Tergonaut

The Lodge Outside of Segaso City (RP is now closed by GM)

First section is a collab post with @BlessedWrath

---

Justin gave Sam a friendly grin. "Sure thing - funny that you happened to drop in today, these guys were actually about to move into the lodge themselves." He glanced over at Jaiden and Amie, and the grin turned into a grimace. "That is, if they make it that far."

"Yeah...about that..." Sam tossed a too-casual glance over her shoulder at Amie and Jaiden. It did not take a developmental psychologist to recognize this was not the first time she had witnessed the prelude to violence. The fact she barely knew any of them did help to reinforce a reason for her lack of interest in their affairs, however. She paused briefly, studying the two for half a second or so, before finishing that thought.

"If, by 'lodgers', you mean to include Captain Creature and Princess Cut-A-Bitch...d'ya think maybe somebody should do something about..." she trailed off momentarily, waving a hand in the general direction of the would-be combatants. "...that?"

She turned back to Justin, wearing a more serious expression which, in itself, betrayed the fact that she did, in fact, believe there was a stake in whether they would become violent. That this vested interest in them hinged on whether they would also come after her may not have been expressed, but it was heavily implied in her eyes. After all, she had already been through enough this week. Waking up to three feet of alloy steel sticking out of her chest would seriously hinder her repair efforts.

Justin could tell there was a little more to Sam's tone with her comment than the words themselves expressed. What exactly, he couldn't say, but he had a feeling that this spaceship crash hadn't been the first bad thing that had ever happened to her. Hopefully, he could turn it around into a good thing.

"Yeah, I just barely got done inspecting the place and repairing things," Justin explained with a sigh. "I don't really want to get a call and have to come back to fix something they broke on the first day."

He approached Jaiden and Amie and held up his hands in a non-threatening way - but interposed his own body between the two of them. "Okay, easy - you guys are going to be living at the lodge together, both of you, so can we just have a do-over with introducing yourselves, please?"

"Now's your chance," Sam's inner voice butted in again. "Ditch the spares and find your own way back. Hell, maybe you can wait it out in the bushes until they leave, and get your ship running again before they notice you're gone."

That would have ended her up lost in the woods. The alien woods. The alien woods crawling with unidentified, potentially dangerous life forms, and at least one shapeshifting would-be bad boy. There could be others. Besides, even if she did find her way to the lodge, there was no guarantee she could get in. Waiting for Justin was just as acceptable an alternative; she got his name, and the fact he was crazy enough to step between a monster and a sword-slinging aristocrat. Apart from that, she didn't know him from Adam.

"No..." Sam decided. "I need options. That's going to take time. Gotta figure out what I need before I figure out how to use it."

Instead of rabbiting, Sam stuck her hands in the pockets of her hoodie and leaned against a tree, propping up one of her workboots on the trunk beneath her. If Mr. Diplomacy failed to calm the situation, she'd be ready.

"Yeah?" She chided herself. "Ready for what, exactly?"

---

Nora sighed despondently and slumped her shoulders as she and Boxcar walked along alone through the forest. "Well, so much for being in charge of the glorious rescue expedition," she said, more to herself than to anyone else.

Boxcar shrugged, though it was hard to convey the motion as he was moving along on all four paws. He had just finished a friendly bark of greeting in response to Ashley's called-out statement. "Look, yer just bein' too hard on yourself. Stop mopin' and just be yourself - if they want to follow you, it'll be because they like you for you, and not-"

The wolf paused, his nose twitching as he sniffed the air. Nora squatted down next to him and regarded him curiously. "You have something?"

"Yeah..." Boxcar tested the air again, separating the scents he smells from each other. One scent was purely physical and not related to his super-powered sniffing ability - the remnants of smoke and damaged metal from the crashed ship. He also could smell Justin, he recognized that from earlier, as well as Amie's royalty-tinged perfume.

The other two scents, however, both were charged with power, each in their own way. One scent was like a spritz of effervescent dormant psychic emanations...a telepath of some kind? It didn't smell like a more dangerous psionic power, like telekinesis, though Boxcar had to admit that mental powers like those were a little trickier for him to figure out.

