Burning Down The Highway Skyline

blu-streak:

Shannon glanced over, meeting eyes with the Pyro for a moment. “Well.” She nodded faintly. “Zero-tolerance is a good strategy.”

A flash of white was on the screens then — Nikki battling one of the RED Spies while, on the screen above and to the right, Grigori was following the rolling sawblade as a makeshift shield, attempting to beat back the onslaught of Sentry fire from the other side.

And then, another white coat…and her stomach took a sick drop because it had to be a RED Medic. Who, she couldn’t tell, but even the suggestion was bad enough — it verged into horrifying when the doctor unleashed a spray of needles at a quickly-darting Scout. Hiding her face in her elbow, Shannon squirmed restlessly in her chair. “Ah jeez…I can’t watch…”

She’d spent countless hours fighting and dying and fighting again alongside her team. But something about the dispassionate, voyeuristic eyes of the surveillance cameras made it all so much more disturbing.

By contrast, Hotaru seems to become more and more interested in watching the battle play out on the monitors. She’s never really gotten to look at one live and from so many angles before. It would still be better to be out there with her team than stuck indoors, but this was better than nothing at all.

The Pyro suddenly sits up much straighter and scoots her chair closer, having spotted Nikki in the middle of battle with the female RED Spy. Very alert now, she leans toward the monitors, eyes following every movement both of them make, muttering under her breath.

“…Kill her. Kill the bitch. Kill her…”

(Source: blufirebug)

blu-streak:

Shannon nodded soberly. “You should see Arthur go apeshit with his. At least the axe’ll get you back to respawn quick…that hammer’s a bitch and a half.”

And then Jeremy was drowning. “Ahhh….jeez, look at that…” Shannon clapped her hand to her forehead. “That’s rough.”

Round one was a rout. Oren managed to gut the center shed once in a glorious array of stickybombs, taking out nearly half the RED team at once. But after that, it was a depressing number of BLUs that went up in flames, thanks to that stupid little Pyro, or falling to Sniper bullets. “Fucker’s camping our spawn…next time I’m out there, swear to god, crowbar right to the jewels. Promise.”

Loadout for round two was commencing. Shannon folded her arms on the table, resting her chin on them. “That was depressing. Come on, guys…” She looked over at Hotaru then. “Saw you got MVP last week — what’s your secret?”

“…If they have jewels.”

Reaching for another marshmallow treat, Hotaru chews it slowly, her eyes dispassionately moving over the teammates she doesn’t know well, searching for one of her friends. She spots Dell and watches him for a moment with mildly displayed concern. The drastic decrease in Pyros for this battle means he’s vulnerable and she wonders who, if anyone, is watching his back. Another few moments’ observation proves that Philippe has taken on this job. …Good.

The Pyro glances at Shannon, swallowing before addressing her question. “…I burn everyone.”

(Source: blufirebug)

sawmillbase:

Round 1 Victory: RED (MVPs: Pipsqueak | Oren Healy)
Notes: Out to recoup their previous loss, RED repeated last week’s opening surge with heavy ground offense and no-holds-barred melee encounters, closing the round in 26 minutes.

Round 2 Victory: BLU (MVPs: Bernhard Schumacher | Arthur Jennings)
Notes: A large portion of BLU’s team was previously stationed at Coldfront, and their experience with fighting in low temperatures worked to their distinct advantage; as RED struggled to keep up their strength through multiple point trade-offs, BLU was ultimately victorious in 48 minutes.

Round 3 Victory: BLU (MVPs: Paul Cooper | Grigori Tomlin)
Notes: With temperatures dropping rapidly and daylight fading into the promised snow flurries, Scouts and Snipers were struggling with the terrain and visibility and most ground offense crowded indoors as quickly as possible; in the end, it came down to Sentry and Heavy Weapons fire, and RED was simply outnumbered in a 63-minute overtime round.

WINNER: BLU

BLU is congratulated on yet another commanding win. RED, we are exceedingly disappointed. Unless you take action to motivate yourself as a team, the Administration may have to devise material incentives.

