At last, the open sky [Open]

[zouichi]

There's a forest setting in the Sensoriums today, made of thick deciduous trees, high rocks, and bits of ruined stone buildings. It's autumn, and though the trees haven't yet lost all their leaves, many already litter the ground, making stealthy movement near-impossible.

There's a row of paintball rifles spread out near the entrance to the Sensoriums.

ARE YOU A BAD ENOUGH DUDE TO SURVIVE MEATSHIP PAINTBALL?

[Open to all, have fun! CRUSH YOUR ENEMIES. Threadjacking is A-OK]

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[zouichi]

Zouichi knelt quietly, hidden by the thick foliage of the forest he'd conjured up in the Sensoriums. It was early morning and the birds flitted from branch to branch, singing and going about their daily business. In his hands was a long, ominous-looking black rifle with a canister of compressed air attached to it. He'd set aside his other weapons for the duration, of course.

He waited.

And then, when he heard the crackle of dry leaves crunching under the feet of some unsuspecting victim, he snapped off a series of shots, launching a barrage of brightly-colored balls of paint in their direction.

[greatergone]

If this was supposed to be a stealthy exercise, Kais exercised none of that. Instead, he crunched forward in full armor. To make things feel more comfortable to him, he made his paintball gun look like a Pulse Carbine. Besides him as he stepped forward was a floating....pie plate.

When that barrage of shots game forth, the pie palte zipped forward and the paintballs splashed against a blue barrier it emitted. Kais was quick to return fire in the direction he was told the shots were coming from, dropping to his knee while spinning around.

[zouichi]

Well, that was just cheating. Zouichi suffered a minor hit, but used the brief opportunity created by the barrier to move into a run, tossing several metal devices behind him as he moved through the fallen leaves.

[greatergone]

When it came to war, Kais wasn't as naive as he looked. Of course he cheated when it was possible but he wasn't in his element either so he needed every advantage. Speaking of those metal balls, he rolled back to make some distance between them and him, almost sure they were grenades. Speaking of which, rolling his in armor was a mean feat.

[zouichi]

(They were devices, not balls.)

But at any rate, they didn't explode as they hit the ground. Zouichi took full advantage of his opponent backing off to fire another array of paintballs in Kais's direction as he disappeared into the leaf cover.

OH NO IT A TRAP

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

No one ever said anything about playing fair. It took about two miliseconds after the first round of getting shot at for Howard to decide that he wanted as little paint as possible on himself. It took a little longer to set up his trap.

Just a bucket of paint in a tree, a play off the classic water-on-the-door prank. That and Howard lying in wait behind a patch of rocks, fully intending to pepper anyone who tries to walk around the trap, if they see it, while they're looking up.

[greatergone]

The shield drone rose up again, automatically intercepting the incoming shots. His visor scanned and scanned, looking for any sign of Zouichi, who was gone. Finding nothing, he sprinted in the opposite direction, hoping to set up an ambush but not really hopeful about it.

[zouichi]

Well... no point in shooting someone who didn't feel like getting hit. Zouichi wandered off to find easier prey.

[splendid_roman]

Thanks to his year of National Service, Ian had some clue of how to handle a gun and shoot people. But this just being paintball, he didn't want it to be too much like real life. So instead of hiding he strode out confidently, waited for someone to shoot him, then shot them back.

Re: OH NO IT A TRAP

[splendid_roman]

Ian didn't see the trap, but he did see Howard. He grinned and was just about to shoot him when he was suddenly hit by a bucket and a whole lot of paint. For a moment he stood still, surprised.

Re: OH NO IT A TRAP

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

You totally deserved it after that snowball fight, Ian. At that moment Howard uses Ian's hesitation as the perfect opportunity to scramble behind another rock, using his small size and neutral-colored clothing to help hide himself.

And yes, he is grinning like a loon.

"Gotcha!"

Re: OH NO IT A TRAP

[splendid_roman]

"So I see," Ian said, wiping some of the paint from his head. "In paintball, that demands retribution." Howard might have hidden, but he spoke and so Ian followed the voice, knowing Howard couldn't have got far in that time.

[death_adept]

Somewhere amongst the trees another stalked, near silently picking his way through the thick forest. Moving as but a blur to both vision and sensors from both skill and equipment, the assassin tracking his prey and waiting for the moment to strike. Observing the brief conflict to size up the xenos' ability and equipment.

Taking particular note of the protective drone that followed the xenos, Jalith set himself up ahead of Kais, waiting until the shield drone was at the furthest point from his angle of fire before taking a single shot, one that if left unchecked would leave red splotch of paint on the side of the xenos helmet.

[first_in_time]

Paintball. That sounded like fun...whatever paintball was. She figured that it would be like a snowball fight. Those were fun. Lots of throwing, ducking, dodging and then attempting to sneak up on someone and dribble watery snow down the back of their neck. Things like that were innocent enough and had been more than entertaining since she was a child.

