Shit for Luck

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"Shit, shit! Fuuuuck!" He was breathing hard from the exertion, running into the nearest least dilapidated warehouse, backpack clanking behind him, but he was still cursing up a storm. It wasn't like it mattered anymore. Either he'd attracted a Reaper and he was about to be torn to pieces, or he'd spooked at nothing. A rat, probably, one of the few things that reproduced fast enough here in the ruins to keep up with predation.

Lucas leaned against the door he'd closed, catching his breath, eyes wildly looking around for something to jam up against it. Something that would hold, should the beasts put any effort at all into breaking in. There was quite literally nothing but dust and small debris. This place had been cleaned out good. He imagined he could listen at the door for sign of the thing in pursuit, but the blood was pumping in his ears so loudly he couldn't hear anything else.

"Fuck!" He said again, trying to summon a break, then started moving into the warehouse. It was unlikely to be infested or even occupied. The military kept a reasonable grip on this place, given the goods it still stored. Not that Eclipse raids weren't unheard of. Either group would probably end up rescuing him. He'd made sure of greasing palms on all sides, frequently. "Yeah, hmm. Or they'll just hold you for ransom like an idiot."

If he could have avoided getting separated from his group, it would have been the best course of action, really. But he'd wandered off, and then the noise had sent him scattering. Protocol was to regroup in Stronghold and alert the authorities if a rescue party was needed. More greased palms. The old man could handle that, in his absence. Eventually, help would come, but would they find him alive?

In an upstairs room he deemed safer--and with a vantage point of the whole warehouse--he set down his pack and rummaged through it. Beyond the trinkets he'd stuffed in it, there were enough rations to finish out the day and perhaps the rest. Enough water, at least.

"Fuck..." He sighed, closed it up and leaned against an occluded wall to keep watch.

Posted 03-30-2021, 03:11 PM This post was last modified: 04-16-2021, 05:37 PM by Lucas Gatlief

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TAG Lucas Gatlief
NOTES N/A

Étienne stood leaning against the wall with one foot up against it, the other stretched out in front of him for balance. A cigarette lazily hung from his mouth, smoke trailing out the tip and disappearing at a respectable distance. Truth be told it was more of a comfort for the man now than a need, a craving — but it was one of the last few things that could still tie him to Stronghold. It was a habit he had picked up when he was younger, something that helped cure the boredom of his rich life small puffs at a time. He closed his eyes as he slowly took a drag of the smoke, pulling it from between his lips as he let smoke drift lazily between his lips. A sudden crash from the wall behind him forced a frown across his face momentarily, before it relaxed again at another drag of the cigarette.

“We're almost done, Boss.” A wave of Étienne's hand was used to both acknowledge the man and dismiss him at the same time. He felt the lack of presence once more as the man turned and headed back inside the building Étienne was currently leaning against. It wasn't particularly rare for the leader of Eclipse to be out on an excursion with some of his troops; after all, exploring the desolate landscape was one of the things that had first given him an adrenaline rush that he so desperately craved. While he had so many more people depending on him now — his advisors advising him to stay in the Junkyard where it was safe — he still wanted to leave the base every now and then to stretch his legs.

Loud footsteps announced his men had finished ransacking the building, and Étienne took one last drag before he tossed the butt on the ground and stomped it out with his boot. His men were chatting up a storm as the group of five headed back towards where they had parked their vehicles, Étienne numbly listening to their conversation and chiming in only when they spoke directly to him. The vehicles were parked a fair distance away: some places were just easier to get to on foot, especially with the older buildings that were now dilapidated and starting to fall apart. As they walked, the leader spotted a warehouse nearby that he was certain they hadn't checked recently. Even after a place has been looted, it's not uncommon for more supplies to show up via drifters spending the night and ending up being attacked by Infected. It was perhaps a gruesome origin story, but hey, supplies were supplies. They weren't going to complain about that.

