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Moon She presses her lips together in a tight smile, trying to decide if she should comfort Everett, or... She shrugs her shoulders, "Was it... weird? I mean, how could it not be? I thought about what I'd say to my clone but... I guess she would have too. ...How different was she?" She tries to start slowly but can't help prodding, "Was it like, a sister, or a weird mirror? I have this theory that like... our self-awareness is limited enough that you wouldn't really see yourself so much in your clone, because you're viewing your clone from a different vantage than you've ever viewd your self. But wouldn't it make you insecure - what if you notice your annoying habits? Or..." She reels herself back in and glances down, her tone sobering up, "Sorry, I just... It's unusual, is all." She has her doubts about the efficacy of the backup process in recreating a person versus producing a reliable facsimile, but that doesn't stop her curiosity. After all, she herself came from a society where gene-treated children were raised communally as a seasonal generation, educated and socialized together, and that hadn't resulted in a hundred Su-kyung Moons, not by a long shot. "Are they um, doing that arbitration process thing for you guys too?" Her survival instinct warns her that somewhere behind her, Carl is about to drag her into that stupid game, and her spine tenses a little.
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Sep 27, 2016 07:36
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Page 20! 1 Bonus CP for everyone!
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Sep 28, 2016 05:15
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Alarus Alarus smiles at Everett and nods at the introduction, but the smile goes away at the realization that Carl is going to get them involved in something dangerous. "When you say full contact, exactly how full is that contact?", he asks Serece. "Has anyone died playing this game yet?"
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Sep 28, 2016 11:46
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Marek "Of course full contact." He says and then turns to Alarus. "More the risk, more the reward. Any how I don't think a lot of people have died playing this sport."
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Sep 28, 2016 19:40
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Carl He was definitely ready for whatever it was that they were about to get into. Not that he was bloodthirsty or anything, but when was the last time any of them (Alarus excepted) in any time of recreational physical sport with other human beings? It's been a relativistic year or more. "I don't think we have anything to lose. Moon only has a juiceless dinner to gain out of this on my stipend, as anybody else. I think, though, maybe we should do teams? Is that a thing? Or how many other people are we going to get in there with?"
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Sep 29, 2016 02:31
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Everett mutters to Moon, "How could it be weird? She's me. I'll tell you all about it later." The four base attack ship crew begin stripping out of their uniform jackets. Serece says, "Well, I've never heard of anyone getting killed. Just seriously injured, no big deal. Why, are you worried? Relax." She then rattles off a practiced (favored?) set of rules, "Free-for-all, five minute timer, no choke holds and no eye gouging. Anything else goes. Let's get in there before someone else does." With that, the group proceeds through the netted gate into the arena. It's a 50 meter by 50 meter cube of mostly empty space attached to one side of the day market gantry system, but filled with semi-fixed obstacles to give the players something to kick off of. The walls are an elastic mesh net, so anyone hurling themselves into the side (or being hurled) will be catapulted back into the middle of the arena. Most of the obstacles are simply discarded supply crates covered in crash foam so that they lack sharp edges, with a few tethers and loops attached for hand holds. Based on the way some of the players were able to push off of them, they're filled with something heavy for ballast; probably sand or water. There are illuminated start positions arrayed around the walls. The crews disperse to these marked spots as a small hover-drone places the ball in a stationary position smack in the middle of the arena, then shoots away to hide in a niche built into the "ceiling." A horn sounds. Ul! Use Aerobatics or default to Freefall-2 or DX-4 to get the ball!
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Oct 3, 2016 04:51
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Marek He went into the arena and found his spot. The horn sounds and Marek is off. "Yeah!" Marek pushes off the wall and heads for the ball. Default 12 from Free Fall DX- 14
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Oct 4, 2016 20:03
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Carl As he floated into the arena he got a decent idea of the surroundings. It wasn't quite the same as zero-G, but he knew how to handle himself in low-G well enough. As the ball gets placed, he tries to go for possession, up against Marek and all the rest, because why not? He wanted to win, and this was up his alley after all they had been through. He just figured he'd have to dodge to protect his vitals - other than that, anything was fair game... I have Astrobatics-12 but not Aerobatics, so if that doesn't apply I'll default to Freefall-14, for an adjusted value of Freefall-12 like Marek.
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Oct 6, 2016 04:26
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Moon She's not the most eager participant but... they're a crew. She'll be damned if she sits out while the other three participate. Her eyes take stock of the arena and she experimentally pushes herself toward one of the boxes, then off it, twirling for effect. Taking a deep breath, she eyes the ball. The others prepare to grab for the ball, Moon hangs back, waiting to seize on a window after the ball is first seized. She tries to plot out an angle, think about the geometry, the psychology, how other players are going to play - anticipate. Anything to stave off the uncomfortable feeling of adrenaline bleeding into her system. No roll. Moon is just going to gank whoever grabs the ball and breaks free of the scrum tbh.
