shadow blasting for sports (open)

[John Nicholson]

John had found himself a new hobby, taking position on a roof and blasting away at the shadows below. It was strangely cathartic to see them wriggle around and die without being able to retaliate. John found the feeling he got from doing it quite concerning although he still went along with it. After all, he was still performing a public service by wantonly destroying those monsters. He took a swig from the bottle he had with him and took aim at another shadow. It was one of those slime things that were little more than pests when compared to other shadows. It seemed to sense John as it scrambled to get away, its attempts were in vain however as its mask was summarily blasted apart by a heavy slug from John's shotgun.

After that, he took a break. Checking on the baricade he had constructed on the roof acces as well as double checking the rope he had with him for an emergency escape. Those shadowy bastards would not simply ambush him up her. He sat back and took another swig, his mind wandering off to recent events. He was annoyed that despite the fact he had met multiple other users, he was still no closer to uncovering the truth behind the lockdown.

[Quinn]

Quinn heard the explosions. "Strange." The shadow muttered, not used to hearing gun shots that often this close to the city limits. He knew there were some fools that used guns but none of them used a gun that loud. "A shot gun. Haven't seen one of those. The fools are really stepping up their game. Ho ho, this'll be a fun one." Quinn laughed before making his way into the city, assuming his human form. Moving towards the building the blasts were coming from he laughed at the barricade. "Does he really think something like that will stop a shadow? Fool." Quinn said before easily jumping over the wall and walking up to the roof. Seeing the grizzled man with the gun, the clown just chuckled. "So, you think you can stop the shadows with a gun and a sad excuse for the wall?"

[Tristan Carter]

Tristan had heard gunshots. As it was right next to the safe circle, this confused him. It wasn't an average occurrence. So he followed the shots until he saw someone jump over a wall. Something else that happened rarely and intrigued him.

So, putting survival instinct aside, Tristan climbed up the wall using his scythe, the managed to scale the building. What he saw surprised him even more than gunshots. The old marine who seemed to be taking pot-shots at shadows and someone whom Tristan didn't know. However, something about the second man was off, and it wasn't just his weird jester outfit.

"Dude, who're you?"

[John Nicholson]

John spun around to face the newcomer. How hade he gotten here? The barricade on the roof acces was still intact. And there was no other way to get up here from that angle. He looked at the newcomer, he was wearing some kind of weird jester outfit. The way he spoke to John unsettled him. he held his shotgun at the ready. "Who the hell are you?" John glared at the jester with distrust in his eyes. "Don't move, I wont hesitate to use this gun!." There was truth to John's words. He would have already shot if not for his aversion to hurting other human beings.

Just then, Tristan climbing up on to the roof"Tristan? You wouldn't believe how happy I am to see a friendly face right about now. whoever this guy is, he's probably bad news." He quickly made his way to Tristans side, ending in a stance where he faced the jester while standing on Tristan's right.

[Quinn]

"Whoa whoa whoa." Quinn said, throwing up his hands when the grizzly man pointed the shotgun at him. "You wouldn't shoot me for just showing up, now, would you." Quinn grinned. "After all, as far as you are concerned, I am merely a harmless clown." Quinn didn't move. "And, so far, as far as I am concerned, you are currently the aggressor. Or do you point a shot gun at every new person you meet around here. I must say that holding up every stranger you meet at gun point is not the best social action to make friends. Of course, who am I to say anything. I'm a clown." Quinn said, waggling his fingers.

[Tristan Carter]

Tristan knew it wasn't a good idea to listen to the clown. For multiple reasons. Reason one- they were in the Shadowlands. Even with ho near to the safe circle they were, he knew that nothing was as it seemed here.

Reason number two- Tristan had seen someone jump the wall. And he doubted that the old guy would have done it. That cast another ave of doubt over the jester.

And finally, reason number three- the clown was pulling too much focus on it being a clown. Nothing sat well with Tristan about this jester, but he knew shooting at him wouldn't help anything. So he pushed a little on the barrel of the gun, trying to help the old man lower it. Then he regarded the clown.

"Something about you isn't right. If you knew the situation, you would understand this man's unease." Tristan had started to pace around in a circle. "But if you didn't know the situation, you would have avoided gunshots. But studying this train of thought will reveal nothing. So I'm forced to introduce myself. My name is Tristan. Who are you?" By this time, Tristan was on the other side of the clown than he originally had been. He also had a grip on his scythe, ready for anything.

[John Nicholson]

Hmm, tristan was pulling at the barrel of John's gun. John begrudgingly lowered the shotgun, the clown was right, he ad given John no reason to be regarded as a hostile. Could it be that the outer circle was changing something inside John? Regardless, it was best to limit himself to diplomacy for now. He did not trust himself to be of any use at talking and thus he left that over to Tristan. He still had his shotgun at the ready though, prepared to blast this clown the moment he tried anything funny. He almost mentally slapped himself for the horrible Pun.

