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A Happy Reunion; Solo
Topic Started: Aug 29 2010, 08:52 PM (288 Views)
Jack Lisa
Glowing one!
[ *  *  *  * ]
Jack's concussion had long dulled to an annoying throbbing, really just background noise in comparison to the shittiness of walking all day in the hot sun. Her legs couldn't take it anymore each step sent an aching jolt up and down her body, and took all her will power to accomplish.

Her moping was interrupted by a sniffing noise over the hill. Food! She had run out of food days ago. She was pretty sure she'd overshot the town that she was supposed to go to next, but she couldn't waste time searching for it. But things could be worse, not much, but she'd be out of water too if she hadn't found that stream, which was more like a muddy trickle than what most would call a "stream."

She reached the top of the precipice and at the bottom of the small cliff was a single mole rat. Clearly separated from the rest of his pack, he seemed to be wounded. That might be bad, Jack didn't want to lose any of the meat to infection. Then again food in general sounded really appealing, who cared how much? Hell, I'd probably kill for some salt-crackers, she thought. Actually I wouldn't, I should pick my words better, now that I'm out here that's a real possibility for some people.

She needed to get some food into her stomach, she realized. Her mind was starting to drift, that could end badly if it happened at a bad time.

She broke off her reverie. Yes... it was still there. She took aim, she'd gotten better with her gun in the past week or so, Which is to say not very good. but this was a still target and the range was only 20 feet.

She shot once, twice. The first grazed it's front paw, but the second found it's mark. Right on the spine, the animal was dead before it hit the ground. She ran to the corpse giddy with the prospect of food.

she made a dash climbing down the short cliff and as she ran to the corpse, a howler screamed down. It's terrifying shriek didn't penetrate her mind until the gust of swooping wind knocked her on her ass, but when it filtered itself through the joy of food her mind was swept away by grief, not fear. Grief that she would be die out here no quick and easy death, but a slow torturous one by starvation. After the shock of the the exceedingly rare howler eagle's theft of her quarry, she allowed her self to weep. Though her tear ducts were dry because of the nightly habit of crying herself to sleep, one could still sob without tears. So she cried quiet, dry tears, preparing to die out here in this ugly, ugly world.
Name: Jack Lissy
Level: 2
Age: 17
Status: Healthy
Race: Human, Caucasian, Female
Traits: Fast Learner, Jinxed, Sex appeal
Trade: Reluctant "civil servant" (meaning slave) for the New Raleigh Republic handling their dirty work.
S P E C I A L
3 10 2 8 8 7 2

Equipment: Bloody Hatchet, Skinning knife, 1 stun grenade, rudimentary revolver, 6 32. rounds, 1 32. magnum round
NRR Civil Servant Dessert Suit (a duster with the national seal on the back), a lacrosse bag

Inventory: sleeping mat, zippo lighter, Large hide, several pounds of dried molerat jerky, Her Old Locket
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Jack Lisa
Glowing one!
[ *  *  *  * ]
Jack wandered eastward in a trance-like state. Her eyes held no expression or emotion, there was no drive or hope in them, just an inability to carry on with inaction. So her body moved on step after step with no reason to do so. She knew she would die here, maybe not at that spot, but still here, still the waste.

And since she knew she'd die, the barks of molerats, not 100 feet over the hills, didn't break her trance. Even if she managed to kill them---which she probably wouldn't, a yao-guai or deathclaw would probably swoop in to steal her kills leaving her with less ammo and less energy, than before.

"Help!" Screamed the hoarse voice of a ghoul. "Help me! Someone!" Suddenly her trance was broken, those molerats were attacking someone, she had to help! adrenaline surged. She ran over the hill as if she hadn't spent the last week trudging across the wastes, and there it was. A ghoul had climbed a blackened trunk of what used to be a tree, to escape the pack of molerats she'd heard earlier, there were 4 of them, not a large pack but definitely a threat. About 30 feet from the tree was what appeared to be his bag and a half skinned molerat. They probably took him by surprise while he was skinning his quarry. She'd taken this in, in about a half a second, and then the ghoul yelled, "HEY! WATCH OUT! THEY SAW YOU!"

