Raised Voices (NATHAN!)

[♠ James F. Mason]

OOC: I don't know whether you are brining Jack or the Lieutenant guy, Nathan, but either of them is fine.
Btw, this ain't open to anyone else.

A fist slammed into the table in the middle of the room which caused James to raise his head too quickly and slam it into the bunk above his head. He winced and rubbed the top of his skull as the shouting continued at the table. "Your cheating John, I know it! I seen ya myself with me own eyes!" yelled a red faced Corporal Brunswick. "No, I ain't, Brunny, you're just a sore loser" Sergeant John Tassel smirked back at him. Brunswicks face turned a darker shade of red; "I keep tellin' ya not to call me Brunny!" he protested loudly. And so the fight went on...

James turned back to his Webley revolver which he had been polishing with a white rag. He was sure it wasn't doing any good, but he had to do something to stop the boredom! He could have just joined in at the poker game at the table, but most of these games ended with either a fight which resulted in most of the players limping to the infirmary or an officer or senior NCO coming in and treatening latrine duty if they didn't shut up. Besides, he didn't feel like poker anyway.

It was soon decided that Sergeant Tassel wasn't in fact cheating and the game continued on interrupted for about a minute before another fight broke out. About half the men in James' room were in the poker game at the moment, but most of the men who weren't playing at the moment had been playing and had run out of money to gamble. James tried to drown out the raised voices and concentrated on rubbing his pistol with the dirty rag.

Sorry, not my best/longest post.

[nathansinfantry]

Jack trudged back to the barracks, the hood of his overcoat pulled up to shield his head from the downpour. His Springfield was hanging from it’s sling over his shoulder had darkened with the rain, but Jack was content he had worn it in and the sights were zeroed. As always, though, the quartermaster had delivered the goods on possibly the worst day of the summer. If he had been a day earlier then Jack may have enjoyed his outing.

Entering the large room, the first thing that hit Jack was the familiar odour of sweat and various other liquids a group of bored men released. The Sergeant rolled his eyes at the game of cards in the centre of the room and walked passed, smacking the Corporal over the head. ”Shut it, Brunny.” He said as he carried on down towards his bunk, taking the rifle off of his shoulder and unbuttoning his coat. He dropped the rifle onto the cardboard box at the foot of his bed it had arrived in and hung his coat on the edge of his bunk. He stretched before digging into his pockets and removing the dozen or so loose bullets that were rolling around. Underneath his bunk sat Corporal Mason. It occurred to the New Zealand he hardly knew his bunk mate. He decided now was as good a time as any. Unsure of what to say, he settled for a simeple ”Hi.”

[♠ James F. Mason]

James glanced up momentarily as a new person entered the room. It seemed a wonder that he had noticed the newcomer coming in at all over the noise from the poker game, which was giving him quite a headache. The newcomer - A Kiwi Sergeant called Jack Knight - walked over to his bunk, giving Brunny a whack as he went by. James smirked at the outraged expression on Brunswick's face. It looked like he was about to start a fight with the Sergeant, but after a few seconds of glaring at Knights back he sullenly turned back to his game and shouted a few curses at anyone laughing at him - which was practically everyone.

Knight occupied the bunk above James and as he came closer James noted the new looking sniper rifle slung across his back, small droplets of water running down the darkened wood. Knight started moving around some of his stuff on the top bunk, the sounds of spare bullets clicking together were sharp in James' ears. The Kiwi bent down and said an unenthusiastic "Hi". James looked up in surprise. Even though they were bunkmates he didn't really know Knight at all. He was confused on what to say. He said nothing for a few seconds before replying with an equally unenthusiastic "Eh... Hi Jack." He sat in silence for another few seconds before adding on another few words. "Wet outside, is it?" He said with a guesture in the general direction of the door.

[nathansinfantry]

"Wet outside, is it?" Jack turned and raised his eyebrows, making a small 'mmm' sounds. Wet was one word for it, certainly. It wasn't the one Jack would have used, there wasn't enough swearing in the phrase to do the tempest and justice. He knelt down by the cardboard box, and produced a towel from underneath the bed. It was covered in oil stains and all sorts of other...things tht Jack didn't bear thinking about.

He began wiping his gun down, drying it out before storing it away. First, though, he made sure there was no more ammunition in it. He didn't want to go blowing James's fingers off. "You're the PIAT bloke, aren't you?" he asked, straining for something to start an awkward conversation, "Yeah, aren't you going over to the frontline with my brother some time soon?"

