OiM - How it All Began

[Elesariin]

Gwen smiled more broadly, half because the woman's expression was infectious, and half because this whole gun thing didn't seem terribly difficult after all. "Gwen," she said, accepting the weapon from the woman's hands. "Well, technically Gwendolyn, but nobody uses that." She glanced between the two, noting their similar facial features. Were they brother and sister? "And you?"

((I was dying of a horrible disease called 'midterms'. Luckily, I found a cure, and it's called Spring Break! WOOT!))  

[Jokerman-EXE]

((I'm just ridiculously cool.
If everyone else is offering explanations, then I am too.))  

[Venom3001]

With an inexplicably present sound of metal clashing against metal, Andreas deflected the bullet. He blinked in surprise and began to approach the nutcracker, cautious of the surrounding halberdiers.  

[NativeForeigner]

((How'd you manage that, Anchou?
Joe: Don't lie, you have no excuse
Elesariin: WELCOME BACK!))

The man let out a vicious growl as his groin was impacted and it soon turned to a wail as Henry's fingers dug into his eyes. He twisted and writhed in an attempt to throw Henry off. Given his superior strength, Henry would inevitably be thrown away

The man threw his left arm out with great strength, striking at Henry's right as he dug into the man's eyes.

A thrown fork dug into a nutcracker's face between it's eyes, knocking it down.
It immediately struggled to get back up. Another nutcracker smacked away a spoon with surprising speed.

Two more nutcrackers joined the other two and helped the fallen one up.

For the most part, the silverware was relatively ineffective unless it hit them in the head.

The rifleman fired again at Andreas. Three halberdiers began to approach approach Andreas in an attempt to assist the rifleman, their halberds extended towards him. Andreas felt the onset of a mild headache.

A hablerdier was coming up behind Henry as he struggled with the Crazy, ready to stab him in the a**.

two halberdiers closed in on Ro and one more on Gregory. One swung with surprising speed at Ro's left leg. He managed to pull his leg out of the way at time, but the halberd cut clean through the bottom of his jean leg.

He mumbled some mild obscenity at the nutcracker and swung a right kick at it, sending it flying back into the trees. At the same time, it's partner swung at Ro's outstretched leg and cut deep.

"Ow! ********!" he called out, jerking his leg away.

Gregory saw the blood and paled. Right after, he saw the nutcracker and wailed. He fell to his a** and began to crawl away backwards.

***

"Should you what?" Smith asked Jordan.

The woman smiled, "Gwen, I like that." she said, standing back up.

"I'm Cindy, and this is my brother, Mark." she said, gesturing towards the man who was lighting up one more cigarette.

"You know that's gonna be the end of you, it's so bad for you!" Cindy said to Mark.

Mark shrugged, "I'm just getting the most of it before we head out, if I die of anything, it won't be this, I promise." he assured her flicking away the butt.

"Anyway, nice to meet you, Gwendolyn."  

[Elesariin]

((^-^ Thanks! I missed you nerds.))

Gwen's smile faltered a bit at Mark's promise that if he died, it would be from something besides smoking; she'd almost managed to forget why she needed the gun. "Nice to meet you too," she replied sincerely. She was surprised and relieved to find everyone so nice. Smith was nice too. Odd, but nice.  

[NativeForeigner]

((I'm actually a geek, thank you very much xp ))

Cindy looked Gwen once over, as did Mark. "Anything else you need, sweetie?" she asked, "I think we're leaving soon."

"How about some boots and a vest?" Mark suggested, "Boots have gotta be better than those things you're wearing on your feet."

Cindy elbowed Mark, "Oh! Be nice, she's still new here."
She smiled and looked at Gwen, "But he does have a point...what's your size?"

((Oh! Cindy stands at about six foot three with her boot and Mark is about six foot seven with his boots and they're both relatively slim.))  

[Elesariin]

Gwen turned pink. Her old, beat up tennis shoes were not combat material, that was for sure. "Nine and a half," she said quietly, "Double narrow... If you have it," she added hastily, "I can squeeze into nines." Her current shoes were actually size eight and half; she'd gotten them at least three years ago, and her feet had grown since then.  

