Game of Chance (Tarot/Survival RP) IC

[Greycat]

That crash had banged him up pretty good. He was sore in more than a few places, and his shoulder was throbbing in a manner that strongly hinted that it would be aching for a few hours well. He rotated it a few times as that 'Dragon' character dusted herself off. Which got him thinking about his own outfit. Aside from the blunt force trauma, he had little in the way of scratches and cuts. Not only was his shirt long sleeved, but his coat had provided a second layer of defense against the rough and tumble treatment he had been forced to take. He shrugged it off, wincing ever so slightly as his shoulder acted up, and dusted it lightly.

"My name is..." he stopped, then chuckled, though a bit on the confused and sad side. "I suppose it's Cat now," he jangled his armbands by means of explanation. The major dust removed, he put the coat back as a means of buying time to think about his reponse. He had even fully processed the idea that they were supposed to kill other people. A literal kill or be killed. It was the sort of situation a sociopath came up with. And the cards. Who were they supposed to kill people anyway? The crazy lady could say whatever she wanted, but magic cards were the only boon they had in this set up?

He let out a heavy sigh. "Apparently, there are 21 other people in this game, each needing two victims. If we were to try and kill each other, the winner would be half way to victory," he drew his card slowly, the back facing Dragon. "But they what? they would be along in this place with at least 20 other people that wants to kill you. I say we stick together. Aside from these cards, sticking together is the only trump cards," he winced slightly at the unintentional pun, "we might have in- on our side."

He was going to say deck, but the first pun was bad enough. Dragon seemed decent enough, but it wasn't as if he had other options either. There were not signs of other cars in the vicinity, or other rides from the car they were in. So, basically, they were in this wonderland with none but each other. "I'm still not sure if I want to kill anyone, nor do I want to test the red flag warning, though."

[Sir Beowulf]

Good, she at least agreed with him. To go.. someplace. Soon enough, she piped up, saying.

"Isn't this forest beautiful?"

Snake raised an eyebrow. What was she hinting at? Just a few minutes ago, she'd been a crying mess. "Mm. It's good 'nuff. Though, ah got the feelin' of wantin' t' be on th' plains. Y'know. Ah don't really like bein' stuck in this place. Kinda gives me th' creeps."

Snake stared around, looking at the tall trees, choked by vines that had elegant and mysterious patterns. He really hoped they would get out soon, he felt a little trapped inside this place. Like there could be an enemy around every corner. "Y' reckon' what'll happen iffin' we win? Hopefully we'll go home. Though, ah don't really want t' kill people, y'know? Ah guess ah could do it." Snake's normal smile dropped to a grim frown. "'tween you and me. Ah hope not t' kill you. Ah know we'll have t'. But. You know what ah mean." Karl grumbled and shook his head and resumed his staring ahead.

[simian]

The pair continued to create their own path through the forest exchanging enormously awkward snippets of conversation with one another. "You don't like it? You look like a man accustom to the outdoors." She said. Cockroach glanced back and noted she could no longer see the car. It had been about twenty minutes since they had set foot, The walls of bark and foliage refused to hint at how longer their journey would take them. She was beginning to feel unsafe in the forest.

"'tween you and me. Ah hope not t' kill you. Ah know we'll have t'. But. You know what ah mean." Snake said.

Cockroach's breathing slowed and became strained. The reality of the competition which until now she hadn't truly accepted had swallowed her whole. She could feel her heartbeat so intensely she worried if Snake could hear it too, 'He's going to kill me.' She thought. Despite her best efforts worry and panic crept up and took hold on her face. 'He's actually going to kill me.' She felt silly for not taking the situation seriously from the beginning. A variety of escape plans filtered through her mind before finally settling on leaving her life in the hands of fate. "The Devil!" Cockroach cried, Whipping the card from her coat pocket.

