CLOSED PARALOGUE The First Recon

[Camleen]

Proudly Weiss smiles when her query is complimented. Even if Abby wasn't talking about her, she takes the win. She does give David a glance when Abby mentions him, allowing David to share in some of her self congratulations. Looking away from him, now she listens intently to what other orders there are. But when Thea is mentioned, Weiss gets a very questionable look upon her fair features. She focuses on the soul stone, not trying to think to much about it. If she paused to try and figure out every weird thing she's come across here… she wouldn't have time to breath.

Taking the small communicator, she carefully tucks it into her right ear. She is left handed, so she has to assume she'll need the comms when she is holding her sword in her left.

You know… she wasn't thrilled about being forced to attend the Atlas Academy. But being in this situation… the vibe all this has… it makes her a little grateful for the training she received there. This group has a Atlas military feel. Something she doesn't like, but she is accustomed to.

With the cue, Weiss steps up to one of the teleport pads. Left hand reaches across her waist and slowly she would draw her sword, Myrtenaster. With a 'swish' sound she quickly swings it down at her side, her posture perfect, straight. With a 'swoosh' she draws her sword up, holding it vertically in front of her with her other hand behind her back. A slow and deep breath is taken in, and she closes her eyes listening to the instructions.

They were right about the experience. It is… unpleasant. But Weiss has enough faith that she doesn't panic or anything. Just remain still, that is what they said. No sudden movements. Like vomiting.

A moment later she feels cool air upon her skin, and a lighter color on the back of her eyelids. Her long white hair sways gently as she is motionless for a few seconds, and then slowly her eyes open and she looks around herself cautiously. Well it's at least a pleasant looking place so far. Now she remains in place, keeping her composure. But a wave of nausea draws across the whole of her being. Breath, Weiss. Slow, steady. Recenter yourself. A small pause… and she lets out a gentle breath. Still holding her sword, she pats along her waist with her other hand and exclaims softly, seriously. "Gear is good to go."

A smile draws across her lips as she looks towards the sky, towards the horizon. Oh, how wonderful a place this is. So lovely. Like something that would serve as muse for the artist. The brushstrokes of nature begging to be replicated by the hands of man. In a small circle she turns, her sword held down at her sides as she appreciates the temporary reprieve.

Very temporary.

A beautiful sky it was, accompanied by the sound of thunder.

Wait… thunder?

Weiss gives a confused look downwards, feeling the ground quaking faintly. And slowly building in intensity. "Uh" she utters as she takes a step back, looking as if she is getting ready to spring into the air to avoid danger. But she looks over her shoulder towards Abby upon hearing her, and her eyes widen while looking towards one of the tree filled landscapes. Weiss quickly turns and sheathes her sword with her left hand, her right hand held out in front of her with her fingers spread. Upon her palm a miniature white glowing glyph appears and begins to spin rapidly. Weiss pushes off, and suddenly she is 'sliding' along the ground. White glyphs appear about a foot in front of her and a foot behind her, all identical and spinning in tandem. They disappear and appear as she moves, moving along with her form. She slides along the grass, looking as if she were ice skating, her body leaning forward. She exclaims as she moves "Stay close, move fast!"

'Ice skating' along the glyphs, she is able to move just a bit faster than the others. Even faster than any enhanced beings. Not superspeed, of course. And so gradually she is able to get into the front of their own 'herd' heading towards the jungle. But at one point she pivots elegantly, looking towards the group to make sure no one has lagged behind. Seeing everyone proceeding, she pivots again and heads towards the jungle. She sees Abby going up the tree, then the others getting cover. Closing in on the jungle, she quickly comes up with a plan. Quickly she sheathes her sword, still sliding, her knees bend. With a grunt she launches herself up, her arms outstretched. Her fingers brush against against a slim limb, and she gasps. Fortunately, her other hand snatches a thicker branch. Her fingers tighten, her other hand shooting towards the stable limb. Her lower body swings forward with the momentum, and her legs then swing back. She kicks her legs and hauls herself up onto the branch letting out a "ggrrraaah!"

She crouches perfectly balanced on the branch, her hands resting on the branch's skin between her feet. And its then she gets a look at the dinosaurs. She feels a shiver run down her spine… they do indeed resemble Grimm a bit… except with skin. Maybe the most disgusting thing she's ever seen.

Hearing Abby in her ear… she lets out a soft yelp and almost looses her balance. She forgot she had the comms device in her ear, and she it gave her something of a jumpscare. Quickly composure is regained, and she reaches up with her right hand to tap the comms device in her ear. "Ma'am, Weiss. If there is something making them run, I can distract whatever it is or lead it away so we can make our escape." Her tone is proper, logical, confident. Her hand falls from her ear, and her blue eyes look towards the horizon. To ensure whatever was chasing those beasts wasn't flying.

