#GoingRogue – September 24, 2016

Nathan slumps in his armour... or, rather, dangles in his lodged spot. With his awkward placement, he can't reload his gun with both of his hands. So, the sensible thing to do is... SLAP. He smacks the bottom of the grip against his armour, the spent clip cycling. "Ehanis?" He croaks, just realising how dry his throat is. "I need help... no clue where I am... but

Ehanis slows down, realizing she won't be able to get there if she expends all her energy on running in this heat. She does stop completely upon receiving the comms message, panting heavily. "I barely picked up any of that, Ten," she says. "Repeat what you said about the snakes. Repeat what you said. Rakhana Maws are real?" She can't really be sure with Nathan, though, since he has had out of proprtion reactions to critters

Nathan furrows his brow and sighs. Fucking comms. Never work when you need them, right? "Help. Large snakes. Very angry. Will eat you. Hurry. Please." He tries to dislodge himself again, flailing pathetically. "...Stupid rocks... stupid snake... stupid planet...".

Ehanis sighs. "I could be hours away," she says. "I repeat, I could be hours away." Two things that fit the title of Rakhana Maw. The lying drell is probably dead right now, anyway, so Ehanis can't really call him out on his bullshit. Or maybe didn't lie, and Nathan is making a new discovery. Fuck, out of anything they could discover... "Return, meet me halfway," she snaps. "Meet up. Come back. Get your ass over here." She doubt

Nathan sighs and slowly starts to trudge back the way he came, dragging his leg behind him. He looks like a sorry state right now. And he sure as hell feels like it. "I'm on my way back, Ehanis. If I get eaten... just run. And tell a heroic tale of how I fought off the hordes of snakes." He chuckles, rubbing his helmet iredly.

Ehanis smiles as she sees Nathan, happy to see him despite how furious she is with him. She has kept comms chatter to a minimum during the trip here to conserve power so she could run the environmental functions for a few minutes to make the water ration last a little longer. She increases her pace as she approaches him. "You useless, fucking, stupid piece of shit," she says, the smile fading away as her frustration with him

Nathan staggers forwards a few steps, dragging his leg behind him which, at this point, has become more or less useless. "Hey," he offers simply before pitching forwards and crashing into the ground. He groans incoherently, trying to push himself upright... miserably.

Ehanis isn't faring that much better, but she has not been out every day, leaving her one up on Nathan. "Fuck no," she says. "No dying on me out here," she crouches down beside him, winds an arm around his waist and tries to stand up. "See? This is what happens when you're being stupid." Ever the hypocrite, considering that she's no genius either, but at least her dangerously stupid stunt saved their asses.

Nathan manages to put himself back on his feet with Ehanis' help, although barely. "Thanks... I'm sorry... I got lost." He chuckles weakly, using her for support. "...Giant snake... attacked me."

Ehanis starts walking forward, looking around for a place where they could hide that is somewhat out of sight. Her steps are slow as she's defnitely too weary to support the weight of two armored mercenaries for long. "Come on, let's... find a place to sit down," she says. "I think we both deserve a break." She's not done with him yet, but after seeing hm in this sorry state.... Well, it's made her hold back, at least. She

Nathan shuffles around with her, using the wall best he can to help lessen the load. "Yeah," he sighs quietly. He would try to worm his way out of her grip and slump against the wall, pulling off his helmet. "Look, I'm sorry. You can yell at me all you want but... I'm tired. I got lost. And I'm tired as shit." He shrugs lightly, waving a hand in the air. "I want to

Ehanis isn't capable of keeping him restrained, not that she expected it given his state. How can he be so stubborn when he can barely put one foot against the other. "Don't worry," she says. "I'll take you up on that offer when we're out of here." She sits down against the wall and takes out her water canteen, but she doesn't uncap it yet. "Steve is a good merc, but I'm not exerting myself to death to save him," she says. "That

Nathan nods lightly, gulping in deep breaths. "Can you get it over with now?" He chuckles drily. "I would like for it to just be over with it quickly." He gazes up at the skies, rubbing his eyes tiredly. He just wants to sleep right now... to be home in his apartment, a cup of coffee in his hands and watching Armax. "...We'll let Jase decide about Steve... I'm not

Ehanis offers her canteen to him. It's her last, but it's only half empty. "There you have it," she says. "That's why I should make the calls from now on, and I'm deciding we have a break." She is more than frustrated with him, but shouting at him will do neither of them anything good. Not when she needs him to listen.

