The garrison was quiet, it was a slow day. I was sitting on my desk checking the records of inventory; the boys did not do the inventory right, that means I have more to do today. I got up from my plush, leather chair and grabbed my field cap and coat uniform. I made my way to the door of the garrison barracks when a kid stopped me, "General Hazel! Letter for you from the government building!" Can't say I wasn't surprised - I certainly was - but it's the content that made me as pale as a white ghost. "Bandit clearing in the North? Along with an expeditionary force?" I saw the kid's reaction the moment I blurted out my thoughts. The kid was the brother of one of the boys in the Regiment, "My brother's goin' out to fight sir?" I was at first, understandably stunned; this regiment had never gone out to combat, they've only really went out to practice and train. The young courier saw my empty stare and felt that it probably meant yes.
He ran out and I was just practically stunned; I had combat experience out in the East on our first expedition. The place was barren and desolate, however, there were places that hadn't been blown to smithereens. I walked out onto the camp drill yard and I saw the kid running towards his brother, who was - at the time - running his laps. His brother stopped and greeted the young courier, the courier -in response- hugged his big brother and stayed there for what seemed to be an eternity. I couldn't hear them talking, but it seemed that the boy was trying to tell his brother something, probably to be careful, probably to come back alive.
I didn't want to break up the moment, but I still had to brief the boys in the camp. I gestured for the Sergeant to come closer, "Sir!" he shouted as he clicked his boots together and saluted, "What can I do for you?" I was hesitant to answer, "Sergeant," a pause for just a moment, "Gather all the men in this camp, get 'em to line up in the drill yard, on the double!" I growled, the Sergeant of course went to the armory and got his trumpet - an old relic - it blared loudly, blurting notes that then formed music. One by one the men filed out and lined up, their uniforms mixed and matched with only the officers having the correct uniform.
once the men were all lined up at the yard I bellowed, "Alright boys, here's the rub! We've gotten orders from the president himself! Our regiment is going to Harrisonburg!" their expressions turned into one of disbelief, the president never gave out orders unless it was something important to the country. "Here are each company's standing orders!" I continued, as I read the name of each company and their standing orders, "Fox, Easy, and Charlie company will head to Harrisonburg! Velvet, Saber, and Gold company will head to New-Jamestown to help cover and shore up the sapper's flanks! Saber and Gold will then stay near the rear of our formation going to Harrisonburg! We'll be picking up militia on the way, the rest of the regiment will protect New-Richmond while we're gone, you get me maggots!?" I ended, their response was loud and crisp, "We get you General!" I smiled and barked, "Well saddle up! We got a long road ahead boys!"
John has been standing with his arms crossed, his expression scowling, silently examining the very chemically treated map as he listened to his compatriots deliberate on their course of action. They casted their vote and it seemed as if they were sure about their decision as the only persons left to vote were him and Liam.
The way John sees it, each option came with its own set of pros and cons with the first job involving being exposed for a long period of time, a BIG con with the beasts and raiders that marauded through the wastes, however, the clients have a negotiable price but John - being realistic - knew that they probably didn’t have much to offer.
The second option was a little less dangerous and all they really have to worry about are running over Ghouls, getting shot at by incendiary rounds, and/or the occasional misfire from his associates; Vadri also brings up good points but only the quicker muties and motorized raiders would even bother a prolonged chase, and the sharpshooters on the team could take out almost anything tailing the tanker, the truck is John’s main concern, especially when the truck could stop for some undeterminable reason mid-trip, and if that happens everyone’s screwed.
The last option, the people’s favorite, it has a lot to offer as Konstantin had said, it had “Cleaner air” and “Less radiation”, plus the fact that we could “Borrow” the supplies if the job doesn’t turn out right, but the fact of the matter is that it’s just as dangerous as the first two options if not more dangerous due to a number of factors.
