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Melisande watched with concern as Trox tended to the rest of the party, giving her wings a strong flap anytime the gnats got too thick. It made her feel helpless, watching them covered in the terrible little bugs, and she could feel phantom pricks on her own skin in sympathy.

She couldn't agree more that moving seemed like a good idea. Melisande followed their guide silently, but occasionally twisted to peer back at Cruz and his guardian with sympathetic eyes. She looked bedraggled as well, she knew...clothes tattered and curls still clinging stubbornly to coal black feathers...but that wasn't nearly as bad as bug bites!

She shivered, and brought her eyes forward again to answer Harrison. "I'm fine, thank you. Nothing eating m-OH!" A buzz, and a sudden stab of pain on her cheek made her bend and clap her hand to her face. Something winged free as she slapped, so the Muse succeeded only in smacking her own sore cheek.

"I lied." Pasha mumbled, face still covered with one hand as she bent with the throbbing ache. "It tried to eat me." She was attempting to be funny, but it was hard to hear her huddled as she was. When she finally lifted her face, a large welt blossomed like a red beauty mark high on her cheek. Melisande dabbed at it tentatively with one finger, wincing.

Harrison was rather content despite the landing bugs. In all honesty, these things didn’t bother him, nor did the giant banana spiders that kept their webs crossing his path. He had reverted to past tendencies and grabbed a larger stick to clear a path. They always seemed to be at face level. This took him back to his times at SERE school. Only this time he was well rested, well fed and got to wear whatever he wanted. Kind of- he looked back at Anita and Cruz to make sure they were fine before facing front; stick in front of him having just removed said Banana Spider and web from acquainting itself with the side of his face. That wouldn’t have been the most fun. Another plus was the complete lack of enemy chasing after them.

SERE was a school put out by the military with the sole focus of preparing pilots for Black Hawk Down. During the school you’re treated like a prisoner of war. Lightly of course. They’re not actually allowed to kill you. It was also super-secret- something you’re not supposed to speak of to anyone. Kind of light fight club only focusing on survival. There’s one phase in which you are deposited at point A in the middle of the woods and were required to make it to your extraction point. Point B. Get there in 5 days. Sure easy, can do. Young Lieutenant Trox had thought. Oh then they mentioned there were dogs and angry people who intended to catch you and hurt you, chasing after you. Good luck and may the odds ever be in your favor?

They hadn’t been fed more than the minimum to keep them alive and once deposited in the woods they were required to live off the land. The forest only provides so much food late October. He chuckled. Damn that was a hungrier time. He’d lost 45 lbs in a month. A 45 lbs he didn’t have to lose. Hungrier times indeed. And now he was here in the dwindling light and with gnats bothering all of his party members.

He continued on in relative silence, the only sound coming from him beating back the jungle and easing passage for his fellow team members. He was struggling to see further into the dark wood but made positive visual contact with the cliff face that was depicted in the map. They should probably stop for the night here. He bit his lip and headed a bit closer to the cliff face before actually stopping and taking off his back. They were in a good place here to set up a menial camp site. The wall behind him would block at least one line of approach. It would be easy to secure the others. He turned to his group and winced at Meli’s face.

”Got you good didn’t it?” He asked with a sheepish smile as he rubbed his shoulder and lower back. The ache was setting in, ”Once we build a fire they’ll be unable to land. Smoke does funny things to their legs and wings. We can also dry things out that need drying.”

He was thinking of his own sweat drenched shirt and socks. He was sure the rest of his party had items needing drying too. Luckily he brought spares so honestly, with a quick change, he’d be dry and ready to go in the matter of seconds.

”Let’s set up shop here. Any objections to camping now? It’s getting a bit dark to travel on.” He picked the chemlight off the back of his ruck and hung it around his neck, hoping everyone would get the idea that even though they’re digging in, they should still be identifiable.

