RP [Die Screaming] Operation Glass Jaw

[SirSkully]

Dropped Ship - Exterior

Sat against the hull of the ruined ship, ass pressed into the uncomfortable ground, Lupin let out a forlorn sigh at how hopeless this all seemed. As far as the young prince was aware they were all on borrowed time, waiting out some unseen timer that'd pop their heads open like a tannerite-filled gourd at any moment, which made the thought of cracking open the MRE stowed away in his dump pouch seem even more appealing.

No need to die on an empty stomach, but instead of giving up the lad huffed and pulled himself upright, taking a few quiet steps past groups of sleeping marines to sidle up near Quilly, Tobias and the rest of that little gathering.

"You said something about turning these bombs off? figured something out yet?" the tall sniper quietly queried, slightly hunched over with both arms crossed over his pouch-laden chest, some of those pockets clearly holding a few little odds and ends he'd managed to pilfer from the piles of corpses when the sun was lower and he was able to skulk around under the cover of darkness.

With a slight frown his attention turned towards Quilly, leaning a little closer and wincing at the Elysian's bruised, slightly swollen nose.

"You should get Carina to look at that when you get a chance... I think that squidcat broke it a bit, it ain't going to be pleasant either way~" Lupin offered, giving the little bird an equally small shrug, orange eyes beaming down at the significantly shorter woman.

...Speaking of shortasses. how was Lt Valentine mixed up in all this? there seemed to be so many questions and never any answers, just information that lead to more questions.

It was quite infuriating.

 

[Alex Hart]

Tobias cocked his head as he spoke to Molotra. An ambush? Even if the marines were rested, they didn't have much to gain from staying in one place for too long, letting the Squids zero in on them and send more troops than they could handle. Every dead marine was another 'zombie' fighting for the enemy, after all. Burial wasn't just a courtesy, it was a way to keep the parasites from getting to bodies too quickly.

As he thought the words, an overlay appeared in his view. Invisible to everyone else, he saw the words as they appeared in front of him. [We've got to keep moving, sending a signal is more likely to get us overrun than anything else. The dropship's too easy to encircle, too indefensible of a location. Is there anything else usable here? Weapons we might be able to get the Sols to carry, for example?]

"You're right, of course, LT." The spook said amicably, casually flicking out a wrist blade at a moment where William was looking elsewhere. Out just long enough to make his point from earlier. "The mission remains and we've got to keep moving. I hope we can count on your expertise moving forwards, Rungo-Bungo."

"In regards to our little problem however..." Tobias tapped the side of his head near where the bomb was located. "I don't think we've much to worry about at least for now." As he spoke, the now-familiar actions were run through in his head, de-activating the bombs in the heads of William, Rungo, and Lupin. With Rungo, Tobias hesitated but a moment before fixing the bomb. The lizard, as disagreeable as he was, would be invaluable in terms of his experience surviving these operations.

 

[Soresu]

Fort Boulderton


<"'cept I don't fuckin' trust cats. Squidcats. Yamcats. Housecats. All tha'fuckin' same. Fuck 'an kill all they do."> one could almost imagine a grunt behind Carina's texted words over the three's secured little channel. The medic shifted from one arm to the other, the weapon going to either side each time to be ready even as she rested her chin on the opposite's fist while scanning the area.

<"What I want is food. Those lazy 'sleepin' fuckers been playin' at it for a while now. Bein' nice'an close to Custard Cap. Jus' watch for tha' tells."> adding to the last, Carina reached into a vest pocket. What she pulled out was a condensed food bar. Not the most appetizing thing in the world. The bio-degradable wrapping hadn't so much as made an audible crinkle in her hands from where the rest were. She'd learned her knife work well over however long her torturous sessions. Coupled with medical training and her sleight of hand.

While Tobias could see what she saw, the deft movement of nimble fingers. She could see through his eyes as well. Or eye. <"Tha' big bastard either put'em on detail for himself or someone else did it. Plus Lil'Spoon been hangin' close to'em. Fuckin' SOLs, when they're babies go-to authority like my Papi did titties whenever he saw'em. 'an he's young still."> that last a clear warning of the mentality of immature ID-SOL at this stage in their life.

Biting into the bar was like biting into some nougat that had started to harden and the faint, artificial taste of cinnamon left much to be desired in the granular texture. She muttered softly to herself, a complaint accompanied by a visible shudder while taking another bite. Even the lunches at school had been better than this shit.

 

[Charmaylarg Dufrain]

Dropship

The night progressed on. With a very short day-night cycle the coming of the dawn twilight was a welcome relief as piled leather chairs and debris wore down into the dreaded possibility of burning the ships insulation and all the problems that would bring until at the furthest point due south the dark-edged ever so sincerely away to allow in the first pre-sunrise as the horizon became more defined and the dark ebbed away into twilight and the cool night air began a less considerate spike in its humidity and temperature until at last the sun began to rise as a yellow-orange scowl.

Being directly facing the coming dawn, even the most exhausted choked or gagged themselves awake as the heat and lack of shade from the direct sun woke them like a heatlamp inches from their faces.

"Gah! Ghad damn!" Rhindol vocalized what many were thinking as he casually rolled over the still-hot embers of the fire and seeming not to notice as he stumbled to his feet; His leathery skin clearly tougher than it looked. Though clearly he was not irked by the heat as much as something else as he pawed at his face and then shoving one finger into a large teardrop-shaped nostril blew hard enough to eject flotsam and a large black centipede of some kind that had been trying to find a new home and had clearly woken him.

"Wha?" he murmured in clear confusion as he looked around in a daze over the much more noticeable crash site and the still bodies only a stones throw away.

"Shit! We crashed?!" Patting himself down the mutant plopped himself down unceremoniously down.

