In The Cold [OPEN] [DD] [NASIN]

[Cabin Boy Aaron]

Thread Specifics
Weather: Snowing Heavily
Participants: Aaron Gerrard Yoshio Falcon
Time: 12:03 PM
Status: Combat Allowed. Death Disabled.









The sun was nowhere in sight. Hidden away by a seemingly boundless canopy of pitch black clouds which hung like some sort of dark curse over the land, the sky dropped countless snowflakes upon the island of Tequila Wolf. Though a snow storm had been predicted, the residents of the island had not properly prepared, not as much as they should have, anyway, and there still were people bustling about, attempting to cover their make-shift homes with what was, undoubtedly, some sort of superior tarp than the ones they already had up. The weather meant that there were fewer laborers working on the bridge and more within the tents that acted as a hybrid of an inn or hotel and a tavern, this meant that people like Aaron Gerrard were forced to either be cramped within their relaxation spots or simply sit about doing nothing in the cold. He had chosen the latter.


Having been recently let off work as the appointed courier choreboy whilst one of Tequila Wolf's Choreboy's was out with a horrible flu, Aaron Maxwell was not yet familiar with the frigid land of Tequila Wolf. Having been tricked by one of his fellow choreboys when he asked about the climate of the island, Aaron had arrived in no more than a pair of plaid, with the colors being alternating brown and white, shorts and a short-sleeved dress shirt. Of course, the cold had reduced him to no more than a teeth chattering nincompoop, but after lightening his purse a bit, he was now decked out in a pair of simplistic, though surprisingly warm, brown trousers and a similarly effective white tunic topped with a thick knitted, light brown sweater. It covered all of his body with a minimalistic, black trench coat that not only blocked out the cold but kept heat in while it reached down to just below his knees. With his collar turned up and his strangely tubular carrying case, he looked to be some sort of strangely dressed inhabitant of the island, not a Choreboy hoping to get home soon, especially considering that he was standing nearby the rest of the teenagers.


Though he had been as courteous as he thought he could whist they were chuckling at his choice in clothing, Aaron had not been able to make a single acquaintance since he had come to the island of Tequila Wolf and as such, he was now seated, alone, upon one of the rocks that bordered the harbor to Tequila Wolf, passing time by skipping stones until he knew the night laborers would move out of the inns/tavern tents and onto working on the bridge, and there would be brief pause in between the day workers got ready and then went to relax in the inns and taverns or their homes. But in the freezing cold of the day, Aaron simply stood tall, looking out at the sea for anything of even remote interest, ignoring the numerous boats that were coming in the makeshift harbor, since it was noon. "Just two more days and the trade ship will come back to pick up more cargo and I can leave" Aaron muttered to himself, unaware that he was speaking out loud.



(OOC: Sorry if I seem a bit conceited in the fact that I kind of centered my post on Aaron and not the entirety of the island. But there aren't really many ways to say "It's a giant bridge")

[Captain Falcon]

Yoshio was standing here, the unquestionable marvel of the world, although it being incomplete, the large construction still was a cut above any man made construction. It expanded a indistinguishable distance to both sides. Below his feet was the ocean, the so noteworthy body of water was indiscernible from this altitude, mostly due to the fog fragmenting his vision, even mighty waves, that would bitchslap a normal ship around, did not even make this wolf shutter. The name felt almost symbolic, on this bridge you felt like just after drinking tequila, superior to everyone. Yoshio wouldn’t even begin trying to understand the wolf part of the name, probably some kind of metaphor for it being majestic. It was with a tint of skepticism in the back of his mind, that Yoshio accepted the mission, partly because it felt quite degrading for a Marine captain to escort a few inspectors, but the more significant skeptic thought, was the absurdness of the name. Tequila wolf, kind of sounded like you’d expect wolfs to run around piss drunk all over the place. The image seemed quite different, a bunch of sober people working hard on a noble bridge to connect the world.


