Lilly/James Collab Post
After conversing a little with the other squad, James turns and goes to find Lily, which wasn't hard since she had somewhat isolated herself off on the sidelines of thins. Waving at her with a smile, he walked up to her. "I figured you'd be a bit more social, Miss Lilly."
--
Lilly was slightly startled when she heard a voice call out to her, snapping her out of her thoughts.
"Oh, good afternoon, Mr. Hunt." She stood up from the tree she was resting against.
"Yes, I suppose I should be... But most of the soldiers are already conversing and I'm feeling a bit tired. I do not think I would make the best impression on them at the moment." She smiled as she gestured to his new rank badge
"What of you? Should you not be discussing the details of the cooperation between our squads with the Sergent and his counterpart?" --
James shook his head, pulling out a piece of bread and munching on it before offering one to Lilly. "Nope, just the LC. My job is to keep an eye on everyone else while the Sarge and the Corporal are busy with other things. I also command a fireteam, but that's about it." As he looked at her, he couldn't shake the haunted look in here eyes, something he'd seen in the eyes of men and women many times since the Imps had invaded. "Look, I want you to be one hundred percent honest with me, no bull shit. Are you OK?"
--
"Thank you." Lilly nodded as she took the offered bread piece and began to eat it. A picky eater, she was loath to turn down any offers of the types of food she could actually tolerate in her MREs. The bread (while either gross and spongy, or hard as a rock) was at least one of the more palatable items on the menu.
"Look, I want you to be one hundred percent honest with me, no bull shit. Are you OK?"*crack* A weird noise sounded within Lilly's mind as Hunt brought up that particular topic. Static... Why was she hearing static? As she thought his question over, her face darkened. She didn't want to tell him anything. She was fine! She had to be! She... she didn't want anyone else to worry about her. Unfortunately despite her best efforts, that seemed to have already happened though. Lilly sighed as she remembered the look of relief on Brenna's face. Well just once couldn't hurt...
"... Truthfully I do not know. War is truly horrible Mr. Hunt, and it does not seem like something anyone would be able to experience unchanged. But I am trying. My nervousness is likely born of the fact that the last few battles have not gone well for me, so once we have a good one I think I will be fine. Besides, we have another squad with us now so our next battle is sure to be easier." Lilly smiled a little at the last remark, trying to reassure him that she would be alright.
--
James listened to Lilly and nodded, his mind lost in thought. While the skirmish before Le Haye Sainte hadn't been that bad, in fact he was certain the Imps got it worse, she hadn't faired too well in the battle FOR Le Haye Sainte. He still couldn't shake the memory of her impaled as she was. "No, War isn't very kind indeed. But...this one won't be bad, I mean, we won't even be taking part if what the Sarge said is right."
--
"Well that would be a welcome respite... But is it truely alright to let the other squad fight alone? Should we not be doing our best to assist them?" Despite her fear of battle, Lilly still felt like it was important that they worked together. There were better chances of everyone making it home that way. She stopped as she noticed that James had gone quiet and had a peculiar expression on his face.
"Mr. Hunt? Is something on your mind? You look unsettled."--
James shakes his head, coming back into focus. He hadn't realized that he'd let on what he was thinking so quickly. "Yeah, sorry. Just an old memory is all. Back on topic, we don't honestly know what the other squad's orders are. For all we know, they're where we are. Still, I'm fairly certain that if they go to engage, the Sarge will have us assist."
--
"Ah, well I'm certain that the sergeant will tell us his plans once he makes then." There was a brief pause in the conversation due to the line of discussion having been exhausted before Lilly broke it.
"Where is home for you, Mr. Hunt? Do career soldiers live in permanent locations, or do you life a nomadic lifestyle as you move from base to base?"--
James had to think for a moment before responding, debating one what really was home for him. He'd been on two bases and three outposts since his enlistment, but none of them had felt like home. "Well, I guess I live by the mantra 'Home is where the heart is.' I mean, I've been on two bases and three outposts since my official enlistment, but they never felt like home. I mean, I got my parents' place too, but that's where I grew up, not necessarily home. That make sense?"
--
The answer perplexed Lilly, who had always thought of home as being where your family was, but she nodded.
"Yes, I suppose that makes sense. I have rarely had a chance to venture far from my father's mansion, so that is the only 'home' I know. I the barracks were starting to feel a little more 'home-like' in the past few weeks, though." --
James chuckles at that, finishing off his bread and taking a drink from his flask, though he kept what was in it to himself. "I imagine it did after a few weeks there. But, yeah, Home for me is where my heart is, and as much as I love the military, it's still a job. An important job and one that I love to do, but still a job. What about you? What did you think was going to be your dream job?"
--
"I'm not quite sure... Certainly not the military." Lilly shook her head when she was asked.
