RedXCross

Happiness

@Write and I were discussing this. We think the symbols might relate to the high arcana of tarot cards. This is just an observation but something I thought @SilverDawn is really clever about.

Tim, the one not in a bedroom with the bauble of a zero, referencing the zeroth card: The Fool

Irina, with the icon of the queen: The Empress

Rhiannon and Austin with the two separate hearts and the goal of finding each other: The Lovers

Cleo who’s bauble is of a sad man with no other goal thus far: The Hanged Man

Justin, left with curious drugs of various goals and the bauble of the skull: Death

Gray, with a cup of water that’s usually referenced in the hands of angel in the card’s art: Temperance

And Aedin, with the red star bauble and “a spiritual sense of a way home”: The Stars

So yeah, just an observation.

Happiness

One person’s phone went off, and Austin glanced over at Justin’s phone with a morbid curiosity. The same cheeky-looking text told him to go to a “drop-off point”? If Austin was being honest, he really didn’t like the idea of them splitting off for any reason. Especially with the dead bodies that were lying scattered about.

The truth was that Austin expected there were still others out there, and keeping everyone close would be safer for everyone. Justin’s vials were just as concerning as his revolver, but the signals were all mixed.
Who trapped them here and what were they getting out of this? It was like the tasks they were given wanted them to cooperate, but everything else was suggesting that this was going to end violently.

If they put everything away, Austin could breathe easier without fear of someone stabbing him in the neck at a moment’s notice. The weapons could be put away, the food and water could be distributed properly, and maybe they could turn it into a sentry point against whatever force they decided to put out there. There was still the case of his missing soulmate, but he was hoping that finding them would be a simple task.
“Okay, here’s what I think,” Austin announced to the crowd around him. It was a decent force, but his mental score sheets for each person were inconclusive.

“I was in room seven… it’s in this hallway. We should all bring our stuff back to this room so that we know where to find it later. The less we all have to split up, the better. That being said, now would be the best time for us to go and find our stuff and bring it back. Is there anyone not comfortable coming back in the direction they came from?”

This could work. This is what Austin’s brain was wired for. He could handle using all of the skills that he’d gained in life to keep everyone sane and satisfied. As long as all his brain cells were dedicated to the people, he himself could avoid losing his mind.

He can handle the people part if the others could solve the puzzle. It would be simple, right?
But the overlying sense of dread was something he hadn’t predicted. This was more than case studies of those with suicidal urges or long streaks of depression. This was… doom. Despair hung on the air clouding all of his senses. Darker than black, fouler than rotting, grimier than sewage… it prickled at the edge of his sense and at the threads of his clothes.

He was swimming in it, but focusing on the other’s mentality could keep him afloat. Hopefully that could keep him from doing anything stupid.

So, he took a step back, reached out for the wall and leaned against it to make his body positioning as casual as possible, and gave a bright smile.

Pretend that you’re doing fine. Remember that your scales are still there.

Mental Risk: 7
Emotional Risk: 3
Physical Risk: 1

For some reason, keeping track wasn’t as comforting as he was used too.

In fact, this new event seemed to be shaking the basic tracking of his scales.

Happiness

@Darkwolfsoul010 Just so you know, the gun was left behind with the rest of Austin's stuff. He doesn't have it on him.

I'll post something soon but its super late rn so i'll get into it later.

APEX: The Peak of Humanity

Two-Four gave a quick nod to Teddy as she whispered in his ear, but his eyes were laser-focused on the crowd of Huxen that were stumbling into the bar. He said nothing at first, but signals flashed across his eyes reminding him of the Galactic Union’s decision on the aggressive hoard of beasts. There were only five of them at the moment, all furry and all reeked more than back room of the Debris that Two-Four refused to clean or enter on the basis of it being blocked off from the rest of humanity hopefully forever.
As she turned to leave Two-Four grabbed Teddy by the shoulder and tilted his head towards the incoming aliens.

“Well, if we’re looking for proof, they may not be a bad place to start. ” He grumbled quietly as he pushed past his eager assistant and returned to the bar, giving Nov a great smile as Two-Four continued polishing a glass. His eyes HUD traced red “DANGER” boxes around the beasts, but he ignored the display instead to respond to the fellow cyborg.
“Yeah, you’re right about that. Some bounty hunters lookin’ for some easy coin and a couple other brave adventurers came here to clear out some stuff before colonists came in. I had a buddy in the mix. Actually, they were the one who piqued my interest in coming back.”

