Nathan grimaces as the bug comes back in for the attack. As it penetrates his undersuit, his mouth opens to yell out an obscenity... but instead he freezes. his body rigid. And, due to the awkward angle he was in as he went to swipe at the bug, he slowly starts to tip over. He hits the ground in a puff of sand, knife still unsheathed from his gauntlet and rifle
#RuinsOfRakhana – September 5, 2016
clutched in his other hand. Now... now he's panicking. He tries to will his body to move, but alas it is to no avail.
Jason spins around as he hears the sound of Nathan's body kerplunk into the sand. A loud sigh and a roll of his eyes. "I'm not in the mood for your shit, Ten. Knock it off." he says, taking a few steps towards the man. "Come on. Let's fill up our canteens and get the hell out of here." he continues, poking at Nathan with his boot.
Ehanis hurries to Nathan's side, having been too slow to react to prevent him falling over. "Ten, are you alright?" she asks.
Nathan remains in his position on the ground, weirdly propped up by his arms and one knee. He is locked in the position he was trying to swat the bug in. "Hnng hnng hnnnnnnnnng!" he grunts at Jason's prodding with irritated noises.
Ehanis looks up at Jason. "I, uh, don't think he's kidding," she says. "The thing must have bitten him."
Jason blinks a couple times, the combination of the heat and the frustration of the situation beginning to settle in as a long, drawn out sigh escapes him. He prods at Nathan with his boot a few more times. "Really? Come on, Ten! What's rule #1 of any alien planet!? You don't fuck with the wildlife! Everyone knows that!" He turns his back to the pair and begins pacing towards the truck, kicking up a few piles of sand as he
does. "Fuck. Now what are we going to do?" he asks, snapping his attention back to Ehanis. "You don't think this shit is permanent, do you!?"
Nathan makes an estranged noise, trying his best to defend his case with eloquent words and evened points. "HNNNG, HNNG, HNNNNNNGGGG!" So well said.
Ehanis sighs. "Why do you think I know?" she says. "I sure hope it's not, because I don't see us draggin him all the way back without dying from exhaustion."
Jason groans loudly. "Take his canteen and see if you can give him some water or something...? I don't know, maybe it'll help..." he suggests. "And if not? We can't just sit around here waiting for it to wear off. Maybe we're not going to be able to drag him all the way back to camp, but we can at least try getting him somewhere so we can rest for the night-..." his gaze moves to Nathan and another sigh escapes him, "...and hope
Nathan groans inwardly, wanting to clench his eyes shut and try and wish this terrible dream away. Alas, it is not so. "Hnnng, hng hnnng..." he grunts apologetically. What he really wants though, right now, is someone to water his damn eyeballs.
Ehanis takes out Nathan's canteen from his armor. "We don't have to camp far from here anyway, right?" she says. "You'll have to carry him, though." She gives the canteen a gentle shake in order to check whether it has any water left.
Jason's eyes scan the distance as Ehanis checks the canteen. "I shouldn't have any problem dragging him around if I have to. But I don't want to waste this opportunity. We're hours away from camp. Which means the next time we head out- if there is a next time- we're going to have to travel even further if we're going to break new ground." He points towards the industrial smokestacks they saw from the top of the dune to the
north. "I think those old industrial buildings are our best chance at finding anything worth taking. I'd like to hit them up before we head home tomorrow, assuming this shit wears off..." he says, his glance briefly moving back towards Nathan. "But I think if we're looking for a safe spot to rest for the night-..." he raises his hand, pointing towards the south, "...The skyscrapers are probably our best bet. Can get off
the ground. Stay high and out of reach of anything looking for an easy meal... But they're in opposite directions and, considering we don't know how long we'll have to drag this sack of shit around for-..." he says through a grin as he looks to Nathan once more, hoping to lighten the situation somewhat despite the frustration, "...We're probably not going to be able to cover enough ground to hit both. Not unless we're
Ehanis unseals his helmet and takes it off. "We should probably not camp in a place sticking out like that," she says. "I don't want locals finding us by accident when we're sleeping." She uncaps, brings the canteen up to his mouth. "Two grunts for yes, one for no, will you be able to swallow the water?"
