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 Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2012 1:58 am
The sudden and crushing hug took Harrison off guard.
He struggled for words and only managed a wheezing noise.
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Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2012 2:03 am
Jerry wobbled a moment, the corners of his mouth twitching up for a moment as he shuffled towards the group hesitantly. In a weak voice, he meekly sang with an edge of hope,
"There are demons in the shadows
Who creep and kill and fright-
We'll bring those monsters to the gallows
but they will put up a big fight....!
WATCHOUT! Here we come!
WATCHOUT! Here comes the Sun!"
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Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2012 4:00 pm
Rep found himself caught up in a sort of Allan hug, being irresistibly led over to Jerry. He found, to his surprise, despite the bone crushing nature of the gesture, it took the edge off his anger at Harrison "betraying" him to defend Jerry. He never ceased to find the sun leader's earnestness contagious.
Still, Jerry got the most deadpan look possible as he started to sing. Rep had sung the damn song before, but right now it was hard to want to sing about anything. But goddamn if Jerry didn't look pitiful - Rep forever felt embarrassed on the guy's behalf, forever behind his own mask of strength and bravado, he couldn't imagine how it felt to wear vulnerability on your sleeve all the time.
But at least this was the Jerry he knew, not the Jerry who had almost threatened to become like him, all hate and nothing else. He didn't sing along but he did roll his eyes and state. "Aye."
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Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2012 8:49 pm
"That's the spirit!" Allan somehow managed to find enough arm room for all three trainees-plus-Hunter as he ushered them out of the room. They managed to take a detour around some Hunters reconstructing the dorm rooms - again - and past one sorry excuse of a training field until they reached-
- The Life Labs. Well, technically, what remained of the Life Labs, considering it had no front wall. As in, the entire front wall of the Life Labs was missing, as in, there was a giant crude ditch where the front section of the wall should have existed. A Life Hunter ran right up to the ground. "Oh thank god you brought backup, I didn't know what to do with these-" He pointed to several crates to his left, all labelled SPECIAL DELIVERY - "Please tell me... actually you know what, never mind, yeah... have fun.. I'm just gonna be here doing... Life... things..." The tech made the slowest scoot to the side, as to not attract additional attention.
Allan, upon spotting the crates was however, in a great mood as he rushed over and peeled the first nailed, wooden crate open with his bare hands. After pulling over pieces and pieces of packaging paper, he managed to come out with an odd helmet that was shaped like, for lack of a better description, like a beetle. And then oddly coloured bamboo armour. And then the clothing.
Please note: as Deus Ex was indeed located very close to the equator, and it was indeed summer right now around the Bermuda Triangle, in the location known as the Bahamas, it was currently extremely hot and humid.
Nonetheless, this did not stop the Sun Hunter from pulling out three sets of full samurai outfits. There was also a hand instruction pamphet as to exactly how to wear the armour. "All right trainee-tachi! This is an exercise, a mission of strength and spirit! By completing this you prove to your sensei, Simon-kun and I that you are ready to take on harder tasks, but first steps first!"
A bundle of armour, cloth, bamboo, metal, and instruction guide was handed to each trainee assembled. "Oh yeah, don't forget your weapons." The word weapons was said the same time Allan pointed a little behind him, to where someone, maybe a few someones, had started rebuilding the life labs wall. There were maybe a few pieces of foundation mortar set in, and the rest seemed extremely tedious and involved a lot of white bricks and layering and really grunt work. As in the brick by brick wall building, mortar setting, sort of grunt work. Some simple tools also lay to the side, just for the occasion, as if someone, or a few someones, were indeed expecting Hunters to appear to help out.
"Remember," Allan ushered, probably just excited that he had managed to pawn his work - which he and Simon had really, caused - onto someone else, "Inner strength and spirit!"OOC: WALL BUILDING - ALL TRAINEES ASSEMBLED HERE HAVE BEEN SENT ON A STRENGTH AND SPIRIT MISSION TO.... REBUILD WALLS. A wall. Or maybe two. Well, just start off with one first - Roll a 6-sided die. This determines how much of the wall you have built. It is a simple mortar-and-brick wall, so it shouldn't be too hard to follow the approximate guidelines of how a wall is built, just go by how they do it in movies, right? The higher the roll, the more bricks you manage to stack that turn. - All participants start off at 30 STAMINA POINTS. For each 6-sided dice they roll (see above), they take off points equal to the dice roll. So if you roll 4, you have 26 points left. When you get to 0, YOU ARE DONE. YOU CANNOT ROLL ANY MORE. Make sure to post your FINAL POINT TALLY at the bottom of your post - As it is very hot, and the armour is extremely hot and sweat is probably happening and bricks are not exactly light, and wall building is extremely tedious, 30 stamina points is really pretty generous. - PPS: Allan and Simon are watching you, though they seem to have found some shade, the Sun division lead reading a manga and laughing very loudly while Simon seems to be scribbling something into his notebook rather ominously
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Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2012 10:33 pm
Rep had absolutely no idea where they were going, but at this point he'd learned that trying to guess what the sun lead was up to was generally a hopeless cause - so he just let himself be guided along on the current of the river of bull-headed optimism known as Allan. He looked on in baffled silence as the crate was opened and what could only be described in his head as a pure crazy hat was produced. They were expected to wear this stuff. He wasn't sure how he felt about it. On one hand, it was ******** hot, but on the other, the rest of the stuff along with the crazy hat was admittedly, pretty damn awesome, armour was armour and you didn't get more manly than that. The fact they'd be wearing it made the wall building they were apparently expected to do, that bit less boring than it had originally seemed.
