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 Posted: Fri Nov 08, 2013 12:44 pm
Post Chel throwing off his groove, and with time, Jack's mood had moderately improved. It was cathartic to organize and clarify, to use his own hands to move forward. No distractions, no people, no risk factors to incorporate beyond what he was willing to take: time taken, accuracy, little things like placing documents in the chronological order they had been submitted. It only reinforced what he already knew: if you wanted something done, you had to do it yourself.
Several hours of squinting, cold water to the face, and note taking, he felt confident he was starting to grasp a part of the Halloween geography. There were reports of possible artifacts as well in some areas, but focusing on just one aspect was enough to fill his mind with the buzz of information. Meant he didn't have to think about the night before so much.
Owain was starting to complain about the schedule they had carefully set in. Were they going to follow it? Or were they going to let the world fall to lawlessness and ruin? He really, really wanted to taste Fear again...And after a solid half hour of trying to keep his whining out, Jack was done.
Popping some aspirin for his headache, he filed his notes away in his room and headed back outside for a little bit of exercise. One hour should do it.
(( But Feaaaaaaar, dear friend! Not straw and leather and running! ))
People enjoy hitting things on the training fields. I'm sure there's someone I can bother so you can stop bothering me.
(( Oh, excellent! Your form needs work anyway, and the drink has left you, so there is no excuse for neglecting training~! ))
The way his head still gently throbbed protested such an assumption.
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Posted: Fri Nov 08, 2013 6:48 pm
Unlike Jack, Gale had not been drinking the night previous, which meant that his state of mind was much clearer than one who had been. It did not, however, meant that his state of mind was better, because his Death-oriented mind had already determined that there was a great deal of information to be sorted, and all of it had to do with three things:
a) Stormy
b) Jack
c) Jack and Stormy
d) Himself and Stormy
e) Not punching Jack in the stomach the next time he saw him.
...okay, so that was more than three things, but muddled together they were sort of one. And Gale's routine, which he had always kept to, meant that when he needed space to clear his head, he went to the one place that he knew he'd be able to do just that.
Too bad his place was occupied. And occupied by the person Gale simultaneously least wanted to see and most wanted to see all at once. It was as though the universe were playing one enormous cosmic joke on him.
Jinhai had yet to be summoned, Gale making his way silently across the field until he was a few feet behind Jack, hands slipped into the pockets of his pants.
"Good morning."
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Posted: Fri Nov 08, 2013 7:11 pm
He stared down the dummy, weaponless, and the dummy stared back. Well worn, wearing the scars of previous fighters, beaten but not quite broken just yet, still standing even if it meant having a rod jammed up its a**. Otherwise it would have been tossed with the garbage and remade into something else, he figured.
(( You are doing it again, dear one. ))
What 'thing'?
(( Brooding. Also, we are about to have company! What fortune, )) the giant added pleasantly.
It was a good thing Owain was paying attention while he wasn't; damned survival skills hadn't started kicking in just yet. The voice certainly brought him back to reality, however.
What fortune indeed.
Casually as he pleased, Jack turned around and made a show of tilting his head down to look at the Death hunter. ". . .Ah. Good morning," he answered in kind, though the natural slant of his eyes made it look like he was already partially scowling at Gale. "Are you attached to this dummy I'm about to use? I understand you're attracted to idiots, but there are plenty of other targets to vent your teenage angst upon."
He meant to say hello, how are you. Really. Must be some sort of mistranslation going on between brain and mouth.
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Posted: Fri Nov 08, 2013 7:46 pm
Well that certainly negated any of Gale's desire to be polite, which he had been considering, for Stormy's sake.
The expression on his face went from a mostly neutral one to a sour one, his brows drawing together, irritation flashing through his eyes. He'd already been under the impression that Jack was an idiot, but he now had surpassed idiot and gone straight to self-righteous a*****e p***k, which was reserved only for two people (the other one being a certain black-haired, glasses-wearing Death leader).
"You're pretty full of yourself, for a newbie," said Gale lightly, absently twisting Jinhai's ring on his finger and studiously ignoring the "attracted to idiots" comment, because thinking on it would only make the anger boiling beneath his skin overflow. He gave a noncommittal shrug of his shoulders, swinging his arms a little before his eyes moved back to Jack, a small smile tugging at his lips.
