Bad question, went his brain, as the pen snapped. Gale, however, remained as cool as he could, idly twisting his hands together behind his back. His gaze flickered briefly to the bright blue eye watching him from behind the lava lamp before moving back to rest on Caelius.
"No sir," he said quietly. "You didn't stutter at all. Though, let me rephrase this a better way - you want me to murder someone for you."
Zoobey
Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2012 3:39 pm
"Because I apparently did not make myself clear," came the follow up after another good solid moment of silence, "I would like you to eliminate a defective Hunter."
Eye contact. "Gale, while I personally never considered your age an issue, you repeatedly hold to some notion that if you just, perhaps, make irrational choices, things will get ******** better or problems will somehow ******** solve themselves. If you cannot even grasp the concept of what being a goddamned Hunter means, if you are naive enough to believe that those who survive do so out of some foreordained divine intervention, then do yourself a ******** favour and step down from what you cannot ******** handle. Nothing ever happens by ******** chance, and even then, it can always be explained."
A pause, as Gale's folder was once again shifted open. "The candidate trials, the sleepers, Hunters who voluntarily escape duty and defect on their own: do you think they just ******** sleep peacefully the entire time? Everything runs as it should, because it has been controlled to operate so. All the candidates, Hunters, sleepers, they will all eventually, as you put it, be murdered."
The Death lead shifted, pulling a smaller folder from underneath Gale's own. A single name written on it, and then a time stamp next to it. Leslie Gentry - 01. 01. 13 Candidacy Termination. "Everything can be taken from you, friends, family, your weapon, authority, your status as a Hunter because you are entirely powerless. If you are tired of taking orders then perhaps you should stop acting so ******** weak and naive. If you demand the authority you seek then you will have to earn it and that means ******** learning exactly how the system works before you ******** question something you ultimately have no control over."
kurotomato
Zoobey Artist
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kuropeco
Dramatic Marshmallow
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Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2012 5:40 pm
He had tried to keep his cool, tried to remain level headed, tried to keep everything under control. He had spent the past year and a half getting reamed out by Caelius, had spent almost every day having to deal with his disdain, his lack of caring, his dismissive and derogatory attitude. It was ingrained in Gale's mind, burned into everything he did, into the thin white horizontal scar barely visible across his neck, hidden by the scarf.
And he almost held it in. Almost. Until Caelius pulled the file out from beneath his, and Gale's eyes read the name Leslie Gentry in a neat, block print across the top, and right beneath it Candidacy Termination.
White flashed across his vision.
"I've made it this far!"
The words exploded out of him, Gale slamming his hands down on the ruined and bloodstained desk in front of him, his fringe of blonde and white hair falling across his face.
"I've made it this far," he hissed again, and his fingers curled into fists atop the desk, his pale face losing some of the colour it had left. "I have done everything I have been asked. I've followed orders. I've done my duties. And I f***ing made it this far. I bloody well made it. I was promoted before the rest that awakened with me, and I am one of your youngest hunters, if not the youngest. And, unlike certain people, unlike my sister...I have made it this far."
The words hurt, stinging as they escaped his throat, but Gale did not swallow them away, his eyes blazing, staring at the man in front of him.
"If I have no control over it," he said slowly. "Then give me control over it. Things work through learning, and learning occurs through experience. I won't question things I control."
He slid his hands from the desk and stood straight, lifting his chin defiantly.
"But I will not murder a man in cold blood for you."
Zoobey
Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2012 12:14 am
"You have no control over anything because you are <******** powerless. You ask for power, to do work in a position of power and yet you clearly defy given orders to obtain control in the system. If you are so intent that your way is correct then prove it."
There was barely a transition, just a blur of familiar blue, tables, broken machinery, papers cleaved, pushed back on both sides as the shockwave tore open the rest of the window and some of the accompanying wall, forcing Gale to one side of the wall.
"Prove to me that you are not powerless."
All things considering, Caelius still sounded reasonably calm, as if toying instead of actually breaking. Perhaps his good mood could be contributed to the death of a certain council of thirteen, and while this was good news to everyone, Gale especially, it also meant the Death lead exerted a higher position of power without consequences.
It really was a pity about that whole miniskirts Monday thing, when one came to think about it. At least noone was getting murdered (save one Division assistant, well former, and well, considering the count might as well be two now, it was still all very much a crying shame).
The swipe of the scythe sent everything flying, the desk colliding with the wall in a splinter of wood and papers and machinery. There was a tremendous crash as the glass of the window shattered, and Gale was sent staggering sideways, smacking into the wall. He gave a grunt of pain and anger, eyes flashing, but Caelius had not actually cut off his head yet - which Gale supposed was saying something.
He pushed himself back to his feet, brushing plaster dust and bits of glass from his coat, glowering at the division leader. Gale had barely had Jinhai back for a day, but it was certainly a relief to be able to use him now, and he felt the familiar weight of the rifle appear in his hands, Jinhai giving a soft stir, curling around his mind.
"I'm not powerless," Gale hissed, and he lifted the rifle and fired, though his aim was off and the bullets went ricocheting off of a nearby wall, shattering an empty wooden frame.
If it was any consolation, at least Gale might have potentially thwarted Mark's death simply by becoming a greater source of entertainment for the Death lead, if the word 'entertainment' could be measured by tiers of disappointment and failure. Some point in between the new assistant firing a splendid warning shot and the new assistant suddenly tasting a mouth full of floor tile and Mark's old beer bottles, perhaps the new assistant would be very pleased to know that Mark was now currently taking up precious infirmary space and would not die before he got murdered, or something. Well, the new assistant would probably have been very pleased to know in theory.
