It asked too much to extricate themselves entirely from the Scar, so the Tracking and Interrogation teams rappelled down to reunite with the Combat team. They were now at the epicenter of the scar, an enormous basin over a couple hundred feet in diameter. There was space enough for everyone to set up camp, and as the pair of pack youma maundered in, everyone had opportunity to pick their spaces, their neighbors, and pitch their tents. Reidite was encouraged to help if they had difficulty with the equipment.
There was nothing to use for kindling, but they wouldn't need it — the Rift was a temperate place, for all its hostility. Worse for that was the lack of access to hot meals, but the fiery General could be persuaded to give up his heat for a little comfort.
The sides of their gargantuan hole reached up for nearly an eternity, but eventually the great teeth of the Scar met with the veiny, venomous sky. There were no youma to bother them here, each scared off by the youma they sought. They could rest, and the leaders could sleep in shifts, and the injured could be seen to by more hale officers. There was time to chat, and wind down, and process all that they'd seen, for it was a journey to come out, and surely another journey lay ahead of them.
A medical tent was pitched near the middle of the north wall, waiting to be staffed by volunteer agents and senshi with some medical knowledge. Arsenopyrite was asked to begin some work there with spare first aid kits, and some of the more complex equipment off the equine and mucous pack youma.
The center of the crater held a makeshift canteen, where a profusion of supplies was laid out across a blanket. Anyone with experience cooking or serving was likewise encouraged to volunteer here.
The rest of the area was free to use as agents and senshi saw fit. Their only orders were to see to themselves and each other, to get a meal in them, and to bed down for the next day's assault.
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If your character reached the Cache, please continue to post there until either a) your character escapes the clutches of the creature, or b) part 3 drops! As long as you get a post in, it will count for credit toward the permanent accessory. If you would like your character to escape and be rescued, let me know!
If your character has a temporary youma, please bid them adieu! They will not hang out with so many officers in one place, but they may see your character again soon!
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Thanks for sticking with me thus far! Everyone did marvelously in the first part, and I was delighted to have so many different responses to DM for! This next portion is one big ORP with plenty of opportunities for PRP breakoffs. This part is both a break for our characters and a break for us!
This thread will count as a regular if you get 500 words and make an exit post (such as going to sleep, or meandering off for a PRP).
Help people if they have difficulty, he was told. Because people couldn’t read directions or know the basics of setting up a shelter. A simple camping tent was nothing and yet here he was, setting up another tent for a pathetic Officer who didn’t know what they were doing.
Okay, this one he was setting up for Kamacite because he’d apparently been injured in a way that he couldn’t set up his own tent. He had injuries too, but was he complaining? No, because he wasn’t pathetic.
Reidite grumbled to himself in Russian as he quickly pitched a tent for the bright robed Senshi, whom Cymophane obviously liked. And he would do anything for Cymophane, so it was not surprising that he begrudgingly agreed.
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Open for interaction! He supposes he can help with setting up tents.
Kamacite really didn’t want to ask for help. If anything, he wanted to just hide in his tent until morning, but he knew Faustite would want him to help keep an eye on everything. But he would try to sleep for a few hours. At least as soon as Reidite was able to help him get his tent set up.
In the meantime, Kamacite sat on the ground near the half-set tent, his hand still holding the fabric of his robes against the wound he’d received. By now, the blood had dried to his sleeve and it was likely going to be painful to peel it away and try to wash off. As long as he wasn’t burdening anyone (except for Reidite at Cymophane’s behest), he was content.
He did take a quick glance around to see where the General from before went. Lopezite? He hadn’t hovered too much and seemed like he was a decent person, but as always, Kamacite wasn’t exactly one for seeking out new acquaintances.
Bloodstone was very much off-the-clock, and even if anyone knew he was a surgeon, he didn’t have the patience to deal with minor cuts and bruises. Really, anyone needing medical attention would be better off going to Arsenopyrite or Benitoite, since they seemed to have vast knowledge of medicine and first aid.
Instead, Bloodstone pitched his own tent, and was in the process of waiting in line for the canteen to see what food they had available. Otherwise he would just dig through his subspace pocket for what he brought, himself.
