rivaan

Frozen Darkness

Cat was very careful when she had picked up the section of the railing she had tied the rope to and she had held the rope to provide additional stability and sturdiness to the arrangement by being the first one to take the blunt of the pull that Donny's falling body made. She gripped the rope tightly as she felt it try to burn her hands iwth the friction, but she managed to hold in without scraping her palms at the rope. What she hadn't quite expected was the head crab. Well she had expected somethign to show up, just not a head crab.

Being one of the lesser mutant creatures that ahd appeared, she had to wonder what it originated from. She was told that before the end, tehre were these small flea bugs that could still sometimes be foudn in the underground, but honestly because of the general temperatures even underground, most bugs were gone unless they were specifically underground ones or ones that adapted. For all she kenw this thing might be one of those, it didn't matter really though. As it jumped at her, aiming at her head, screeching, she just pulled a very trained move and in a moment's notice her combat knife was in her hand and the knife on the crab's trajectory stabbing it through the grotesque mouth where it was the softest. Luckily there was a blizzard going on and the screetching wasn't going to be heard far. With that crab out of the way she swung her knife to the side, tossing the stabbed thing over the railing and to fall from on high, she returned to helping Danny get up, but this time kept her attention ebtter to the surroundings in case more showed up.

"Just a head crab!" She replied to him." It's taken care of, but don't know how many more are around hte place, so let's hurry up. They aren't too dangerous as long as you avoid having your head eaten." Cat called as she put her effort into helping him climb faster. They had to get to the other side, out of the storm and then head downwards, preferably in relative safety of the undergrounds where thigns couldn't just jump at them from every direction.

🧚🏻‍♀️ The Walking Dead - Year 6 Part 1

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Amelia Payne Location: Education Center (M) Skills: N/A

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“Good to hear.” Amelia nodded to Chase as they were given the possible weather conditions tomorrow. Rain was nice and all, but good weather was important too. Without it, late afternoon walks by the beach with Riley were not really possible to have and she wanted her strolls.

As the trial resumed and the next witnesses were called for the specific questioning, Amelia’s smile kinda fell apart when she realized what they were going to be talking about, especially with Tati and Jack’s retellings of the events.’ Fuck...’ She groaned inwardly in a rare moment if desire to inwardly curse. People were called, versions were told and eventually it was her own turn to go up there and she really didn’t feel like doing it, but duty was duty and she’d only get in trouble if she didn’t. Not like she had much to say about that event, she was mostly on the sidelines back then and honestly very distracted with inner turmoils and stress. Still when they called her she stood up and moved to testify.

“Well… I honestly didn’t pay too much attention on what happened back then. Like I saw it happening, but my mind was preoccupied with other things at the time to actually realize the details of the happenings. Still and argument was had and a punch was thrown, but I don’t recall Hunter reacting at that point.” She explained. Details were kind of eluding her right now, but she wasn’t quite in the right state of mind back then. She hadn’t even realized what had happened until around the time of the punch.” He spoke out a bit after the punch after the things had started to settle down I think. It wasn’t long a time, but I hadn’t paid that much attention.”

“I wasn’t paying much attention...” She fidgited a little before steeling herself.” Tempers were flaring and it was unnerving me. I was too stressed and on edge at the time to spot any details or make out what was being said. All I know is that once he started his rant, tempers flared all around once more and moments later Beatrice tackled him to the ground and held him there. More words were hand and eventually she let go of him and that was that.”

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Lisa Mason Location: Hospital(B)(J4) Skills: N/a

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Lisa’s attention snapped at the little girl, hearing the last whispers leaving her lips as her eyes closed. She was there with her, she saw it as the little girl finally drew her last breath and the monitor flatlined by them. The monotonous sound filled the room. If Lisa had been holding a book, she’d likely would have dropped it, but since she didn’t she just stood there for a moment. Her eyes darted to the clock on the wall, noting the time.” Sleep peacefully in eternal rest, Lucy.” The woman spoke softly as she caressed the child’s head.” You are certainly at a better place than us now. Hmm, you might even meet Vasilisa and Ivan, hmm?” She muttered, closing her eyes and with a sad smile she pulled her knife.

