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 Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2012 1:39 am
You enter the open interview tent alone and sit in a metal folding chair. To the side is a camera on a tripod, and behind is a skinny young Asian man wearing hipster glasses and a superman t-shirt under his Life Hunter coat. "Hey, my name is Dwight! Don't mind the camera. I'll try to not take too much of your time right now."
He gives you an awkward smile, and then scratches his head, looking down at his clipboard, "Okay, let's start simple, what's your name, your division, and your rank. Then tell me your account of what happened in the Sahara. Just tell me what you know and saw."
THE ANTARCTIC BASE The Antarctic Base is a neatly set up sprawl of white tents, protected by extremely strong Barrier Daggers, customized to make Fear-warding fortresses, as well as shield from natural elements.
Your trainee is currently at the INTERVIEW AREA. It's just a small open tent, with a camera set up and Dwight, a Life hunter. You only need to make a single post in here, with your trainee giving their information, and account of this second Sahara Incident. If, during the rest of the Antarctica stay, you want your character to give further interviews, you're welcome to. Just remember these are essentially small solos, and that they will be viewable to other hunters and trainees after they get back to Deus.
Feel free to GM Dwight asking further questions. He's chatty guy who is a central part of the Life Division's gossip mill. So he may ask personal questions out of curiosity, but he's not malicious about it.
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Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2012 8:50 pm
Candace was used to Dwight's camera interviews by now. She was able to sit coolly through one with all the comfort in the world, and actually rather enjoyed them, but this time she looked anything but comfortable. One leg was bouncing with impatience and agitation, her hands clasped together on her lap as she looked anywhere but the camera. She hadn't had a chance to wash yet, and she was in dire need of a shower or at least a friggin' sponge to wash the sand off with. Her skin was much, much darker, and her hair and skin was covered with sand wherever her scarf hadn't covered her. Her coat was covered with rips and tears from the buffeting sand and the swarms of insects, but strangely enough there wasn't a scratch anywhere on her body. She was mostly unscathed. "Hey, it's okay. You're fine now. You're safe here, okay? Don't forget the official introduction and stuff too." Dwight's voice was gentle as his back appeared in front of the camera. "Here, have some water." There was a soft 'thank you' from Candace as she accepted the cup, holding it tightly in both hands for now. She didn't drink it yet.
"Now, just...tell me as much as you know about what happened, okay?" Dwight began, disappearing from the camera's view. Candace frowned, rubbing her lips together before she finally lifted her hands to sip from the cup. She eventually nodded as she set the cup down on her lap again, her leg still bouncing.
"Right. Candace Pennington, Mist division, Intermediate trainee. Um. Allan and Simon took the trainees out on a salvage mission to collect from the uh...fallen..team..." Candace cleared her throat, shaking her head. She fell quiet for a long moment. Dwight didn't edit his videos much, she was well aware of this. She took a deep breath in and closed her eyes, then slowly let it out. Candace was collecting herself as best as she could. "We were then attacked by swarms of insects, fled to the base camp...everyone in the infirmary was dear. E-everyone. And then...then Julie came in but she...she wasn't..." Candace cleared her throat. "Cass hit her and she turned around. She was..hollow inside. Like, a shell that'd been carved out and stuffed full of bugs. They were controlling her body, controlling her movements. It was like they'd turn her into a puppet those sick bastards." She spat out, chugging the rest of her water with a trembling hand. The glass was held out and Dwight took it from her before sitting back down on the other side of the camera again.
"It was difficult for a lot of us to attack her even if she was just...a shell now. I...I don't..know much else. I..I can't..." Candace ruffled her own hair in an act of frustration, sand flying everywhere.
"Hey, it's okay." Dwight's voice was cheerful. "It happens. Want me to see if the doctor isn't busy?" Candace tensed.
"Why?" She asked in a snapping tone.