 

[The Wanderer]

David

Hearing Abby respond to his ideas, David simply nodded his head before speaking. "Sounds like a good plan." Before the mention of Thea confused him slightly before his attention was drawn to the stone around Abby's neck. That was a whole other affair that David couldn't get into the nitty gritty of. So long as Thea wasn't trying to take over Abby's body or lead them astray or worse, get hacked. It was fine by him. The comm piece was readily accepted and his was soon in his ear. It was a tad uncomfortable but David got used to the feeling quickly, as it almost reminded him of the early earpieces during the war.

The instructions for the teleporter did concern him, not because of imminent danger, but moreso concerns for future missions where his dog would join him. The rascal could not remain still, so that was going to be a talking point for the technicians who were working on the AI tech. But that was not important. David just focused on the familiar disorienting feeling when the green flash took over his vision and he felt weightless before gravity returned. Experience made David brace as if he was just dropping from a chopper, the jungles on either side and the heat brought the ghost of a helicopter's blades whirring above him filling his ears. And he would swear he could hear his radioman complain about his pack being too heavy. It was only thanks to Abby's exclamation of a stampede that made David snap out of it as he ran with the others.

His physique came to show as he easily outpaced a chunk of them despite his size as he took cover behind the trees with Devyn. Crouching over her in an almost protective manner as he looked out towards the dinosaurs. A hand on her shoulder in the best comforting way he could manage while trying to keep situational awareness. Years of being in the wilderness and hunting allowed him to keep a 'cone' of awareness around him. It allowed him to feel the wind pushing against them, meaning they were downwind of the dinosaurs in the field, which would help them in remaining undetected. Hearing Bond talk, he would speak up to the agent. "Wind is pushing into us, our scent won't be detected if they follow the same rules as other animals. So long as we stay nice and quiet, they'll go for the easy food in the fields, especially since one is making noi-" David didn't get a chance to finish as he heard Luer nock an arrow, David stood to grab Luer before it was too late but before he could take even one step.

Luer let loose the arrow and killed the injured dinosaur, while a feat he would do, in the present circumstances it was outright idiotic. "Nevermind." He would angrily grunt out before he'd speak as quietly to Luer as possible via the comm device. "What if it isn't a dinosaur chasing the herd, what if it's this company doing it? That arrow is going to attract attention if it is them as no dinosaur is firing off arrows."

He sighed heavily before returning to the tree with Devyn. "You alright, kid?"

@Wade Von Doom @Amber Franklin @LenxKaitoYaoi @rissa @Camleen @Apothecary Bruce

 

[rissa]

Devyn Rose

She couldn't tell with her eyes clenched closed if David rustled his way between the snare of roots and into the hollow of the tree beside her, but she answered his question with a diminutive nod, followed by another more convincing one. It took an unusually long moment for Devyn to compose herself, but once she did she peeked out and around, trying to gauge the distance between everyone. Most were in the trees, it seemed, not too far away, so it wouldn't be a hassle to regroup— provided everything proved fruitful and Luer's attempt at mercy was rewarded instead of punished. Devyn waited with bated breath, readying her gear for the moment Abby gave orders.

 

[Apothecary Bruce]

You had to be shitting me.

That's a fucking dinosaur.

That's a bunch of fucking dinosaurs.


Jeremy hadn't been properly transported before, and he didn't mind it as much as he thought he might've. All the weird things he'd seen as a soldier of the NCR had done well to inoculate him to the absurdities of the Pathfinder life-style, but man, he got to see a stampede of dinosaurs. Sure, he had to hide atop a tree like everyone else (being a sniper and a recon specialist, he had no struggle climbing up), but he wanted nothing more than to give that thing a pat on the head. It was cute-looking, a lot cuter than the monsters he'd seen (and put down).

Sure, the ranger was confident Dinky the T-Rex's real life inspiration was going to look like the devil walking the Earth, but he couldn't suppress the child-like wonder at seeing an honest to god dinosaur. For a couple seconds, Jeremy got to drop his heavy, heavy baggage on the floor, and bask in the juvenile glory.

He looked at his teammates. Bond and Abby did well climbing up, but Devyn had a pretty funny time getting up, and Weiss was a slapstick mess. He allowed a small chuckle pass through his comms once he was done taking in the sights. "Nothing like this in California," he said softly, underneath the cover of his helmet. "Even got Mount Charleston beat. I could get used to this for sure..."