As if the warning blow wasn't enough, there was an audible crack as the hilt of a very familiar scythe-weapon smacked Gale across the back, forcing the Hunter back onto the ground for their second taste test of Mark's old beer and probably some ... liquids that was very much not beer and really should not be ingested.
Maybe tomorrow, assuming things didn't get cleaned up, Gale could have a whole tile to his own, imprinted with a very strong likeliness of his face.
kurotomato
HP: YOUR FACE .. or Gale's hurrhurr I'm so punny Damage: 14 -4 = 10
The floor, Gale decided, did not taste particularly good, nor did he really want to spend an extended amount of time learning each and every detail about it. But the sharp, stunted of Caelius's scythe was pressing between his shoulder blades, in the middle of his back, forcing him down to the ground - and it hurt, pain sinking into his body.
Gale ground his teeth together in frustration.
Bloody hell.
<< It's certainly going to be a 'bloody hell' if you don't get back up. >>
Glowering at the amused tone of Jinhai's voice, Gale twisted around onto his back. He kicked the hilt of the scythe away from him, dragged the rifle into a slightly awkward position on the floor and fired off several shots at Caelius with relish.
The hit indeed did not miss. If the noise was not obvious enough, perhaps Circe visibly being pushed back was more than enough of a legacy: a year ago, Gale might have not even thought it was possible. It was enough to tell him exactly why he was chosen, and ultimately being toyed it: and Gale's actions did not disappoint.
The Death lead actually paused, almost thoughtful -almost - before he quickly recovered. While his next blow did not exactly damage Gale's Fear shield, it did smart rather painfully on a purely physical level, a back-ended blow with the blunt edge of the weapon aimed right between the ribs.
"Congratulations," The tone however, was entirely flat. "I'm sure the Sun Division is lacking recently in both funds and new bodies to recruit."
kurotomato
Damage: 5 he was so impressed by babby ok Total HP: ???/ ??? The best part about being a gm is no math /OLLIES OUT
He got a sort of vindictive satisfaction, hitting Caelius properly - but the satisfaction was short-lived, as both the scythe that cracked into his ribs and the mildly derogatory comment hit their marks. Gale gave a gasp of pain and staggered backwards, colliding with the desk. Jinhai made a noise of impatience, but Gale was already pulling himself back up straight, swinging the rifle around.
He didn't manage to land quite as many shots as his previous attack, but it was still pleasant to actually land them, especially when it came to the identity of his opponent. A small smirk flitted very briefly across Gale's lips.
Apparently, the very obvious hinting at the start had not been enough. Neither had the very obvious lecture, the equally obvious glaring, and the just a little more obvious warning shots.
Some Hunters just existed to guarantee the low survival rate of their own kind. There might also have been an analogy about lemmings but given Gale's height and status this seemed just a little bit inappropriate.
Perhaps the looming figure of the Death lead literally forsaking dodging Jinhai's shot to slam the bladed end of the scythe right into a certain almost-lemming was more than enough warning. There was absolutely nothing graceful about the movement as Gale went reeling to the ground - again - a jarring crack upon impact: had he been made of anything less he probably would have joined the legacy of short-term Death assistants post Ben's death. There was a flash of something not quite sane in the Death lead's expression as he raised his weapon again-
- Circe humming almost in warning as it descended -
- And in the absolute last second shot past Gale, the shockwave tearing a thick gash through the floor, destroying whatever remained of the wall and the already-decrepit window with a loud crash, a maelstrom of flying paper, remaining computer parts, bottles, glass lashing in the already tiny enclosed space.
A second later, the scythe-weapon was unsummoned in favour for a smaller weapon -
- A barrier dagger hat plunged directly into Gale's hand, pinning the Hunter's arm down. A foot pressed against the back of Gale's head, forcing his face completely down as the pressure increased against his hand, the weapon twisting several times through sinew and bone. The electric-blue crackling from the dagger runes, tore hungrily through raw flesh, a blackened, charred mess. It hissed and crackled, travelling up one arm, peeling away skin upon contact, leaving an undescrible agony, miliseconds trickling into nothing but raw pain-
- Until finally nothing.
Perhaps before Gale blacked out entirely, he could hear a very familiar voice telling someone to find another more competent assistant candidate.
kurotomato
I will tag the title so that Liz doesn't have conniption fits ty, feel free to conclude as you please!
Zoobey Artist
Magical Incubator
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kuropeco
Dramatic Marshmallow
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Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2012 7:56 pm
He should have known it was too good to be true, that nothing good ever lasted forever.
And he should have known that Caelius would never, ever let him be what he wanted.
There force of the blow sent Gale careening backwards, smashing into the floor with a resounding crash, his head cracking against the ground. Stars exploded in his line of vision, white furling at the edges, and for several seconds he could see nothing at all, rolling over onto his stomach, chest heaving for air.
He forced his eyes open again, twisting his head around - and for a split second, Gale could see the madness in Caelius' face as the scythe swung upwards -
The resounding crash could be heard on several floors, the office blowing up in chaos, shattered remains of machinery, splintered and cracked wood, and paper flew everywhere. Gale had automatically ducked his head, still lying on the floor, teeth gritted together.
He heard a whooshing sound from above him -
<< GALE! >>
And suddenly his hand had exploded in pain, white hot and searing its way through his entire body, a horrible, awful scream escaping Gale's throat. He couldn't see, couldn't think, couldn't even breathe, and the deafening keening sound of his own shrieks were surrounding him, and Jinhai was shouting in his head, and all he could feel was pain, black and white and blue he felt as though he were drowning, suffocating, he wanted to die and he could hear a voice, wavering in and out, from somewhere above him -
"F***ing find me another more f***ing competent assistant candidate."
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