Right onto of the still fractured and injured arm of one of the barely lucid marines who flailed and screamed before he not too eagerly adjusted one cheek for the marine to wrench his arm out and cradle it in a near fetal position.

"Sorry, chum."

Eventually, the rest of the marines had woken and began to silently linger about aimlessly or eager with wilting enthusiasm on protein bars. A few more scrupulous or pragmatic depending on the point of view scrounged from the dead and pocketed everything from weapons to ammo to even boots or socks in some occasions.

Few had the motivation to do more for the dead than drag them into them under the wing of the dropship; Having no energy to dig the hard-packed rocky ground.

Eventually when it became clear nobodies head was going to explode the group started out under the sun towards a distant objective out of sight where a city should somewhere be and friendlies should be investing.

Under the sun they marched for hours at a time; Boots shuffling as men and the few remaining women found little energy to more than stagger on looking at their feet or grunt out a quiet complaint. The mental exhaustion tolled more than the physical as most simple zoned out and followed the group for miles at a time. The enemy, always a distant threat never seemed to be far away as occasionally distant silhouettes or skylined figures ran faster than any nepleslian man could manage; Blissfully always at a distance and never close enough to notice them as they patrolled or struck out.

It was dodging one of these very patrols that the first marine finally looked up enough to see the once distant skylines of unnatural archeotexture now loomed imposingly over them. The city. if it could still be called one, was a single dot of once civilization surrounded on all sides by inhospitible rocky desert. Even the outskirts of the crumbling metropolis were dry and barren; The mishu not as dependent on more hospitible climates as good and honest Nepleslian folk.

One small repreave at least was that the tempeture has dropped signifigantly and despite the humidity a refreshing breeze brought the metalic taste of salt and copper on the wind hinting that the city still bordered something resembling the sea.

With the last rays of day closing and fatigue running high most simply came to the unspoken agreement to break down for the night. Their current location sat just overlooking a dropoff where a tunnel and bridge had collapsed and leaving a large several hundred feet before the city began to cluster into tightyl packed buildings no more than a stones throw distant from one another; Where they would at least have some warning.

Their home for the night; The remains of a once two-storry affair was wider than it was tall. Its aparent use was lost to any of them with half of it collapsed but with an entranceway large enough to fit an outrider through and a wide open area most had deemed was some kind of lobby devoid of traditional humanoid furniture it was large enough for the marines to throw their gear down and simply collapse.

As the final rays of the sun crept down watch duty was reluctantly pulled. The first couple watches being made up of Carina, Tobias, Otto, Lupin, Molotra, and Quilly gave them enough time to get their bearings, converse, disseminate the situation, plan, or simply burn the night away before the final watch with Rungo, Rhindol and Sebastian broke the dawn...

 

[Primitive Polygon]

Journey across barren sands

Molotra found themselves daydreaming, focusing on the subtle rattle of her cooling fan as it blew through holes cut into her backpack, up through her armour and out the confines of her neck brace. It was stolen from the cockpit of course, hardwired to one of those hidden batteries... Carrying the ammo and food supplies, like a literal human fridge, that let them escape the jealous ire of the others for now, at least... Didn't really help this damn sand from getting everywhere, or the gravel rattling up through her suspension, and into the nubs of her organic legs. Hole in her chest was itching again.

Distracted themselves by focusing on the others. Lupin seemed to be taking this all a bit well, and it kind of annoyed her a little. Made her wonder if there was more to that weird genetically altered property of his, she had experienced back on the ship...

Rhindol... Well, he was a total bastard, but she almost lulled herself into the comfort that he was their bastard, and she was glad their enemies would have to face him. Maybe this was one of those unity through suffering things?...

Quilly... That pocket-sized pigeon bitch made them ten times more envious. She could walk, she could fly, and she was attractive, even with that busted up nose.

Another daydream, brought on by the nagging bolt-supports sending vibrations up the tank's spine. What would it be like, if she just got inertialess drives and flew around? Like that annoying girl? Instead of these damn track-legs? It would save learning to walk...

"...BIRD! YOU SMELL LIKE FRIED CHICKEN!" An annoyed grunt as the girl moved past, followed by the clanking of armour plates whilst their arms shifted around.

Molo wanted them to come sit in her backpack. Come get cooled down. Snuggle in and get comfy. Bitch.

Ruins

Thankful to be in the shade, and thankful the ammo hadn't cooked off and exploded, Molo settled into the dark like the timid little spider they were named after.

Mechanical arm creaked too much. Some duct tape made it into a fixture for that rocket launcher she still had, and left it at that.

<"Tobias... Do you have a plan?..."> She cast over the mindware net, silently. <"You disarmed everybody... So you know who to trust, right?...">

"Haven't got any oil. But tell me if you need a recharge..." Handed Carina a spare clip of ammo, and an oaty flapjack type thing. There was that kind of knowing look that one cyborg gives another. "...Things could get... hairy."

Didn't have the imagination to figure out if there was some conspiracy going on. But the tension was there. The feeling something could erupt even before they met the squidcats in a fight again.

 

[Arbitrated]

Dropped Shit

Quilly had apparently collapsed at some point in the night, because the next thing she remembered, one of the soldiers was picking the Elysian up and carrying her over-the-shoulder to the bodypile. Confusion turned to alarm once the bird realized she'd been upside down and had the rather unpleasant smell of battlefield backside forced into her face, and hacked up a callout.

"Oi, leggo of me! I'm still kickin' you oaf!"

With that brief instance of confusion resolved - and some disgruntled grumbling as the wingless moron basically dropped the stiff Elysian on the ground instantly, making her land hard on her arm - Quilly managed to orient herself. Stretching out her neck as she returned to the living, she threw one last statement. "You should check for a pulse n' all that next time, punk."

