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 Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2016 1:06 pm
The anger for Rep was almost refreshing, a sharp splash of cold water on someone who had begun to feel for a long time like they were slowly falling asleep. In recent days he had been feeling like more and more he was sliding off into depression and hopelessness, resenting the man he was and mourning the man he had been for the few moments he had lost his memory. The rage jarred him and dragged its tangled claws across the familiar and finely tuned edge of his instincts, waking him up and reminding him that deep down he was a predator and not some weak and feeble prey. Even Tracey felt it, the tingle of adrenaline which accompanied the slinking readiness to fight. He didn’t even know the kid, Micah or whatever, and didn’t really have any grudges to bear him. He wasn’t even sure he’d met him before. None of that mattered, all that mattered was the blood coursing in his veins and the overwhelming desire to spill the other man’s blood across the dirt. He didn’t want to kill him, no, that particular result was always too easy, too straightforward and simple. Death was nothing but an end point and if Rep was honest it represented an end to the fun. He didn’t want to kill anyone, he just wanted them to /hurt/ and for that hurt to be in itself a testament and monument to him. It had to be impossible for them to look down on him if they understood the pain he went through, if they could only be somehow made to comprehend how it felt for him to wake up every morning and look in the mirror at a man who was everything he hated. The pain and fear would teach them, he would look into their eyes and the fear he saw looking back mingled with disgust and loathing would be a mirror of his innermost soul. They would understand.
It wasn’t Micah he wanted to fight really, it was himself. He wanted to make himself hurt because he deserved it because there was no one to do it for free any longer. Part of him was aware of this and yet it didn’t matter, in the end if you doled out violence to others it would always always boomerang back onto you. When he hit someone else he punched the world and dared it to hit him back hard enough this time to make it stick. It was why the faces didn’t matter and nor really did the reasons, all that mattered was that they had made themselves a target for one reason or another and that he’d be able to lie to himself and say that there was some kind of justice in what he did.
He also knew it was a cycle, something that he went back to time and time again and that no amount of pain or retribution would ever be enough to satisfy him, he was a creature which would take and take from the world until he was stopped. Maybe in some ways Taym was right, that he’d never be fixed and that in a world of limited resources he’d be better off limited and chained than for people to waste their time trying to help someone who didn’t want to be helped.
No. No he couldn’t ******** believe that, he couldn’t make peace with the idea that he was beyond redemption or didn’t want to get better, he did, some part of him wanted to be better, to be good and pure and right. He dreamed of being a paladin, so that when he spoke people would listen and would value what he had to say. He wanted them to treat his words as sharp truth, razor edged and bypassing the bounds of politeness and kissing up.
But he also wanted to fight, wanted it like he wanted coke, like he wanted booze, like he wanted to drown out the noise of his thoughts and his own inadequacies.
So he went to the training field, to see if the kid would be there, ignorant of the snow and dressed only in his fur trimmed hunter coat and a pair of denims. Masculinity apparently entailed being shirtless in the freezing cold.
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Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2016 1:18 pm
The kid was there, angrily pacing packed snow, Nova summoned and in his hand. Most of the dummies were buried in snow, but a few leaned precariously out of the drifts; some of them showed curving slice marks that could easily be matched up to the edges of the whip's leaflike blades. Micah was a little better prepared for the cold, his long-sleeved coat zipped closed, his scarf wrapped around his neck and tucked into the coat. Still, he didn't have any gloves on. Nova didn't like anything between herself and her human's skin, and he'd found after a few clumsy attempts to wield her that he also preferred bare hands, even if the chill bit into his fingers. He didn't notice Rep approaching at first. He paused in his pacing to check his phone, scowled at it, stuffed it back into his pocket and paced a few more steps, his strides short and choppy and agitated. When he turned back, he startled visibly, his eyes darting up and down Rep's figure before he scowled more deeply. "Don't ********' call me a midget," he growled. In spite of his bravado, his stomach was cold with dread. This guy was ripped, higher-ranked than he was, and way larger than him. He was going to get his a** kicked. But he couldn't back down after issuing the challenge, and he couldn't back down after getting insulted. At least the guy hadn't insisted on taking it out past the wards, and it might be too much effort to drag him out after to make the beating really stick, as deep as the snow was.
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prolixity rolled 1 20-sided dice:
14
Total: 14 (1-20)
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Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2016 1:19 pm
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Baneful rolled 1 20-sided dice:
4
Total: 4 (1-20)
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Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2016 1:33 pm
Rep's grin was always predatory but it twisted up in a way which bared his yellowed canines when he spotted Micah. The guy looked like prey, more than Rep could have hoped, short and - at least by the standards of the island - offensively ******** normal.
He took a long slow breath, leaned forward and exhaled. "Midget." he said.
