Futuristic World Ended, What Do Now? [Main IC]

[Breezinous]

Filip Kowalski

Somehow Filip could say that this reminded him of how he used to treat a companion he used to have. Psh, whatever. His mind soon wondered somewhere else, however, as he heard the rain and the slight sound of something else? Filip couldnt tell. He would notice the girls glances towards him, noting it as just a normal interaction. Finally, after what seemed like ages, she came to a stop. The irritated and itchy feeling in his hands went away as she cleaned the tweezers.

"Awww, do'ya want me to kiss it better?"

The tanned man rolled his eyes, before he jumped at the sound of a gun shot. Then another. "What the fuck was that? Dushkova!" Irritated more than anything, he stood up and pulled Talullah behind him. He could hear it more now as he tried to focus, the stomping mixed in with more gunshots. No one had mentioned something like this would happen in the brochures, that was for sure. Sweat ran down his face as his free hand rummaged through his bag for his tools and gear.

Spoiler

Talking to Aryasaurus and Kabboom

 

[Kabboom]

Jeanette Dushkova

Bang. Pull. Ping. Push. Click. Aim. Bang. Pull. Ping. Push. Click. Aim. Bang.

Without the slightest hesitation, Jeanette Dushkova put her survival rifle to work, some actual work this time. Almost by pure instinct, she'd loosed three shots downrange, picking off the big aliens running after the small ones. She'd never seen these guys before, even on perimeter patrols - they must've traveled really far, or live in burrows that she missed. Before she started firing, she did a quick game of Connect the Dots in her mind: the aliens' mouths were lined with a bunch of sharp teeth, displayed when one of them snapped at the small one and damn near tore it in half with just the probing bite; their behavior reminded her too much of sharks or piranhas in a feeding frenzy, charging forward and biting at everything in sight; the small guys were already hopping inside the perimeter of the camp...

It didn't take much to piece what would happen when those guys closed with the colonists, in such a frenzy. And even if they haven't noticed the camp before she started firing, they have now - they can argue later, for now they gotta thin this crowd out. With her last shot in the magazine lodged into an alien's head, she pulled out a few bullets and got to work reloading. Hooking her spear with her right foot, she shoved it lightly at Nathan next to her - without realizing it, she'd started acting with self-interest, and barking orders. "Hill, make yourself useful! Stab anything that gets too close!"

Her fingers loading new brass into polymer without effort or thought, she turned back to the rest of the colonists, practically shrieking. "Grab the spare gun! We've got fucking aliens! Defend the camp, now!" The second survival rifle was in one of the supply piles somewhere - she hadn't had a chance to check since the last time it was moved, and her brain is currently too focused on the aliens to try and remember.

DefectiveMelon Aryasaurus Trappy Breezinous Ambiloquous JINNI Zane

 

[Aryasaurus]

• T a l u l l a h • N o r t h e •

Survivalist → Zoologist
• Nightfall, Main Settlement •



The tiny girl all but leapt out of her skin at the first gunshot. It was fine as the thunder rumbled across the sky, however this was a different sound. A small frown creased her brow as she identified the nose to be more ungulate than a natural occurrence in the weather they were having. Suddenly Filip was in front of her and over-sized reptilian chickens were seen rushing into the settlement.

Talullah dove for her bow and knife, quickly throwing her quiver over her shoulder and taking one of the arrows out. The was part was not being able to see, or really know, what was going on. The feathered creatures fascinated her, though she was conflicted if their nature was to attack, or a panicked flee from something else. She readied her bow to shoot, just in case, and her fears only confirmed when more shots rang out.

She could pick out the louder steps in the darkness, but not the source. She would have really appreciated some guidance or direction - anything to tell her what she should be doing. Thankfully, she didn't have to wait long.

"Grab the spare gun! We've got fucking aliens! Defend the camp, now!"

Great. It wasn't much to go off of, but Talullah knew she needed to act. "C'mon big guy, you can be all big, strong defender-man later, when we're not all about to die," Tali said, dancing out from behind Filip and trotting to the door. She needed to test what theses feathery boys were going to do, so she ran towards the wooden barricades, bow draw and ready to loose. If they didn't attack her, she'd continue to the wall to lend support, but if they did, she'd start loosing her arrows with precise shots. She had limited resources, but when she could, she'd retrieve the arrows back to her quiver.

Mentions & Tags

Talking to Breezinous
Mentions Kabboom
Need action confirmation from Trappy

 

[Zane]

Vivian Wolf​

Vivian was relieved to see that her point had somehow made it to Henri. His reliable nature shone though more as the man suggested that they get more people, something she had already intended, but further yet they see what support their eye in the sky mother could offer them. Although she had been vehemently against calling the AI ‘mother’ it didn’t change the fact that I could prove to be integral to the effort. She nodded along to Henri’s words as he spoke. She intended to ask him if he had anyone in mind for the task, and since they had time to kill given the storm had them pinned down, she would see what skills Henri himself carried beyond his notable physique. None of this would come in these moments though as her thoughts were cut off by an abrupt noise.

“BLAM”

Vivian sharply turned to where she had seen Jeanette and Nathan. Trouble was not the first thing to cross her mind. She figured either the boy had accidentally fired the weapon, or fingers crossed she had shot the kid. Her thoughts were interrupted by more sobering gunfire.

“BLAM BLAM!” two more shots rang out.

Vivian, now more on edge, could see Jeanette leaning over the wall firing with purpose. Her eyes narrowed for a moment as she tried to see if she had it under control. Her blood pulsed though her as she prepared for the worst, and it came.