John eyed one of these factors who stood in the room and ran the number of ways that the tunnel job could go wrong, he then raised his head up to look at each of his teammates. He opened his mouth and the words slipped out, “Can you protect Liam from a Stalker or drag him away from two, maybe three packs of Mute-rats if he freezes up in the tunnels?” his voice broke the pause, “Can most of you fight without a firearm of any sort?” he continued, ”There’s a reason they hire us for tunnel duty, these people live and die in ‘em, and that’s 'cause there are things in the tunnels that can rip us to shreds.
Liam gritted his teeth at Teach's words. "I should have never told you about my..." His voiced trailed off as he took another swig of the whiskey. Liam felt angry, not at anyone (except maybe newt.) , but at himself. When he was alone, Liam could handpick his missions and go for them, without letting too many people down. But now his problems became the team's problems. He felt as though he was holding them back in some way. He felt....useless. He knew that he wasn't and that most of the team knew that but he still couldn't shake that feeling. "Welp, despite my crippling fear of small places, I think that option two is the better option. Usually I would avoid high risk missions if I was on my own. But I'm not. With proper tactics we can do it. But that's just me." he said as he wiped his face and downed the rest of the whiskey.
Newt's stupid grin never shifted, and she leaned sideways, a little more towards Liam's position. "I can hold your hand if you like, cherub." Her quiet voice was laced with wickedness. Newt well and truly relished in Liam's frustration; out of all of her comrades, Liam's temperament was one of her absolute favourites. It had gotten to the point where she'd almost miss having the miserable git around. She held the stapler she had found in her sleepy cupboard in her hand, and clicked it in his general direction. A single staple dropped weakly, a few feet away. No harm intended.
"Tempting offer, truly short stuff, but I'll decline for now." Liam growled as he gripped his sabre tightly as he began pacing. "Its too early to get pissed off at the twerp Liam, just calm down." He thought as he began searching for another bottle of whiskey.
"Well, at least I'm not fat." Newt murmured childishly as spun on her heels and walked away towards her bedset. Her immaturity was mind-boggling, as was her tendency to call people fat when she couldn't think of anything else to say. "I'm sticking with the third, boss. I'll be getting ready."
"Cut it! Both of you!" he grunted addressing both Liam and Newt, the glare in his aging eyes was enough to turn anything in its gaze to stone, "I'm too damn old, to yell at you like children." he continued, his voice was strained from old age, he wasn't that old, but he knew these people were already old enough to know when to stop bickering like eight year olds. "Now I asked a serious question, IF we go through with the tunnels Liam, can you handle it?"
Newt almost rocketed out of her skin at John's input, her eyes widening for a moment. She looked away glumly, and shrugged a little. "...I can go ahead, try and find a route we can all get through. Make sure it's safe." She spoke with a little more reason now, swallowing the temptation to pipe up again as she fumbled with her grappling hook, anchoring the device around her right forearm.
Liam thought for a moment. "I should be able to. This thing is really down to chance. Sometimes I can do it, other times I panic just by thinking about it." He said as he continued thinking. "Actually I should be fine, if we go for it, I can handle it. But I still agree with Vad, on this, the tanker is the better option." He grumbled as his heart began pounding, Sorry me, we are going through with this, we'll take it for the team he thought as he found a unopened bottle of whiskey. "Aha, unopened. Anyone care to share?" he said shaking the bottle around.
John weighed in Liam's unassuring answer, but a yes is a yes, John waved off Liam's offer to drink, "I don't drink remember?" he then glanced back at Newt and felt a little bad. He never got mad at her, not unless it was something that could get her or someone else killed,these were one of those moments. He sat down next to her and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, "Thanks for making the effort kid" John just smirked for just a second, then he stood up and went back to being stone cold and distant.
He looked Loki straight in the eye and said "We're goin' with option three."
"Oh boy kids we're going on quite an adventure today huh?" Liam retorted as he began drinking.
"Don't let us hold you back John! Just come back when you can alright? The kids'll miss ya!"
