Show no Fear, for a Harlequin Dances at Your Side.

[OC RP for Nightingale-City] The Troupe is ready, the stage is set; let the curtain rise and the Dance begin. The Solitaire has arrived to play his appointed role.

[popitcandy-blog]

Candy lets out a small hum, as he listens to Eliath speak, and he nods slowly. “The best learning experiences are from trial and error, after all,” he says, patting the side of the crossbow a few times. “Especially when it’s for physical activities like these. It’d be good practice.”

He brings the crossbow up, popping off the cap of the scope and peering into it, making adjustments until he’s satisfied with the setting. After he finishes with that, he uses it to take a look at his target, judging the distance. It’s hard to tell with the fog, but he thinks that it’s only twenty feet away. Good, he thinks, not too far then. He should be able to hit it from here, taking a moment to factor in the movement of the creature and the lack of wind in the air. But, there’s a slight problem.

"I’m glad," he breathes slowly, "that you have so much faith in me. It won’t be too hard to hit, but there’s a small little thing that I need a little help with. Nothing big, I assure you, but, I need a little assistance on cocking the bow. I don’t have the strength to do it correctly myself, see. It’s not too hard to do, you just put it on the ground, put your feet here," he taps on the stirrups, "then draw the string back and pop it into the cocking mechanism. Not too difficult, really, and I’m sure you know how to do it."

[elvishsolitaire]

"Ah, of course that's no trouble at all, just watch out for the recoil in that case. Without much muscle to support it the kick may be a bit bigger than you're expecting." He takes the crossbow, setting it down and anchoring his foot, drawing back the string with a satisfactory click. He wasn't the strongest individual either, but he could perform tasks like this without too much trouble given a few seconds to accomplish it. "In fact, that's why I tend to prefer bows, much easier to reload and to shoot, though it does trade some power in the long run. Crossbows are also a bit louder, though that doesn't matter too much unless you're fighting something with extremely sharp hearing, which I don't believe these creatures exactly have."

He hands the cocked crossbow back to Candy, drawing his rapier from it's sheath on his back and holding it in a relaxed grip at his side for the moment. "That should do it preparation wise; we're all clear. Also, don't expect a second shot at it as nice as that would be. I probably can't get that crossbow reloaded from a stationary position in the time it would take for the creature to venture over and separate some of my extremities from their proper locations."

[popitcandy-blog]

Candy hums and follows after him, closing the door behind them carefully. “If you want, we could go and try and catch some. Somehow we managed to find all the items we needed here for now, so we don’t need to make a trip to the hardware store to try and scrounge up anything just yet. We can leave the food for later too, since I still have a couple of bags for chips at home.”

"We should be decently okay for now with supplies, so it should be best to start getting a hang of the new equipment, instead of leaving it for later and maybe ending up getting caught in trouble. I’ll need to fire a couple of practice bolts to get used to the crossbow before I can be able to really snipe anything though, so I’ll leave the fighting to you while I try to get a scope of this bow."

[elvishsolitaire]

"Well, let's give it a shot then." He says, walking down the length of the street and turning the corner. He quickly stops, pointing down the road at a lone creature separated from a larger pack further down the way. "There's your first target my friend, take a shot at it and I'll deal with it if you miss or the bolt doesn't kill it. I know it'd be easier to fire on stable targets first, but I think it's much better to get a feel for it while in combat to be able to hit living things consistently."

"Of course, I have full confidence in your abilities, but if you do happen to miss just make sure it doesn't reach that larger group back there. As confident as I am in myself it'd be quite troublesome to fight the, oh, fifteen or twenty of them that are grouped up over there. The fog makes it hard to tell to be honest. Either way they'd be hard to deal with since I don't want us to get separated."

[popitcandy-blog]

Candy only hums, tapping his fingers on his arm. “I like the idea, but the problems are the materials again,” he mutters. “There’s not many things I can think of that would work to make a makeshift version of them, and even if we decide to actually smelt and create them, we need to find the right equipment to use in order to properly make them and make sure they’re good enough to use for their purpose. Half-assing it will just be dangerous and makeshift might not be enough for this.”