It was also - he noted to himself as he sorted through the items he'd been handed - a good opportunity to do something strenuous and physical to keep himself busy and to avoid the looming precipice of grief he was currently on. He'd been handed the means to run from reality for a little while longer, and he didn't intend to scoff at such an offer.
First things first he had to get dressed, and eyed the instructions thoughtfully, starting with the lowest layer of the outfit, which seemed to be made of surprisingly thick material. At least the trousers were familiar from other missions. Next came various layers of armour - with far too many buckled and ties - and finally the heavy and strangely shaped helm. Once it was all on, he couldn't help but feel pretty badass, his posture bordering on the arrogant as he tested out how it felt to move his arms in the weighty outfit.
After being dressed for about five minutes, it really did start to dawn how heavy and warm this outfit was. It was layer upon layer upon layer and the island itself was hardly cool to begin with. His confident and arrogant posture quickly wilted as he found himself feeling stifled.
Inner strength and spirit. he thought to himself as he hobbled over to inspect the tools available.
"I don't even ******** know how to build a wall" he mused aloud. But when it came down to it, it didn't really matter did it? It was only the ******** life labs - the only people a shoddily built wall would affect was the nerds themselves. Not his problem.
Stamina points 30/30
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Bilious rolled 1 6-sided dice:
5
Total: 5 (1-6)
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Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2012 2:31 am
Jerry was still feeling fairly hollowish even with the strong power of Group Hugs, but at least Allan's shenanigans proved to be the focused distraction he needed. That didn't make him feel any less ridiculous as they somehow piled the mounds of armor and robes and heavy helmet on. "I look like a putz," He grunted, wobbling a bit under the weight. Stage one: get the labs operational, the thought came bubbling back up and he hobbled forward, "Well, let's... let's get this done." With a deep breath, he continued to hum his silly Sun Song under his breath, muttering a fresh verse under his breath bitterly: "There are times patience is a virtue, attacks must clearly wait, So a Sun must do fit in Moon's shoe, and vows to do it great, Watchout, time to build, Watchout or we'll be killed." Keeping this up, he began hefting bricks... He might not have been that familiar with construction, but the man had grown up in Philadelphia- if he knew about anything, building-wise, it was bricks. Stamina: 25/30 Bricks stacked: 5
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Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2012 4:26 pm
"Least it's got a place for B0nez," Harrison muttered, looking at the double-swords in the instructions. The comment was light, and mainly for Rep's sake. He was trying to be cooperative.
He managed the shirt, pants, and socks okay. All the pieces after that were heavy. Fastening the thigh thing was essentially like tying an apron. Harrison wrestled with the knots behind his back, before giving up and deciding to try something else. He got the chestplates sideways and when he sat down to fasten something easier, he got the shoulder and shin guards mixed up.
Harrison did not especially want to fight dragons or build walls.
Later, he would want work.
Now he just wanted some time to himself. He'd already shut down once, and he didn't know if he could work the shock off or if it was just going to keep on making him feel like a paper doll. He'd had too many nights of nightmares. It was like being thrown into the Mariana Trench. It would have happened sooner or later, he knew. Here guys got killed in front of other guys all the time. You had to keep fighting.
The adrenaline from the dragon had worn off. He looked at the armor in his hands. The harder he tried, the less sense it made. He might has well have been holding somebody's guts and trying to put them back together. Allan and Simon were resting. Jerry and Rep had gotten their armor on. Jordan was dead.
He threw the shinguard and sat with his head in his hands.
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Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2012 4:51 pm
In the middle of picking up a strange shaped object he might have recognised as a trowel if he had even the slightest construction knowledge, Rep spotted movement out of the corner of his eye. Truth be told, he'd been keeping Harrison in his peripheral vision since they arrived out of habit, the only reason he'd avoided directly meeting his gaze was in case the idea that something was somehow expected of him, some comment on Jordan's fate, would be too much. It was a sort of fear also, that seeing some reaction in Harrison, he would be forced to confront his own, that he couldn't keep running from reality.