In truth they hadn't seen her yet, but the ghoul was probably panicked and wasn't thinking clearly, nonetheless his yell had alerted them to her they turned and contemplated her for a moment, then charged.
Name: Jack Lissy
Level: 2
Age: 17
Status: Healthy
Race: Human, Caucasian, Female
Traits: Fast Learner, Jinxed, Sex appeal
Trade: Reluctant "civil servant" (meaning slave) for the New Raleigh Republic handling their dirty work.
S P E C I A L
3 10 2 8 8 7 2

Equipment: Bloody Hatchet, Skinning knife, 1 stun grenade, rudimentary revolver, 6 32. rounds, 1 32. magnum round
NRR Civil Servant Dessert Suit (a duster with the national seal on the back), a lacrosse bag

Inventory: sleeping mat, zippo lighter, Large hide, several pounds of dried molerat jerky, Her Old Locket
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Jack Lisa
Glowing one!
[ *  *  *  * ]
Since that unpleasant misadventure in Danville, Jack had her stun grenades strapped around her waist. God knows she could have used those stun grenades then, but she managed, and now the lesson learned from that misadventure has saved her life, and that lesson is keep your shit where you need it instead of the least accessible pocket of your bag.

So when mole rats were almost upon her, she yanked a stun grenade from it's position hanging by it's pin, while simultaneously covering her eyes to protect from the blast that soon followed. At that point two of the mole rats were in the air, one was just off the ground, and the other had started to push off.

Jack wasn't able to protect herself completely from the stunning effects but was settled enough to watch the three molerats in the air fly over her and tumble to the ground in varied conditions of health. The first molerat did a half flip and broke it's neck on some jagged rocks at the bottom of the hill, the second landed flatly it would probably stay down for three or four seconds, and the third landed, rather comically, by breaking it's fall with it's head, as it's legs flung over it's body, even after it got over the grenade it would probably be catching it's breath for another five seconds. The last molerat didn't fly as it's companions had since it was only pushing off at that point, so instead of "landing," per se, it rolled down the hill after a rather short jump.

After admiring (or perhaps gawking at) her handiwork for a half second, she realized she should start shooting. Still crouching she unholstered her gun and took aim. Though the last three molerats were closely packed and would be perfect for a unaimed fire from a six shooter or something, her gun only had four shots, so she knew she'd need to aim, sadly at the expense of time.

She got into her poor firing stance and took three aimed shot at the two on the left. the first shot was high. Damn, she thought. Her second shot entered through the eyes and exited though the hinge of the jaw. She felt her stomach churn, usually killing animals didn't bother her but this one was just a bit too gory, but that was a secondary reaction that didn't break her concentration at all. She then took the third shot, the second creature was up and facing toward her now, but it wasn't charging yet, so the bullet was able to entered through the top of it's head and hit almost every major organ before resting itself at the end of it's small intestine. It was dead before it hit the ground. Wow! Three bullets two kills! Maybe my luck's turning, she thought. She almost immediately regretted it.

the last molerat was starting to get up but it was still catching it's breath from the tumble, so she took time to very carefully aim. She pulled the trigger with a certitude that was surprising considering the fact that the bullet jammed.
Name: Jack Lissy
Level: 2
Age: 17
Status: Healthy
Race: Human, Caucasian, Female
Traits: Fast Learner, Jinxed, Sex appeal
Trade: Reluctant "civil servant" (meaning slave) for the New Raleigh Republic handling their dirty work.
S P E C I A L
3 10 2 8 8 7 2

Equipment: Bloody Hatchet, Skinning knife, 1 stun grenade, rudimentary revolver, 6 32. rounds, 1 32. magnum round
NRR Civil Servant Dessert Suit (a duster with the national seal on the back), a lacrosse bag

Inventory: sleeping mat, zippo lighter, Large hide, several pounds of dried molerat jerky, Her Old Locket
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Jack Lisa
Glowing one!
[ *  *  *  * ]
She just stared at her bad luck for a moment, this was shockingly bad timing. Fuck! she thought. When she finally broke her gaze off her gun, the mole rat was shaking off the last of it's disorientation. The two creature's eyes met for a moment, there faces equally blank, hers in shock, though the molerat was probably in deep thought recollecting what happened.

She then dropped her gun and frantically pulled at the quick release knot that kept her hatchet in place, which became promptly tangled. She continued to pull at the tangled knot that kept the hatchet around her waist as the last molerat charged at her. She looked up just as the creature was upon her and covered her face. The rat's claws cut deep into her forearm. She winced as she felt claw impact bone. She was sure the she was finished, it was going to kill her then and there. blood dripped onto her face.

A loud bang caught her attention immediately before the 50 lb molerat fell limp on top of her. After shoving off the molerat corpse, she looked toward the sound of the explosion, and the ghoul was standing over his bag, with a rather ungainly smoking musket propped against his shoulder.