Up on hearing it's voice Cockroach began to question her decision. The Devil's malevolent tongue scraped the inside of her ear as he told her his secrets, Teaching her the use of his sinister weapon. Cockroach's eyes bolted as the card miraculously transformed into a long barbed whip. It looked dangerously sadistic and felt evil in her hand. The Whip Of Pain, Which he called it required no strength on Cockroach's part. She simply had to tenderly wave the device to release deadly force. She looked at Snake wondering if she could really try and kill him.

'tween you and me. Ah hope not t' kill you. Ah know we'll have t'. But. You know what ah mean.'

Cockroach aimed for Snake's throat and lashed the whip. "Yo no se someterán a su abuso criminal!" She said, tearing up.

[Sir Beowulf]

Cockroach stopped. Snake stopped as well, looking behind him. Her face... She looked very worried and panicked. What, he was trying to tell her he wouldn't kill her! Good fuckin' job, Snake. He stared at her, and she stared back. It felt like an eternity before she finally acted. Cockroach pulled out.. a card?

"The Devil!"

Huh? And then the card started to change... In seconds the odd card started changing, morphing into a sinister whip. Barbed and sadistic. Snake's eyes opened widely.

"W-w-wha-?"

"Yo no se someterán a su abuso criminal!" She lashed the whip, it creating a deadly Crrack! Snake instinctively ducked, and then cried out as fiery pain erupted through him. "Graahhh!" Snake tumbled forwards, blinding pain rushing through his back. It seriously hurt. A lot. Like a thousand fire ants digging in a straight line across his back. He closed his eyes and curled up into the fetal position.

"Fuck.. what.. the hell was that.. for?" He barely gasped it out. Furthermore, what the hell was that whip!? Snake bit the inside of his lip as he slowly tried to get up, pain surging through the wound caused by that sinister barbed whip. There had to be more to this game than he thought. And if she had a card, shouldn't he have one as well? Tears welled in his eyes as he stared at her. Rage coursed through his head, should he kill her? His card would be as powerful as hers, so he hoped. No, he couldn't make it by himself, especially like this.

"Gad damn.. please.. put the whip away, ah wasn't tryin' to hurt you! Ah was tryin' t' do the opposite! Ah'm just too stupid to say the damn words. And ah paid th' price fer' it."

[InsanitiesJack]

Wolf nodded, following at her own pace as she spoke. She had good reasoning skills, and evidently understand at least a little bit about wilderness survival. That indicated he had a good choice for partner, although he hadn't exactly had many choices; kill her, leave her, or partner up with her. In any case, she was correct; they could find short-term weapons in the rocks of the cave, and using those rocks could develop long-term weaponry. In any case, Wolf followed her shortly into the cave, his eyes tracking through the short passageway with cautious optimism. So shelter was handled; now all that was required would be weaponry, food and water.

Twitching, he idly contemplated the card sitting in his pocket. turning away from Owl, he pulled the card out and contemplate it yet again. Perhaps it would be for the best to...

"Owl," he grunted shortly, tucking his card into his clenched hand to hide the face. "The Gamemaster said these cards would serve to give us some form of enhancement. I dislike the idea of using something without knowing what it does, and the sooner we know the abilities of our cards the better. I suggest that the two of us, a suitable distance away from eachother, use the cards in tandem. We'll discover the abilities of each of our cards without either of us gaining an unfair advantage over the other, and we can begin planning the next step depending on exactly what our cards allow us to do."

[jumjummju]

Owl thought about what he said. The cards they had were certainly quite interesting, but Owl didn't believe they would do anything at all; she wasn't really a believer in all this weird supernatural crap. Still, there's no harm in trying. Hey, maybe if they did something that could be used as a weapon it could solve some of their problems. If not, they'd make good kindling for a fire.

"Alright, I guess it's worth a shot. Though I honestly don't think we'll get much out of these tarot cards. I'll go first; I'm curious what mine would do if it works." Owl walked out of the cave as she looked at her card, and got a respectable distance away. With what it was, she figured it would probably have some random, luck-based effect. Or it'd teleport them to a game show; hell if she knew.

She whipped the card in the air, and shouted "The Wheel of Fortune!" She giggled a small bit on the fortune part, not really being able to take herself seriously there...