"Well...I mean..we all saw you two back on the island. Pretty surprising since we could've sworn you hated him." Dwight laughed, clapping his hands a little. "So how long have you and the doctor been hooking up? Lucky man, lucky man." He sounded kind enough, and genuinely interested, but Candace didn't look amused, her eyes darted to the camera. She was considering her answer, thinking it over very carefully. Would she lie or would she tell the truth? She knew anyone could watch this tape later if they felt inclined to do so...
"That's none of your business, Dwight." She said gently, though the gentleness was strained at best. "And it has nothing to do with what happened in the Sahara."
"Aw, come on, Candace. You know I don't mean anything by it, baby. Inquiring minds wanna know, you know?" She didn't budge. "You're usually more fun than this." He sounded like he was pouting.
"I don't usually get attacked by the hollowed out shell of a Hunter I knew." There was a sigh.
"Point. You know I'm not trying to piss you off though, right? Just...you know, distractions are nice. I'm happy to offer myself up for distraction anytime. I'm a doctor too, you know." Candace actually paused, raising a brow and tilting her head to one side.
"...I'm going to regret this. What are you a doctor of?"
"Lovin'."
Candace closed her eyes and pursed her lips, a snort escaping her as she chuckled and tried very hard not to laugh. This was serious, damnit! They needed to take this seriously not...
..A doctor of lovin'. You've gotta be ******** kidding her.
"I'll keep that in mind, Dwight. Can I go now?" There was a sigh.
"Candace, Candace. Always runnin' away from Professor D. One day I'll get to see what you're really like." Candace was standing now, rubbing her face and sighing. She looked dead tired.
"One day, Dwight. But not today."
"Yeah, I know." He sounded a little disappointed. "Thanks for your time, Candace. We'll review it later. Go clean up. Get some rest. You guys have earned it." Candace actually smiled at that, nodding her head.
"Thanks, Dwight. See you around. If we both survive this I'll give you a kiss when we return to Deus, okay?"
"Holy sh--REALLY?" Candace nodded again, waving a hand dismissively.
"Yeah, just don't die." And with that, she left.
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Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2012 12:44 am
Shuffling into the tent, Deryk took in a breath and sat himself onto the cold metal chair. He glanced over at Dwight and tried to smile but right now his mind just wasn't set for smiling. No, he kind of wanted to crawl somewhere and just tune out the world for a bit. So far, in his time as a hunter, he had seen a few horrible things. But just then was probably one of the worse things he had seen so far.
Coincidentally, the other highly horrific and traumatic experience had also been in the Sahara. He was starting to think that the Sahara was just a really bad place to be in general.
"Um.. Right. I'm... Deryk Bond. Intermediate trainee from Death," he slowly started before glancing away, "Just went to go fetch supplies from abandoned tent. When we got back.. found Julie. All bloodied. Tons of bugs all around. Managed to get rid of the swarm but... that wasn't it. The bugs. They were inside of her. Weapon not desummoned yet. But hollowed out.. I think. Can't remember much. Don't want to think too hard about it. Took out the next swarm.. Julie still there. Started to try and kill her. Mercy kill. But then the bugs came back... Allan told us to run. Made a portal and..."
He frowned, shifting in place.
"Don't know much else. Don't even know if Allan or Simon made it out. Haven't seen them..."
Not wanting to say much else, he got on up and made his way to the resting area.
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Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2012 12:53 am
The screen showed the white flaps of the tent, the recording light was illuminated, and there was a voice off-screen talking.
"Before. Intermediate Misty. We were sent to the Sahara for iunno, back up? We did patrols, got injured, tried to stay outta the way. There were cookies at one point, Julie made 'em I'm thinking. The ones who ate the cookies got all happy. I saved mine."
A pause, then rustling fabric.
"It's all crumbs now. Dunno if they'll still have the same effects. Want some?"
"No, no, it's all yours."
The camera doesn't capture the shrug but again rustling fabric reaches the microphone.
"Other than the cookies and patrols, what happened after?"
