06-29-2016, 04:53 PM
When Carmelita awoke, her gash had scabbed over and the pain in her arm had lessened to a dull throb. The dull morning light came through the gentle drizzle that remained from last night’s storm.
After last night’s intense activity, she was somewhat relieved to find that they still had all seven of them in the shelter. Her stomach growled softly, and she woke Saber. As the knight composed herself and gathered firewood nearby, Carmelita shimmied up a tree and entered the canopy, looking for breakfast.
She found several nests rather quickly, one or two with birds still sheltering from the storm. Wincing, she knocked them out with her stun pistol, and together with the eggs and some wild lychees she found, she had a decent gathering, enough to sate their appetites for a while.
She returned to find Saber kneeling in the undergrowth, examining something, while a couple of the secondaries were tending the fire they’d started. Amber looked in an even worse state than she had been yesterday, and was still fitfully asleep. Her cat naps clearly hadn’t been restful.
“Carmelita, we have had visitors.”
Saber’s words were enough to hurriedly hand over her morning catch to one of the Syntech employees, before joining the knight in examining the footprints.
There were clearly multiple tracks. Bare footprints, one much smaller than another, accompanied two styles of treaded boots, a pair of sandal tracks and several unique pawprints. There seemed to be a certain amount of confusion, or at least a lack of cooperation, as the paths came and went in different ways and tracked back and forth, as if searching for something.
Carmelita stood and looked back at their shelter. Imagining it in the dark, with rain coming down and thunder and lightning all around… she could see it being difficult to find.
“We should eat first. The rain is easing, these tracks will still be here later.” Carmelita’s stomach chose to emphasise the point, growling emptily. She blushed through her fur and turned her head away, embarrassed. Saber seemed to take it in stride and nodded, heading over to the fire.
Carmelita checked up on Amber as the smell of cooking bird and boiling eggs wafted through the air. The girl looked as though she had sweated through the night, and Carmelita was of two minds to check the wound for infection. When Amber’s eyes shot open as she bent to touch the bandages though, the two decided to leave it until after breakfast.
As they sat, backs against the cool earth, Carmelita turned to the syntech employees.
“So, now we have a moment, care to introduce yourselves? And can someone please tell me how on earth you learnt to use a leaf as a saucepan, that can’t be standard education…”
One of the two women burst into laughter, her long red hair bouncing behind her.
“Would you believe I learnt it in basic chemistry?” she asked, a twinkle in her eye belying the scratches from running into a thorn bush on their panicked escape the night before. “The name’s Jess, or Jessica Sopworth if you’re my parents.”
“No, no I wouldn’t,” Carmelita replied with a smile.
“Trust me, Jess has a whole host of useless knowledge knocking about her head,” a short bald man knocked his ebony elbow against Jess’s side. “I’m Jonah Shinada, thanks for the save last night.”
“Jeremiah Silver.”
They turned to the other man, a rather refined looking fellow whose immaculate appearance was spoilt by some hastily bandaged gashes on his side. He turned away, apparently overwhelmed by the sudden attention, and refused to continue despite the other syntech employees giving him looks of exasperation.
“Right then, so we’ve got Jess, Jonah, Jeremiah and…” Amber trailed off looking at the elderly woman who, despite her apparent frailty, had last night been the most ferocious when wielding the branch she’d picked up. The woman tilted her head and gave a crinkled grin.
“Jasmine Smith, though if any of you young ‘uns calls me anything but Jazz, you’ll regret it. These three already know not to, but I’d appreciate it if you did the same. I’d also thank you for not throwing us under the bus like that red and black fellow did with poor James.”
Carmelita raised an eyebrow.
“Wait, you all have the same initials. Is that a coincidence?”
The four shared an exasperated look before turning back to the three primes.
“Karl Jak recruits anyone who applies with those initials on the last Tuesday of the month every odd year. It’s not the most eccentric thing he’s done, but…” Jonah shrugged his shoulders.
They was a bemused silence before Saber finished calmly eating the last lychee and looked at them.
“There are tracks we could follow,” she said, her face composed and focused. “We should decide on our course of action.”
“I’d recommend we follow the bootprints,” Carmelita replied. “No offence, Amber, but if we can find you some modern medical supplies then I’d feel a lot better. From your condition, it’s likely the wound’s festered. In addition, we’re all a bit banged up, and if there’re modern people on the island...”
She looked at the syntech employees who had all simultaneously shifted away from the faunus.
“Oh don’t be like that,” the vixen scolded. “I’m certain that someone used voodoo to lay last night’s trap. Any infection is likely a tropical bug.”
Jeremiah spoke up.
“Would it be right to assume that those who are barefoot might be more likely to know how to deal with such magics? If there are natives…”
“Don’t be daft, lad,” Jazz said, whacking the back of the man’s head. “They’d have laid the trap, no doubt, and that means xenophobic tribes. Didn’t you hear Bill’s story in the mess last week?”