Those words echoed in his mind as his eyes emptily stared at the book that he was suppose to read - it was an old book, a novel about a cyberpunk setting, something about being sucked into a machine or something other, he wasn't paying attention anymore. He was stuck in a trance, stuck with painful memories of the past, it's a wonder that John hasn't exactly drowned himself in a bottle - though he wants to - the kids wouldn't have wanted to see him like that, nor is it the best thing to do in such bleak circumstances around a group of people who are just as broken as he is. No, he keeps it real with himself, a bottle of jack won't do jack shit, reading a book, teaching a few people, perhaps he could still make a difference.
He noticed the others just milling around and glanced down at the book he was just reading, he whispered softly to himself, "I'll be back... Just hope y'all did your home work though" He had a few promises to keep, he still has a few loved ones in his old settlement and though he misses being there he can't just go back even if he wanted to. There were too many people who knew about him and if they find out about his old settlement he'll be putting the people he cares about at risk and he of all people couldn't risk it. They were family but then when John glances around the room he was already around family - a mildly eccentric and dysfunctional family but it was still family.
He heard the creaky door open with a cacophony of sound amplified by the room, John instinctively wrapped his fingers around his holstered 9 mil. He waited for the usual greeting as he glared at the small opening and sure enough...
"Wake up you lazy bunch. We've got work to do! You have 5 minutes to get ready for briefing."
He breathes a out a sigh of relief as he saw Loki's voluptuous form slip into the room. He stood up while relieving the grip that he had on his sidearm. Shortly after Loki was greeted by Flamel, another denizen of the Devil's Runners glamorous abode. He couldn't make out what he was saying - he was at the other side of the room - but he seemed shaky and John's immediate reaction is that he must've been doing narcotics again.
Konstantin isn't his favorite Roommate by any stretch and he would rather not get in a mess with someone who could poison you in your sleep with some drug. Being a talented chemist gave you a lot of advantages and for Konstantin that was being able to make drugs that could kill you or worse. John would rather not know how bad things could get, there is a reason why he always has a holstered pistol juuuust in-case, that and maybe one day the person that comes through that creaky metallic door wouldn't be anyone they knew, maybe one day it could be someone out to kill them all. That sort of shit happens all the time in the wastes, things get quiet, people get complacent, and one day they all end up dead because they let their guard down and John wasn't about to let shit like that happen, not to this bunch and he was sure as hell that they'd do the same.
The next moment Kian walked over to the briefing table then gave Konstantin a pat on the back. Kian was always the optimistic one, he always saw the good in most people even in someone like Konstantin. John respected Kian and Kian always gave the same decency to an old man like John unless if it's about his eyes of course.
Kian pretty much greeted Ashur and Konstantin like a bright light his smile was almost infectious - so much so John almost smirked. John grabbed his gear and walked over to the meeting without a peep until he arrived at the table, "What's the job boss?" straight to the point, short and sweet as always. John rarely talked and when he did it was when it was absolutely needed or if you pissed him off for the Devil's Runners he was starting to loosen up but he was still trying to keep it shut, he didn't want to get close to people who might die and he doesn't want people getting close to him cause he might 'buy the farm' later on too.
"Teach people valuable lessons about life, mostly how not to catch a bullet to the head and how not to be a dumbass."
Suited up
Note I'm working on getting a better image than this, but it serves its purpose.
_____________________________________________
Out of his suit
DISCLAIMER: I do not own either image, all credits belong to the artists.
John stands at a tall 6'3, he's pretty ripped due to the amount of mechanical work he does and his constant ventures out into the wastes, he's pretty well groomed and likes to keep his looks rugged and worn, other than that, he's basically like any other forty year old man.
Age:
0 41
Personality:
0 Cautious and Careful -He likes to take his time, make sure everything is just right. 0 Reserved and Attentive -He doesn’t talk much, he only talks when he needs to, but he is listening. 0 Truthful, Heavy-Handed, and untactful -When there’s a problem, he’ll tell it to you straight, no beating around the bush. 0 Irritable, grumpy, easily annoyed -The dude’s forty one year’s old, just cause he’s reserved doesn’t mean he’s always calm. 0 A Harsh but practical Realist -He may be a realist and realistically speaking everything is bleak, but he’s reasonable enough to see that it ain’t over yet.