After looking at him she decided all was well and laid flat to look at the cloudless sky. As she laid there the ghoul started running over. "Hey! Hey there. Thanks for th--- Well hot damn it's you! Jason'll probably wanna see you! haha" She tilted her head inquisitively at him, he just continued his absolutely jolly laugh. "come on, let's skin these mother fuckers, I'll explain on my way back to camp"

"uh, ok." she said in an extremely confused tone. "Do I know you?"
Name: Jack Lissy
Level: 2
Age: 17
Status: Healthy
Race: Human, Caucasian, Female
Traits: Fast Learner, Jinxed, Sex appeal
Trade: Reluctant "civil servant" (meaning slave) for the New Raleigh Republic handling their dirty work.
S P E C I A L
3 10 2 8 8 7 2

Equipment: Bloody Hatchet, Skinning knife, 1 stun grenade, rudimentary revolver, 6 32. rounds, 1 32. magnum round
NRR Civil Servant Dessert Suit (a duster with the national seal on the back), a lacrosse bag

Inventory: sleeping mat, zippo lighter, Large hide, several pounds of dried molerat jerky, Her Old Locket
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Jack Lisa
Glowing one!
[ *  *  *  * ]
"Jason, do you know where Colin went?" Darryl asked, walking up behind him, though Jason clearly wasn't paying attention to his "little brother" (even though he was 23). Though not out of reverie simply because his brother, no matter how good he is as the infiltrator in the group, is one of the most immature full grown adults Jason has ever met. Not that that wasn't funny as hell sometimes.

"Jason? Jason? Jason!" he asked in three different octaves. Attempting to be annoying enough to attract his brother's attention.

"Hmm?" He answered, his brother’s words finally breaking through.

“Where’s Colin?” his brother spoke slowly as if to a child.

“He went hunting. Where have you been?” Jason asked, though unsure if he wanted to know, some of Darryl’s misadventures had caused them a lot of trouble before.

"Nowhere" He said in an unnaturally innocent tone. Jason raised his eyebrow in suspicion.

"Really" His tone reflecting his eyebrow's curve.

"Yes, and I am aggrieved by the fact that you challenge my integrity so!" He said almost sounding genuinely hurt. Almost.

As Jason rolled his eye's, then a very coarse and mean sounding voice struck his ears, and a broad smile came to his face. "Jason you ignorant fuck! I left 6 hours ago! where the fuck were you?"

"Camp?" he said after performing head tilt of deep thought. Colin hated Jason's sarcasm sometimes.

"Yeah, well" he said somewhat mollified, then with rage, that he wanted to be genuine, but wasn't "I almost fucking died out there!" Jason just smiled crookedly, he was very good at that, and Colin relented, with a shrug and a hand wave almost like throwing away his rage he continued."Whatever. I have someone think you should meet."
Name: Jack Lissy
Level: 2
Age: 17
Status: Healthy
Race: Human, Caucasian, Female
Traits: Fast Learner, Jinxed, Sex appeal
Trade: Reluctant "civil servant" (meaning slave) for the New Raleigh Republic handling their dirty work.
S P E C I A L
3 10 2 8 8 7 2

Equipment: Bloody Hatchet, Skinning knife, 1 stun grenade, rudimentary revolver, 6 32. rounds, 1 32. magnum round
NRR Civil Servant Dessert Suit (a duster with the national seal on the back), a lacrosse bag

Inventory: sleeping mat, zippo lighter, Large hide, several pounds of dried molerat jerky, Her Old Locket
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Jack Lisa
Glowing one!
[ *  *  *  * ]
Maybe I am jinxed... Jack thought as she thought about the horrible, horrible luck those raiders who'd attempted to rape her had. From what The Ghoul (who's name was Colin) had told her the guy's head exploded just when he was about to... Oh my god it was that close. She thought with a shudder. She knew that was lucky but she never knew how close she was to being... violated... and then killed. Everyone was very intent on their food so no one saw her shudder, which was good. They might talk to her if they saw! Especially Colin, not that she was racist or anything but he was scary, plain and simple, if they started talking she'd probably say something terribly embarrassing.

"Not hungry?" Asked Jason, looking up at her, though his tone sounded more like 'what's wrong? you look like a walking skeleton but you're not eating!' She flushed and took a hurried spoonful of the squirrel stew.

"oh, um right, sorry it's just..." she looked up slightly and almost made eye contact,"the past couple of hours have made me think back to right after I entered the waste and, well it was a bad time..." her eyes were quickly returned their gaze to the floor.

"Oh I see. I thought you just didn't like my cooking." He gave a very crooked, yet sympathetic, smile. she looked up quickly at the jest, for a moment thinking he was serious, and their eyes met.

