Welcome to Gaia! ::

Grif had spent the day doing diddly squat. He intended to continue this trend into the afternoon since he had nothing else better planned. He was finding that this vacation, court-martial banishment, or abandonment to be very relaxing. He liked not having to worry about the life-threatening schemes Sarge was concocting. It had been a few weeks of utter peace. (Time line of my choosing.)

Grif was noticing, however, he was feeling very lonely lately. The girl he had met soon after arriving had not come by in a while. Then again, Grif hadn't made any attempt to find her. He hadn't made any attempt to do much of anything. Other than finding a place to stay, that is. Which he did. With a kind guy who had plenty of food for Grif to munch on. Though that dude was gone most of the day leaving Grif to go about his own (non)business.

So Grif sat alone under an apple tree, eating a bag of Oreos while watching the clouds roll by.

Grif had watched the figure approach, unsure exactly who it was. The body glinted much like any spartan armor would, but he could not tell for sure who wore it. He was going to raise his snipe to look down the scope then thought better of it. What if they were a friendly (or neutral) that took the glint of his scope to mean enemy? Grif would be in a load of hot water over something as stupid as impatience. Instead he waited to see if the stranger would even come near him.

Eventually it stopped, just barely in view. Grif noticed that whoever it was, they were poised. Either they forgot what they were doing or they had spotted him too. Grif took that pause to zoom in using his helmet. Thankfully he did because he recognized that unusual armor. "Animara!" Grif called. He waved and stood up from his position, brushed the crumbs from his face and moved to make himself visible. "It's Grif! How are you?"

[[ I totally realized now that my last paragraph could be confusing. I imagine he had put his helmet on to zoom in, but had previously had it off. I was thinking he'd brush the crumbs from his lap, but then remembered that he'd probably would just let them fall after standing. OTL So, yeah, he has his helmet on now. (Not that you mentioned it, just for future reference.) ]]

"Great timing," Grif said with warmth in his voice. "I was just thinking about you." He tilted his head, wondering if she'd ever warm up to him, but pushed past it. It's not like every spartan he met would be as crazy as the group he was used to. He'll just have to get acquainted to Animara's personality if he was going to hang out with her. Wait... Was he?

He shrugged to himself. Sure, why not? It would be better to make her a friend and have an ally on this planet, should the war end up coming here.

"So... how have you been?" Grif asked after finally getting out of his head. He noticed he was doing that a lot lately, and it worried him. But he had noticed she hadn't answered his question. "Been up to much lately?"

[[ Wow... Huge delay. I'm so sorry. I forgot about this. Still interested? ]]

Grif waited patiently for her to speak. He had started to notice her slow course of talking. It was almost as if she had to think of a response clearly first before saying it. Of course, it could all be something else, like mental retardation, but he did not mind. At least she actually made sense when she did speak, unlike some other spartans he knew.

"Me? Nothing as well," Grif said. "Then again, that's what I'm usually up to." He chuckled, recalling a few fond memories of his laziness.

Fading out of his memories, he took a look around. "This place seems to be relatively peaceful," Grif pondered aloud, "so then why are we here?... Do you happen to know?"