 

[Amber Franklin]

Abigail Delano, Courier Six-Character Sheet

T-851/Thea Character Sheet

The death cry of the wounded animal tugs at Abby's heart, but she refrains from performing a mercy killing on advice from Thea warning her it could give their position away if there were human hunters chasing the herd. Abby is about to relay this to the others when she witnesses an arrow being lodged into the middle of the dinosaurs' skull between the eyes.

"Fffff..." Abby stifles a loud curse into an agitated hiss. She is aware David and Luer have bows, but she would bet this was Luer's mercy at work. Bless his heart.

"Luer, where are you?" From her branch she could only partially view the clearing through the foliage, and looking down cannot see anyone. She does hear Bond however, and is thankful he can see Luer and Devin.

"Bond, since you got eyes on Luer please tell him to put his comm in or I will glue it to his ear." Abby tells Bond over the comms.

"Thank ya Weiss, hold position." She says quietly in reply to the younger woman. After seeing the girl seem to skate through the air, Abby forgives her choice of attire but does not want to make her a distraction or take on a threat alone. Nobody on the team would be, not on her watch.

"Don't get too used to it, ranger. This place is purrty but these dinos get bigger and badder." Abby warns Jeremy quietly. Looking up, around, she sees him in an adjacent tree with what would be a similar view of the clearing.

Three slender figures run swiftly over and down the hill, their form obscured by their low profile and movement through the grass. All three stop abruptly at the corpse of the large crested dinosaur. One would call them bipedal lizards to judge by the largest that is dark brown with black stripes ; if not for the two sporting red plumage atop their heads and are mottled gray-green. The largest raises its body high over the grass, showing it to be roughly the size of a human. It makes a loud barking noise into the air, the other two joining. As they do this, they show off a row of small but deadly teeth and strong slender arms terminating in clawed hands.

Abigail watches this scene with bated breath, silently hoping the lethal-looking trio are not smart enough to understand the meaning of the arrow in their meal. The wind was on their side, keeping their scent away from what looked to Abby like impressive sniffers.

Their calls only last several seconds before they are silenced by an answer from over the hill. The response is another bark that booms though the still air. Abby is shaken, but keeps herself calm and steady. That bark jars her memory of passing Quarry Junction, and hearing another call of that same magnitude.

In the clearing the trio scatter across the field, ripping into the smaller dinosaurs.

"Here's the plan." Abby begins, keeping her eyes on the field and her voice low. She doesn't see ears from this distance, best to assume they could hear well. "Jeremy, you keep your eyes on those things. I am gonna climb down outta this tree, then I want the rest of you to regroup on me. Jeremy, on my call you climb down to join us. Warn us if they turn our way. Once we're regrouped, we follow the wind away from them. Hope the big one don't show up before that. Abby is coming down."

Quiet as possible, Abigail climbs down from her perch. The predators feast, snarling as they rip into flesh. One of the plumed moves on from its first meager meal to another, passing the head of the large creature. It stops, gets down to sniff the arrow. The largest peeks out from its meal, lets out a short shrill call in the others' direction; the plumed one snaps its head up, leaving the large corpse to feast on a smaller one.

Abigail drops down onto the ground from the lowest branch, bringing her rifle around and up to be ready. The clearing cannot be seen from the jungle floor due to heavy foliage and vines.

 

[Camleen]

Weiss' eyes narrow with Abby's response, but she nods and says softly into the comms "Acknowledged." Normally, in a non combat situation, she would of course question the logic Abby shows here. In most situations, Weiss just assumes she is right and everyone else just needs to catch up to her. But growing up in a strict and military setting, she has learned to not voice such concerns during a tense situation. A situation like this.

She shifts her weight a bit on the thick branch she balances in a crouch on. Lifting her hands, she lightly brushes them against each other to alleviate some of the rough bark from the tree. The heiress stares out at the fallen… animal… or whatever… and then her body stiffens when she sees movement out passed the dead creature. Instinctively she leans down a bit upon the tree branch, keeping herself silent. Careful.

The larger of them rears up, and for the first time Weiss gets a good look at it. And a wave of fear runs through her. She can feel her heart begin to beat faster, her breathing going to short and ragged. The same sort of primal reaction an animal that is lower on the food chain gets when detecting a predator near. A hungry predator. Quickly she shakes her head side to side, admonishing herself silently for such a reaction. Forcing herself to lay eyes upon the beasts once more, she is once more drawn into fright when they start vocalizing. And then get a response. "A pack" she says softly to herself. Just like Beowolves. Now in her mind she has a reference for what she is witnessing, and knows better how she must adjust to this situation.