A trek from one hellhole to another

As the heat rose, the bird found herself starting to cook. The high temperatures were a bit of a pain in the ass here, not enough breeze yet. Too much humidity. And plenty of injuries, too many for the proper medical supplies to take care of. Despite the animosity between the various walks of life at play here, most of these soldiers knew that sticking together was their only hope for survival... At least until they found someone to sell the group off to.

The islander solved multiple problems at the same time by tearing off more of her shirt into improvised bandages. What had started as a decently-covering out of date uniform was stripped down to enough cloth to stop the men from staring 24/7 - or whatever the hell the equivalent was for this place - at the Quail's chest. She's pretty sure at least two of 'em were bullshitting her with asking for bandages, anyways. Whatever.

One the breeze finally DID come through, ruffling the unkempt plumage of the Quail's wings, Quilly almost felt excited again - she hadn't had a chance to fly ever since she and the rest of her companions arrived at that weird storm-dream-place, and considering the fact that she woke up defeathered and in a frozen tube, she had no idea when those muscles were used last. This wind felt promising, though, and the homely scent of the ocean caused the Elysian to start daydreaming, just a bit. Just enough to nearly trip over Molotra as the 'spacer shouted at her.

"Ah shit you can smell anything in this damn weather? Shit's all clogged up here. When's the last time ya had a shower? Don't answer that, Rhindol still has the record," Quilly retorted, responding... Probably well to the insult? She's heard far worse from drunks, morons, and idiotic-to-suicidal-levels tourists.

All she needed was to survive for another night. Hopefully, there's a way off this rock in that city... One that ain't coated in squid goo.

 

[Alex Hart]

Desert March

As the sun beat down on Tobias' head, he checked the ammunition remaining in his shotgun as the assault rifle beat against his waist on a sling. It was the third time in as many hours that he'd gone through this routine, but it was all he could do to stay properly alert as most of the soldiers began to fade in and out of wariness. The Mishhu patrols hadn't bothered them thus far, but that didn't mean they wouldn't start. The hoots of some of the soldiers stirred him from his work as he glanced to one side and saw the Elysian demolitionist all but bare-chested.

The operator gave a shrug, mostly to himself. The desert was hot and it seemed like the feathers on Quilly's wings had begun to regrow, doubtless adding heat. Shaking his head for a moment after noticing he'd been staring at the group for a little too long, the operator began to take stock of the situation. There couldn't be more than fifteen or twenty of them left, all told, of the survivors from the dropship. They were running short on everything from food and ammunition to medical supplies. Short of scavenging what they could find in the city, they'd run dry in two days, give or take.

Whatever they found in that city, he just hoped it either got them off the planet or gave them some clue about why they'd been stuffed into a penal battalion in the first place. Preferably both.

Ruins of a long war

Tobias had plonked himself down on a piece of rubble just large enough to serve as something of a makeshift bench, one knee propped up with his weapon resting against it. About half of the group, maybe a little more, was asleep now, with most of the clique from the Small Death, plus one Elysian, on watch. As he stared out into the night, which appeared all but as clear as day from his implants, he heard the banter between Molotra and Quilly and gave a small laugh.

"It looks like none of us are fried yet, no thanks to that march. Still, I'll be thankful if we find some place with water to at least wash up." He said to the two as he pondered the situation and sent a response to the Freespacer.

<"Unless we run across any more radiation traces, we're pretty much in the dark from here on out, I hate to say. We either find a way off this rock, find a clue, or find a bullet for ourselves. As for the others, I don't trust them as far as I can throw them, but if it comes to it we can make a demonstration of it to show that we're quite capable of detonating the bombs to bring them in line. After all, they're just spoofed, not physically disarmed.">

 

[Soresu]

Carina had pilfered a spare shirt for herself, cutting it along its length, all precision at the task. Once completed, the Medic had wound the fabric in a curious fashion about her head and face. Reminiscent of something one would see from the rare Iromakuanhe who ventured out into the sector. Carefully and in a measured amount, she had wetted it down just a little before going on the march. The impromptu shemagh breathed, evaporated sweat and wicked it away.

The medical kit she kept, guarded doggedly against any who didn't need a damn thing beyond looking for a fix. Supplies were limited, and she doled out enough to keep them functioning. No more, no less. Once one of them had drifted close to her, eyeing the hard case and all she had to do was unsheath her knife a quarter of an inch in a warning. They had seen her throw the thing at an NMX Neko and all but kill the thing from some distance.

After that, they didn't screw with her. But as they trudged on ward, her mind wandered, darkened. Back before the whole shitstorm had begun, when the Reds mysteriously began dying off, Carina had suspected one of the IPG fucks picking them off. Bit by bit. That idea had come to mind now, fewer mouths to feed, less water, more ammunition, supplies, and less strain on what she had on hand to patch them all up. It caused her to stop for a scant moment, why in the hell was she thinking that way?

With a muttered curse, and the seething thought that it sounded like something that crazy bitch Locust would do she carried on. Carina mentioned her concerns to Tobias, using their silent communications method, Molotra included, the medic had drawn some of the same conclusions as the IPG man.

Once they had arrived in the shade, and Molotra had snuck her a meal and spare ammo, the Medic had clapped the rolling tank on the shoulder. If she had done it hard, there may have been the sound of a clank, instead in thanks, Carina had taken her canteen, unscrewed the cap, and passed it to the 'spacer. Offering a drink of water, from her youth she had learned it was a gesture amongst them. Friendship or perhaps allies. It was all foggy, the red-headed gypsy Free Folk woman she had learned it from had been close to batshit insane to begin with. In an argumentive loop with one of those towering automata at the end.

