The Loop: Reawakening

Community Role Playing
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Otter, you excruciatingly crawl your way to your suspected ally. The large shrapnel in your leg is beginning to loosen as you do so, beckoning forth more blood. You begin to feel lightheaded from its absence, and you observe as the soldiers turn their attention to Ari, who is now breaking in a full-on mad dash towards the enemy.

You have lost it; to any onlookers, you seem to stumble and slam into debris strewn about in the battlefield. Clearly, your concussion is affecting you in the worst way humanly possible, but despite your delusions, you look up and bear witness to a giant metal construct, shifting and shimmering as explosions light up its form. You watch as the creature stumbles and rocks; you watch In fascination as it begins to fall towards a man now desperately trying to flee from it.

Ari, as you sprint towards the soldiers, you see as one of them orders the other two to deal with the screaming child while they attempt to deal with you. As they raise their gun, you watch as the other two take off towards your comrade; he wonā€™t be able to stand a chance against them. You need to think fast!

Adam, as you approach the child, you watch as the two soldiers stop in their tracks and train their guns on you, but a quick flash of hesitation crosses their faces. You turn to follow their gaze to watch as the colossus begins to fall, most certainly causing more damage to the docks.

Rose, as you observe the scene before you come across a variety of materials, thereā€™s certainly enough scraps and trash here to make something of use, but do you have the time to scavenge through everything?

As you flee from the falling automaton, you watch in horror as its dim shadow slowly begins encroaching upon you. But you were nearing the edge, and no matter what you do, nothing is going to get you out of its way. Perhaps thereā€™s a place you can seek cover? Or maybe you would like to accept this fate?

Unfortunately for you, Jacques, the soldiers do seem to be paying attention. As you pass by a nearby warehouse, you make direct eye contact with a soldier who is currently backing away from the colossus as it falls. He pays you no mind, however, turning back towards the bigger threat. Unimpeded, besides your crumpled ribcage, you make your way inside the warehouse, coming face-to-face with a familiar man. What is his name again? Oh, thatā€™s right!

You come to find one-

Silas, as you take a breather from your very short trip through the roof, you take a glance at your very nice timepiece; unfortunately, that glass will cost quite a penny to replace.

The time you witnessed is 10:21 p.m.

14 minutes remain

Norda Your crawl is interrupted as a foot is swiftly pressed down on your back, knocking the air from your lungs, and along with your struggle to regain your breath, you feel the cool barrel of a rifle placed against the back of your head. Man, this day surely canā€™t get any worse, right?

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Him
Heā€™s going to die.

Who am I kidding? Im hardly doing any better.

Ehre, in his concussed state, uses the only two things available to save the strange man from a very flat fate: his arm (well, the one that hasnt just been shot), and the rope kept wound across it.

Weakly tossing the rope a short distance towards the man while waving and making what noise he could, Ehre tries to get his attention, though it likely wont do anything more than confuse and delay the man he is trying to save, all while an ever increasing list of problems work against Ehre himself

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Adam grits his teeth as the metal monstrosity lays waste to more and more of the dock, but quickly turns his attention back to the soldiers.

ā€œHello, my name is Adam Craytonā€ his words came out raspy and painfully, likely from
All the screaming heā€™d been doing and the smoke heā€™d inhaled. Sweat mixed with blood and soot dropped down from his forehead and into his right eye, causing him to blink as he focused on trying to not get shot. ā€œThat child over there is under my care, and he needs medical attention, please let me attend to him.ā€ He was hoping to play the ā€˜worried guardianā€™ card to try and win over their sympathies. He figured it might work better than his military card, since his actual military ID card was MIA. If they were still suspicious of him or refused to let him try and help the child, then heā€™d try pulling rank, though admittedly he wasnā€™t sure these soldiers would believe him. If these soldiers still didnā€™t believe him, he might have to do something drastic, which was not something he wanted to do. Adam caught movement out of the corner of his, and for the first time he noticed a figure with a metal arm dashing towards the rest of the soldiers that had begun to approach the kid. How did I not notice that before? he thought. He must still have been a bit light headed from his crash and the smoke. Focus Adam, focus! he thought to himself, trying to mentally shake off the fog creeping into his brain.