The pharmacist’s movement was quick and precise as the girl couldn’t struggle after all. It had to happen before the worst fate could arrive. She made sure to be as clean as possible and once the body was secure, the knife cleaned and sheathed she pulled her radio, eyes locked on the girl who look like she might as well be sleeping with that innocent smile on her face. Lisa glanced at the handheld radio for a brief moment before activating it.” Lisa Mason to admin. Lucy has passed away. Time of death...” She proceeded to say the time she had taken once it had happened.” Her body has been secured against turning. I will be in the room waiting for the team.” Lisa finished her report and put the radio away again, before walking over to the monitor and shutting it down, making the room fill with the utter silence like it hadn’t been in a very long time. She turned back to Lucy and gently pulled the blanket over her completely covering the body.

Lisa was smiling, but she wasn’t really happy. She was glad the girl wouldn’t be suffering anymore as it was the only positive about this tragedy. She was smiling yes, but it was hollow. Her eyes fell onto the picture that Lucy drew and named for her, carefully picking it up and holding it to her chest as a few tears ran down her face, but she silently wiped them out, the hollow smile still on her face as she knew this outcome was for the best after all. The girl would have suffered even more if this had continued onwards… her mind knew it, but her heart refused to just accept it silently. She knew the girl, visited her often enough during her cleaning rounds back when she was the intern. After taking a few more moments, she rested back in the chair by the bed.” I guess we can go through another story while we are waiting for the team… What about the one about the ‘Palm sized man with an elbow long beard’?” She spoke quietly to the silence.” There was once in a land far away a man who had 3 sons and 3 daughters...” She began another story in the quietness of the room, wiping a few more tears off her face.

Frozen Darkness

"Don't worry, I'm good at this. Very good. Don't walk ahead until I toss you the rope over." She reassured him as she took the rope and carefully walked forward onto the skyway until she reached the very problematic section. She tapped it with the point of her gun, eyes narrowed and ears strained. Shew as being made deaf by the growing blizzard, but the way the gun hit the ice, made her feel it wasn't secure for certain. All in all this part was a deathtrap.

Finally she took the shotgun axe in one hand and took a few steps back. She crouched her legs lightly before she blasted off forward, with very fast speed, taking the distance to the corner of the damaged part in just a few steps before leaping over with all the grace of a cat like her namesake. Her hand shot out as teh axe head of the axe latched onto the good railing as the ice underneath her gave way. Even while the thing was crumbling underneath her, she pulled herself up and rolled over on the other side, between her and Donny now standing quite the decent hole. She hadn't actually calculated the distance quite right, Cat was pretty sure that she could leap the entire distance without having to rely on the axe if she had to do it again. No way the man was doing it though, especially with all his heavy gear.

Walking a few steps onwards, she chose the most secure part of the railing, and after making sure it wouldn't loosen up or unwrap by chance, she picked a stone, wrapped the other end of the rope around it to give it weigh and hurled it over the gap. The stone prevented the blizzard from blowing it away. Even with that weight it still had altered the throwing trajectory, but she had thrown it with that in mind already to compensate." HERE! How do you want to do this? Secure it on both ends and you crwaling your way over via the rope or you wrapping it around yourself and jumping, with us working together to pull you up afterwards?

Frozen Darkness

AS they moved through the building, the best path to their destination eventually revealed itself to be a skyway. She grimaced, since the winds were blowing very hard now and while it had some protection and at least they weren't trudging through meters deep snow, it wasn't a nice experience. Falling from this height would be... undesirable. SHe spoted him do somehting and by the look of it he felt somewhat warmer. Cool he had nifty tech, curious, Cat however didn't. She just very neatly wrapped herself in a scarf, zipped her jacket to the very top and pulled a set of old ski glasses to protect her eyes from the frosty wind and snow.

Cat more or less did the same thing as Donny when it came to securing herself to the railing. Her shotgun axe ever the multifunctional weapon, worked wonders once more as they walked. She actually had a somewhat easier time with it since she had better sense of balance and general senses than him. Slowly, but carefully she followed, keeping her eyes wide open for anything that might be a danger. They avoided one mutant and while this skyway probably wouldn't stand a pseudogiant, there were other mutants that could use it as an ambush point. Hopefully that wouldn't happen." Look, give me one end of the rope again and let me go ahead. I'm better at climbing and getting across such situations. The storm hasn't even reached it's peak yet and it's so bad. If we dally on the bridge for too long, we might as well get blown over or walk to our death when we get blinded by the blizzard whiteout." Cat told him and carefully moved around him." With the rope on, you can always follow me onwards and if the bridge does give way halfway acorss, I will be able to pull you up should for any reason you find yourself falling." WIth that she waited so she could wrap the rope around her waist and then proceed to nibmly move her way across the skyway as fast as possible.