"Mmm... chicken, fuckin' fried, maybe a side or two. Big'ol Dr. Baus plenty'a ice." the glint in her veiled eyes as she looked to the Elysian, her hands up, claw-like making grabbing motions. As if she were going to snatch the tiny bird up and gobble her down. Even stalking toward the demo-birb as if she meant to do it. But her tone betrayed her, the Fortunan native was fucking around. But she did listen to Tobias and Molotra's little conversation.

<'Right now, my medical supplies, our water, what food we have. I don't need to spell that out to you do I?'> warning the pair by way of their little communication network between the three. Once she had closed on the Elysian, the Nepleslian bumped the much smaller woman with a hip.

"Bettah keep them wings safe. Don' wanna wake up wit someone gnawin' on'em, yeah?" the chuckle that followed was companionable enough as the shemagh came down and was now worn like a scarf. Not a fashionable one, but still it had worked.

 

[SirSkully]

The Long Walk
As dry as his lips were, Lupin knew the last thing he should do was waste precious moisture licking them for momentary satisfaction, only for sand to stick to them and chap his lips further. Instead the sniper kept his eyes on the horizon, shielded from the elements by his long eyelashes as they flitted towards any sign of movement or noticeable change in temperature - though he had doubts that half of what he was seeing wasn't just a phantasm conjured up by his mind, sick and tired of seeing the same landscape for the many hours they marched.

At least the humidity was consistently low, that was something he focused on, though deep down the bastard prince knew it was more likely for them to be ambushed than to be the ones initiating combat.

The fucking squidcats owned this planet.

A House Divided (Multiple Times, by Gunfire)
Lupin's well-soiled shirt hung from a piece of jutting rebar in a vain attempt to air it out while the sniper picked away at dirt and grime in his rifle's action with the tip of his knife, carefully scraping away any caked on sediment that might cause issues should he need to use it again, hopefully to kill some wildlife. Though he hadn't yet come across any tracks or other signs of meaningful fauna for the entirety of today's march, and he knew it was more likely to be used in a gunfight than something as helpful as hunting.

The young man sighed and scratched at his bare, muscled back, the bandages Carina had applied to his sutured wounds having yellowed from sweat shed under the harsh desert sky, his shoulders red and raw from the man's rig grinding small bits of sand and sediment into his skin. It was rough, but Lupin counted himself lucky he wasn't one of the bodies left to rot and be picked apart by bugs under the wing of a dropship.

Lupin reassembled his rifle with a huff and held it behind his neck, wandering closer to the remaining members of Small Death as they peered out into the inky darkness, the concrete and stone still bleeding out the day's heat as Lupin's predatory eyes scanned their surroundings.

"I found some blocked off pipes earlier, probably attached to a rainwater tank, but they sounded... and smelt like they were full of bugs and gunk. So no luck there," Lupin offered, his broad chest falling with a little sigh as the sniper rotated his hips side to side with a few little cracks and pops.

"...I just realized how much I want a big, greasy bag of Akemi's right now, fuck~" Lupin admitted with a small grimace, slowly shouldering his rifle and pointing it skyward, dragging the glass across the sky as he scanned it for any signs of distant ships or really anything. Lupin's faintly glowing eyes briefly left his scope to offer the sole medic a quick little sidelong glance.

"Hey uh, 'Rina, my back doesn't burn anymore but would you mind giving it a look and taking those dirty bandages off? just to make sure I haven't popped too many stitches and well~" he spoke, pausing momentarily to frown and look back through his scope before continuing.

"I can't reach some of them~"

 

[Primitive Polygon]

Molotra gave Quilly a blank look as they took off their rebreather, shaded eyes clearly trying to figure out if that was supposed to be a Nepleslian insult or not. The showers in prison were mandatory! What a waste of water!... Sure, organic bodies were gross, but who the heck decided that was the one luxury they'd get? It didn't make rhino-balls any prettier...

...

Ah, heck. Now she'd been staring at the bird without saying anything for like three minutes straight. Tobais was talking to her brain during this daydream too, of course, but it didn't save her from what looked like plain contempt from the outside.

"...Small... talk..." The brown-haired tank addressed it like a foreign concept, looking around and then gulping down. "Apologies. It's not a bad smell. All of you kind of just smell like meat to me."

Human sentence function complete.

Before she could go back to staring off into space, there was a cup of water placed into her hand, with an entire Carina attached to it. Molo made her best attempt at a smile, recognising the gesture, though it was only half-effective.

"...We should have cooked the parasite tails and kept them." An off-hand remark, looking down into the faint shimmer of the liquid. "...I bet you can eat Mishhuvurthyar, too, if you avoid the tentacles... Well, maybe if we can find a lake, we can condense the salt water into fresh water, at least..."

She wanted that ambush, back at the crash site, specifically because of this supply situation. Now her mind was going to dark places. There weren't exactly a lot of plants on this rock, and the mish were well known for eating humans. What if... That's the rations they ended up looting?... It's was all in good humour now, but was it going to stay that way?...

<"This planet seems like it was a pit even before the squids came. I don't know if we have a lot of options here, other than continuing to attack them."> Her digital voice again sounded through the hidden coms. <"The three of us should probably searching for radio traffic or at least EM fields. This planet is freaking dead otherwise. There is nothing.">

Offering the last half of her water to Lupin with a concerned glance, the next action was taking his shirt and shoving it into her air-cooled backpack.

"Give me your boots too, if you feel like it." More small talk. But it felt better than just meandering around, waiting for death. "Alternative; Stick your feet in... You did it before... Well, in... cyberspace, or... Whatever that was.... That... happened, right?..."

What even was 'real' or 'normal' anymore?...

