Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Holy Sh!t!"

A very concentrated Keeva hadn't even heard the huge dark wolf approach her; she was much too busy trying not to fall. But then, she mused, laying flat on her back at the base of the cliff, blood oozing from a collection of scratches, even if I did see him coming, there wouldn't have been much I coulda done about it. She sighed, huffing away a piece of fallen hair from her sparking purple eyes. "At least I'm not dead," she said with a groan as she tried to rise, only to fall back on her bottom hard. "...Then again, maybe being dead would be nice."

((@yylaayl: Don't worry, I'm not sure any of us are...))

Eyes fixed on the ground, concentrating on every step, Kaela felt more than saw Nightwing up ahead. The huge presence, a feeling of being watched once again. Her first instinct was to freeze, or run and hide. The first thing that stopped her was the instant knowledge that if she stopped, even for a moment, it would be ever harder to continue on her way again. The second was when she glanced up at the dark Beta. Despite herself, she was fascinated, with a near irresistible urge to get nearer to the beautiful creature. Perhaps because wolves had never hurt her, while humans had, or perhaps because she'd lost herself in the moment, but her fear dissipated as she continued upwards.

Closer and closer, she lowered her eyes as though she hadn't seen him, concentrating on the climb. Knowing she was painfully slow, she pushed herself a little harder, a little faster. As she came almost level to the wolf, a sudden thought flew across her mind -- what was Nightwing looking for in them? Endurance? Patience? Courage? Obedience? With every step she took, was she driving herself closer or further from the approval of the sergeant and his bonded?

Find our way back down was the instruction, Jamie went over this in her head finding it only slightly easier to breath than when she had reached the top. Seeing the centipede confrontations taking place below got the recruit remembering the stories she heard growing up and despite her state, excitement crept up on her just like her excitement of hearing the endeavors of wolves and their riders. Others had commented how odd they found her for being so enthusiastic about such tales, saying that it didn't match the look of her. The recruit held up her rifle, hand off the trigger but in a shooting stance, trying to accurately aim at the centipedes. The wheels in her enthusiastic mind turned: From this distance how much practice does it take not to miss from here? Where is the best spot to hit? Jamie tried to match the gaze of her aim with the rifle, tried to point the rifle to the spot on the centipede she had her eyes on.

Then Jamie remembered another advice she was given: It won't do to underestimate things, don't think so lightly. Jamie had also experienced the truth of this advice often during the years before saying how she'd train and then being met with the challenges of what she gets herself into, how much strain and exhaustion was awaiting her during the tasks she naively overlooked the struggles they had in store.

Jamie lowered her rifle back to the instructed position and took a deep breath in then out her eyes being the most defining of her features. She composed and readied herself to stop resting, her gaze traveling and taking in the view before her again and when her vision traveled to the sergeants she found another rider and wolf had arrived. Her gaze did not stay long as she her determined eyes went to work taking in the sight of the centipedes on the distribution of fellow recruits on the cliff wall. She was in a coolly concentrated state that was not an common sight given more casual circumstances. Find? Jamie then questioned, returning to the matter of heading back. We'll then, going back the way we came is a way back down, isn't it, she decided.

Don't take things lightly, she reminded herself as she started her climb down the cliff wall. Though she kept serious, she was keeping the thrill inside her from detracting from her concentration, a thrill that persisted despite the pains she was experiencing at the same time. She had cuts that were bleeding and gravity felt desperate to yank her to an unpleasant fall, but awareness of all this mixed with her joy of the here and now of trying to achieve her dream of becoming capable of joining the fight against centipede attacks. A tenth of the way down, Jamie adjusted herself and took to scanning for one of the centipedes, then sighting Flamehaze. Jamie held up her rifle to match her sight as she compared to her experience of aiming to when she was taking aim at the top of the cliff.

Dave felt himself being tugged backwards and with annoyance toppled over skidding a little ways down before catching himself and correcting his footing. Looking around to see what had happened about the wolf he was just in time to see Chehero fall to the bottom of the cliff after her gun. That wasn't fun at all, huffing at having been taken away from the battle he continued to climb as far as he could only stopping when he found Nightwing pacing about. Taking in a deep breath he moved as quietly and carefully as he could hopping not to call attention to himself and be sent toppling to the bottom of the cliff.

The younger Sergeant snorted in amusement as she watched the unfortunate Recruits tumble down the hill side. Haze, I do believe aiming a gun at a "centipede", regardless whether it was locked or not, was not apart of the task... A sound of agreement came from the wolf and Alice took the pleasure of watching the tall Beta quickly fall onto his victims like a spider attacking flies caught in its web. The woman's entertainment did not last long as the sound of an approaching wolf turned her attention to Firah and Firestride.

"Why? You jealous that he's better looking than any girl or guy you've been with?" Alice responded dryly as she turned away from the older Sergeant, obviously to hide the highly amused mask on her face. "Yo," she replied casually at Firah's formal introduction and salute. The woman peered at the letter cautiously before plucking it from the Private's hand. "Damien put you up to this?" she snapped at Firah with a dead-serious expression, even though there was only humor laced behind her voice.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm sure you got loads of love letters back in the eighties... beginning of the world... whenever it was that you were actually in your prime." she shot over her shoulder jokingly at Adrian. She was aware that the constant jeering/teasing would probably earn her a smack to the back of the head, but she figured she had worse and merely shrugged the thought off. Alice thumbed the letter open and glanced over the writing, pausing briefly to back track over a certain sentence. It was possible that the girl's face might have paled slightly just then, but considering her skin was already close to chalk-white, it was hard to tell. Silently she closed the letter and slipped it into her pocket. She was quiet for a moment before she shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose as she sighed. "Where was I again? Ah, yes..."