Jason gives a shake of his head. "I'm not too worried about the locals. As long as we don't make too much of a scene, I doubt we'll attract much attention. This is a big place. I'm more worried about the wildlife." he says, casting another point towards the skyscrapers, "At least out there, we can stay off the ground. Maybe hear anything coming to take a bite out of us before it reaches us." he suggests, though his attention
quickly shifts back in the direction of the industrial buildings, "But we need to make something happen. If we come back to the bunker empty handed, we pretty much just wasted an entire day. And like I said, I think our best chance at finding something, anything worth using is going to be in those buildings to the north." He steps over towards the truck, returning to his previous search for anything that might look
Nathan ponders this for a moment. A fine question, no doubt. Is it possible for him to swallow? He tests it out and, to his relief, is able to. "Hnng, hnng," he grunts in reply. However, this is quickly followed by a series of indignant grunts at being called a sack of shit.
Ehanis turns his head sideways and places a gloved hand against the side of the mouth nearest the ground. "Industrial building sounds like it'll contain the most useful stuff," she says. "Probably already picked clean, though." She tentatively pours a small amount of water into his mouth.
There doesn't seem to be anything left in the truck that wasn't destroyed either by Nathan's grenade or by whoever attacked the truck.
Jason sighs loudly as he sets his Revenant down on the back of the truck and begins to remove his helmet. "Yeah... Maybe. Still, it's all we have to go on." he says, setting his helmet down beside the machine gun. "Let's give him a few minutes and see if he snaps out of whatever-the-hell is going on with him-..." he gestures towards Nathan with his canteen, "...and if not, we'll make for the industrial buildings to set up camp
Day 1 (6PM). After an hour and a half of wandering through the burning hot desert, cresting dune after dune with the immobile Nathan in tow. There has been no sign of the industrial smokestacks since they started. Perhaps none of these dunes are as high as the one they climbed earlier, or perhaps their angle is just poor. The sands are mostly featureless, but a few bones can be seen scattered about here and there. The sun is
getting low in the west, but it is far from down yet. As they crest a particularly steep sand dune they find that on the other side is something of a pit in the sand, surrounded by a ridge on all sides. At the bottom lays a battered plastic case, a rotting arm still gripping the handle on it.
Nathan has done nothing but be dragged by Jason, occasionally grunting as his head clunks against a stray bone or rock.
Jason continues to drag Nathan. It's kind of cathartic, really. "Having a good time back there?" he asks with a smirk and a glance casted back over his shoulder, "Just hang in there, buddy. We'll be there in no time..." As his gaze travels down the dune, his eyes lock onto the plastic case. Then the rotting arm. "Well, that's a good sign..." he mutters to himself.
Ehanis looks towards the plastic case and nods. "I'll check it out," she says and jogs over to it. The asari carefully steps down along the pit's sides, raising her weapon towards the arm.
Nathan grunts, seemingly not finding being dragged around all that bad. "Hnnnnyg, hhng hnnnnng," he says, striking up conversation.
As Ehanis steps down into the pit some sand inevitably slides down the side with her, causing her to slide the last few meters until coming to a stop at the bottom. The case is about a meter wide, and half as tall, clearly meant to be carried relatively easily. The arm in question is badly decayed, but considering the desert heat it's hard to tell how long it might take for that to happen. More notably, most of it is still encased
in armor. Hardsuit armor. Yellow and black, badly scratched by sand and faded under the desert sand.
Ehanis yelps as she loses balance, but she manages to hold onto her weapon. "I'm fine," she says over comms, to preemtively dispell any concern. She holsters her weapon and picks the dead arm up, looking it over for any emblems on the armor or whether it's a drell or not.
The shoulderpad, the most common spot for emblems aside from the chest, is unfortunately missing from the lone limb. It's hard to tell which species the arm belonged to due to decomposition, but it was likely a human or asari.
Jason remains higher up, avoiding the slide as he skirts around the edge of the sand-valley towards their destination. "Be careful!" he instructs, watching Ehanis from up above, "There's no telling what did that. See what you can find and get back up here."
Ehanis frowns and puts the arm aside. "This doesn't looks like a drell's arm," she says. "Colors look like Eclipse, but I see no emblem to confirm it." The asari does snap a picture of the arm for later comparison, however. She then stands up, lifting the case to carry it with her, and starts climbing out of the pit.
Jason furrows his brow as he continues to tug Nathan along. "Eclipse and Blood Pack all the way out here...? Why?" he muses aloud.