Frozen Darkness

"That will work I suppose, however don't expect too much, anything this close to the settled areas has long since been picked clean of any old world loot that's worth anything." She reminded him with a shrug after he confirmed he was still able to walk at least. Good, the makeshift brace was also a nice addition. Showed he at least had some basic knowledge on how to survive out here.

As they moved, Cat kept a weapon ready just in case, never hurt to be careful and in this case with them being inside a building, she chose her shotgun, especially doubly so since it had the attached axe head to help with melee strikes if hse so wanted. What a wonderful multifunction weapon it was. It wasn't long before they stumbled upon the result of a pseudogiant hunting grounds... corpses. Rather more than she had expected this far from the proper settled area actually. Very curious.

"So... what's your name?" She asked while they were more or less looting the bodies for anything of worth. He had found some bullets so that was a good thing. Anything eatable was gone, the mutants would have eaten it right away." Mine's Catherine, just call me Cat though. It's easier on the tongue and faster." She introduced herself as she too was now running through whatever remains were left until her hearring picked something as she had narrowed her eyes since she found a metalic glint half burried in the snow." What's this..." She smiled, leaning over and grabbing the thing through the snow, picking up some of it along with the item." Well... look at that, this is unusual." Cat stated, fingers running over the silver watch that was still working, wiping some dirt and grime with the snow." Odd... this isn't something that your regular everyday exile, scaver or even settler would have. Unless they scavenged it up here on the surface of course." Cat stated, eyes narrowing as she put it securely away on the inside of her clothing where she had a few secret pockets sown for special things." We are too far from the settled areas, only thing so far is that exile haven that's being talked about the last few years or so. So where did these folk came from and why?" She was pleased of the find, but worried what it could mean. Her eyes narrowed though, hearing the howls of the storm.

"We should continue on and hopefully find shelter as soon as we could." Cat added, readying her weapon again.

Frozen Darkness

Cat managed to catch the man while he jumped, however he turned out heavier than he looked, likely because of his armor. His mass and momentum simply pulled her nearly down with him, but she managed to grab the ledge and redistribute her weight by going prone right away as he caught himself to the ledge. She saw how the monster couldn't control it's speed and turn and eventually vanished from view, the sound of destruction being the only proof of what had happened to it. She sadly wasn't willing to accept it was dead however." We should either confirm or ensure it's death first or we should bail before it could return. These things are too sturdy and if it's alive, we cannot afford to hang around for too much longer." She told him seriously as she helped him get up.

She rose and eyebrow, looking at the rope bundle in her arms, before shrugging and tossing him the neatly bundled up rope." Sure, you helped me and it's yours to begin with." Cat stated and looked at his leg." Can you stand? We need to move, we can't be certain it's dead or even temporary neutralized and the weather's likely to worsen very very soon. We need to find a shelter before the storm catches us out in the open." She told him as she dusted her pants." I'd suggeest we head underground, however I came from there and only did so becase the tunnel I was following had caved in, so we will need to find another entrance if we are to continue in the underground ways."

Frozen Darkness

"Why did I even come to the surface?" She asked herself as she ran after the man, turning the rope in a rope bundle as she ran. It was a trained subconscious action at this point since she often did it as a soldier. She saw him trying doors one by one, well why didn't he just shoot a lock of or something? Granted loud noise and all that, but with the snowstorm that would likely hit any time now outside, it wasn't likely to make any difference or allow anything to notice it too easily. In any case she felt the floor tremble as the thing fucking jump." How is that thing even moving underneath it's own mass let alone jumping?" She complained as she ran forward, seeing the man offering to jump her across.

"Alright!" She called out to him as she ran, speeding her step even further, creating more distance between herself and the mutant as she ran at him, she jumped, stepping at the precise moment needed in his hands and pushed herself out to jump once more, using his movement to propell herself even further as she landed on the other side with little difficulty. She turned right away." JUMP! I've got you!" She called out to him as she reached over her edge of the hole, waiting to grab his arm, though she also still held the rope, just in case he didn't jump far enough to grab his arm, so she could toss him the rope and then pull him back up.