"Grab the spare gun! We've got fucking aliens! Defend the camp, now!"

Without hesitation Vivian turned bolting towards the supplies. She had been dutifully taking stock and organizing the supplies. She knew exactly where the gun and ammo were. Running with all the speed the mud would allow she did nothing to slow down as she crashed into the supplies. Seething though grit teeth at the bruises she would regret later she slammed one hand onto the rifle and the other on the spare mags that were loaded and ready. In one motion she slotted one mag in the rifle and slid the other in the pocket of her jumper.

Ready for war the girl as quickly as she rushed in rushed back out towards the Nanofab. Sliding down onto one knee she positioned her elbow on the other knee to steady her aim. After one quick breath to steady her breathing she pulled the bolt back and then locked it back forward in a smooth motion chambering her first round. She wasn’t sure what they were up against yet but she could hear them clamoring against the walls. She glued her eyes down the sights in the direction of the noise and waited to fire at the first thing that showed itself.

 

[JINNI]

Castil Inoue Alfson
Rustle
Stomp
Rumble

As if the storm wasn't already enough, Castil could almost feel the vicinity around him change.. and not in a good way. The ground was almost shaking with the mass alien stomping. Aliens-- at least, that's what Jeanette said-- were the first thing he expected to find on this mission, but never did he thought they would come and invade in a time like this. The group didn't have anything yet, save for a nanofabricator and some spare rifles. Even the wooden roofs above their head was creaking and cracking, almost as if warning them. With the storm still violently brewing, the aliens couldn't have invaded at a worse time.

"I think you'll agree that playing the ukulele can wait for later," Castil said, getting up as quick as he could. "Quick!" he added, gesturing for her to get up and follow him-- or do whatever she wanted to do. He grabbed his backpack and took out his prized santoku knife. The chef usually used it to cook, but he figured he could have a better chance in defending his life had he a weapon. The white-haired female told them to get the spare rifles, but guns weren't really his thing, nor was fighting.

Castil took multiple rapid steps, climbing the stairs in order to get a better view. Getting the higher ground was priority for now, at least for him. It would be better to see what he's fighting against before engaging. At once, he saw hopping feathered fauna that resembled ostriches. Castil had dealt with ostriches before, just not live. The poor chef used to cook these birds, and now they're coming after his very life!

But that wasn't all.

"Dinosaurs!?" he exclaimed as he saw multiple aliens rapidly nearing the perimeter. At this point, he was at a loss of what to do. Castil just waited on top of the stairs, trying to think of a rational thing to do. Leaving this fight to the more advanced fighters didn't sound bad, but he still wanted to make himself useful. For now, he figures having the high ground will give him an advantage, if he had to fight at all. Castil was no knight, but with a knife on his right hand and a pan on his left hand, you could probably mistake him for one.

interacting with : Ambiloquous

 

[Ambiloquous]

Aisha Kalashnikov

As the telltale sound of shots sounded in the near dead of night, louder than the distant thunder and the pitter-patter of raindrops on the eaves of the shack, Aisha scrambled to her feet, gripping the neck of her ukelele as if to use it as a flimsy weapon. Peeking out the door in the direction of the gunshots, she stated the obvious, “It doesn’t seem like tonight wants to be as uneventful as the past few.”

A shout from Jeanette enlightened her to the predicament the survivors were in, and she shivered in excitement. Aliens! The treks for materials had informed them of mutated animals, and plants that were quite a bit off, but purely hostile aliens? That wasn’t written in the program.

Setting her ukelele down gently and patting the strings in a temporary farewell in response to Castil’s words, she glanced back at the man clutching his cooking equipment. It was better than nothing, and the knife was doubtless enough to hack down a few intruders all on its own. “Aye, aye, captain. I'll check the supplies.” She pointed to the general direction of her memory.

She slipped a hand behind her for the one weapon she had brought with her to space. Nicking her finger, she winced and turned around to grab at it properly, lifting the small hatchet with one hand. Dashing out into the rain without accompanying the resident chef, half-slipping in the mud, she covered her head with both hands. She hoped lice weren’t a thing in the new era, but if asked, she wasn’t going to bet on it.

Racing to where she remembered the supplies last being, Aisha stopped in front of the knocked over pile of materials. No gun. Sifting through extra ration packs and general resources collected from around the settlement, she scrunched up her face. Still no gun. It was likely that someone had taken it already.

Groaning in disappointment, she hastened to follow Castil’s tracks to the walls to check out their new visitors. As she clambered up the stairs to stand beside the man, she grinned at his confused yell of “dinosaurs”. “The aliens do look similar.” Ugly, grey things with more wrinkles than her great-grandmother, they had a lower half resembling a two-legged dinosaur.

Interactions: JINNI
Mentions: Kabboom

 

[DefectiveMelon]

Nathan Hill

Nathan stared, slack-jawed in surprise as the herd of feathered aliens started making short work of the barricade defending the camp. He took in the scene motionlessly, not yet ready to act upon all the new information at once. Each blast that erupted from the rifle next to him shook him loose and served to break him out his stasis.

BANG

As the larger ones moved in closer, his awe was starting to turn to fear, but for now they had time.

BANG

From his vantage point atop the wall, Nathan couldn’t help but notice that the sections of defenses that Nathan had taken part in building were being torn apart more quickly by the claws of the wild beasts.

BANG

"Hill, make yourself useful! Stab anything that gets too close!"

It took him a few moments to notice there was a spear in his hand, and only now were Dushkova’s words registering in Nathan’s brain.

