WAOA Arena

[DotSlash]

Carmen flew to the side once again as Drom's body flew toward her. As the Meta shot at her, she managed to block the shots with her barrier. It fizzled but managed to stay somewhat stable afterward. Noting the Meta going for his bruteshot again, she took the chance to send a tornado toward Meta as she flew over toward one of the shell shocked guards.

She calmly embraced one and gave him a long kiss. As all succubi can do, that guard became her slave, his want of her outweighing his fear. It began to walk toward the connector as Carmen got ready to protect him as necessary, recharging her barrier a bit.

 

[Random berk]

Dromaeus's body crashed to the ground in a smear of blood, his weapons clattering away from his broken body. Alone, he drew in one breath, then another, a deep rattle in his throat with each inhalation. He reached out slowly with one hand, dug it into the ground and dragged himself forward, towards the Meta, leaving a crimson streak behind him. Three times he carried out this laboured crawl, before slumping down and his head falling to one side, his eyes glazed and his jaws slightly apart, blood dripping between his teeth. He didn't move any further.

 

[Slenn]

<color=blue>"It sounds like you're a jack-of-all-trades. Karate, healing, genetics, sniping, melee combat... It sounds like you've been through a sizable amount of experience yourself. I felt hesitant at first to ask you about this. Thought this might be a sensitive subject."

<color=purple>"Undead? Was this a part of the aforementioned apocalypse you spoke of earlier? Were these legit corpses that came back from the grave? How did this happen?"

 

[Kirke]

The Meta ground-pounded, activating his bubble shield. The rocks and tornado would be held off, as the Meta ran out on the other side and took his bruteshot. Turning to face the others, he waited for the sight to clear.

The guard acted precisely as Carmen would expect, though something of a designflaw in his armour led to bleedings in... The lower area.

 

[Random berk]

"Well, the karate, healing and genetic modification all come together very nicely. Up close I'm too fast for a human to react to, and I can deliver massive trauma with strikes that a normal human could only do light damage with. But yeah, I'm the product of a war that left nowhere on our planet safe. When your life is lived in an environment where most humans wouldn't make it for long... it changes you. It changes you a lot." James said in a flat voice, not particularly meeting EMily's gaze. When Gwen spoke he turned to her and some animation returned to his voice and expression.

"That was it. They didn't come back from the grave exactly. It was a virus that was spread through fluid contact. Only a living creature could catch it. But it spread very easily. Once you had it you were screwed. It had a 100% rate of lethality, and the smallest drop of blood could infect you. The same virus is what was used to enhance me. It was already there. They just found that I was immune, and did... shit, I don't know. Sciency stuff, to change its effect on me."

 

[DotSlash]

Carmen facepalmed a bit as she noticed the guard bleeding from... down there.

She handed the guard the chip as she continued to charge her barrier to protect him as he began to work. [color=bb0066] C'mon... just a little more time... [/color] She sent out another shot of Violence toward the Meta, hoping he wasn't prepared for it.

 

[Slenn]

OOC: @Random. You know what board game you should play? Pandemic. It's like RISK but you work with other players to defeat an infection across the globe.

EMily chuckled at the use of the word 'sciency'. <color=blue>"In every group of individuals of a population, there's always at least one that's immune to a commonly fatal disease. Do you think there's an end in sight to this spread?"

Gwen looked up at the screen. <color=purple>Dang. I was kinda hoping that lizard man would make it. I'll have to ask him what it's like through that regeneration thing.

 

[Captain Anon]

@Berk:i'm nick your guy's sword for a bit

John stepped infront of the wall "I've had enough of this! HEY YOU COME DOWN!!!" he said picking up Dromaeus's sword "face me like a man Meta if there any of one left in you" he said to The Meta trying to provoke him

 

[Kirke]

The violence was reflected up in the air by the bubble shield, then it vanished. However, the Meta was nowhere to be seen.
OoC: I should really go to sleep, but I feel that the burning pain in my toe kinda makes that impossible.

 

[Random berk]

"Yeah, we were getting there before I ended up here. For the first three years the dead were unchallenged. People just tried to survive as best they could, and only a small percentage succeeded. I was among the relatively few to make it. When I found that the turning point had been reached and that world's governments were pooling their forces, using tactics proven to be effective, I signed up. I'd already had more than enough experience facing the undead with my family and our group, and our last stand left me with the kind of infection that the government's scientists wanted to experiment on. We began taking back selected areas, securing footholds, and then spreading out. Systematically exterminating the dead whereever we went and securing perimeters to move the supply lines up before pressing on again. That's what I was doing in Brazil, taking part in a sweep to eradicate any ghouls lost in the forest so they couldn't find their way out in a decade and attack anyone they came across. There were still a lot of them, and the world's culture will always be a lot more militaristic against such things in future, but we were getting there.