The other scent caused the hackles to rise on his neck and back, and he growled involuntarily. There was a musky odor that reeked of chaotic transformation, a protean polymorphic pungency, along with an underlying...hunger. Specifically, hunger of a predator...

"B-Boxcar?" Nora yelped as she stood up and backed away a few steps quickly. "What's the matter with you?"

With an effort, the wolf stopped growling, though his senses were all on high alert. "I smell Justin, Amie...and two others. One of whom might be very, very bad. This way."

And he ran off through the bushes, with Nora on his heels trying to keep up. "H-hey, wait for me!"

Pariah Online: Prologue [ closed ]

Sounds good.

The Lodge Outside of Segaso City (RP is now closed by GM)

Justin had let Ashley and Amie go off, almost forgetting them in his curiosity about the ship. He had seen his fair share of odd things during his time on Faiza, but he knew it was a much bigger universe out there, and this ship didn't look like anything he had personally encountered. The crashed vessel certainly wasn't big enough to be meant for more than one passenger at a time, and certainly not a human passenger, by the look of some of the controls...

Of course, he noticed the mercurial liquid leaking into the interior of the ship, but he also noticed something else. What appeared to be a battered laptop, bearing keys marked with letters he recognized, sat half-submerged in the pool of quicksilver. "Oh, that cannot be good for it," he said with a wince before he reached down, balancing himself carefully against the rim of the cockpit, and grabbed the laptop by one available edge until he had the whole thing out on the grass, with the wires that connected it to the ship still dangling from where it had come loose, most likely during the crash. He was very careful not to touch the silvery liquid that dripped out of the laptop, gloves or no gloves, but he experimentally tapped a few keys, and was treated to what appeared to be a diagnostic of the ship...shortly before the screen gave out with a shorting spark that snapped at him like a mousetrap.

He glanced around furtively - he had one way to scan the ship, the laptop and the liquid all in one go, but he couldn't use it if he had witnesses around. It looked like the others were gone for the moment...nevertheless, they could turn back up at any time, and he didn't want to take the chance. He settled instead on taking off one of his gloves - among some of the best in the industry - and carefully picked up the laptop again to drip some of the liquid metal inside of it. After checking to make sure that it wasn't eating through the reinforced flexible waterproof material, he tied off the glove and put it into his pocket, then set the laptop down in such a way that it would continue to drain and dry out.

I'm not sure why, but for some reason, I'm worried about this stuff...why would mercury be leaking out of a spaceship? It doesn't make sense...I'll give this to Nora, I think I remember reading about her work before, and she should know if this stuff is dangerous.

He brought himself back upright, and was about to go after the girls when he noticed something about the damaged console of the ship. Justin swore that it seemed less scarred up than it had before. Was it-

Before he could do anything else, he heard the focus-shattering sound of a tree splintering to bits, and he bounded to his feet and over to where the girls stood, just in time to catch part of the apology and the introduction from Jaiden. It said something about Justin's life that even with all of the crazy things he had seen on Faiza, something so mundane like finding a guy naked in the forest could still surprise him. That said, Lady Jane's threat certainly seemed to be a little over the top...though the missing tree was a little foreboding, and the way Jaiden's face darkened after such a blatant threat...

Justin's shirt was off very quickly, revealing a white tank top underneath that showed off his lean arms and shoulders. "Name's Justin," he introduced himself into the awkward silence following Amie's threat as he tossed the heather-gray T-shirt to Jaiden. "That should help cover you until we can get to the lodge's clothing materializer. Since you mentioned the lodge, I'm pretty reasonably sure you weren't the pilot of that ship back there, and you're not here to hurt anyone." His last sentence was pointed a little in Amie's direction as well. "That also means you helped pull the pilot out of the ship, and she seems intact from what I can see, so it's good to see you helping out. Well done."

He turned his gaze to the other person there, a young woman dressed in black civilian clothes who, up until his focus went to her, had been quietly trying to move around the group and back toward the ship. She stopped, her slouching posture conveniently keeping her face away from him for the most part, though their eyes met in a brief instant, and Justin saw suspicion, a hunted look, and a question in her eyes. His best guess of the question was, Are you going to get in my way?