 

[Soresu]

Carina had moved on from messing with the soul-stealing Islander to Lupin. Their sniper, and her source of awkwardness. This she internalized, eyes sharpening at the bandages before giving him a stern look. "Y'shoulda came t'me soonah'y know?" having come up to him, the medic prodded one of his cheeks, noting the strong jaw and cheekbones. It caused her heart to flutter just a little. But soon Carina had begun to carefully remove the bandages. All the while she cursed softly to herself. Murmuring of possibilities at what lay under them.

With a look of disgust, they were tossed aside. Looking at her handiwork, she leaned forward, her little nose taking a sniff at them. Which may have seemed odd to most, if not all of those without medical training. It was an age-old test. The smell of unwashed body, salt, but only the faint tell-tale sign of what she was watching for hit her nose. Her resulting sigh was loud, an 'Ughhhhh' following while laying a warm finger on his bare back. She let it trace down the skin, continuing her inspecting. The sites were red and inflamed.

But the stitching held well enough. The toughed polymer case cracked open, being sure the other prisoners did not see just how much was left she took a saline bulb out. Carina, with tenderness and care, cleaned them, then with a warning, "Prepah' for pain," he'd feel an intense stinging sensation as the antiseptic from the bottle she now held was spritzed on them. Carina left his back open to the air for a while before continuing. Explaining that it'd help to air them out every now and then.

Afterward, the job finished, professionally done, he was bandaged again albeit more lightly than before due to dwindling supplies. Then quick as a viper, or a Locust, she had nailed him with an injector to the arm. It was only a half-dose of anti-biotics. It'd have to do. With an anti-inflammatory pill thrown in and his favorite flavor of their small supply of lollipops that for some strange fucking reason was included in all of the second generation medical kits.

Before closing the kit, one of the prisoners had made a grab for the sweet treats only to meet her steel-like grip on their wrist. As they tried to yank away, cursing at her as pressure was slowly applied to the point of actual pain. A flat, almost dead look in her eyes sent a very obvious message that scared the man to silence once she let him slink off to lick his wounds in humiliation. A five-foot, seven-inch tall girl not even twenty had just intimidated a hardened criminal with a stare and deadly grip.

"Dunno about those parasites... fuckahs made'a hemosynthetic shit. Might be poisonous or somethin'. Same for the squids. 'cept them that look like crabs... fuckin' hell, now I want some lobstah from Fortuna. Some thyme, salt'n pepper, garlic, paprika rosemary'n parsley. 'an butter. Always tha'butter."

She visibly gulped at the thought. And hinting at the fact she may know how to cook. "Grill'em, use'dat garlic butter sauce on'em... roasted pot-- FUCK." the medic threw her hands up in frustration. "Now I'm fuckin' hungry... If I want some food, it ain't gonna be no Akemi's. I want tha' good shit. Or... well, Akemi's got some fuckin' fantastic onion rings with that spicy dippin' sauce."

Now beside Lupin who had been fiddling with his rifle, she had sat close to him. Knees almost touching. Her gaze was like a hawk as she eyed everyone after her tirade on gourmet cooking.

<' Well, my friend pretty much told me I'm a living communications system.'> she had kept the capabilities she had been slowly discovering and learning to control mostly to herself. Molotra had the right of it.

<'Water is going to be an issue, food, ammunition, and my supplies are in a tight spot as far as medicine is concerned. I had to give Lupin only half a dose of anti-biotics. Those stitches were beginning to get infected. This weather isn't helping and we need him healthy. He's part of our group. Rest of'em...'> her wording began to change, becoming more matter of fact, pragmatic, <'Are expendable. 'member the start of our little adventure there in the jungle, Tobias?'> dropping the hint. She had come to the conclusion accidents needed to start happening sooner or later as they went.

And told them that. The prisoners were necessary for now. But ultimately expendable and a way of shoring up their dwindling supplies. Carina, her profession giving her insight into the biology of those around her summed things up for Molotra, asking the squeaky tonk of doom just how much water rationing would be necessary. The Free Folk, for all their insanity, were masters of making the most out of what they could find. And water was more precious than gold.

But she also passed on an idea, however little. Dig a hole, line it, insulate it and place fabric or some form of tarp over the hole. Hopefully capturing just a little condensation from the cold night air. It wouldn't be much, perhaps almost ineffectual. But every drop counted. Her ingenuity was nowhere near that of the Folk, but options were limited.

 

[Charmaylarg Dufrain]

Shelter

With the coming of the dawn the predicted early morning humidity was undercut with a cool breeze from the unseen sea somwhere on the other side of the strange city with its asymmetrical and bulbous buildings. Even the sun was eventually smothered as dark and mustard-tinted clouds slowly rolled in until the first hour of daylight was already a daur overcast with slowly dropping tempetures indicating at least some sort of rain for the more meteorological of the marines.

While Carina was rubbing lupins bare boy-cheeks with lotion and quilly was preening her few feathers the distant city came partially to life.

Distant and distorted by the buildings was the hammering staccato of on again off again weapons fire out of site as a just barely perceivable firefight started and then faded just as quickly proving that at least they weren't the only ones in the city as of yet. At the heed of the call of battle, even a distant one, the rest of the marines stirred like the waking dead.

"Ghuuhr" was the most vocal response as the established loudest member of the team woke and rolled his massive rhinoceros ass over to smother another still sleeping marine as Rhiondol shifted close to five hundred pounds of bulk onto the man by sitting up.

"Sorry, mate." The mutant grunted, shifting one cheek off of the man's head unapologetically, and rolled off of him.

The marine under him neither moved nor struggled from the suffocating bulk and lay as still as the grave even as the curious mutant nudged him with a massive size-35 boot with more than an unnecessary amount of his toe-heel. Even then when the marine didnt move the mutant visibly panicked; Looking around as if he could hide the body after one of the other groggy marines commented that the mutant had 'broken his neck with his giant mutant ass'.