Background:
The old man was an teacher on Engineering and physics, explaining everything from Electrical circuits, batteries, structural Engineering, architecture, all the way to Nuclear physics; he was able to survive from the application of this knowledge and the books that were left abandoned near his place of work which he gathered while evacuating into a safer zone as the entire city he was in was close enough to the edge of the affected area that it was considered a risk.
He was of course decontaminated and quarantined to observe for any ill-effects; thankfully John didn’t show any signs of radiation poisoning, since then he has been trying to improve life for people in his settlement, even going as far as making his own ‘wasteland kit’ for going out into the wastes and scavenging it for anything useful. Because of this, John has more than once encountered dangerous mutants and raiders, he made his own weapons to defend himself and actively hunt problematic denizens of the wastes.
This led him to take on new skills and lessons from the wastes considering that he could’ve died on numerous occasions, he was resourceful enough to stay on his feet and was still fit enough to move around easily, seeing as he kept himself in shape using his own exercise equipment. Eventually, he was hired to do a job that was supposed to kill him but he came back, rumors spread and people started asking things of him, and just like that, he was a merc, he still taught in the settlements trying to keep education alive, it was understandable no one could really afford to be in any type of school at that point, so he did what he could with the books that he had, he even tried to learn chemistry, but he could not understand it to a point where he could apply it, but at the end of the day he was still a Merc and eventually a Devil’s Runner.
Pros
0 Resourceful Craftsman -If he’s got time and resources, he could make something for you and you could bet your ass it’d work. 0 Fast Learner -Something that took a normal person days to learn could only take him hours to learn and do proficiently. 0 Meticulous Perfectionism -Want something done right the first time? He’s the guy you call, he’ll work until everything feels juuust right.
Quirks & Cons
0 Too silent for the dead -He never talks until he needs to talk, he doesn’t waste precious breath on stupid shit. 0 Mr. Irritable -When he does talk, it’s often to tell you to shut the hell up or to stop being completely stupid. 0 Anti-Social, Grizzled Veteran -He’s seen some really fucked up shit happen in the wastes, probably why he doesn’t talk or get close to anybody.
Habits:
0 Reading books -The Old man is an avid reader of the literary works, from philosophy to fiction, ironic that this is one of the situations that happened in a Sci-fi novel he read. 0 Pacing -When he’s thinking, nervous, anxious, or even excited about something he instinctively paces; his mood can be determined by the way he paces around and around, over and over.
Equipment
0 Gas Mask. -Part of the kit. 0 Pneumatic Sniper Rifle -Fires 15mm steel balls, mag-fed, requires pumping, Scoped 4x zoom, very powerful when the air tank is at full pressure.
Image Reference from Metro 2033, Tihar, Pneumatic weapons.
0 Homemade Knife -The Knife is a lot like a machete or a cleaver. 0 Carry pouches -To carry all his equipment and rations. 0 Tool Kit -What kind of Engineering and Physics professor doesn't have their own tools? 0 Pistol -A regular 9mm Plinker, nothing special about this. Useful in tight situations, in fact best side arm he owns until he can find a new one or make his own.
Relations
0LOKI - At first I was stunned just how resilient she was with pain, definitely not something one should take likely. You get clipped often in the Wastes and having that ability is the difference between life and death.
I'm still not too sure about her though especially with her psychopathic tendencies, but as long as she's level with us, I have no problems with it.
0SPEED - If there was one thing that put me off when I met Klaus it would definitely be how Klaus looked outside his gear. Though my compunctions were quickly quashed as I listened and observed his actions, he's a nice enough guy and he reminds me of one of my student when I was a teacher.
There was this one student that would always show up with a leather jacket, mohawk, earings, and all that. But he would always always get the answers right when I asked him something, even if it seemed like he wasn't listening. And that's what mattered, "don't matter how ya look, do your job I'll do mine" I thought, and that was especially true now.