Just gazing upon the ant-like slaves, busily carrying large boulders – rocks for the children – to the end of the incomplete bridge, hoping to finish the 700 year old work in progress in their lifetime. Of course, all of these slaves deserved to be enslaved, born into lineages, already cursed by grave acts in the past, Pirates, thieves, criminals. Let’s hope that this, the polar opposite of the warm levels of hell, would let them understand their place in society, maybe enable them to repent for their sins, and the sins of their blood. The Marine Captain glared out on the crowd of people, counting every steep they made, making sure no one tried sneaking forth without a heavy enough burden on them. Sometimes a adult tried simply carrying one of the children’s rocks, Yoshio just yelled “Oy” and pointed at the offender. The person was quickly seized, and a boulder with a boulder on top, was placed in his arms. Yoshio enjoyed it, sinful people had to suffer in order for the true population to live in peace, he imagined a world where this awesome bridge was completely covered by pirates, being whipped to work.


A soft fur coat gave his body shelter from the tempest blowing in from the west. The inspectors were busy sleeping their “travel exhaustion” way, and Yoshio was left with the choice to look at the middle aged men sleep, or go out and explore this wonder, naturally he chose the latter. Though after exploring for an hour, he just sat down, and has been sitting like that for over an hour. His knees were shaking like a magnitude nine on the Richter-scale, his lungs were aching from the cold air, yet the thought of moving did not even cross his min. His bottom was placed firmly on the edge of Tequila Wolf, and it would stay there until the inspectors left their bed in order to…. Well, inspect.

OOC: As I've mentioned earlier, my game isn't at it's best. I am sorry.

[Cabin Boy Aaron]

The bitterly cold wind bit into the few exposed portions of Aaron's flesh, such as his cheeks and his ears, forcing him to acknowledge, even though he was protected by his coat, that it was, indeed, a cold day. Sighing with a mixture of boredom and exasperation, Aaron turned away from the raging sea and instead began to make his way towards the steadily smaller rocks nearest to the temporary docks, so he could get back onto the main bridge that made up Tequila Wolf. Once he was off the rocks and back onto the wooden docks, Aaron nodded his greetings to the men who were busy unloading one ship and then turned to the bridge that made up the majority of the "island" of Tequila Wolf. Once more upon the bridge, Aaron began to grumble in ill humor, his calm having been lost once he had heard the older men at the docks chuckling at him, as they so often did.


Moving with his hands in his pockets, his head held low about his hunched up shoulders, Aaron fought against the cold that seemed to be seeping past his collar and continued to trudge along the bridge, making his way towards the edge of the monstrous construction, so that he could both watch the workers and pick a spot to relax in. The light coating of snow crunched underneath his shoes and the boy soon found his bad mood slipping away, the calm of movement overtaking the anger of mankind to leave him in a blissful state of mental nether region. So entranced was Aaron that he slipped by the unattentive safety officer without even flashing his ID and made his way towards the edge of Tequila Wolf. In any other situation, Aaron would have stopped roughly ten paces before the edge of the bridge and taken a seat upon the ground, unfortunately, this was not any other situation.


With his current absent mindedness, Aaron took a step clear over the edge of Tequila Wolf's bridge. For an instant, gravity didn't effect him, but then it came back in full force and he began to descend. Suddenly aware once more, the boy reached out and grabbed hold of the edge of the bridge, stopping his downwards descent into a watery grave. Gasping for air beyond his fear, Aaron began to scream and holler as loud as possible "A LITTLE HELP HERE!!" he bellowed, desperate for someone to offer the assistance necessary to assure he received an extended lifespan.

[MARDUK GRIM]

Shielded from the hostile arctic wind by a long coat and his usual mask, Marduk set a casual pace as he walked along the enormous bridge, his sword making a thin line in the freshly fallen snow as he passed. The large man was certainly aware that today was not the day to be walking around at one's leisure but the thought of idling around all day in some hovel was far worse than any thing the snow could do to him. A shiver wracked his body and he reached down reflexively to the pouch on his leg to produce the small flask stowed within; slipping the lip of the tiny container under his mask, he took a short swig and returned the drink to its place as the liquid filled his body with a familiar warming sensation.