"I doubt you'll make it very far before your whiny little girl attitude gets you thrown out. Or worse."
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Posted: Fri Nov 08, 2013 8:08 pm
"People assume that my particular set of social skills indicates I'm unsuitable for work with others," he said with the practiced tone of one who was getting very tired of repeating it. "On the contrary. I take my tasks at Deus seriously, regardless of what others think of my personality, which should be what matters in the end. I'm still human, though, aren't I? I'm allowed my petty moments when I have good reason." Gale was being eyed like he was one of those bugs from the basement party: like Jack was still debating whether to break him down to pieces for further study or whether he should just lift his foot to squash him.
His lips tugged into a half smile. "Self-confidence. The word you are looking for is self-confidence . . . Gail, wasn't it?" Jack's gaze flickered to the absent motions briefly: a little fidgety, wasn't he. "Funny you should mention whiny little girls; I was just thinking of one. So!" A hand gestured towards the Death hunter. "Let me guess: you want to have a chat with me. If so, let's have at it, then. I have a schedule to keep."
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kuropeco rolled 2 12-sided dice:
10, 12
Total: 22 (2-24)
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Posted: Fri Nov 08, 2013 9:12 pm
"I don't think that your particular set of social skills indicates anything other than a liking for hearing your own voice," said Gale lightly. "In fact, I think rather the opposite, since it's clear to me that you'd fit right in with certain individuals already on the island."
It was mostly true, but he wasn't about to get into details - especially not when Jack was standing here in front of him, insulting Stormy to his face. Which meant that Gale was left with only one thing to do, really.
Pull out his gun and shoot Jack square in the stomach.
"I don't," said Gale calmly. "Appreciate you calling my girlfriend names. Or me, for that matter."
[ HP: 60 / 60
DMG: .....16 ]
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medigel rolled 1 6-sided dice:
1
Total: 1 (1-6)
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Posted: Fri Nov 08, 2013 9:31 pm
It was at this point that Jack was reminded of just how important having a healthy Fear shield was. Even blunted, the bullet slammed him like a high-speed brick, forcing Jack to stagger back with a gasping sputter. Out of instinct more than anything else his weapon was summoned and stuck into the ground before he lost his balance, doubled over.
Self preservation said, Abort, abort, abort. It had been clear since the fight in the basement that this one was strong, but the reality of it was that Jack really was overconfident for a trainee: a few more blows like that and he'd have far more to worry about than a bruised abdomen and temporary asthma.
The gambler in him liked those odds. He enjoyed engaging in the impossible.
Gasps for breath evolved into snickers and throaty chuckles as Jack straightened up. "You'd prefer the violent route? Fine." Smirking, he pulled his weapon from the ground and held it in casual defense, as if he were still in control of the situation; as if he wasn't threatened by the disparate differences in power that irritated him.
"Dry sense of humor, overprotective, shoots first and asks questions later, blonde," he listed off, doing his best to ignore the pain. "If I didn't know any better . . . Oh, dear." He looked thoughtful. "It sounds like a younger me. No wonder she decided to humor you," he concluded, as if that explained everything, and gave Gale what could have been a sympathetic look if his eyes hadn't been gleaming.
HP: 24
Defense: .......1
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kuropeco rolled 2 12-sided dice:
10, 3
Total: 13 (2-24)
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Posted: Fri Nov 08, 2013 9:59 pm
Each word he spoke was like acid, dripping with a careless disdain that ate away at everything it touched. Gale was gripping the rifle so hard his knuckles were white beneath his gloves, and he swung it back up over his shoulder, Jinhai letting out a low, cautionary hiss inside of his head.
"I prefer any route to shutting you up," said Gale, but then he stopped in his tracks, because what Jack had said slammed into him with the force of his own bullets. He stared at the oversized man in front of him with a stunned look because no, that wasn't true, he wasn't like Jack, that couldn't possibly be true at all.
"Better?"
"Better. Healthier."
Gale felt the blood rushing in his ears. Without a word he ran straight at Jack and spun the rifle around, grasping it by the barrel and slamming the other end of it into his side as hard as he could.
"I," Gale hissed. "am nothing like you, b*****d."
[ HP: 60 / 60
DMG: 9 - 1 = 8 ]
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medigel rolled 1 6-sided dice:
2
Total: 2 (1-6)
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Posted: Fri Nov 08, 2013 10:11 pm
He raised the zweihander to block, but he might as well have tried raising a twig.