Now Weiss hears Abby's soft voice in her ear, and her eyes divert towards the rough limb she sets upon. Abby's plan.. she doesn't like it. But once again, she says nothing to that effect. Back towards the raptors she gazes, speaking softly once more. "Acknowledged." With a soft huff escaping her lips she begins now to slink forward. Turning now sideways on the branch, she carefully, slowly lowers herself down to a lower branch. She can at least see this time which branches she interacts with. And once she is on the lower, she activates her comms once more. "Abby, Weiss." A pause as she gets into a stable crouch on the branch, looking at the ground below her. "If Jeremy feels the pack wanders to close, permission to send out my Boarbatusk. It should be easily fast enough to intercept them and keep them occupied until we're gone. They shouldn't even realize we're here." She falls silent and now lowers herself carefully once more, dangling from her branch for a few counts, and then dropping into the grass in a crouch. She is motionless, waiting until she moves again to ensure she's in the clear.

 

[rissa]

Devyn Rose

Nope.

"Nope, nope, nope." Devyn whispered, hands trembling as she untied the canvas rucksack and with an eerily silent precision, procured two items. One she plopped atop her head and fiddled with her Pip-Boy until the HUD flared to life with an amber back glow. The second was a laser rifle, one that fit like a glove in her hands as she retied the canvas pack and took care to strap it down tighter, ensuring nothing would clank or rattle as the team beelined it away from the sounds of a goddamn deathclaw.

Devyn adjusted the strap of her rifle across her back and beneath the rucksack so she could carry it one handed as she ran and looked over to David with a sheepish smile, although it was now hidden behind the rusted power helmet. "You ready?" Devyn whispered, waiting for Abby to call she was down.

The weight of the power helmet gave her courage or perhaps that's just what she told herself as she army crawled out of the tree hollow once the call was given, dirt and soft, spongy leaves sticking to her duster as she finagled her way out slowly— silently —the roots as much of a nuisance as they were a blessing, granting leverage and something to pull against. Devyn couldn't see the beasts that caused the stampede and truthfully, she didn't want to, so she crouched as she left the safety of the tree hollow and began the short trek to regroup with her team, David hopefully on her heels.

 

[Amber Franklin]

From their vantage, Jeremy and Bond would observe the source of the impressive bark that answered the trio. The head would be seen first over the hill; followed by a body of muscle, white scales, black claws on hands that hang with the menace of an executioner's axe and on feet that thunder across the ground. At those feet scamper smaller versions of the trio, twelve in all either light brown or mottled grey. They only come up to its ankle, making them roughly the size of a dog against the animal who, to Jeremy, is as long as a railcar head to tail and taller than the same at its shoulder. .

Indominus rex

The trio at the bottom of the hill watch the approach of their alpha and young. One of the young, brown in color, takes the hill faster than it should and tumbles on its side down the incline to the bottom. The adults are unconcerned, and are proven it is not needed when the little clumsy one runs through the tall grass with its head raised to the nearest corpse with an open bloody torso. The rest scale down the hill in the shadow of the Indominus, following the behemoth to the largest corpse. The Indominus sets its foot on the middle of the body, snaps its wide jaws around the hindquarters and pulls it apart in a gruesome gush of red that showers the eager young. They run into the corpse and commence to eat; the Indominus pulls apart and devours the hind end.

Meanwhile, Clumsy picks at the corpse it had chosen. The adult had devoured most of the tasty bits, leaving a husk behind. Except the eyes, both of which it plucks from the skull and swallows whole. It looks at the feeding frenzy, but sees something else all the adults have missed in their hunt: a depression in the grass that led into the jungle. The curious young raptor sniffs the depression, and follows the scent left behind by Devyn. The adults do not notice Clumsy disappearing into the jungle undergrowth as it follows the scent, moving quietly through the underbush Devyn had cleared as she crawled until poking its head out from the green to look at Abby and the group that had gathered. It blinks, ducks down into the green again and observes them. Food or danger? Clumsy is unsure.

 

[LenxKaitoYaoi]

Luer simply waved Bond off when he insisted he climb a tree. He could not even stand on two feet to get to his current hiding spot behind a tree, he certainly was not climbing one. At least for now. He was, thankfully, starting to feel less bad after the teleporter trip.

He glanced over his shoulder at the sounds of new life, likely the predators after those poor creatures. Circle of life and so on, which caused an internal sigh. There was nothing to do but wait, and he was fine with that. Based on the breeze his scent was likely not to attract attention, nor did he think they would care even if it did. There is easy food in their hands already, chasing down more is pointless so long as it was not a threat.