...Before a voice popped into her head that was not her own. It said something about reversal of positions and her being a possible lucky one, before the world started spinning something terrible. Owl felt like she was gonna puke.

And puke she did, once the world calmed down and everything stopped spinning. She felt terribly nauseous, and her vomit's terrible smell didn't help, even if it did smell faintly of a very strong coffee. After she was done emptying her breakfast onto the ground, she looked up to find that she was not near the mountains, or the cave, anymore, and was actually in a grassy plain. So, she had actually switched place with someone after all, but she didn't know who.

Then she noticed another man nearby, who was probably the original man's partner. He looked intelligent, and not worth crap in a fight. However, at this moment Owl wasn't exactly disposed towards conflict, since a stiff breeze to her stomach could cause her to vomit again, with how sick she felt. Also, scarily, Owl noticed he was carrying a shiv. If he had been willing to get such a weapon, he was probably prepared to use it.

The man, however, was probably just as surprised as she was, though Owl didn't really notice as she was too surprised herself. Owl jumped back, eyes widening, away from the man, and fell backwards, as she started crab-walking away from the man, fearful that he would attempt to stab her. "D-don't come any closer!" She said, with a surprising amount of force, despite her terror. "I'll, uh, run if you attack me!" Owl realized this wasn't the best threat, but what else could she do? Throw her shoe at him? She felt she could run, even if she felt like vomiting, as adrenaline is a good temporary cure for nausea, and the fear of death is a good source of adrenaline.

[Oblivion Fangx]

Careful not to step on any sharp bits of glass and wood, she stepped away from the damaged coach and looked around. To one side was a line of red flags, presumably the border of this place, to the left a path leading into a thick forest and the stone structure. She wrinkled her nose at the smell and turned to face the man who had introduced himself as Cat. She listened to him speak and thanked the heavens for giving her a decent person. She had half-expected to be paired up with a crazy mafia sort of person.

“Well yes then, I guess we should stick together.” Dragon replied, giving Cat a small friendly smile. “What do you think we should do now? Look for shelter, food and weapons or kill people? Because I would much rather go look for weapons, who knows where the rest of players are.”

She scanned the area of the collision and bent down to pick up a few bits of wood and glass. Most of them were big and sharp enough to stab someone to death but how could she carry them? Not to mention the splinters that were digging into her fingers. She dropped the wood and picked the splinters out of her skin, wincing at the sharp sting. Well, the wood could certainly be a good weapon along with the glass, she reasoned, but they were too bulky to carry. She slipped her hand into her back pocket and pulled out her card.

She had absolutely no idea what these cards did and honestly, it seemed a bit ridiculous. Magic cards? Dragon wouldn’t bet on it. But it was worth a try. She stepped closer to Cat, putting the card back into her her pocket. “You wanna try these cards? It seems a little stupid but I suppose we could just see what happens.”

[Voltin]

Knight couldn't help but burst out in laughter at Griffin's response. "Don't worry about it Grif, probably the stress of the situation taking it's toll." The man let go of her hand as he began to mimic her in looking around. The woods to the north and east of them appeared to be so closely knit that even trying to get through them would be more of a pain in the ass than what it was worth. The east was a forested area as well, and less of a pain, but the last thing he wanted to do was enter an area where an ambush could be waiting from every branch. The only direction left was south, and it looked good enough to him.

Going over the mound and up to the pillars revealed rolling hills and grassland, a place where they could see anyone trying to kill them for potentially miles. He ran back to where the girl was standing. It appeared she was talking to herself; he ignored it instead heading to the boxcar. "Damn..." he cussed under his breath. It was a crying shame that the thing had welded itself shut. He jogged west a bit to the treeline, grabbing a thick and loosely hanging branch from one of the trees. It would be a good weapon until he found something more suited for killing. Knight strolled back casually, twirling the branch a few times before resting it on his right shoulder.