He pulled himself out of his head, and readied his new weapon, correctly aiming the tip outwards rather than in. Just in time too, as one of the smaller feathered creatures had just hopped on top of the outer barricade, and was preparing to jump, with every indication that he’d fly straight into Nathan. He braced himself, aiming the tip of the spear towards this critter. As it leaped, his miscalculation of the thing’s jump trajectory became clear, and a clean stab through its center became a scrape against its right leg.

However, Nathan did succeed in making this one angry, causing it to lower its clawed legs in an attempt to scratch at Nathan as it passed overhead. He ducked slightly, but his unlovable face did not escape unscathed, with one claw making contact with his left cheek. As it scratched him, Nathan yelped in pain. The creature had landed behind Nathan - on the walkway, just at the edge of the stairs. With blood and rain dripping down his face, Nathan turned around to face his enemy again. He was relieved to see it hopping away into the camp, seemingly less concerned with him than the larger aliens that were chasing the herd. Nathan sighed, and turned around once more to bravely defend the camp from the forces of evil. He looked to his right, and saw Castil holding a pan and his cooking knife. At the sight of this, Nathan felt quite relieved to know he wasn’t the only one that looked entirely out of place.

Spoiler: Mentions

Kabboom
JINNI

 

[Breezinous]

Filip Kowalski

A few curses being thrown here and there, Filip ducked after Talullah as she went on the frontal. "Tal, are you-" A small manly shriek came from him as one of the little turkey things started running near him and, admittedly, he almost kicked it. Holy shit this was happening. Holy shit.

The feathered creature wasn't even the most of his worries. A snap of some bones and flesh, not too far from him, drew his attention to the velociraptor look alike with teeth ripping into one of the turkey aliens. The man could barely even hear the thunder overhead over the sound of his heart. Drawing back with a screwdriver in hand, he would look similar to Castil and Nathan. Though he would have to make do, something about the fighting did remind him of life before.


Talking to: Aryasaurus
Mentions: DefectiveMelon JINNI

 

[Trappy]

Henri King

Henri bolted after Vivian towards the supply depot at the sound of gunfire from the gate. Without a second to spare, he reached for a splitter axe left on one of the containers - probably from being used earlier in the day for some timber. Quickly scanning the modest courtyard, between noticing Vivian making her way back to the Nanofabricator with their remaining rifle, and two others heading outside, Henri opted to back them up.

He approached the gate, axe in hand, and that was when he saw them for the first time. Big, wrinkly, ugly fucking things that only really resembled dinosaurs in their lower halves and the way they dashed. The horrible, toothy maws stood out the most, and the sight of those things coming at them was what forced a shout out of Henri towards his nearby companions.
"Oh shit! Get back inside! Get on the wall or something, you can't overpower them on equal grounds!"

Mentioned: Zane
Interacted: Aryasaurus Breezinous


GM

For the most part, the small feathery critters were more than content with leaving the colonists be, and more concerned with saving their own skins from the larger predators. While Jeanette was doing the best she could from what experience she had with the firearm, and with two clips expended, 4 raptors laid bleeding out in the open beyond the fort, but more were fast approaching. Despite her efforts, these were large beasts indeed, capable of taking some rounds in them before succumbing, and 2 had already got dangerously close with the colonists at the gate.

Within seconds of Henri shouting, a hard crunch, followed by a wet snap caught the group's attention, as one of the raptors had dove ahead to snatch a critter, impaling itself on the short pike wall in the process. Gouts of blood gushed out of the wound, as well as the teeth pit that was its mouth, still crunching on pieces of the alien turkey, and splattered all over the ground. These creatures appeared to be without senses of self-preservation, but whether this is their natural behaviour, or something had driven them into such frenzy was unclear. In either cases, the colonists could see another one not too far away, seemingly heading to collide straight into them, its maw snapping wildly at the air.

 

[Ambiloquous]

Aisha Kalashnikov

“Whoa, look at them go.” The smile on Aisha’s face wouldn’t be out of place during most events, but waiting for alien hostiles to ram past their only blockade wasn’t most events. Here, it was off-kilter at best, mad at worst. She craned forward to take a closer look at the wrinkled beast currently charging towards the walls, fascinated at its aggressive path to its possible death. Without turning her head, she asked Castil in a high-spirited tone, “Hey, do you think they taste good?”

The velociraptor-like alien obviously paid no mind to her thoughts and continued its rapid pace. It snapped at a not-quite-turkey ten meters away. The not-quite-turkeys themselves didn’t look to be interested in attacking the survivors, unlike their fellow aliens, and so Aisha let them clamber over the walls without interference. Even if they changed their minds, she was sure Castil and his pan could take care of them—for a while, at least.

She studied the appearance in more detail. The creature didn’t look particularly palatable with its wrinkles and gray skin, but then again, durians and oysters didn’t appear especially appetizing either, and she had ended up loving those.

Seven meters.

She wondered what mutations it had undergone for it to be so unsightly, yet at the same time, awe-inspiring. They were almost mascot material. Mascots of some messed-up garbage collection company, that is.

Five meters.

The forelimbs of the creature looked so much like grasshopper legs, and Aisha pondered over their possible relation. Distant cousins thrice removed? She chuckled at the thought of insects and the raptor in front of her having the same great-great-great-grandparents. It was like chickens and dinosaurs all over again.

Three meters.

Aisha squinted at the gaping maw that stretched across to the sides of the alien’s head. She was finally glad to not have the ability to smell anymore; whatever had ended up rotting between its teeth was already unpleasant enough to her sight.

One meter.