"Allan came. Divvied us by divisions. Gave us assignments to scavenge supplies. From the dead Hunters. Why were trainees even granted permission to be here? We're dead weight. We can't do as much damage, we don't know as much stuff. What the *BEEP* were they thinking bringing US along on this suicide mission tha-"
The voice cuts off.
"I'm. Down. Here."
"Oops, sorry chief, I forgot to reset the angle. Heh, most of the interviewees are taller than you," Dwight's chuckle reaches the microphone with ease.
The camera adjusts and tilts down to the voice's pair of shorts, particularly his crotch and the gloved hands balled into fists that were resting on his thighs. The fists clench tighter. "I'm. Not. That. Short."
Another chuckle and another adjustment reveals the brunette's face crimsoning in anger. "Whoa, relax. Was just trying to get you to chill. Now, go on."
Teal eyes narrowed at the camera, no, rather at the man handling the camera but Before obliged nonetheless. His tone was clipped, saying as little as he could, "I saw some red flecks in the sand during my patrol. Thought it was just a trick of the light. There were also huge holes where big-*beep* scorpions jumped out and tried to kill me. Shouldn't have been surprised that the camp eventually got infested with bugs."
Before looked away, "Dunno how they got to Julie. But it sorta made sense."
"What do you mean?"
"Not saying she was in on it but. She's just sweet, y'know? Like not just super sweet, but gives-you-cavities-if-you-stick-around-too-long sweet. So sweet, bugs wouldn't be able to help themselves. Except they did. And. Somehow they kept her alive. Her weapon wasn't a tablet. And she wasn't responding to us or any of our attacks."
Before folds his arms across his chest. "Couldn't do it. Tried but. Just wasn't in me. IT WAS JULIE FOR *BLEEP'S* SAKE! She wasn't mean to me or condescending or discouraging. Sure she had questionable tastes and her cooking leaves a lot to be desire but. Julie is -was -is -was-"
The Misty takes a deep breath, trying to set his voice back to an even tone.
"You liked Julie?"
A nod, followed by a hasty, "Not that way. But as far as Division Assistants went? She's mos def right up there. Right alongside Clarice. Then Allan got back and the portal opened. Dunno what happened to Julie after we hauled a**."
If Before had a visible aura, it would have dimmed to near darkness at this point. He didn't seem to be listening to what else Dwight was saying, which was something along the lines of thanking him for the report and that he was free to get cleaned up and rest. Mechanically, the Misty nodded, stood up, and left.
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Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2012 8:59 am
Madison stared into the lens with a wary look - how many times, as a child growing up near the shadow of Hollywood, had she dreamed of having a camera focused on her? And now there was one, and she found she didn't really want that lidless, glassy stare at all. And the guy behind the camera was way too perky.
"Name, division, rank?" he prompted, gently.
"Oh, sorry. Uh. Madison McKenzie, Death Division, Intermediate Trainee," she said, the now-familiar litany kind of soothing. "And... what happened, yeah. Uh. We got there and there were these two massive centipede monster-things, taller than houses - took them down pretty quick, though, once we figured out a few tricks. Then they set up the base camp with daggers and all..."
She frowned. If all those... those... things had gotten into the camp past the daggers, they couldn't have helped much. Ugh, now she was doubting the barriers here, too. Why couldn't they just go back to the Island and stay there?! "Uh, a-anyway. There were plenty of bugs outside, not so many inside. We did patrols... and then after a few days Allan showed up. Said we had to go find some supplies, go salvage... so we did. There was a camp, one of ours, not too far away.. we went, got what we could. Came back."
Madison swallowed. This was the part that was going to be hard to get through. "The... the infirmary was full of... we thought they were resting. They were dead, they were... just like. Sacks. Emptied out. Filled with bugs. Put back." Bile was rising hot in her throat again, and she swallowed as hard as she could. She was not going to puke on camera. "They got past the barriers. When we were all in there, they... they exploded and..."