As Ehanis starts to climb out of the pit the sliding sands cause more than a little trouble, making it hard to ascend. And as more sand slides into the bottom of the pit, it seems as if the sands are shifting. Suddenly all the sand at the bottom of the pit shoots up as if from an explosion, showering Ehanis, and even Nathan and Jason. With a loud, chilling clicking a massive insectoid unburrows from the sand, the visible part
larger than a car, an incomprehensible mess of compound eyes, large mandibles and at least four prodding limbs, stabbing at the sandy slope in search of its prey as slobbers in anticipation all over the bottom of the pit.
Ehanis shrieks and drops the case, and she starts hurrying up the sides of the pit in hopes of getting out of that creature's range in time. "Shit," she mutters, "shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit."
Jason tumbles off balance as the sudden explosion of sand showers him, causing him to slip in the sand and drop to his knees. "What the fuck was that!?" he calls out over comms as he climbs back to his feet and stumbles back towards the edge of the slope. As he catches sight of the massive creature, his eyes go wide. "RUN!" he shouts, his hand reaching back to retrieve the large machine gun from his back. He presses the stock
against his shoulder and, if a shot that wouldn't put Ehanis in danger presents itself, fires a few rounds towards the creature, the current ammo conservation mentality keeping him from hammering on the trigger.
The creature seems mostly unaffected by the few shots that hit it during the chaotic struggle, and it continues to claw for Ehanis, large limbs stabbing into the sandy slope and dragging down, causing a chain reaction as more sand starts to slide. Ehanis' attempt at rapid movement out of the pit only accelerates the sliding , and she finds herself heading right for the gaping maw of the creature, its mandibles spread wide as it
Ehanis stumbles over and turns to see the creature, her eyes wide in terror as she tries to crawl backwards. She hastily prepares a warp field with all energy she can muster and hurls it ahead of her towards the creature. If there is still time, she'll try to use a Throw to turn the warp field explosively unstable.
As the warp field enters the open mouth of the creature it lets out an ungodly screech, and before the throw has a chance to impact it retracts all its limbs, waves of sand flying into the air as it burrows back into the ground.
Jason cusses under his breath. "Get clear of that ugly fucker and I'll hit him with a grenade!" he announces to Ehanis. He frantically begins to take a few more steps towards the edge before turning back to Nathan in haste. "You just-... uhh... stay right here. We've got a little situation." he explains with a headnod towards the pit. "Nothing to worry about... Just a-... uhh.........." he blinks a couple of times, "....You know.
Lovecraftian horror shit............. On second thought, worrying might not be the biggest overreaction." His hand reaches for a grenade as he turns back towards the creature, suddenly confused as he barely manages to catch it disappearing back beneath the sand. "....Is it.. dead...?" he asks tentatively, mangled cybernetic pressed against the device at his waist.
Nathan grunts and groans in horror and panic. He's just a sitting duck! Admittedly a heavily armoured duck, but still.
Ehanis picks up the crate and starts scaling the side of the pit. She does not say a word in response as she does, however, still shaken after being seconds away from being eaten alive. She is breathing very quickly.
Jason remains at the edge of the pit, eyes darting across the sand. "Get the fuck back up here!" he shouts as she grabs the crate. "Do you think you got it...? Is it hurt...? What in the fuck is it?"
As the sand settles at the bottom of the pit, it is almost impossible to tell what just happened, most traces of the attack already gone. Just a pit of sand.
Ehanis reaches the edge of the pit and keeps walking forward, wanting to put some distance between her and the pit. "Let's get moving," is her only response to Jason's questions.
Jason's hand moves from his grenade belt and extends towards Ehanis to help her up the last few steps, his gaze remaining focused on the area the creature disappeared to. "Come on, come on. Fuck..."
Ehanis is helped up the last bit by Jason before she continues in the direction they were headed, implicitly counting on Jason to drag Nathan along.
Jason remains near the edge for a few moments before turning back to the others. He gives a nod to Ehanis, "Check the case." he says, casting a brief glance back over his shoulder, "I don't think that thing is getting up that hill without us knowing. If there's something inside that might help us, it could be useful."
Ehanis nods and jogs about twenty meters away from the hole. She puts the crate down on the ground and attempts to open it.
As the case is opened it is revealed to contain a number of what look to be scavenged spare tech components from miscellaneous sources, meant for purpose unknown.
Jason drags Nathan along to remain clear of the pit as Ehanis opens the case. "Anything worth taking...?" he asks.
Ehanis looks it over. "Looks like some kind of tech," she says over the comms. "Renala might want to look at it, I don't really know."
