OiM - How it All Began

[Jokerman-EXE]

((Andreas is a tele-spamming whore!))

Henry took the opportunity to plant a foot on the shaft that was level to the ground, then placed his other foot against the nutcracker's head and pushed as hard as he could in an effort to break its arms.  

[Elesariin]

Gwen immediately stopped giggling, turned scarlet, and looked down at her shoes. "I know, I just... Sorry." Amazing how one little comment and an eye roll could just throw any comfort she'd had with the situation right out the window. She had known on a certain level that he hadn't been kidding, but that had been why she'd found it funny. It had been so sad and true, one of those laugh or cry moments. But... apparently, just like in school, the best thing to do was to keep her mouth shut and try to get through in one piece.  

[SirBayer]

Arthur twisted wildly, trying to avoid the blow without much confidence. He attempted to swing for both of them with one move.

---

Smith cheerily stowed the M82 into nowhere, then rechecked his revolver. That revolver looked ridiculously dangerous.

Juliet breathed deeply. She glanced to Alastair, waiting for him to start worrying about her. It hadn't happened yet, but she knew it would soon enough. She might as well be thankful for it... it would be good protection, at the least.  

[Venom3001]

((Yes, Andreas is. Possibly because it's fun to have him screw himself up. razz ))  

[NativeForeigner]

"We actually almost never get the chance to do that right away." Cindy explained to Jordan, turning to his direction, "And when we can finally remove their masks, it's like their bodies have already decomposed. Most of what's left is just dust, so we really don't know what a living one looks like."

She saw Gwen and gave Mark a stern glare, "Would you just shut up! You're not helping this at all."

Mark mumbled something obscene towards Cindy who gave a brief gesture towards Gwen.
He let out a sigh, "I'm sorry." he growled.

Cindy sighed and shook her head, now turning to Gwen again, "He really is." she assured Gwen with a whisper, "He's just an a** sometimes, especially before something big like this."

((Almost forgot about Alastair D: ))

Alastair put a hand on Juliet's shoulder, "You okay, lass?" he asked, "Is there anything you need?"
He smiled reassuringly, hoping that it would at least make Juliet more comfortable.

***

The first Nutcracker raised it's halberd to deflect the blow. Due to Andreas' superior strength and telekinetic boost, it's success was minimal and it was knocked over.
The second, unarmed Nutcracker was beheaded and fell to the snow, unmoving. A wisp of faintly sparkling smoke rose from the nutcracker and fell unto the others.
The third performed a similar maneuver as the first. This time, the move was successful enough (due to more time to prepare and seemingly increased strength in the nutcracker) to prevent the nutcracker from falling over.

The first nutcracker was now in the process and recovering from the fall and the third was pulling back for a strike.

Andreas felt his temples throb.

((Since when is Henry a contortionist?))

The nutcracker resisted Henry with fair success, but would eventually fail. Just before the breaking point, the man had stumbled upon Henry and fell upon him from behind, slamming fists wildly.

Arthur managed to get his right leg out of the way, but the twisting opened up his left calf to the strike and the halberd cut deeply, causing Arthur to start bleeding abundantly.
His strike, however, was more successful than his twisting. He knocked the first down and knocked the other away and into the rifleman firing at Andreas, causing the two nutcrackers to fall.

Arthur: Bleeding

Ro lifted his injured leg and hopped up on his other to evade the nutcrackers wide swing.

Gregory began to fling snow at the nutcracker in a desperate attempt to push it back.

((MAJOR UPDATES UNDER THE "CONDITIONS" SECTION!
EVERYBODY NEEDS TO READ IT IF YOU WANT A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF HOW IT WORKS))  

[Elesariin]

"That's okay," Gwen murmured, glancing up with a slight, cautious smile, "I think everyone's on edge." She immediately went back to studying her shoes; she knew it was stupid, but she couldn't quite make herself keep eye contact for long, not when she still felt so stupid for laughing.  

[NativeForeigner]

Cindy sighed and punched Mark in the arm, "It's not okay, sweetie." she said to Gwen, "Just because everyone's on edge doesn't mean they should take it out on other people."

She laid hand on Gwen's shoulder, "You want something to eat or drink before we go?"  

[Elesariin]

Gwen thought about it. "Better not," she said finally, "I'm still a little queasy from that air."  

[SirBayer]

Arthur shouted angrily and in pain. He dropped to one knee and began looking to see if there was something other than valuable clothing he could spare for a bandage. That was very, very painful.  

[SirBayer]

Juliet nodded. "Always kind of wanted something interesting to happen. Looks like that whole wish kinda... came together, huh."

"Alright, you got two minutes or I'm leaving you all behind!" Smith informed them cheerily, swinging around his sledgehammer a bit. His sledgehammer?  

[Jokerman-EXE]

((Umm, how do you get contortionist out of that? That has no special effort at all...))

Henry cursed and stabbed at the man over his shoulder, keeping up pressure on the nutcracker for as long as he could.  

[NativeForeigner]

Cindy smiled warmly. It faded a little when Smith made his announcement, "Okay," she said to Gwen, "It looks like we'll be heading out soon, so you should secure your mask and get comfortable with it."
As she finished, she took her own mask, a black K-1 Military Kit, and secured it around her head.

She checked her belt and felt for a small pouch filled with about five filters. They were all there, good.

Mark donned his gas mask as well. Neither one of the two had attached the filters as of yet.

Cindy took Gwen's gas mask in her hands, "You need help putting this on?" she asked, her voice slightly muffled from the mask.

Alastair sighed, "You should be careful what you wish for, lass." he said, good-hearted in nature.
"But, there's no helping it now, and this is as interesting as it gets." he laughed, his mood surprisingly light for the situation, "C'mon, lass, let's put on our masks, the sooner we get this done the better."

***

Arthur didn't see anything that would serve as an effective bandage around him, but he did seem to recall some spare clothing and a blanket somewhere inside of his backpack.
The nutcracker next to him struggled to get back to it's feet. The downed halberdier and rifleman by Andreas were helping each other back up with mild success.

Henry, just realizing that his knife was still in the snow, instead threw an awkward fist at the man.

It was to little effect.

The man's fist slammed into Henry's back, knocking him away from the nutcracker which fell backwards into the snow.  

[Venom3001]

Andreas thrust his halberd straight forward. A good blow should knock it over since its legs provided no balance to forward-backward imbalances.  

[Jokerman-EXE]

Henry rolled away, then made a dive for his knife. The blind Crazy and the toppled nutcracker should be of little effect in stopping him.  

[Elesariin]

"Please," Gwen said immediately. She thought that she knew how to put a gas mask on, but all of her 'knowledge' came from those post apocalyptic dramas that her mother loved so much. Better to be safe than sorry.