She tilted her head and paused. Wait, if the survivor colony proceeded without proper dental hygiene did that mean that her teeth would soon drop to the alien’s level? She scrunched up her nose at the notion, ignoring the very close alien with the drive and the means to consume a human by the name of Aisha as its first course and perhaps another by the name of Castil as its second.

Jaws snapped at her while she internally bemoaned their future teeth, and she instinctively sunk her small tactical hatchet into an unnaturally wide mouth filled with incisors. The creature screeched and swung its head wildly, throwing her hatchet—and only weapon—far off into the distance. She closed her eyes as blue blood splattered across her face and shirt, her arms rising too late to cover anything of importance.

Aisha scrubbed away liquid blocking her vision, glanced up at the shrieking raptor and dropped down into a crouch through pure reflex, barely dodging the quite angry and quite bleeding alien with sharp, sharp crunching implements. Half-rolling and half-scrambling backwards as a large head smashed down, her breath hitched. Her feet had slipped on a wet patch. She let out a scream as she tumbled off the stairs.

Splash-thud.

Everything ached. Her back, her shoulders and her head felt awful. She tried to blink black spots from her eyes and reminded herself to breathe. Breathe in, breathe out. When she could focus on something other than existing for a second, she moved her eyes to Castil on the platform and out a dry rasp of a laugh. “Well, that… wasn’t a very good display of… my ability.”

Interactions: JINNI Trappy (Maybe?)

 

[Kabboom]

Jeanette Dushkova

Ah, bullshit. They can climb up these walls?!

Well, not exactly, since these raptors have demonstrated their ability to jump real high - three such creepy aliens have jumped up and onto the platform where the Dushkova girl stood. They'd caught her with her pants down, or rather with her gun empty - with her spear in the hands of Mr. Of-course-I-know-how-to-use-a-gun, all Jeanette could do was swing wildly with the butt of the rifle. The thing screeched in pain as she landed a hit on the head, which surprised her too; Jeanette didn't actually expect to do much damage with her flailing.

The alien she faced fought back however, lunging forward with its two forelimbs grabbing her gun, and the maw full of teeth trying to make contact with her face. Heels digging into the wooden platform beneath her, she was pushed back slowly but surely by the sheer audacity of this alien creature, fervently snapping at air in front of her nose in the hopes that it can get just a bit further forward. Castil, Nathan, Filip, where the fuck are you?

"Fuckfuckfuck guys please help?! Someone?!"

Breezinous DefectiveMelon JINNI

 

[Aryasaurus]

• T a l u l l a h • N o r t h e •

Survivalist → Zoologist
• Nightfall, Main Settlement •



She knew that Filip was following, but she didn't reply, certain that he could work it all out on his own - and besides, she barely knew the answer for herself. Honestly, what was she doing? What was her goal? Her feet skidded to a halt as she saw the grey things, the feathery turkeys sprinting past and through her legs as Talullah watched one of the beasts lurk through the trees. Large and pale - grey, she presumed, as the night obscured and distorted her perception. She figured they looked like mutated raptors, their eyeless, narrow faces seemed to sniff around as one seemed to lower itself into a stalk.

Her stomach dropped. I shouldn't be here. Glancing back, her purpose was to look towards the gate, to see what she should be doing, and yet instead her eyes landed on Filip. Blinking twice, she pushed back the fear she felt, and gave him a determined nod, and reached for an arrow from her quiver. Her hand froze. All of her bravery melted in an instant as one of the larger aliens had lurched forwards, snapping itself jaws shut just inches away from her as it all but impaled itself on the pikes of the barricade wall. In its maw it had snatched up one of the feathery things, though she wasn't sure if it had meant to get the creature, or if she had been just slightly too far out of its reach - either way, it was far too close for comfort.

Its teeth gnashed and crunched wetly as it ate the thing, yet it didn't seem to care about the large wounds it had caused itself. In fact, it didn't seem to care at all about itself as it ate, slowly dying upon the pikes; Talu wondered in those few seconds if it had been driven to desperation, by something like an intense hunger, for it to attack with so little concern for its own life.

It wasn't much of a delay, and the thing was still chomping on the colourful turkey as she realized that she needed to move away, and quick. She hoped beyond hope that it couldn't see as she dropped her hand and began to tread backwards, but still - with the other charging straight for them - she had no time to test the theory. Spinning on her heel as three lurched up onto the wall to attack the others, Talullah sprinted back towards Filip, reaching out her hand for him.

Mentions & Tags

With Breezinous

 

[Zane]

Vivian Wolf



Vivian’s eyes remained trained down near the center of the wall. Both eyes scanned waiting for any sign of the trouble. She breathed slowly and carefully as to keep herself ready to fire hanging back to protect the nanofab and their communications device to be in touch with mother. She wished she wasn’t the only one that had thought to do so. In her mind mother and the nanofab were integral facets of the colony and needed to be looked after with the same pertinence as any other colonist. Vivian believed these were what stood between being here on a mission to discover what happened to earth, and being mere survivalists. She took incredible pride in the work she did in project EDEN and getting to see it all the way through.

Her thoughts were interrupted by an alien bird clearing the wall giving Nathan a bit of a scrape on its way past him. Her sights trained straight onto the bird thing. However peculiarly instead of continuing the assault it instead scurried away, continuing to put as much distance between it and the wall. This cleared up a few of Vivian’s questions and filled her with a dread. If that wasn’t what Ms. Dushkova was shouting about that likely meant that the bird thing was simply trying to escape something worse yet. What she didn’t know is she had no real way of imaging the abominations that lay just beyond the wall.