"Nah, what if'n its them bombs?" was the mutants defense as he tapped one of his four meaty fingers against his temple then flinched as if that alone would set off the charge under his brainspider. After the commotion, however, it became aware that the dead marine wasnt alone; Four others simply lay unmoving in their midst with no sign of deformity in their heads to indicate any explosives.

Outside the building the first drops of drizzling rain started to fall; Reminding a couple in their midst of other times, now years past somehow, on a world so far away in the jungle rain...

 

[SirSkully]

Shelter
"I appreciate the offer Molotra but I can't take you up on that in good conscience, it's bad enough I have Carina fussing over me," the shirtless prince frowned before letting out a little hiss as his wounds were poked and prodded, gritting his jaw to hold in any further noises. He couldn't be looking like a lightweight now of all times, everyone needed to prove they could keep pulling their own weight and as solid as he felt the Small Death were with each other he couldn't speak for what the other cliques and groups that'd formed were thinking of resorting to.

All these hidden agendas and divided groups, fuck, it was just like school all over again.

Once his wounds had aired out a bit and Carina decided to sit real close to him Lupin's mocha complexion became tinted with a faint shade of pink, the sniper giving an awkward chuckle at nothing in particular before reaching for his shirt, covering up his muscled torso and tucking in his arms in an attempt to not take up too much space in the already cramped shelter. His eyes stared off into the night solemnly before drifting down to his scuffed boots with a sigh.

"I'll tell you what I really miss, a scalding hot shower and some loud music~"

Murder Mystery Morning
The building commotion woke Lupin with a rather unceremonious snort as his eyes fluttered open, despite everything he felt well rested and alert enough to rip his head from the soft, unexpected pillow that he'd made out of one of Quilly's thighs during the night. The lad sat bolt-upright and blinked the sleep out of his eyes, reaching for his knife when the lack of Carina's presence became apparent, and he began piecing together that Rhindol was arguing with another marine over a corpse.

"Shit... shit hey wake up," Lupin barked out with a dry throat, shaking the others by their shoulders in an attempt to rouse them. Lupin stared out into the rain for a thoughtful moment before moving over towards the commotion, flipping his knife around into a wary ice-pick grip as he began noticing the other bodies.

"...the fuck happened here?" he murmured, looking from one of the other marines to Rhindol with one eyebrow cocked, silently kneeling down to inspect a body closer, checking for any obvious wounds.

He checked the eyes for any burst blood vessels, the mouth for any odd discoloration and the neck for any kind of odd marks, pinching into the flesh with his free hand to check for signs of what he expected was a broken neck. "You seen our Medic? she wasn't here when I woke up just now," the sniper asked with a concerned frown, hand still feeling the corpse's neck as he looked up at the remaining marines and Rhindol, knuckles white as they gripped around his knife.

 

[Primitive Polygon]

Just Outside

Molotra's first thought upon waking was to gather up what empty ammo cans were in their backpack and use them to catch the rain- She was getting kind of jealous of Carina... But their idea about making a makeshift condenser was a good one, as their did seem to be an aquifer- But, heck, this planet had been bombed by all sorts in the last couple of years, so heck knew what was in the topsoil? The tank would probably survive the toxicity, but she wasn't sure about Tobias or the bird.

Half way through this sleepy unpacking, that's when the commotion started back inside the building.

"Hey, where is Carina?!" She made a show of asking for the woman manually, observing the bodies from just within the door frame. No point in cluing the others in that they had some kind of secret brain-radio network.... Heck, they might have just ran away and said nothing, if Lupin didn't look like he was on the defensive. "She's the medic! What the fuck happened!?"

Looking at the situation, the Rhino being apparently the only person unharmed, well... Just like the water, did toxicity and genetic engineering have something to do with this?...

"...It's... It's not this freaking place is it?... They don't look like they have radiation burns... Maybe some kind of toxin from the parasite attack?..."

The giant mutant oaf wasn't actually cunning enough to kill a bunch of people, and then lampshade hang it, to proclaim his innocence, was he?...

<'....Got four bodies here, acting cap'.'> Her virtual voice sounded even more deadbeat than her meatspace voice. Nothing like this phased them anymore. She'd been so busy concentrating on survival, there had been little time to think about the meaning of any of these strange happenings. <'....Think it's time to burn our linkages and get the hell out of here?... Running towards that firefight seems stupid, but at least we'll have friendlies freaking somewhere in that direction...'>

She wasn't going to sugar coat it. Regardless of whether or not this was an actual crime, this was likely to turn into a impromptu acupuncture malpractice party at any minute. At least she knew which side the squids were on.

 

[Soresu]

Lupin's question would go unanswered... for the moment. The medic herself was out in the rain, swirling helmets back and forth to clean them as best as she could before filling them up. She lacked her rifle, but the pistol at her side, the holster situated in such a way for a quickdraw. Her armor was still on, but she appeared soaked which, given the situation yesterday was a bit of a godsend. The impromptu, poor man's shower selucing some of the grime and sweat away while going about her task with gusto.

<' Hey Rolo!'> her voice chipper over the little three-way network between 'spacer tank, IPG man, and medic. <'Can'ya whip something up for filtration? Or think we can do a quick boil for purification?'> she asked while returning to the safety of the little shelter. Short hair plastered to her forehead, Carina was putting helmets by her cybernetically enhanced ally. Until finally got a glimpse of what was going on having seemingly been oblivious. So focused on the water situation, a little mute function had gone into effect. I.E, just ignoring anyone and anything that did not immediately pertain to her survival.