"As for you, I dug your laptop out from the wreck and put it on the grass to drain out. Seems like it got partly submerged into some liquid that looks like mercury, and it looks like it shorted out, but it's salvageable. At least, I assume it's yours, since it's the only thing on that ship that looked designed for human fingers." He gave her a friendly lopsided smile. "We have more tools back at the lodge, as well as a workbench you could borrow, a kitchen full of food, a place to wash up..."

He could tell from the hungry gleam in the girl's eye at "tools" and "workbench" that this was what interested her more than anything else he could have mentioned, though there was still suspicion and a temptation to bolt in her body language. "Unless you wanna stay out here in the untamed wilderness, where you'd get interrupted by wild animals and bad weather. And we're supposed to get some rain tonight, nice sunny skies notwithstanding. Just some friendly advice and an open invitation."

He hadn't introduced Ashley (because he didn't want to have to deal with awkward questions about how he knew her name without being introduced) and Amie, leaving that up to them - he had made his deductions and his offers of help. Now he could only wait and see how this would play out...

---

Nora flailed her hands in front of her in a negative and panicked fashion at Sam's suggestion of burning down the door - a course of action she well knew from reading his file that he could carry out. "N-no, breaking down the door won't be necessary! We'll just get in through one of the other doors, instead!"

But, alas, Nora found that the door that led from the garage into the lodge was also locked! And, after going around to the back cement patio, they tried the door there as well, and though they could look into the small window and see the kitchen counters along the edges of the room inside along with a table and chairs set up, this door was locked as well.

Nora let out a sigh of exasperated futility. She hadn't known what to expect from this day, but she certainly didn't think for a moment that she would be defeated so quickly by a manual locking system. "At least if it was electronic, I could try to override it!" she blurted out as she held out her arms and hands directly at the door, palms splayed out, as if somehow she was dumping all of the blame onto the door.

Boxcar nudged her leg, got her attention, then tipped his head in Sam's direction. "Looks like the firestarter's plan B is our best bet now, perfesser. We might need everyone to find where the others went."

Nora nodded, then took Sam and Boxcar back around to the front where Winters and Jorvin waited - Winters with all of the luggage piled neatly beside the front door, ready to be carried in, and Jorvin with his inexplicable lack of luggage, standing where he had been the entire time, a silent sentinel that waited for the right moment to act. "A-All right, everybody," she announced, "so we're locked out of all the doors, and the only one who has a key is likely to be Justin, since he was here inspecting the place and fixing up things for us. So, the new plan is to go out there, find him, get the keys, get inside!"

She turned to lead the way into the woods, though Boxcar quickly ran a little ahead to use his nose to track down the errant Justin. Nora was a little nervous about this - what if Justin returned while her group was still trying to find him? What if he left without leaving the key? What if he was already dead due to alien invaders that had poured out of the crashed ship? But at least she had a course of reasonable action to follow now!

Valour & Vale: A RWBY Roleplay

---

---

One week prior -- Aboard the Cunning Rascal

The sea was blue.

Marina Brimlad sat at the prow of the ship, where she wore her black uniform outfit bereft of the heavy plates of blue armor she usually wore. Such armor was of no use aboard a seagoing vessel, and she wanted to avoid exposing it to corrosion by seawater as much as possible. Still, the padded uniform she wore was plenty of protection against the chilly salt-flavored air as well as the brine-soaked wood she sat on.

She frowned slightly as she straightened out the letter written to her by her father, the folded paper already somewhat bent and frayed from frequently putting it away and getting it out again. Over the past several days, she'd read it again and again, as if hoping to find something else there written on the pages. And here she was at it again, during a break in the usual work of assisting the sailors of the Cunning Rascal. The captain and many of the sailors were soldiers years ago under her father's command, and Marina herself had met them when she was younger during inspection tours of the ship, so it had not been difficult for her to arrange passage on the trade ship. They had been resistant at first for her to aid in the work of running a ship, but she was stubborn and anxious to keep her hands busy, so they finally relented and she earned her place among the crew.

But there was only so much to be done, and so she found herself again perusing the letter. The finely-written script read:

My Dear Marina,
Your Headmaster - I do not understand why she is not called a Headmistress - recently sent me some correspondence regarding what she is terming a "field trip" she is sending you on as part of a joint venture by the Academies of each nation. She included documentation of your numerous accomplishments at Atlas Academy, praised your diligence and enthusiasm, and indicated that you were ranked near the top of the age group above your own, with an implication that you might be able to graduate with the first class if you maintain such an impressive record. Such praise certainly fills this old soldier's heart with pride to have you for a daughter.

