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Deciding it was worthless he dropped the piece of something back into the water and stood up straight and began to wander a little more until the a horrible stench reached his nose causing him to gag a bit and pull part of his cowl up to cover the lower part of his face so that it would protect him at least a little bit as he leaned to flash his flashlight over the source and ...

...Nothing.

Nothing but a bad smell and a place he didn't really want to investigate. Moving on.

He caught a sharp scent and nearly gagged. Wilson hastily reached up to clumsily pull his mask over his face to dilute the smell, which seemed to be somewhat successful, but he could still faintly smell it. Now that he wasn’t almost choking on the putrid smell, Wilson moved his flashlight down the area, but he still couldn’t see anything. There was only a pitch-black darkness. He hummed curiously before continuing his search for a tablet. Again, Wilson looked through the clouded waters, but had yet to spot a tablet.

Wilson saw something glint in the water and he bent down to pick it up. He shuddered at the icy prickles of the water before he finally took it out and stared at it. It certainly wasn’t a tablet. It seemed like it had been part of something, brittle and a dull yellow-white. Was this...?

He promptly dropped it.

s**t. s**t s**t s**t s**t s**t. Cass was at her threshold. She was hyperventalating. s**t.
Don't. You. DARE Marcus. He was at war with himself. He didn't like this.He wanted to go to Cass. Comfort her. Help her. Part of him cried out to do it. Ignore Dis and just go but-
MARCUS. ********. HASAN. I WILL FILL YOUR HEAD WITH IMAGES OF DICKS IF YOU KEEP MAKING PUPPY FACES AT CASS. YOU HEAR ME? DICKS. ALL OF THEM.
The moon trainee frowned more. Cass was giving him space, Dis was huffing like a b***h and just-

Get the job done.

Candace's question had him looking up and over. "What gets killed and carries around a hunter weapon Candace?" He looked back at Cass, still shaken. "Need a place to put the bodies of your dead enemies don't you?" He said nothing beyond that.

********' sweet. "Anddd another." Clerise put the new-found tablet in her other pocket after shaking it off a little.

Her pockets were going to be disgusting.

((41 - 60: You nearly trip over something, what seems to be a dislodged piece of stone. Upon moving your flashlight over it, you realize it is a weapons tablet.

roll 3/3

25/40 hp))

[ rolling - will edit when one lunch! ]

((This is a catchup post! ITS VERY MUCH A WALL OF 1,400 WORDS SO I DONT BLAME U IF U DONT READ IT!))

Mercedes didn't understand the significance of Caelius' return. To anyone who'd been there long enough the disappearance and reappearance were of unmentionable importance... as well as concern. One could consider her very very lucky she was not part of the death division. Experiencing.. no, surviving anything run by the young man was worth a trophy. She would be learning this the hard way on her second mission as a hunter trainee and hopefully not her last either. After the trip to the north pole and making it back with hardly a scratch she felt like she was up for anything but her success could only be reflected by the phenomenal hunger of her weapon. Hadjoc knew that he was stuck now with this skinny ghoul for what he thought would be an eternity.

By now Mercedes knew that portal travel was of the norm here at Deus. So it didn't surprise her that their mission was once more not located within the perimeter of the island. With hardly any mention of the sort of environment they were traveling to, Mercedes assumed it was safe to dress lighter than the trip to the north pole.

Perhaps it wasn't light enough!



Think it's warm enough here? Mercedes replied, unaware she was actually replying to what the bowguns were saying. What crazy loon made scarves a part of these uniforms, I feel like I'm going to throw up if it gets any hotter... Complaining aside, Mercedes looked to her fellow trainees and hunters feeling much better about it when her scarf proved to be one of the thinner, lighter kinds. Thank God for that. In her days working for the firm, going to tropical climates like this were always a wonderful experience. Still equally as humid and unpleasant, it was a source of inspiration that one could not get in the deep city in the states. The urban jungle did not compare to the real thing. It certainly was just as intimidating though..



Hadjoc's voice rang as a reminder when Mercedes found herself actually falling behind. Being at the end of the group really sucked too. Everyone had their niche now... she had yet to find hers. Was she taking her job too seriously? Maybe she needed to step back and loosen up. Maybe.. but in the time it took to think about how she could invite herself into conversation with the other hunters her ears had already numbed themselves to what was happening.



Great. Mercedes never thought she'd be so willing to talk to Hadjoc especially not in a place like this. I don't think I understand what you're saying but.. I'm starting to catch bits and pieces. I just don't know if I'm doing things right. You're... really doing all the work you know. Boy did it hurt to say that but self pitying or not, Hadjoc really DID prove himself as a powerful device. A powerful, terrible, creepy device.