“I would have expected our group to have more casualties, but it appears several are missing from the other two groups,” Bloodstone pointed out to Carnallite. Thankfully, Roselite was not one of those who had gone missing-in-action. Not that he was going to mention that to Carnallite.
HP: 100 Damage: 1d10+4, hits assumed. Special: Can command youma, but it only works on certain youma. Roll 1d10; If a General's roll is an odd number, the youma will obey them. Quote Strickenized when this happens.
As more people approached, Titanite thanked Quetzacoatl once again for its service and waved a farewell to the snake-bird.
The camp was springing up around them, but as Titanite had no medical knowledge past how to bandage her own hands to help with callouses and had even less experience cooking, she was hesitant to offer help; but she was uninjured and not tired. She could present herself as a server, at the least, could she not? Rest was the order, but she would still be doing a workout. There was too much nervous energy for her to simply bed down and sleep- Titanite needed to do... something.
And so she did. Finding an open space and removing her belt and gloves, the blue-haired General began some warm-up exercises- push-ups, crunches and the like. She would move on to some stances later.
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Open to interact; feel free to interrupt her to try and make her relax, or join in with her routine! smile
The underside of his ribs was still sore. His legs hurt. His head hurt. They were each tolerable pains, but together were wearisome. He wondered if the brunt of it wasn't stress. Nonetheless, he rappelled down with the rest, joined the last team in the Scar's epicenter.
Some were hurt, some weren't — his attention lilted from person to person, never lighting on them for long. Some he hadn't recognized — the General with the long cyan hair wasn't one he'd ever encountered and the Captain was a dour sort that he hadn't met — but most he had. However, with each successive face, his search grew more frantic, his attention more frenetic, always looking and checking and looking again. Cast over shoulder to the latest shadow that passed him. He'd walked half the camp.
Then he found who he was looking for. Silent as he approached, but he was a lantern in the dark. Saw the flaked blood on his friend's thin hand.
"Kamacite." He waited for the Solar Flare Senshi to rise. A thought brought a cincher from nowhere, and he fastened it about himself as Kamacite got to his feet. By the time he was done, he hugged his friend tight.
guine
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Sleet Tempest Snape
Noble Vampire
Online
Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 1:48 pm
General Benitoite
Setting up a tent was not something he'd ever had experience with, the very idea of going camping was laughable for the ashen blond. With his fear of spiders, not that anyone here knew of it, the idea of going out into the woods and pitching a tent was impossible. It was one of those things which would never happen, unless every spider on Earth were somehow killed.
That being said the General was not finding this tent building to be easy, but he at least wasn't botching it completely. Some of the reason he wasn't totally messing up was that he was watching other people, he was looking at how others were piecing together their tents and following what he saw.
As he worked he continued to watch the others around him, taking in what was going on, but he was also looking to see which people were familiar to him. He wanted to make sure that everyone at the meeting still seemed to be here - with the teams.
He hated the Rift, and elusive youma, and Axinite’s fascination with elusive youma in the Rift. He hated Senshi, be they enemy or ally, and what they’d made of his life. He hated his brothers, and sometimes his mother, and the reminders of a childhood long gone. He hated all the obligations set before him as a General of the Negaverse, the knowledge, the responsibility. He hated the memories that frequently stirred in the back of his mind — brown curls and blood and lifeless hazel eyes.
Often, he wondered at the effect Chaos had on his anger, if it fed on the darkness of his hatred, made it stronger than it would be otherwise, an overwhelming cascade of aggravation and fury.
There was a point he didn’t always reach, when the rage grew beyond his ability to process, that he exhausted himself and could no longer sustain his hateful moods. Resentment faded, passion declined, and he felt like little more than a tired, empty shell of himself.
He felt a bit like that as they descended down to camp. Feet on the ground, no longer at risk of falling off a ledge, Aquamarine experienced a mild burst of relief before that, too, puttered into nothing.
Why had he agreed to this again?
Oh, right.