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The kidā€™s voice was extremely weak, muffled by the sounds of screaming, burning and general chaos all around, yet it still rang clear as day in her head. The single word startled her. The kid called her name. Aristomache Grimm.
Ari for friends.
The kid was her friend.

Why canā€™t I remember anything else about him?! Who is he?! How do I know him?!

They finally spotted her. All their attention was focused on her. She was so close now. Ari raised her improvised shield higher, preparing to protect herself from their gunfire when she saw two soldiers split away from the group and start marching toward the barely conscious kid.

To her own surprise, she witnessed herself instinctively swing the large heavy mangled piece of steel around (what purpose did it serve before the crash? Was it a door?) and hurl it at the pair in an attempt to knock them off their feet.

Why why why did I just do that?! Left myself completely unprotected for the sake of some kid?! Who the heck is he?!

She put her metal arm in front of her face, hoping to at least protect her head and dashed towards the closest soldier.
She was about to attempt to rip his rifle from his grasp with her normal hand while punching him in the face with the metal one from the side without activating the last charge.

The time was running out, she couldnā€™t waste any time on fighting them, so she needed to act quickly. She needed to get to the water tank as soon as possible.

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Whatā€™sā€¦ Going on? Am I hallucinating?

In spite of Ariā€™s increased distance from him, Ottar tried to close the gap, more blood rushing out of the wound in his leg. It appeared as though all the blood in his body was taking the opportunity to escape through his thigh rather than finishing the trip down to his ruined ankle.

It hurts. It hurts so muchā€¦ Everything hurts. My mind hurts.

Ottar had stopped his crawl, confident that Ari was simply too far for him to reach, no matter what kind of an effort he made. With an anguished whimper, he pulled one knee under himself, pushing up onto his wrists as his hand still gripped the wrench.

A thought occurred to him, and he shook his left sleeve. Sure enough, the screwdriver landed in his open palm. Hopefully with both of those combined, he would be able toā€¦

ā€¦To What? Iā€™m losing so much blood I canā€™t feel myself think anymore. What am I supposed to do?

The cover mostly obstructed his view, but Ottar could see Ari discard her substantial shield in an attempt toā€¦ Uhā€¦

Well, that part of his brain was suffering from lack of oxygen at the moment. But the instinctive part of his mind, the mechanical portion which saw the angle that her shoulders moved at, told him generally where her target must be in order for her to make such a maneuver.

Whatever it was, it was significantly closer than whatever else she was heading towards, and therefore of the utmost importance to him. Crying out softly, he forced his other leg - the one with no metal and a still intact foot - onto said foot underneath his torso.

I really hope that Iā€™m going to wake up soon.

Yeah right. This is no dream; itā€™s real.

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26

A sling is simple in construction, two pieces of string, a piece of leather that holds the projectile and something to throw. Rose ripped a strip of cloth from her s h i r t and cut it in two, to make the pouch a piece of the same s h i r t folded a few times would suffice and there was definitely no shortage of rocks and debris to throw. In less than a minute a simple sling was made, and while clearly not ideal it should still work. The problem now was deciding what to hit. Ideally she would hit the soldiers in front of the crazy lady Ari? she recalled another name of unknown origin, but she would need to throw over the rest of the battalion. Rose climbed the pile she was hiding behind checking if it was stable enough. She aimed at the head of one of the soldiers attacking ari, she spun the sling and threw a rock.

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As you feared, the soldiers donā€™t react to you announcing your name to them. They have no clue who you are; their only reaction is that of raising their rifles and training them at your head, but maybe your handlerā€¦ What was her name again? God, this was the worst time for your brain to be so scrambled.

Ariaā€¦

Ariaā€¦

Aria Winters!

You toss the rope, and despite how dazed and weak you are currently, it lands in front of Tod. Oh, hey, you remembered his name. Good for you! Unfortunately, youā€™re now really close to the colossus, and it seems to be raising its wings to do somethingā€¦

Whatever it is, itā€™s causing a horrible whirring noise, and you definitely donā€™t want to be around when it starts whatever itā€™s trying.

