Event | Turtle Dive | January 20 - 23 | Underwater zombies crave your briiiiiines

[ironwood]

Characters: Any and all PCs
Date: January 20th - 23rd
Location: All Sectors
Situation: Tu Vishan continues swimming along the ocean floor after his monumental dive, but it turns out there are a whole bunch of undead that want in on the party!
Warnings/Rating: Underwater situations, violence, potential gore; to be updated as noted.

>See the comments of this post for various situations and areas available for tagging.
>Each header will be set for a date and/or area.
>Feel free to start your own header for specific situations.
>The Palace subplot will be run in a separate log.
>Refer to the two OOC posts for further details. 01 | 02

Comments

[knowsmadness]

What, you like getting your ass kicked, Sasquatch?

[ that nickname is never going away.

Kara's instincts are also to rush in the middle because honestly - she's bullheaded and that's how she operates.

However, she has no armor. There is nothing between her body and those things and it she darts forward, she'll probably get eaten alive. ]

I'll cover you--!

[bothbarrels]

[ She would have done a lot better covering him from a distance, but it's too late to say so, and he finds himself forced to knock the jianshi back to prevent her from being bitten. ]

Watch it! You're not as protected as I am. Get back!

[ He's doing his best to cover both sides, but sooner or later, if she doesn't retreat, he knows he's bound to slip up. ]

[knowsmadness]

[ she falls back at his command - he's right, she's not protected really, not at all - grumpy and frustrated. she takes it out on a nearby zombie by putting a single bullet in its eye. It wouldn't kill it, but it damn sure slowed it down. ]

Yeah, yeah, get behind the Sasquatch - I got it!

[bothbarrels]

[ Unfortunately with the two of them there together, it's drawing more of the zombies their way, and he's forced to retreat, keeping tabs on what was going on around him as best he can. This is turning into Operation Protect Kara, which was not how he'd planned for this to go at all.

It could be used to their advantage, though. He'd already been told that rending the flesh from the zombies was a surefire was to stop them, and he'd been saving his grenades for any advantageous moment when a large number of them were grouped together. If he could get her out of the way he could toss one right in the middle of this grouping.

After he's managed to lead her back several paces he turns his head to address her. ]

I'm going to act as a decoy for you. On my mark you retreat. [ He indicates a landmark about a klick to their west. ] Clear the area and I'll meet you at that spire. Sync?

[knowsmadness]

[ she gives him a salute. ]

You got it, boss.

[ she's thinking she knows what he's thinking - and is pretty damn interested in seeing something explode. ]

[bothbarrels]

[ He waited another few moments for the jianshi to crowd around him, then called it. ]

Mark!

[ He gave it ten more seconds before sprinting out of the center of the group, his power armor giving him enough of a boost for it to be rapid and effortless. He lobbed the grenade and continued his sprint for the spire. ]

[knowsmadness]

[ Kara waits for the signal, then whirls and sprints off, away from what would inevitably be quite the blast.

There's a damn kedan, though - far enough to miss the explosion but close enough that he's about to get nommed by one of those frakkin' things, so Kara lunges for it, tackling the thing to the ground while the kedan flees, disappearing into the shadows.

And now it's time to play wrestle the zombie, which Kara would be good at were she fighting a human. This thing is different. Much, much different and while she's landing blows its certainly having itself a feast in return. ]

[bothbarrels]

[ He's sprinting toward the rendezvous point when he spots her, and he already knows this is bad news. She and the zombie are both covered in blood and when he sees that she has a chunk bitten out of her arm he knows it's already too late. At this point shooting them would be pointless--he's going to have to use another grenade, both to kill the zombie and to put Kara out of her misery. By now he knows that a mere bullet wound would see her turned into one of those things herself, and he knows she would never have wanted to be reduced to a fate like that.

He doesn't spare the time to shout a word of apology to her, pulling the pin and throwing the grenade with expert precision to land at her feet. With that he bolts for another area, pinging York when he gets a chance to stop. ]

[knowsmadness]

[ kara doesn't expect or want apology - she knows what's coming and honestly? If he hadn't done it, she'd have found a way to do it herself. She doesn't want to become one of those things. ]

Do it-!

[ she's shrieking it, but she doesn't need to. it comes, it detonates, and there is only blackness. ]

[agentdork]

[ York's in another district, helping get people out and away, kedan and otherwise, and he's knee deep in zombies that thankfully, he's mostly safe from by virtue of armor. He uses his ammo sparingly, but thankfully he hasn't needed to until now, and a makeshift weapon does the rest.

Once an area's clear and he's to the backroads, he responds to the ping, half amped from actually doing something and half wanting to go back to just being normal. ]

Hey. You clear to come home?

[bothbarrels]

[ He doesn't want to convey anything about this news over the radio. He certainly doesn't want to alarm his friend before he can tell him what has happened in person. He goes for something that's innocuous enough on its own. ]

Yeah. I want to touch base with you.

[agentdork]

Sure thing. I think this section's mostly clear. Touch base at home, yeah?