He lets out a loud sigh, reaching up and scratching his head hard for a moment, before he shakes his head. “Well, like you said. It’s the best and the worst time to test things. We’ll find a way to make them.”

[elvishsolitaire]

He shrugs again, heading back out of the front door. "Really I'm just sharing idle fantasies at this point, I fully meant it when I said it was not the best time to be messing around. There are far more important things to worry about though, so let's put them off for now. Where to next? Shall we find a more infested area to investigate and attempt some captures? I'm personally ready to get the ball rolling on some combat myself."

He sticks his hands into his coat pockets, turning back to face Candy again. "I'd say the two of us are more than enough to fight a decent enough group of the things with all this weaponry, so we can hit bigger areas than before. As long as we keep calm and play to our strengths, speed and some precision attacks, we'll be fine as long as no unexpected events occur." He says with an all-too confident smile written across his face.

[popitcandy-blog]

"That’s an interesting idea," Candy says slowly, making a thoughtful face. "I’m not entirely sure if it’ll work out, with the polymer. I remember hearing that a professor from Tel Aviv was planning to make polypropylene as strong as steel, but I’m not sure if he finished yet. Maybe there’s something similar enough in this city though that it’ll work out. The whole idea sounds a little farfetched to my human ears- anti-gravity isn’t exactly a technology that I’m aware really exists, and the most I know about is the ionocraft- but if you know how to make it work we could make an attempt at building it at the very least."

"You want to make an electrical whip though," he hums, squinting slightly, tapping his chin. "I’m not entirely sure of a way to make one that’s going to be safe, if I’m honest. Electricity is a dangerous thing to work with if you’re not careful and you don’t know how to handle it correctly, and I’m not exactly an expert engineer. It might shock you instead, or blow up on you."

[elvishsolitaire]

"I've seen one work before elsewhere, so I know it is possible at least. We can put it on the back burner for now, and if we happen to come across materials to use to make it we can gather those." He says, shrugging with a small sigh. "As for the whip, it is a rather dangerous proposal yes. I imagine if the handle is made out of sufficiently electricity resistant material it would work if we could find a conducting metal flexible enough to be whip-like." He still thought it was worth a shot, if it shocked him so be it, he could pack it up for later tuning.

"The third would be a double-sided glaive, blades facing opposite ways with hooks on the reverse sides. It'd let us pick things up at a distance, and it's a good weapon for out ranging the things. Plus, if we can get the skyboard to work the hooks can catch onto things and let us turn almost instantaneously around corners or even to do a complete one-eighty. That one's probably the easiest of the three to make, just as long as it is sturdy enough to take the strain of a high impact collision. That'd be the only real problem I can foresee."

[forest-san-deactivated20150118]

alright since my dash is always empty of ngc stuff

please reblog if you’re an active ngc blog

[popitcandy-blog]

There isn’t much in the hunting section of the store when he finds it, but Candy manages to find a crossbow that fits in his hands decently. It’s a little too big and more bulkier than he would like, but he can wield it at the very least, so he decides to take it, casually ripping off the price tag off of it and grabbing an empty quiver and loading it with as many crossbow bolts as he can fit. After he’s finished, he heads back to the front, deciding that he won’t need anything else.

"Yeah," he answers, when Eliath calls out to him, waving the crossbow around in the air, "I got what I needed, fortunately. It’s a little more heavier than I’d like, but it’ll work just fine. I also got some wasp spray, just to try it to see if it’ll be more effective for the flamethrower. Silly experiment or not, you might as well give it a chance. Tell me what you want to make, and maybe I can help you figure out a way to make it."

[elvishsolitaire]

"Ah, good news indeed then!" He nods, glad they had gotten enough supplies to last them for a while combat wise. "As for the experiments, the first involves light polymers sturdy enough to withstand incredibly high speeds. On top of that it requires antigravity engines, or a way to build them somehow. It'd make traveling safer from monsters and far quicker, and I know how to make it work if we can build one, they're called skyboards." The idea was a long shot, but he thought he might as well throw it out there anyway. It'd been a dream of his to own one since he had seen a group of them in another city.