(( Dear one, what are you doing? This is a battle, not a debate! Strike back before-- ))
I am fighting, G-man. Not with weapons where his opponent clearly had the upper strength, but with the best tools Jack had on him: words. Gale could win with just a few swings, but Jack would do his damnedest to deny him the satisfaction of being better for it.
Gritting his teeth, he had to grip the handle tight to avoid having his sword fly out of his hand--yet even still as he recovered, he retained the easy-going pose as he tried to put distance between them. It had never been a spar: it was a hunter striking at a living dummy who was fueled by spite and conflict and reveled in being called the villain. "Is that right," he said, his smile turning hard. "There are some obvious differences, but let me take a few general stabs anyway: You grew up too serious and didn't have many friends as a child. When something takes your interest, however, you care and work for it intensely. When that interest is a person, you get reckless, and the tragic, beautiful part is that you know it and don't care."
Then he made an arrogant little gesture that asked, How am I doing so far? Or maybe he was referring to himself as the pure, shining example.
"How long have you had her, that you're that threatened by a whiny little newbie like me? How much do you know about me? How much do you know about her, for that matter?"
HP: 18
Defending for: 2
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kuropeco rolled 2 12-sided dice:
6, 7
Total: 13 (2-24)
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Posted: Fri Nov 08, 2013 10:56 pm
A less gentlemanly side of Gale hoped that his last hit had bruised, though he knew the FEAR shield would have prevented much lasting damage. But while he wasn't particularly strong when it came to physical strength, he could at least move quickly, and the gun was his advantage.
Jinhai, though, could not protect him from the acidic words dripping from Jack's mouth.
Gale tried to block them out, tried to focus on just hitting, but each word sank into him like needles in his skin; terrible, awful reminders that no matter what he said, what he did, what Jack was saying was right - each claim, each "theory" about his childhood was right on the bat, everything.
Were they really so similar?
With a sound like an angry cat, Gale repositioned the rifle. "I know enough," he snarled, and fired at Jack's leg, the shot echoing across the training field, empty except for the two of them. "I know you're an arrogant, selfish son-of-a-b***h who doesn't even know her name, or, if he does, you don't care enough to use it."
Another shot, this one aimed towards Jack's side. "I know that you would rather have her be alone than actually be happy with someone."
Yet another shot, this one directed to Jack's stomach. "And I know," said Gale, pushing himself to his feet and staring at Jack with a sort of fierce defiance, his eyes blazing, though his voice was quite level, quite calm.
"And I know that I love her," he said, and fired, taking a breath. "I'm in love with her, and there's nothing you can say or do that will ever change that fact. Even if she feels differently, even if she doesn't return my feelings, it doesn't matter. No matter what you say, no matter what you do, there will never be anything you can say that will negate the fact that I'm in love with her."
He gave a small shrug, brushing hair away from his face "And that's enough for me."
[ HP: 60 / 60
DMG: 7 ]
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medigel rolled 2 8-sided dice:
3, 5
Total: 8 (2-16)
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Posted: Fri Nov 08, 2013 11:31 pm
Flimsy, he thought. Shoddy. Worthless. Up a few more inches, left, left, no, right, faster you stupid ******** a*****e, can't handle a few damn insects bites with that sword? An inner commentary critically evaluating the failure of his defenses calmly scrolled through his mind as the shots rang. It was a good thing he wasn't a Moon, because if so, his charge would have been injured. Killed, probably at this point.
Really, though, who would entrust him to defend anybody? He almost didn't want to protect himself anymore at this point. The pain was welcomed, and though he heard Owain's alarm at how low their shield was getting, Jack remained deathly calm. Something had shifted at Gale's profession of love, and a somber, wistful look passed through him.
"You poor fool. We're more alike than you think," he said, bitterness cutting into every word. He could hear his shield hissing where the bullets had struck, feel the keen sting of each path draining him of more energy. But while Gale's eyes blazed with his determination, Jack's grew icy and sharp, as did his words.
"I know that her name was once Ursulina, and that she used to like its uniqueness before she became overweight and got called Ursula the Sea Witch. I know that her feet are the most sensitive places to tickle her and a fantastic way to turn her on. I know that she used to imagine her funeral and who would go and what would they say, when other girls her age thought of marriage and played with toys. I know that she knows how to lucid dream specifically because she'd rather make her own world than live in the real one, and that it's one of the most beautiful and frustrating things in the world. And I know that when she sleeps, sometimes she curls up in a ball and pretends her mother is holding her again.