"Provided I make it through the war, I will succeed my father as the owner of Jatmoor Arms. If something were to happen to prevent that, I am unsure what I would do. I have such precious little experience outside of commerce that I do not think I could accurately answer what my 'dream job' would be." She pursed her lips when talking about her own inexperience. Her sheltered lifestyle, while she understood the purpose of it, had left a bad taste in her mouth. What she would have given to have learned more of the world beyond her family's estate gates before venturing out on her own. The moment of dissatisfaction passed in a moment, though.
"Perhaps, a career in logistics would be suited to my tastes. Regardless, that relies on my ability to make it home in one piece."--
James nodded, thinking of where he'd go once he left the service. Of course, like Lilly had said, that all depended on their ability to get home in one piece, which at least one of their squad wouldn't be doing despite their best efforts. "Yeah, that's a good point. Me, I don't know what I'm going to do after the military myself. Might take over dad's butcher shop, might start a business of my own, who knows."
Sighing, he finally sits down. "Hell, this isn't what me or any of my buddies expected to happen when we signed up, that's for sure."
--
"I can certainly agree with that." Lilly also joined him in sitting down. She could relate to the statement about expectations quite a bit. Having read several EW1 era books where military service was played up to be some sort of grand and exciting adventure, Lilly had also gotten a false sence of what war would be. This, while exciting (but not in the good way), was certainly not the 'adventure' she thought she would be going on. ... But she was stuck with it now, so she had to bear with it until the end of the war (or her untimely death) came. At least she got to see more of the country, which she always enjoyed. Hmm, speaking of which, that gave her a question she wanted to ask Hunt about.
"Mr. Hunt, what did you do before the war? I mean, not work wise. Hobby wise. Did you have any projects or interests you pursued before?"--
James thought on it a moment, going over all the different things he'd done before the war had started. "Well, if I had to pick one to choose from, I'd have to say hunting. It isn't anything I did so often it was something I did more than my job, but it was a good distraction from the every day toil of being a soldier when it was the season."
--
Lilly immediately perked up at the mention of hunting. That was one of the few liberties she had enjoyed during her time at home, learning to hunt for sport with her father.
"Oh? Hunting? What types of prey did you track? My father taught me how to hunt, though it was mostly small animals such as fox or grouse. Deer hunting, or anything larger was a rare occurrence." She quickly reined in her enthusiasm, though, both from a formal stand point of wanting to look composed, and because Hunt said that he had only rarely partaken in the activity his surname implied.
"I mean, it is certainly an interesting sport. The art of tracking and marksmanship are noble pursuits indeed."--
James chuckled as Lilly got excited at the mention of hunting and leaned back some. "While noble, I come from a family of butchers and survivalists. You see, when we went hunting as a family, it was to get meat for the family. Deer, elk, even moose one time, and that was scary. But yeah, it wasn't just to relax for me. When I joined the military, I would donate the majority of the meat from my kills to the base, keep some for myself, and give some to my current CO for his personal use. Still, can't quite beat that calming feeling you get when you're out there alone."
--
"Ah, I see." Lilly nodded and smiled, realizing now why Mr. Hunt had chosen to be a scout. Similar to her reasoning, she supposed, but interesting none the less.
"It is very generous that you simply gave away portions of the bounty of your hunt. I'm sure your comrades appreciated it." Hmm... maybe she could do something like that for the squad. Not meat, obviously, since she was not confident in her abilities to track anything other than what she was used to (which were far too small to be shared), but maybe come The Feast, or Christmas... Well, one step at a time, Lilly. You have to survive this first. *crackle* She slightly shook her head as the damn noise came back. It was odd... she only ever heard it when she was thinking about war. Maybe it was because of-*static* yes, that was probably the case. Either way, she quickly shifted her thoughts to something, anything, to get away from the damn noise. It unnerved her.
Almost without thinking, she started talking about the first thing that came to mind.
"Since my family owns a string of factories, we mostly stay within cities or the estate. Conducting business is much easier that way, because you don't have to go visit every person's individual factory and can organize a meeting between all of the business partners at a common and easy to access location." Lilly paused as she caught herself and gave a half smile. Now how was she going to tie this into the topic they had been discussing...
"Sorry, I do realize that what I said was off topic. What I meant by it, though, was that I agree. It certainly is very nice to be out in the forest alone. It is very relaxing and quiet, especially in contrast to the hustle and bustle of life in the city or my father's estate."--
James laughed a little more, nodding. "Never been much for the city myself, but military bases gave me an idea of what it was like, even if there were more guards than a city. Hey, if we get the chance, would you be up for going hunting? Maybe teach you some of the tricks we learned with from my dad to hunt the bigger game?"
--
"Yes... Yes, I believe I would like that. Thank you." Lilly nodded, before leaning back up against a different tree and closing her eyes. A brief hunting trip with a friend would probably do wonders for her. She would certainly be looking forward to it, when and if they ever had the time for a hunt.