Nathan nods gently, taking the canteen. "Thanks," he croaks before taking a small swig of the water. The sensation does wonders to ease his pained throat. He hands it back to Ehanis, looking at her expectantly for the moment. He seems completely content on letting her handles things from here on in.

Ehanis takes it back with a sip of her own, and sighs deeply. He finally listened, and she can hardly believe it. "We're not going anywhere for at least half an hour, that's for sure," she says. "You should catch some sleep." She caps her canteen and puts it back.

Nathan nods with a light smile, resting his head back against the wall. "Aye," he says softly, closing his eyes. "Watch out for the giant snake... it's armoured. Bullets do shit against it."

Ehanis nods. "Warp fields," she mutters. If it worked on the last monster, it has to work on this. She's curious about how he escaped it, but she saves her questions for another time. Ehanis only hopes that 'another time' doesn't come very soon, or at all.

Nathan is actually in a very deep sleep, despite the rather dangerous situation they are in. His chest rises and falls in a rhythmic fashion. He doesn't seem to stir at Renala's voice.

Ehanis opens her eyes upon hearing Renala's message. "Finally," she mutters and gets on comms. "You're breaking up, but we read you." She has also managed to fall asleep before the half hour has passed, but the the crackle did wake her easily. "Fuck," she mutters and looks around. Well, at least they're not eaten by snake monsters or attacked. Maybe she can avoid the question. She gives him a rough shake. "Ten?" she asks. "The

Nathan starts awake, eyes wide in panic for the briefest of times before he calms. So it wasn't a dream... fuck. He turns to Ehanis, taking a minute to mull her words over in his fatigue addled mind before he smiles. A genuine one. Hopeful. "Really? Yessssss!" He sinks a little lower against the wall as he pulls his helm back on.

Ehanis stands up and starts walking away from the cliff wall, which makes her stumble due to how stiff they feel. She does manage to keep herself from falling, however. "I tried talking back, but I haven't heard anything," she says. "Let's get moving."

Nathan pulls himself to his feet, briefly falling to the ground as he applies pressure to his leg. "Gah!" He hisses as he stands back up. He starts to limp after her, everything about him just feeling... heavy. He's painfully slow behind Ehanis, his smaller wounds burning and itching something fierce.

Ehanis takes out her canteen and takes a few gulps of it, then another sip. She weighs it in her hand and extends it towards Nathan. Even if she would prefer keeping it, he's walked out there the longest. At least he listened to her in the end before it killed him. Or maybe she really cares. No, can't be. "Drink up," she says. "We both need to make it out of here."

Ehanis | There's 3.5dl of water left in it.

Nathan looks at her in surprise as the canteen is presented to him. After all the trouble he's caused, nearly getting them killed... He takes it slowly and, after taking a quick sip and replacing his helmet, hands it back to her. "Thank you," he says. "Come on. Let's find the boss." He chuckles, making to pat her on the shoulder lightly.

Ehanis sighs and puts it back. "I'm used to working with a stubborn partner," she says with a weak laugh, "but you're definitely the worst." Ehanis resumes walking. Even if they just heard the message from Renala, they might be hours away, and she was not looking forward to that with her sore and stiff legs.

Nathan flaps a hand at her in protest, his usual person slowly returning. "How dare you! I am obviously the second worst partner you've had," he whines with a chuckle. He drags himself behind her, limping. "Your previous partners aren't anywhere as near as dashing as I~."

Ehanis gives a small smile. "That would make you the best, and we can't have that," she says. She does stop and look him over. It'll take forever to get there at Nathan's pace, so there must be something that can be done. And if there is, she intends to find out. "What's up with your leg?" she asks. "Is it broken?"

Nathan pauses and shakes his head. "No... but the painkiller has long since worn off and it just... really fucking hurts when I put pressure on it. I'm not sure, but I think the bullet is still in there...". He shrugs, waving her off. "Just keep going, I'll quicken the pace." He then begins to limp-jog, a rather comical sight. "Let's go!"

Ehanis starts walking along with him, doing her best to suppress a laugh. "Are you sure that's a good idea?" she asks. "If it's too risky, then just slow down again." If it took three more hours to get there, then so be it. She doesn't want to be the one to blame for Nathan running himself to death.

Nathan nods absentmindedly as he limps along, gritting his teeth at every step he takes. "I'll be finnnnnnnnnnne." He glances over his shoulder, throwing her a thumbs up and chuckling. "I've survived worse than this," he says. "And besides... the snakes tend to attack from the rear soooooooo...".