lucetilogs | Zompania Draft - Draftees only, days 1-3.5

Who: All Draftees
What: This is your death. Followed by your time-traveling life and desperate bomb hunting.
When: From May 22 to May 20 to early May 23 (days 1-4)
Where: Zompania
Summary: Information post here
Rating: Varies on thread, please mark explicit material.

This post is for the draftee-only portion of the Zompania draft--the day 3 death, time travel to day 1, and then the events until the arrival of the reinforcements. Be sure to use the above info post for any plotting needs you might have. Enjoy!

Please note that there is a specific top-level comment thread for:

The day 3 arrival of the draftees and the 6 hours that follow until the bomb is dropped
Death--This thread can be treated as REFERENCE ONLY. Responding to it isn't necessary.
Threads prior to departing for Zompania--post resurrection freak outs, arguments over how to proceed, etc.

All other threading, from day 1 until the reinforcements arrive, should be conducted as normal.

Be sure to tag this post appropriately: [canon] character name

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Steve hadn't been sure what to expect once they finally made it inside the city. This hadn't been it. But maybe it should have been after he had spent the entire night before listening to the screams. The piles of bodies surrounded him, making it impossible to escape the stench of rotting flesh.

He quickly leads people single file through the street, not letting them linger over the bodies. The bodies remind him of mass graves that he has only seen in pictures. He wants to stop and bury them now, but he knows there isn't time. Maybe after...

He notices that Obi-Wan has stopped, over come by the sight of the corpses. He pushed people ahead of him as he tries to get to his friend.]

Obi-Wan...You know who has done this, just as well as I do. [He sighs.] Come on. We need to keep moving.

[He's not as much at a loss to explain who as he is why. Why somebody would do this. Why anybody could create such pain, horror, and death on such a massive scale. But he nods, numbly.]

"You're right. Forgive me. It was simply a bit... overwhelming."

[He takes a deep breath, tunes out all of the revulsion and horror that's welling up inside him, and continues to follow the soldiers with the Captain.]

[He grips Obi-Wan's shoulder firmly, searching his expression to see if he's alright to continue on. Finally he nods.]

I know, believe me. I don't think any of us expected...this.

[The cruelty and the magnitude of the act...Only the seriously unbalanced and bloody thirsty could accomplish something like this. But...this is the cultists they're up against.]

[It's something he's been taught during a lifetime of war to process. He knows that. He's seen death before. Not all at once like this, but the Clone War had cost so many lives- droid and clone lives, primarily, but nevertheless. Even the Jedi Order, all told, had lost more people than this. He could do this.

He just had to ignore the horrific brutality of it. And the sickening wrongness of what they themselves had felt when they came face to face with true, permanent death in this place where such permanency was so alien.

Obi-Wan decides, instead, to focus on their surroundings. There would doubtless be cultists within the city, and he suspects this horror hasn't satisfied their lust for death just yet. His lightsaber is in his hand again and he moves ahead into the city, cautiously scanning his surroundings.]

[The rest of the group had gone ahead of them, continuing to move through the city under Steve's order. He trusts that everyone is able to handle themselves even if he isn't there to lead them. Instead he prefers to hang back and keep an eye on Obi-Wan.

They continue through the streets, moving closer and closer to the heart of the city. Only a few streets away from where they'd first encountered the bodies do they finally encounter trouble. A handful of cultists appear from opposite ends of the street and from alley ways. Steve grabs his shield, preparing for a fight.]

Do you want the guys on the left or the ones on the right?

"I'm already on the right, why spoil a good thing?"

[Managing a weak chuckle at his own joke, he ignites his saber and lunges to the right, thrusting out his hand and reaching out with the force. The first cultist at the right end of the street is forced backward, tumbling into the soldiers behind him. He follows them down the alley with his saber raised.]

[Instead of answering, Steve lets his shield fly, knocking down two of the cultists trying to close in on them from the left. He feels rage well up inside of him as his shield ricochets back into his hand.

They were the ones responsible for the piles of bodies. Maybe not personally, but responsible all the same. He holds his shield in front of him as he breaks into a run and slams into another cultist, knocking him to the ground. Maybe they will never be able to set things right with all who had died. But they can certainly avenge them.]

[Obi-Wan feels Steve's rage flare even before he charges into the cultists. Ordinarily, he'd council caution and serenity. Today...

Today he can't bring himself to object. Steve's wrath was dangerous unchecked, but it was so rare and difficult to rouse that he could scarcely consider it a problem.

And it was certainly justified today.

Typical of Third Party engagements, Obi-Wan manages to kill a handful of cultists fairly quickly and easily with decisive saber strokes before the bulk of the soldiers close and force him to a defensive posture, parrying strikes and destroying the weaker weapons before picking off individual cultists once they're open. It's not quick or decisive, but it's getting the job done.]

[Steve throws himself into the heart of the cultist group allowing his rage to carry him through his attacks, more reckless and with an unexpected viciousness not usually seen. Images of the bodies flicker through his mind as he drives his shield into a cultist's face, or a fist into a cultist's gut.

After fighting Bucky, going toe-to-toe with a man trained to be everyone's worst fear, a shadow of death, these soldiers were nothing in comparison.]

[... A certain level of rage, Obi-Wan was willing to accept. Steve was not a Jedi. He was not bound by their code. But Steve's single-minded aggression was carrying him into danger, and that was a problem.

Nothing to be done about it- this was hardly the time to lecture Steve about recklessness, particularly when he was Obi-Wan's peer in terms of emotional maturity and tactical battlefield experience.

The pragmatic approach, then. Obi-Wan immediately leaps into the fray next to Steve, focusing on keeping the blows away from them both rather than eliminating enemies. Steve seems to be doing enough damage for the both of them.]

[His single-minded pursuit of their enemies shows neither his battlefield experience nor his usual ability to keep a calm head. Instead it more resembles the way he would attack a punching bag, with pure reckless abandon. He seems to not even notice the cuts and scraps he gets as he moves to avoid spears and daggers.

It isn't until he sees Obi-Wan jump into the fray with him that he realizes what he's doing. Being this angry and reckless while on his own is one thing. But doing it while he has someones back to cover is something else completely. The anger dies out somewhat, replaced with equal amounts of guilt and shame.

His movements remain quick and without mercy, but they lack the same rage and resentment behind them. They seem more calculating and purposeful.]

Zompania Draft - Draftees only, days 1-3.5

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[Day 2] ....do you see what I did there?

OH YOU

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