Even through a blanket of white, the bridge was truly a sight to behold. The slaves moved with the simple efficiency that comes from working a job for so long a time, and the results were truly the culmination of generations worth of architectural advancements. Marduk made a mental note that he would have to take the time to venture back here once it was finally completed. Marduk carried himself through the snow to the edge of the bridge and leaned on its barrier to gaze at the restless sea below. He relaxed, listening to nothing but the howling wind and crashing waves.

All was peaceful for a few moments, only until a shrill series of screams broke the lovely silence he had been enjoying. Marduk pushed himself off the barrier and set off in the direction the sound had come from; much to his dismay the sounds did not die down so quickly as he would have liked. Instead he followed the disturbance through the snow until he could just barely make out a figure at the end of the bridge.

Squinting through the narrow slits in his mask, he tried to grasp what exactly he was seeing. Finally after a half second of thought, the gears in his mind clicked into place and he understood what was going on. Without a moment's hesitation he took off, effortlessly closing the distance to the end of the bridge in a few strides before sliding to one knee in the snow no more than a foot from the edge of the bridge. Marduk extended one massive arm down to the figure hanging from the edge of the bridge and gave the figure a sharp nod as if to indicate he was there to help.

(ooc: sorry if it's a bit rough, first post in a loooong time.)

[Cabin Boy Aaron]

Hanging from the edge of the bridge, Aaron could not see much of what was going on when it came to rescue, but what he could see, was not encouraging. People seemed reluctant to risk sacrificing even a second of their time to helping him, which made sense considering those who were being forced to work would be punished with physical and potentially, mental abuse and those who were being paid would have their pay cut if they stopped for anything more than a lunch break. So, Aaron was left to hang like a piece of meat in a freezer, except there was no hook to keep him from plummeting a considerable distance, where, more than likely, the water would be transformed into concrete by the sheer force he would carry with him before dragging whatever broken remains that could be identified of his body beneath the waves. As it was, Aaron was pretty much on his own.


Summoning up what remained of his courage, the boy attempted to swing his left arm, the free one, onto the bridge, but the action caused the fingers of his right hand to slip which was, of course, the antithesis, of what he wanted to occur. So, left dangling there, Aaron began to contemplate exactly what he could do to insure his own survival. Suddenly hit by a ray of what was equal parts, teenage recklessness, foolhardy fueled stupidity, desperation and general lack of logical problem solving, an idea present itself to Aaron. "I'll lift myself suddenly, using only my left arm, in a one armed pull-up, or whatever,and then I'll swing my legs onto the bridge" he decided after, roughly, a second or so of careful evaluation of what he knew of the world. Priming his arm, despite the fact that it was rapidly falling into a deoxygenated state due to both the cold and the fact that it was suspended against gravity and his arteries, like any other humans, were not strong enough to pump blood against gravity, Aaron prepared himself to put his plan into action, fortunately for him, a fairly large arm stuck itself near his face just in time for him to stop himself.


Not even pausing to give it thought, Aaron carefully lifted his free arm before applying it to the wrist of his would-be savior, lifting his head, simultaneously to look into his masked face, though he was seeing it at an angle. ".....So, you here to help or are you gonna push me?" he asked rhetorically, his suddenly rediscovered nervousness making cracking the tasteless joke a must. It was just as he said the joke that his right arm slackened and he began falling once more, this time, his only hope being holding onto the stranger with the mask.

(OOC: No problem. I liked your post the way it was. Though I hope you saving Aaron will appear in your next post, LOL!)

[MARDUK GRIM]

_____________________________

Navy blue eyes were fixed on the man who now hung from naught but the arm of a stranger, his life quite literally hanging in the balance. Forgetting one large factor in this whole situation, Kylar flexed the muscles in his right arm and began to lift the man to safety; but little progress was made before he realize his miscalculation. Powerful legs found no purchase in the snow and before he could do anything, one of his supports flew out from under him and he slid forward.