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Oct 7, 2016 11:17
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There are occasional moments that occur immediately prior to pure carnage that stand out so clearly in memory because of their silence in comparison to what came next. The few heartbeats after the starting horn form one of those moments. Each player kicks off from one of the arena walls heading toward the suspended Ul ball in the center. For a moment, they are simply objects in motion and remain in motion until acted upon by an outside force. Meanwhile, Alarus is caught flat footed by the starting gun and flails helplessly, while Moon takes off at a tangent so that they can grab on to one of the floating obstacles and redirect herself toward the eventual winner of the scrum. There are a series of slaps, grunts, and thumps as the players collide in the middle of the arena and briefly wrestle for the ball. Marek takes and elbow to the stomach, while Carl deftly maneuvers himself through the melee and slaps the ball away from Everett so that he can secure it himself. The Marine is unable to grab the pilot by his arms or upper body, but manages to grab him by one leg so that he's unable to make good his escape. The pair of them go pinwheeling toward one of the arena walls while the remaining players flail and air-swim their way toward nearby obstacles so they can make another go at the ball. Moon, however, has already reached one and is in striking position. Carl has the ball but has been grappled on his left leg by Everett, who has a lot of Judo and Wrestling skill and is probably not going to be kicked off even if Carl starts kicking her in the face. Moon can make an attack this turn to try to dislodge the ball. Marek and Alarus need to roll Freefall to recover and re-ready themselves - they can automatically succeed by taking no other action or roll to recover and re-attack in the same turn here. Marek has taken three crushing damage to the stomach.
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Oct 26, 2016 06:27
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Carl While he acknowledged the objective of the game was to have longest total possession time of the ball, he also didn't really want to be in the middle of the sandwich he was about to be subjected to. He chucks the ball at the wall they're heading towards underneath Everett - hopefully that's enough of a distraction to get free of the grapple, then he can work on getting the ball back in a quick fashion before Moon or anybody else can grab it. I will go do some goofy rebound nonsense, I guess if it is DX-based then 12 minus whatever penalties this actually is going to be
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Oct 30, 2016 03:12
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Marek He launches towards the ball and got himself in a tumble with other players. Even though he fought for the ball, he didn't fight hard enough. An elbow to his stomach reminds him of how brutal the sport can be. After the hit, he found himself floating off. He let the momentum carry him off until he finds something solid. As he approaches a supply crate, he plants his feet on it and pushes off of it back into the fray. Taking no action except to recover and ready himself. After which he will push off the crate to get to where the ball is. HP: 8/11 Default 12 from Free Fall DX- 14
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Oct 30, 2016 06:00
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Moon She watches and waits patiently, having settled upon her strategy early - she isn't going have any measure of success trying to outmuscle the others. So Moon finds a perch and braces against it, relocating to find a better angle once Carl makes contact. But Everett's still grappling with Carl. Her throat tightens as she watches the struggle - exaggerated stress responses. We're just playing a game. Take it easy, alright? Deep breat- oh, there it is, her cue. The ball leaves Carl's hand and she's off. It isn't enough just to grab the ball, there has to be followthrough - her path is angled towards landing on an obstacle away from the others and ready to continue to keep away. Grab ball, run away. I also have a default of 12, as we are built from a similar mold.
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Oct 30, 2016 10:34
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Alarus Alarus whirls backwards, trying to right himself, and then, still flailing, tries to get himself forward to help Carl. Freefall 13 to balance, Freefall 11 to try to head towards Everett to help Carl
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Oct 31, 2016 01:18
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Carl makes a move unique in Ul and throws the ball away. Everett is actually dumbfounded enough by this that she let's him squirm free, but his attempt to catch the ball on the rebound is foiled when its wiffled shape causes it to lose most of its momentum and then the net wall saps the rest. It barely rebounds at all, leaving Carl tens of meters away and floating it toward it too slowly to stop Otlr from sailing in and grabbing the bail. She's immediately pounced on in what becomes a five-person scrum with Moon, Jason, Humboldt, and Marek all scrabbling at each other in a vain effort to break away with the ball. Alarus manages to kick himself roughly in the direction of Carl and Everett, the two still having not yet reached a convenient foothold to push off from. Everett takes the opportunity to grab Alarus by his upper arm and shoulder and hurl him bodily into Carl's face, using the EWar specialist's body as a reaction mass to get herself moving in the direction of the ball again. The pilot and hacker get themselves disentangled and re-orientated, only to notice that there's a familiar face just outside the arena's entry gate. Remael is out there, apparently waiting for the game to finish.