”I was thinking I’d go get fire wood and a few logs for building up a shelter,” He paused, lifting his cap and scratching at his head before replacing the hat on his head, ”Pasha, maybe you and Cruz could do that floating thing and see what’s on top of that cliff? – Don’t go past the cliff, stay together I’ll be right back… Unless Anita, you want to come with em.”

He tried to emphasize this. Hands splayed, ”I mean it; don’t leave anyone alone out here. And if anything comes or happens, you scream, you blow that whistle and I’ll come sprinting.”

Honestly he didn’t intend on being more than 10 meters into the wood line but precautions were precautions.

Pasha tried to listen to Trox, but the bite was beginning to itch terribly. She squinted one eye, moving her cheek a bit, but it didn't help. The Muse nodded absently as the group settled on a camp site, and balled up one hand and slipped her fist inside her ruffled sleeve. You weren't supposed to scratch itchy things, everyone knew that, but it was getting worse! Like a kitty cleaning its face, Melisande kept her right eye squished shut and gently rubbed the side of her cuff over the bug bite high on her cheek. She instantly relaxed at the relief the scratching provided, and kept the side of her little fist alongside her face.

She kept it there until Harrison motioned to the cliff, at least. Pasha's eyes tracked upward, along the dizzying height of rocks and greenery. There was a large pink patch on her cheek from scratching at the bite, but suddenly the Sigel looked pale.

"We can do it." She sounded as though she were reassuring herself. Dropping her eyes back down to Cruz, Melisande tried again, with a slightly uneven smile. "We can do it! Ready, Cruz?" She leaned forward and gave him a tiny kiss on the cheek, bravely ignoring a smushed gnat. "For luck." Shyly, she lowered her eyes and busied herself. The canteen was too heavy...Melisande unbuckled it, and let it thump to the ground.

Pasha's hand found his, and she spread her wings gracefully.

Trox's eyes were ballooned at the size of the centipede. s**t if that thing were to bite? That'd be bad. Very bad indeed. He was stunned for a moment before slowly creeping over, dropping his firewood and stomping on one end with his very heavy boaot. Ew... Ew this was gross. Ew, this was actually VERY uncomfortable. He reached into his pocket, taking out his rather sizable knife and hacked at each 'end' of the centipede. In silence. His skin was crawling and any warm and fuzzies he had about the jungle left him. First there were homicidal birds, now there were Jurassic park sized bugs. Oh and the flies were seemingly unfazed by 100% deet. Without going all diva, he could rightfully say he's had enough of this hamfisted search party.

"Hey, look I found dinner tonight, " He deadpanned the joke and kicked the body away. The aviator knew he still needed to aid to the morale boost fund as they were in a definite deficit. He smirked at Anita and shook his head. She looked ridiculous with her braids sticking out, but then again he wasn't really one to judge.

"Game plan, we gather our firewood, he set up camp, we sleep in shifts and we move out as soon as we can see," He blathered, mostly for his own benefit, as he gathered his dropped firewood pile. Harrison was slow with his movements, his lower back getting stiffer as the day progressed into evening.

He gazed around the clearing and scrunched his face in thought. Time to reassert yourself in the search and prove some competency. Going with the flow wouldn't do anything.

"I think in the morning we should get a bit practical when it comes to our searching?" He said as he made to trudge towards camp, moving slow and making sure he didn't smack into a web, "The fruit we saw hanging on the tree, combined with the lack of trampled grass, sticks or brush leads me to think our lost member didn't trudge this way."

He set the firewood down with a huff and stretched his back out standing.

"Because even if he was too injured to get the bananas, there's be more of an impression on the environment. Sloppy people lead to messy trails- especially if driven by pain," Harrison stated and began kicking underbrush and leaves away.

"Also, you don't like bugs? They refuse to cross over clear ground. Don't make a bed of leaves."