Loud slamming and shouting both from the bellowing raptors and the various colonists out of her sight Vivian’s heart began to race. it was beginning to seem like she had picked the wrong objective for this fight. She didn’t want to see anyone killed that she could have been there to defend. Her legs tensed up as she began to ready herself to move to help the other colonists at the risk of something plummeting them into the dark age. Before she could stand though she got to see her first worm like raptor jump up and immediately begin attempting to take chomps out of Jeanette.

“What the fuck?!”

She exclaimed, momentarily stunned by the disgusting beast attacking the colony.

"Fuckfuckfuck guys please help?! Someone?!"

Her ally’s words snapped her back to the iron sights. “Tch!” both Nathan and her made the shot difficult without risk of winging her allies, or worse… carefully she aimed and timed her first shot.

BANG!

The gun reported loudly but the shot only grazed the back of the beats neck as she favored shooting wide of Dushkova. Her hand slammed the bolt back and forward again and she steeled her nerves. She’d have to be braver with this shot and apologize later if she could. It was that or… there was no or. She pressed her cheek into the rifle stabilizing the shot as much as she could. It felt like she aimed for an eternity as she aimed center mass on the head that was snapping at Dushkova.

BANG!

The shot managed to fly true piercing where an eye would have been located on the typical earth creature of their time. The creature twitched and trashed as its body tried to figure out the severed connection to the brain. Falling over spasming the creature rapidly succumbed to its fate. Vivian let out the breath she didn’t realize she had been holding for both shots, gasping as she lowered the rifle to eject the spent round. She looked up at Jeanette both to see if she was truly ok and with apology on her face. Vivian felt she might hear it from her later, but for now she was content with only having to bear a scolding.

By the sound of things that was not the only beast to be at their gates. Having seen one she felt confident that they would eat all the colonists long before they bothered with the nanofab and Mother. She rushed her way towards where Jeanette and Nathan were. She pulled the spare mag she had taken out of her pocket ready to hand it off to Jeanette as she arrived.

 

[Breezinous]

Filip Kowalski


Filip's mind raced as he attempted to shake off his nervousness. Focus, idiot. Focus. There are lives at stake here. With a small lunge he, would take the advantage of the stuck wrinkly bitch. The creature had been only mere inches way from attacking Talullah instead of the feather-y goblin it was eating. Gripping the screwdriver in his hand as he heard Henri tell them to move back, he would impale it sharply in their upper neck area as they were distracted. A splatter of blood would reach his face and arm as he backed away. The creature would go limp, the smaller one dangling by its mouth.

Shaking his head again, he turned and sprinted before grabbing Talullahs outreached hand. With a shaky breath he simply muttered, "sharp toothed assholes." Though, it made matters even worse as some of them managed to climb. This was revealed to be almost lethal as Jeanette released fervent screams. He, unfortunately, would not have been able to help in time most likely. Vivian had managed to make a good shot with the rifle, from what he could tell.

Interaction with: Aryasaurus
Mention: Zane Kabboom Trappy

 

[Kabboom]

Jeanette Dushkova

The creature's head went splat mere inches in front of Jeanette's face, sending alien viscera all over the place (it got in her hair, dammit!) and making a mess of her rifle. The girl didn't fail to notice the shooter, Vivian, running up to her platform with extra ammo in her hand. Readily snatching it up and reloading in a quick display of experience, the Dushkova girl put her new ammo to use. The situation was looking better than the last time she checked, but it's not that much of an improvement: the crowd of flesh-hungry alien raptors has thinned, with only... 6 more raptors running directly towards the fortress; a much bigger herd of raptors at the treeline diverted their attention somewhere else, probably their little chicken herd running in another direction (thank fuck they didn't come this way!)

Time to put your skills to use, Jean. Slow and steady shots - Can't afford to miss these, ammo is precious! Deep breaths, finger loose on the trigger, sloooow exhale...

Bang. Click-click. Breathe. Bang. Click-click. Breathe. Bang.

The last three made it to the walls before she could get off another shot. One went right up the wall and over, ending up on the other side of the settlement walls - they have a raptor loose inside - another wedged its head into the front door of the settlement, where Tallulah and Filip should be - and the last one clambering up right in front of her, mouth wide open ready to snap. Jeanette isn't having it this time, and blows the thing's head wide open with her fourth shot.

DefectiveMelon Aryasaurus Trappy Zane Breezinous Ambiloquous JINNI Processed Stardust

 

[Processed Stardust]

Lizzete Ahern

The rain was falling and thunders were screaming, but Lizzete heard none of that. She was deep in a peaceful sleep, despite the uncomfortableness of her bedding -- mostly made of leaves from the surrounding area. It had been roughly a week since they awoke from the cryosleep and were sent back down to Earth, and roughly a week since she properly slept. It was hard sleeping on the floor, it hurt her muscles and bones, and if it wasn't for her daily stretches, she would barely be able to move.

She was dreaming of Earth before the end of the world. It was a random, fantastic dream, nothing like a memory or any of the sort, it was just fruit of her imagination, but the surroundings were landscapes from her hometown. She was on an adventure with a dog she found on the street; she groaned in her sleep, sad about the stray animal, while she tried to find the dog's owner.

Lizzete didn't hear the first couple of shots. She was so deep in her sleep that she just dreamed a few fireworks were going out, but on the third shot she woke up startled. Rubbing her eyes, she quickly got up while she heard noises and loud voices on the outside of the shack. She covered her head with her hood before going outside.

Some feathered turkey-like creatures had managed to get inside the camp and she wondered for a brief second if that was the meaning of the shots. Maybe they were trying to hunt the birds? It was then she raised her head and noticed a strange, wrinkly and grey creature stuck on the wooden fence, blood getting washed away by the rain and it chewed on one of the birds.