He couldn't think of anything else to say as he busied himself with closing the cardboard box around his gun, and sliding it underneath the bed. Being positioned in France meant that at any moment, Jerry might come and say hi, and Jack was certainly prepared for when he did. He pulled himself up to the top bunk, swinging his legs up over the side before hanging his boots over the edge and staring at the ceiling.

[♠ James F. Mason]

Jack raised an eyebrow at James' idiotic remark, to try and start conversation and James looked away in embarassment. James looked down and realised his pistol was lying on his knee, not being cleaned so he slipped it back into it's holster; making sure the safety was off first. He looked back up to see that Jack had procured a dirty looking towel from somewhere and was drying off his rifle from its shower outside. Jack carefuly checked there were no remaining rounds in it before stowing it away back in a box.

James raised an eyebrow at Jacks remark this time, "Yes... I am the... PIAT bloke." He said slowly. "The one who run screaming to if you have some Jerry armour comin' at ya" he added in with a small grin. He was puzzled at the next comment from the sergeant. "Your brother?" He began to say, before stopping. Knight, where had he heard that second name recently. Slight realization dawned on his face: "Oh the pilot? Yeah, he's leading the air support on a raid that's being planned." He frowned to himself at his lack of information on the upcoming fight. "Actually, I don't know much about it..."

[nathansinfantry]

Jack nodded a brief smile on his face. ”Actually, from what I heard, Nathan doesn’t know too much about it. He just has a date and time to get his bird over there.”

He shook his head dismissively at the orders from above. Completely hopeless, the bastard lot of them. His eyes rested upon the tiles in the ceiling dotted with mould, damp, and various stains. He noted the couple of holes on the bed opposite him where the Sergeant who slept there had a habit of throwing pencils into the air. When boredom was as it was, even simple things like that could keep a man occupied. He reached down on the table and thumbed a few leads, before deciding against it.

”So…” He considered what he was about to do. It was the most clichéd conversation starter in the war. Would Jack Knight sink that low? Yes.

”So what did you do before this war. Anything particularly interesting, or just the usual growing up in a city crap? Yes, I really am this bored.” He gave a small smile to the Corporal as he said this, leaning down hanging his head into Mason’s bunk to show he actually wanted to here.

[♠ James F. Mason]

James sighed as he found out that even the pilot didn't know properly what was going on. The pilot was possibly dropping in paratroops and even he didn't know the full details! James frowned as he realized that he didn't properly know if paratroops would be dropped or not. ”God, they never tell us anything at all!” He muttered angrily to himself. ”The only bloody thing I know is that it’s an attack on an airfield. Most likely heavily defended by elite German divisions or something like that. I’d take a guess that we are going to be blowing up a few of Hitler’s airplanes, but I’m not even so sure of that!” James lapsed into an angry silence after his outburst.

Jack appeared to be stuck for something to say to make conversation. Maybe James’ outburst had disturbed him a bit? Jack expressed his confusion with a quiet “So”. James grinned at Jack’s disgust at the question he had just asked. ”Wow, you must have been really stuck to ask that!” James said with a grin. He answered the question; ”Well, as you can see, I’m only a young one” He said with a laugh the words that had been said to him by his training sergeant when he had first seen James. ”I didn’t really have a proper job for long before the war started. I worked in a local shop, but I enlisted after just a few months of the war. I wanted to serve my King and Country and run off to give the Hun a jolly good baiting!” He said the last bit with not just a bit of sarcasm in his voice.

James rolled his eyes and looked at the Sergeant who was hanging his head down from the top bunk. ”So what about you, Kiwi? What was life back in New Zealand like? All the way down there...”

[nathansinfantry]

”A young one…”

Jack echoed the words to himself. So many young lives were being ruined by this war, but he thought back a bit. His life had been ruined before he even started fighting. But in a way, he had always been fighting.

”Me, well, I was a bit of a rebel, I suppose. Fell into a bit of trouble with the law. I was bit angry one day and I…kinda burnt somebody’s barn down, and left some evidence behind. Bloody stupid of me to do it.”

He rolled back over looking at the ceiling. ”The owner was this idiot who stole my girl. I didn’t know what to do, so I spoke through matches. I don’t know why I did it; really, it just seemed like a good idea at the time. I had a perfectly good life on my farm, but I blew it away, and got sent to this hell hole. No offence.” Jack often stayed awake; late into the night, wondering what might have happened if he had just thought a few years ago. ”They gave me the option of prison, or, as they needed the troops, joining here. I chose here, obviously, but it’s done it’s work, in a way. I feel I have a purpose now. I’m fighting for the guys back home, the sooner we finish here, the sooner we can stop Jap getting his dirty hands round my farm.”