As you charge towards the soldier, he fires off a round from his rifle, the bullet piercing your thigh, but you ignore it, taking the opportunity to grab the soldierā€™s rifle and deliver a blow to his face. You make contact, of course, with his skull making a loud crunch as you connect, and he in turn falls to the ground dazed.

You turn to watch the metal you chucked at the guards be carried up by an updraft, missing them both completely

A little too late, as you throw the rock, a gust of wind brought forth from the colossusā€™s falling sends it flying into one of the soldiers who is currently pointing a gun atā€¦ whatā€™s-his-face

The one who currently has his hands raised in surrender at the two other soldiers. What luck! The impact does nothing but cause one of them to whir around and point you out to the other soldiers.

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Tod hastily dives , seeking for any cover of any kind, his knees scraping against the cement.

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Ottar blinked in surprise as for a brief moment he saw the metal reappear over the rubble. What in the world could be so strong as to bring it up so sharply and so suddenly, seeing as she had aimed it rather low?

And then the world replied, massive gusts of wind smothering the area. If these blasts could redirect so large a piece of metal, they had no issue slamming young Ottar into the rubble he was hiding behind, and quite possibly everyone in the immediate area was feeling the effects of the unavoidable force.

His vision fiercely fighting off the sudden dark spots that formed, Ottar gritted his teeth to keep from falling over. It was all he could do to stay on his one foot after being smashed against the debris, and he squeezed the ever-increasing pain out through his bone-white knuckles.

Someone might be here any moment.

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ā€œAsk Aria Winters, she can vouch for me. Sheā€™s a good friend of myā€¦ā€ as Adam breathlessly tried to get them to listen, he was interrupted by gust of wind that nearly knocked Adam off his feet. The wind also blew a rock into one of the soldiers and caused a metal plate to fly over their heads.

One of the soldiers in front of Adam quickly turned around and pointed the assailant out to the other soldiers.

Using the wind and the rock as a distraction, Adam tried to make it look like the wind had pushed him forward so he could be closer to the soldiers. Part of it was not an act, as it did nearly knock him over and into them, but he managed to get a little bit closer and also maintain his footing. Next, he tried to get the soldiersā€™ attention back on him by waving his arms and saying ā€œplease, there is a dying child over there and I just want to help them!ā€ Gesturing toward Ottar and adding a bit of panic to his voice, trying to play on the soldierā€™s emotions. He then began using his acting skills to try and work up to a cry, while also making it look like he was trying to keep it together ā€œI just want to help the kid, I swear to you Iā€™m good friends with Aria winters, just let me help that kid!ā€ He shouted over the wind through his manifested sobbing, trying to make it as believable as his semi addled brain would allow.

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31

Oh, crap

Slowly raising her battered and torn arms as high as they could, Norda began to utter the phrase she had been instructed to repeat if she ever found herself in a hostile encounter with no option to run or fight.

"My name is Norda Aardvak, citizen ID number GV309828. I work at North Sikkerhead Penitentiary as a correctional offficer. I mean you no harm."

Norda slowly gripped her ID card, not wanting to make any sudden movements that may cause her attacker to pull the cold trigger. With her head flat on the ground and her arms stinging with red-hot pain, Norda silently prayed for the gun-wielding perpetrator to show her mercy.

OOC: if this is stepping too far with creating lore and stuff just say the word and Iā€™ll fix it right away

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32

Rose steadied herself, still grasping the rubble after the gust of wind almost pushed her off the pile Well, that didnā€™t work rose sighed ā€œI shouldā€™ve just ranā€ she lamented. ā€œactuallyā€¦ Now seems to be a really great time to do just thatā€ she thought, but something was still bothering her whatā€™s stopping me, I donā€™t even know these people and yetā€¦ If she couldnā€™t bring herself to run she at least had to do something or move from the pile. Maybe she could spread some chaos between the soldiers? If only she had something explosive or anything else big and flashyā€¦

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Ari clenched her teeth as the spike of pain pierced her leg. This wouldnā€™t have happened if I still had that piece of metal on me. At least I hope I didnā€™t throw it away for nothing.

She turned her head to face the two soldiers just in time to see the steel plate get carried by a strong gust of wind, missing them completely.

