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 Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2011 8:49 pm
Smarts. A7 liked smarts - he really did. The guy had smarts, and A7 would try to remember that. His attitude, however, left something to be desired. A7 dropped his finger, but remained a little hulkish as he stood there listening to Z3 go on. He had no idea what the other man meant by concrete terms, and he sort of wanted to ask - but he knew if he did, he would sound stupid. So he simply shuffled one of his feet, and hefted his sack higher around his shoulders.
"Yeah. Well. Just don't sneak up on me, is all I'm saying, and we'll be all right, you and me." He turned to walk away, deciding now would be a good time to head back. "Oi, Z3, did you happen to see-"
His words stopped. His footfalls froze. Time, itself, must have stopped - he couldn't hear the soothing waves crashing against the shore anymore.
Standing there in front of him was A10.
No. No it wasn't.
A7 backed away slowly, hands shaking as he pulled his mace off of his belt. He pointed it at the .. ghost? Imposter? Had someone really been cruel enough to take A10's suit?
Or... had she just been.. replaced?
"S.. stay back. I'm warning you." His mace shook visibly - he couldn't keep his arm still. He couldn't keep anything still, his body was shivering.
"Who are you, an' what have you done with A10?"
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Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2011 9:49 pm
She was quickly growing bored of the game Alpha Seven and Zeta Three were playing. Or rather, the game Zeta Three seemed to be playing, Alpha Seven didn't seem to be enjoying himself. This earned the other Zeta member a long, blank stare, her expressions unreadable beneath the mask, although it was obvious that there was some sort of unspoken words passing between them. She knew he would get her message -- he was perceptive like that. Eventually, however, boredom won out, and she broke 'eye-contact' with him, reaching down to grab the long handle of her mace, ready to head back to camp.
Except there was something rather unsettling blocking their way.
Just as Alpha Seven had, her initial reaction was to freeze, staring at the figure she had seen die. Almost immediately her eyes flicked to the place on her uniform where Alpha Seven had ripped off her patch, not having to glance over at him to know it was still at his belt. It's presence, sewn neatly into the uniform of the girl standing before them, eased the tension that had not been obvious in her body, allowing her to move again.
Ignoring Alpha Seven completely, Zeta Eight stepped forward until she was standing directly in front of the girl sporting A10's uniform, making sure to stay out of the range of arm and dagger, not missing the weapon in her hand. She initially wanted to say that it was not out of the question that the number had been redistributed to a new 'player,' and that Alpha Ten had not been his Alpha Ten's actual name. This idea she discarded immediately, rejecting it half a second after it had crossed her mind. However logical an answer it was, what was less logical was to upset the guy built like a tank, and had effectively lifted a man much larger than herself off the ground by his neck. But that didn't satisfy her own curiosity. If you could call it that.
With the same slow, precise, wary steps, she circled the girl in a tight circle, mace lifted diagonally in front of her chest, observing her like a piece of meat or show animal. They were the same height, same build... if they weren't wearing different colors, you might not have been able to tell them apart. Then again, they all rather looked alike, considering height and build and gender were the only things they had to go by.
You make me happy~ when skies are grey~
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Interesting Conversationalist
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Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2011 9:56 pm
She blinked at him. Of all the people, she wouldn't have expected him to.. ask.. that?
"You.. know who I am," she said, eyes darting nervously around. "Right? Why are you acting so weird?"
Well, to be fair they'd had their moments. Was A7 just playing hard-to-get again, like he had at the start? It baffled her, but.. well, guys were guys. "Tell me. What.. happened with the pony? I don't remember anything. Just.. falling asleep in your arms, and when I woke up again I was in the Alpha tent."
"I.. thought you'd left me there," she continued, nervous as Z8 approached, mace in hand as well. Why were they acting like this? As if they didn't trust her, when they'd put their necks on the line for her before? "What happened?" Practically squeaking now, her raised pitch an indication of how nervous she was. Just a few moments ago, she was suspicious of the stranger standing by A7.
Now, she was the one being regarded as the stranger. The one with weapons pointed at her. Something.. something had happened, while she was asleep. But.. what?
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Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2011 10:16 pm
A number. A body. A certain gait. None of these things were able to tell A7 who was behind the mask.
But that voice.