"Hey, Griffin, if you wouldn't mind I think it would be for the best if we traveled together. It would have some obvious advantages that I wouldn't mind spelling out to you if you're slow," this was a joke and he hoped that his tone gave that away. "And if you don't," his voice was now grave and serious, "I'll have no trouble whacking you over the head with this branch here." He readied the weapon as if some sort of sword in an attempt to intimidate the girl.

[InsanitiesJack]

He had scowled, briefly, when she took off of her own initiative and disregarded his explanations - his proposal, his attempt at achieving lasting peace. It was not a matter of firsts and un-firsts, but rather, it was a matter of achieving equality. Still, what little time he had to protest was spent in equal parts frustration and a slight bout of confusion, born from her seeming carelessness with the capabilities of her own card. But upon her shout, upon the moment that she said the invocation of her card aloud, he found himself looking not upon the young girl known as Owl, but rather, a reasonably young man dressed smartly, though his clothes seemed slightly stained by grass. Wolf found himself scowling fiercely, even as some detached part of his mind struggled with the very concept of such a ruse.

Instantaneous disappearance and replacement by another. It was rather unbelievable, no matter the circumstances and potential technologies, but he supposed it would serve to make his own card all the more interesting. Speaking of his own card, he glanced at the small item within his hand, and grinned. Offensive, or Defensive... well, it seemed to him that the young Owl had acquired a card capable of either feat, though if it was without control then it was purely for reliable defense, and even then may simply put her in a less desirable situation. Nevertheless, it was time to make a decision.

To make use of the card, or to not and merely murder the man as quickly and efficiently as possible? Well, taking a look that man appeared to have a knife... which indicated that he might not win in a physical confrontation, personal abilities and potential disorientation be damned. Decision made, he took a single step forward and raised the card, facing inwards but tilted to an almost horizontal position, his eyes tracking over the small slip to ensure that it was directed towards the other man.

"_______"

He muttered the words, just above his breath, the sounds faint but clear to his own ears. And then he bore witness. A voice, a presence trinkling in through the depths of his mind. It spoke of vessels, of crime and muddled minds. Wolf grinned, even as he lowered the card and took another step forward. To assault one with the guilt of their own past? To make them incapable of anything save the recollections of their own failures, the only necessity being that they hear the spoken word?

An interesting card, indeed.

"Guilt, I invoke thee!"

He spoke loudly and clearly, to allow for the hearing of one and all, to insure that the man whom he looked upon would be properly assaulted by his own conscience. He would insure a quick death, and be a single step closer to success in this game that he found himself within. He could hear the words as they came from his own mouth, and for a moment he waited.

Then it began.

[Supernerd]

Spoiler

The man nearing his 20's turned off the phone. He felt the explosive necklace around his neck, his face showed nothing but concern, and confusion. Though inside his head, he had many more feelings running through them, including fear, worry, and anger. The man hadn't taken in his surroundings quite yet, not noticing a women in the same room as him he registered what he had just heard in complete silence. A game the woman had called it, what kind of person would do such a thing? A game involving the death and killing of others...and me, if I am not careful... He bit his lip for a second. And who am I exactly?...what in the world is my name? He thought more about himself as hard as he could, he could faintly remember some things...the clinking of something, a sword on a bed...and a man smiling at him. The man felt a bit of warmth through him at the thought. Something about it was calming to him...the man sighed, "My god this world."


To his surprise, he spotted a woman across from him. Her hair was a most astonishing red, her clothing seemed somewhat odd to him. Her hat, being of something the man could not name off the top of his head. Though she reminded the man of some sort of detective, someone who was quite smart. Her physical appearance didn't seem too intimidating to the man, he knew he could take her most likely in hand to hand combat. Though being a man of thinking in action, and not planning. He quickly decided to be an ally to this person. Depending on how she would react of course.

The man leaned a bit forward in his seat. (Which he just so happened to notice he was sitting in, though ignored the fact.)"Who the hell are you?..." He asked, staring the woman in the eye, his expression showed curiousity, and he appeared on edge. Even though he tried to be serious, there was a aura of friendliness about the man, the only thing about him was his muscles which were tense in case she were to strike him that could cause any intimidation.