[Quinn]

"Ah, finally. Someone sensible in this little roof top bunker. Thank you Tristan." Quinn said, lowering his hands. "As for me, you can call me Quinn, as that is the name I go by. It is a pleasure to make the acquaintance of half of you." The clown said as he bowed to the two humans. "The other half, well, perhaps I'd have gotten off on a better foot had they not tried to shot first. After all, what harm could I possibly do. Behold! There is nothing up my sleeves." He said, throwing his hands into the air and allowing the sleeves of his shirt falling to his elbows. "And my hat is just as empty." He said, grabbing his hat and quickly removing it from his head, flipping it a few times, showing that nothing would fall out. "So, what reason do you have to not trust me as just some silly nomad. Washed up from a circus that was before everything happened."

[Tristan Carter]

It wouldn't do any good to try to use violence or intimidation. So, Tristan regarded his company- a trigger-happy old man and a weird jester that still seemed focused on being a fool. One would figure that a clown would somber up in this situation, but of course it didn't work that way.

That, of course, only served to make Tristan more suspicious. As for how the clown would be there, that gave way to more questions. So, with the grip on his scythe tightening and it being moved into a position where it could be used offensively, Tristan appraised the jester.

"Quinn? Your name even alludes to your being a clown? Dude, I think you may be trying too hard. It's not funny when a joke is shoved down your throat, you know. As for why I don't trust you, that should be obvious. In fact," Tristan said with a start of a grin. "Tell me a good reason as to why we should trust you, and I'll tell you why I don't trust you." Tristan realized he was being rude, but it didn't matter.

This clown didn't scare him, and he could tell that it was on the agenda of the fool.

[John Nicholson]

Ugh. John had never liked clowns. And this one had quite an unsettling air about him. John felt like tis Quin character was hiding something. Then again, he couldn't let distrust dictate his actions out here. The clown's behaviour was unsettling to be sure. But it wasn't a reason to kill him. Thus, John lowered his gun. The Harequin had also shown no hostile behaviour for now, maybe he was just slightly unhinged in a harmless way. It seemed reasonable considering the story he told of where he came from.

"I'm sorry Quinn, I was just a bit on edge. You never know just what pops out here." He was not just referring to shadows. He could still remember the incident with the transforming snake lady. He still wasn't quite sure just what had happened that day. What he remembered was that he eventually came to in a police cell as he had been running aroun town swinging a shotgun around. He was thankful the blonde lady had been there to bail him out by posing as his caretaker although he still wondered how she managed to get the associated documents forged on such short notice.

In any case, back to the present. John seemed to have projected his distrus towards the clown on Tristan, who had taken up quite an aggresive stance. "Stand down for now Tristan, he hasn't done anything... not yet anyway." No matter how much he told himself to relax, he simply couldn't shake the feeling something was off about this joker. "So, what would a nomad like you be doing way out here, and how did you manage to survive unarmed like that for that matter."John gestured towards the shadows milling around at the base of the building, uselessly trying to make their way to him. "Those things down there don't seem like they have a sense of humor" It seemed like a solid approach, responding to the Jester joking demeanor with light hearted bantering of his own.

[Quinn]

"Ah, at last, one of them is sensible!" Quinn said, lowring his arms. "And here I thought you would be the sensible one. Tisk tisk." Quinn said, shaking his head in shame at Tristan. "As for who I am, I like to use the title travelling entertainer." He added a rather elaborate bow to make his title seem more realistic. "I promise, there are a few stragglers out there, often rather depressed. When I meet them, I walk away with them smiling." The clown shadow was telling the truth. He made sure his victims died with a smile on their face. "As for defending myself." He flung his wrist out, throwing one of the needles attached to string out from his sleeve towards Tristan. He stopped the string and pulled the needle back into his wrist right before it would have pierced the scythe wielding boy right between the eyes. "Let's say I am no push over."

[Tristan Carter]

Tristan smiled, relaxing slightly. This guy was actually amusing. People who wandered around, not dead yet? That was an actual laugh. The boy knew the clown had to be kidding, but he wanted to make sure he didn't scare the jester off. Setting his scythe in such a way that he could lean on it, Tristan looked over the clown. He still felt something was off, but as he couldn't place it he pushed it out of mind.

With a grin, the boy spoke to the harlequin. "So, why stay out here instead of going in the city? Surely you would have a larger crowd, or get more money that way." He considered a moment before continuing. "After all, isn't that what you're after? Making people happy or the cash?"

[John Nicholson]

John slowly relaxed as the harlequin told his story. Could there really be a communiy of people out here? Why would anyone ever take up permanent residence way out here. then again, humanity has done stranger things. Then however, the harlequin almost made John shoot him. He appeared to throw some sort of concealed weapon at Tristan. john was just about to react to what seemed like an ambush from the harlequin when he seemed to retract the weapon back into his sleeve.  "There was probably a better way to demonstrate that point mate. I almost shot you there." He was still stratled by the wandering entertainer's imprompty weapons demonstration. "Tristan has a point though. Why stay out here, surely whomever lives way out here has other priorities than watching a harlequin's show."