[ He's starting there on his own, missing the soft hum of Delta in his head but he's doing well enough without it, keeping to corners and walls for the time being. ]

[bothbarrels]

I'll be there soon.

[ On other occasions it has made him smile that York refers to 'home' as though North lives there with them--at times it seems he might as well, for as much time as he spends there. Right now he's quietly determined, not dreading what he has to say exactly, but knowing this topic will be difficult to broach.

He's at the residence inside of twenty minutes, taking up a position outside the door to wait on his friend. ]

[agentdork]

Sounds good.

[ York makes his way home with minimal trouble, easing up to the door with a careless little wave, unlocking it and letting them both in before securing it tightly. ]

Honestly, I was starting to feel useless, not doing something, though this isn't exactly what I wanted when I was feelin' that way.

You touch base with Kara, by the by? She was going out for a bit, we were gonna meet back here eventually.

[bothbarrels]

[ Nothing has come by in the time North has stationed himself there so when York approaches, he slings his rifle to his back and turns to follow him inside. Normally he would have answered to that first part, but small talk about what they'd encountered out there is now the furthest thing from his mind. He pulls his helmet off and pushes his hand through his hair before answering. ]

Yes, I did. I need to tell you about what happened when we met up.

[ Normally here he'd suggest they sit down, but that wasn't wise in their heavy suits of armor. Instead he sets his helmet down on the counter and approaches York to tell him face-to-face. ]

I can't sugarcoat this, Sean. You know Kara, she met everything head on. I don't know how she got into the situation she was in, but I saw that she was bitten. I didn't have any other choice but to do what I did. [ He set his gauntleted hand on the other man's arm, clasping it. ] I'm sorry, truly sorry, that I had to. I've seen what happens, she would have turned into one of them. From what I know of her, she wouldn't have wanted that fate.

[ For now he's sparing York details. He's already delivering harsh news, York doesn't need to hear about the grenade or the chunk that had been taken out of her arm right out of the gate. He'll let York absorb this, and York can ask questions later as he feels able. ]

[agentdork]

[ He's got a bad feeling just as soon as his helmet's off, staring North down, feeling something ugly gnawing at his stomach, settling heavy there as he stares. No.

No.

No, he's hearing this wrong, because they're safe here. They're already dead. They're already dead, and this is supposed to be some kind of bullshit break or something where they're not on the front lines, they're relaxing and some weird stuff happens but they make it, they survive.

York stares mutely for the longest time and then slowly steps back, until he's heading for the kitchen mechanically pouring himself a glass of water and swallowing it down. When he speaks again, his voice isn't even in the slightest. ]

You're sure.

[bothbarrels]

[ He sets his hands on the counter and just watches, giving York the space he needs. When York speaks he simply nods, slowly. ]

Yes. I am.

[agentdork]

[ He's not even sure how to begin processing this, simply staring, mute, at North, setting the glass down before it's dropped on the ground. ]

I -- I can't.

[ he doesn't even know what to say. It wasn't supposed to happen that way. We were safe, here. This isn't fair.

There's a million things that bubble up and he swallows them all down, pressing his hands to his face for a moment, ignoring the way they tremble. ]

[bothbarrels]

[ He was about to take his gauntlets off, but at that he doesn't spare the time, going to his friend and laying an arm protectively around his shoulder, giving him an opening to take it as a hug. ]

[agentdork]

Kind of -- kind of thought we were over this whole losing people schtick.

[ York leans into the touch but doesn't return it right away, staring at the chipped purple armor, and then slowly raising an arm to wind around North's waist. ]

Stupid, huh.

[bothbarrels]

I don't think that's stupid.

[ Because really, who could blame him? He lets his other arm go around York to pat his back. ]

Listen, let's get dressed and have something to drink, yeah?

[ He's not at all opposed to continuing to offer support to York in this manner if he needs it, but it's hard to do around armor. ]

[agentdork]

Kind of is, considerin'.

[ York waves a hand, eyes closing for a long moment, and then swallows. ]

I don't know if a drink is a good idea. I'm up for changing, though.

[ He nods to his room, and gives North a once-over, clearly holding it together at the seams. ]

Need pants?

[bothbarrels]

[ He lets York go, nodding at the comment about the drinks, and steps back to turn around and head to the room he stayed in whenever he was here. ]

I have some stuff here. I'll stay here, all right, just so you know. However long you need me to.

[agentdork]

[ He's not sure if he wants to be alone or not - the gut reaction is he does, but last time, it was him and Delta and that was still too lonely so he'd be a fool to turn this down.

York heads to his room, and not long after he's back in the kitchen, taking one of the bottles down and pouring himself a shot, knocking it back, so much for not drinking. ]

[bothbarrels]

[ He returns in time to see that, but doesn't say anything about it. As much as he's been holding himself together for York's sake, he's still haunted by what he was forced to do, can still see the moment when the grenade landed at her feet and he bolted. Killing may be the life of a soldier, but this was different.

He walks into the kitchen, the strain of it likely showing on his face. ]

Got one of those for me?