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Post by black379 on Mar 11, 2018 20:04:57 GMT -8
Adeney shuddered, sitting up to hold his head in his hands. Heavy, erratic gasps fled him while he tried vainly to regain his composure. There was too much. He failed too miserably.
But that didn't mean he could sit there, crying until he died. He couldn't endanger all of them to suffer just because Audrey was gone. His hands almost didn't feel like his own for ending her life. But the group had a chance to salvage themselves before meeting a cruel fate too. The doctor preferred to ignore the consequence their leaving would have on Celeste.
"I'll take A-Aud... Y-you've a sword..." He stood slowly, though he seemed to hardly have the will to remain upright. Adeney regarded Ariana with a weary turn of his beak, but he had nothing to say to her. Surely she thought he was feeble and pitiable as a fly caught in a web. He couldn't contradict her.
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Post by porkylabrador on Mar 12, 2018 0:27:53 GMT -8
Rania slumped against the wall and pinched the bridge of her nose, taking a breath so wheezing, one my swear there was a tiny creature inside her raking its claws against a chalkboard. "Shitty-fucking-pigmen-bastard-cultists..." She whispered into her hand as her breathing began to steady, it was evident she'd been beaten and cut many times.
"Right then, I appreciate your candour Alfie but if you speak at normal volume again we're going to be but up on hooks and if I'm on one of those again, I'm liable to be very unpleasant to everyone in my immediate presence maybe even to the point I start putting people up on hooks myself." It was an empty threat and more of a 'please whisper.'
Fucking Tilly, got my back even when she doesn't mean to. "I'm Nurse Celeste." The Arbalest nodded confidently and really didn't care if the pair had seen this 'Celeste' before or not so she was happy with the lie. "The three of us, we're all leaving together, right now." The armoured lass suddenly padded at the hole in her breastplate, a trickle of blood oozed from the metal.
Her wound had reopened a fraction and it was evident she was trying not to scream profanities into the dark. Through bared teeth she looked up again at her unlikely saviours. "Let's go, start walking."
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Post by Vanitypirate on Mar 12, 2018 5:25:08 GMT -8
The doubt was plain as day on Alphonse's face, both in regards to Adeney's ability to haul Audrey out of this pit, and Ariana's claim to be the blonde-haired, blue-eyed Celeste that Tilly had told him about. His brows were furrowed, as if in pain-- and, in fairness, he was, though thankfully not to the degree that his other two companions were in.
He tipped his head respectfully, gently slipping with a shaking hand Audrey's body off his shoulder and into Adeney's arms.
"We'll... make it out of this, Adeney. Have no fear." He assured with a nod as he passed the body to the doctor. He believed his own whispering words; they had to make it out. There wasn't another option.
He signed, turning, drawing his sword with his single arm preemptively. He met Ariana's gaze and spoke quietly, "I understand, senorita. We can't stay stay here."
Asking her if she was able to walk seemed to be a poor idea, even if he doubted it himself; he supposed he would have to wait for her to bring it up.
With a wary glance around, futilely into the choking dark, the boy started forward, back through the direction they came in. He took full, deep, breaths, and with the rise of each one, he made another silent prayer for their protection.
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Post by black379 on Mar 12, 2018 9:22:26 GMT -8
Adeney cradled the body, heavy and limp. He hid her face for his own sake as much as hers. He struggled to remain composed and dispassionate despite prior experience with dead.
The doctor's garbs were doused in blood and mire. His companions though seemed worse for wear, and in danger of succumbing to infection if they stayed any longer. The most pressing concern was to escape with what they had.
"I'm sorry." He muttered to no one in particular. Adeney lingered close behind Alphonse and held the lantern to guide them back.
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Post by porkylabrador on Mar 12, 2018 9:39:39 GMT -8
Ariana shifted and began to trudge, following the pair before stopping after as little as a couple of steps. "Hold up." She hissed into the shadowy light which she was both grateful and ungrateful for. It turned out not seeing the where she was going was almost nice than seeing where she was going within the fetid halls of this place. "You can't be serious. You actually can't..." Rania shook her head and chuckled in disbelief.
The Arbalest would wait for them to turn before pointing at the body. "We're not taking that with us." She said as if it were fact because in her mind it was, her tone was exasperated and incredulous.