WHAT IN THE ACTUAL-

She didnā€™t get a chance to finish that thought, as the same wind current came crashing into her moments after, almost knocking Ari off her feet. One quick glance in the direction of the colossus was enough to determine what caused it.

She was almost out of time. This was her only chance. The kid, whoever he was, would have to get out of this all by himself.

As Ari prepared to continue moving towards her goal, she suddenly noticed another person next to the kid and the pair of soldiers, seemingly trying to talk his way out of getting shot. Another unfamiliar yet so strangely familiar face. Why does this keep happening to her?

Without much further consideration, Ari quickly leaned down towards the knocked out soldier, ripped the ammo belt off of his body and dashed in the direction where the three were standing. She was limping a lot more now, with the injured leg slowing her down a bit. As she ran, she reloaded the rifle, this action frustratingly taking her several tries. Thereā€™s only so much you can do with hands like these. Itā€™s not even worth trying to aim. She was never good with guns anyways. But this guyā€¦

why do I care so much anyways? Who are these people?

ā€œHey, you!ā€ she yelled out, trying to get the manā€™s attention, and threw the rifle, together with the ammo belt, at him. She wasnā€™t about to make the same mistake twice, so she aimed much lower, attempting to use the wind current to her advantage. If her estimations were correct, the gun should fly right past the soldiers and end up right in his hands. She didnā€™t have time to see if it happened though, she had to keep running.

ā€œThey have orders to kill us all! Take the kid and run!ā€

Would that make any difference? Do they even stand a single chance?
Ari continued making her way towards the high-pressure water canister. Thatā€™s what mattered most at that moment.

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34

ā€¦Huh?

The adrenaline in his system was making the unholy fire in his mauled leg take a step back compared to the fight for his life, but it nagged at his system, daring him to go into shock from the injury. And yet, for all the agony that ripped at his mind, it could not override the questions that struck with the force of a sledgehammer. Ottar panted, his throat rippling with flame, as he tried to comprehend what was going on.

How does he know? Who IS he?

He could not peek over the edge of the rubble, lest he give away his exact position, but whoever this happened to be was doing a fantastic job of telling everyone involved where exactly Ottar was hiding, so perhaps it was irrelevant. Still, he should maintain the element of surprise, if at all possible.

ā€¦Ariaā€¦ Aria Wintersā€¦
ā€¦Ari?

Take the-

Ottarā€™s fingers twitched, trying to feel the sensation of a cigarette he didnā€™t have in his hand. Three yearsā€¦ It had been three years of this hellish pain. It felt like half a lifetime; his lungs were so used to the coddling sensation of nicotine that his dependency made most of the adults he knew look positively cautionary on the matter. When was it going to end? When would the scenes stop haunting his memory?

If I have to hear about this again right now Iā€™m going to ask the soldiers to just get it over with.

In spite of his prior knowledge, two fingers traveled to shakily touch his lips, as if in spite of there not being a cigarette, perhaps one would just magically appear if he tried hard enough.

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35

It will be different this time. It has to be. For us, for my family, and for all of Sikkerheadā€¦

Silas continued his limping towards the door as he heard a rifle shot. Things are already going poorly from the sounds of it. He increased his pace, as painful as it already was, and made it to the exit. He emerged for the warehouse just in time to see Ari throw the rifle to Adam. A fight appeared to be around the corner. Defusing the situation seemed unlikely at this point, but he still had to tryā€¦

ā€œSoldiers, hold!ā€ He shouted with all the authority his pained voice would allow, as he leaned on his cane for support. ā€œWhat in blazes is going on here?ā€

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36

Ehre yells to todd to grab the rope, only waiting a few seconds before trying to run away from the machine.

At this point Ehre cant tell if he is dreaming or if this is reality, but between the sluggish, improper responses from his muscles, the seeming impossibility to escape the terror in front of him, and the downright insanity of the current situation, he was beginning to lean towards it being a dream.
On the other hand though, his shoulder really hurt, and heā€™s pretty sure the blood in his mouth is from biting his tongue. Whatever is really going on, the feeling is setting in that heā€™ll find out if its reality or not very soon.

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37

You watch as a few soldiers break off from the main group and start sprinting off towards another member of your party as the soldiers in front of you turn their attention back to you.