He barely noticed Abigail coming down from her perch, having glanced to double check that the creatures were focused on their food. He took a quiet deep breath. Damn, that meant he needed to know what was going on. He took the moment to pull the comm from his pocket and try to situate it as comfortably as he could (which was hardly at all) in his right ear with a grimace. ANNA, cover my ear, and find a way to hold that thing in it so it is not in my ear and I can still hear it. I will not be pleased if it gets stuck...* That was the last thing he needed. Thankfully it was apparently an easy task for what amounted to an earmuff the comm fit in to sit on his ear. With that done he nodded to himself.

Hearing the brush move he took another arrow and tried, miserably, to spy what it was. He was not the only one not in a tree at the time, so it could just be one of the others. He did not, however want to speak. He was likely to be the closest in ear shot to these beasts right now.

Another silent breath before he finally got to his feet in a low crouch to stay hidden. If Abigail was coming from her spot it meant it was safe enough to move, and he would feel better being closer together. He was quiet enough, going so far as to be slow enough not to make the foliage rustle whenever he had to go through it.

*Note

This was a mental command, he simply thought it since the AI can hear his thoughts. It was not said aloud, hence the italics and no "".

 

[The Wanderer]

David

Seeing Devlyn nod her head several times, David would pat her shoulder one last time as he kept an eye out for anything that was getting too close, comms is a tad uncertain as he only hears Abby speak before something barks in the distance, near the kill that Luer had foolishly made. When he hears a booming responding bark, immediately his nerves are set. Adrenaline pumping in that steady yet constant pulse as he subconsciously gets ready for a potential fight or run. Climbing the tree ever so slightly, his experience keeps him from exposing himself as he sees a glimpse of what approaches through the dense branches. Whatever it is, it's big and the leader of whatever is feasting on the kill.

Climbing carefully back down in time to reconvene with Devlyn, who had a helmet on. She makes to move as David quiet tells her. "Go on, I'll trail behind. Can't bunch up." Which is when he hears the rustle of the underbrush, his hand goes for his knife. His eyes looking over the nearby area to see what caused the disturbance. Judging from the lack of reptilian eyes looking back at him nor the sight of a large animal ready to pounce. Normally it'd be brushed aside that it was a small animal that was scouring to hide but David knew better. He spent too long hunting to know that prey animals would move when there were predators around.

So immediately he speaks quietly into the comms. "Bond, do you see any young with this pack? If so, we may have a possible young one nearby. Possibly wandered or picked up a scent. Do not use lethal if you see it, the pack will track us if we kill one of their young, making our mission more complicated. We need to clear out now before scents are picked up or the adults come looking." Is all he says before he begins to trail Devlyn. Carefully avoiding any branches or making too much noise as he remains low to the ground in a crouch. He would carefully take out a piece of jerky using his knife to avoid getting the smell of the dried meat on his fingers, large and hopefully alluring to whatever was in the brush as David would expertly toss it near the brush that the disturbance had occurred but not into it, it barely makes a sound as it plops onto the ground. But hopefully whatever was nearby would go for it and be distracted long enough for them to pull back without causing too much of a fuss.

@Amber Franklin @rissa @Amber Franklin @Wade Von Doom @Camleen @Apothecary Bruce @LenxKaitoYaoi

 

[Wade Von Doom]

For a black ops guy, David certainly liked explaining the obvious. "I thought you weren't the chatty type," Bond simply quipped over comms, a snide remark at the hunter's expense. Gently and slowly, Bond laid his back against the branch he sat on; using it as cover in case the raptor decided to look up. It wouldn't provide much, but it was better than leaving himself open to be spotted. Reaching into his left breast pocket, he pulled out a small metal case; different to the cigarette case he had on the Pathfinder. The rims of it were polished silver, while the rest was covered in dark green leather, which when opened revealed magnifying lenses. It looked like an old fashion foldable pair of opera binoculars, except there were three adjustable rings he could use for better accuracy and viewing.

"Eleven total with the alpha. None others coming our way," he reported while looking through the binoculars. It was just the raptor below that wandered off, the rest were minding their own business as they fed on the fresh kill. While David threw the jerky away to get the scent off the team, Bond was trapped in the tree. He couldn't climb down without making noise, and with how close the creature was, there was no way it wouldn't notice the noise.

So, just as carefully, he put the binoculars back, and pulled out his Walter PPK. Along with a silencer for it, slowly twisting it into the barrel of the gun. Just as precaution in case the raptor attacked.