Two-Four placed a glass back against his display before he started adjusting some of the shiny bottles that he kept under neon light. Supposedly bars were all like this once-upon-a-time. He thought it looked alright.
The bar was his masterpiece; he could do with it what he pleased.

He turned back to the bar. One heavy metal hand tapped the heavy gun hidden behind the bar as the other leaned against its surface.

“That bein’ said,” Two-Four grinned, “My friend said that some of them stayed out there. There’s many secrets this planet has to offer. It did have to go through five, six apocalypses or something? Actually, I’d love to know if there’s any remnants from when the machines ruled the planet with an iron fist.”

He broke the tension with a guffaw, laughing at his own joke for a second before his face went cold once again.

One of his eyes flashed a warning light, and his attention turned back to Aris at the edge of the bar. That guy too seemed to detect something strange about the group of aliens that were close to Debris. It didn’t really matter what happened if they were on the hit-list. Two- Four figured he could spin it into a good light for his bar either way.

He couldn’t rely on booze from old friends forever. If this was the way to get a more effective store of alcohol running, so be it.

There was something else that needed to be said.

“Hey, Aris. If you plan on doing something extreme, please keep it out of my bar.”

Happiness

Austin went pale at the mention of ripped intestines. If he was being honest, all the ingredients were there to turn this into a visceral disaster, but it all seemed to surreal to believe it was possible.

But he had to keep his composure. Panic was a sure-fire way of turning this all into his worst nightmares. Especially when he was staring down a girl with a mattock dangling carefully from her hand. He paused, re-evaluated the situation.

Sources of panic: The darkness that claimed them, the trashed atmosphere, the presence of a weapon, their combined residual discomfort.

That placed them all around a 5 or a 6 before he did individual calculations. God, he really wished he could have his notebook at this moment in time. He could use the phone, he supposed, but there was only limited battery as Justin was saying. He just used his for light, and they might all need lights later. For now, the most important thing was trying to keep everyone calm, and keep everything normal.

“Justin, that’s a good idea. Did everyone see their room numbers on the doors? We can probably rule those out,” he paused, “or it might be a good idea to move all of our stuff into one room. That way we can all access it easily without too much splitting up.”

Then, with a breath, he decided it was best to come clean about what was hiding. No more secrets for now. Everything needed to be open if he was to generate any sense of trust. Sure, they were friendly now, but there was nothing to cement that relationship. At the moment they were only strangers in a similar situation.

Seeing Irina was good too. The more the merrier, even if it could have greater disasters long-term. If Austin could find ways to keep stress levels down, then they could probably all make it through this alright.

“So… I didn’t get a mattock, but I did get another item.”

He licked his dry lips.

“There was an empty revolver with spots for two bullets… I think.”

He turned to Cleo who was coming down the passage, greeting her with a kind smile as he brushed fading pink hairs out of his face. With all the group assembled, he cleared his throat and added one final piece of advice.

“I think our best chance to get out of this is if we can all work together. So, if it is okay with you, I think we should tell each other what our ‘mission’ is, and then do it. We don’t know who captured us, we don’t know why we’re here, and whoever put us here definitely has the upper hand. Let’s play by the rules for now and then find a better way out of here later.

As for my mission: I’m supposed to find my ‘soulmate’ who could be pretty much anybody for all I know.”

APEX: The Peak of Humanity

<Snipped quote by RedXCross>

Likewise for me too.

Just making sure, have you received my request on Skype?

@ShiningSector

I did, and you are in a group with myself, Renny, and Write on my skype.

APEX: The Peak of Humanity

I should have a post up soon. Just transitioning back into school after the break :P

Also if people have personal arcs they want to pursue, etc. feel free to PM either myself or Write to make it happen. Also there's still a few people missing from Skype if we all still wanna do that.

Happiness

Austin started to relax just as Justin’s stance returned to its usual position. So it seemed that despite having a phone almost identical to his, the little bauble that it came with was a different shape. Now, did that difference mean something? He had a skull on the end of his versus the half-heart at the end of Austin’s.

“Hey man; no harm, no foul,” Austin grinned while his hands found their way back to his pockets, “If you got a phone, then I’m guessing you probably got a similar message-“

He was trying to access more information when he realized that Justin’s light had lit up. Austin had to squint just to see past it. His eyes had just grown accustomed to the dark dwelling, and the blinding light was not doing much for his vision. But when Justin made a tiny yelp and his position moved, Austin swung around to see the girl with the mattock. One hand was blocking the light from her face as the other lifted the mattock above her head.