Day 1 (8PM): The sun is setting in the west, the sky a brilliant purple color now, streaks of small clouds illuminated in bright orange here and there. The warm temperature of the day still lingers. With every dune they crest the sand beneath them changes from a bright orange to a gloomy dark blue as they go between shadow and light. The smokestacks were visible a few dunes ago, but now, as they pass in the valley between two
dunes, they are not in sight anymore. It is now, in one sudden instant, and without telling his muscles their previous command was no longer relevant, that Nathan's body is unfrozen.
Jason gives a shrug. "Close it up and we'll take it with us." he instructs, casting one last glance back towards the pit, "For now let's put as much distance between us and that as we can. And stay away from any more pits..." he mutters as he begins to tedious process of dragging Nathan across a desert once again.
Nathan immediately sags in Jason's grip and starts blinking rapidly, flailing as the knife slips back into his gauntlet. "My eyeballs! Someone lick my eyeballs!" He makes numerous sounds of pleasure and glee as he can feel the moisture returning to his dry, dry eyes.
Ehanis has remained quiet since the meeting with the large creature, and has rejected to answer any questions about it. She startles when Nathan starts shouting and immediately turns towards him.
Jason has asked numerous questions about the creature, though eventually gave up when Ehanis made it clear she wasn't in the talkative mood. Their trip turned silent as they slowly marched through the sand, hopeful to spot their destination over each dune. He immediately releases his grip on Nathan's boot. "Fucking finally!" he exclaims, "So help me, if I find out you were faking it and I just dragged you halfway across a
fucking desert, I'm going to kick your ass." he threatens, though he finally cracks a smirk. The first time in hours that he hasn't looked frustrated and tired. He takes a knee beside Nathan, offering him a hand, "Just glad it wasn't permanent. Definitely would've bumped you up to the top of the menu when the food runs out..."
Nathan rolls around for a few moments, getting a feel for his limbs once again as he continues to laugh. "Oh my God... I can feel my eyeballs... Oh, this is the best feeling," he exclaims. As Jason kneels besides him, he breathes a laugh and accepts the hand, dragging himself up with a shaky sway. "Nah, would've been all tough and chewy. Not pleasant." He holsters
his rifle and starts to stretch out, leaning this way and that way and- CRACK. "Ow, my fucking neck!" He rubs the back of it tenderly, now taking his stretches more gently. Many, many more cracks follow suit.
Ehanis gives a small smile and pats his shoulder. "Glad to have you back, Ten," she says, ending at least an hour of silence.
Jason falls back onto his ass in the sand after helping Nathan up, a loud chuckle escaping him. First good thing that has happened to them so far. Even if it does just counter another shitty thing that happened, but at this point he'll take what he can get. "Maybe our luck is turning around." he says, glancing in the direction they were heading, "Shouldn't be too far from our destination, either." he adds, resting his hands
Nathan places a hand atop Ehanis' and gives it a reassuring squeeze, before kneeling back down and making to place a hand on the man's shoulder, still chuckling. "You and me both, buddy," he agrees, "You and me both." He looks in the direction they were heading, sighing slightly. "You want me to move on a little ahead? You two have been-" He then glances to Ehanis
and grins, chuckling softly. "-I mean, you, Jase, have been dragging me across the desert. If anything, I got a wee bit more energy than the two of you combined."
Jason gives a shake of his head, grunting as he sluggishly climbs to his knees and then back to his feet. "No... We stick together. Don't want to chance running across another-..." he glances towards Ehanis, "...one who shall not be named..."
Ehanis sighs. "Let's get going," she mutters and starts walking. The clang makes her stop, however, and she raises her weapon towards it. "What was that?"
Nathan draws his rifle, fumbling slightly as he still gets used to moving once again. "I don't know. I left my x-ray glasses at home," he mutters as he slowly starts to advance up the dune. "Let's find out, yeah?"
Jason follows behind Ehanis. He, too, pauses briefly as the clang sounds out, though his gives a dismissive wave of his gauntlet and continues walking towards their destination. "Probably just more shit breaking down." he says.
Ehanis holsters her weapon and continues walking. "It's been centuries," she says. "Shit should be done breaking down by now."
As the team crests the dune they find themselves looking out over a slope that eventually flattens out into a plain of sand, and eventually cracked earth, that go all the way up to the tattered and broken chainlink fence that surrounds the large factory, six stories tall. It is weathered and partially ruined, but in much better condition that most buildings on the planet. Several expansions have been added onto the main concrete
structure, mainly out of metal plating. Shanties cover the roof and extend from the base of the building inside the fenced in area. From the distance details are hard to make out, but there are definitely people moving around among the shacks and ruins.