One hand came up to cover her mouth as she gagged. "Sorry! Sorry..." she mumbled after fighting it down. "And Julie. The Moon Assistant. She was... she showed up, and she was like the dead ones. Empty and full of... of bugs like a... like some kind of puppet, her weapon was still active. Maybe she was still a... ali..." She tensed and shuddered and concentrated all her being on not throwing up.
... It worked, thankfully.
"S-so- oh, thanks," she said, with a sigh as Dwight wordlessly held out a small cup of water. She drained it in a few swallows. "We fought. First the swarm, then... then mercy. For her. And... and that's all. Watch your barriers. Watch them," she said, sharply, her voice rising a bit.
"We are," Dwight said, soothingly. The light on the camera flicked off. "Thanks, Madison."
"Yeah... no problem," she mumbled, getting up and giving the Life Hunter a wan smile. "Hope it helps." She turned and headed for the door, her gut aching so much from clenching up against the gag reflex that it felt like she'd been punched in the stomach. She needed to lie down again...
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Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2012 11:28 am
Sasha Belrose, Take One A soft voice is heard slightly off screen. "I.. are you sure? I was just going to go.. you know, check in at the infirmary to see if anyone needed help with um.. with.. with anything." "No, no. It's cool, come on. Have a seat. Call me Dwight." A pale young woman steps into the frame; she is, for the most part, grimy with sand. There's a big damp-looking blotch on her cheek, and a large chunk of hair is also moist and caked with sand. There are dark circles under her eyes. She's got a pair of earbuds dangling around her neck; she's constantly fussing with them. Dwight's voice rings out from off-camera, "Name, division and rank." The young woman clears her throat and rubs her cheek. "Sasha Belrose, Life trainee." She offers him a weak smile. It doesn't reach her eyes. She fidgets in her seat, fingers nervously plucking at the earbuds. "Can you tell me what happened in the Sahara? Just.. start at the beginning, and go from there. Nice and slow." Sasha gives the camera a pained look. There is no smile on her face. Instead she appears to be silently pleading - it's obvious she'd rather be anywhere but here. "Well.. I guess. Ah.. things started off.. there.. bugs. There were bugs. And.. well, we all got settled and then Julie.. J-Julie gave us cookies." She bites her lip and squeezes her eyes shut. "Everyone w-was pretty happy after th-that. A-and then Simon and Allan.. showed up and.. we.. salvaged supplies and tablets. And then we.." She pinches her mouth shut, breathes jerkily. "Everyone was.. gone. Dead. And. Julie. Julie was.. " Sasha shakes her head, stands up with a mumbled apology, and steps off camera. The muffled sound of sobs echo throughout the interior of the tent. "I'm.. I'm sorry, I can't do this. I just.. I have to go, I'm sorry, Mr. Dwight." The sound of the tent flap opening and closing can be heard. A few moments later the recording stops. Sasha Belrose, Take Two A tear-stained, wan expression. The circles beneath the young woman's face are stark against the pallor of her skin. Sasha looks completely disheveled. One earbud is tucked into her ear, and tinny strains of Franz Liszt can be heard even from a distance. "Okay, Sasha. You're doing great." It's immediately apparent that the trainee on camera is not completely there. Her eyes are unfocused and glassy; she's a little unnerving to look at. "So, can we pick up where we left off?" The camera wobbles as Dwight refocuses on Sasha's face. "Sure." A breathy sound more than anything. "Whenever you're ready?" "There were bugs. Lots of bugs. And they were," she closes her eyes as a smile flits with the corners of her mouth. "Do you know who Liszt is, Dwight?" "Uh. No." He sounds a little uncomfortable. "Shame on you." Sasha shrugs and continues, "Bugs, Dwight. Inside the people. And then Julie came in. Her back was," Sasha sways in her seat, the small smile on her face blooming into something more, her hands splaying out before her, "gone. A hole. And.. the blood. It wasn't fresh, I don't think. Darker. Her weapon was still glowing, you know." " Fuh-ree-keeeee," Dwight hisses under his breath. It isn't clear who or what he's talking about, but he shifts uncomfortably as Sasha starts to hum; the soft, musical lilt of her voice is in perfect harmony with the poignant piano that drifts from the unused earbud resting against her chest. "The bugs, Dwight. They were moving around inside of Julie. Some people thought she was still alive." Sasha shakes her head, opens her eyes. "She wasn't. She couldn't have been." She tsks softly under her breath. "Allan and Simon showed up. There was a portal, and here I am." She leans in, opens her eyes wide. "I took a nap, Dwight." She rises to her feet and steps off camera, humming as she exits the tent. Dwight clears his throat loudly before he shuts the camera off.