But the bodies, the stench of what that entailed crinkled her nose. "Well," sitting the last helmet down, Carina shook her head. "Fuck." slicking back sopping hair and rainwater from her forehead and eyes, their medic knelt beside one of the bodies and began scrutinizing them. One she knew for certain hadn't died in the same manner. If being crushed by a giant mutant's ass which, coincidentally seemed to be its own weapon of mass destruction counted. Yet every time the bastard woke up, or was near anyone they always seemed to get hurt. Or in this case, one actually died.

But being thorough, she turned one of the corpses' chins aside, looking at the back of their heads. Right around where one had gone off when they had first seen it happened months ago. Jamming a thumb in Rhindol's direction, her eyes meanwhile continued going over each in turn with a methodical efficiency and apathetic demeanor. Dead bodies were no longer a squeamish thing for her, hadn't been for a while. And sure, Carina could feel some sympathy for the fallen, but also wondered what they had done to land themselves in a penal legion.

"The man with the WMD ass is right. No bombs went off. Or we'd be seein' cherry pie." having mostly even ignored Lupin's own investigation. From her inspection, she rested her fingertips along the sides of the neck, moving down slowly, patting almost and moving the head back and forth. Whatever good cheer she had, had now fled her at the grim task. But in some dark recess of her mind was a pleasing notion of fewer mouths to feed and parched throats to slake the thirst of. It also served as a reminder that she was surrounded by people who landed themselves in this outfit. Murderers, deserters, she had to sleep with her weapon at the ready every day or night and always lightly. But here was another physical, and very tangible reminder of that fact. People had died and were now laid out before her.

"I'mma need some more light." muttering to herself almost absently. " 'ey big dude!" her voice raised, looking up and toward Rhindol, "Ya'gotta light?"

 

[Alex Hart]

Ukk Murder Mysteries

Tobias weighed the situation as he made his way over to the site of the deaths. The four who had died of mysterious causes seemed almost strangely peaceful, he thought to himself. Perhaps they were the lucky ones, passing without struggle in the night, able to rest rather than continue on with the struggle to survive in this hostile and alien landscape with enemies on all sides.

The operator made his way to Carina's side, proffering the flashlight from his M3 rifle. "Might be a bit more useful than a lighter." He simply said as he gazed at the dead bodies. Whatever the medic found, it would be sure to give them some clue as to what was picking them off. While she had pointed out the expendability of anyone not from their little group, the situation still worried Tobias.

The math of the situation was shifting, equations of force changing as each friendly was lost either to heat, enemy fire, or whatever was picking them off now. Conventional wisdom held that if numbers were to be unequal in a conflict, a superiority in firepower equal to the square of the inferiority in numbers would be required for victory. The last survivors of the dropship now held a quite considerable numbers disadvantage, and in a best-case scenario no disadvantage in firepower.

Gazing off in the direction of the distant firefight, Tobias sent his musings over the three-way commnet. <'Our supplies are going to last a bit longer now, but I don't like that we're not in control of whatever it is that's thinning us out. If we lose too many too soon, we won't have much of a chance against anything we run into. Linking up with friendly forces is a safe bet for survival, but I think we should move cautiously so as not to get drawn into a fight that will get us all killed.'>

 

[Charmaylarg Dufrain]

Shelter

"Whassing me!" Rhindol defended himself from the scrutinizing gazes of Lupin and others as he stomped in frustration; One massive boot crunching audibly on the fingers of the first corpse before letting out an eep and carefully backstepping in embarassment if only to knock over one of the helmets full of collected rain.

He carefully tried to position the helmet behind him and out of view as if nobody would notice before standing quietly behind the group and trying very hard not to get in the way.

Of the surviving twelve marines; Quilly, Molotra, Lupin, Tobias, and Carina made up the true innocents while Rhindol, Rungo, and six other convicts each were spread out as far as possible from one another with paranoid or outright hostile and accusatory glances being shared across the group. The seven true-convincts didnt share the investigative curiosity of the innocent minority and openly clutched to rifles and sidearms openly if not yet pointing them at each other.

With the exception of the mutants, four of the marines were ice cold while a fifth; Styrling 45. clutched in both hands visibly hyperventilated as he looked cautionusly at just about everyone as if he either had the worst poker face in the room or was the only one there not guilty of potential murder.

"What?!" His voice audibly peaked at Rungo whose gaze lingered on him clearly too long before passing on to someone else.
While the peanut gallery bristled and dwelled on conspiracy those that actually examined the corpses started at getting to the bottom of the mystery. The corpses of the four men were not close to one another and showed no clear pattern.

When the corspes were shifted off their sides of back more came to the fore however. Each man upon examination had a small blue-purple bruise around a barely visible puncture mark on the neck with coagulated and almost jelly-like blood that barely surfaced from the scab upon prodding as some kind of hyper-thicken coagulant made the puncture site incredibly thick and hard as the blood thickened and spread through the artery. More came to the mystery as each man also had some kind of visible stab wound somewhere on his body with three of the four having barely noticeable slits just under the armpit that angled up towards the heart and the fourth outright had a clear stab wound through his lower jaw and into his brain when he was turned over visible.

Each of the wounds did not show any signs of bleeding as the coagulant had turned their blood into jelly right before the coup'de'gra

The four clearly had not died from brainspiderexplodingitus Carina; The most medically trained amongst them was able to discern with some help from Tobias and Lupin. Before she could discover more, something else odd came to her attention.

It was barely noticeable at first when she released her hand from the fourth man's chin after tilting it up but her fingers seemed to tingle at the exposure when she brushed her fingers against his skin. It was dull at first; Written off as simple static discharge. But then more palpable as she wiggled her fingers and wrist and found the feeling of pins and needles traveling through her body and not just her fingers now.