"Are you trying to make sure we don't leave. If we get jumped what the flippedy fuckedy are we going to do? Bleed at our enemies? You've got one arm and I've been doing my best impression of fish-bait for the last however longs. Ask her what she wants if you like, I guarantee you, she doesn't give even the slightest of shits what happens to her anymore." The armoured lass grimaced at the corpse. "We are not putting our most able-bodied grunt on meat-slogging detail, drop the body and lets go before we join her."
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Post by Vanitypirate on Mar 12, 2018 9:52:36 GMT -8
Alphonse turned halfly, frowning. He thought on the prospect of leaving the woman behind, to rot and feed the swine. He looked between Ariana and then Adeney, grieving, and shivered, finding himself filled with more resolve than he knew he had.
"We. Won't. Leave her. Not today." He flexed his grip on the sword before pressing on, staring into the dark. His wounds, some half-healed and some fresh, stung. He was shaking with inner resolution, frustration, mingled no short supply of fear. "Just like we would never leave you-- you are not Celeste, senorita. You do not need to lie."
He could hardly believe the words were coming out of his own mouth.
"We will get out of here." He glanced to Adeney, both to ensure that he was following and also to take into account the fellow's own wellbeing, and capacity to carry the woman. "And we won't need to feed innocent people to monsters to do it."
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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Mar 13, 2018 16:55:02 GMT -8
/Arnulf/
"Now that's lucky..."
He muttered to himself, smirking as he made to reach out to the dagger before pausing; he gave a quick glance over to the bizarre beast, burned to death, he sighed... It was the only source of light at the moment.
With the prospect of a new dirk, he shouldered his bow and arrows to produce one of his bollock daggers out again. He grumbled nonsensically, rather cynically, as he took out one of the two remaining bandages he'd stowed away for the impromptu hunt, and stared at the corpses around him, searching for anything particularly fatty.
He noted Florence's dejection and coughed, spitting into the grimy floor for her attentions,
"Oi; find some fat, we need t'make another torch if y'don't got one." He spoke with some sombriety once again, as his nose was curled into a snarl all while searching for some fat amidst the corpses to douse the bandages in...
\\
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Post by black379 on Mar 13, 2018 18:02:47 GMT -8
Part of him agreed with the woman. Audrey's body was waste now, vacant. Yet she hadn't deserved to die, let alone rot in offal or be gnawed to bits by the swine. He carried her as some final respect, as if it would make up for ending her life.
"It's not far." Adeney spoke up to Ariana. His beak turned slightly to spy her through one eyeglass. The arbalest was battered and torn up, but walking and cursing. "I'll look you over once we're back."
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Post by porkylabrador on Mar 14, 2018 5:51:32 GMT -8
If Rania were a bear her hackles would be up and her dander would be flitting angrily into the stagnant air of the tunnel. There was no sense in burying the dead in this context, the only person present who cared less about what happened to the body than she did was apparently the carcass herself. "It's not the time to be fucking sentimental." She hissed angrily as heat rose into her voice.
"If you all want to... nng..." She staggered for a moment as her wound throbbed another thin stream of crimson through the hole in her breastplate. "Don't. Put. Sentiment. Before. Survival." She'd seen it too often, a soldier trying to carry their departed friend away from the mud and the cannon-fire... all it ever meant was a Ariana had lost two people instead of one.
Limping a little more slowly than the pair she trudged behind them with gritted teeth. "If her spirits departed her fucking body maybe you should try carrying that instead, it'll be a lot fucking lighter and you can't trip on it when another one of those... things... tries to serve us for dinner."
She was making a little more noise now as her temper rose, far from shouting but not quite whispering either. "And by-the-by Alfie, I'd happily let you leave me if I suffered from her affliction, trust me, I'd be long past caring... She's not sick, or injured and she's certainly not even fucking limping along like me, she'd dead, she can't be saved. She's ain't a person anymore, she's the same as the offal and the meat you've been treading on since you've got here..."
A slight pleading tone entered the Arbalest's voice. "Please don't make us join her."
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Post by Vanitypirate on Mar 14, 2018 6:50:27 GMT -8
Alphonse:
"We are not far from the Hamlet. The fiends funneled directly into it. We will make it back." He repeated as he shook his head, squinting into the dark. He walked carefully forward, so as to not trip on what unspeakable filth was beneath his feet.