Jason gives a shrug. "We saw some of it on our way here... It's never too late for a good old fashioned collapse, I guess." he says. "Or maybe there's just an elder god raising hell." he suggests, casting a grin towards Ehanis, "Either way..." he trails off as they crest the hill and the obvious-colony comes into view. "...Or not..."
Nathan points towards it. "Or, we came across a settlement," he states... obviously. He holsters his weapon and tries to enhance the view with his HUD. "Now, what are the odds they're a friendly bunch who just so happen to have a truck?"
Ehanis stops upon seeing the colony. "That's a lot of drell," she says. "Maybe we should turn around before they see us?"
Jason hunkers down, reaching out with his hand and laying it flat as he waves his companions downwards. "Or-..." he says, lowering his voice to a whisper, "...This is an opportunity to get our hands on some supplies. The guy back at Pilgrim's Haven seemed friendly enough and we might not get another chance like this. Dangerous or not, we don't have a whole lot of options. I don't think we have any other choice than to at least
Ehanis follows his gesture and gets down as well. "Let's hope they speak a language that our translators understand, then" she says.
Upon taking a closer look, Nathan would be able to see a mix of vehicles, all of them large, but each one uniquely cobbled together from parts bolted and welded onto 300-year old frames. Most of them resemble various mixes between dune buggies and APCs, covered in haphazardly attached armor plating, crudely spray-painted and with various bits of antique weaponry sticking out from armored compartments or just plain bolted on top or
at the back of a truckbed. The people themselves, while hard to see in any great detail are definitely drell, dressed very differently from those that ambushed the truck earlier. Rather than being wrapped head-to-toe in cloth, many wear no tops at all, and those that do wear what look to be the tattered remains of military fatigues, mixed with home-made armor vests and miscellaneous attachments. Spiked shoulderpads, metal-plated
skirts and heavy combat boots abound. Few seem to be wearing any breathers, with most using nothing and some equipped with what must be war-time gasmasks.
Nathan makes a rather defeated noise and zooms back out. "...But... it seems like we just stumbled across a very... unfriendly looking bunch," he mutters. "They've got vehicles. But they've also got a lot of weapons and are... dressed like some sort of weird BDSM cult."
Jason gives a disappointed sigh. "Fuck... I mean-... I mean BDSM could imply friendly, right...?" he asks with a glance over to Nathan. He turns his focus towards Ehanis, "Right???" he repeats, scraping the barrel for just a little hope. "Shit..." he continues as the color drains from him.
Ehanis snorts. "I guess," she says. She peeks over the dune towards the people "Their weapons aren't going to do much," she says, "but I don't think we've got enough clips to fight them all."
Jason remains where he is, squinting to try and get some view into the camp from his position. "...I'd rather not fight at all. But if they have vehicles, then we can't just walk away from this." he sighs, "Let's just... sit tight for a little while. Keep an eye on them and see if they seem more or less likely to slit our throats on sight... We can decide what to do from there." He looks to Nathan, makes to snap his gauntleted fingers together which just results in a hollow thunking sound, and then points towards the camp.
Nathan nods and settles himself in for the long haul, zooming back in to try and count how many contacts they can see. "They have spikes on their armour," he says. "Spikes. That... just does not scream friendly."
There are several dozen people in the camp, walking about, talking, working on their vehicles. Almost everyone is armed. Most with small arms, some with makeshift melee weaponry. There's no telling how many more are out of sight.
Jason gives a shake of his head. "Knew a guy everyone called Spike. Sweetheart. So you're wrong. Next concern?" he asks, doing his damndest to keep on hoping they'll be greeted with hugs and bouqets of flowers when they finally make contact.
Jason shrugs his shoulders, though a small sigh escapes him, "We're armed. And we're a peachy group of motherfuckers. Next concern?"
Jason frowns. "Maybe. I've been dragging around a two-hundred-plus pound sack of shit all day in the scorching sun." He tap-snaps his fingers together again and points back towards the camp. "Eyes that way. Do they look........ family oriented?" he asks, immediately following it up with a shrug.
There are no children in sight. Everyone in view seems to be at the very least in their late teens. Of course, all the people that populate the camp must have come from somewhere. If Nathan's sight is keen, he might spot a drell climbing a ladder on the side of one of the smokestacks.