"I know so much more about her than you could ever hope to learn, you little s**t stain," Jack snarled as he advanced briskly, "and my heart was stolen and left to collect dust for it. How well do you think you'll fare while you sit sanctimonious and content in your ignorance? I've already watched her nearly die in the Sahara once, and I'll damn well bet that's not the first time it's happened on your watch, lover boy. Forgive me if I don't give a flying ******** whether you love her or not, because you sure as hell aren't protecting her--and I'm not going to stand idle again."
He no longer cared whether his swing connected or not.
HP: 13
Damage: 2
xkurotomato well that got dramatic sorry about that asdjfd
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kuropeco rolled 7 4-sided dice:
3, 4, 3, 4, 4, 4, 2
Total: 24 (7-28)
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Posted: Sat Nov 09, 2013 4:47 am
He felt hollow, blackness and frustration and anger seeping into him like poison, eating away at his insides. And yet he still moved, darting away from Jack's halfhearted swing, and the fiercely determined on Gale's expression hadn't waned, hadn't disappeared.
"I'm not getting into an argument with you about who knows her best," Gale said, slightly out of breath, and he leaned on the rifle, feeling the icy coldness of the barrel sink into his skin beneath the gloves. "It's not about that. I'm not going to sit here and listen to all of this, because the truth of the matter is that you do know her."
It hurt to admit it, little stings of resentment sinking into his skin, but Gale had already picked the rifle up again.
"You're missing the point," he said. "It's not about protecting her."
And the gun rose, the ice covered bullets careening towards Jack and there was a small explosion, tiny shards of ice cracking and falling and twisting. Gale took a few steps closer to Jack, his chest heaving, and there was a slightly pained expression on his face.
"Don't you get it?" he said quietly. "Stormy can protect herself. And you thinking she still needs protecting is exactly the reason why you're going to lose this fight."
Which fight exactly he was referring to was ambiguous, but Gale stepped back, desummoning Jinhai back into the ring on his hand.
[ HP: 58 / 60
DMG: 20 ]Ol-j-man .............I WASN'T EXPECTING THE DAMAGE TO BE THAT HIGH LSDKFSMLDFKM um you can interpret it however you want, if you want the damage to be a little less so that he only hits 0 that's fine too I seriously was not expecting it to be this high
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Posted: Sat Nov 09, 2013 8:17 am
She can, hmm? And Jack managed a hollow laugh just before the barrage began.
He'd only ever had his shield broken once, and that was at the tournament; the Sahara had come close, but the cavalry had come before anything more had occurred. There was nothing here to help him, though, and under the roar of attack and the blood rushing through his body, Jack could feel those insects crawl over him.
Owain barked a warning as their shield was depleted, but what could he do? What could either of them do? They were fighting a losing battle which, of course, was Jack's favorite kind.
He felt a light covering of frost over his fingers and clothes. In a way it was a blessing, taking the edge off the eventual bruises he could feel forming. Jack was very aware suddenly of how much Owain protected him from serious damage; and yet he still chose to open his mouth.
"If that was the point, then why isn't she here?" he accused between pants. "Why are you the one confronting me? My theory? Because I just bet deep down, you like being her guard dog; you like having a villain to prove yourself against so you can win fair maiden's love." The zweihander remained summoned but was useless as a method of attack, buried into the ground instead to keep him steady as he hunched over and caught his breath. His grip was white knuckled and sweaty, the ice quickly melting into chilly water.
"Oh, but I forget: she's not technically a maiden anymore. She really liked the taste of my d**k a little too much."
His partner made a noise that indicated for him to stop, he couldn't protect him from anything else right now--so Jack kept going.
Grunting, he forced himself back to his full height and desummoned his weapon, cold eyes filled with contempt. "She doesn't protect herself at all; she merely runs away and hopes the problem isn't fast enough. The only way to save her is to possess her, because if you don't, she'll fly away one day. The winds will pick her up on her little quest and she won't look back--not if it means escaping. And that's exactly how she'll ruin you: by uprooting everything and taking all that she can from you before disappearing.