His chest collided with cold stone and snow driving the breath from him as he began to slide forward more and more, each inch dropping the stranger that much closer to his death. Kylar muttered a random assortment of obscure obscenities under his breath while scrambling to gain some leverage against the unforgiving white powder. Finally, after a moment that felt like an eternity, his hand found what it sought in the form of a bit of stone sticking out from the edge of the unfinished bridge; now he himself was hanging from the bridge from his waist.

Making use of the arm that kept him from falling, he pushed himself back into a crouching position and heaved with all his might. After all was said and done, Kylar stood near seven feet tall holding the man by the arm with his feet still not firmly on the ground. The behemoth of a marine looked his package up and down with one quick analytical glance and simply shrugged before turning so that he could plant the boy on his own two feet.

Comfortably free from danger Kylar let loose a sigh to end all sighs and took a greatly extended swig from his flask, the warm liquid rolling down his chin and staining the pure blanket of white below. Despite his usual lack of words, Kylar found himself unable to restrain from blurting out the most obvious question on his mind, “How the fuck did you manage to fall off the end of an unfinished bridge?” the tone in his voice did nothing to hide how preposterous an act he thought it to be. Not waiting for a response, he shook his head and walked over to the railing where he placed his massive sword and sat down, legs crossed, beside it.

In the confusion his manners and usual sense of self-preservation had been lost. The displeased marine shook his head once more, this time to clear the cobwebs from his own mind. He rarely talked to strangers, and he most certainly never let emotion play into his voice; he felt vulnerable. “Kylar… Your name is?” Ah, his failure at conversation had returned of course but he at least managed to put enough inflection on that last bit to make it a question.

Kylar downed one more quick swig from his flask before holding out the silver container to the other gentleman “…Drink?” he swirled the container lightly, his own way of indicating there was still plenty left.

[Cabin Boy Aaron]

Though there appeared to be quite a few incidents during the main portion of his rescue, none of which went unnoticed by the terrified Aaron, when all was said and done, the young man was safely back atop the bridge. Gasping for air beyond his fear, Aaron barely noticed as he was placed back on his feet, and as such, his legs almost gave way before his brain remembered that standing up was generally a better idea then rolling around in snow. As he regained his composure, Aaron suddenly became aware of his extremities again and gave a powerful wince as he felt the raw flesh scraping against the rough stone of the bridge had freed. The tips of his fingers were scraped quite badly, and his index nail had been uprooted and blown away by the wind, which was now wreaking havoc on his damaged hand. "Note to self, don't try to stop 140 lbs of human using only one hand on rough surfaces" Aaron thought to himself before he stored the damaged appendage in his pocket and turned his attention to his savior.


More than a little bit embarrassed to have the man ask the question so bluntly, Aaron couldn't help but stare at his shoes as he answered his question about Aaron's reason for slipping off the bridge with a barely muttered "I wasn't paying attention to where I was going" . Looking back up, expecting to see a man looking dumbfounded, in his body language, obviously, as facial expressions wouldn't really work, Aaron was surprised to find the man who had saved his life had abandoned the discussion and gone to sit down. Pushing thoughts of being offended aside, the boy strode over to him and sat down opposite him, ignoring the way the cold of the snow seemed to slip right past his lower body clothing. Taking note of the man's blade, Aaron couldn't help but feel a little intimidated, it was noticeably larger than most of the ones that Aaron had ever seen, which spoke to the strength of the man who wielded it.


Startled, slightly, by the man's question, Aaron turned to face him and stare into the depths of his mask for he even considered answering. "Uhhh, name's Aaron." he muttered back, his curiosity as to what lay under the man's mask making speaking quite a challenge. "I really want to ask him to show me, but that would be rude, wouldn't it?" he asked himself whilst he stared intently at the man, who had, through, it seemed, saving him, had become his acquaintance. As he drank, the man's mask lifted slightly and Aaron caught sight of what appeared to be a scar on the left side the man's face, though it occurred quickly enough that no other significant facial features were noticed. When the man offered his flask Aaron enthusiastically shook his head and waved his hands saying "No thanks."

"And, thank you very much for saving me. I don't think I got a chance to say that yet" he said briskly, inclining his head in could be considered a cross-legged bow.