caveofsapphires | smaller patch of fading sky [ open ]

smaller patch of fading sky [ open ]

WHO: EVERYONE. All PCs thus far will be in this log, through active tagging or implication.
WHAT: THRILLS. SPILLS. Hiking trip toward the Diamond City.
WHERE: The Overworld.
WHEN: Forward-dated to May 1st (Tuesday) through May 7th (Monday).
WARNINGS: May contain violence or other mentions of physical harm. This is not summer camp.
NOTES: More information can be found on the OOC post here. Please read it!

Gathered in the morning haze, Sleepers were brought to the mouth of the Cave with plenty of supplies and equipment. Compasses that would point them toward the City. Backpacks full of clothes and food, medical kits, tents and even weapons. Stun rifles and knives — to fight off any unwanted company, they said. ("Watch out for their bite," Ryan had commented. "Those fuckers are downright feral.") The straight and narrow path would get them there in six days if they kept a good clip. They were sent off just like that. Refusals to leave were met with a wall of guard force officers blocking the entrance back into the cave city. No way to go but forward, unless someone was particularly stalwart about remaining.

From the exterminator's station near the mouth, leaving the Cave was as simple as a short hike upward into the fresh air of the Overworld. Dust and an uncomfortable sort of heat pervaded the atmosphere, light winds stirring up the sand and teasing the meager bits of vegetation that had grown. No matter what direction you looked... it was all wasteland, cracked ground and desolate emptiness. Jutting up from scarred ground were boulders and small spires made entirely of glass and patches of stone; instead of reflecting the harsh sunlight, they seemed to absorb it and only add to the muted loneliness of the atmosphere. As far as the eye could see, there was no life to be found.

With no other option, the Sleepers eventually made their way onward.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"We're lucky to have as many as we do," Re-l said, her voice tight as she focused her aim. Three more beasts fell, but from the corner of her eye she could see the first animal twitching slightly. The stun guns didn't last forever.

"The terrain around here is fairly inaccessible," she said to the man beside her, "but I did see a canyon some way back. Do you think we could engineer a rockfall?"

It sounded desperate, even to her own ears, but if they didn't do something soon, exhaustion alone might bring them down.

"That would require moving and not getting mowed down in the process. We'd probably need a distraction, and I don't think you'll find any willing volunteers." There were other considerations. If they even could make a rockfall with what they have. Making sure they didn't inadvertently block off their own path to the city. There had to be something better. And there weren't even any good places to make a strategic retreat to. He channeled his frustration into a few more controlled shots. They couldn't keep this up. Even if they managed to hit every beast, they wouldn't be down for long.

"If we overload the power pack these guns must run on, we might be able to get a decent explosion out of it. Cause your landslide. Or scare them off, take one or two out." Or it could just spark and fizzle a bit, but Malcolm was an expert at making things go boom.

His assessment irritated Re-l's sense of her own skill, but he was right. Like it or not, she was not used to taking care of anyone but herself, and she usually fought with guns that killed. This was not the time to let pride get in the way of survival.

She shot repeatedly, and was comforted only by the knowledge that each shot hit its target. She could still be proud of her aim, at least.

"That plan sounds like it could work," she said, and she glanced at the man beside her again. He didn't look any more impressive than the last time she had looked, but she knew better than anyone that appearances could deceive. "Do you want to have a closer look at your gun? I can cover your shots."

She wouldn't manage it for very long, but she could probably give him five minutes.

"Anything you can give me. I knew I should have taken one of these apart back in the cave..." But he hadn't thought he'd need to blow one up. Or that he'd have only precious few minutes to do it.

He didn't want to give his gun up. But he knew there were a handful of people in the group who weren't fond of weaponry. He'd have to see if that twitchy man with the long hair was willing to give his up later; now wasn't the best time to be bartering for extra supplies.