He lapsed into silence, again, unsure what to say. Maybe James would have some questions.

[♠ James F. Mason]

OOC: Hehe, forgot about this thread.

James raised an eyebrow as the Sergeant repeated the very words he had just said, appearing to drift into thought. "Uh, yes... That's what I said..." James said, confused. Jack came back to earth after a couple of seconds up in the clouds and told James about how he used to be a rebel, causing James to laugh. "I bet you were" James smirked at the New Zealander. James winced as Jack told of burning somebody's barn down. Mm, right now he wasn't so sure he wanted to be friends this man. He's a bloody Pyromaniac! James thought to himself, worriedly. Damn it, I'm sharing the same room as him!

"Yeah that was bloody stupid of you," James said, deciding he better reply. "You shouldn't have left that evidence at all!" He said with grin. Maybe if he got on Jack's good side, Jack wouldn't set him on fire! James relaxed himself slightly as he found out that at least Jack had a reason and didn't just burn down some random persons barn. I suppose if somebody stole my non-existent girlfriend I'd be angry too" James mused to himself.

As Jack said he didn't know why he had done it and at this point James helpfully butted in with "Pyromania?" The first step for Jack would be admitting it. James decided it would be better for him not to take offense at Jack's comment and he replied with a cheerful: "Don't worry, none taken!" James winced sympathetically at Jack having been given the choice of prison or the army. "After seeing combat here, I'd welcome a prison any day," James said. Jack lapsed into silence and James decided it was time for a change of conversation. "So, Jack..." He started, but then stopped; thinking about something to say. "You seen Captain Brentwood around today? I saw him earlier and he was looking pretty pissed off," James said, shivering at the thought of angry Brentwood. "He practically ate Corporal Speaker for walking around with the laces of his boots untied.

[nathansinfantry]

Jack smiled at Mason’s interest, and the prison remark, giving a small groan of agreement. Atleast in prison you were guaranteed three good meals a day. ”Brentwood? No, I haven’t seen him for a few days, now.” He was quite glad actually; the Captain had a record for a bit of a temper, a short fuse, and it seemed the smallest mess-up these days would land you in trouble.

It occurred to Jack that the awkward conversation was quickly drawing to a halt. He tried to think of some more things to say, but it just wouldn’t come. With a sigh, he jumped to the ground, and pulled off his shirt. He quickly explained, ”I’ve got an early start tomorrow, some Yanks want me for some reason. I’m gonna grab an early night so I’m ready for whatever shit is gonna be there. I’ll see you around. Good luck and all that, don’t let my brother shoot you, now!” That was a joke, the man was definitely in safe hands with his brother in the air. He was a very competent pilot, and wouldn’t shoot his own men…As long as they didn’t piss him off.

OOC: Dan, d’you wanna put another post in then close?

[♠ James F. Mason]

OOC: Meh, I'll just close it now. God, this has been the most boring neutral thread I've ever been in.

The New Zealander above him replied with a groan to James' remark about prison being better than the army. That was good. So far he was keeping in the lunatics good books and so it was looking more likely that he wouldn't be set on fire while he slept. The conversation settled down awkwardly after Jack said replied in the negative to James' question about their Commanding Officer. James settled backwards onto his quilt with his boots against a leg of the bed and waited for Jack to some something else to rekindle the conversation.

Apparently, there wasn't anything else to say as Jack made his intentions clear that he was going to bed. Well that was one way to get out of an awkward conversation! James noted the idea down in his head for he himself to use as an excuse someday. "Ok, then" James replied simply. "Be carefuly of the yanks" He added in a few seconds later with a wink to Jack who had just jumped to the ground. "And I'll be careful of your brother, too" He said somewhat nervously. The idea that he could be ripped to shreds by his own air support was somewhat disconcerning and a worried look came upon his face.

At that moment a messanger entered the room. The men playing cards briefly looked up at the new arrival to the scene, but they turned back to their game after a few seconds; deciding it was much more interesting than some young Private. The messanger walked over to James' Bunk and babbled out a brief slurry of words: "Corporal Mason, you are to report to Operations room number 2 right now". He was apparently nervous of the group of rough, unshaven men in the center of the room and he dissapeared quite quickly. "See ya, Jack" James muttered and walked out of the room.

[Edward"Butcher"McMillan]

Moderation Post

The following CP has been issued:

Knight - 5CP

Mason - 6CP, one more post than Knight

Remember guys, longer posts = higher rewards, less than minimum ones yeild deductions, well in my eyes anyway.

-JT