"What the ******** are you going to do about it? You probably couldn't even reach my goddamn face."
Without even realising he was doing it he extended his right hand and held it, claw-like and ready to summon.
"You are going to eat your ******** words."
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prolixity rolled 2 8-sided dice:
2, 8
Total: 10 (2-16)
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Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2016 1:40 pm
Micah growled wordlessly, showing teeth that were somewhat crooked, and lunged without further ceremony, bringing Nova around in an attempt to get that satisfying crack that came when he got the whip's momentum to roll all the way down from his shoulder. He didn't have it perfected yet, by any means, and the lash undulated in the air. Still, it made contact, the blades slicing inward and toward Rep's left shoulder and arm.
HP: 40/40
Dmg: 4
Charge: 1/3
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Baneful rolled 2 12-sided dice:
10, 9
Total: 19 (2-24)
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Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2016 1:49 pm
"Oh a whip." Rep observed with evident amusement. "Kinky. Suppose it's accurate that a b***h weapon chose you."
He tried to ignore the gut wrenching nausea that settled in him at possibly offending Marie, telling himself she wasn't there any longer, she wasn't something he needed to worry about. He didn't need to try to appease her.
Tracey said with a bright sort of satisfaction.
The blow struck and Rep tensed the muscles of his arm and just bore the lash, letting it cut into his shield with a twinge of satisfying pain.
"Gonna need to hit ******** harder than THAT." he said.
He clenched the extended hand and stark and impossibly black against the snow piled around them Tracey coalesced, the runes flashing into being when the enormous axe had fully formed.
"And soon."
He shouldn't have been able to leap as fast or as far as he did, even without the enormous axe in tow, but he did regardless, closing the distance between them both to bring Tracey down on Micah in a crashing overhead swing.
The fallen angel seized upon the stolen fear like a starving animal.
<> They both counted together.
HP: 56/60
DMG: 13
Charge: 1/3
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prolixity rolled 2 8-sided dice:
5, 2
Total: 7 (2-16)
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Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2016 1:59 pm
"Yeah sure, you got an angel, huh," Micah threw back, "that's sure fitting," trying for cuttingly sarcastic and managing only the sarcasm part. Rep's lack of reaction left him a little shaken. It was like he hadn't hit the guy at all, even though he'd felt the blades cut in and felt and heard Nova's little sound of pleasure as she drew a charge.
Tracey's appearance made his eyes go wide, and he breathed a little "holy s**t," impressed and more than a little freaked out and yet more certain that he'd picked the wrong fight. He tried and failed to dodge that impossible leap. The immense and crushing swing knocked him back and down, and he skidded several feet on the snow on his back.
You dumb! You run! Nova shrieked.
"No," Micah hissed, and climbed to his feet, Nova's hilt clutched white-knuckle tight in his fist. He threw himself at Rep again before his breath had entirely come back. He was going to lose, but he was sure as hell not going to just lie down and roll over for it.
HP: 27/40
Dmg: 1
Charge: 2/3
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Baneful rolled 2 12-sided dice:
2, 12
Total: 14 (2-24)
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Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2016 2:09 pm
"Fallen angel." Rep corrected with that same grin he so often sported. He was in a good mood, fighting in snow was one of his favourite things, so fighting in snow against an upstart little p***k was two of his favourite things rolled together. "So aye. Fitting."
Rep's method of defending seemed to more often than not consist of completely ignoring the damage as if he expected it to be someone else's problem, and though Micah struck, he seemed to barely register the strikes with anything less than satisfaction.
The grips on his shoes crunched in the snow as he twisted the blade around and swung one of the lethal hooks at Micah.
"Brave AND stupid. They spared no goddamn expense when they made you did they?"
Tracey commented as he latched onto the surge of fear with smug satisfaction.
HP: 55/60
DMG: 8
Charge: 2/3
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prolixity rolled 2 8-sided dice:
8, 4
Total: 12 (2-16)
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Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2016 2:21 pm
"Nobody respects a quitter," Micah spat. The hook dug into his hip, inches away from his gut, and the sharp, ripping twist of pain was sickening. It was still hard to believe that something that hurt so much wasn't tearing him apart, and he risked a glance down at himself, saw no blood.
He pressed in as the axe swung away from him, and brought Nova inward with a short snapping motion. A crack sounded this time, the whip's blades coming around with startling speed, and Nova's runes lit up. It still wasn't enough, they could tell, and Micah wasn't entirely sure Nova's shield could handle the potential damage she might do to herself if they tried to use the charge. Maybe he'd ask her to do it anyway, go out with a bang.
