06 | In every building, every street sign

[sinistral]

WHO: the Soldier (sinistral) and you
WHERE: Sh'Ka
WHAT: sh'kananigans
WHEN: throughout December; no particular timing
WARNINGS: n/a; will update if that changes

---

NETWORK
→ Video;

The video opens to show one of the small marsupials that seem common in Sh'Ka. This particular specimen has a scrap of green fabric around its neck and is eating what appears to be half of a ration bar.

The Soldier's voice narrates the scene: "if anyone has misplaced this creature, respond and I will return it to your keeping."

The video ends after that short message.

SH'KA
→ Agriculture Building;

The Soldier does not possess a green thumb, and has no interest in touching the data point that would give him knowledge of the planet's botanicals. But he does recognize that falling temperatures and ice accumulation can harm plant life — and that said plant life could provide needed sustenance. As such he walks steadily through the building, keeping close to the outer walls and moving slowly to both listen and feel for drafts.

Every now and then he stops to update a crude map he's made of the floorplan, to track his progress in his examinations. Around the middle of the day he stops for longer, sitting with his back against a wall and writing in the journal while eating a simple meal.

→ Outdoors;

When not engaged in exploration of the agriculture building, the Soldier moves about the wintry streets. He keeps to the shadows of the landscape where possible, using buildings and trees for cover. Now and then he crouches to examine the remnants of tracks where the snow is soft enough to take an imprint, but never seems happy with the little information he can glean from the marks.

While sneaking up on a prowling assassin isn't impossible, it would probably be smart to announce one's presence before approaching too closely.

ELSEWHERE
→ Wildcard;

Bring your own adventure. Feel free to hit me up via PM or at sometimesamuse for plotting if needed. I default to prose but am happy to match brackets if it's your preferred format.

Comments

I WOULD UNDERSTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYyyyAAaaaaYYAaaaaND

[deal_me_in]

"Iiiimmensely!" Cayde pipes, grinning from where he stands by the corner of the wall, tossing another readied snowball up and down in his hand. He's been working out the reaction times of his arm since the repair, but it's hard to really tell if there's any lingering lag from the soldered connections in casual activities. Of course he'd consider this casual.

"You looked like you could use a break. You're working too hard."

[sinistral]

The Soldier has always considered Cayde strange. He respects the man's skills, but doesn't understand his attitude. It's seemingly so far outside what he himself can be that interactions always feel awkward to him.

"I am not," he replies, keeping an eye on that next snowball. "There have been strange tracks in the streets here. I do not trust that it is not a predator." And not everyone who was brought here is combat ready all the time.

[deal_me_in]

The Hunter shrugs a little before nodding. "Always a possibility, I'll grant that. But then it's winter so food's probably scarce, and that'll always make even the shy a little bolder."

Seemingly oblivious to the Soldier's wariness in his still being armed with a snowball, Cayde bounds over closer to take a closer look at the tracks the man had been following. "Well at least they're not from the big pig-bunny things. Oh-ho, you don't wanna run into those when they're having a bad day."

[sinistral]

"It could be something as simple as an animal looking for food. They've had this place to themselves, we're the trespassers." People coming into the city no doubt disrupt the wildlife. Even the wilds around Temba could be dangerous; that surely extends to the less-occupied Sh'Ka.

"The concern is whether or not such an animal would consider trespassers in its territory a viable food source." He can't be the only one who thought of such a thing.

[deal_me_in]

That's very true, a point Cayde concedes with another nod. The place had been a testament to itself as to how long it had sat abandoned. The local wildlife that had taken up residence certainly didn't need people wandering around their territory. They were here far longer.

"I'm surprised nothing's wandered into Temba on the same premise." Not that there haven't been things already within the city that had been problematic at some point or another, but nothing aside from the big walking heap of boulders had done anything to draw anyone's concern, and even that creature hadn't moved much since, probably going into hibernation or something once the snows had set.

Hopping back up onto his feet, Cayde promptly dismantled his snowball, tossing it up in the air over them to create a fresh if brief flurry. "So! Tracks're still fresh. Let's see what turns up."

[sinistral]

"Temba has had people there for longer." A beat. "And it's where the Agrii bring new people. So that could be their doing as well." Or perhaps not, but the Soldier considered it a possibility.

One eyebrow raised at Cayde's abrupt shift from play to hunt, but another pair of eyes could be useful. And Cayde at least knew how to take care of himself, should the thing at the other end of the tracks prove dangerous. "It may not even still be within the city."

augh I keep switching tenses sorry x.x

[deal_me_in]

Cayde grins knowingly over his shoulder then. "But you're not gonna let up just because of that possibility, are you?"

Because if the Soldier was just going to up and call it a day then he wouldn't have been following those tracks for as long as he has. The Exo dusts off his hands, glancing around for the rest of the trail.