But upon arrival, Barbara was handed a gun.

Oh dear.

A play gun, nonetheless, which made her feel a little better. A few experimental shots and she got the hang of it well enough. It was only a game after all, and paint washed off.

Barbara was taking cover in a tree with enough foliage to cover her, when she saw Ian strutting about. She took aim and fired three shots in a row. The first landed on the ground before him, the next hit his shin, and the third left a satisfying red splat on his shoulder. Barbara grinned.

[first_in_time]

Paintball wasn't quite what Barbara was expecting. It was absolutely nothing like snowball fights, except that cover was involved. And there was pain (although snowball fights tended to not be as painful due to the layers one wore when out in the snow).

So Barbara had merely copied one of her father's best strategies he undertook when they used to snowball fight one another many, many years ago. She has taken cover in amongst a patch of bushes, surrounded by tree roots which jutted up in random places. What her father would do, is create slick ice nearby but as snow was somewhat scarce in an autumn forest, Barbara altered the sensorium landscape just slightly to have thick, gooey mud around the tree roots.

Admittedly, it probably seemed like the best strategy because she was a child at the time.

[splendid_roman]

Ian turned as soon as the first shot landed on the ground. He couldn't tell which direction it had come from, though, until the next shot his his shin. By the time he'd been hit in the shoulder he could see exactly who had shot him and where they were.

"Now you've asked for it," he said, smiling himself. He shot at the tree above her, sending the paint dripping down off the leaves onto her head. And then quickly switched to shoot lower in an attempt to get her in between the leaves.

Then he leapt to the side around a tree so she couldn't get him back as easily.

[first_in_time]

OUCH!

Were paintballs supposed to hurt that much? Ian's shot had gotten her on the upper arm, making it tingle for a few seconds. Clearly, she'd have to get him back for that.

Barbara could see where he'd gone, and as she climbed back out of the tree, she watched to make sure that he didn't move from there. The tricky part about these things was that Ian was very good at them, and Barbara...wasn't really. But she was going to try because there was no point giving up now.

Now behind the old tree she was hiding in previously, she watched and waited for Ian to have another look at where she was. When he did poke his head out, even slightly, Barbara fired a few shots in quick succession, then ducked out of the way.

[splendid_roman]

Ian was keeping an eye out - and an ear. So he at least heard where Barbara was, and when he looked out to check, she fired at him. All that did was get his hair. But the minute he ducked back behind the tree and she stopped shooting, he stuck his gun out and shot where she had been, then he looked to see if he was shooting the right place. Unfortunately, all he'd done was hit the tree.

But it was ok, he had a plan. He kept shooting as he headed towards her tree, making sure she couldn't shoot back unless she wanted to be shot. And if she ran, he'd just follow.

[first_in_time]

From her hiding place, Barbara could hear Ian's foot steps on the dry leaves as he fired at her. She could see paint flying past her at roughly the same height each time. There was little chance of her escape without injury but perhaps she could dodge a little of Ian's fire and have at him for a moment at least.

She crouched down, back against the tree, and leaned out to fire multiple shots at her approaching friend, then turned to run for more cover.

[splendid_roman]

He ignored the shots hitting his legs until she ran, and then he stopped firing and concentrated on running after her instead. He could see some cover not far away and not quite in the direction she was running. He headed for that and set about getting some camouflage. The hedge he was hiding behind had some long twigs with leaves on. He snapped one off and wrapped it around his head. It might provide some protection too.

[first_in_time]

By the time Barbara found suitable cover in amongst a group of large boulders, she couldn't see Ian. She could only see trees and bushes.

Oh, bother!

Quietly, she watched for the slightest movement, gun at the ready because chances were that Ian had watched her find this place and was working out just how to get at her.

Re: OH NO IT A TRAP

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Howard army crawls through the rock outcropping, doing his best to be silent. He pokes his head up just for a moment over a ridge.

Funny, he thought Ian would be right there...

[splendid_roman]

Ian had been keeping an eye on where Barbara was. But he couldn't shoot because then he'd give away his position. Instead, he wound another leafy twig around his gun and slowly poked it through the hedge, so it wouldn't be immediately obvious. Then he fired one shot at her, and retracted the gun.

Re: OH NO IT A TRAP

[splendid_roman]

Having spotted a splash of colour moving, Ian followed it. Having established it was Howard, he made sure to stay behind him. When Howard's head popped up, Ian unleashed his secret weapon - the paint he was covered in. He touched one hand to the paint on him and the other to Howard's head.

[first_in_time]

Barbara had been concentrating on movement, and the sound of Ian's gun made her jump. She fired blindly in the general direction she thought the shot came from. Logic told her that the shot must have been fired from a bush, as she would have seen Ian looking out from behind a tree.

She fired continuously into one hedge which followed a length of track for a few feet, then stopped and waited.