Suddenly Jack felt a kinship with him, there was sparkle in his eyes. It reflected that smile. it was a subtle thing, it was sad, but not for her, or at least not only for her. maybe for him? yes, that was it, the sparkle was understanding. loss. he'd felt loss just like her and he knew it. There was sympathy for her, and it was sympathy, not pity which is what most wastelanders would give. he understood their mutual and sadly all too common position, orphans. "did they take your parents too?" she blurted out, glancing to her left, coldly.

He was taken aback by her sudden bluntness. Now it was him who was staring at the ground. "parent, not parents, that how they do these things. they find the single parents, steal the best children, and weed out the weak with a Journey to Raleigh." His brother hung his head in mournful memory.

Darryl spoke "Our Mom's name was Cindy, she was town doctor. great one too..." a tear rolled off his eye onto his nose and fell into his soup. His brother glanced at him but didn't say or do anything. she realized it was because he couldn't not now. his eyes were welling up with tears but he refused to let them fall, he was his brother's rock, he couldn't show weakness to him because otherwise what was left of Darryl's world would collapse. his Adam's apple was shivering with indecision as a frog took residence in his throat. he couldn't speak because if he did his brother would notice it and the result would occur as if a tear actually touched the ground, his brother's morale would deflate. And Jason would never let that happen to his only little brother.

When Jason finally spoke again,"half the town owed their lives to her, half of them perished while the republic" He spoke the word like an exterminator would speak of a rat, something to be abolished "executed them for not disclosing our hiding place." he took a shuddering breath silent enough that his crying brother wouldn't notice, "We watched them execute three of our best friends like animals as they ransacked the town looking for us, just us, they wanted us, but I don't know why..." he took a deep, but stable breath,

Darryl abruptly interjected through gritted teeth "and now our friends, classmates, and what was left of our family is dead except for our mom... and it's all our fault." Jason made a sharp glance at his brother, he shouldn't think like that, but he relented because at the back of his mind, beyond the logical, intellectual part of his mind, at the most primal and emotional part of his being he believed it too. Jack knew that it wasn't healthy to think like that, but knew that anything she said wouldn't help and might even make things worse so she stayed silent. Colin had long retreated into a respectful background element he knew this didn't involve him, he was just a friend.

Jason broke the silence,"I'm sorry about that we barely know you and we're ranting to you about OUR problems" he said with exasperation

Jack made a small smile because she knew that in the last 5 minutes she'd bonded with these brothers more than any other person she'd ever met except for her dad, which was in a way sad, but by the same token it's one of the happiest feelings she'd ever had in her life. So she met his eyes tentatively,"It's okay." she whispered, they then finished their meal, quietly.
Name: Jack Lissy
Level: 2
Age: 17
Status: Healthy
Race: Human, Caucasian, Female
Traits: Fast Learner, Jinxed, Sex appeal
Trade: Reluctant "civil servant" (meaning slave) for the New Raleigh Republic handling their dirty work.
S P E C I A L
3 10 2 8 8 7 2

Equipment: Bloody Hatchet, Skinning knife, 1 stun grenade, rudimentary revolver, 6 32. rounds, 1 32. magnum round
NRR Civil Servant Dessert Suit (a duster with the national seal on the back), a lacrosse bag

Inventory: sleeping mat, zippo lighter, Large hide, several pounds of dried molerat jerky, Her Old Locket
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Munk
Member Avatar
One-Man Conga Line
[ *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
Great quest. I noticed some small grammar mistakes and a few misspelled words but other than that it was good. Also, I'm not sure if your shift key is broken or sticky or if you just didn't notice but you lacked proper capitalization in some places. Your dialogue was okay but could you some polish. Still a good quest.

Rewards
Quote:
 
Jack Lissey:

1x Big Hide: One molerat from earlier, probably the matriarch, was bigger than you thought. You managed to skin it real proper and got a big hide for your troubles.

Skinning Knife, (Kitchen Knife): Taken from the Ghoul Hunter. It's got a deep belly and a guthook on the flat edge. Looks shabbily made with whatever metal was on hand, forged in a campfire. Still, it's sharp and will slice well.
Andrew Hagan, Level 6, BTR: +40
Weapons:Switchblade (Concealed) Hunting Rifle (GC), 10mm Pistol (PC), Hunting Knife, Homemade Flamer (GC)
Armor: Reinforced Leather Vest, Repaired Blue Jeans
Currency: 2x Normal Hides, 1x Large Hides

Tack Morgan, Level 3, BTR: -50
Weapons: "The Neurolizer" (Teir Two - Laser Rifle)
Armor: Arena Denim (Teir One - GC)
Currency: 0


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