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TonyLB · Joined: 09 Jun 2008 Posts: 494

April shivers slightly, despite the heat and the pounding sun.

Her voice is tinged with foreboding when she says "I think we should get back to the people who need us."

Nihilistic Mind · Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2008 3:07 pm Post subject:

Eric holds out his hand, meaning for April to hand him the rifle. When she does, he shoulders it and carefully scopes down the machines. He takes five down by shooting through a small opening in the machines' main hub, leaving only one and it continues to simply stand there.

He puts the rifle away in its pouch and looking elsewhere, he hands April a big handgun and a small box of ammo. "Here. Let's get going, then."

Mounted and ready, they head out and Eric begins taking them around the machine, clearly testing its behavior.

A few minutes of riding and they enter what Eric describes as a psychic field, explaining they can no longer be reached via trump. April can feel a presence, somewhat akin to trump.

"Keep your mind in check," Eric advises.
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TonyLB · Joined: 09 Jun 2008 Posts: 494

"Yeah," April says with ready agreement. She visualizes sliding a big oak dresser in front of the closed door of the room of her mind. "Nobody here but us chickens," she mutters.

Nihilistic Mind · Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 3:54 am Post subject:

The buzzing that had just started and the presence leave her immediately. They continue on, the machine following, keeping up pace and distance as best as it can.

From beyond the line of trees, April catches glimpses of Silver City for a few minutes. She sees row after row of standing machines, awaiting to be unleashed upon the worlds beyond Cimarron. Cimarron and the Lone Pine, from what Eric has told her, could be taken in just a few hours if all of these machines were wandering the countryside all at once.

She's even thinking that going into the city could be suicide. Then again, it could simply be that Eric knows something she doesn't...

After several more miles, the machine has not kept up and seems to be falling back to Silver City. For her part, April gets to see the plains and the mountain of the Lone Pine Ranch.

The first thing she notices are the carcasses and broken husks of machines, blown to bits by explosive charges. There are holes everywhere in these plains where small groups of machines have been blown to bits.

Eric is taking the long way around, which the machines have not seemed to attempt yet. It involves going up into steep paths of the mountain to reach the back of the ranch.

"Bear with me, this could take us a little while," Eric says.

As she turns around to see if anyone is following them, she notices a storm front approaching from where they came. It will likely hit Silver City by night time, from what she can calculate. It looks to be about noon or one o'clock.

Finally, they make it to the ranch. It has been deserted in a hurry and April sees many makeshift paddocks and corals broken and empty. Tents left behind, used perhaps just a day ago. Barns have been closed, shutters on small wooden houses closed as well. Eric heads for the main and largest house on the ranch, where furniture has been stacked on the large porch.

"We'll check in with the survivors before we leave for Silver City, but for now, we get to snipe from upstairs." He swings his leg above Krugalt's head with amazing flexibility and slides off of him easily. He looks at April and smiles, "Sorry it's mostly gonna have to be business for the rest of the day," he winks at her and offers his hand to help her down.
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TonyLB · Joined: 09 Jun 2008 Posts: 494

"Of course," April says immediately. "That storm is yours?"

[ .... ]

As Eric moves with easy familiarity up into the house, April follows.

"You had a life here, didn't you?" she asks.

Nihilistic Mind · Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 4:35 am Post subject:

TonyLB · Joined: 09 Jun 2008 Posts: 494

April smiles and reaches out to take his hand. "It's fine," she says warmly.

She leans gingerly on the frame of a window, and starts examining her rifle, checking the slide and action. Far from fading, however, her smile keeps growing. Eventually she takes a glance up at Eric, smiles even wider, then looks away in obvious embarrassment.

Nihilistic Mind · Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 5:38 am Post subject:

Eric looks at her and smiles back. She can feel the tension rising in the room while no word is exchanged between them for several moments.

Eric looks outside for targets and seeing small groups several miles away he announces he's bringing in a couple of chairs to relax. He comes back a few moments later with two folding chairs made from local wood. He sets them up by the window.

"Alright, how do you want to do this? Are we keeping track of hits and tally up at the end of the day?" he asks casually, trying to make light of the dangerous situation they are both in. "Or do you want to practice some and rest up before tonight's expedition?"
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TonyLB · Joined: 09 Jun 2008 Posts: 494

April arches an eyebrow at Eric. "Now ..." she says, drawing the word out, "... you're getting me all competitive."

She looks at him for a long, tense moment. "You have some sort of stakes in mind?"

Nihilistic Mind · Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 6:43 am Post subject:

He thinks for a moment, looking back at her. "Uhm, I guess I didn't have anything in mind other than winning itself," he admits, somewhat embarrassed.
"Can you think of something worthwhile?" he smiles suggestively.
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TonyLB · Joined: 09 Jun 2008 Posts: 494

She smiles brightly again. "You know what I would have asked for? That the next time you got into a fix, a genuinely dangerous spot, you'd bring me in on it."

April gestures around at the close little room and the crate of weapons, almost pirouetting in place.

"But you already did," she says with a little laugh. "It's taken me a little while to realize, is all. You had trouble and you wanted me beside you. Anything else I could win would seem very small by comparison."

[ .... ]

" 'course, I'm still happy to compete just to say who whupped who," she says.

Nihilistic Mind · Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 9:18 pm Post subject:

TonyLB · Joined: 09 Jun 2008 Posts: 494

Nihilistic Mind · Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2008 6:59 pm Post subject:

TonyLB · Joined: 09 Jun 2008 Posts: 494

Without waiting for Eric to call "Go," April swings the rifle smoothly up to her shoulder, aims at the port she saw him targetting on the machines earlier, steadies herself by letting out a smooth breath and squeezes the trigger. As the crack of the shot rebounds around the little room, she jacks the next round into the chamber, sighting back on her first target in time to see the impact of her shot.