warforged | (no subject)

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Who: Agent Washington and open
What: New arrival to the Bronze Sanctum
Where: The Bronze Sanctum for the first option(Locked to the Bronze flight) and open in the second
When: April 9th, after arriving
Warnings: Uh, none so far. Will add if needed

A. Bronze sanctum

This was... Nothing Washington ever would have expected to have happen. Especially not after having woke up in recovery with the Dakotas waiting. There'd been chaos, and the next thing he knew, he was here, his head won't stop hurting, and the back of his neck is still recovering from the implantation and removal. The problem? He's having a little trouble focusing on things since arriving. Between what's left in his head from the AI and the shock... He probably shouldn't be surprised. He shook his head, trying to clear it. He's spending way too much time in his own thoughts.

B. Outside the sanctum (Silverglen Retreat area)

After he'd had a little recovery time, he finally did get curious enough that he wanted to see what was outside. And as comfortable as he should be in his new home? The Bronze Sanctum was nothing like what he was used to.

It was a change, the forested area. What was extra odd was he was starting to notice some odd things as he looked around. Tracks that he probably wouldn't have noticed before. After a bit, he shrugged it off, starting to look around the outskirts of the village. v He's a bit on edge regardless. Things don't feel right here.

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"And you didn't take any precautions to shake it off your trail?" Now Carolina knows something wasn't quite right, but then there's no time to answer him, to process what he's said further, because she's putting herself between Wash and the Raptor and Wash why are you just standing there while the raptor is attacking--

Men. Why can't you ever do what you're told?

Carolina feinted right, ducked and dodged to the left, before lashing upwards with a sharp kick, intent on catching the beast on landing.

Washington shrugged. "Something in my head told me it wasn't a threat." Though... With it trying to attack Carolina, that was proving a bit wrong.

The raptor wasn't as experienced at fighting humans like Carolina, and it had a lot to learn. Carolina's kick hit it dead on, getting a screech of pain from the animal. At the pain, the animal was trying to get away, to get to where the human it's bonded to is.

Washington was watching it carefully. He felt something... And the odd empty feeling had gotten better since leaving the sanctum. Was it connected?

Given what you've been through, are you sure that your judgement hasn't been impaired? ..Is what she'd like to say, but Carolina's attention is fixed on what's in front of her. Later, she'd apologise (awkwardly, because, seriously, it's a dinosaur), but for the moment, Carolina moved to keep herself between the raptor and her teammate.

"Wash, it's on your six." Watching it scramble away, try to get to Wash, she IS struck by the lack of desire to attack him she's seeing. It's a little like watching a duckling flock to its mother, actually, and she pauses, fists still held defensively. She knows she can intercept, but...

Wash would have definitely been hurt by that reaction, but considering... He probably deserved that.

The raptor didn't care what Carolina did, it was going to protect Washington. It wasn't going to let her intercept. It just was trying to guard its master.

When Wash heard Carolina call the warning on the raptor's location, he did manage to go for the most important thing he'd picked up before leaving the Sanctum: one of the local guns he'd managed to strap to his back.

However, it didn't prove needed, as when Wash turned around with the gun, the raptor actually butted its head against his leg, then turned to growl at Carolina.

At least she didn't say it out loud. Later, if she remembers, she may feel some guilt for thinking it. For the moment, however, Carolina watches Washington and the Raptor, looking between the pair in vague astonishment.

Especially when the creature practically acts like an overgrown dog. Or cat. With scales.

Giving the blunderbuss-like gun a disbelieving glance, she stepped closer with caution. She noted but didn't heed any growls directed her way. "Not a threat, huh."

"Easy does it. She's a friend." Washington rested his hand on the raptor when he saw its attention turn back to Carolina. "It's not a threat to me, apparently." He lowered the gun. "It doesn't seem happy with you."

"I was defending you," Carolina replied, keeping annoyance from her voice even as her expression turned cool. She could return the raptor's stare well enough, but it was fascinating to see its change in behaviour. "So now you have your own pet dinosaur."

"I know." Wash looked at the dinosaur. "Carolina is a friend. Stop it. She wasn't going to hurt me. Be good." He would be embarrassed if she could see his face. "Sorry, boss. I didn't know about it. I'm still getting used to this place."