He felt a certain calm wash over him, now that they were moving. Just him and the goal ahead.
He pressed on.
Adeney:
A sudden sensation would come over him as he walked along, like sitting at the center of an infinite web: suddenly the presence of every worm and insect flitting around in the filth became known to him. He could sense the beasts, dozens of feet below, in some other damnable tunnel. The perception of this extended to the walls of the Hook Room: a handful of beings on those hooks were alive, if only barely. The good doctor would detect that the Hook Room was massively long, spanning endlessly into the dark.
Ahead, into the tunnel they were heading to, he would sense another presence: a tall, willowy swine, bent over and digging its snout into some fetid pile of meat. It was some thirty yards down the tunnel, just by the entrance to the sanitarium.
Adeney would feel arcane energy buzzing in his fingertips, behind his eyes. But as quickly as it came, it was gone, and normalcy returned.
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Post by black379 on Mar 14, 2018 8:52:39 GMT -8
He clutched the body tighter as Rania protested. Adeney was hopelessly conflicted between reason and sentiment. Alphonse and Ariana only further tortured him.
"I can't-" Freezing in his tracks, the red doctor was stricken with frightful awareness. The Warrens were an indefinite maze, with too many suffering souls lost and left to die in the worst way. By some small mercy, Adeney and the others were so close to free. It couldn't be wasted.
"P-please... Just one moment more..." He started again, toward the exit, his pace kept between the two so that Alphonse wouldn't march too far ahead, but he wouldn't leave Ariana limping behind either.
"There's s-something ahead." He warned under his breath.
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Post by porkylabrador on Mar 14, 2018 14:52:55 GMT -8
Rania immediately clasped her maw shut, had she been a baser mammal her ears would more noticeably prick to attention. Even limping, her posture and movement became more rigid, more careful, desperately trying to make the grate of plate-on-plate silent.
"Something as in..?" Her voice was barely a whisper, the sound of foliage shifting in the autumn breeze. She didn't need clarification, in her heart-of-hearts the disaster waiting to happen was apparent.
The Arbalest shouldered and took aim forwards-ways with her vigilant companion, V.
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Post by Vanitypirate on Mar 14, 2018 16:53:41 GMT -8
Alphonse hesitated, stopping, and he turned halfly to look back at his band of compatriots.
He was eager to leave this pit, get this woman buried, and to tend to the other. The least amount of time spent in here was for the better.
Though, there was still the matter of Florence and Celeste. He knew he couldn't leave them down here, either.
His mind was wandering. He slowed his pace to meet Adeney's.
"What do you see, Doctor?" He asked quietly, eyes flitting anxiously back and forth from Adeney to the dark.
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Post by black379 on Mar 15, 2018 9:15:13 GMT -8
"I don't... A beast." His voice was a raspy breath, quiet but fraught with urgency. Adeney didn't know where precisely the creature was. He half hoped to catch it under the lantern light, so at least they knew what they were dealing with. But he would much rather happen upon the exit first.
"J-just one." Even if it were, one swinefolk was enough to fell the three of them in their sorry states. He stooped lower, really only making it more difficult to haul the girl's body. The doctor couldn't grab his knife while he carried her, and he couldn't bring himself to let her go.
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Post by porkylabrador on Mar 15, 2018 11:32:03 GMT -8
Rania froze like a whippet catching hunt's first scent. Her good arm's paw played at the loading mechanism of Verona while her more crippled limb's steel-clad index finger played at her trigger. "Where?" Instantly she was whispering again, hot breath permeating from her full lips in a hiss of condensation.
The Arbalest squinted into the darkness ahead and her face drew into a snarl as she noticed Adeney fumbling in effort to draw his weapon. "Will you listen to me now, boy?" She spat in quiet frustration. "Drop the fucking carcass or join her!" The irony of calling someone 'boy' when he was around her own age was not lost on her but neither did it seem important.
"And stand back... where or whatever this thing is, I'll season its meat with bolts before it knows we're here..." Her words were a struggle as she raise the crossbow higher, a noticeable tremble ran through her trigger-arm, such was the pain. I don't know where you are creature but fuck you to buggery and back again... I blindsided your brother in the dark and I'll do the same again.
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