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Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2012 11:30 am
The camera settles on a very frazzled looking redhead, arms crossed and glaring coldly. He has every appearance of a man who hasn't had a proper sleep in a long time and based on the grubbiness, is in dire need of a shower.
"Okay, let's start simple, what's your name, your division, and your rank. Then tell me your account of what happened in the Sahara. Just tell me what you know and saw."
His glare intensifies just a little and it looks like he might decide to say nothing at all before gruffly stating. "William Reid. Rep. Sun Division."
He pauses for a moment, eyes glazing a bit as he seems to try to recall. "Well like. When we arrived we had to fight these big BLEEPing centipedes. Two of them. I don't remember too BLEEPing much about the fight though other than it was frantic." he eyes the door shiftily as if there's something he's skimming over.
"And like, then we were stationed in like a tent and s**t, with patrols. I did a lot of patrols. Got pretty BLEEPed up too. Better than staying in that BLEEPing tent...Anyway like, Julie right? She made cookies. They..they really helped man." there seems for just a moment to be a slight crack in the man's composure as he frowns before quickly assuming that suspicious glare all over again. "She helped. She broke up some BLEEPing silly arguments, made us feel BLEEPing good for a while. And then she waved us off when we went to get supplies and I guess that was the last BLEEPing time any of us saw her alive." he shrugs with an air of indifference.
"What happened on the supply run?"
His expression cracks into an almost cruel smirk "Well, me and the guy I was with kicked BLEEPing a** if I do say so myself. The bugs didn't know what hit them." He holds up a hand and points at the camera accusingly "Cause lemme tell you, there is nothing like having a good BLEEPing moon hunter at your back. I dunno what the other divisions found out there, all I BLEEPing know is that I found like BLEEPing, battle zen."
"And when you got back?"
The arrogant smirk fades as once again he takes on that distant look, remembering. "Eh well. Like, we got back and it was quiet and s**t. I was BLEEPing knackered right? Cause I was already injured and all the BLEEPing fighting suns are meant to do is hard work. So I sit down for a minute. Next thing we know all hell breaks BLEEPing loose. Bugs everywhere. BLEEPing zombie Julie, the whole lot." Despite his flippant tone a little of the colour drains from his features.
"I hate those BLEEPing bugs."
"Had you run into them before?"
"Aye! Aye ah have. I ran into the BLEEPers on a shitty external that went BLEEPing tits up. Got captured, almost died. They eat people right? They crawl into them and BLEEPing blow them up. They ate Julie but she still had her BLEEPing weapon out right?" he frowns deeply, shuddering, looking earnestly haunted for just a moment before he resumes his accusing glare at the camera.
"I think they are out to BLEEPing kill us lowest ranking grunts, I really do. My BLEEPing life expectancy out here is a lot of bollocks. And that's on top of being a BLEEPing Sun."
"You don't like being a sun?"
The look of defiant anger becomes proper rage as Rep stands up, gesturing not at the camera this time but the person behind it.