At first, Austin braced himself for whatever plan this dangerous intruder had, but it only took a moment longer before he realized that her positioning was not aggressive. The way she stood, and the shaking of her voice suggested that she was protecting herself, if anything. Survival of the fittest didn’t necessarily mean a direct jump to an offensive. Just by looking at how she stood and talked, already he could tell that her emotional and mental values were pretty high on his ranking. The fact she was willing to use a heavy object like that one suggested that those values were probably a 6 or 7 out of ten on his own scale.

That wouldn’t be a problem. He was more worried about what the presence of the mattock was doing to everyone’s psyches. Already Justin had proven to be somewhat fragile in his current state, ready to lash out with large amounts of adrenaline if people violated his personal space. Who knew what would happen if that weapon stayed around to agitate everyone.

But as she talked, her voice slowed down, and her weapon lowered to her side. She was proving to be pretty reserved. Honestly Austin couldn’t blame her for the self-defence. If he had a mattock, he would’ve brought it with him too.

Instead all he got was an expensive paper weight.

Again, Austin found himself revealing his hands. The sooner he could present both himself and Austin as victims of a similar fate, the better it would be for all three of them.

“Look, we’re in the same spot as you. It’s been a rough few hours for all of us,” he nodded, “Did you get that axe with a box? And if so, did you have a phone and a mission?”

He was getting quickly to the point. His questions had to be rapid like a hornet sting if he was going to retain any sense of sanity or order between this triangle.

As it stood, both of the other humans in this circle were wild cards, but Austin couldn’t believe that either was malicious. Both were just as lost and confused as he was.

“If we’re going to figure this all out, we should pool our resources. If you got the same thing as us, what did your phone say? Are we wiling to at least work together to figure out what happened?”

Happiness

Hey, i might mention some things about other characters in my next post, but it's just Austin's personal observations on their mental states. He's not deciding anything about the others except in terms of his own observations.

I just wanted to clarify this before posting so it wouldn't be misconstrued as godmodding or metagaming.

APEX: The Peak of Humanity

Aris was the first being Two-Four had laid eyes on that he’d been unable to identify, either through his own experiences or the Vagott eyes that occupied his sockets. Either way, he hadn’t caused too much trouble inside Debris so Two-Four had no reason to feel animosity towards the man,

And his usual wasn’t complicated. Just another glass of beer placed gently in front of him as these two ancient aliens spoke about wars that were long out of his league.

“Hehe. It’s such a relief to remember that Humans weren’t the only ones fighting wars. I guess everyone has something they think is worth fighting for. As for my survival, well, I’m just as surprised as you are.”

Poor Nov, on the other hand; he seemed out of his league. He’d been a regular for a while now. Many cops needed a pick-me-up with this state of the law enforcement at the moment. That state being unorganized and chaotic. Most of these new Earthlings were tough enough to take care of themselves. Still, law was a noble profession, and people long ago realized that banning alcohol was a fruitless endeavor.

Still, the three seemed to be taking care of themselves, and Teddy was off grabbing some things for some other customers when a shady man walked in and sat at the edge of the bar, waving Two-Four over. Carefully, he stepped away from his customers towards the man, and shared a hushed conversation around in the dark.

“It’ll be dangerous…” the man whispered, “but there’s people tough enough for it. You know most of the guys that come through here Two-Four. Is there anyone that would be interested?”

He gave a slight shrug, and grabbed a digital device from underneath his bar. Pressing a few keys, the information transferred from the little device and up to his larger holographic “JOB LISTING” board. "FORGOTTEN HUNT" occupied the board under its own heading. People came in to access or take a look at the board if only for another option. On a new planet, Credits could be hard to come by if you weren't in a government-approved position.

“I know some people, but you won’t know if they’re interested until they contact you.”

The man slipped out the side of the bar as quick as he came, leaving Two-Four to guide himself back over to the conversation as he started to polish one glass left behind.

There were some disgruntled sounds coming out from one corner of the bar. An alien – or machine – in dark robes and a shadowy mask was starting to raise his voice in a language few would understood. Them and their equally ambiguous companion were staring both at the Job board and at Two-Four himself with narrowing eyes.