1st Match // [video | action] New Bark Town

[fuelthefire]

[The video feed starts off with an eye.

Just one, surrounded by what looks like a mask. After a moment, the eye pulls away and the rest of the mask, which completely covers the owner's face minus the one eye, is revealed.

The voice underneath the mask is guttural and growling, but perfectly audible despite the barrier.]

Mother said to have fun and be careful.

[He rolls his eye and grumbles a bit, quietly at first but quickly growing louder. As he speaks he changes from his indoor voice to his outdoor voice, barking out the words louder and louder as he brings the camera close to his face again:]

How can I HAVE FUN WITHOUT MY AXE!??

[Somebody mad.]

Comments

[fuelthefire]

ATE.

[It's a small but significant difference - past tense, because it happened.

Well...he didn't actually physically eat them. But Jack was definitely dead.]

Manslaughter, extortion, illegal drilling, theft, arson, bombing, murder, child abuse, tax evasion, destruction of property, insurance fraud, murder, Claptrap, murder, and cyber bullying.

[He lists off all of Jack's various offenses (that he can remember off the top of his head) in a low growl, leaning back gently from the device as he names them off. When he's finished, though, he shoves his face right back up to it again.]

I'll kill him better next time!

[cardboard_boss]

[Shit. This guy claimed he actually ate Jack? But, how was the guy alive when he was brought into the Poke world? It didn't make sense. Did that mean Jack was dead on his own world but then the Poke world brought him in alive? Snake was confused.]

Let me get this straight. You killed Jack back on Pandora? Ate his lungs?

[Snake got that Krieg was listing off all of Jack's past evil deeds. What a long list but it didn't phase the soldier. What he was interested in was how Jack was alive if this guy.....ate him.]

Was Jack dead back on your world? Because right now he's alive here in this world.

[fuelthefire]

Not breathing, bled out, eyes rolled back, mask fell off! Dead as a door nail!!

[Look, guy, he knows a dead man when he sees one, okay? He's seen a lot of dead men.

Also, he has no way to even begin to explain why Jack's not dead here, and he shakes his head vigorously to indicate as much. Better to ask someone whose synapses fire properly and consistently.]

Don't know why he's not dead here, can't explain! Ask Shield Lady.

[AKA Athena. Assuming Snake knows Athena.]

[cardboard_boss]

[Right. So this guy did kill Jack. Why would he make up such an allegation? Besides, Snake didn't doubt that Krieg could kill Jack if he wanted. The guy was built like a tank and had some sort of anger issue.]

That's what I'm wondering. I doubt this place has the power to bring people back from the dead. No one can do that.

[That was creepy shit.]

You mean Athena? [She had to be shield lady, right?]

[fuelthefire]

[He nods, a single upward jerk of his chin.]

Shield Lady, yeah.

[cardboard_boss]

Yeah. I'll speak to her.

[It'll be on her private network of course, since he didn't fancy Jack listening in on their conversation regarding his possible death.]

You and Jack? He piss you off so you killed him? Something like that, huh?

[fuelthefire]

MNhahahahaha, haa...

[He shakes his head - there is way too much complicated backstory here for him to even begin to answer coherently.]

Something like that. Ask Shield Lady that, too.

[cardboard_boss]

[Snake guessed that asking Athena directly would get him better answers than talking with Krieg. The guy was helpful but a little lacking in the speech department.]

What kind of man are you, Krieg? Can't help notice your lack of eye and thirst for bloodshed. [The guy looked like some sort of Frankenstein monster.]

[fuelthefire]

[Oh, nice, finally an easy question!]

I'm not a man, I'm a monster!!

[He's just deceptively man-shaped. Clearly.]

[cardboard_boss]

You're only a monster if you prove to yourself that you are one. Your actions determine who you are and how other's see you. Some could see me as a monster, since I was born to kill. I've ended many innocent lives through being a soldier.

[Was he a monster? Snake thought so. He had to murder his own troops for gods sake. Because they were infected with the disease.]

[fuelthefire]

Soldiers follow orders. I'm reeeeeeeally bad at doing what I'm told.

[There's a bit of unhinged laughter packed into that stretched out syllable.

Krieg ain't no soldier. Maybe once upon a time in his past life, but even that seems unlikely.]

[cardboard_boss]

Right. I kind of guessed you'd be the type of guy to do what you wanted.

[As in murder who the fuck he wanted. The guy was unhinged and Snake was aware of this.]

You're a one man army, huh?

[fuelthefire]

Mnuahahaha...I can be.

[Especially when the bloodlust takes over.]

Guns and grenades come and go, but I do my best work with my axe!!

[Aaaaaand we've come full circle back to the missing axe. Sorry, Snake.]

[cardboard_boss]

That armour you wear looks pretty tough. Ever had many bullets flying at you and able to fend them off wearing it? How about grenades?

[He's only asking this from a soldier's point of view. Tactical advantages.]

[fuelthefire]

This is for brawling.

[He holds up his left forearm, displaying the heavy, makeshift iron gauntlet covered in large, protruding bolts.]

The shield is the bullet sponge.

[He moves his arm out of sight again and reaches down to pat his hip. When he doesn't immediately feel the shield normally clipped to the belt there, the video feed jerks abruptly as he twists to look down - it takes a bit of acrobatics to look at one's right hip when one only has one's left eye.

His shield is gone, disappeared along with his axe.]

GNNGhghgggRRAAH!!! WHO KEEPS TAKING MY STUFF!?

[cardboard_boss]

[Snake grunted in amusement at Krieg's loss. Yeah.]

Sorry, buddy. No weapons. This place doesn't want us killing each other it seems.

[Devastating, right? For someone like Krieg it probably is. It means Jack can fight another day.]

They took my pistol and grenades too. [Yeah, that sucked.]

[fuelthefire]

[Okay, maybe he doesn't need a shield in this pansy soft world where nobody knows what a bullet is, but he's still mad - he liked that shield. It dealt corrosive spike damage to anyone stupid enough to attempt to melee him. It was great!

He's less upset about his own missing guns...when guns come and go as frequently as they do on Pandora, it's difficult - and a bit silly - to get attached.

Still, though, he grumbles, even as he nods his head to acknowledge the guy's remark about his own guns.]

They forgot to take our hands.

[And honestly, getting back to the basics to murder Jack again might be pretty fun.]