It looked like a casual gesture, putting the trowel down to saunter over to the moon hunter. It felt awful, to feel so utterly helpless to do anything, a sort of leaden guilt that for one of the first times he was faced with a place where he didn't know what to do to make things better or if they'd ever be better again. He wanted to hug him again, but he knew if he did he wouldn't want to let go, and it would be harder when he had to.
All he could do right now was pretend that everything was normal - even though doing so felt like sacrilege to Jordan's memory predicament. Stopping in front of him, he rested a gauntleted hand on his shoulder. He didn't ask him if he was okay, it would be a stupid and obvious question.
"Need a hand getting this s**t on? Faster we get it over with the faster we get space." It was all he could offer as motivation.
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Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2012 5:03 pm
Harrison didn't move or answer at first.
"Yeah," The word was quiet, "Can't figure out the damn instructions."
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Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2012 5:17 pm
"I know that ******** feeling Ace." he muttered gruffly, implying the guitar but meaning more than simply that.
He undid his own gauntlets and removed them to give himself a bit of room as he picked up the layered armour, a frown constantly threatening to edge onto his features as he eyed the other moon. He didn't talk much as he set about helping with the various layers the outfit took, short of requests now and then for an arm to be held out, or for Harrison to simply hold something in place while it was tied. Wherever he accidentally brushed against him, his touch was gentler than usual.
It was more busy work, more not thinking, except god it was hard not to think when everything you were used to felt wrong and off balance. He felt like he was scurrying around under a ton weight of leaden grief hoping it wouldn't fall, needing it not to because both of them needed it not to.
"There man, I think that's it. Maybe."
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Toshihiko Two rolled 1 6-sided dice:
2
Total: 2 (1-6)
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Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2012 7:17 pm
Harrison felt the heat and humidity get more oppressive with each layer. He fastened a few of his own armor pieces, letting Rep handle the ones he couldn't reach, and queue him for what went where.
He put the helmet on last.
"I feel like the ******** Michelin Man," he said, trying to get the chin strap for a few minutes, until finally surrendering that to Rep too.
"Let's get it over with," he said. He could already feel himself starting to sweat inside the suit. His peripheral vision sucked. He dragged some supplies over to the wall, half-blind, and smeared a gob of mortar before putting a brick on it. He bent over. Picked up another brick. Put it down. Every movement was clunky and heavy.
"They leave us water?" he asked.
Stamina: 28/30
Bricks: 2
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Baneful rolled 1 6-sided dice:
6
Total: 6 (1-6)
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Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2012 7:35 pm
Rep took a moment to put his gauntlets back on before he joined Harrison over by the wall, complete with his own set of supplies - or at least what he hoped were supplies, he had mostly copied the other hunter, at a complete loss in as far as building things went. Rather unsubtly he copied his technique, biting his tongue in concentration as he did so.
It was becoming swelteringly hot and he'd hardly done anything.
"That's giving them too much ******** credit." he growled. Simon was callous and Allan.. well. Allan would give them water he was sure, he'd probably just not thought about it - or forgotten.
Still, it always felt good to get his muscles going, and after the fight with the dragon, he was warmed up. The heat could be disregarded in the wake of the burn of effort, exercise was a warm glow in his mind that took him out of his worries and anxieties for that moment. "I'm just gonna focus on the shower in my future. Tiny ******** steps."
The little wall grew a bit.
Stamina 24/30
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Toshihiko Two rolled 1 6-sided dice:
5
Total: 5 (1-6)
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Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2012 8:14 pm
"Guess we can just be grateful they didn't do this a couple of months ago, when 99% of their population wasn't underwater."
He lay a long line of mortar.
"That's a job I'd look forward to finishing."
Stamina: 23/30
Bricks: 7
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Baneful rolled 1 6-sided dice:
4
Total: 4 (1-6)
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Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2012 8:25 pm
Rep straightened up the bricks he'd laid with a smirk that had no humour in it.
"Aye. No s**t. I look forward to getting hold of one of them. I don't care how alone they are. There's no more ******** rules in this shitty war" He tried not to think about Jordan alone in that desert with its dangers. Simon had assured him there was nothing where he was, Rep still couldn't believe it.
He slammed another four bricks on, perhaps with a little more force than was necessary. "You gotta get every rat when you clear them out."
Stamina 20/30
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Toshihiko Two rolled 1 6-sided dice:
5
Total: 5 (1-6)
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Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2012 8:40 pm
Harrison did think about the word alone.
"Did Simon say. Who was with him."
Stamina: 18/30
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