A7 dropped his mace from his hands as if it had turned white hot and scalded him. Behind his own mask, his eyes had grown large as saucers. So it was to be a ghost, then? Better a ghost than a stranger, at least.
He waited for Z8's circle to pass around behind A10, before walking the two steps needed to stand in front of her. A single finger reached out and looked as though it was about to poke her shoulder, but it pulled back just before touching. A second lunge, and his finger hit flesh and clothing. He let out a loud bark of a laugh, and suddenly A10 was captured in his arms. He spun and spun, holding her tight in his bulky embrace and laughing like a madman.
When he finally let her down, he refused to let her go. His hands wrapped around her shoulders - her number. It was still there! "What is this ********!" He laughed out, tugging the number off his belt and holding it up to her arm.
It matched up perfectly.
"You were dead, kitten. Like, dead, dead." His next words came in an awed whisper as he bent down and held her head in his hands, with the slip of cloth still fluttering between his fingers. "Holy s**t."
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Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2011 10:35 pm
Dead. Dead? She didn't feel dead... yet something about what they said made sense. In such a weird, twisted way. Though A7 had approached, flinging himself at her and even spinning her around, she couldn't.. feel anything.
But no, it was just the armour. Of course you couldn't feel anything through the armour.
"Guys," she laughed, still in A7's arms, "Don't joke about stuff like that." How long had she been asleep? Had they been planning this joke, making it more elaborate, while she was unconscious?
"I couldn't have been dead," she said again, more forcefully this time- as if to convince herself, more than anything. "But we will be if we keep hanging around here, in the open."
Stepping away from him, she pocketed her dagger and turned to face Z8, as well as the stranger.
"Are there others we can trust? Where's A4? A1? A12? We should go to where they are. Safety in numbers, remember?"
"But.. not too many." She knew all too well what would happen to a huge group of people- it'd already happened once before.
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Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2011 10:41 pm
Zeta Eight paused as Alpha Seven moved forward, watching him drop his mace and move forward as if some sort of twisted nightmare. Undeniably, it was seeming that way more and more with every passing second. But this was real. In the back of her mind, she knew it to be more real than anyone would admit, would let themselves admit, the breaking of bones and agonizing screams still echoing in her ears, the snap of Alpha Five's neck as he had fallen.
Head tilting up slightly to follow Alpha Ten's body, she lowered her mace as he embraced her warmly, holding her tightly and laughing in a way that felt far too genuine for the single day they had been 'alive.'
You'll never know dear~ how much I love you~
There was a twitch in her muscles, clenching and twisting beneath her armor, but it was gone a moment later, so quickly it could have passed as a figment of an overactive imagination.
"Zeta Eleven shot you."
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Interesting Conversationalist
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Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2011 10:43 pm
"Ohh, kitten. I wouldn't joke about something terrible like that." He knocked his helmet into hers, and, with his arms still around her, picked her and Z8 up even as he hugged Z10. He hefted them up against his hips, and carried them both with a hurried step back to the group. He called back behind him, a new spirit in his voice. "Come on Z3, don't slack back there!"
He was making a beeline for A1, who'd already started gathering a few people.
"Hey you guuuuuuys.."
[A7, A10, and Z8 have all exited]
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Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2011 11:03 pm
Sure enough, the subtle exchange was heeded from Z3's end, and after a moment's pause (and perhaps a veiled eyeroll) he did seem to relent on any further cross banter. A7's own 'smarts' had hardly managed to impress him, but that didn't mean the other male would be dismissed as an ally-- not yet, anyway. Discretely, privately, he decided to reserve his judgement just a little longer and...
Well, calling it trust probably wasn't the right word, but he'd go along with Z8's planning.
Which was about the time another pseudo stranger showed up, and one he vaguely almost recognized. Though he'd never cared to learn her number, it was most definitely one of the fallen casualties from before... and that meant she'd somehow been revived. Judging from her own words, she didn't have much cluing in as to how or why, either. Hmm. Well, it definitely added a new element to the survival game... or was it resurrection, now? Would the event be a one-time-only fluke, or did they all have nine lives at their disposal without realizing?
... He'd certainly not be the one to test that theory.
Either way, since he didn't really care for chatter or retorting against a fool's prods, all that remained was adjusting his backpack casually and, with an unwavering step, trailing after the rest of the new... group.
((This is Z3, EXITING THREAD.))
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