Nathan continues to observe, a small sigh escaping him. "Jase, I'm not seeing any- hey... one moment," he says as he catches the drell climbing out of the corner of his eye. He focuses on him, trying to gauge if he has any weapons.
The climbing drell is armed like all the others. A longrifle. He continues to climb up the smokestack.
Jason runs a hand across the top of his helmet in frustration as a loud groan escapes him. "You're not seeing any...?" he repeats, suddenly sounding defeated. "Welp, that's that, then. Everyone knows about veal. Ninety-nine-point-nine-nine-nine per-... nine! Percent chance we're dealing with cannibals, then. Shit! Alright.... Alright..." he continues, now lowering his voice to a mutter, "...Just need to come up with a plan....
Nathan ignores Jason's rambling, only focusing on the possible sniper. He tries to sink himself further into the sand as he watches.
As Nathan's gaze moves higher up the smokestack he would find himself suddenly blinded by glare as the sun reflects of off something at the top.
Nathan immediately turns his gaze down, the visor dimming rapidly to accomadate and the HUD zooming out. "Gah, fuck!"
Ehanis frowns, also crawling backward upon seeing Nathan doing so. "I don't see the connection," she says to Jason. She looks at Nathan upon hearing his outburst. "What do you see?"
Jason nods to himself a few times. "Or... OR!" he continues his rambling, "Or maybe they just keep them safely hidden away inside! That's the kind of thing a caring parent would want, right? It's a dangerous planet! Maybe-... maybe they're not cannibals at all! Maybe they're the opposite of cannibals!"
Nathan leans across and makes to simply slap his hand across the back of Jason's helmet. "Oi, would you focus, you lunatic?" He hisses. He looks back to Ehanis and shakes his head, light spots dancing across his vision. "A sniper, I think. Climbing the smokestack. That was, until, the damn sun reflecting off of something...".
Jason nearly topples over, bringing a hand up to his helmet. He frowns deeply as he looks over to Nathan. "Hey, I am focusing! I'm the only one here-.... A reflection?" he repeats, "From a sniper's nest?" A deep, wary sigh escapes him, "For fuck's sake! Get down, idiot!" he says, reaching over to clasp a hand on Nathan's shoulder and pull him further down. "Focus! Focus!" he repeats, swatting Nathan's helmet frantically, "YOU
Ehanis lowers her head towards the sand, looking sideways to avoid the crest-tips on the helmet sticking out. "Do they have an angle on us?"
Nathan flinches and waves his hand poorly in defence as he is yanked behind cover. "Ow, hey wou- sto-stop it!" He bats the hand away. "Would you stop it!" He unholsters his rifle and primes it, clutching it to his chest as he leans against the sand. "Scolding later, plan now. What is it?"
Jason presses himself against the sand, maneuvering to pull his weapon free as well. It's quite clear that the frustration and strain of the day have began to wear on him. "Plan!? Oh, I don't know. How about plan A: Don't get eaten? Plan B: Should Plan A fail, at least give these assholes indigestion? Good enough for you?" He scoots down, peering up at the crest of the sand dune for any sign of a reflection of light or anything
that may indicate they're been spotted. He lets out another sigh, "I didn't even get a good look at the camp. But we can't just leave. Even if that means we've got a fight on our hands. If they spot us, we try to talk. If it doesn't work? We defend ourselves and go from there. But do not open fire on these people unless we have to, okay? There's still a small chance they don't want to eat us..."
There is no sign of any spotlights or similar illuminating the top of the dune. It remains in the dark for now, lit neither by artificial light or the setting sun.
Ehanis shifts backwards a bit further, keeping her head lowered. "Please, could you stop talking about getting eaten?" she asks, sounding frustrated.
Nathan shakes his head. "Yeah, you have a weird fascination with it," he mutters under his breath. He holds onto his rifle and simply waits for the all clear, or for Jason to tip backwards with his shields flaring.
Jason grunts. "When I feel like there's no chance of us getting eaten, then I'll stop talking about the possibility of us getting eaten!" With a huff, he begins climbing back towards the crest of the dune to check and make sure the coast is clear. "One way or another, we need to make contact, alright? Now I figure I've got the least meat to offer, on account of the hardware... Maybe I should try making contact and the two of
Ehanis shrugs, not having any better ideas to offer. "If you think that'll work, go ahead," she says. "We can't run away once we're out of clips, though."