"Now, unless you're still keen on the rockslide idea, it'll probably make an awkward grenade, at least. Cover me on my signal." He pulled off a few more shots, waiting for what seemed like a good moment, when the group seemed in less immediate danger. "Now." Malcolm dropped to the ground just behind the talented shooter, digging out the tweezers and scissors from the first aid kit to pry open the casing and poke about inside.

The man dropped down, and Re-l, biting her lip, took over shooting. Her gun arm moved without thinking, aiming at one beast after another. She could feel the slow burn creeping up her arm, and she realized how much she'd been relying on the other man without noticing. It would be five minutes if she was lucky.

Hard as she tried to keep them back, the cats were advancing. For every animal she dropped, it seemed, another awoke to take its place. Her breath heaved through her lungs, and she shot again and again, concentrating on the mechanism of the action, letting herself forget what was at stake in the repetitive motions of firing.

There was a shout from behind her and she spun, slightly too late. The huge cat was jumping towards her, and though she hit it at once, its momentum carried it forward. It landed half on top her, and its claws scraped down her arm. She pushed it off with a grunt, too worried to care about her arm, and shot again at the nearest animal.

Her breath was coming faster and faster. How much longer could she keep this up?

"A grenade will be fine," she said, between gasps. "Just do it fast!"

And she raised her arm to shoot again.

The mechanism was simple enough. To most, it'd be spectacularly safe unless seriously mishandled--no wonder everyone was allowed to have one. Good thing he knew his way around a gun. (Part of him wondered, for just a moment, if someday they should go back to the cave when they have enough people, supplies, and skills. See what sort of damage they can do. But only for a moment.)

When one beast caught her unawares, he only moved to cover his work before glancing at her, seeing if she was all right. She wasn't, but so long as she should still shoot, they'd be fine. For a few more moments. One of those moments, his eye failed him again, one of them blurred and unfocused, like trying to magnify the minute details of his work and instead being disorienting. This was not a good time for whatever the hell this was. Keep working. He could work with one eye if he had to.

The device began to make a humming noise that began steadily increasing in pitch. Difficult to estimate exactly how long they'd have, but his educated guess was 'not long'. Malcolm tossed the gun into the fray, into what seemed to be the densest population of the creatures, though they were everywhere, and grabbed the woman's arm to pull her in the opposite direction.

"Get down!" As much for her as for everyone in the general area. Mere moments before the makeshift grenade exploded.

Re-l blinked furiously. There was sweat in her eyes, and she couldn't afford a moment to wipe it away. Her arm burned fully now, the muscles protesting against every movement. Still there was no end to the creatures.

When the man put a hand on her arm she jerked, and felt as though she were waking up, or rising up to the surface of a lake after a long period underwater. Sounds and colours seemed to bloom into life again, and she was vividly aware of the noise of the beasts, of the whistling wind, and of the distinct pressure of a hand on her arm. She moved with liquid slowness backwards, away from the horde of hissing animals, dropping to the ground, pressing into the sand. Then there was a moment of soft white silence as the bomb exploded.

She opened her eyes an indefinite amount of time later. She wasn't hurt, though her ears were ringing.

"That was an effective grenade," she said to the man, and then she wondered if he could even hear her.

The beasts were not all dead, but those left alive had apparently decided that this group was too much trouble. They slunk back into the desert, blending quickly into the sand.

Re-l knelt, still too shaken to stand, and found a smile coming out of nowhere, filling her up. She let it out tentatively, and looked at her companion.

"I think you might have saved us," she said.

The blast, the stress, and his unnerving and seemingly random failure of his eyes now and again was really starting to leave him with a nasty little headache. The reverberating buzz in his ears was not helping, but that faded away soon enough.

It seemed to have worked. Amazingly enough. Malcolm lifted his head to survey the scene and the group before dropping it back into the sand and rolling over onto his back, just trying to breathe without getting choked with dust. A moment of respite seemed earned.