HP: 19/40
Dmg: 6
Charge: 3/3
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Baneful rolled 2 12-sided dice:
11, 6
Total: 17 (2-24)
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Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2016 2:32 pm
"Respect isnae about quitting or no quitting dipshit. Nae c**t's going to respect you whether you quit or no. Respect is about a lot ******** more." It was about making people fear you, it was about never being wrong, about being more than human, more than everyone else. Only that could truly give any sort of respect. People pretended to respect weak people, nice people, but they didn't really, in the end they'd chew them up and spit them out.
"I see plenty of cunts in my line of work who didn't know when to quit, zombies never ******** do."
The whip left a visible red welt this time where it struck Rep's skin, but he simply inhaled with satisfaction. "You know, that actually feels ******** nice." he said. "I should get you to do this more often." But still, it wasn't satisfying, not on more than a superficial level, everything too muted, too softened and not painful enough for his desires.
"Time is ******** running out." he said, and lunged forward with a thrust of fractured razor sharp blades.
Tracey hissed.
HP: 49/60
DMG: 11
Charge: 3/3
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prolixity rolled 1 6-sided dice:
3
Total: 3 (1-6)
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Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2016 2:42 pm
"Goddamn, masochists ******** everywhere," Micah panted. "I'm not -- ******** quitting --" The thrust of Tracey's blade knocked him back into the snow again, and he climbed to his feet sore and well aware he was going to have some interesting bruises. Should he ask Nova to try her charge? She was oddly quiet about it for once, not pushily insisting on releasing it or making any noise.
His eyes came to rest on the steady glow of the axe's runes, and he realized that Rep's weapon had a charge. Oh ********> he thought, and remembered Dawson patiently teaching him how to defend himself, and thought that maybe it would be smarter to get ready to duck, because he didn't think trying to trip Rep or catch his arm with Nova sounded like anything even near a good idea.
HP: 8/40
Defending for: 3
Charge: 3/3
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Baneful rolled 10 12-sided dice:
5, 12, 6, 12, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2, 5
Total: 54 (10-120)
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Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2016 2:49 pm
"Oh I'm no a masochist." Rep purred. "Like a bit of pain but oh do I prefer ******** dishing it out."
Tracey's husky and ragged breathing lingered in his head as the fallen angel fought to control himself now that he was replete with rich and delicious fear. He waited only because he knew that Rep would never deny him the satisfaction of a charge.
"And on that ******** note." he said, finding his own breathing ragged, breath clouding up the air.
"It's time for some."
And he leapt, this time higher, way higher than should have been reasonable, than was reasonable at all. He twisted in the air, dragging the axe behind him up and up like a monstrous wing, dagger glowing vibrantly against his chest and only when there was no more defying gravity, when the world seemed to press in in abhorrence of the act which had just been committed under the nose of reason and logic, he hauled the axe across his shoulder and let the world resume.
He fell and when he fell it was with all the gravity and momentum that an obscene amount of steel and human afforded.
He struck Micah head on and behind him a magic circle faded in the seared snow.
HP: 49/60
DMG: 32
Charge: 3/3 - Problems used.
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Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2016 3:04 pm
There was no dodging it. Even though Rep's leap seemed to unfold in slow motion and even though it felt like he should be able to just step aside and let the strike pass him by, Micah had barely begun to move when the axe's blade came crashing down on him. It felt like it was splitting him apart, and by all rights it should have; he had a bare half-moment to be surprised that he was alive before the pain of the impact and the blade slapped him casually into unconsciousness.
His limp form slid on the snow, and his hand opened without the conscious effort of his grip. Nova fell loose onto the snow, then vanished, returning to his wrist beneath his sleeve as the delicate bracelet.
HP: ow
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Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2016 3:11 pm
Rep landed heavily in the snow as he rebounded from Micah and making sure that the other man was indeed unconscious (but not dead, that was important, very ******** important) he desummoned the axe, Tracey letting out a pleased sigh of satisfaction as he did so.
Turning, he made his way over to the still form of the other man and gave him a very blank and rather reptilian look, tilting his head slightly as he considered him. ******** wards, ******** useless goddamn wards. He hardly felt satisfied, just ******** hungry for more, and there was no more. The guy was out, but he didn't have a scratch on him.
Leaning down he picked Micah up by a leg and slung him thoughtfully over his shoulder.
And then he walked through the snow to the edge of the wards like a man in a dream.
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Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2016 3:16 pm
The snow was deep where it hadn't been cleared around the edge of the training field and as Rep crossed the edge of the wards it was as if an invisible weight lifted from his shoulders. It felt the way he had felt when Marie had left him, leaving him and Tracey once again masters of their own fate.
He didn't intend to harm Micah really, and murder was very, very far from his mind.
He wasn't entirely sure /what/ he intended.
Slinging him down, he laid him on the ground and squatted, reaching out to slap his cheek as gently as he could manage lest he bruise him just with that.
"Wakey ******** wakey gnomecah."
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