Melisande held tight to the Frei's hand, giving her wings a stroke every so often to keep them rising. The tips of her feathers brushed the spilling greenery, and she reached out to steady them against the cliff the same way Cruz did. The Muse shuddered to think of what insects might be hiding in the vines and rocks, just under her fingertips. Her cheek still throbbed.

The view at the top snatched her breath away once they crested the edge of the cliff. There wasn't much to see at the top, aside from a grim looking bird that made her shiver again, but the view the other direction was amazing. She pointed for Cruz, out over the canopy of the jungle below them. The jungle looked beautiful from here...it was impossible to see anything within it really, but the trees were a blanket of green and orange under the setting sun, and birds dotted the distant branches like flowers. The sunset dyed the ends of her pale hair gold and pink, and for a moment, Melisande smiled.

They sank back down the cliff slowly, and Pasha waved to Trox and Anita as they descended back into the dim jungle.

"Nothing much to see, sorry to say." Pasha glanced over to Cruz, to see if he'd spotted anything she hadn't.

Troxel watched in a small moment of adjunct horror as the beast of a centipede crawled out of his sleeve. But there was nothing really he could do. Anita wanted her space; his jacket was discarded on the jungle floor. He sucked in moments like this, the whole awkward silence please stop being uncomfortable so we can build a camp. Instead he stood unassuming to the side until the centipede was thrown to the ground. He then took a silent moment to reach over with the toe and crunch the ball of his foot down on the centipede’s head, cringing at the crunch of the exoskeleton underneath his steel toe. He reached down for the jacket, shook it out and flipped the sleeves inside out to see if there were any more critters lurking in the folds.

The aviator opened his mouth to speak and swallowed the words in his throat. Biting his bottom lip he turned to Melisande and Cruz, squinting a bit in validation.

“Nothin’ really up there, huh?” He paused and shrugged, rubbing his arm, a phantom crawl from watching that centipede on Anita, “Well that’s kinda better for us. More creepy crawlies, less big monster or angry people after us. If either of those is in this jungle.”

He slides his hands into his pockets and sways a little hesitantly, kicking the brush with his toe before smacking at the centipede with his stick until it was well into the jungle brush. Silently he started to make camp around the Raevans and Anita. Moving the leaves, and kicking out a fire area.

“Someone wanna grab some stones and put it around the fire?” The pilot decided to take the unassuming route, quiet, subdued and overly passive. Man of 6’3” trying to not be an imposing presence.

After a long moment of silently setting camp up he turned to anita.

“Hey, you okay?” He asked quietly before slowly standing up, brushing his pants off and bites his bottom lip. Eggshells.

You see, Harrison has this awful sensory thing of blowing awkward moments out of proportion. So even if eggshells weren’t required to walk around, he felt the need. It was a large failing in his character.

He shook his arms out and smiled, clapping his hands and looking around.

“Right, Camp’s good. Find nooks around the fire to sleep. If you don’t like bugs crawling on you, don’t pile up leaves. Bugs don’t cross clear ground.” He took a breath and smiled. “Right. Y’all chill here. Whistle if you need me, I’ll be walking like 20-50 meters out in order to do a patrol of the area. Don’t want to happen upon.. I’unno.. creatures during sleep time.“

He didn't wait too long, looking between the three members before slowly backing out. Blue glowstick on his back sticking out in the darkness.

She wasn't much help in setting up camp. The Muse had dutifully placed a few large stones around the fire at Troxel's request, trying her best not to look at the spot where the monstrous centipede had been killed. The gruesome crunch had covered her in goosebumps from head to ribbon, despite the heat.

The Muse paused for a good long minute, still not looking at the spot, but instead trying to picture herself curled up on the selfsame ground somewhere else around the fire. She could almost see it. Somewhere near Cruz perhaps, in case the Frei wakened, her head cradled on her crossed arms, dirt and bug guts pressed against her swollen cheek...

Pasha gave her head a shake. She'd slept in lighthouses, she'd slept in thrift shops. She'd even slept in a gazebo once, but this? It wasn't going to happen.

