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 Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2015 10:17 pm
But Robert didn't understand. And it wasn't about Rep, this time; in fact, he believed the man when Rep spoke frankly of the odds. He wasn't using that manic, super peppy voice he'd been using on the com system all day. He was just Rep, down to business and frank about his - and their - job. So he believed him, but he couldn't understand why separation had to be a part of the final result. He refused to look in Rep's eyes when the man talked to Mimsy, and the vial was held out. He just held the shivering child in his arms, buried his face against her dirty hair, and ran his tough hand across her back over and over in a comforting rhythm. This was all he could do. This was all he could do. Finally, after talking himself out of any anger that might have shown up in his voice, a surprisingly meek Robert managed to say a few words - still staring down at the child. "Is there. Any chance at all. That one of us could be assigned with you to take the civilians out." And regrettably, he had no idea how cold his words were, because he only meant outside. "We could help."
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Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2015 10:29 pm
Rep took the vial and was examining it with vague approval when Robert spoke. He froze, as if in stasis, with the vial raised close to his face for a few long moments. It felt like if he moved his entire body might splinter like glass and leave the heart of him exposed and vulnerable. He needed a few moments to gather himself, to hold his breath again before the dive.
"Well." he said, and his smile was shaky as he seemed to come back to life, to break the spell of stillness. "That seems to be in order." and with the same care to touch as little of the vial as possible he handed it back to Mimsy.
"As for...helping." and he could feel the tremble in his voice, as if there was a small panicked animal in his chest. Tired. He was tired. But this wasn't over it wasn't even really begun. "As much as wish to set your minds at ease, it would risk breaking containment, I am immune, it's why I have this task." Amongst other things, he thought bitterly. He wasn't even being dismissive or using the usual colloquialisms, it felt like he was walking on eggshells. He looked Mimsy in the eye and set his mouth in a grim line.
"It's one of those situations, all you have is my word I'll take her to safety, and what's that worth? But that's the only way she's going to get out of here, it's trust me to get the kid out, or keep her here where even the antidote won't keep her from getting reinfected by a bite or worse when the daddy of these ******** comes topside."
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Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2015 10:43 pm
Was that.. an actual.. "Sweet baby Jesus." Maebe stopped everything to turn and take the flask, bringing it to her lips and gulping far too much down in one solid drink. She didn't give a s**t that Leslie was insulting her, why would she? Free booze. This was the nicest he'd ever been to her! She handed back the flask, bent in and wrapped her around the back of his head, and pulled it in for a harsh smack of a kiss on his forehead. "Thanks, angel." That did not heal her wounds, but it made her feel a hell of a lot better, at least. Returning to her human barricade, she gave Cami a sinister smile. "Don't get me started on my division. It's becoming pretty clear to me lately that I need to jump over the Moon and find something better. Besides, if I wasn't hurt, of course I'd be the barrier. You guys will just have to make it without my protection for a while." She looked up ahead, at the ice rink entrance up ahead. "I think you can manage." And they were there, arriving just in time for absolutely nothing of interest. At least Sasha would be safe here. Though someone in charge should really have been told of her current condition..
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prolixity rolled 1 8-sided dice:
5
Total: 5 (1-8)
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Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2015 11:22 pm
Shu was all right. Ace was all right. Ro needed help. Of course he did. Jordan squashed the rising irritation and moved over to start the task of bandaging his friend.
Ro's HP: 12 +5 = 17
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prolixity rolled 1 8-sided dice:
5
Total: 5 (1-8)
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Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2015 11:29 pm
He watched as Horace brought a kid in; tight-lipped, Jordan lifted a hand in a wave. Of course everyone he'd thought was sympathetic to him was arriving when he was in shitty shape, weakened and pathetic. He'd passed the civilians off too. Did Horace suspect that the kid might be going to something other than safety? It didn't matter if he did, Jordan thought; the whole ******** mission was under video surveillance, and that meant that any significant deviation from orders would be logged, and that meant that if civilians were not, in fact, being evacuated, it was under orders. And that meant that if it was happening, it was because there was significant risk of contamination - a theory supported by the last announcement. They couldn't afford to let sentiment put the whole damn world at risk. Still, there was a part of him that hoped, distantly, that obnoxious Buck and his terrified family and cooperative acquaintance had, indeed, been evacuated. Jordan had wanted to tell the kid that it was okay to be scared. He hadn't gotten the chance. Ro's HP: 17 +5 = 22
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prolixity rolled 1 8-sided dice:
3
Total: 3 (1-8)
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Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2015 11:37 pm
Rep had dropped briefly out of the forced, grating cheerfulness, but now that facade had been put back up, and Jordan resented that. It was a wall as much as any other of Rep's defenses, and it stung that he'd been put on the outside of it. Not that he hadn't deserved that, but still, it stung.
Ro's HP: 22 +3 = 25
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prolixity rolled 1 8-sided dice:
1
Total: 1 (1-8)
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Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2015 11:41 pm
The bright light was making it difficult to see, and squinting sometimes made the expressions on peoples' faces seem to smear, turning mocking, hostile, strangely monstrous. It was a trick of the light. It was how tired he was. That was all.