As a reminder, the Sawmill battlefield is accessible to both teams for training purposes until further notice. Team spawn buildings are, as always, off limits to opposing team members. The field is under camera surveillance, and all base regulations apply.

[OOC: All victories/MVPs for this battle are the result of random number rolls; no other criteria have been taken into consideration. You may start or continue to play pre-, during, and post-battle plots as long as you like.]

blu-streak:

Shannon glances over at Hotaru and smiles a little.  ”Sure. Someone else has gotta eat ‘em besides me.” She turns back to the screens, wincing as the first waves of RED and BLU offense collided in the shed. “God, I didn’t think I’d be so nervous just watching…” 

She scans the screens for Arthur and Liam, feeling oddly relieved that they seem to be moving fast enough that she can’t find them for the time being.  In one of the upper monitors, a sniper shot startles the hell out of the little RED Pyro, and suddenly they’re tangling with Jeremy.

“New guy’s pretty balls-out,” Shannon quips aloud. “Not bad—” She cringes as a curl of flame surges around the pair of them. “Yikes…”

Hotaru chews the cookie thoroughly before swallowing and just as thoroughly and rather un-erotically sucking her fingers clean. Her eyes also seek out signs of her favored teammates, watching them with equal parts concern and envy (okay, maybe a little more envy). She’s supposed to be out there with them.

“New guy…” she muses, following Shannon’s line of sight to the Sniper. Oh, yeah, him. “He had sushi.” A faint smile plays at her lips at the memory. It had been decent sushi. But maybe any would have done after going without for so long. The smile fades and her brow furrows slightly at the sight of the tiny RED Pyro. Oh, yeah. Them.

“…Their Homewrecker hurts.”

(Source: blufirebug)

blu-streak:

Shannon slowly blinked, not raising an eyebrow when the Pyro said something in Chinese or whatever, but she really wanted to. Still watching the monitors as they slowly cycled through the signal checks — try as she might, she never had been able to find the lenses out on the field — she pushed out a chair and sat in it, pulling her knees up and resting her heels on the edge of the seat.

“You’re — Bug, right?” she ventured, hesitantly. Arthur had tipped her off to the other young woman’s nickname. “I’m Shannon.” Dummy, she probably knows that. She’s not a loser like you who takes weeks to learn everybody’s name. She opens the cookie box, rustling the wax paper packet inside and pulling out a slightly cracked chocolate-covered lump, then thoughtfully and slowly crams the whole thing in her mouth as her eyes stay fixed on the screens.

Chewing smackily, eyes widening as the starting alarm sounds, she wordlessly pushes the box toward Hotaru.

((Hey, if anybody wants the peanut gallery to witness something totally badass onscreen, place your requests :P))

“…Right.” She’s mildly pleased that an appropriate moniker has already been relayed to the Scout. Probably by the older Pyro. Arthur. That guy. He sometimes seemed to have his eye on the younger firestarter. Not in a creepy way. He probably just observes people, too. It’s nice that even one of these relatively new people is bothering to get a clue on how to deal with her.

Oh, and it is Shannon. Good. “You’re Arthur’s friend. …Hi.”

Hotaru’s eyes gleam slightly at the offering of chocolate, one hand darting out of her pocket to snatch up one of the marshmallow treats. She hovers it near the flame of her lighter to get the chocolate melting a bit before stuffing it into her mouth. “…Thnxth.”

(Source: blufirebug)

blu-streak:

blufirebug:

Still endlessly frustrated over having to miss this week’s battle, Hotaru seriously considers staying in her room all day in protest. But further consideration reveals the potential of that plan to only increase her boredom, so it’s swiftly abandoned. Instead she skulks her way silently to the comm room half an hour before the battle is set to begin in hopes she’ll be the first there. Despite that, she takes a seat near the back of the room, pulls herself into a huddle, and takes out her lighter.

Flicking it open and closed, on and off, she waits.

“Mission begins in sixty seconds.”