Carmelita turned to Saber and Amber.
“Well, what do you two think?”
After last night’s intense activity, she was somewhat relieved to find that they still had all seven of them in the shelter. Her stomach growled softly, and she woke Saber. As the knight composed herself and gathered firewood nearby, Carmelita shimmied up a tree and entered the canopy, looking for breakfast.
She found several nests rather quickly, one or two with birds still sheltering from the storm. Wincing, she knocked them out with her stun pistol, and together with the eggs and some wild lychees she found, she had a decent gathering, enough to sate their appetites for a while.
She returned to find Saber kneeling in the undergrowth, examining something, while a couple of the secondaries were tending the fire they’d started. Amber looked in an even worse state than she had been yesterday, and was still fitfully asleep. Her cat naps clearly hadn’t been restful.
“Carmelita, we have had visitors.”
Saber’s words were enough to hurriedly hand over her morning catch to one of the Syntech employees, before joining the knight in examining the footprints.
There were clearly multiple tracks. Bare footprints, one much smaller than another, accompanied two styles of treaded boots, a pair of sandal tracks and several unique pawprints. There seemed to be a certain amount of confusion, or at least a lack of cooperation, as the paths came and went in different ways and tracked back and forth, as if searching for something.
Carmelita stood and looked back at their shelter. Imagining it in the dark, with rain coming down and thunder and lightning all around… she could see it being difficult to find.
“We should eat first. The rain is easing, these tracks will still be here later.” Carmelita’s stomach chose to emphasise the point, growling emptily. She blushed through her fur and turned her head away, embarrassed. Saber seemed to take it in stride and nodded, heading over to the fire.
Carmelita checked up on Amber as the smell of cooking bird and boiling eggs wafted through the air. The girl looked as though she had sweated through the night, and Carmelita was of two minds to check the wound for infection. When Amber’s eyes shot open as she bent to touch the bandages though, the two decided to leave it until after breakfast.
As they sat, backs against the cool earth, Carmelita turned to the syntech employees.
“So, now we have a moment, care to introduce yourselves? And can someone please tell me how on earth you learnt to use a leaf as a saucepan, that can’t be standard education…”
One of the two women burst into laughter, her long red hair bouncing behind her.
“Would you believe I learnt it in basic chemistry?” she asked, a twinkle in her eye belying the scratches from running into a thorn bush on their panicked escape the night before. “The name’s Jess, or Jessica Sopworth if you’re my parents.”
“No, no I wouldn’t,” Carmelita replied with a smile.
“Trust me, Jess has a whole host of useless knowledge knocking about her head,” a short bald man knocked his ebony elbow against Jess’s side. “I’m Jonah Shinada, thanks for the save last night.”
“Jeremiah Silver.”
They turned to the other man, a rather refined looking fellow whose immaculate appearance was spoilt by some hastily bandaged gashes on his side. He turned away, apparently overwhelmed by the sudden attention, and refused to continue despite the other syntech employees giving him looks of exasperation.
“Right then, so we’ve got Jess, Jonah, Jeremiah and…” Amber trailed off looking at the elderly woman who, despite her apparent frailty, had last night been the most ferocious when wielding the branch she’d picked up. The woman tilted her head and gave a crinkled grin.
“Jasmine Smith, though if any of you young ‘uns calls me anything but Jazz, you’ll regret it. These three already know not to, but I’d appreciate it if you did the same. I’d also thank you for not throwing us under the bus like that red and black fellow did with poor James.”
Carmelita raised an eyebrow.
“Wait, you all have the same initials. Is that a coincidence?”
The four shared an exasperated look before turning back to the three primes.
“Karl Jak recruits anyone who applies with those initials on the last Tuesday of the month every odd year. It’s not the most eccentric thing he’s done, but…” Jonah shrugged his shoulders.
They was a bemused silence before Saber finished calmly eating the last lychee and looked at them.
“There are tracks we could follow,” she said, her face composed and focused. “We should decide on our course of action.”
“I’d recommend we follow the bootprints,” Carmelita replied. “No offence, Amber, but if we can find you some modern medical supplies then I’d feel a lot better. From your condition, it’s likely the wound’s festered. In addition, we’re all a bit banged up, and if there’re modern people on the island...”
She looked at the syntech employees who had all simultaneously shifted away from the faunus.
“Oh don’t be like that,” the vixen scolded. “I’m certain that someone used voodoo to lay last night’s trap. Any infection is likely a tropical bug.”
Jeremiah spoke up.
“Would it be right to assume that those who are barefoot might be more likely to know how to deal with such magics? If there are natives…”
“Don’t be daft, lad,” Jazz said, whacking the back of the man’s head. “They’d have laid the trap, no doubt, and that means xenophobic tribes. Didn’t you hear Bill’s story in the mess last week?”
Carmelita turned to Saber and Amber.
“Well, what do you two think?”