Alice turned back to watching the flailing Recruits with moderate amusement. "Recruits just aren't what they used to be. Consider yourself lucky for surviving the course, Firah." she mused with a cheeky grin to the Private; her strange way of complimenting him. "Keep a close eye on some of these blokes; you just might have to drag one around New Eve for six months..." Alice chuckled before turning to a late Recruit. "I think this one is yours, Adrian. Can't have me completely taking your job for the day, now can we?" she smirked playfully.

((OoC: When she mentions the eighties she's talking about the AL 80s xD))

Haze watched the few bold Recruits take aim at the older Beta, feeling more or less annoyed that they would dare point a gun at a wolf after being told to keep it in the safety position. He quietly snuck up behind Kaela and gave the back of the girl's shirt a tug to make her loose her footing. He then proceeded to quietly dart across the cliff side and swept his muzzle under Jashua's leg.

He looked at the Recruits at the base of the cliff for a moment before noticing the pale wolf with the Sergeants along with the Private that seemed to have joined them. Going to join us, Firestride? Haze called to the other male curiously. Without waiting for an answer, the tall wolf turned and stealthily made his way up the side of the cliff. Nightmare may have been waiting for the prey to come to him, but it would do no good if the prey didn't want to come down. He'd just have to force them down himself. Noticing one of the guns pointed at him, Haze came upon Jamie at a deadly pace and swiped the gun out of her hands with a large paw in seconds. He turned on the other Recruits at the top of the cliff, drawing back his lips as he gave a dark growl in warning.

Russ watched the female sergeant, noting that she seemed upset at the contents delivered by Private Firah. Though he didn't know her, he wished he could offer her anything to be of comfort, knowing full well that it was ever-so-nice to have some in times of need. Regardless of personal issues, she seemed to be in charge for the day. Well enough. He saw no reason to have a problem with a young woman leading the drills for the day. Gender, age, it all meant nothing. Experience and talent showed, eventually, who was who. She was a sergeant, and FlameHaze was a Beta. That was enough for him.

She handed him over to the Drill Sergeant. His attention turned to the other, murmuring a "Yes sir," at the statement of his tardiness. Muscles in his injured leg twitched, threatening a cramp, and he slid his foot forward the slightest bit to give him the ability to stretch them out. He wasn't going to fall over because of a refusal to move; that was ridiculous.

The order was met with a momentary pause as Russell's eyes flickered to the cliffside, spotting the rest of the recruits dodging the two Betas on the rocky slope. Gleaning the information he needed, he nodded, repeating, "Yes, sir," before turning to the rifles and sandbags before picking up one of each, continuing to favor his injured leg with a determined look on his face. As he picked up the rifle, he noted the natural way it felt in his hand. Pointing it at the ground, he gave the trigger a squeeze to ensure that it was locked - it was - before setting off up the slope.

At first, his biggest problem was the incline. Lifting his leg was not a pleasant activity nor a hobby he felt like investing in at the moment. He soon drew back into his rhythm, quick, slow, quick, slow, quick, with hissing breaths accompanying the slow steps. The sandbag weighed on his shoulder as it usually did, and he gave pity towards the new recruits who would not be used to its weight already.

Soon, he found the biggest issue to be the rocks. One misstep on his bad leg, one rock barely beneath his book slipped, forcing him to drop to a kneel, his head bent with his eyes at the ground as he fought off the intense pain in his leg. Rocks dug into his palms and his eyes actually closed for a moment as he listened. He awaited the sound of Nightwing heading towards him, his grip on his rifle hardening while he let his leg slowly settle to a dull throb. C'mon. Weak prey sitting near the bottom of the slope. A sheep away from the herd; a deer fallen down a mountainside. Well? He thought, pulling his leg back in from its spot out in the open to put the shin against the ground. His other drew up, the knee against his chest. Russ was almost ready to move, just not yet.

Kaela drew a startled breath as sharp teeth brushed her skin, dragging her backwards before vanishing. She stumbled, spending a precious second regaining her balance, and by the time she turned Flamehaze was on his next victim. Another green uniform down below betrayed the presence of another latecomer, which she noted before continuing towards the next challenge, the dark Beta. His gaze weighed heavily on her, as if to hold her back, but the feeling drove her to stubbornly press forwards.

Though her eyes were still fixed on the ground, her senses were on the alert, picking up the tempo and the ever so slight thud of paws as Nightwing rushed her way. They were the senses of prey, the weak, but finally being channeled in a positive way--she'd decided on courage as the quality he sought. Consciously calming her nerves, she listened for the slight scrape of rock on rock as he lunged at her, and ducked. Within a second she was moving upwards again, faster than before. Strange, that determination and the thought of a small, raven-haired child could instill a greater strength than fear.