s**t, the screen's blinking in and out, I'M GOING AFK, I'M GETTING KICKED-
Harrison D/Ced again.
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Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2012 5:10 pm
The sahara. Fully synonymous with hell.
Denial was easier. He wasn't dead. He wasn't dead. Jordan didn't die. Jordan was the most competent out of all of them, he couldn't align the idea of him dead and gone with that warm reassuring smile, that confident poise. But the mission to the lair loomed back dark in his mind, bugs that could devour a man whole, the desert darkened by an endless swarm of impending death. He was only human. They were all human, and the tablet he still held was testament to how fragile they truly were.
He glanced sidelong to Harrison, not sure if he was looking for reassurance, or looking to do the reassuring - but the glazed drained expression he spotted on the moon hunter's face was instantly familiar, chilled into him.
"Ace!"
In a single smooth movement he neatly set down the weapon tablet and without taking his eyes off the other man moved to catch him before he fell, simultaneously hugging him close and holding him up. He felt completely helpless. Unable to do anything to help him other than glare coldly at Simon as if it was the assistant's fault for speaking that dreaded word.
Harrison's plight took him out of his own horror and grief for a moment, numbed the grief till there was nothing left in him but that same fierce protectiveness towards him he'd felt in the desert all mixed up with anger, pure raw bloody fury that the people in charge of all their lives could have let this happen. His words were a ragged snarl as he snapped.
"Why there? Why there of all ******** places? You were both ff....you were both there with us during the other mission! You saw how ******** dangerous it was. You KNEW."
The anger couldn't last and within an instant his tone was almost that of a child who just couldn't understand.
"How ******** could you?"
They hadn't even been permitted to be there to help him.
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Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2012 5:30 pm
"The Sahara includes over nine million square kilometers of land, William. This particular section is typically lower on the scale of dangerous activity than a Bronx kindergarten," this might have been a joke of some sort, but Simon's face and tone indicated very clearly that he wasn't laughing. "It was a simple, non-combat, scan and fetch mission, that anyone of your level should complete with ease, let alone someone under consideration for promotion. It's being looked into, but the leadership incharge of investigation has officially put it on record that he is on vacation. For which you should be extremely grateful."
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Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2012 6:01 pm
Rep maintained the glare evenly until Simon's comment about his levelmade him avert his gaze. There was no point in arguing or in the usual yelling and screaming - all the accusations running through his mind felt hollow and childish. He refused to meet anyone's gaze, feeling small and embarrassed, finding himself distantly stroking Harrison's back until even that gesture froze - reminding him too much of their private conversations. He looked back to the blonde assistant neutrally.
"Aye sir. Grateful sir."
He didn't feel grateful. "Vacation" still felt like "dead".
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Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2012 6:17 pm
Half the conversation was going right through Allan's ears. Thankfully he caught 'Sahara' and 'Jordan'-
Just in time to see Harrison KO. The Sun lead frowned. Were all Moon Hunters like this, even the guys?
"Rep-kun," he began, "The area we sent Jordan to was scanned three times over by three different divisions. It is safe, for sure, we checked, I checked to make sure nothing else could- could happen." If anything, Rep would know best what Allan meant. "It means Jordan-kun is okay, if anything it was my fault I got too excited and forgot to set up the portal, so he probably got bored after a few hours and went to explore." A hand on the Sun trainee's shoulder. "If you are worried about your nakama, we promise we will of course do our best to find him."
Simon's presence however, might have assuaged otherwise. Making promises one couldn't keep was a double-edged sword.
"Jerry-kun, remember that you are one of us, and a Sun Hunter!" Allan grabbed Jerry, putting his other free arm around him. "Now, we are all nakama here so let's work together one step at a time. You can't put up a good fight if your kokoro and reishi are not ready. We do have a mission to help you, and I want to let you go, but you need to first believe in yourself. Is your spirit strong enough as Sun Hunters?"
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Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2012 6:58 pm
Jerry had fallen ominously quiet as Jordan's well being was scooted around and avoided and dismissed as a vacation.
Jordan was missing too.
Killzone was dead.
Sasha was kidnapped.
He was stuck in a room with a lot of people who didn't like him, and a leader who didn't quite trust his mental facilities.
"Yes." He said simply, his face carefully blank.
At least his hands had stopped trembling.
Save it for the battle field.
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Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2012 9:50 pm
Harrison was still checked out.
B0nez was frantically trying to reboot. There was a very literal bug in Harrison's system, and it was a glitch that drove the ghost up the wall. Jordan's disappearance he took in stride- it was just a subgenre of the dating sim, and he could handle puzzles and s**t. What he could not handle was doing it without a monitor.
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Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2012 10:00 pm
Having explained as much as he intended to, Simon simply took his place behind his leader and folded his arms. There was a unusual stillness in the assistant he stood there, attention focused narrowly on the group of distraught men who came to confront Allan.
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Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2012 10:22 pm
Suffering. It was heavy in the air right now. They could practically taste it. Did anyone lament for them like this? Probably not. They couldn't remember anyone that would. Not for any of them. All they had now was their home here. Home was all they needed. But there were many unwanted beings in their home. Beings who cared not for them but for other little ants that were undeserving.
They were angry for it.