"Listen here you BLEEPing little BLEEP, no one said I didn't like being a Sun. I BLEEPing love being a sun, you don't get more tough, or more manly than this BLEEPing division. Not that I'd expect a lifer to understand that. The guys in the div are great, even BLEEPing Jerry once he gets off his mopey arse and starts firing that bazooka. Don't ever imply I don't like my BLEEPing division again or I'll drag you all over this tent."
"Sheesh. Calm down. It was a question."
He grudgingly sits down, still looking suspicious of the camera man. "Yeah well watch it with the questions you BLEEPing ask. Anything else you have some BLEEPing desire to ask about? I should be recovering and BLEEP."
"Just the one" the interveiwer's tone seems a little colder than before after the outburst " You mentioned Jerry a moment ago. There is a rumour going about that it was you and him who destroyed the showers back at base, what' s your response to that?"
He blinks slowly before shrugging and replying. "Yeah. I did. So what?"
"How exactly did that happen?"
He gives another searching look, perhaps unsure if he is being mocked or not.
"I went for a BLEEPing shower. Jerry was there. I didn't see him, he got on my BLEEPing nerves. He touched my coat. My coat. A BLEEPing naked guy. Obviously it kicked off after that."
"Er. Naked?"
"No you BLEEPing idiot. He was wearing a towel. I was.. okay interview over, this isn't about the BLEEPing mission"
Without waiting for a reply, he gets up and walks out in a rage. The cameraman chuckles.
The video cuts off.
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Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2012 12:01 pm
Cass wasn’t camerashy. She’d practically had most of her life documented on one, so she didn’t even pass it a lingering glance when she entered the tent, sitting down and wringing her jacket a bit. She looked visibly shaken, yet tried to not seem nervous, even as she was asked to give her recount of what had just happened before they had passed through the portal.
“Cassandra Norris, Intermediate Trainee, Mist Division.
We were first transported out into the middle of a battlefield against two giant centipede esque creatures that were spewing what seemed to be a kind of acid. According to Nicodemus,” she paused, shuffling the chain she wore around her waist to show who Nicodemus was for clarity, “it burned the FEAR shield he had put up. However, the Centipede I attacked seemed to die after I hit it and the other was finished up shortly after, so I can’t give an accurate account of if it was both of them doing that or just the one, or if the one time had been a fluke.” She admitted, before continuing on.
“As I’m sure the other trainees have said already that the incident seemed to begin sometime after we were gathered up by Allan and Simon and were told we were going to go salvage what supplies were left from a supply tent that was outside of the barrier that had been set up for us to recover inside of after the incident with the Centipedes.
We headed out as a group and in general we weren’t attacked, however when we began salvaging the tent’s supplies, the Moon and Sun divisions worked to keep us covered from any other assaults that could have come onto us.
Allan and Simon told us we had 30 minutes to look for supplies before we were heading back because they wanted us back to base before the sun went down.”
Her face started to grow more and more grim as she continued to speak.
“Once the 30 minutes were up, we began to unload our supplies inside of another tent. Allan and Simon left us to do that and told us they’d be right back when Julie came in….
She was covered in blood and had her weapon summoned, so for a minute I thought she’d been attacked, but before I could even ask…….” Her lips turned into a frown, “bugs began to crawl out of all of the bodies in the infirmary tent and swarmed us.
Cass began to fidget even more as she continued to relay her story.
“All I could think while everybody was fighting off the swarm was that something was off with Julie. She wasn’t doing anything and it never occurred to me she could have been…..”
Could have been related to the swarm.
She didn’t speak it, but her face read it, sighing deeply before she continued to relate her tale: “So I did the only thing I could think of. I summoned Nicodemus – for some reason I couldn’t approach Julie without him – and I smacked her with the side of his blade.” She frowned even more.
“I accidentally cut her when I did that, and then….” She ran her hand over the place on her own body that mirrored where she’d cut Julie. “There was no blood. Just…. This bug….crawled out of the wound and then crawled down into another one. Julie turned to look at me and then…her back..” she did a motion with her hands that wasn’t very descriptive, but as it was, Cass had been facing Julie.