"Don't apologise," she said at once, suddenly cross. "Unless you've done something wrong, I don't want to hear it." In spite of herself, Carolina found her steps more of a stomp as she approached, and she let her hands form fists beneath the cloak where they couldn't be seen. "We're btoh stuck here, however long."

She eyed the raptor again, lips pursed, before she shook her head slightly. "I don't suppose it can tell us its name?" Surely it must have one.

Washington flinched a little at that. "Yes, boss. I understand."

The raptor looked at Carolina carefully, but the growling is done. It makes noises at them, but nothing like a name.

Wash shrugged. "I guess I'll have to give it a name. It's just an animal."

"Smart animal," agreed Carolina, mindful of how close she got to it, and to Wash. Even if the growls had stopped, she didn't want to antagonise it again unnecessarily.

She glanced at Wash. "Does everyone over at the your Sanctum get a pet, then?"

"Very smart."

The raptor snorted at them, looking Carolina over carefully.

Washington paused to think that over. "I hadn't seen any other animals around. And it didn't come up." Admittedly, he hadn't really been that social with his allies.

Carolina had been forced into some level of socialization, mostly through necessity rather than need. "You won't have to worry about feeding it at least, if the Bronze Flight is anything like the Red. Get used to the taste of bear."

She's not kidding. She also looks less than thrilled at the thought of eating it again for supper. "Let's go find that place to sit down, with your dinosaur, and I'll tell you what I know. Not that it's as much as I'd like."

Washington shrugged. "Can't be worse than some of what we used to be fed, boss. And I'm sure my new pet won't care." He nodded, patting the raptor on the head. "Follow us, and don't try to attack her. All right? I could use the information and rest."

"Pet won't. You will. Trust me, it's pretty rank." At least the recent influx of venison, rich as it was, made for a nice change of pace. Once Wash had assured his companion, Carolina set off again, mindful not to set too taxing a pace. It wouldn't take very long to reach the outskirts of the nightelf village as it was, and there was space enough just outside it, where campfires had been pitched previously, for them to sit and talk.

"Stay here. I'll get us something. You included," she added, nodding at the raptor, before disappearing into the village proper. It doesn't take her long to reappear with some fruit for the humans and some meat scraps for the raptor, the skin bundle thrust at Washington the moment she can get rid of it. His pet, his mess.

"Until I saw you, as far as I'm aware it's only been me here," she began without too much preamble.

Wash shrugged at the mention of the bear meat. "I'll survive it. It won't kill me."

At Carolina's return, he unwraps the bundle, examining the contents carefully, just for the raptor to cheerfully thrust its nose into the scraps.

"So, if there is anyone else, they're with another flight?" He's worried about the others still.

He's probably right. But he won't be able to say Carolina didn't warn him.

"Yeah," Carolina's lack of enthusiasm seemed oddly palable as she watched the raptor chow down, setting the apples she'd picked up for herself and Wash between them, idly rolling a red one between her palms. "If they're here. Pretty sure someone would have mentioned the armor by now, though, if they were here." Bulky design aside, Project Freelancer's colour scheme was the opposite of stealth.

Unless you had a camoflague unit. As hers did. That worked. As hers did not, without the HUD controls. She heaved a sigh. "What's the last thing you remember?"

"Our armor is pretty distinct compared to the stuff they have here. I went through the armory... I'm sure others would have stood out." Washington reached up to remove his helmet.

"The last real clear memory I have is of Recovery. The twins were there, and my head hurt. Then... It's a blur. Too many things in my head now that I don't understand where they came from." Eventually, he'd have time to finally work out the contents of his head. But not yet.

"The technology here is beyond basic. I may have to replace a few pieces of mine with native items." And it's all red. Entirely the wrong colour for her, no matter what her hair colour or flight alignment. She made a face. "I can't gauge how much power my suit has left without my helmet. But given I haven't been able to use any of the mods or internal systems, I likely have more than I'm expecting." Or less. The fights and the fall had taken a lot out of her, even if Carolina was reluctant to admit that.

"That sounds close to when I was last--" pause, "--on the ship. I was heading to the bridge when North told me he and South were going to check on you."

"Tell me about it. You saw the weapon I'm stuck using.... Even if it feels right for some reason." Washington frowned under his helmet at that information. "That's a point I hadn't considered. We're going to either have to find a new power source and source of parts or replace it all with native gear eventually. My power levels are doing well for now."