"Other than those two I wanted to find a way to send the shock of this taser through a whip or something similar, that way I can wrap it around one of them and keep it constantly under control. Plus I might even be able to amplify it to lethal levels that way, and it should be effective against almost anything with a nervous system. There are a few more things I would like to try at some point, but for now I'll stick to a few at a time."

[popitcandy-blog]

"Well, a human that functions as a walking stomach," Candy clarifies, humming slightly and following after Eliath, watching him pick the lock. "I’m not too sure about the specifics, I didn’t get many details from them. They didn’t know much about their biology either, unfortunately."

The lights hurt his eyes for a moment, and he covers his eyes with a soft noise of displeasure, but after a moment his eyes adjust and he can move his hand away. The store looks untouched, thankfully, and he nods when Eliath shows him the arrows and the taser. Good, two things down.

He considers following after Eliath, but decides against it right now, going off over and looking for wasp spray. It’d probably be better than his cans of hair sprays, considering the range the wasp spray has, he thinks, gathering an armful of cans and shoving them into his bag, until it’s almost bulging out. After he’s finished with that, he turns around, deciding to try and look around in order to find a crossbow.

[elvishsolitaire]

In the time that Candy was searching for his own items Eliath had found a dark blue hoodie and had put it on, sliding a matchbox, lighter, and pocket knife into its left pocket. He considered paying for the items, but eventually thought better of it. The money would just be looted if the situation wasn't resolved soon.

He walks back up to the front of the store to meet up with Candy. "Did you find everything you were looking for? There were a few other things I was looking for, but I got the important things for now. Most of the other things were rather silly experiments, though they could bear fruit if I could find the proper technology to make them work. This situation is both the best and worst times to try them I'm afraid, so we'll just say that I'm basically good to go."

[popitcandy-blog]

"I’ve met a humanoid starfish, an actual star, a person brought back to life, and an actual walking stomach in this city," Candy says, listing his acquaintances off with his fingers with a small hum. "I haven’t even really met all the people in town yet either, honestly. This city attracts all sorts of folk, I suppose." He shakes his head. "I’ll try to answer your questions as much as I can, but, hm, there are a few things that I might not to really share, just as a warning."

He takes a moment to think about where to go first, making a thoughtful face. “I think the outdoor store would be the place to start,” he nods. “Most of the stuff we need to pick up are in there, so it’s best to start here to check if it’s there or not. If it’s not, then we can head over to the hardware store later to pick up parts that we might need to construct them, and so we can use those supplies to assemble something to carry our goods. My bag won’t be able to hold it all, and I doubt our arms can carry all we need. The grocery store can be last, since we’ll probably take the most from there.”

[elvishsolitaire]

"Those... Do sound rather odd. A walking stomach?" He shakes his head clear of the thought. "Ah well. The outdoors store it is!" He walks over to the store and pulls on the handle, finding it locked. He bends down and quickly picks the lock with a paper clip he had stored in his pocket, a crime usually but he assumed that circumstances could justify it. " And in we go, please excuse the intrusion oh mighty shop owner..." He walks into the store, finding the lights and flipping them on. He could see fine in the the darkness, but it would allow Candy to see, and allow anyone else nearby to see the location of the two.

"Well, this shop seems to be clear at least. We can look around uninterrupted." And after saying that he was off, grabbing a quiver full of arrows off of the wall and, luckily, a boxed taser on a shelf. "So far so good!" He said, grinning and holding up the device to show to Candy before heading off toward the back areas, curious as to what else he could find in the shop. He didn't require too much, but a good amount of what he did need seemed to be here.

[popitcandy-blog]

"Ah," Candy says, staring at the ears for a moment, before turning his attention back in front of him, "I see. Somehow, I’m not very surprised by this." He lets out a small hum. "A lot of people in this city aren’t human, after all. We seem to be a minority here, strangely. An elf isn’t a species that I’d be too shocked finding out existed. Maybe an alien would astonish me more. I might have a couple of questions about your race, if that’s fine. Although, we should save that for after these events have settled down."

"If you’re looking for a taser, then they should be sold at outdoors stores, I think. I can think of a way to make a handmade one though, if we won’t be able to find one. All I’d need would be a disposable camera and a couple of batteries. As for a capture device, we could try to find some nets, or something to try out…"

[elvishsolitaire]

"I'll have to take your word on that one, the only other person I've really met here was a fairy of sorts." He shrugs again, letting the hair fall back into place and turning back to walk forward. "Questions are fine, I'd be more than happy to answer them. Maybe in return you could tell me a bit more about yourself, even after living among humans for, oh, a year or so it still interests me how radically different each life is." He was an actor, the player of a part in many a story, so other people's tales were always a joy for him to hear and relate his own experiences to.

"Nets might be a bit too light for the job, but they'll work if we need them to I imagine. I would prefer to hope that the taser idea goes off without a hitch myself though." He points up ahead at the shopping area, indicating a few stores he imagined they would find useful: hardware stores, outdoors stores, grocery stores, etcetera . "Which of those do you think we should try first? We could potentially split up, but we might miss something the other wants in the process and there could be enemies that managed to get in. Sticking to one store at a time, while time consuming, is probably our best bet to get a clean sweep of people and of supplies safely."

[popitcandy-blog]

"Maybe I’m both," Candy laughs, with a small grin, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jacket and waving them around. "Everyone’s a scientist at heart, though. Humans are curious beings, aren’t they? It’s not like I’m different in that regard. There’s always a hunger for new information and more knowledge, a drive to learn as much as we possibly can. It’s how humans really survived as a species, growing and overcoming obstacles using what we’ve learned."

"I think the one over there’s fine, but I’d like another specimen, if that’s fine," he hums, making a thoughtful face. "I’d like to be able to get a look at potential organs that aren’t damaged. As for that one, it might be a little damaged but I could still use it for comparison. If it’s possible, I’d like to get one that’s been charred with fire too, to see what the actual effects on the bodies were. But, really, I’d be okay with whatever you’d be willing to get me."

[elvishsolitaire]

"You humans are just as curious as you say I've found, it's most likely how you've progressed so far, and how you will be able to progress far into the future. Admittedly where I come from we did not have some of what your race has come up with, our technology and interests branched off into other areas." He blinks after saying this, suddenly remembering a point he had forgotten to make. "Right, I'm elvish by the way. I don't think I've mentioned that, and the hair does a great job of hiding the telltale ears." He moves said hair out of the way, showing Candy his longer, pointed ears to back up the claim. "My apologies, usually I make mention of that to people earlier. It's just been rather chaotic since we met."

After making mention of that he returns to the conversation at hand. "Of course of course, I'm sure we'll have plenty of chances to collect research subjects along the way. Like I said, just point me toward ones you want and I'll do my best to get them. On that note, I'll need to find or create a shock device when we get to the shopping area to stun them with. That and maybe a capture device as backup in case the stun fails to do anything."

[popitcandy-blog]

"True," Candy hums, nodding, but he continues to frown. "I just don’t want to end up getting attacked while leaving the tower, after thinking it so safe for so long. Maybe we could move over to the other tower, if this one ends up getting overrun."

He blinks when Eliath asks him about his interest in the corpses, laughing softly and scratching the side of his face. It’s not like he hasn’t been subtle with it, but having his intentions brought up makes him feel a little flustered. “A bit of both, I guess? I just want to get more information about them. They’re a mystery to us, so I’m a little fascinated by them, about what their biology is like, how they function, those types of things. I’d like to get a chance to dissect them, if I can.”

[elvishsolitaire]

"Sounds fine to me, it makes it easier to go out if there are less of them around anyway. Plus with a larger group there could be rotations of people heading out, so those who are resting should have as safe an environment as possible. All things to consider, but we can figure it out as we go." He grinned slightly, glad to have found a topic Candy was curious about, turning around and walking backwards for a moment while talking.

"Does that make you a scientist at heart or simply a curious individual with several tools and plenty of knowledge at his disposal? Either way I'm sure I can procure one for you along the way, if there's ever one in particular you desperately want to dig into just call it out and I'll do my best to retrieve it for you, perhaps even capture it alive if I can get the thing to stop moving without chopping it into pieces before you're able to. We can also collect that one there if there isn't another that intrigues you more on our shopping expedition, though it has some holes through it that might have damaged internal organs, if any truly exist."

[popitcandy-blog]

"Ah," Candy says, frowning slightly at the sight of the corpse on the ground. "I didn’t expect them to be so near already. I’m not sure if that means that they’ve increased in number, or that means that they’re starting to disperse after deciding that they’re done with the main plaza. Either way, it’s not a good sign. Perhaps we should try and pick a better location to hide out at. Maybe if we find anyone that has a good location we can relocate there as well."

He continues to eye the body on the ground as they start making their way back towards the shops, contemplating asking Eliath to help him carry it back upstairs for him for investigation. Lack of scientific equipment or not, it’s not like he can’t at least dissect it and try to figure out information on it that way. Perhaps he’ll ask if it’s still out here when they get back, he hums to himself, turning his gaze away from it rather hesitantly to look forward.

[elvishsolitaire]

"I doubt they would break down the tower walls, simply because they don't know that they are able to or that there's anything of note on the other side. We should still be able to think of the tower as a "safe zone" of sorts because of that, even if it's not safe on the outside." He shrugs, even if the things did surround the tower he could still get out by running through them or by hopping from a window to a clear area. Still, not everyone could do so and thus he would have to move as they did to areas of less resistance if need be.

He then decides to inquire about the repeated behavior he had seen Candy exhibit on both sets of corpses. "Do you have an interest in seeing the things up close without them moving, or are you hoping to get a look at their innards perhaps? You were staring at the first pair after you took them down and now this one too, not that I'm criticizing of course. It's very useful to know where to attack for the greatest amount of damage."

[popitcandy-blog]

Candy blinks when he hears the sound of Eliath’s voice, a bit startled by it since he wasn’t expecting to hear it. He almost slips on the edge of the one of the steps out of surprise, hand flying out to grab at the handrail to steady himself. “I’m okay,” he says to himself, clearing his throat before taking a moment to calm himself, before carefully walking the rest of the way to the door.

"Sorry," he says, shoving his hands in his pocket when he sees Eliath standing near the door, giving him a small, bashful smile. "I didn’t think I took so long up there. I had a bit of trouble with the door."

[elvishsolitaire]

"No problem at all, I was just curious where you had been. I got a bit of a warmup and a small nap out of the deal so it was well worth the wait in the end." He gave a reassuring smile in return before turning away and starting to walk.

"We should get going though, they've already made it this far," he said while inclining his head toward the crumpled body, "hence the warmup of course, and I'm sure there are more where that one came from unless we start taking care of them. I say that we make all haste for the shops we had mentioned earlier."

[popitcandy-blog]

Candy nods, shoving his hands into his pockets to rummage for his key, finding it in the pocket of his jacket. Truth be told, he honestly doesn’t lock his door half the time, considering how no one ever really seems to stay in the tower most of the time and how he doesn’t really have any valuables to steal, but he supposes he might as well lock it now, to prevent anyone from sneaking in and trying to ambush them or to stop anyone from stealing any of his supplies.

It takes him a while to figure out just how to lock it from the outside, trying to figure out which way to turn the key and struggling slightly with trying to turn the key hard enough to lock the door, but he manages it, one way or another. He checks the door, to ensure that it’s really locked, before he starts making his way down the stairs to meet Eliath.

[elvishsolitaire]

While he had been stuck waiting a single small-fry of an abomination had discovered him. He had dealt with it rather quickly, a short series of dodges and counter strikes and it lay still a short distance away from the tower door in a pool of its own blood. He had been leaning against the tower wall ever since, in a state of  until he heard the sounds of Candy approaching from inside the room.

He pushes himself off of the wall, walks a few steps forward and sticks his hands in his pockets, turning toward the door and calling out. "Everything alright in there? You were gone a bit longer than I thought you would be." This was accompanied by a slight head tilt, he truly was curious what had been going on to keep him for the duration of an entire fight, even though it had been a short one.