Not looking at her back.
“All the bugs swarming began to act up and it seemed that the more we brought them down, the more dangerous it got to be there. We’d wiped out a lot of the swarm before Allan and Simon came running in. Allan summoned a portal and moved us all through, but……”
She trailed off…
“and then we were here.” She said after a long moment of silence.
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Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2012 5:20 pm
When Wilson stepped into the tent it was with caution. He noticed the chair in the middle first, then looked around and saw the other hunter. He saw the superman shirt and grinned briefly. “Nice.” The hunter grinned back at him, waving then gesturing for the trainee to take a seat in the metal chair. “Thanks!” Wilson nervously glanced at the camera. Everything he said would be recorded. Would Dwight edit out anything stupid and nonsensical he would say? He gulped and nodded his head. Wilson walked forward, his steps quiet as he slid into the folded chair. He pressed against the back of the chair as he slid forwardly slightly. He spread apart his legs and his hands lightly grasped his knees. There were nervous twitches as Wilson sat, waiting for Dwight to give him the signal to speak, but his gaze avoided the tiny glare of the camera lens. In fact, his eyes appeared blank, glassy even. What exactly was going through the man’s mind? What was he thinking—
Dwight’s voice jolted Wilson back to reality. He blinked a couple times, facing the camera at last. Wilson appeared perplexed. “Oh, right. Um. Sorry. I’m Wilson Hopkins of the death division. Intermediate trainee.” He took a moment to collect his thoughts. Where had the incident begun? “Allan and Simon took us to a camp to salvage supplies. No one was there. They were probably…” His voice drifted off, his eyes floating away from the camera along with it.
Dwight coughed. “And?”
“Right. And, um, when we returned Julie and whoever else was on patrol weren’t there, so Allan and Simon left to look for them. Afterwards Julie came back, but she was covered in a lot of blood.” He closed his eyes, reconstructing the events from memory, which wasn’t too difficult. Wilson had a knack for absorbing a lot of details in a short amount of time. Memorization he could do. “There was a really big wound in her side.” His eyes were still shut when he motioned toward the side of his torso with one arm. Wilson began to pale when he started to recount what happened next. “The hunters sleeping in the tent—They weren’t sleeping. They were dead. They were filled with bugs, which were everywhere and—“
Wilson stopped suddenly, cracking open his eyes as he sighed. He took a moment to rest before picking up again. “I remember Cass hit Julie, and when she turned around she was filled with bugs too. Sometimes you could see bits of white—bones.” A deep breath. “She kept standing there. The bugs were probably controlling her.” His hands grasped his knees more tightly. “We fought off the swarm, but the more we did the harder they fought back. At the end, their hits really packed a whollop.” Wilson winced, running a hand over one of the multiple bandages that covered his arm.
“Afterwards we thought it was over, but it wasn’t. Julie was somehow still standing.” He shook his head, sliding further into his seat while his hands gripped the chair’s edge between his legs. “I don’t understand. We had already—“ Wilson ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t know. She was still standing and we decided to take her down. It was the least we could do, but a lot of us couldn’t do it. I couldn’t do it and I didn’t even know Julie that well.” He stopped talking again, dredging up what few memories he had of Julie. He could remember her filling the War room with soapy bubbles. He could remember her during Christmas when they had all made snow sculptures and during the gala. He could remember Julie dumping them in that horrible place under the kitchen. God, it had been so filthy, but she had always been nice, right? She had always been perky. She had always been nice, and yet…
“—Wilson. Wilson? Hey Wilson. Earth to Wilson. WILSOOOOON.” Dwight’s voice brought him back. Wilson shook his head, offering an apologetic smile to both the hunter and camera.
“Sorry about that. Um. I remember we talked about whether or not Julie was alive still because her weapon was still summoned. Something like that, but she was so full of bugs. We couldn’t save her. It was over for her.” His gaze turned downcast and he loosely twined his hands together. “Fortunately, Allan managed to arrive.” Wilson knitted his brows together, only just now reviewing this portion of his memories. “There were a lot of swarms. He told us to hurry up. To not look back.” How nice of him. He cracked a weak smile. While he had never liked Allan too much before, it was quickly beginning to change. But the frown came back. “Allan looked pretty tired, though. I hope he’s okay. Is he back yet?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
Wilson uneasily shifted in his seat. “Oh, I see. Well, the last thing I saw was Allan finishing off Juli—“ He cut himself off. “And then we all arrived here.” The trainee stared past the camera to look at Dwight. “Is that enough?”
“Yeah, thanks. You can go now.” Wilson left the tent in silence.
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Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 4:56 pm
Aleister looked at the camera uneasily. He hadn't really given a report on anything that'd happened asides from the one on the first mission they were on after being sent here. He sighed, not really in the mood for being questioned but he wasn't sure what else to do.
"Mind sitting down?" Dwight asked looking over his camera at Aleister, "I can't really interview you if you're not sitting looking at the camera."
"Oh... right." Aleister sighed as he sat down and glanced at the camera. He looked unsure and perhaps a little lost in thought as his eyes traveled more towards the floor than anything else.
"So... uh... you wanted to know about the missions?" He asked eyes glancing up long enough to catch a nod.
"Right. When we first reached the Sahara we were jumped by bugs.... really big ones..." He paused, "They spit some sort of.... liquid out... possibly acid... I managed to hit the two of them once... I think but that was... it."
He seemed to be thinking, "They were taken down pretty easily."
"We got to the base camp with some help from Allan and Simon, healed up and cleaned up. We patrolled a little bit... but then the camp needed more supplies right? So we went with Simon and Allan to pick up fear scanners and phones, and tablets I believe..... I uh managed to find two phones and a fear scanner.... but uh..." He shrugged
He paused thinking, "When we got back something was wrong.... I mean everyone looked like they were asleep but after Allan and Simon left to find Julie...."
He paused, "Bugs came out of everything... we tried to fight it off... and Julie showed up.... but she wasn't Julie anymore."
There was a sigh, "I ended up missing more than I actually hit...." He looked like he wanted to sink in his chair. "Puca... my uh... partner.... was yelling at me... wanting to know how I could keep missing..."
He shook his head, "Eventually Allan and Simon saved us. Sent us here...."
Aleister just kind of blankly stared at the floor cutting himself off thinking.
Dwight was looking at Aleister waiting to see if the boy would continue and when he didn't he coughed, "So... what happened?"
Aleister jumped, looking a little bewildered. "Oh... sorry.... uh... well we got turned into penguins from uh.... experimental bandages. Went off to find fish and some of the guys got chased by a seal or a whale or both? I'm not sure... I did manage to catch a fish though..."
He wasn't completely useless as a penguin... maybe he should just keep using those bandages. "Uh... on the mission though... to find that... pearl? Well that didn't go so well.... It got Doctor H."
He blinked slowly. "I.... froze.... practically useless anyways.... everyone else did all the work..."
He closed his eyes. "The only thing I'm good at is running for my life apparently."
He shook his head, "Anyways we're back. Killzone saved us. We didn't get the artifact." He stood up.
The camera bobbled, "Where are you going?"
"Find something productive to do... or... iunno." He shrugged "That's all I got for you though." He started to walk out.
"Hey wait.... why'd you want to be a hunter?" The Camera adjusted so it could see Aleister's face.
Aleister stopped and looked back at Dwight, "Uh... to... Iunno... I don't remember. It certainly wasn't to be a failure, but that's all I've been good for so far. I guess to grow stronger... not to be afraid... be able to protect the people I know.... Hasn't really been working out for me." He shrugged and walked out of the tent. "See you Dwight."
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