ā€œJenkins you know who heā€™s talking about?ā€ The one on the left said as he readjusted his grip on the rifle, finger hovering over the trigger

ā€œI do, but orders are orders. Doesnā€™t matter if heā€™s one of us we have a kill order and I donā€™t intend to get demoted when Iā€™m about to catch my lucky break.ā€

Unfortunate, seems that even your class an acting wasnā€™t enough to persuade them, maybe something a bit more direct would be in order?

Norda, as you announce your name to the assailant you feel the pressure on the back of your head lessen and the barrel removed entirely. You swear you hear the soldier behind you whisper ā€œmeemaw Aardvak.ā€ Turning around you find yourself face to face with someone quite familiar. A young boy you helped set back on the right path named Thomas Martin, seems your guidance really did help him out in the long run.

ā€œMs. Norda, whatā€™re you doing out here? Especially with terrorists?ā€ He ask kneeling down and helping you onto your foot.

You look around and spot another undamaged water container, the pressure inside that thing would sure make a great improvised explosive if you could compromise its structure, too bad that thereā€™s now several soldiers heading your way, better act fast

Ari your throw is more then successful, you watch as the rifle and ammo soar right past the soldiers and into Adamā€™s hands which were opened in surrender just moments before.

Silas, unfortunately for you the soldiers do not hold. In fact one of them whips around and fires a bullet straight through your thigh, at this several other soldiers turn and ready their weapons at you too.

Too little too late. Mr. Tod here seems content to find some cover in the nearby rubble. However the whirring sound of the colossus is getting much louder and much more dangerous sounding, perhaps now would be a good time to escape.

Tod you find yourself a nice little cover made of wood to hide in, you climb inside ignoring the splinters and shards of wood poking you and curl up hoping, no praying that you will be spared.

But no answer comes, and the only thing that meets you is darkness.

The group can see as the colossus falls onto the ground, crushing Tod and his place of cover. You all watch in horror as blood splatters out from the colossus as it hits the ground with the deafening sound of crunching metal and machinery breaking down, however itā€™s not down for long as the wings on its sides extend and open up revealing a set of strange looking turbines, then suddenly begin to spin and the colossus rises once more, perhaps it would best if you got out of dodge faster than right now ehre.

status report
Ehre:injured
Rose:active
Ari: active
Norda: injured
Silas: injured
Adam: Active
Ottar: injured
Tod: Deceased

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38

That could work Rose thought, and while sliding down the rubble she picked up a few nuts and bolts. ā€œI have to make this shotā€ she loaded a bolt in her sling and threw it with all the force she had towards the container, hoping that the accident had done at least some damage. As soon as she threw she began running, she didnā€™t know to where, she just needed somewhere narrow, or dark where she could have a little bit more chances.

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39

Blood rushed to Adamā€™s ears as he heard the words of the soldiers. Once again, he was reminded of the importance of his job, as he made sure that the ā€œshoot now ask questions laterā€ mentality of the military doesnā€™t cause unnecessary suffering to the people of sikkerhead.

As rage began to boil in his veins, he felt the impact and familiar weight of gun in his hands and he new what he needed to do. He quickly closed the gap between himself and the soldier closest to Ottar, attempting to body the gun out of his hand while shooting a single round at the barrel of the other soldierā€™s gun. He hoped to disarm both soldiers and knock them unconscious, but he was prepared to kill if necessary. but why? he thought. why am I willing to kill my colleagues to save a single child. What makes his life any more important than theirā€™s? while his mind pondered, his heart knew that this child, these other people being attacked by the soldiers, they meant something to him. At least, they meant more than some soldiers whom heā€™d never known and who had never known him.

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40

Ehre hangs his head and gives a short moment to mourn for the loss of the strange man, Tod his name was, though how he knew the mans name Ehre wasnt sure.

Now no longer fighting to accomplish something, the still severe state of his concussion combined with the shock of being shot and blood leaking from his numbing shoulder finally overwhelmed him once more.

Ehre slowly collapsed on the ground with one end of the rope still loosely in his hand, while his consciousness drifted out to some other place, leaving behind just a battered, bloody and utterly exhausted corpse of a man to lay upon the ground.

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