Welcome to Gaia! ::

It was certainly strange, traveling in this group, this... unit, with such apparent purpose. Zeta Three had refrained from any banter at that point, focussing instead on a constant, quiet vigil of the bodies drifting ahead of him. Already, he was working to memorize their nuances, and despite too many like suits ambling about, he could distinctly recognize each figure enough to pick out out the points of interest. There was A7, kicking rocks about like some melancholy brute, and the all-too-familiar (not to mention smaller) silhouette of Z8.

The former was acting downright pitiful-- pathetic enough to attract both his attention and the latter female's. Compelled by little nothing than his own boredom, Z3 strategically picked up his stride a step, discretely closing the gap just enough to better hear--

... Prin...ting?

Oh. Oh! If ever there had been a more hilariously stupid flub, he hadn't heard it. That thick headed dolt was clearly fumbling with his own bad habits once again, and it was all Z3 could do not to scoff audibly. Instead, he took a deep breath, wiped the pitying smirk from his features (despite it never showing in the first place) and finally, ever so casually, piped up from the rear.

"One of the more unusual nicknames I've ever heard, to be sure."

... As if he actually remembered all the nicknames I've heard in his life. Ha!.

Nearly there. He could see it not too far ahead! The fog dissipated enough to allow the forms of buildings to come into view. "Almost there!" Z12 said out loud in an elated tone. He moved to run toward it, but stopped short. Oh right. He said he would slow it down.
He chuckled despite himself, and turned back to Z2. "Seems empty to me!" He really couldn't be certain about that, but so far so good. They hadn't run into anyone at all while travelling.

He really hoped he had made the right decision.

No matter! He wasn't alone. He had someone to keep him sane, and happy.

{Z12 is exiting travel for the Abandoned Town}

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…

Zeta Eleven was being melodramatic. He had a right to. Everything else on the island was, so why couldn’t he be a little theatrical? After a four hour trudge through dense fog with nothing but his own thoughts to occupy him, his adherence to the standards of reason was running razor thin. Sharp, brittle, and perilously close to snapping. He had long ago exhausted meatier quandaries – what he was doing on the island, who he was before all of this, who would win in a fight between a dragon and a manticore – and he was now simply rummaging through his head’s bargain bin in search of something to contemplate.

Eleven tried to remember the significance of the line. Like everything else in his head, it was all substance, no context. It was religious, he could ascertain that much. As such, it provided him little comfort. Whoever he was, he doubted he was a faithful man. If a higher authority really was here protecting him from evil, the least it could have done was provide him with one of those, whatchamacallits, beauties of the natural world. A waterfall. A bubbling brook. A rock formation that so closely resembled Abraham Lincoln it would inspire enough adulation to bring him to his knees weeping.

But as Eleven finally broke through the fog, all he could see was row after row of corn stalks. Not even particularly good looking corn. The vibrant green of the picaresque pastoral he had envisioned a cornfield to be was washed over with the island’s all-encompassing gray. So drab. So dull. So as draining of life as the knowledge that somewhere amongst all that corn was someone who wanted to club his brains in.

Maybe there was a God. Maybe it just didn’t like murderers. Which was unfair. He had only killed the one.

Philosophical. Eleven felt like that didn’t suit him well. He set off towards the field, wondering just how much potential for a new beginning a cornfield could hold. He figured not much, it probably being too full of corn to hold much of anything else.



[Zeta Eleven has arrived! He is exiting to the cornfields. What new adventures await him? His future is rich with intrigue!]

A7 turned around, his mask pointed sharply at Z3 when he got his little comment out. He reached over and punched Z3 in a half-friendly, half ******** kind of manner, on the shoulder.

"Ah, shut the ******** up." He retaliated comically. Though Z3 hadn't meant it as such, a little friendly ribbing did A7 a world of good. He caught on to the thread of humor he felt whistling by, and as Z8 mentioned the nickname of a*****e, A7 let out a barking laugh.

"BAHA-"

Oh, it felt good to laugh.

He held his stomach with one arm, as it tightened in laughter. It relaxed as he started to notice the cornfields in front of them, and heard A1's plan. Returning his hand to rest on Z8's, to keep it around his arm, he veered in the direction they'd headed.

"Sweet. Let's get the ******** off this road."

[A7 has exited to the Cornfields!~]

A-Nine was getting bored. Singing and dancing along the trail was entertaining for a good long while but eventually it got old with just her and Z-Four. Her other team members had refused to join in, no matter how much cajoling she did. Oh well, maybe she could get them to next time. She bet A-One had a good singing voice; he projected so well when barking orders at everyone.

For right now, A-Nine's throat was getting a little sore -- as were her feet. "Are we there yet?" she asked, tiredly.

Before anyone responded though, A-One stopped and headed off the path into a cornfield. A-Nine blinked. In the fog, she hadn't noticed the cornstalks until they were nearly right in the middle of them. "Huh. I guess that answers that question."

She waved to A-Two as she walked past, following their leader.

[A-Nine exiting to the Cornfields]

There might have been just the slightest hint of amusement lingering in Zeta Eight's eyes, diluted as all her emotions tended to be, hidden beneath the gas-mask at Alpha Seven and Zeta Three's banter, visible only in the way she glanced back once more at the other Zeta, as if re-evaluating him. It was obvious that she certainly didn't believe him when he apologized, nor that he'd keep his comments to himself in the future, and she followed his gaze as Alpha Seven started to steer her towards the corn fields, following Zeta Three even as she allowing the Alpha to escort her, turning away only when the Zeta was almost out of sight.

"On the contrary, I'm sure you won't."

[Zeta Eight is leaving the road to go to the cornfields~]

Fiver frowned slightly at that. He'd already offered to take first watch ... what was the difference in who watched first? But still, he found that he was a bit tired now that the others mentioned it. "Fine," he murmured, moving off the path a little ways and plopping down on the ground.

"Too bad we don't have like. A tent and s**t."

A-Eleven had followed her group, Phoenix Squad along the road in relative silence. She didn't know how long they had walked, but it seemed like forever. Or not very long at all, if she thought about it. The only scenery had been the fog, and the only sounds some bits of conversation. Not much to go on, as far as telling time.

The walk, however, did seem to tire her out. She had slowed a bit, and was lagging just behind when A-One stopped and said they were there. A-Eleven felt a new surge of energy as she followed the group into the fields. Hopefully they could find something interesting here.

[ A-Eleven is EXITING to the Cornfields ]