OOC: @Slenn Sounds like an interesting one. I never really play board games any more though.

 

[Slenn]

@Random. It's pretty cool. Although it's not the best board game I've played, since it's pretty short. Board games and card games are all graduate students in my class play nowadays.

EMily was actually quite charmed by his story. Her eyes dimmed down, but her smile gave the impression that she was delighted.
<color=blue>"Such stories always remind me how progressive and devoted humans can be towards a cause. We can be so destructive if we fall back to reptilian thoughts. But we can also learn from our mistakes, set aside our differences, and save the common health of the planet."

 

[Kirke]

OoC: ...@Dot: Are you going to post?

 

[Random berk]

OOC: @Slenn Me, I'll hang onto my 360 just a bit longer. Don't know if I'll replace it in the end though.

Wow, it'll feel weird to no longer be a gamer, if that really does happen.

James knew that his story would likely not have a happy ending. Though the war would end in victory for humanity, so much culture and technology had been lost with its people that the world would never be the same. So many people had lost everything they held dear that they didn't know what they would even do when the fighting ended once and for all. He personally knew plenty of soldiers who had made the decision not to carry on at all once peace came about again. He wasn't sure how he would choose in that matter himself, or even if he would be allowed to survive as a carrier of the virus. But he could see that his words had had an uplifting effect on EMily. He had always been a ladies man in his late teens and early twenties and her smile pleased him, and this allowed him to produce a convincing smile of his own for her.

"It'll be hard even after the war ends, make no mistake. But the fact that we won at all does show that humanity is worth something."

 

[Slenn]

OOC: "He had always been a ladies man in his late teens and early twenties, and this allowed him to produce a convincing smile for her." Somehow that made me chuckle. XD.

<color=blue>"Indeed it is James. And I have no doubt that it will be a hard ride getting back on their feet, as any global catastrophie has shown. But I'm sure, even humanity is good at recovering. Civilizations are often like that. They value life. Sometimes, you'll find that... life is hard to kill."

 

[Random berk]

James nodded, maintaining the facade of optimism despite his doubts.

"Yeah... the dead won't inherit the planet. Life will continue. Maybe even humanity will, but I don't know. I'd like to think I won't be around to see what happens in the global scale. It'll take a long time for humanity to bounce back or die, whichever way it goes." He went to the bar and pulled another bottle from beneath the counter.

"How about we drop the discussion of the war?" He suggested gently. "It pays not to think about that stuff all the time."

OOC: @Slenn Heh, James was always supposed to be a fairly shallow, light character. A regular lad who would joke and flirt and do all that stuff. That side of him just seems to keep getting lost in the apocalyptic survivor's state of mind.

 

[Slenn]

<color=blue>"Oh, I'm more than happy to." She giggled.

<color=purple>"Actually, is there any sake?"

EMily's face lit up at the suggestion.
<color=blue>"Oh yes! Please, give me a small glass. It's the one hard liquor I really love. So sharp but yet so silky."

 

[Kirke]

The Meta disappeared from the arena, which meant that he could not be teleported away, since the rest of the facility was protected against teleportation.

 

[DotSlash]

@Kirke: Sorry, I got distracted by things.

Carmen calmly sighed as she attempted to sense Meta's soul like the time before, still charging her barrier up.

 

[Random berk]

There was a sound of rattling glasses as James disappeared beneath the counter.

"Sake? That sounds like it wouldn't be... wait, hang on... oh, wow. There actually is." He re-emerged holding a bottle of pale golden tequila and a clear bottle of sake, then poured out two glasses for the girls. He was about to open the tequila, then changed his mind and poured a third shot of sake before bringing them back down.

"Never tried this stuff before." He said as he sat and offered the two shot glasses in his right hand. And I've been to Japan for world tournaments. Kind of shameful really. Hell, I've tasted spirits from countries whose names I can't even pronounce!"

 

[Slenn]

EMily sipped the alcohol. <color=blue>"Mmmmm.... with a hint of prickly pear. So nice." She said, relaxed. <color=blue>"Now all I need is some cherry blossom petals to come down from the ceiling." She chuckled lightly.