He nodded. "At least all that matches up."

The raptor finished its meat up, and turned its attention to start sniffing at the humans. Especially Carolina. Is she part of the pack? Mate? What is she to him?

"I've a few weapons, but they don't have any of the guns we're used to." That Washington had no problems with them, that they felt 'right', earned a inwards frown. "I couldn't use them. I examined them, but, the mechanics felt beyond me. I've a dagger, and some fist guards I've been told can be upgraded later, but nothing ranged."

She sat silently for a moment, still passing the apple from palm to palm, ignoring the returning ache that signified the emptiness inside her head. "Did.. North or South say anything to you, when you were in Recovery?"

Then green eyes settled at the snuffling from the raptor. She did not go still, but her back straightened. Mate? No. Pack? Yes, through metal, sweat and bloodshed, different only in the touch of the warm magic of the Red Dragonflight in her rather than the shifting sands of Bronze. Pack leader..?

"What are you going to name it?"

Washington hesitated. "It wasn't just guns that felt right. I just thought it best to go with something familiar. I don't know why the bows felt like I could have used them..."

He sighed. "I don't remember what happened with the implantation clearly... But they removed Epsilon, and were removing all the others. That Texas had gone rogue. And through it all, there was disorientation and pain."

The raptor continued sniffing, but it could tell that Washington looked to this one. Definitely pack. Leader or at least higher rank. And she's strong. Good.

"I don't know, Carolina.I need to call it something though."

"Would probably help, though don't look to me for advice on designations." She'd probably suggest state capitals for a theme, given their own codenames.

The apple paused. "Could be worth discussing with your flight's dragonmage. This world does...things, to the people brought to it. There are actually people here who use magic." It's like out of a storybook - except more of a cautionary fable than a rewritten brothers grimm tale. "Though I have a feeling there's a different reason for me being unable to use guns right now."

He'd clearly been in some form of pain when she'd found him, too - but that he had still been pain after the extraction of his AI earned a concerned glance, brows furrowing further. Carolina could understand the pain from the loss of her own AI, but Wash should have been fine.. "Yeah," she said after a minute. "You heard she went after Wyoming, right?" She didn't notice how her voice had gone abruptly flat, betraying the surge of anger that fed the headache that inhabited the empty space two AI used to live. "Tried to take his AI." The apple, forgotten, became subject to the pressure of clenching fingers.

"She got-- York on her side, too. He was helping her." She can't even hide her bitterness on that one. "And, Maine too, I think." At least, that's how the pieces seemed to fall, as best she could tell when thinking back on everything she remembered.

Edited 2014-05-11 15:52 (UTC)

"I'll figure out something. Don't worry about it, boss."

Washington tilted his head at that. "Why couldn't it be the same thing? It gave me capability to use weapons I shouldn't know how to. Why couldn't it take away abilities from you? It could have taken from me without me realizing it yet. I'll still ask. Lanadormi seemed to be the type to be more than willing to answer questions. " He paused. "I think she is worried about me."

Washington paused at that. "I had to hear the twins bickering about that. North doesn't believe it. But why would York and Maine?" Letting out a pained noise as his mind goes back to things. There's an answer to something in his head.

Lanadormi. ..That's right. She could vaguely recall the golden-brown figure outlined behind the red glow of the Redsworn's dragon mage prior to her arrival. "Krasus keeps an eye on us. But it's hard to say for certain how much concern is genuinely for us, and for the situation at hand." Carolina wasn't about to trust it, though he'd never given her the impression her was lying to her.

For a moment, her right hand lifted, apple still clutched in her left palm while fingers strayed under her ponytail, pressing against the mesh and kevlar of the undersuit collar. Why why why. A question she didn't have all the answers to, save the one the Director had given her - that the actions of those who'd deserted seemed to back up. "They wanted.. They wanted the AI. If you had one, they gave you a choice - go with them, or they'd take it from you." She sat stiffly. "I didn't get to find out what they wanted them for."

If nothing else, she certainly believed enough of what she was saying to think it was true - and her bias towards Texas aside, Carolina had never been one to lie to her team. Even if it was only a team of Washington (and raptor) right now.

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trampledintheprocess - 2014-05-28 23:43 (UTC) - Expand

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