“Before we head out, we may as well give that old warehouse a look,” Étienne mused aloud, drawing his group's attention to the building as he pointed in the building's direction. “Maybe we can find some old mechanical parts in there.” That was the good thing about warehouses: just about anything could turn up in them.

After quick agreement, the small Eclipse party headed for the warehouse. They hadn't seen whatever commotion had gone on minutes before, and a quick sweep of the area confirmed that it was free of Infected. It wasn't much of a problem even if there were Infected nearby; every Eclipse member was dressed to the nines with firearms; even Étienne carried his signature pistol. The door wasn't locked, giving the gang quick access to the the warehouse. The first thing to do before they looked for any kind of supplies was spread out and begin searching the warehouse to lock it down.

Posted 04-01-2021, 09:24 PM This post was last modified: 04-15-2021, 12:10 PM by Étienne Blanchard

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He heard them checking outside before he truly saw them, and that made him freeze in place. It was the quintessential problem: when to trust and when to run in the wasteland? More often than not, Lucas ran. He was good at it, running. Could cover an impressive amount of distance in a short distance, as well as keeping going longer distances. If it wasn't basically suicide, he could run to No-Man's Land and back to Stronghold in a day.

For now, he stayed put, reasoning he was pretty well hidden. Besides, he hadn't really swept the entire warehouse, had he? As the thought occurred, he became hyper-alert to any potential threats in his immediate vicinity. If these jackoffs stirred up some dormant Infected, he would be their first meal. A pretty corpse, no doubt, but a very unwilling one at that.

Nothing emerged. Instead, heavily armed people streamed into the space below. Their leader was easy to spot, giving orders and some such. Orders which entirely conflicted with his objective of remaining hidden. It would be wiser now to just engage them socially, rather than wait to be found.

With a sigh, he raised his voice to say: "I am a citizen of Stronghold. I got separated from my group outside and ran here to... to rest. I am not infected. May I come out?" To himself, he thought: And pretty please don't shoot me on sight... Or kidnap me.

Lucas waited for an answer.

Posted 04-08-2021, 01:06 PM This post was last modified: 04-16-2021, 05:36 PM by Lucas Gatlief

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TAG Lucas Gatlief
NOTES N/A

They weren't expecting to find someone else inside the building, perhaps because it looked so abandoned that there couldn't possibly be anyone living there. Not to mention it wasn't an area that was regularly patrolled by the Military or Eclipse, meaning Infected attacks were much more regular there. Étienne's men reacted before he had a chance to, the lot of them swinging their guns around to be aimed in the direction of where the voice came from. Being together with the boss of their organization, their first instinct was to shoot first and ask questions later. Étienne immediately reacted by holding his hand in the air to stop them, silently instructing them to keep their fingers off the trigger unless he changed his mind.

Quietly he listened to the man's speech, a brief moment of hesitation flooding him before it disappeared. What was a group of civilians from Stronghold doing out here, in the middle of nowhere, by themselves? Completely ignoring the fact he used to do the exact same thing when he was younger, Étienne instead grew momentarily suspicious towards the man. While the Military wasn't exactly known for pretending to be something other than themselves — they took great pride in the fear they could instill in others at the mere sight of their uniform — it still was a very real possibility. They never could take such a chance.

“You're far from home,” Étienne speaks aloud to the mysterious figure, and although his sentence isn't phrased as a question, it lilts at the end to offer the man a chance to explain himself further. After speaking, Étienne silently looks towards his men and nods his head, dropping his hand so that they would drop the barrels of their guns towards the ground. For the time being it didn't sound like a threat they needed to be on high alert for, but none of them packed their guns away just yet.

“You may come out, we will not shoot you,” Étienne finally confirms the answer to the man's question, crossing his arms over his chest as he waits for the man to appear. His eyes train themselves to the direction of where the voice had come from, apparently a room on the second floor overlooking the rest of the empty warehouse. “If you have a gun on you, keep it where we can see it,” he continues, leaning back against once of the shelves next to him.