Ro's HP: 25 +1 = 26
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Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2015 11:51 pm
The smile that spread across Mimsy's face at the confirmation of the antivirus' validity was tenuous at best, but genuine - if it were any larger, showing any more teeth, it would have slipped well into the realm of artificial. If this was as much as she could provide while still remaining honest, it was her very best for the moment, and she believed that it would be enough for Rep to understand what she felt. "Thank you," she sighed, cradling the vial within her hands with greater caution than she had ever held anything before, as though it contained something of otherworldly value. "I am indebted to you with gratitude for your understanding and willingness to accommodate this dilemma as best you can." But as she expressed her clear relief, she registered that something was wrong, first in Robert's voice, then in Rep's. In the case of the former, it was more than just his cadence: 'one' was an unquestionably singular term. He wanted to take Alice and leave her, didn't he? She stared at him, hurt and confusion dulling the glimmer of hope in her eyes, lingering with a purpose she couldn't bear to voice to him, fearing that speaking it aloud would make it real. When Rep paused and her eyes met his, darting away for a fleeting moment to catch the absence of the smile that had just been there, there was a concerned curiosity instead. This was not the time to inquire about his own well-being, but she didn't quite discard that there might eventually be one. "Your word is very valuable to me," she firmly stated. "As I know you value mine. I trust you because you have proven trustworthy in times of importance - and this is a time of great importance. If your knowledge of this situation indicates that this is the safest option, I trust your assessment." This was her stance on the matter, and though her stare didn't break away from Rep while she was speaking to him, it was said for both of them to hear. With a deep breath, she then turned to Robert, trying (and failing) to keep the sound of his voice separating the two of them into 'one of us' out of her head. "We don't have an immunity." Presumably. This was too risky an experiment for now. " Both of us are a danger to her. If we do not infect her, then we are still susceptible to infection ourselves. We can keep her with us if you would like for all of us to stay together." Unsurprisingly, it sounded a bit like she wanted that. "Or we can treat her now and send her to safety." She looked down at her hands. They weren't clean, and they were stained with blood, but not blood that her actions had earned. She was holding a cure, not a weapon. And none of these efforts had been enough to negate that she was dangerous. "We're not safe. Not quite yet. I think we are both aware of that."
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prolixity rolled 1 8-sided dice:
8
Total: 8 (1-8)
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Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2015 12:02 am
Robert and Mimsy had arrived, a child in tow; they were speaking to Rep, and Jordan couldn't hear them from where he was, but Mimsy's expression suggested that she'd come to the same logical conclusion as he had. They didn't look in his direction, and he didn't try to draw their attention. He didn't want anyone looking at him right now. His nerves were raw, and he was certain that his feelings, his weaknesses, were written plainly on his face.
Ro's HP: 26 +8 = 34
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prolixity rolled 1 8-sided dice:
6
Total: 6 (1-8)
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Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2015 12:07 am
Robert hadn't glanced at him with a sneer; Robert wouldn't do that. Robert was his friend. Jordan gritted his teeth and tried not to look at the conversation. What was he thinking? Why was it making him so irrationally angry to think things that had he had no real evidence for?
Ro's HP: 34 +6 = 40
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prolixity rolled 1 8-sided dice:
4
Total: 4 (1-8)
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Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2015 12:11 am
His hand was itching. Jordan rubbed his palm absentmindedly over the rough fabric of his jeans.
Ro's HP: 40 +4 = 44
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prolixity rolled 1 8-sided dice:
5
Total: 5 (1-8)
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Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2015 12:13 am
It had really only been orders that had made Rep bring them here, hadn't it; couldn't lose any potentially useful helping hands.
Ro's HP: 44 +5 = 49
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prolixity rolled 1 8-sided dice:
5
Total: 5 (1-8)
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Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2015 12:21 am
His fingers were tingling slightly, and Jordan stretched them out. Too much small, fiddly work. He should be out fighting. That would help vent the aggressive restlessness that was building up in him, would take him away from the too-bright lights of the ice rink and the indifferent or leering faces.
Ro's HP: 49 +5 = 54
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prolixity rolled 1 8-sided dice:
6
Total: 6 (1-8)
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Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2015 12:24 am
Jordan tucked in the end of the bandage and watched it seal itself. Done, finally. He'd seen to his team, even if nobody cared to help him. The growing urge to hit something itched in his head. The stone of Ferros's ring was lit red, pulsing with an urgency that Jordan felt only dimly; it was like a thick, soft, viscous layer of something blurry lay between him and the dragon. That was unusual, but he had other things to worry about. He looked around at the people around him. Hunters, allies, friends; but they seemed different somehow, alien, as though he would be unable to understand them even if he tried. Maybe they'd been infected. That was a ******** risk. "Done," he said to Ro, distant and cold. He couldn't afford to be friendly if the others were infected. He'd have to fight them, sooner or later. Ro's HP: 54 +6 = 60
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Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2015 12:44 am
It was the word immune that had him finally looking up at Rep, and getting a good eyeful of what the man looked like at that moment. There was nothing confident and assured about the look in Rep's eye, or the sound of his voice. This was hard, for him. Hard for Rep. Which made sense, of course. None of this was his decision, as far as they knew. "You doing all right?" Robert muffled out, his head cocking with worry and his eyes thinning to slits. "You say you're immune, but you don't look like you're immune to nothing right now, buddy. How the hell do you get immune, anyway? Give me or Mimsy the immunity. Let us take over. You look like a ********' wreck." There was blood all over him. Caked, and fresh, and in spots that couldn't have come from him. Robert's grip on the little girl tightened. "It ain't about your word. I know she's in more danger here. What I'm saying is you need help. Who the hell assigned you alone in charge of this mission anyway? Cael?" It felt like a Cael thing to do. Only Cael would tell one person alone, to deal with this much - he couldn't avoid it now. Rep was a sight that told a story, even if Robert never was a good reader. He realized Mimsy was almost frantically trying to convince him to just relinquish the conversation. Even if she secretly wanted him to demand they keep it, all he heard from her words were that they weren't safe. And they weren't. But no one was. And for the first time that day, Robert wasn't just worried about Mimsy and Alice. He was worried about a lot more than that. "Tell me who's in charge, and I'll get you some help. You don't need to do this alone."
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