She froze for a second, her parasympathetic nervous system acting to keep her safe -- except it wasn’t exactly doing its job. Freezing wasn’t the best response to when raptor-like creatures threaten your camp. She looked around, everyone seemed to be fighting or preparing to fight, but she didn’t know what to do. She was useless in combat and knew nothing about how to use a gun. Jeanette fired the gun one more time and she came back with a jump, finally being able to move and breathe. Her heart started racing. What should she do!?

There wasn’t much time to think about that question because soon one of the ugly raptors was over the wall, running towards her. She let out a loud scream and started running from it, trying not to fall and slip on the muddy terrain. Another bang and she looked over her shoulder, but the creature was still following her. She ran to the pile of materials they had gathered over the week and picked up a long stick, turning around to face the creature.

Maybe if she tried threatening the creature back it would be scared and leave her alone, she thought. She yelled at the creature, frowning and threatening to poke it with the stick. She was probably about to die, but she wouldn't go without a fight.

 

[Zane]

Vivian Wolf​

Vivian hadn’t been entirely sure Jeanette was out of ammo but she had a couple of strong clues to suggest as much. The big one was that she heard a good number of rounds head downrange. The second was more of an intuition that if she had rounds, her gunmanship would be more than enough for her to have fired in such close quarters. She slapped the mag into Jeanette’s hand with a bit of a wink. Perhaps a bit of flattery could buy her mercy later if Dushkova was mad.

Two things made it clear that her intuition was correct. The first was the rate and efficacy of the shots that were laid down. Vivian was no slouch with a gun but by comparison she would only hope to fire half the rounds with the same accuracy. This was precisely what she did as well. Posting up beside Jeanette she took a bit longer to dial in her targets but she needed every shot to count. She followed her partners lead only firing right after her to be sure they weren’t wasting ammo on the same target.

This however led into the second of Vivian’s clues from before. Only two more shots rang from her rifle before one of the worm raptors vaulted the wall. Her eyes darted to it following its trajectory, beginning to prepare to turn to fire on it. Before she could turn to fire at the one that got behind them something crashed against Vivian. Blindsiding her entirely, the body of the beast that leapt for Jeanette knocked her back just enough to make her stumble back. Losing her footing she began to fall back just in time to see her second guess come to fruition. The beasts head exploded as the well-placed rifle round cleaved though it. Even at close range she handled a rifle with grace.

The panic didn’t set in for Vivian until as she fell back, it was when she realized that she was crossing the threshold of the platform. She wouldn’t fall back on her ass like she thought. She was taking the fast way to the ground floor. She clutched the rifle in her hands looking first to Jeanette. She probably couldn’t fire two rifles. Probably. Next in line was Nathan and her heart sank. The thought crossed her mind it might be better to take it with her but she wasn’t sure what shape she might be in after this fall. Castile, was beyond Nathan but he was simply too far. Thrusting both arms forward she launched the rifle straight at Nathan. she hoped he would have what it took to prove her wrong.

Only a moment after she released the rifle up to the young man, she hit the ground square on her back. Her head followed shortly after, both with a loud wet thud. To say the wet earth was merciful would be generous. However, as her back and head slapped against the ground it wouldn’t do any lasting damage. The wind was readily knocked from her, her vision went starry and swirled with dark splotches as her senses reeled from the impact.

“HGGK… HukKK… Huuk”

Vivian gasped repeatedly for air desperate not to pass out.


DefectiveMelon Kabboom

 

[DefectiveMelon]

Nathan Hill

A moment after Jeanette obliterated the head of the closest alien, Nathan groaned with frustration. He had just finished wiping his face free of the stray blood from the alien Vivian had killed, and now he was once again baptized in the brains of another massive beast. He could only hope the rain would keep his jacket from staining. Just yesterday, his second favorite polo had been claimed by a fall in the dirt, and he wasn’t ready for another major blow to his wardrobe. Today he learned a valuable lesson - if you want to stay dry, stay away from Dushkova.

Nathan didn’t have long to mourn this potential loss. Just as soon as the creature fell, so too did Vivian. Nathan noticed this just on the edge of his vision, and instinctively turned, reaching out to grab her. Luckily he noticed the weight of the spear in his hand in time, and avoided stabbing her, but this hesitation meant he was far from able to stop her fall. And a moment later, Nathan had dropped the spear and traded it for the rifle. One could have almost mistaken this for skill, but in reality the shock of the gun hurtling towards him made the boy drop the spear out of fright.

He stared with confusion at the new weapon in his hands, as if he’d never seen a gun before, despite having received his first shooting lesson mere minutes ago.

Vivian! He remembered. She was falling - had fallen. Nathan stepped quickly over to the edge of the platform to see if she was alright. Nathan saw that she was breathing, and began to make his way down the stairs when he saw terror in the shape of a raptor bearing down on Lizzete.

Suddenly, the gun in his hand had meaning, and Nathan knew that if he did nothing, she could die. He didn’t know her too well, but down here the psychologist was almost as useless as Nathan was, and he didn’t want to be the only dead weight in the whole camp. Nathan tried to remember the training he’d just gotten on the gun he never thought he’d have to use.

“Tuck the gun into your shoulder- don't press it too hard, just enough to make sure the gun won't jump anywhere when it shoots.”

He tried to do as Jeanette had instructed, and watched with horror as the gap between Lizzete and her pursuer diminished.

