The Recovery (post-apocolypse RP) [IC]

[Highland Sniper]

"no, not yet." she said quietly. "if she wants to, she can probably come with us."
she let her gun rest on its straps on her shoulder and slowly reached for her radio, still holding out her canteen.
"Sir, it's Gerena," she said into her radio. "we might be picking up someone in need. they're... I think the best way I can describe it is a child. they're intelligent, but I don't think they know what they're doing."

[Enigma]

Definitely on their own, Tanner decided, marking another tree trunk. For a moment, he debated on putting up a false symbol to send anyone unfriendly in the wrong direction, but there wasn't time to share that with Wolf-girl before she left with Snake-woman.

So once they got in the city and found this 'police station' and their extraction place, they were going to have to set up everything they needed - so besides hunting, he was going scavenging. Well, it wouldn't be the first time. More than a few things the Students had thrown out had found new homes among the university's slaves. Of course, in a city, even untouched by bombs, it was questionable what was left? Others had to have been there before them, like the Snake-woman's people. All sorts of useful things in their village, certainly.

Briefly, he wondered what they would be willing to trade for?

[Yggdrasil_Hugger]

Jenny turned to look at her commanding officer. They really hadn't spoken to each other until then. She could see him studying the sky with his amber eyes.
"I think she is trustworthy enough. If she proves otherwise, there's four of us and only one of her." She stepped forward, pushing a tree branch out of the way.
"If anything, she seems sort of harmless. Kind of sad, as well. Mabe it has something to do with why she is alone."

[Acaelus]

Raylan tapped his finger to the brim of his hat in a silent form of thanks as he moved beyond the thick tree limb she had moved aside with no apparent effort. Couldn’t have been an easy thing, heavy as it was, but if she felt the strain the woman quite simply did not show it. She made good points, he had to admit. Four-to-one were bad odds for even someone as skilled with a gun as he was. For the moment, at least, cooperation was in her best interest. It was also in theirs if they wanted a smooth transition into the societies around this region. That being said… Raylan was all too familiar with just how invisible natives could be in their native lands. There was every chance multiple arrows were already trained on them and they didn’t even know it. Though it seemed unlikely he had to at least humor the notion that she was potentially setting them up, gaining their trust to rob them later. Didn’t feel right, given their exchange so far, but a good commander considered every option.

Light was beginning to stream through the trees, which meant they were getting close to a break in all the forestry, but before he could speak further on the matter with Jenny his radio suddenly chirped again, and Gerena voiced yet another discovery. How the hell did that girl find people so quickly? Regular blood hound for discovering people in needs, that one, and he meant no pun toward her wolf-like features either.

“A child?” he asked, his mind turning over the discovery. What was something like that doing out here, and alone? Even not considering raiders and outlaws these woods could be a terrible danger to any passerby. Much less a child with no means to defend herself. Could she be another member of Joanna’s tribe? Perhaps her people were closer than she had originally implied.

“Bring her in, if she’s willing.” Raylan responded finally. “We are nearing the outskirts of the city now, I think. Tanner has left markings to show you the way.”

They were going to have to prioritize hunting at this rate just to keep the extra mouths full. At least Joanna seemed competent in that regard. At least he hoped that was the case.

He emerged from the trees then, the light bright enough to be almost blinding as he did so, and at once they were greeted with what had once been a large and great city sprawling out before and just below their current position on the rise. Massive structures dotted the cityscape, their stone grown over with moss and other vegetation that had moved in when nature had come to reclaim it. Here and there he could see buildings mostly intact, but for everyone one that was there were two or three that had been blasted out, damaged, or fallen into disrepair. As Raylan looked out over what would be their home for the next few weeks he pointed out toward a large, round building near the center of the grid like cityscape. Its towering walls had once been white, he could see from here, but had since been darkened by age and covered with green overgrowth.

“There is the stadium.” He told them. “Seen some others before and they’re pretty much all built like that. Even as he spoke to them his eyes tracked movement, distant figures moving from building to building. They were far enough away that he did not expect any of them to have noticed them. Not up as they were with a backdrop of dark trees behind them.

“Looks like we won’t be the only ones in this city.” He said gravely. If experience had shown him anything it was that those people were, more often as not, more enemy than friend.

[Highland Sniper]

Gerena got off with a quick "yes, sir."

she crouched lower with the canteen, putting her free hand on a knee for some support.
"come on, it's alright," she said soothingly. thinking it might help things, she poured only a few drops of her canteen into her hand before taking a sip from it to show what it was and that it was ok before holding it out to the winged girl again.

[Moonlit_Fae]

Joanna listened to the radio transmission between Gerena and Raylan. It appeared they were taking the child in, if she was willing. It was funny the contrast between how she was introduced to the group and this bird-woman was. The dynamic of this group shows they are humane and have many sides just like my tribe. We probably would have done the same to them if they were still here but would have taken this poor soul in... As she contemplated to herself, she figured what she wanted to do. Gerena had to answer to the group, but Joanna did not. She had her own task to figure out. That was tracking down the deer and hunt to provide for this group. She was a woman of her word.

"You go and take this poor girl back to your group. I am going to finish hunting so there will be food for tonight." Joanna waited for a response from Gerena. Her eyes held honesty and her intention was truthful. She was not going to try and run off. They had a deal after all.

[Highland Sniper]

Gerena sighed. "I'd like to come with you to hunt," she said. "but, I don't think I can stop you if I have my hands full."
she kept her eyes on the winged girl as she spoke.
it would have been nice to do some hunting herself after so long on base, but duty first. and right now, that was to get the little one to the others.

[Enigma]

Tanner frowned. People were down there already. It must be a clean city. Which meant, unfortunately, that everything would have already been picked over, territories established, possibly a large number of city dwellers - possibly they saw the helicopter, and were all riled up now, maybe even looking for them.

They were not gonna be happy when they found them.

[Yggdrasil_Hugger]

Jenny frowned. If there were other people, they might need to fight. Then again, if there were other people, they might need to fight. That was one of the things Jenny was really quite good at, and she enjoyed finishing a job well done. She studied the buildings, watching the distant figures shift around. Her ears strained to pick up sound, but the most she could hear distant mumbling.

She wondered if locals were as friendly as the Snake-Woman. If they weren't they could be in some trouble. Even if they were friendly, there might be an issue of communication. She wasn't well-versed in history, but she knew that regional accents eventually became different languages. Even when she was first "civilized" she had trouble understanding what other people meant. These people seemed pretty isolated if they were this far out in the wilderness.
"What's the plan, Sir?" She asked her commanding officer.

[Moonlit_Fae]

Joanna felt a slight pang of guilt. It was clear Gerena wanted to come hunting. She was sure her crew came prepared with food stoors, but hunting probably was to secure food for the future. It would also be good to teach someone on their team the layout of the land in case the two ever got separated. "You know what, I will wait until we have this situation figured out." Joanna nodded to the bird woman, waiting to see how this situation would resolve itself. It was unlikely the crew would trudge all the way back here. After all, they had a mission to carry out it seems. If Joanna stayed she would also be able to see the city finally. Pablo kept a lot of the members of the tribe from the city, saying it was too dangerous. Well now she would be able to find out.