🧚🏻‍♀️ The Walking Dead - Year 6 Part 1

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Amelia Payne Location:Mess Hall(C)(M2)-> Education Center (M) Skills: N/A

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The meal was an extremely pleasant experience since she had it with Riley form the start to finish. All in all it passed way too quick for her to not be disappointed when it was time to take the trays to where the used trays were left. The old saying that time flies when you are having fun seemed to as always be true. With a sigh and a bit of reluctance, she stood up and accompanied by Riley, dropped off the trays before leaving the Mess Hall without hurrying too much. They had time and they would arrive in time even without rushing.

They exited Mess Hall without much fuss since they avoided the flood of people leaving by waiting a bit and then proceed to walk over back to the Education Center. People were gathering there, but with a bit of patience they were inside the building soon enough. She all the familiar faces taking their previous seats and she and Riley went back to theirs. Amelia smiled when she saw Chase return. She was one of the last, but she was in time, she wondered what she had found out while performing her duties during mealtime. Hopefully the weather will be good from now on. The rain as enjoyable as it was, wasn’t the most nice thing to walk out there in, so she hoped when they were back to work it would be back to sunny or at least not raining during the delivery times.

In any case, she refocused her attention back in front of them as the trial was starting anew. She wondered who they will be calling for the next part. The whole group was in quarantine proper so they might call everybody to testify again for what they’ve seen, heard or experienced during that period. It would be kinda awkward if they did call her for it only for her to say she didn’t really pay him much heed or attention during that time, but whatever happens happens.

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Lisa Mason Location: Hospital(B)(J4) Skills: N/a

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“Hey the past when those fairy tales took place was a magical time!” She smiled.” They say that magic likely faded and we were left with the world as we see it, but hey the stories remain!” Lisa added with a kind expression. Yeah the world of fairy tales was a better one. A more beautiful and magical one.” Sure you can, Lucy. Here.” Lisa replied and quickly brought a glass of water over, carefully handing it over and waiting to make sure the girl drank as much as she wanted and then put the glass away.

“Baba Yaga is an interesting character, Lucy. Sure she’s often described as an evil witch, but at times she’s not as evil for the sake of evil. Who can really tell what she was like originally. In any case, Baba Yaga welcomed the prince at her house, she set the bath for him, let him dine with her until he had his fill. Then they began talking. The prince explained his woes and mistakes, how he had found the frog after his father’s advice on how to find a bride. How the frog had done the impossible tasks and how he had foolishly burned the skin causing Vasilisa to flee into the night. He retold his meeting with the old man and his journeys following the yarn until he found her home.’ I see, I see, foolish thing you did, Prince Ivan, foolish indeed. Vasilisa the Wise is smarter, kind and in time will be stronger than her father, Koschei the Deathless. It is for that reason she earned his ire and he cursed her to live as a frog for 7 years. Now that he’s taken her back and imprisoned her elsewhere, you shall not find her as long as he draws breath!’ The old witch cackled and Ivan became sullen. He looked at her with pleading gaze.’ Can he be killed, Baba? Can I save my bride from his clutches, if he’s deathless?’ The princess asked, holding into hope that there was a way to accomplish the impossible for at least one last time.”

“The old woman cackled for a moment and looked at the young man.’ Ahh, you can, you can. Koschei feared his death more than anything, so he took it and sealed it away from his body and as long as it’s hidden away, you cannot kill him! However despair not, I know where his death is! His death is hidden at the tip of a needle! The needle is in an egg! The egg in a bird! The bird in a rabbit and the rabbit in a chest! As for the chest, it’s hidden on top of a millennium old tree in this very forest! Tomorrow come morning, I will show you the tree, young Prince. From there it’s all your responsibility!’ She cackled and went and prepared him a bed for the night. Ivan rested well and indeed in the morning after giving him breakfast she brought him to the ancient gigantic tree and left. The tree was truly beyond all reason! He tried to climb it, but always slid back down, for hours he tried and never reached even a single branch! Finally after the sun had passed the peak of it’s path across the sky, he sat down and began thinking. Suddenly he recalled the bear.’ If only my bear was here now to help me, I am sure it would have rocketed the tree and make the chest fall!’ He uttered and as if by spell the bear roared in the distance and charged through the forest. The huge bear slammed into the tree! The ground shook, the surrounding trees trembled and the impact deafened the prince. Then the ancient tree also trembled and swayed and as the bear left the chest came crashing down from far above. It hit the ground with huge thunderous impact and moment’s later a rabbit faster than any he had seen jumped out of the smoke and ran!”

