 ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ | DAY 1 《》 STEELWATER [landing] 《》 10:00AM 《》@Prisk@Rockette
Her frame suddenly flicked alive. Emilia had been dozing off again, but in the middle of a noisy helicopter ride of all things. Muffled sounds of strife and violence in the distance overpowered the rotors of the vehicle. The all too familiar ‘battle mode’ kicked into gear—it was a different mindset, an ebb and flow that normally did not express itself, a state of trance sprawling of exquisite dopamine and other chemicals of the brain that no artificial drug could match. Emilia secretly relished in that first hour of combat, the very first of the day. It was far from an addiction, but close enough to warrant withdrawal symptoms a few hours after all things had settled down.
Emilia snapped out of the haziness. She got out of her seat and saw the carnage ahead, standing behind the pilot seats. Things had clearly not gone according to plan, but did it ever in the UDF? It was the essential creed among soldiers—nothing ever went according to plan and everything was always fucked up. The sight ahead was the quintessential example of that good old saying. The ‘psychopaths’, as the General had so eloquently put it in describing the World Eaters battalion, had either shit their pants or grown impatient, or both. It was a battalion known for their utterly repulsive methods of applying artillery shelling with a wide range of different types of munitions. They had no regard for civilian or other life whenever they got going with their endeavors bordering insanity. Some of them were so twisted in their heads that they use artillery units at close range, nearly blowing themselves up in the process. All of this was under the radar, of course, and reports of misdeeds rarely made it to the top of the UDF.
The morning was as dark as night. A day that had already started out as cloudy and moody with drizzle, just as the day prior, did not do well with Scorched Earth kind of tactics. Buildings, industrial facilities, and residential areas were all up in flames, creating a black layer of impenetrable darkness that did not do any favors. Emilia sighed—it was going to be a long day. She hastily gathered her things and geared up. The communication devices that the Cetra Command armory had provided were distributed in a hurry to everyone on the team present in the personnel carrier. Emilia had the rest tucked in her backpack, so that the remaining team mebers in other transports could get one when an opportunity presented itself. “Check, check—I hope this is good.” Emilia spoke while gently pressing two fingers against the contraption around her neck that was connected to the communication device itself.
"Garuda, do what you do best: jump down, make it secure." The pilot clearly knew how to utilize people onboard his areal vessel. That is how people in NavDiv were—they knew their surroundings and all the conditions in it. Emilia nodded at the pilot and made way for the rear exit. She always focused on her breathing before a high drop. It was a short meditation, clearing of the mind, visualizing a safe landing, and trusting the spirits within to do their thing. There was always a slight, lingering fear that she would not know what it feels like when the spirits leave. One day, they would simply be gone without her having noticed, and she would try to drop from a height and meet a hard, gruesome death. That thought sometimes made itself known more than Emilia would like or care to admit, which is why the breathing and focus before showtime was utmost necessary.
Scylla’s touch was calming. Emilia slid her arm around the royalty’s waist and held tight. A wide smile snuck itself onto Emilia’s lips, even if she tried to resist it at this particular moment due to the focused breathing. “Just lift your legs up before we hit the ground, okay? Otherwise we’ll have a bad start.” The violent motion and swirling of air was surely elating. The spirits within Emilia had found the perfect home, as she without a shred of doubt adored the feeling of wind against her skin—A rainless storm was her most revered kind of weather. When the transport was about a hundred meters above the landing spot, Emilia slipped off of the edge of the unfolded exit ramp of the helicopter. It was a straight fall, gravity doing its purpose. Emilia had a second or two to take in the surroundings and make on the fly decision about what their next steps would be. But, first, they had to clear out the landing area, so that they could rendezvous properly.
The creatures swarming on the ground were as grotesque as ever, standing about a meter above the ground in full. These were supposedly of a different strain of the Stigma, but Emilia could not tell any difference. The landing spot, dotted by brightly burning flares, cast light and shadows upon the crawling things they were about to destroy. The entities looked like heaps of moss and sprawling roots, awkwardly creeping around seemingly in an aimless manner. They were clearly functioning as meat shields for something greater, which did not appear to be close by at this time. Emilia let the spirits within charge their energy and release upon impact with the ground—a sharp crackling sound rushed forward in all directions, as if a shot from an artillery unit was fired right next to them. A wave of air pushed dust swelled across a sea of Tree Husks, briefly knocking them over. Emilia and Scylla were akin to a powerful missile that had struck its mark. She let her grip of the royalty ease up—“Alright, let her rip.” Emilia shouldered her rile to let round after round whiz through the air into the bizarre creatures.
FLASHBACK - DAY 1 《》 UDF: CETRA EAST COMMAND [Surface] 《》 06:45AM 《》@RezonanceV@Rockette@DeadDrop
Oh, shit… She thought to herself upon seeing him. This was the guy who had everything but his codename redacted from the S.W.A.R.G. list. Emilia had heard about Bloodhound before, though, mostly from Ben during those days. Apparently, the two were war buddies or something. Ben had not disclosed any specifics, but brief and fleeting mentions were not uncommon. Although, Emilia had suspected that there was much more to it. Ben did not talk much about other people he had worked with, but this Vic individual received unusual remarks and praise—sort of. It was difficult to put into words how Ben would speak about it. He said a lot but nothing at the same time. “Um, yeah, I am..." Emilia had a slight tremble in her tones, perhaps not noticeable to some but more so to others. "I know who you are. Secure your stuff and find a seat, we’re off in half a minute.” This guy was a bit of a wild card. He was just as likely to rip the rest of the team apart just as he was the enemy—surely he had more control over himself now than back when Ben spoke about him.
“Still just a UDF rat like everyone else.” Emilia chuckled at Scylla’s captain remark. Regardless of what the General did or did not do, she appreciated that people around her were more hostile towards unsavory scolding. Emilia brushed it off by raising her shoulders slightly—meh, a mundane thing by now. A fleeting look around at the other gunships caught a glimpse of Blitz, and others boarding the transports. Everything appeared to be on schedule. Emilia returned into the personnel carrier again along with Bloodhound, as the rear exit ramp of the helicopter slowly closed. She settled into her seat and exhaled deeply. A reassuring touch from Robert did wonders to ease the nerves. She smiled at his words and momentarily returned a warm hand upon his. It did not take long after the transport had taken flight for Emilia to nod off into rest.
Quest Steps
We can close all previous interactions and fast forward to the combat scene. You do not have to describe all steps up until this point, unless you want to. The transports arrive, the landing area is swarming with smallish creatures seen in the image of enemies—the top left creature, Tree Husks. These are 'cannon fodder'. You can go wild and kill as many as you want. I will introduce the 'big bad' in my next post, the one with the vertical depiction in the image. There is another creature in the image, bottom left, that is also cannon fodder, which you can describe fighting, as well.
Secondly, go to the Codex-thread through the OOC first post—click the 'Codex' image. Go to the bottom and look at the 'icons' there. You can use two icons in your combat posts, as I have done here. They only matter when we fight the 'big bad', but you can make a habit of including them in all combat posts, regardless. You can change icons between every combat post, if you want, but only 2 of them can be used. You can choose to use any of the available icons, freely. The best way to copy the image of the icon you want is to right click and choose "copy image link". Looking at the raw code will be a bit daunting.
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