"So, you know what? ******** you and the horse you rode on," Jack hissed. "Don't pretend the reason you're here is because she knows what she's doing. You're here because you want to feel like a hero, beating down the evil giant so that the princess is saved. Well, let me spit a few of your words back at you." He leaned in with a sneer. "Nothing you say or do will stop me."
kurotomato djsksjsjsksjd gale's love 2strong is what happened
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Posted: Sat Nov 09, 2013 7:37 pm
Gale's laughter was hollow.
"You think I came here because of you?" he asked, and Jinhai made a soft noise in his head; a gentle warning. "You think I came here and fought you because of some petty vendetta against an overgrown git who can't even manage to walk through a door without pissing someone off? And you honestly think that I came here to - what was it that you called it? 'Be her guard dog?' "
He was shaking his head in disbelief and a sort of sick wonder, though Gale's fingers were shaking slightly. Jinhai's presence, however, was a soothing force inside of his mind; a warm and comforting reminder that in spite of everything, he was, in fact, not entirely alone.
"If you think," said Gale quietly. "That I came here because of some silly romantic notion than you're even stupider than I originally thought."
There was a slight pause in which Gale reminded himself that he hadn't, in fact, come to the training fields for anything at all except to clear his head. Jack being there had been a random occurrence, an ironic twist to his life that he had yet to figure out.
But Jack's venomous words were still grasping him, still sinking into him, and Gale realized, that if he thought about it, there was no one currently in this world that he had ever hated as much and as fully and as downright fervently as he hated Jack Hawthorn. And Jack's vehement refusal to back down only made the coldness sink into Gale, who was trying so desperately to keep his composure. He could not admit it, could never admit it, but the words, the reminders that Jack knew Stormy, knew her as well as he did was like a stab to his chest - and even more so was the knowledge that, though he tried desperately to simply brush it off - that there were parts of what Jack had said that were right, or that had already gone past the mental blockades in Gale's head and straight to his heart.
He didn't know how much more of this he could take. He felt as though he were crumbling on the inside, as though the air were too thick to breathe properly, his chest so tight he could hardly even draw breath.
I'm just a child.
Why did I come here?
I'm not an adult, I'm just a kid, I'm just a kid pretending to be an adult, and I don't want to do it anymore, I can't do this anymore, I can't even breathe like this anymore.
I feel as though I'm falling apart.
I didn't come here because of Stormy, or even you.
Gale had already started taking steps backwards, shaking his head. He couldn't be here anymore, not with Jack's sneering, loathing face inside of his mind, imprinted in his vision like some demented stamp he couldn't get rid of.
"You think you know everything, and so you hide behind that," said Gale bitterly. "And that makes you so much more of a coward than you really think."
I came here because of me, because I'm selfish. Because I wanted to prove something to myself, not to you, or to Stormy, or to anyone else but myself. And maybe that's why I'm falling apart, maybe that's why I can't handle this, because I threw myself into the monster's mouth and expected not to get eaten alive.
"Go get some bandages," Gale said quietly. "You'll need them."
And then he turned and walked away before everything inside of him collapsed.Ol-j-man what is even happening with my posts lies on floor
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Posted: Sat Nov 09, 2013 10:26 pm
There was a small, grudging piece of respect in how the kid managed not to break down into a furious rage before him. That had always been a weak point of Jack's: his temper, with the right buttons pressed, could fly off the handle. The fact that he had restricted it to just barbed words was a feat in and of itself, a show of willpower; he knew he couldn't do much when there was still a gap in power anyway, not like he could in that spar with Peyton. Then again, this was just a first meeting: a chance to size each other up. He needed to decipher what and who Gale was in order to properly crush him.
And Jack was starting to think he was finding leads. The more the shrimp talked, the easier it was. People were simple if you stripped them down to core parts, and he had meant it when he said they had many similarities.
The insults and accusations passed over him like air over rock. Gale could say whatever made him think he could understand, but he was wrong in the end. Everything about this was wrong. And the worst part was that Jack believed all of this was meant to happen: that the events had been pre-ordained just to ******** him over in the worst ways possible, and that it was going to be a long and arduous process no matter what happened.
But he had made an enemy; he called that progress from relative obscurity.
Jack was content to stand rigid against his own exhaustion as he watched Gale leave, a muscle twitching in his jaw.
kurotomato your posts are beautiful is what~
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