[popitcandy-blog]

Candy lets out a small hum. “Perhaps,” he says slowly. “They do have similarities, but, hm. I don’t quite get it. But, whatever.” He slowly stands up from his bed, stretching and letting out a small groan when he hears a few loud cracks. “We should get going soon, before I lose the motivation to go.”

He turns to his nightstand and opens the drawer, rummaging through it for a few moment to take out another gas mask and he tosses that to Eliath before pulling his own out to pull it on. “You said you like chess, right? We can play a game together, after all this is over. I think I should have a set here.”

[elvishsolitaire]

He nods, happy to have found another common interest between them. "A game of chess sounds wonderful, we just both have to live to see it. Seeing that I can't exactly lock up for you, I'll meet you outside. I can go make sure the gas mask works and all." And with that he's out the door and taking the stairs two or three at a time, what he considered a leisurely pace, until he arrives at the bottom floor.

He slips his shoes back on and heads out into the chilly air, testing his gas mask and finding that it works just as intended before removing it and hooking it to a belt loop for emergencies. He found himself hoping to find a light jacket in a store somewhere, not because he was tired of the cold considering how much he enjoyed it, but because he wanted the physical storage space that additional pockets would allow him.

[popitcandy-blog]

Candy doesn’t get the pun at first, blinking confusedly for a moment, before it hits him. Ah, he thinks, unable to stop himself from rolling his eyes slightly, a bad pun maker. He hasn’t seen one of those in a while. “Truth be told, I’m not too fond of Candy Land,” he hums, shrugging his shoulders. “There’s no strategy to it and the way you win is by the shuffle. It’s too simple, for my tastes. I prefer a good game of Monopoly, or maybe a game of chess or Othello.”

"I’m not one for fighting though," he says, shaking his head, "I find it a bit tiring. Harsh physical activity isn’t something that I’m good at, after all. I enjoy the thrill of danger and the excitement that comes with it, but not fighting."

[elvishsolitaire]

He truly had wanted to hold himself back from making that particular joke, but had gambled that Candy would appreciate it and had lost that particular bet rather horribly. Ah well, at least he had amused himself with it. There was still some salvage to be collected from the boardgames Candy had described though. "I'm a big fan of chess myself actually. I can't say I know every opening and counter, but I'm good enough at it to enjoy myself. Strategy focused games as a whole are my favorite genre."

Of course, this stemmed from a love of actual battlefield tactics, combat, and leadership, but they still had a similar interest even if it sprung from different sources. He decided to concede on the matter of fighting. "To each their own of course, I suppose I just find it natural after doing it for so long. Testing your skills in combat or testing them through strategy, they're somewhat similar in the end really." He says with a casual shrug.

[popitcandy-blog]

Candy nods, tapping his hand on his knee. “If worst comes to worst, I can just get a water gun, fill it with 97% alcohol, and just tape a candle to it to shoot it, I guess.” He says it half as a joke, but when the words escape his mouth, and makes a considering face, wondering if it would work for a moment, before shaking the thoughts away.

He clears his throat, reaching up and combing through his hair a few times. “I’ll be fine to go out again too, I guess. It’s not like I have anything to do in my room. I left all my boardgames over at Nox’s, last time I went over. Might as well spend my time doing something instead of just staring at the ceiling. There’s only so many times I can spot the spots on the walls.”

[elvishsolitaire]

Ah, he's decently crafty himself to come up with something like that. There are a few problems it could run into, but it's a solid base of an idea. "Well, far be it that boredom strikes in a time of crisis. As interesting as counting spots or playing boardgames in your Land may be, you may find a bit more fun in the adrenaline rush of combat. 'Branch out a bit' is a term I've heard used for it, enjoyment in new experiences and such."

He let out a cheery laugh, unable to help himself after his pun on Candy Land. He was a firm believer in laughter and humor after all, they got him through all sorts of dreary situations and a mini apocalypse certainly seemed dreary to warrant a healthy amount of morale boosting here and there.