She put her hands on her head to imitate the rabbit as she continued the story.” The prince called onto the rabbit that promised him aid and the rabbit came as fast as lightning and wrestled the fleeing one. The rabbit holding Koschei’s death burst like a bubble and from it came the duck as the flew far into the sky. The prince chased after it and called upon the bird who old him a favor. It flew over like the wind and descended onto the duck yet the duck burst like the rabbit and there fell an egg, right into the sea the duck had flown over. Ivan despaired as he fell on his knees by the shore and watched into the endless expanse of water and the waves. Then something came from the water! It was the fish he had encountered first! It had kept it’s promise, even as he had forgotten, and brought him the egg. Now that he had it, Ivan broke it and from it took the needle. At the very tip of the needle he saw a tiny white glowing grain. It was Koschei’s death! He hurried and broke off the needle’s tip and a horrifying sound spread far and wide as the deathly throes of the sorcerer filled the skies.” Lisa smiled at Lucy.” With the evil Sorcerer dead, the illusions over his palaces lifted and Ivan could see them in the distance. He rushed there as fast as his legs would hold him. There at the front gates awaited him his bride. Vasilisa smiled at him and embraced him, having seen him for the first time in so long. He kissed her and apologized for everything he did, for not trusting her when she helped him so much and that he will never doubt her again. Then they went into Koschei’s palace. They found the fastest horse in the stables, filled a sack with the best riches in the treasury and returned to Ivan’s kingdom. “ The woman spoke, her voice slowly growling less animated and more soft and kind as the story was reaching it’s end now.” Ivan’s father welcomed them back, welcomed Vasilisa into the kingdom properly this time and proclaimed that a true royal wedding would be held, fit for his heir who had returned from a most grand and perilous journey. And a wedding and feast were held, for whole two weeks the festivities went on… and I too was there, ate, drank and danced and this is how the record for Ivan the Royal Prince ends, as written by the scribes and passed down into legend and myth.” She finished the story softly, checking if Lucy had fallen asleep.

Frozen Darkness

@Lucius Cypher and posted I know I said I iwll yesterday but I found this webnovel and I kinda got too into reading... for like hours... until 5 am and then I just crashed. xD

Frozen Darkness

Cat reacted as soon as the thing fell from above." Fuck!" She cursed and bolted, her excellent kinetic vision allowing her to recognize the beast in the moment it fell before the dust and debry cloud exploded. Of all things to run into, it had to be one of those! Of course she hadn't seen this exact one before, but as a soldier she had seen similar ones that all fell under the same category and she sorely regretted not getting an anti-material rifle before leaving. Sadly those were held under lock and key in the armory and only used when taken on missions, so she couldn't just grab one. Cat knew she could outrun this thing through difficult terrain and she could easily outclimb it, the problem came if it tried to have the wall she was climbing destroyed while she was on it. That would be unpleasant. She had ran at a slightly different direction from the man she had just encountered. Yet another thing that made this day weird.

Turning a quick glance at him, she noted he was going up a pile of rubble. Yeah that was a decent plan, she was planning to just make a move downwards back into the underground where the tunnels were tighter and this thing would have difficulty chasing her, however going up also worked. Suddenly with her periferal vision she could something as the mutant had decided to chase after her since she wasn't immediately going up. The guy threw a rope! She made a shift in different directions, making it hard for the creature to use it's powerful 'legs' to do a straight charge at her.

"Well..." She mumbled and made a sudden shift in direction, weaving around a pillar as she ran towards the rope. She used a bit of the rubble to jump higher as she grabbed the rope and rapidly pulled herself up with a trained ease, while also bundling some of the rope as she went to not allow the mutant to grab it and pull it down since where it would snap is anybody's guess." Thanks!" She called as she pulled herself over the edge.