I suspect, however, that I am not being given all of the details of this excursion. None of the other parents of students have indicated to me that this has ever happened before, and there is a troubling lack of information about when you will return or who your companions will be. You know well my feelings on the people of other countries and how the war turned out - stay close to your compatriot from Atlas Academy, and don't trust any strangers from the other countries, since they won't have your best interests at heart. That you voluntarily accepted this assignment is the only reason I have not insisted that you return back home immediately.

If you require anything, please write to us at once. Mother and I send you our love, and please understand that no matter what may happen, you are always welcome to return home if you've decided you have had enough of this Huntress business.

With love,
Father

Marina felt tempted to crumple up the letter and toss it into the waves as her frustration rose in her chest. Between the lines of love and approval, she could feel her father's disappointment bleed through. From the start, he had been against her training to be a Huntress, and only her mother's support and Marina's own determination caused him to relent. As far as he was concerned, allowing combat trainees to run around in apparel of any color they pleased was an affront to his military sensibilities of uniformity and compliance with protocol. Individuality and self-expression were usually what got soldiers killed on the battlefield, in his eyes - and here, the Academy of his homeland was teaching these very values to his own flesh and blood.

But it wasn't like he assumed! Hunters and Huntresses were trained to work together and accomplish missions together, just like soldiers. And, more importantly, she was doing this precisely because she believed in her nation. That they had lost the Great War had changed some things, but to her, there was still integrity, honor, and nobility in the face of dire circumstances. And that was why she felt it was important to represent her country in this new endeavor. Marina would prove to her father - and to the Hunters and Huntresses of the other Academies - that Mantle still stood brightly as a paragon of these virtues, even in this new age.

"I will not return home until I have accomplished this mission - for my Academy, my father, and my nation. This I swear." These words she spoke to the Headmaster resonated in her memory.

But, as Marina secreted the letter back into one of her pockets, she found herself remembering the Headmaster's response, a question she insisted that Marina not answer until her return to Atlas.

"Do not forget yourself, young Marina. You are not the Academy, your father, or Mantle. What do you want?"

What kind of question is that, anyway? Of course it's me who wants to bring honor and glory to my nation, to get my father's approval, to graduate with honors from Atlas. What did she really mean?

She looked for the answer in the color of the waves, but all she saw was blue.

Present Evening -- Arriving in the outskirts of Garen's Well

Marina pushed her horse on through the driving rain, each cold drop adding to the weight of her displeasure. She had insisted on buying a Mantle-bred steed after reaching port so she could travel to Garen's Well without needing a driver and buggy that she thought would slow her down. After only a day on the road, the skittish and slow animal had convinced her that she had been swindled, and that she should leave the horse at the next set of stables she came across. What was worse, she had ignored the friendly warnings of the sailors and the townspeople at port that there looked to be bad weather in the direction she was headed. And now here she was, in the middle of a downpour without knowing exactly how much further it was to town.

She was cold, wet, her stomach complained about the dry travel rations she had been subsisting on, and she felt humiliated in about the same proportion as she had felt so proud that she was relying on her own wits and not on her father's dime. She was not in the best of moods.

The darkness of the night and clouds kept her from seeing the mahogany-colored coach until she was nearly on top of it. Marina pulled to one side and yanked on the reins to bring herself to a halt. "You there, sir! Is Garen's Well much further from here?"

The grizzled coachman eyed her with some contempt as he slowed but did not stop. "'Tis not much further, lass, but ye best turn back now - there be an alarm in the village, probably crawlin' with Grimm by now." He then snapped the reins and shouted crudely at his horses as he spurred them back up to speed, away from danger.

Marina snorted contemptuously. It seemed like almost everyone she had met since she landed was greedy and self-interested, nothing like the generous and proud people of her own country! While it only seemed natural this should be the case, it was another thing entirely to encounter it in person.