Aquamarine turned to Jet — the only thing that ever made any sense, even when he made no sense at all.
“You can take a break and let me look at your shoulder, you know,” Cymophane said, finding a semi-comfortable spot nearby to sit, and letting his voice carry over to Reidite, who the comment was meant for.
But he couldn’t tear his eyes away from Kamacite and Faustite, at least until he knew Kamacite was well. The hug was irritating in a way he could not explain, except that he kept imagining Faustite slapping Kamacite across the face.
Fortunately, Cymophane was proficient in the art of disguising all negative emotions beneath a smile.
“Kamacite! I can look at your shoulder, too,” he said, more than pleased to interrupt. “Unless you think you should go to the medical tent. I only know basic first aid.”
Guine
Watching and talking
Strickenized
Intense staring
Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 7:51 pm
Super Corrupt Valeria
When she arrived in the new area the pink haired corrupt took the time to look around. T ents, so they were to sleep in tents, well that really didn't appeal to her. It didn't seem safe, at least not for corrupt senshi such as herself. As she thought about that her gaze was just about to pass over another tent - but stopped. A medical tent of some sort it seemed. Someone dressed like a plague doctor seemed to be running things as well.
Deciding that was the best place to be the corrupt senshi of brains hurried herself right on over. "Medical school or a doctor?" She questioned the general, already shifting her personal bag and removing it from her shoulder. "I brought some medications with me, nothing you can't get over the counter. I can't exactly go stealing from a pharmacy." At least not without being caught. She knew she could, if she really wanted, teleport right into a pharmacy and rip it off but she hadn't. "It's not a lot but I have a lot of first aid supplies as well." If it was needed of course. She was looking to help in the one way she knew how.
Kamacite remained sitting until he saw Faustite approaching and carefully stood so as not to do something stupid like trip over his robes. It was lucky that he was so focused on not making a fool of himself that he didn’t have a chance to flinch when Faustite reached for him and pulled him into a tight embrace.
The response was immediate, of course, and he wrapped his good arm around his friend, pleased to see that he was still doing relatively well, although he seemed more agitated than-- no, Faustite usually seemed agitated, he seemed more flustered than usual.
“Are you okay?” he asked quietly, gently rubbing at Faustite’s back to try and soothe him from whatever was bothering him. He could hear Cymophane close by, and glanced over at his other friend when he offered to look at his shoulder.
“Cymophane… I don’t mind you looking,” he said quickly, which was another way of saying no, he did not want to go to the medical tent. He’d had a long enough day with so many people he didn’t know, or knew from bad experiences.
The medical tent was one of the first to go up and Arseno was designated to help with patching people up and other small things. It had surprised him a little, he had been yelled at for "sleeping" at the briefing. Perhaps he had proved his worth. Though he was sure that Ödön had done more than he did. And perched on the top of the tent on one of the poles was where the Youma was resting, looking around at the group of Agents occasionally.
It didn't seem scared, though Arseno knew that it should be cautious. Perhaps it trusted all of them too much. He might have to give it some cautionary advice, if it could understand that much.
After working for a bit he moved the mask on his face down and rubbed his head a bit. Even if he weren't already exhausted from medical school, he felt like he needed to nap for 20 minutes just to get a boost. It was then that a Corrupt wandered in and started to speak to him. "Medical school. Unfortunately I'm just past the first year." He said, giving her a weary smile. "I would appreciate any help that I can get. The Youma out there is my personal one so don't worry about it." A low bwarp sound could be heard. "You're skills will definitely be useful. And, I hate to ask this, but we might need to take turns sleeping to make sure we get to everyone."
Even if they were still in the Rift, Eveite was certainly glad that she was now on what could be considered "solid" ground. Though an earthquake could pass through and shake the entire thing up, at least they weren't having to deal with holes in the walls or narrow pathways where one wrong step could lead to one falling to their doom. That General had been extremely lucky he had been caught!
She had used this time, after setting up a tent and starting to write down her notes in her tablet. There wasn't much, she hadn't been there with the bat Youma that had been interrogated and assumed to be the one they were looking for. She had mostly joined the others and then rappelled down the side, grateful that she no longer had to look over the edge.
After she was done, she stretched and started to wander, spotting a familiar General that she had been talking to at the briefing and moved over to her. "So, how was the combat? Doesn't look like there were too many Youma you guys had to fight. That's lucky. I almost wish I could have joined you." She said with a chuckle.
Infinities
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Sleet Tempest Snape
Noble Vampire
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Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 8:38 pm
Super Corrupt Valeria
"Ahh, I've heard it's hard medical school. Most of my family is medical. I'm in school to become a pharmacist and I'm an intern in a pharmacy." Which meant she was doing a lot of schooling as well, simnilar to the other in fact. She just had a different focus than he did but it was stil la sort of med school. She knew what he was going through, without a doubt, and was in a similar state really.
"I'd love to help in whatever way I can. I think we should stickj together and help each other. You're tired looking and I know I'm a bit tired as well." A bit tired? She was just plain tired, but she was used to it sadly. School took a toll on a person but she also knew it would pay off in the end. "Perhaps, once this is over, if you need help I could arrange for you and family members of mine to meet up." Since, as she'd said, most of her family was medical of some sort. It might help him if he needed it.
Slowly she looked about before nodding her head. "We're safe here...where slkeeping is safe for someone like myself?" A corrupt senshi she meant. She was sure she didn't need to state that though, she was sure the General knew what she meant. Down here was not safe for her sort and she wasn't sure she woulkd be safe here with people sleeping, or when she went to sleep.
Super Sailor Nembus couldn't help being the slightest bit nervous about the lieutenant she had grabbed the hand of; something about his gaze seemed a bit shaken in the way she often felt, and she found herself not necessarily willing to part with him the moment they hit base camp. He might need someone to talk to. Guide him, maybe.
Maybe she was more suited to this leader thing than she thought. She had been a leader at some point, apparently.
... That felt frightening.
She bet her actual underling was around here somewhere. Perhaps she should ask him how well he had fought if he showed his face. Faustite had said she was supposed to be evaluating him for his fit to either Special Operations or Infiltration. This wouldn't be a good place to watch for any finesse, but--
"So, Ransomite," she turned her attention to the lieutenant, looking him over and burying any thoughts of Albite for the moment. "Do you think you need to see the medical tent, or do you think a nice night of rest will shake that off?"
She didn't know the first thing about setting up tents. Thankfully, it seemed like others did, but, "Also, are you the type that roughs it, because," because she definitely wasn't.
Lavendulan arrived at the base camp along with the other members of the tracking team. It had been... uneventful; so to speak. Fortunately, the rappelling equipment was well enough made that nobody fell off the cliff as they descended into the epicenter of the scar.
Like before, everyone was split into groups of their own making. Some helped with the tents while others assisted Arsenopyrite with first aid kits.
Unfortunately, Laven had little experience in either area; sure she could take care of Wolframite when he got sick or could put a bandaid on a knee scrape but she would rather not think about all the injuries otherwise the images would stick with her for weeks to come.
Instead, she wandered over to the canteen to volunteer to either cook or serve; whichever was needed most. During her first year and a half as a lieutenant, Laven had to either go to the cafeteria near the barracks for her meals or buy something non-perishable from the store on the rare occasion she was able to leave the Dark Kingdom.
However, when she and Wolframite had finished renovating a home in the ruins and they had an actual kitchen with a refrigerator of their own, she made use of the time she had to learn how to meal prep for both of them. The best part came when she finally earned her promotion and was able to freely leave the Dark Kingdom without a chaperone or taxi to begrudgingly waste energy to let her out of the cage she'd been living in.
Wolframite often brought home venison or gamy meat but her newfound freedom, and ability to breathe underwater, afforded her the luxury of freshly caught seafood without having to wait in line at the market or pay for it. It was great! Sadly she didn't think to bring anything on this mission, not that they would have enough to share with the number of volunteers that signed up to aid Faustite in hunting down the youma.
Nonetheless, Lavendulan had at least some skill when it came to cooking so long as someone brought a recipe for her to follow.
