Castan blinked as she was blatantly insulted by a man she did not know. Her smile faltered and her gaze started to harden, her opposite hand starting to ball up before she exhaled and ignored what happened. She gave a small oft smile toward jake and made sure her handshake was firm but not too firm. As she let go of the hand and gave a smile to isis. "Thank you. I am perfectly fine. An insane male is not worth my time nor my effort" With that said she moved away and worked on preparing herself.

Once time was up she made her way down with the rest of the team and finding herself settled she let herself zone off a bit. That is until spook spoke to her. She gave a nod "Oh, I am indeed a biologist and if you want to do that for me you can" A smile was given as she listened to the rest and glanced at the journal being written in. "Oh you have? That is awesome! and don't worry abut being sudden, its fine" A brighter smile. "Do you prefer spook or vitra? because I know sometimes nicknames aren't always what you want." She lightly taps her chin. "Oh and you can call me castan or cass"

Caftan decided to continue ignoring anything and everything that prophet was doing until it was more relevant. She soon lightly tapped her own forehead and started pulling out what looked like an all black outfit. "Since we are going out I should suit up a bit huh?" And with that she pulled it on and was soon covered with this black suit that didn't have a very visible way that it was closed...as if it held a hidden zipper to make sure there was no opening for attack. Her face was hidden in it and she had claws at the end of her now covered fingers, her bag held on her lap...it was now hard to tell her facial expression.

Jake had been on near countless missions that started from various locations and led to wondrous and lethal places. One thing that set the Treehouse apart from the others, how they sent people into the Wild World. Posting his leg up on the cabin and even reaching up to brace himself further he felt the sudden vertigo of the drop that led them down a few hundred meters to the forest floor. Though before they hit the ground he heard Prophet talking wild and manically as Jake looked back and started barking orders back over the cabin to, "Get your ass back in your seat! You dumb mother fucker! Sit down!" Yet his unceremonious outburst fell on deaf ears as it was too late to do anything. Bouncing and sending that strong vertigo straight back up with more than a few stomachs. Jake, much like his driver, had to choke back the urge to hurl as no matter how many ranges you've been on you don't get used to something like that or even ever do it more than twice. Upon collecting himself he looked back to see a stunned and possibly dead Prophet lying on the ground. Taking a minute to think of how this could have gone so South so fast he was speechless. Though that was quick to end when Prophet grunted and started to rise with a bloody nose. Not wanting to deal with it he just continued to say, "Just sit back down and try not to get us all killed." Leading to a rapid response of fuck this and a disembarking to the top of the QRTV. Which only warranted the rolling of his eyes and a swift turn to Andy saying, "Just go, he falls off we'll debrief a casualty." Following that he got situated back in his seat, calling up over the radio that the operation was a go and they are to make all due haste towards the pillar of light.







The first leg of the journey was simple, rough, but simple. The gnarled roots and expanding under foliage of the Grand Forest gave a bumping and rocky ride for all of the vehicles involved, but nothing the QRTVs couldn't handle a thousand times over. For Isis and Bastet it was a true haven! This was the natural environment of the Duvari and in fact several wild bands of them were seen running about the forest grounds, one even deciding to take up and give chase with the convoy after seeing Bastet. More than likely curious to see such an alpha running with loud machine beasts. Giving the convoy quiet the entourage for the final legs of the forest.

Upon reaching the cusp of it, bursting through a particulayly dense thicket of low hanging plants the convoy was set upon not only much more level ground, but a beautiful scene. Monsters and beasts of all kinda roamed wild and free along the plains that stretched before them. No cover to hide teh majority of luminous and varied creatures that lived their lives upon the newly overgrown planet. Duvari scampered and played about with one another as pups chased and 'fought' their parents. Silverbacks bayed and roared about at the cusp of the forest, hanging on branches from strong arms as they watched the convoy roll on. As well as a colony of Will-O'-The-Wisps fluttered through the air, glowing and glinting their wondrous lights show through the waning lights of evening. Almost as if they were forming a path of light to guide the convoy into the encroaching night.

Jake was one to take in the moment of peace, lifting the hatch on top of the QRTV to let his head be at the open air. Watching the wonders roam around in what seemed like a foreign harmony, perfect yet... different. A small smiling walking up the side of his face as he lost a part of his whimsical side to it all. Only they had a job to do. Pulling across his radio headset he broadcast across the convoy for all to hear, "We convoy into the night to make up for lost time, but I want everybody to have eyes open. We're officially in unknown territory which provides countless dangers but not to mention the fact that we are in fact rolling towards something that is detonating with the psionic equivalent of a neutron bomb each day. I won't sugar coat it, this is a suicide mission, but you were all selected from your fields because you ARE the best at what you do. The damn best and the ones who are coming back from this mission no matter what crosses our path as we venture into the unknown. I know you won't let me down and I won't let you down as well. Keep your wits about you, your gun close, and your teammates closer and let's find the source of this psionic superweapon!"