Her hands, wrists, arms. Shoulders neck and torso, her feet began to go slightly numb and the uncertainty of staying on ones feet caused a slight sway as suddenly even the feeling in her face seemed to ebb and go numb as the light from Tobias' weapon seemed hazier as her vision slightly dimmed as her vision partially went foggy like the room was full of mist only too late for her to realize something was wrong as it rapidly overtook her.

"Hey, 's you alright?" Rhindols voice came in clear enough even as Carina seemed to find it hard to remember how to turn her neck to look around without the ability to feel as suddenly she was looking directly at the ceiling of the building. She could still see, if slightly impaired, and hear just perfectly; But her body seemed to react in all the wrong ways and to all the wrong signals.


When Carina toppled backwards she hit her head with an audible thump and on the ground. There was an odd twitch to her body as she raised her hand up and flopped it down, pulled a foot up as if to push herself up but only ended up with her foot sliding as her torso twisted and she seemed to be trying to work every facial muscle at once while her mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water.

The semblance of some kind of word, long and drawn out like a stroke victim or the heavily innebriated moaned out very unladylike from her throat.

Against one of the nearby walls the least together marine started hysterically sobbing half in terror as he clutched the 45. to his chest with a white kuckle grip.

 

[SirSkully]

Whodunnit?
Lupin tried to block out some of the commotion to better study the stab wound directly up into the heart of one victim. It was a technique he remembered his instructor Warrick Earp bringing up a few times, requiring a stiletto or some other long, thin blade to reach up into the poor bastard's chest cavity. Supposedly it was much more effective and immediate than going for the throat, while Lupin understood the theory behind it so far he'd only buried his blade in the neck of a neko however many days ago that'd been now.

The commotion ramped up enough to shake the cobwebs from Lupin's head, Lupin's head whipping around to meet the sudden movement out of his peripheral vision.

He paused, eyes as wide as dinner plates as they fell upon the sight of Carina thrashing around uncontrollably, no doubt doing a decent bit of harm to herself in the process. It was a horrid visage, the sassy young medic's tendons and muscles straining against themselves in what he could only recognise as a seizure of some variety.

"'Rina? Carina! shit~" Lupin gasped as he scooted over to her side, not knowing what to do but having enough sense to realize that if they did nothing she likely wouldn't be long for this world. Between her spasms he reached out to rip the much coveted medkit from Carina's side, cracking open the hard-shelled thing to rifle through what was left of it.

"There's gotta be uh-uh-uh adrenaline or something in here, right?!" he stammered out, seeing the skin around her lips turn somewhat blue as the young woman's eyes bulged from their sockets - remembering something vague about epipens and how they could be used to open up airways during allergic reactions.

One hand still rifling through the medkit he looked up at Tobias out of desperation, hoping the young, abandoned spook knew more about this stuff than he did, it's not like they could make the situation any worse.

"Do you have a better plan??"

 

[Arbitrated]

Emergency Meeting
Late to the party, as usual...


Quilly didn't wake up for a good minute or two after most of the other people were up - her self-supplied blanket of feathers thankfully still intact despite the multiple probably-hungry 'rines that hadn't, at time, been distracted with something else - namely a murderer in their midst. She felt one of her thighs was unusually warm, though. Not sure what that was about, she didn't sleep next to the fire (she'd learned that lesson already).

Unfortunately, despite the bird being entirely focused on herself, it seems somebody had chosen to get busy last night. Murderously busy.

After getting a brief explanation from Lupin and Tobias on what had happened, Quilly was thinking about what had happened. Carina was inspecting the corpses, but since it wasn't an obvious fight of some kind... Probably not Rhindol. The big wall of rhino-man didn't seem smart enough to think of a way to kill quietly - hell, he probably wouldn't even think it's possible. Unless.... Unless someone who was smart wanted him on their good side. On a place like this, someone like him is an invaluable boon.

The bird was disguising her thoughts with self-maintenance, making it hard to read what she was thinking about. She stopped as soon as Carina hit the floor, though. The medic was reacting to something in a... Unhealthy way, to put it like you'd tell a child.

"We're not sure what that is, be careful with touching her. Anybody got gloves? Hand coverings? Anything?" The bird asked, but was only met with equally-frightened stares from the other convicts. She wasn't good at this biological stuff, chemicals were better... This was definitely a chemical reaction, it was too fast, but was it allergic? Was it the squids trying to make them tear themselves apart, or another person's doing?

 

[Primitive Polygon]

"T-t-t-two op-options." Molotra stuttered, watching Lupin panic as he emptied out the medkit. The fact that the cool sniper was behaving so erratically clearly rattled them a little. She naturally had to know a bit about antibacterial affairs due to their own physiology, but this way way beyond their league... Unless, perhaps, the solution could lean on their other qualification? Extreme Yamatai paranoia? "This looks like... a poison attack... in which case somebody either brought it from the outside, or... Nekotech is all nanomachines, right? So this could be nanomachines? That's why Rhino boy isn't dead!?"

<"Carry-Girl, if you can hear this, if you have a better idea what the fuck is going on, talk to me!">

They didn't have to look far to get an iron rod- A piece of orange-crusted rebar did just fine.

Pulling their carapace upwards and off of their shoulders, they all got a shot of the rotund tank's stanky prisoner body- But also the spare batteries they had duct taped to their bodymeats this entire time.

The third ingredient- That long reel of wire from the dropship.

Winding the wire around the iron rod, the tank fashioned a large but crude electromagnet, placing it on the ground just seconds before completion.

"Okay! Somebody organic use this! I can't hold it whilst it is on!" She grunted, and then held her metallic right arm out. "...Bird... You wanna use my fake hand for anything after that, go ahead! This is my only idea, so tell me what to do!"