And his partner in crime was smiling. Somehow, he hadn't expected that. And though it was small, a little hesitant, he appreciated it for what it was. Malcolm waved the statement off. "We're just lucky that even did anything at all." A moment before sitting himself up. "You've got some talent. Are you military?" It didn't cross his mind that she might believe the story in the cave rather than her 'dream'.

He didn't seem inclined to get up, so Re-l scooted closer to him. She peered down at his tired face and had to acknowledge that she probably didn't look much better herself.

"I have some training," she said, shrugging, "but I was a detective, not an officer. And even that didn't work out so well. Turns out authority's not my style." It was less than nothing, conveying so little of what she'd been through, so little of how she'd changed. But her experiences were private and more than private, and she wasn't even sure she had the words for them.

"How about you?"

"Bit military, of sorts." Starfleet wasn't entirely a military operation, focused mainly on scientific exploration and diplomacy. But there was certainly also a military aspect. And the past few years had shown that in spades. But he certainly was no MACO. "I've had training. Know my way around weapons, inside and out. As you may have noticed," he added with a smirk.

Malcolm rubbed at his eyes and sat up. They seemed fine now, but they'd seemed fine earlier as well. "We ought to patch up that arm of yours," he said, grabbing his first aid kit.

"And now you're here," Re-l said. He sounded like he believed in the dreams, but she couldn't be sure. Better to give away nothing.

She held out her arm to him, shifting around, and looked away. The desert swallowed them up, expanding to meet the distant horizon. There might be anything here: more beasts, other monster, perhaps even people. She couldn't be sure. A wave of strangeness hit her, the first since the pilgrimage had begun. She was here and Vincent was far away, and she felt terribly uncertain.

She squashed the emotion down inside her and looked at the soldier for a distraction.

"I didn't have time to ask your name," she said.

He wondered if he should say. When he'd first woken up, he ran on the assumption that they'd all just been kidnapped, some perhaps had genetic modification, but now he wasn't so certain. Trip wasn't his Trip. Or at least not as he last knew the man. And he'd left him in the cave with that other, the one with his face, the one in the city he might call 'brother', if he believed in that nonsense.

Probably best to keep things simple and non-specific. Besides, they hardly knew each other. Yet.

Malcolm grabbed a roll of bandages. "You'll have to keep this covered. To keep anymore sand out of the wounds. Wasn't there a larger medical pack or two doled out?" He gingerly wrapped up her arm. "You should see who has one and who might have more medical experience. Might be able to flush everything out and keep infections at bay. We'll just keep it wrapped for now."

Though his professionalism dropped when he considered giving out his name. Might as well give the sort of answer he always tended to give. "And my name depends on who you ask. Seems I've picked up two of them like everyone else."

Re-l flexed her arm and nodded. It was a well-tied bandage. Barring accidents, she should be fine. She pushed herself up onto her feet and stretched. Elation was bubbling up under her skin, the way it always did when she won a fight. It didn't show, except possibly as a slight bounce in her step, but it was there nonetheless.

She listened to his instructions, with half an ear, but his final words made her turn her head. Just for a moment, she was reminded strongly of herself, months ago.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," she said, her voice flat. "I'm Masa here, Re-l there. Re-l for preference."

"They did instruct us not to talk about our supposed dream selves, but they can hardly do anything about it away from the cave," Malcolm reasoned. There was no possible way for anyone to convince him that this Stark life was anything he ever experienced, not after the war.

"Gavin here. Malcolm there. I'd much prefer the latter as well." Although, once his double made it to the city, he might have to rethink that... "It's a pleasure to fight alongside you, Re-l. Let's hope we never have to again."

"Malcolm, then. At least until we reach the city."

It was time to start walking. She'd lost enough ground already, and a steady pace would make sure the fighting didn't leave her stiff. Besides, she needed to test out her endurance.

"I'll remember what you can do," she said, nodding to him. "If I ever need a weapons expert, I'll come to you first."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

smaller patch of fading sky [ open ]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject