Welcome to Gaia! ::

There was a sense of his stomach turning with the sounds and the knowledge that it was.. supposed to be sand. He didn't think much of it. He figured it was just.. Something. The idea, the very notion that it could be anything even remotely human... It was so far from his mind that he didn't even realize it until-

The cries. People wailing about just what they were seeing. Bodies, human bodies. They were dead and cold. That was why they were gray. They- As step back, and there was a sickening squelch as his foot went into something moist and cool. It was sticky, and soaked into his pants. Blood. Congealing blood at that. his breathing slowly rose, as he felt his heart beat faster. This wasn't a recovery for survivors after all. It was the recovery of the dead.

Disaster she had said. This- this was a massacre. And they were in the aftermath, quite literally. It was... part of him was shutting down. Blocking it, blocking them, out. They were just bodies. Masses of flesh to be moved. He didn't know any of them. They were nothing to him. Just another part of the mission. It was a block to reality. "Deryk."

Marcus's tone was deadpan. Emotionless, blank. He was indeed, 'gone'. "Quite." Grabbing what was... arms. Mangled, misshapen arms, Marcus paled as his fingers grabbed the body. Blood would cover his hands, and the second he felt skin his hand shot back. He touched a dead body. His hand shaking, he grabbed the tatters of their jacket. He didn't want to touch them directly.

(Deryk and Marcus are winnars?)

Told you you should have introduced yourself sooner. My intuition is always right. The sword talked down to Ceres as she slipped on the headphones and the mask, making sure to give the briefest of nods towards the other woman. "I am Ceres, by the way."

There that wasn't so hard!

Shut up, Takeru.

Her face also scrunched up behind the mask at the smell as they approached their destination. The smell itself did not ring a bell, but hell if she would ever forget such a scent. It was revolting... if singing ones nose hairs was possible, she thought you would see smoke rising above her mask. It was hard to make out anything but lumps of grey with the masks on... but none the less, those towels were a nice addition and she was not complaining. "Thank you." Gloves were not one of the issued items, and her uniforms fingerless gloves sort of defeated the purpose.

Reaching town, she tensed up as she picked up...something really.....squishy. Towels or not... some sort of fluids started to run down her hands. Finding what she attempted to pick up too heavy... plus a little bit gross, her fingers slipped and the object fell with a horrid squishing noise back to the floor.

It was about then that she put 2+2 together... and realized they were bodies. Choking back a sob, her eyes peeled up to look into the mask of her partner. "Oh my god what do you think happened here???" Her voice was low, and for once... even Takeru stayed quiet against her hip within his sheath.

Taking a step back, only to find the ground just as squishy here, she found herself trapped between a sea of corpses. While Ceres had a 'medic' band on her arm (she still wondered about that one), she was far from being practiced. Sure back before she chose this life she was fascinated with science and the arts... she still had a not to learn, and no real experience. Crash course in dead bodies 101?

You don't like any girls. He gave a mental sigh before looking at her

Dakota grinned at her comment back, Well he did like a girl that was humorous at least. His mask stayed firmly on as he looked down at the bodies floating about in the mess. He wasn't sure why but he didn't feel as sick or thinking of how gruesome it really was. No, if this was task given to newbies, he could only imagine how much worst it would get in the future.

"Alright then Babe." He moved with her, "This body it is."



Sure, not like I'm going to let rotting bodies hamper my good time.

"And Hidey ho." He heaved.

Ryan wiped the back of his hand against his mouth, grimacing when it left a bloody smear across his face.

One would think that they would have warned them about this. Or you know, given them some proper attire to deal with moving corpses, but Nope! Apparently that was not the case.

Ryan nodded at Jerry's words, ignoring the 'muddy' hand print on his shoulder, as he pulled the mask back down and into place.

"Does this happen a lot..?" He asked looking at the sea of bodies, voice a little shaky, as he moved over and grabbed hold of the upper body of the corpse and cursing when it slipped through his grasp again.


( EDIT: whoops read wrong dice roll /face palms forever )

"This is my first time in the garden I never noticed it before it must have been the portals," Jerry murmured dreamily, wobbling a little as Ryan slipped, but kept his hold on the bouquet. Hmmm... he plucked a few petals absently, and a rotted toenail landed by his shoe. "But last time there was the biggest monster I've ever seen and I think it killed me but it was okay because it didn't, really. I think that happens a lot."

Ryan blinked, as he attempted to lift the body for a third time.

"Garden--what?"

He dropped the body again.

"Jerry... are you sure you're feeling okay...?" A bit of a dumb question, considering where they were standing and after vomiting all over the place, adding to the mess, but still... he really felt it needed to be asked.

"Giant monster? Wait--what? Died!? ....But you're right here..."

Okay, so maybe Jerry had lost a little more than his breakfast back there...

"I'm fine, I'm peachy," He had started to hum, seemingly oblivious to Ryan's concern as tried to heft the log on his own- if he just hugged it right, he could drag it- there was a crunch. Uh oh, termites, the poor log had split in two, leaving a mess of splinters on the nice lawn. "Oh, oops! Well, it'll be half as heavy now..."

"Impressive," Davey commented, taking in the sharp blade on the end of the otherwise innocent-looking staff.

~ But not as impressive as me, of course, ~ Azrael immediately cut in. He cast the mental equivalent of a glare at Davey, daring his Hunter to disagree.

'Of course,' Davey thought back. Releasing Azrael back to his resting form, Davey gave the tag a pat and then took the headset and mask that Evie offered. If Azrael curled up a little closer in Davey's mind, well, Azrael wasn't telling anyone, and if Davey knew what was good for him, neither would he.

For his part, Davey was more concerned with getting the headset on and the mask firmly in place. Looking around at the other masked trainees, he had a flash of deja vu back to the island. He shook it off. Grabbing just one glove out of a pair, he yanked it on using his teeth.

The Moon Hunter led them out into a world of blacks and greys. It felt like walking through an old movie or photograph, only the stripes of color on the other Hunters breaking the monotony. Davey had been stationed in deserts more inviting than this.

It was the smell that first twigged Davey. He thankfully couldn't say it was immediately familiar, but after a few minutes of trying to place it, his memories obliged - only a few, but pushed away and half-forgotten for a reason. His stomach moved restlessly and Davey shot concerned glances around him. How long until everyone realised? How many of them were young and untried? This turned Davey's stomach and he was meant to be the seasoned professional, used to seeing slaughter.

When the Moon Hunter explained that their job was to transport 'these' - conveniently not bothering to warn anyone just what they would be handling - Davey turned a fierce glare on the woman (that probably couldn't be seen from under the mask, even if the woman had cared - and she likely wouldn't have). He muttered curses under his breath as Evie, his partner in this mission, turned her attention to the chatter around them and caught on.

"Oh God," Evie said, stumbling back. She recovered faster than Davey would have thought - perhaps the weapon helping her out again?

He gave her a nod, knowing that an attempt at a smile wouldn't be seen through the masks. "Breathe through your mouth," he advised. "And... just pretend we're moving something else. Training dummies or something."

It wasn't what he wanted to say. Davey wanted to march up to the Moon Hunter and demand to know what had happened here, if the bodies were fallen comrades or just humans who ran afoul of FEAR. He wanted to know who thought it was a good idea to send just-awoken, untested and untrained newbies on this as their first introduction to Hunting. But Davey did none of those things. All answers, he guessed, would come back to Caelius and Dr H and 'need to know'. And as a mere grunt, neither Davey nor any of the other trainees - first wave or second - would have any right to question the mission. All Davey could do right now was to help his partner as best he could.

Scowling beneath his mask, Davey turned to assist Evie with the corpse. He may have only had one arm, but he'd only had it to focus on since his arrival. There was more strength in that one arm than there had been during his active duty as a soldier. Crouching down, he caught both legs and lifted while Evie handled the top half. They rose slowly, everyone seeming to have taken a lesson from their 'leader' popping one of the bodies earlier. Davey was careful that his firm grip between looped arm and side never became too tight as they slowly made their way back up the slope, then waited for instructions.