Crawling back into his seat he sealed the hatch above his head, turning to Andy and nodding, more out of respect for faithfully driving them into the wild Hell around them. "Keep us on track Corporal. And when you can steer clear of high roads and ruins. Keep those High Cats out and our noses down." More to just say it for his sake. Andy was a top driver so that meant everything he said was redundant, but that was the military life for you, say everything six times and run everything into the ground.

Turning around to look in the cabin he addressed Castan next, "You're our biologist right? Keep your eyes out. We're in new ground and I want to know everything that crosses our path. Just make sure you find those weaknesses first!" He finished with a half hearted joke, knowing that it was people like her who kept people like the rangers alive. Otherwise how would you know where to shoot and what hurts the most when hunting a monster the size of a house. In fact of all the people in the QRTV she had the most valuable job given this was at it's core element a research mission.

Other than the sound of the QRTVs engines, Isis and Bastet heard nothing but the sound of leaves rustling through the wind as they ran through the jungle. With her own body pressed against Bastet's back, both woman and animal were in such synchrony that it was hard to tell them apart from the distance. Isis could feel Bastet's strong muscles as the Duvari ran, she could feel her respiration, her heartbeat... After a couple of seconds running, Isis' breath was synchronized to Bastet's, her eyes were focused on the way ahead of them, moving themselves exactly to the same location Bastet's eyes were... With their bodies and minds so close to one another, even their heartbeats were almost indistinguishable one from another. That was the very reason why so many other rangers called the Nasri weird and 'crazy' but despite all the prejudice, despite all the things that people said about the Nasri, two things were ver clear about them. They were the very best on what they did and the bond that a Nasri its Duvari shared was something that wasn't entirely human or animal. It wasn't something one could attain merely by having a Duvari... It was almost an... instinctive state of mind, something between being human and being an animal...

"Me? Using Bastet? He would never understand the bond we share... Isis thought remembering what Vargaas said earlier clicking her tongue in an annoyed expression, making Bastet peek over her shoulder, looking at her inquisitively.

With a smile and a small smooch on her neck, both continued running through the forest. Luckily, they weren't alone as they passed through a wild duvari band. Isis was still irritated with all the situation with Vargaas, but the sight of the wild duvaris playing and especially one wild duvari that came near them to run with Bastet and Isis immediately made her forget about that.
She felt so... at home, so refreshed when outside with Bastet. She couldn't possibly stay grumpy or moody with such sights, smells and the feeling of freedom that she had when running...

After chasing the wild duvari and playing with it for a bit together with Bastet, she was finally reunited with the QRTV convoy again, and apparently she got there just in time to hear Jake's speech about their mission. Everything was fine until now, but when Jake said that it was a suicide mission, Isis froze for a second. What did he mean by that...? Surely they weren't just blindly walking to their death... right? The preoccupation stamped on Isis' face was clear enough to make Bastet look at her, nudging her with her nose.

"I won't let anything happen to you, Bastet. I promise." Isis said, hugging her neck.

@Deos Morran

Spook kept still as the transport fell from the sky, unfazed as they dropped through the air at a somewhat alarming speed. Either she didn't notice, or she had done this before at least once, and given her track record that was more than likely. She snapped her book shut partway through the drop with a surprisingly loud clap and stored it in her cloak. She also kept her eyes on Prophet as he jumped from his seat, a quiet sigh being lost to the adrenaline flowing through some at the moment. They hit the ground with a bounce and she stayed in her seat, hands on the harness to keep herself from moving too far. Prophet, however, ate shit on the seat beside her pretty quickly, and she was at least 50% sure she saw a tooth fly from his mouth. Before long though, he was up like it didn't happen and bouncing around like a madman. She gave up on him surviving in the Wild World as he climbed on top of the transport. "...I'm not responsible for him if he dies."


Spook sat atop her transport, legs crossed and journal in hand as she looked around at the surrounding world. The ride thus far had been rough but peaceful, and she had decided to take advantage of the nice weather a little less than an hour ago. She had to admit, while the world had gone to shit a long time ago, there was a certain beauty to everything. An untamed show of what nature could do when unchecked, but beautiful nonetheless. Her notebook went away just as Jake's head poked out of the hatch, and she listened to what he had to say from the radio in her helmet. She answered at the end, a certain tepidness in her voice as she stated her mind to the others. "I'm not even sure it's a weapon, but it's certainly some kind of power well. Closer to a black hole, really. I've been watching the echo finches for the last couple days, and they all flock towards it when it goes off, without fail." She shifted how she was sitting, setting one foot on the roof and pulling that knee up to her chest.

She kept her eyes on the horizon for now, watching for any kind of disturbance for awhile. Before long, however, she crawled over to the hatch and opened it, then dropped back into the transport. She made it a point to close it behind her, then went back to her seat and took it once more. There, she got as comfortable as she could and crossed her legs.