For the moment, he keeps their identity as a group to himself. Until he knows exactly who he's dealing with, he's not about to reveal them as the secret organization directly in conflict with the Military.

Posted 04-11-2021, 04:15 PM This post was last modified: 04-15-2021, 12:11 PM by Étienne Blanchard

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His announcement was greeted with silence, and that was a far cry better than gunshots. Lucas wondered how well this little place he was in would hold against a barrage. Not well. Heck, it probably wouldn't even hold out against a determined badger, if any of those still existed.

"No gun, nope!" Though he could shoot one, more or less, and he did have a knife at his belt and another smaller one in his bag. And his tools, of course. Not that a few brushes and a chisel were all that threatening.

He came out of the enclosure--yeah, flimsy plastic and aluminum stuff, the glass long shattered and strewn on either side. His hands were both held high up in the air, in the universal sign of surrender and defenselessness, palms sweating out the nerves and eyes darting everywhere. He saw the lights mounted on the guns and other sources shaking in hands. Saw the glinting metal of rifle barrels. All that weaponry. Enough to kill and Swiss cheese his body.

There was a gulp, nerves making him break out in a full-body sweat now, heart pounding. He was at their complete mercy, which was very bad. He got quippy when threatened.

Sighting the leader, instincts took over: "Huuh! Didn't imagine you'd be all... cute and stuff. Eclipse, eh? Let's hope you remember the bribes..." He cursed every word that flowed out of his mouth, but knew better than to try to stifle them. Stuttering interspersed with cryptic statements wouldn't help right now. Might as well play the bafoon.

Posted 04-16-2021, 05:36 PM

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TAG Lucas Gatlief
NOTES N/A

Even though the currently unknown man claimed he didn't have a gun, that didn't mean that the Eclipse members immediately let down their guards. One could never be too safe, especially when faced with a situation they could not immediately assess themselves. It doesn't take long before the source of the voice emerges from the ramshackle upper floor, hands in the air as if he was being held at gunpoint. Well, in a way he was, but they weren't planning on robbing him or anything.

A part of Étienne wants to laugh at the sight. He'd told the man to keep any weapons where they could see them, but he certainly didn't ask the man to come out like... That. They weren't the Military prepared to pat him down and search for hidden contraband. He remains quiet though, allowing the bemusement to put a very subtle grin on his lips. It was very obvious the man was nervous about the number of guns and weaponry he could spot, and while Étienne didn't believe first impressions made a person, his gut told him they had nothing to fear from the self-proclaimed Stronghold civilian. Not even a secret service Military officer could put on that convincing of an act, he was sure of it.

Attention was shifted to him as the man suddenly calls him out, clearly recognizing him as the leader of the little Eclipse group — probably not difficult, considering how they were all standing.

A lone eyebrow raises questioningly as the man calls him cute — oh, is that the game he wants to play? But the man doesn't stop there, instead he continues speaking and stuffing that foot further and further into his own mouth, and Étienne can't tell if it's just the man's nerves or if he's really that bad at reading the situation. He chuckles, but it's not a warm or happy sound. He keeps his face perfectly neutral.

“Are you implying I can be bought?” Like some kind of whore? The next few words linger on his tongue, the implication in his words, but he doesn't vocalize them. The coolness in the way he speaks indicates he's irritated by the mere suggestion of it, but the grin on his lips is a startling contrast to his words. Truthfully he didn't think much of the ramblings from a nervous man, but to play the game, he lets his own gaze visibly drift down the man's body to take him all in. Not bad, if he had to be honest. He liked a man that knew how to take care of himself.

"I know this man," one of his men suddenly speaks up and Étienne turns to look at the man with a questioning gaze. "He's one of our regular clients in Stronghold, Boss. He's not any threat to us."

“Ah.” So that's what the bribe comment was all about. “Well, how fortunate for you that we're the ones that found you, and not a fang,” he continues, drawing his gaze back to the man in front of him. “You said you lost your group? Where are they?”

Posted 04-20-2021, 01:31 PM

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