“Chin down here, eyes right here - not too close so you don't get hit in the eye socket with recoil, just close enough”

Nathan raised the rifle, aiming to hit the center of the alien. Nathan exhaled, and pulled the trigger.


The sound was deafening this close to his ears. He watched with dismay as the bullet collided with dirt far to the left of the raptor. Sure, this was a moving target, but the shot wasn’t even close. Nathan pulled the bolt of the rifle back, and struggled for a moment as it got caught when he started moving it forward to ready another round. Lizzete had just arrived at the stockpile.


Nathan fired again, aiming slightly ahead of the raptor. This time, the bullet collided with one of the wooden support struts of one of the ramshackle houses. It buckled, but this roof must have been built by someone other than Nathan, as it held up under the strain.

Lizzete had found a stick, and was trying her best to appear threatening. Nathan knew she didn’t have much time. He tugged on the bolt once more, readying his last chance. He considered how badly his past shots had missed, and centered his aim squarely on Lizzete herself. He exhaled, hoping that he wasn’t suddenly about to get better at shooting, and fired.

The shot landed squarely in the left leg of the beast, and the heir to Hill Innovations hoped this was enough to give Lizzete a chance.

Mentions:
Kabboom Zane Processed Stardust

 

[Kabboom]

Jeanette Dushkova

Vivian Wolf stood on a wall, but then she had a great fall. That was pretty bad. She let her rifle slip when she went over the edge, and Nathan Hill got a hold of the rifle she had. That was really bad. As Jeanette was busy wiping alien gunk and viscera off of her entire front though, she was unable to prevent the catastrophe the guy was about to unwittingly unleash. Her left hand wiping away extraterrestrial blood from her eyelids, she caught a glimpse of the field before them: the beasts are no longer coming! This is the last of them, just two more: the one down at the gate where Tallulah and Filip were, and the one that hopped inside.

Wait shit, the one that hopped inside! Her ears woke up to Nathan's shots, and her arms suddenly knew how to move again. Racking the bolt as she turned, the Dushkova girl caught sight of the terrified ginger fending off the beast with a stick - the injury on the animal's left leg not going unseen. Dushkova did not expect Nathan to hit anything at all - well that wasn't true, she expected him to hit Lizzette by mistake - and maybe she'd underestimated him a bit too much. Taking proper aim however, her shot landed square in the thing's chest; center mass wasn't ideal, but much safer with Lizzette being so close.

Considering that raptor neutralized, Jeanette temporarily switched her attention to the raptor down at the gate; she couldn't get a shot in from her current position, so she'll have to go down and try shooting it in the face. Why haven't they taken it down already?!

DefectiveMelon Aryasaurus Trappy Zane Breezinous Ambiloquous JINNI Processed Stardust

 

[Processed Stardust]

Lizzete Ahern

It was then she was going to die. She just knew it. A week in the new Earth and she was going to get decimated by an alien.

She swallowed hard, staring at the creature coming at her, her hands shaking as she held the long stick, preparing to fight. Her muscles became tense, her face turned into a frown, her heart raced and she didn't notice herself holding her breath.

The bang sounded near her and she shrunk in place, trying not to get hit. Another bang and wooden shrapnel flew everywhere, but she didn't look to check the state of the shack. She felt her pulse fast in her neck. The creature was getting closer and closer. The next shot hit the alien's leg, but it didn't seem too worried about the wound, instead, it just kept running in Lizzete's direction.

The alien was only a few feet away when it was hit in the chest. Blue blood splattered all over Lizzete, and she blinked to get it out of her eyes. Finally, it seemed to realize it was hurt, taking a few unsteady steps before tumbling to the ground.

Taking a deep breath, Lizzete approached the body with quick steps. She screamed and raised her stick, burying it in the alien's head. She stabbed it consecutively, covering herself in alien blood. By the end of it she was panting heavily and dropped to her knees.

 

[Aryasaurus]

• T a l u l l a h • N o r t h e •

Survivalist → Zoologist
• Nightfall, Main Settlement •



It was a horrible moment to do so, but at Filip's comment, she couldn't help but bark out a laugh, of course, the humor in this situation was quickly lost, and all she could do was focus on not tripping, despite every step felt as though her body might betray her. She couldn't help but feel unstable on her own feet, not that she felt she would pass out, but it was a feeling she could only refer to as that weird sensation you got while briskly going downstairs, where you were sure you would be okay, and yet you felt as though 'next step I'm going to trip and fall and break my neck', though it never did happen. This alertedness, and cautiousness for her footing both saved her from eating dirt, yet still caused her to move slower. She was thankful for Filip's long legs, and his hand which she clutched like a lifeline. He was able to pull her forwards, out of the way.

The two shot through the gate as another of the alien creatures barged their head through the doors, which had attempted to seal behind them, tiny, colourful, turkey dinos be damned. The xeno snapped its moistened maw, drooling in thick clear globs as it salivated. Talullah's foot snagged on a rock half-concealed by the earth - just as she had predicted it would, though not when she had assumed - wrenching her hand from Filip's grasp as she lurched forward. She flung out her arms, catching her fall as she thudded to the hard, yet wet, earth. In the same breath, she pushed herself, rolling onto her back in the same motion as she grabbed her bow and an arrow from the quiver. Her movements were quick and expertly practiced, though she couldn't admit that buck were as difficult to neutralize than these strange and terrifying creatures.