0NEWT - One of the few I came to care about, even if she was as annoying as a fucking rat taking your boot and eating it. Rue reminded me of many of my younger students with her size and personality. She really hit a soft spot in my old heart. I was completely remiss about how that little kid could make chemical concoctions on her own and the fact that she carried weapons like the rest of us. She was a lot like me when I was younger, so why the hell would I care about that... Well minus the weapons, but hard times require such tools.
No, the real problems started happening when she started annoying the shit out of me, but damn it! I. JUST. CAN'T. GET. MAD. AT. HER! she drives me half insane, but I guess we were all like that once upon a time.
0BOOMER - Ah yes, Sidney AKA Boomer, the moment I heard the name I knew that it was gonna be trouble. I respect her engineering skills and ordnance handling, there's no doubt that she's an expert, however! I can stand to attest that she is the most reckless human being that I have ever met; her thrill seeking almost gets her killed half the time and the craziest thing about it is... SHE RELISHES IN IT. I cannot even begin to say where I have problems with this.
But I'm too old to tell her off on that shit! God knows I've tried. She's at least doing her job, even though she could get herself killed.
0DEADEYE - If shooting from a distance was a talent, I'd have to say that the man's a prodigy. Trajectory physics alone is difficult and this guy... This guy can do it in his head in a matter of seconds, it's amazing.
Kian's a pretty optimistic soul and sometimes I feel bad for shooting down his optimism with hard truth, but he understands why and he takes the bad with the good. A pretty strong spirit if you ask me.
He's a nice guy but what really struck me about his appearance was his eyes. I asked him about it, he just gave me a glare. I realized pretty quick that it was a touchy subject.
0DOC - Good ol' Russel, though he ain't old. He's the medic, a little shaky on the delivery when being shot at, but would you really care if your life was on the line?
He has a realistic view I appreciate that, but I'd say the same realistic view on his overconfidence. He's a smart guy, he thinks outside the box. A bit of a germaphobe and in all honesty I'd rather have a clean medic with clean surgical tools than one that would put rusty blades into me.
0Vadri Al - Ex Military, gotta say, I'm glad someone around here keeps themselves in shape, constant target practice during down time, clean equipment, and respectful. I like her, she's nice, loyal, and dependable. Who wouldn't want someone like that on their team? Though after noticing a pattern in her routine she can get quite predictable.
That would be pretty bad if that also translated into combat especially when dealing with Raiders we've dealt with before.
0GRIM - Liam, his indifference made him quite difficult to communicate with. But I saw past that, can't say it was easy but I tried. No man can be indifferent when the entire world is falling apart. I can tell with how he interacts with the others, he's not such a bad guy.
He's pretty pessimistic to a point where even I would draw the line, if things aren't that bad I'd tell you, ol' Grim would tell you that we're all gonna die. But other than that, I don't have many problems with him, he's a solid fighter and tactician those two traits alone make him dependable in hard situation.
0FLAMEL - Just when I thought I met the craziest of the gang when I met Ashur, then Konstantin shows up. The guy is a junkie who's afraid of the god damned sun! He's always anxious and fidgety it unnerves me whenever I'm in combat and that's saying something.
Though, I can't say that my own Realistic views on things are quite cheery, perhaps this is what I get for being too realistic. But in any case, the guy hasn't done anything to piss me off and he's nice enough to the others. That's good in my books. Keep to yourself and I'll keep to mine.
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[center][img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/faca2651-b94f-4700-a18c-c9c60cad6818.jpg[/img][/center]
I'm a space cat.
<div style="white-space:pre-wrap;"><div class="bb-center"><img src="https://fontmeme.com/permalink/180608/d4bbef67240f61a7ae8c3bbfaf8eb569.png" /></div><br><div class="bb-center"><img src="https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/faca2651-b94f-4700-a18c-c9c60cad6818.jpg" /></div><br><br>I'm a space cat.</div>
Member
Inertia