Ugh.. you're still not making sense. Are.. you calling me a...? Mercedes suddenly realized he was repeating the same bit of sounds... it had to translate to something and with the cooing inflection... well..
Her discussion with the awful creature was cut short when Sandy, a figurehead calling their attention approached with gear pertaining to the mission. Mercedes took the wristband and stared at it. She could hear Hadjoc making cawing noises. Or were those birds in the canopies? Regardless it sounded far too crow like to be just coincidence. Maybe he was upset at being cut off. It wasn't her fault!

Following the leaders and fellow trainees into the cave Mercedes began to get the nervous shivers. Perhaps it was the cold that caused them up at the north pole the first time but this time? No.. this was just her own human reaction to the ominousness of the cave. Cael's 'waste of resources' was treated with a brief frown from the girl but he intimidated her far too much to receive any backtalk. So this was the infamous death leader in his true colors.

So we're looking for the things.. that I found you in? Mercedes asked Hadjoc, but the weapon did not respond. Just more cawing. Overhearing Sandy's conversation with two more experienced trainees, Mercedes assumed this was not as active of a mission as the one at the North Pole. She was dead wrong. Every time she would be dead wrong. She would never NOT be wrong until she was dead for real.

Upon entering the lair, as it was now clearly defined, she gripped Hadjoc tightly. After his impressive show with the yeti she knew that if anything he was more than just a sulking, demon beast thing. He was her guard. Any stop and any turn was treated with extra caution. What would have once sparked the girl's imagination, this cave with all of its mystery, was hardly welcoming. There were too many people here and it it were any sort of neato, fun cave thing then...

Watching the death leader march his way through treacherous territory was both inspirational and nerve-wrecking for Mercedes. Why was he so confident that he wouldn't miss a step with that tiny blue light? It was foreboding... that maybe he'd actually been here before (Mercedes wouldn't put it past any of the more experienced members of Deus to have been to some places more than once).

The next series of sounds would stick with her for the rest of the mission as what felt like a terrible Disney ride designed for thrill seeking adventurers began to surround her AND the other members of Deus. Quickly she ran, panting nervously as the hissing, the shouting, the clamoring and the extremely upset cawing of Hadjoc burned her ears. God it sounded horrible and nobody was even dying! yet!

Hang on, hang on, we gotta book it or else! she reminded her weapon who ignored her just to continue his own wretching. She didn't realize that he was losing energy by being here. Imagining herself running across the field of arrowy deathness was easier than actually doing so and until Hadjoc finally screamed something that wasn't just a bird's call did she begin to run.

Arrows grazed her just enough to send some searing pain through her body but not enough to stop her in her tracks either.

And just as they had gotten across... Caelius was gone. Living up to his reputation already and Mercedes only knew him for a couple of hours now. Though she had yet to reach the point of swearing, something she herself rarely ever did, she was uttering nervous thoughts under her breath that whether or not another hunter could hear, she was probably not alone in her thinking.

Pressing through the lair meant discovering more of its darker secrets. Secrets which Mercedes was not prepared for in the very least. Of course she had no ******** idea who or what the horsemen were, she hadn't been briefed on them yet at any point. Everything was just evil monster things... she had no earthly clue that there was a political science behind the darkness as well. Mindful of the pictures she was also aware that not everything was what it looked like. Maybe they were celebrating a party of satanists? Maybe? Maybe not. Hadjoc seemed to cheer up though as she passed some of the more grotesque depictions.


Mercedes could tell the ghastly thing was actually panting out of some sort of sick pleasure, a noise she tried to drown out even the clicking that was disturbing Sandy went unnoticed. Calm down... please. You're making me nervous.. she requested from the raven mocker. Instead he hissed again with pain and delight. Rolling her eyes Mercedes started to navigate through the room as instructed.

Nothing. Nothing here, nothing there. It really smelt and felt uncomfortable in there. Doing her best not to waver from the flashlights that were waving around like fireflies in the cave she turned hers on once she had the chance but had to tie it to her bag since Hadjoc took both hands to command.

She would continue her search in the dark chasm a little further away but still close enough to some of the other trainees especially with her handicapped lighting situation.

HP: 30/40

The poor woman sounded half out of her mind.

"I ran away to join the circus," Clerise offered, being her normal loudmouth self. She was done searching, having found two tablets. And, fortunately for her, the acrobat was a little too dull to be properly freaked out.

After all, she hadn't found any bones or anything out of the ordinary...yet.

"No ********' playing! I was sixteen goddamned years old and decided that, one, school was terrible." She waded closer to the other lady, her boots getting soaked. Thank god for being water resistant. "Two, after seeing the circus in town a few times, I was willing to bet money that the ringmaster was probably enough of a pushover to take me."

She grinned. "I was half right. I argued for myself for three ******** hours, and it still ********' took me sleeping on his goddamned doorstep to prove that I meant it."

Clerise did a fancy bow, flourish and all. "So I turned circus runaway into a career for like, eight years. True story."