lucetilogs | We're more than carbon and chemicals

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We're more than carbon and chemicals

Who: All Draftees
What: Fighting Third Party
When: 26th, 27th, 28th, 1st, and 2nd
Where: The Southern Farmlands
Summary: See here for overall details.
Rating: Probably gonna be gorey in places :|a

DOESN'T NEED A CUT. People should know how this works, if not, just follow other people's lead. I'm gonna set up some strategist threads at the top, for the four strategists to use if they want to, otherwise people should start their own threads.

((Mod Note: Since this has been asked a few times, just fyi, the livestock do not talk. Happy hunting!))

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[Wolfwood just stares down silently at them for a moment, stoic face painted even more stoic by his glasses. Every time he lowers his weapon in Luceti he feels like he should be regretting it, like he had back home. But right now, all he can think is how sick he is of seeing splattered tissue all over the floors.]

I wonder about that...

[He looks at Shikamaru, over his glasses, serious but not venomous in his gaze.]

We don't kill them, and they'll either hurt or kill one of us, or they'll end up dying anyway; so our only option is to blast them full of holes, is it?

[Slowly, he brings his gun to one of their foreheads.]

Is that really all we're good for, then?

[Even for Shikamaru, this is getting to be a bit much. He's killed before - hell, of all of his graduating class, he's been on the most A-rank missions so far. This is what he was trained to do

...but he's never enjoyed it. And the fact of the matter is, he's killed more people in the last few days - in a war that isn't his own - then he ever has back home.

Yes, he's been trained for this. But he's never been in a place that made him feel like nothing but a weapon until now. He hates that you've chosen now of all times to remind him of it, Wolfwood.]

Probably... in their eyes; the Malnosso's. [His hands fall back into the rat seal, and his shadow slides up along the second Elite's body; solid and shaped like hands, they wrap around the arms and settle along the throat.]

But I think I'm good for a lot more to the people I care about - the ones that actually matter. Not many of them are in Luceti, but there's a few. Back in the village. You do too, right?

[His shadow's hold constricts as the Elite tries to fight against him.] They're waiting for us to come back. We won't be of any good to them if we die here, even if it's only for a week.

That's right. Things are different in a battle like this, where our freedoms are worth about as much as the dirt under our shoes.

[Sorry, kid, but there's no such thing as a good time to bring up killing—except when you're right about to pull the trigger. Wolfwood wasn't an idiot rigged to a gun: he knew that the forehead behind the pistol was one with a mind full of memories and thoughts and everything his happened to have.

So it goes, there's nothing that changes one solemn fact: people had to die.

But who had the right to hand down that sort of divine wrath? Humanity seemed to think itself worthy of it, and so they pelted each other with bullets and fed themselves the term 'justification'.

That's where Wolfwood was starting to understand Vash... which is why he flinches faintly as he pulls the trigger and almost hears the sound of someone in the back of his mind objecting too late. The Elite's body crumples to the ground, and Wolfwood's arm swings to his side.]

Lord forgive me.

[Said casually as he holsters his gun, but this priest was not the type to say something he didn't sincerely mean.]

[He wants to say he's sorry. Back home, these are the situations he's depended on for; figuring out all of the methods and tricks and loopholes and getting people out of a tight spot.

But they've been fighting for days, and he's come up with no workable option. That he can't do that for anyone here... he's sorry.

That kind of apology loses what little footing it has when you're in the middle of killing someone, however. Instead, he releases Kage Mane on the first Elite just before Wolfwood pulls the trigger - he doesn't know what effects if any a bullet to the head will have on his body, but he isn't interested in finding out anytime soon - and puts the rest of his concentration into strangling the second with his shadow.

Shikamaru doesn't watch the body when it falls, releasing the bind when he feels the lack of a pulse through his shadow.]

Your arm all right?

[As the ninja asks, Wolfwood's already pointing a pack of cigarettes toward Shikamaru with one cigarette waiting to be taken up; he figures he could use one.]

I won't lose it.

[And that's all that really matters—Wolfwood's reckless at times, but he's not one to ignore a wound if it truly needs looking at. From what he can feel in the sharp pangs along his arm, it's reopened, but it's still bandaged and he'll be able to deal with it at the medical tent without any rush.]

Good to hear.

[He takes the cigarette with a muttered 'thanks'. It's been a while since his last smoke - he's not a regular of the habit. But this? Has definitely been one of those weeks. There's a metallic clink from Asuma's lighter as he flips it open.]

But I'm carrying extra bandages if you need them. [He's more worried about the bloodstain on the sleeve, honestly. It draws attention and makes a good spot to aim.]

Edited 2011-03-19 02:29 (UTC)

[A nod in his direction.] I'd appreciate them.

Though...

[He walks into a clearing, where it seems nothing alive is... Just a wide field dotted with Third Party bodies.]

[Shikamaru opens a pocket, taking out a roll of bandages. He needs some for his shoulder, but that can probably wait until he finds Law or another medic - he's not about to treat it out here. He'll just have to watch his back until then...

Busy with that train of thought, it takes him a second to realize Wolfwood trailed off.]

...though?

[... he counts around 200, just on this field alone.]

It doesn't look like there's much left--

[And then he's suddenly gone. Looks like they weren't polite enough to finish that thought; his last day on the battlefield seems finished.]

[Shikamaru stares at the empty space for a moment, his hands moving to put the bandages back in their place. Doesn't look like there's an immediate need for them after all.]

About that time, huh? [He grins without humor and takes a drag on the cigarette; exhales.] Good. I'm not sure how much more I can take of this.

[As if on cue, there's a roar in the distance - something strange and new to the battlefield that makes the hair stand on the back of his neck.

When he finds himself still standing there, Shikamaru curses and drops the cigarette to the ground, crushing it underfoot before heading in the direction of the noise. He'll have to catch up with you later, Wolfwood. From the look of things, his job isn't quite finished yet.]

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