[NativeForeigner]

"Okay, Gwen, I'll be right back, do you want a vest too? It'll be handy."
Without necessarily waiting for an answer, Cindy trotted off into another room.

Within two minutes, she returned holding a pair of boots and a light vest.

"Nine and a half, double narrow, right?" he clarified as she handed the items to Gwen and smiled.  

[Elesariin]

Gwen smiled back reflexively and took the shoes. "Yep." It would be so nice to have shoes that fit.... even if she was only getting them to go onto a battle field. As she put on on the shoes, she couldn't help wondering about that. What exactly did Smith expect her to do? She certainly didn't want to get these people killed, especially after they'd been so kind to her. Pulling on the vest, she went through the possibilities. None of them seemed particularly likely. "Um... Cindy? Do you know what Smith wants me to do? He didn't exactly explain."  

[SirBayer]

Smith was cheerfully inspecting his inexplicably present full-grown-man-length-and-more sniper rifle.

"I think we should get out before the situation changes," Juliet suggested, calling on whatever combat knowledge she had. She was a cop in a quiet town, so that wasn't much, but she'd had at least a little training.

---

Arthur liked the idea of punting but it was obviously dangerous with the nutcrackers carrying weapons. "Anyone have anything long and golf-club like?" Arthur suggested, searching his own pack for such an object.  

[Jokerman-EXE]

Henry grinned in triumph before he sensed the attack coming from behind. He twisted out of the way, but it put him off-balance and he was thrown off. He rolled to where his knife was, using his TK to locate it in the snow. He grabbed it and jumped up quickly, ready to attack the Crazy.  

[NativeForeigner]

"Oh, he didn't?" Cindy said as she adjusted Gwen's vest.

Mark adjusted his own vest and cracked his neck, "You're our spotter." he said, tossing Gwen a pair of strange binoculars, "You tell us where the bad guys are and we shoot them. Simple, yes?"

***

Unfortunately, Arthur found nothing of the sort. Maybe a branch would work...

Henry's twist still maintained some effect. As he was thrown off, the halberd tore through the back of his jeans and left a shallow cut on Henry's right butt cheek. Just barely deep enough to make it bleed.

As Henry reached for his knife, the nutcracker's halberd came down on Henry's hand. He sensed it and pulled back his hand unharmed as the blade cut into the snow.

The man had cupped his face in his hands and was now screaming savagely. He scrambled around, looking for Henry.

((Joe, stop bitching and accept it like a man:

Quote:

The man threw his left arm out with great strength, striking at Henry's right as he dug into the man's eyes.

))  

[Venom3001]

Andreas ducked, shouting a clipped expression of surprise as the bebe hit his forehead. He stepped back and attempted to grab a halberd by the tang, reaching around from the side opposite the blade.  

[Elesariin]

Gwen caught the binoculars and examined them curiously. "Yes. I mean, yes, it's simple, but did he already explain that part. What he didn't explain is the part where a teenager with zero combat experience is suddenly your spotter." She raised an eyebrow and looked from one face to the other expectantly. "You can't tell me that's standard procedure."  

[NativeForeigner]

"Well..." Cindy started as she rubbed the back of her head, "We've been kinda short-handed lately and pretty much anything'll help. I mean, no offense, I'm sure you're going to do great, it's not too hard."

Mark shook his head, "Don't sugarcoat it, Cindy," he mumbled, "She's only on the field because we need as many people as possible. She'd be with us if she was three years old, retarded, and in a coma."

Cindy shot Mark a stern glare, shutting him up instantly. She turned back to Gwen and smiled with an annoyed look on her face, "Don't listen to him, sweetie, we'll run you through the basics on our way there."

***

The nutcracker failed to pull away in time as Andreas grabbed the halberd by the shaft.
As he tried to pull away, he found that the halberd was, indeed, attached to the nutcracker's hand and ended up pulling along the nutcracker as well which fought back with surprising, though futile strength.

As Andreas dragged and pulled the nutcracker, the other two halberdiers intervened, one swinging down on Andreas' forearm and the other pulling back for a similar strike.

The rifleman began to stiffly reload as it strafed around Andreas, attempting to get behind him.