Deep breath. Calm. Aim, and-
The first arrow ripped through its flesh, sinking deep into its throat as it let out a choking cry. It reminded Talu of a bent pipe, rusted as air tried to squeeze through, constrained and painful with a slight baritone screech. She had just enough time to jump to her feet as it bucked itself against the doors of the gate, forcing them to open wide as it flailed itself in despair. Another deep breath to steady her shaking hands, and she knocked another arrow, this time towards its face with a powerful shot. Bullseye, quite literally. The arrow sunk deep into where its eyes should have been, penetrating the fleshy mass of it's head with such force that the only indicator the arrow had been there at all was the feathers at end which were half buried in flesh and alien blood.

The grey creature gave a dying wheeze before it topped, limp to the ground. Talullah's breaths were shaky as she surveyed the area; was that it? Were they safe? Were all the creatures dead now? Relief spread across her, she wanted to scream out but her voice didn't work. Her body trembled, every limb shaking as the panic subsided, and her legs dictated that they could no longer hold her. Buckling beneath her, she fell to her knees on the hard, muddy ground, and let out a breath she had been holding, filled with emotion.

Mentions & Tags

Obligatory apologies for the very late post!
Silently interacting with Breezinous

 

[Processed Stardust]

𝐿𝒾𝓏𝓏𝑒𝓉𝑒 𝒜𝒽𝑒𝓇𝓃
Nightfall, Main Settlement

​

 Her hood fell as she stabbed the creature, and soon her hair was soaking wet from the rain. The alien blood was washed away from her face, dripping into her clothes and falling to the floor. She stood up and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. Still holding the stick she looked around. Some of the birds were still running around in the camp, the alien in front of her bled on the ground, and another one was fallen at the gate. She didn't see it dying, but seeing as Tallulah was standing close to it with her bow in hand, she figured it was the girl who took care of it. She was too focused on the one in front of her, shocked at the horror that had just unveiled.

 Still holding the stick, she walked towards Jeanette, who was holding her rifle. "Thank you" she said, "It was you who killed the... creature... right?" She couldn't bring herself to call it an alien aloud. She switched the stick to the other hand. "I was asleep, I only woke up because of the shots. What exactly happened? Where did they come from?"

Mentions and interactions: Jeanette ( Kabboom ), Tallulah ( Aryasaurus )​

 

[Kabboom]

Jeanette Dushkova

The excitement has worn off a while now, and Jeanette finally noticed the raindrops rolling down her wet shawl - something she'll have to dry out later. Her limbs, now left without adrenaline, began to let out their whining about the little tussle she had with that one raptor, and her heart finally caught up with the quick mental gymnastics she had to take, with all the snap shots she forced herself to take. They'd survived an assault - their first assault - and proved that they were severely lacking. If that pack of alien raptor thingies had pressed on with the promise of human meat instead, the Dushkova girl thinks they wouldn't have made it.

As she moved to assist Tallulah after she collapsed on her knees, Lizzie approached her. Not stopping by much, Jeanette slung her rifle on her back and began to pick the bow-girl back on her feet. "You're welcome for the rescue. Y'know, I don't exactly know how it happened either - I was teaching Nathan how to use a gun properly, when those things came out of the treeline to my front - I guess they were chasing..." - Jeanette gestured at the little chicken-sized aliens now semi-sedated inside the settlement perimeter - "...those things. Other than that, I have no idea."

"You alright, Tali?" she spoke to Tallulah afterward.

Processed Stardust Aryasaurus

 

[Ambiloquous]

Aisha Kalashnikov

Aisha blinked at the expanse of cool gray above her head. The sky would be a lot more impressive if the clouds decided to recede right about now, revealing the constellations to their puny mortal eyes. Unfortunately, it was not to be. She sighed a very philosophical sigh.

She could still celebrate the last of the aliens though, stars or no stars. Rolling up from the muddy ground after a grueling session of contemplating life and pretending death, she winced and held her head. She lied; the stars were already at the party, because they were dancing wildly across her vision. Moving slowly towards the bulk of the survivors with her view obscured, Aisha tenderly poked at her sides. Letting out a strangled “urk”, she smartly made the decision not to disturb it again.

Once she was finally at the group of five by the gates, she lifted her arms up unenthusiastically. Her heart may have been in the right place, but her muscles weren’t; her limbs hurt like hell stuck itself in a freezer, microwaved the contents, and tried to drop itself into a velociraptor-alien’s mouth. So… not nice.

“Yay!” she tried, putting on a chipper grin. “The aliens are gone, and it’s almost dawn. Liz was bait, but now we can celebrate!”

It probably wasn't anywhere close to dawn, and Liz hadn't actually been bait, but those were small, unimportant differences that didn't affect her masterpiece of a song.

Interactions: Kabboom Breezinous Aryasaurus Processed Stardust Trappy
Mentions: Processed Stardust

 

[Breezinous]

Filip Kowalski

It felt like second nature to him, to be running away from the predators that could easily claim his life if they had wanted to. His breath coming out in short, quickly paced moments, before glancing over to Tallulah. Their hands, intertwined together, had loosened only momentarily due to the speed and sweat that their actions had taken. That was all it would take, of course.
Skidding across the ground quickly as his companion had tripped, Filip growled. Though it seemed he wouldnt have to bare his 'fangs' for much longer, as Tallulah had successfully managed to roll over and take care of the last alien. Another one had managed to get in, but he assumed Jeannette had helped take care of that one and helped Lizzette.

Speechless, but not still, he quickly moved over to Tallulah and looked her over for any injuries delicately, taking hold of her shoulders. Intelligently enough, Jeannette helped pull the girl up as he stood up. Laying on the muddy ground couldnt have been that nice, anyway. His attention went to Aisha for a moment as she had made a few 'exciting comments', before letting out an exhausted chuckle.