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Nov 7, 2016 08:35
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Carl At least he wasn't getting into a pile of bodies - one was good enough for him. He began to reposition himself for a good chance to spear the ball with a wall leap - if he could just get the right angle, he could grab the ball and break away from everybody else and run the clock until he won on possession. Alarus - well, at least he's not turning into another projectile hurled by Everett again. Hopefully. Remael's presence is certainly noted, but pushed to the back of his mind while he tried to get new positioning.
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Nov 7, 2016 18:07
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Marek Fighting with the others in the scrum, he decides to make an effort to let Moon get the ball. Instead of fighting for the ball, he goes after his opponents and tries to get them away from the ball. Gonna tackle and/or grab the other people to get them away from the ball and Moon.
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Nov 8, 2016 03:18
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Moon Trapped in the crush, she does the only thing that counts - holds on to the ball. Curling, twisting, she struggles with the others, feet kicking and hoping to find purchase on some poor idiot's body so she can push away. Remael is not noticed, as most of her vision is subjected to the back of Humboldt's head amidst the grappling. I dunno what to roll to ESCAPE THE SCRUM and hold on to me ball.
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Nov 12, 2016 06:16
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Alarus This was not a game, Alarus had determined. Games had rules. This was flailing and hoping you hit somebody. It was....disconcerting. He continues flailing, trying to direct himself to the scrum and actually be useful for a change. Heading to help out Moon
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Nov 17, 2016 03:49
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Moon isn't much of a scrum combatant, but suddenly finds herself with help. Five people all elbowing and punching each other doesn't amount to much, but with Alarus and Marek both doing nothing but trying to pry people off of her, Moon kicks free and floats away from the twisting mass of strikecraft crew as they go floating in another direction. The scrum slowly breaks apart as everyone realizes the ball is gone and that Alarus and Marek have more or less rigged the game in favor of their shipmate. Otlr gives them a truly nasty look before hooking onto an obstacle so that she can change direction. She grabs onto one of the floating obstacles, steadies herself, and takes a look at the scoreboard. Carl's up there, but he made the mistake of throwing the ball away so he's only got a few seconds on the clock. Moon's own score continues to rack up, the digits in the tenths of a second column flipping crazily as her total closes in on the goal. It's a fixed length game, and they're the only two players who have had control of the ball. She realizes that if she can hold onto it for fifteen more seconds, it'll become mathematically impossible for anyone but Carl to win. Twenty five, and the game is hers. Everett and Carl appear on opposing obstacles some fifteen meters away, their brief scuffle now long in the past. Everett smirks at Moon and then launches herself with one smooth kicking motion, hurtling toward the smaller woman like a missile.
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Nov 17, 2016 08:40
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Moon Fifteen seconds. She sizes up her probable assailants, at Carl and Everett, taking measure of the situation. Fourteen and a half. She can maybe scrap with Carl - he isn't so far out of her league as Everett is - that woman will destroy her. But will she destroy her in fourteen seconds? And beyond that, she just has to keep it out of the hands of her other crewmate. Thirteen and a half. So she does what she can -she braces around the ball, holding it tight in a fetal death grip, and kicks off her obstacle, toward destinations unknown. It doesn't matter where she goes, or what she runs into - she just has to keep Everett and Carl from prying it away from her for the alotted time. As much as I'd like to pull some sick nasty moves and scrap with Carl or Ev, Moon has no reason to believe that would be a good idea. If it seems like she is gettin grappled, she's going to hurl the ball hail mary style in some direction away from those two - to anyone else, or no one at all.
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Nov 18, 2016 07:33
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Marek After the scrum he floated away and then grabbed onto an obstacle to reorient himself. Looking around, he sees that although he put himself out of the play, his team mates still had a chance. Holding off doing anything to see what other people do.
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Nov 25, 2016 07:11
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Carl Being on a shared neural link with Moon meant that he was aware of some things. Nothing concrete, but it was internalized instincts, subconscious movements. Direct conflict avoidance. Distaste of activities deferred in favor of group dynamics. He couldn't do anything too fancy, but he needed some more possession time, just by a bit. He gestures to Ev and Moon - I'm coming for you two! With that, he waited for an extra second, then took off with both feet at the ball in the classic (for Ul, maybe) beginner's lunge. I'm just going to try and grab the ball at medium to high speed, or, if the ball goes in a weird spot, I guess at Moon since I won't be able to adjust my path
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Nov 28, 2016 07:30
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Alarus It's starting to dawn on Alarus that this might not be a team sport. But it was too late to do anything about that now, and if he couldn't win, at least Moon or Carl could. He therefore did his best to look threatening while not actually BEING too threatening, and started to move towards the ball. Killing time
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Nov 29, 2016 03:55
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