The waspish voice over the loudspeaker indicates the impending start as Shannon enters the comm room wearing two pairs of socks and an anxious expression. A carton of Mallomars BLU Service Distribution Chocolate-Coated Novelty Treats is clutched in one hand.

She comes to stand a few chairs down from Hotaru, staring solemnly at the screens.  “Was that the old lady?”

Hotaru looks up from playing with her lighter, though she doesn’t cease that activity. It’s that blonde girl Scout. Shannon or Sharon or something. The Pyro has barely spoken a sentence to her in passing, but she seems harmless enough. Much less of a bitch than she’s used to blonde, blue-eyed American girls being. …And she’s brought chocolate. It would probably suit Hotaru well to attempt politeness in case she plans on sharing with the rest of the class.

“Onibaba…” she mutters to herself at the mention of the Announcer before raising her voice to a normal speaking level. “…That was her.”

Still endlessly frustrated over having to miss this week’s battle, Hotaru seriously considers staying in her room all day in protest. But further consideration reveals the potential of that plan to only increase her boredom, so it’s swiftly abandoned. Instead she skulks her way silently to the comm room half an hour before the battle is set to begin in hopes she’ll be the first there. Despite that, she takes a seat near the back of the room, pulls herself into a huddle, and takes out her lighter.

Flicking it open and closed, on and off, she waits.

hillcountry-hippie-hardhat:

abluspy:

hillcountry-hippie-hardhat:

accidentalpyro:

blufirebug:

blu-streak:

blufirebug:

oahu-blu-bonfire:

blufirebug:

…

…

…

…

…

…

…BULLSHIT. >:|

*huffs* Yeah brah, I know. 

Why don’t we get to fight? We’re good. I was MVP. Twice. …I wanna fight. *actually stomps her foot on that last word*

We could go sit in spawn and cheer…or maybe just hang out and watch the game?

*fidgets*

Ice is a real pain. Maybe we dodged a bullet?

But they’ll be out there without us. It’s not right.

…And I wanna burn stuff. :|

Poor lambs. My heart aches for what you’ll all have to go through tomorrow.

You see it?

Aching?

Right there?

Good night.

*frowns*

Arthur, the girls only wanna help. I felt the same way, havin’ to sit out last week.

All of you, shut your mouzhes. Some of us ‘ave no support, ‘ave fought in each battle, and ‘ave been zis Most Valuable Player. Wanting to “burn zings” is not wanting to ‘elp; it is desiring violence. Zat is not ze same zing.

*points at Willie* I am surprised you even remembered Arzur’s name since you could not even recall ‘is existence earlier today. You should remember it since ‘e will be ze one making sure you do not ‘ave a knife in your back tomorrow.

*opens her mouth to say something, but closes it again, her shoulders slumping*

I… hm. ‘M sorry, Arthur. Glad you’ll be with us.

*she glances briefly at Philippe before turning and walking quickly away in the direction of her workshop*

*tugs on the strings of her hood to draw it closer around her face. isn’t all that ashamed (of course she desires violence), but is very uncomfortable being scolded*

…Gomennasai. *mutters through gritted teeth before skulking off to her room*

(Source: sawmillbase)

blu-streak:

blufirebug:

oahu-blu-bonfire:

blufirebug:

…

…

…

…

…

…

…BULLSHIT. >:|

*huffs* Yeah brah, I know. 

Why don’t we get to fight? We’re good. I was MVP. Twice. …I wanna fight. *actually stomps her foot on that last word*

We could go sit in spawn and cheer…or maybe just hang out and watch the game?

*fidgets*

Ice is a real pain. Maybe we dodged a bullet?

But they’ll be out there without us. It’s not right.

…And I wanna burn stuff. :|

(Source: sawmillbase)

oahu-blu-bonfire:

blufirebug:

…

…

…

…

…

…

…BULLSHIT. >:|

*huffs* Yeah brah, I know. 

Why don’t we get to fight? We’re good. I was MVP. Twice. …I wanna fight. *actually stomps her foot on that last word*

(Source: sawmillbase)