A grey mist began to appear into the room. Slowly. If anyone wasn't too ridden with worry or grief (or currently unconscious) they might have heard a sort of low growl as well. And then that's when they revealed themselves. A draconic head with burning blue eyes formed from the fog before they let out an unearthly roar.
Purge their home from these unwanted creatures. They would do this.
HP: 99
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Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2012 10:45 pm
Allan's eyes practically lit with predatory challenge as he summoned his weapon.
And then paused.
And then thought very, very hard. "No." He finally put down his weapon, and faced the two (conscious) trainees, somewhat oblivious to Giant Fog Dragon In The Fog. "This is your job. Remember what I told you about fighting how you can. This is your chance to prove to me, prove to us that you are ready. Conquer the fear in your kokoro to unleash your true inner spirit and strength! Remember the power of the light, to never let it dim, to always keep it shining!"
He pointed what he thought was an aspiring finger at "challenge". "Jerry-kun, Rep-kun, your nakama need you! Fight yourselves and achieve bankai!"
Yeah, he was serious. Maybe Rep should put Harrison down on a couch or something.
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Bilious rolled 2 12-sided dice:
9, 11
Total: 20 (2-24)
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Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2012 11:00 pm
Jerry didn't need to be told twice. Heck, he didn't need to be told once. The moment the fog had crept in, he had dimly narrowed his eyebrows, but by the time the Dragon had unfurled itself and Allan started to speak, Roar was on his shoulder in a burst of green light.
He didn't need this right now, not more chaos, not more distraction, but like hell he wasn't completely ready to do something about it.
For a moment, he hesitated. They were indoors. They were in Allan's room. His superior's things were everywhere.
But the man said Attack, and attack is what he did, at least staggering around before pulling the trigger in case the blast ripped clear through the foggy beast, it would hit what he hoped was a clear wall or window on the other side.
HP: 60/60
Damage: 14
Charge: 1/3, 0/3
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Baneful rolled 2 6-sided dice:
2, 6
Total: 8 (2-12)
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Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2012 11:01 pm
Just when he thought his day had reached its shittiest point, where it honestly could not get any worse - it did.
The dragon's massive head didn't even intimidate him, there was utterly nothing left to ******** fear. It merely got a very irritable - now what? - sort of glare. Right. Another ******** problem in a long line of problems.
He sort of expected Allan to help them, to slay the massive dragon like the annoyance it was.
Except he didn't.
He wanted them to fight.
Rep gave the sun lead an utterly incredulous look and asked helplessly "With WHAT?"
Harrison was set down with even more care than the tablet was, on one of the couches in the room - determinedly within Rep's line of sight even over by the big ******** insanity lizard.
This done, he was instantly running to do as he was told - orders were orders, and regardless of how ******** mental it seemed, he was willing to put his trust in the man.
He punched a ******** dragon in the nose.
HP : 30/30
DMG: 2
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Blade Kuroda rolled 2 12-sided dice:
7, 10
Total: 17 (2-24)
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Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2012 11:06 pm
The disembodied dragon head looked over each of the individuals before letting out a shriek as a blast from the bazooka ripped right through them. They barely felt the follow up punch from the red head but it mattered little.
If anything, it just pissed them off even more. The dragon's maw opened before unleashing ashen flames tainted with the taste of insanity to sweep across the room at everyone that happened to be there.
Destroy all invaders to the home. They missed their so called friends? They will gladly help them join the fallen.
HP: 83
Damage: 13
Target: Everyone
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Bilious rolled 2 12-sided dice:
7, 4
Total: 11 (2-24)
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Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2012 11:12 pm
Fire fire fire fire- Jerry gasped, staggering back and nearly fell into the hole in Allan's floor before hobbling to take refuge behind the coffee table, kicking it onto it's side as a make-shift barrier. "HARRISON! For the love of- HARRISON WAKE UP AND DEFEND YOUR D-DAMN BOY TOY!" He had had enough, hefting Roar up to take another shot while he still could.
The last time a dragon had caught him in it's fire, he had not done very well. This time would be different. He snarled, pulling the trigger before he even had a chance to properly aim.
HP: 47
Damage: 5
Charge: 2/3, 0/3
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Toshihiko Two rolled 1 8-sided dice:
2
Total: 2 (1-8)
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Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2012 11:14 pm
What everybody else's efforts didn't do, being on fire did.
Harrison woke up, sweating and disoriented, to a blaze of pain. The room was filled with fog. There was a hissing. He didn't know where he was, where Rep was...
We're up! We're running- we're.... B0nez didn't understand the change in landscape either. ...taking damage. Don't stand wherever you're standing.
He wasn't standing. He was lying somewhere. The hissing and shifting made him nervous, and when he realized where he was lying was on a couch, he felt the darkness creeping back into his vision again. Fear seized him, and near frozen, it took everything he had to push himself to the floor. B0nez was in both his hands. He nearly fell on one of the blades. He stared at the floor and concentrated on not throwing up.
Move, move, come on, W-W-W-W-W, B0nez hurried him, impatient.
He was still pale, and he shook when he stood, but he swallowed the taste of bile- Jordan was dead, he registered. Don't think about how.
"R-Rep," he managed, hoarse, and it was all he could do to hold up both swords.
HP: 37/50
Defending: Rep (2)
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