With sudden determination, she tugged the Pack-a-Poncho out of her utility pouch and tore open the wrapping...giving the yellow slicker a shake. It was little more than a tarp with a head hole in the center, but it would suit her needs perfectly. The Sigel rose a few feet into the air, and deftly tied two corners of the poncho together over a green branch, repeating the process a few feet away with the other two corners.

It was something between a sleep sack and a hammock. Not quite elegant enough to be either, but Melisande was proud of herself. It was as close to the fire as she could manage without risking the plastic, and dangled low enough to be out of the canopy.

A little water from her canteen and a quick toothbrush later, and Pasha was ready to wiggle into her sort-of bed. "Goodnight Anita, goodnight Cruz. Please wake me if I can help?" Harrison was already out on patrol, but Melisande doubted he would stay awake all night. Despite how tired she was, the Muse would be happy to help if she could.

She'd just settled in to her poncho sling, fussing with keeping her ribbon from dangling out of the neck hole, when the forest fell quiet. It was a stark and unusual silence, and the goosebumps were suddenly back.

As quietly as she could, Melisande reached over the edge of her 'hammock'...pale fingers curling over yellow plastic as she peeked down to the fire pit below. The silence stretched, and she sought Cruz' eyes, confused.

Confused until the skittering started.

Suddenly, Melisande felt less like a pea in a pod and more like the candy in a piñata. She slipped out of her little aerial bed and gathered with the others, eyes wide.

What if it was more bugs? What if it was more centipedes?! The horror of the thought was plain on her face as she looked to Anita. The Raevans could float up out of reach, but what about the Frei's guardian?

What about Trox, all alone in the jungle?!

Harrison felt more at ease surrounded by the noises and emersion of the forest. He was able to stop watching his features, his stature- not things he actually needed to maintain mind you- but he felt he needed to. He paused, feet stuttering in the forest underbrush and had a small moment of introspection and snorted. He had issues he should probably start sorting out. The Lab 305 community was vast and he assumed he wouldn’t get comfortable with every single person associated within that group. Living alone and being away from the military world had certainly taken a toll on his social awkwardness or rise there of. He grinned and shook his head before shrugging- oh well.

The aviator took a moment to adjust his rucksack before continuing his journey around their small little camp. The spot itself was amiable due to the cliff face protecting their rear, it also provided an easy handrail for emergency services should they need to come and evacuate one of his team members, not that he expected that to happen. As for sleeping in shifts? It was less of a protection deal and more of a tend to the fire, and if you hear anything that could be a lost, lonely and terrified doctor- lead him towards the fire and call for services.

In all his years of working search and rescue, medevac and homeland security, Harrison had never- repeat never heard of a search team camping out over night in their search. In fact, according to state park codes and a fair amount of bureaucratic bs it was borderline illegal. It was unsafe and far too extravagant. Trox reminded himself again, that this isn’t an official party. This was a community banding together like a strange- he slapped a gnat off his neck and shook his head. Focus, Trox.

Gingerly, he pulled the map from his belt and marked his current position before taking a left in order to circle the perimeter of the camp. He wasn’t that far out. Maybe a 5 jaunt sprint back to the camp. He was crazy but he wasn’t stupid. Harrison bit his bottom lip and froze… the forest was silent.

Confusion settled in as his mind began whirring, trying to make sense of the situation. Things normally shut the hell up when a predator tramped close- but there was always a din from the jungle beyond the immediate area. This silence was deafening and gave him an unsettling feeling. Maybe he’d pop back into camp, check on his team and then pop back out to continue with the perimeter patrol.

That’s when the skittering started, something he was sure was his mind playing tricks on him. Either way, his heart rate elevated and his skin prickled with continued discomfort. This didn’t feel right. He turned towards camp, double-checking on his map before trudging back, carefully in the dark but also with a sense of urgency.