The warning bells rang again, and she yelled as she put her heels to the horse's side, and they bolted forward into the dark rain once again. Grimm, in Garen's Well! She wondered briefly if it was coincidence that the town that she was to meet with the other Hunters and Huntresses was now under attack by the dark-hearted monsters. But it was a frivolous thought, and soon she entered the borders of the town and followed a rough and muddy lane that looked like it headed toward the center of the village.

And then Marina saw it in the dim light the lampposts gave off in the storm. A lone Grimm, but larger than just about anything she had ever heard of before, or read about in books regarding the creatures. The monstrous humanoid creature had a strangely beaked face with a backward-swept horn jutting from its forehead, and a second face seemed to peer out from its wide chest. Spikes and hooked spurs poked out of its arms and legs, and its fingers and toes sported sharp, gigantic talons. Revulsion and a touch of fear wrestled in her heart, but were quickly overtaken by her usual reaction: anger.

The Grimm's burning red eyes seemed focused on a young man who brandished twin swords and seemed lightly armored...a Hunter? He certainly was brave enough to be one, though Marina did not recognize him as her compatriot from Atlas that she was supposed to rendezvous with here along with the other Hunters and Huntresses. Not too far away, she saw two other girls in another direction, one striding forward purposefully while the other hung back.

But there was another young man nearby at the edge of the town square, far more heavily armored - yes, Marina recognized him! She had not been introduced to him, and he was in the age group a few years ahead of hers, so she had never met him personally, but she knew his name as the Headmaster had given it to her (just as she was certain the Headmaster had let Sep Felder know her name).

There was no time to coordinate an attack with the others, if indeed the rest of them were other Hunters and Huntresses. And all of her frustration and anger whipped up into a frothy fury inside of her as she deliberately charged forward with her horse, who was only kept from fleeing by the Huntress. Marina kept one hand on her horse's reins as she pulled herself up to a standing position precariously balanced on the saddle. Her other hand reached back for the large sword handle of Bedlam Flourish, and she deployed the weapon to its full size even as she leapt into the air at the monster.

"For Mantle!" she shouted above the pouring rain as she flew toward the monster, and swung her blade down with a full two-handed grip at the Grimm's torso.

Except the Grimm caught her blade on one of the long bone spurs that jutted from its elbow, and a long trailing whiplike limb that dangled from the back of its head lashed out at her as a counterstrike.

In that split-second, she activated her Semblance, and a reflective metallic-blue sheen flashed over her skin as she pulled Bedlam Flourish back in a defensive angle. The whip struck her weapon, and the tip of that limb snaked around it to scratch at her face. If not for her Aura and Semblance, it would have cut her right across the eyes and blinded her on the spot.

Marina splashed down into the scummy mud of the town square, and her feet dug in deeply in the wet ground. Her increased density and weight only barely kept her from slipping, but she was now stuck where she stood. The Grimm attacked with its claws, and even with her defensive bladework, she was only barely able to parry most of the strikes, and she felt her Aura sapping quickly as each blow that got through struck resoundingly against her Anchor.

She had allowed her pride-driven frustration and anger blind her to the immediate tactical concerns of the situation, and now she was forced to remain on the defensive.

"Hit it!" she shouted, that same pride choking off her desperation as she mechanically attempted to get her left side facing the creature, where she had the most armor. "It's on me - hit it now!"

Valour & Vale: A RWBY Roleplay

I'm afraid I didn't budget enough time for myself to finish my post in time before my usual Sunday disappearance - and for that, I apologize, since I realize that's going to hold things up.

I should have it ready to post for Monday as soon as I'm able, though, just to give you an ETA.

I should ask, though; is it all right if I don't follow the dialogue color-coding that everyone else has been doing so far, or should I do that to maintain the consistency of the RP? I'm willing to do either-or, but I'd like to ask before I finish making my post.

See you Monday!

Valour & Vale: A RWBY Roleplay

More than tolerable - pretty neat! Thank you, Ink!

Will we be able to use the banners as they are, or should we save them and host them on our own image-hosting sites?

I need to hit the sack right now, but I will try to write up a post sometime tomorrow (today? After midnight at the moment) before my usual Sunday absence. Just trying to figure out whether Marina would have traveled at all with Sep at any point during the trip (if he hates boats, then being with her would have been nearly intolerable during the boat ride), or if they were given their assignments secretly from each other and so did the trip separately. Kinda leaning toward the latter since that would be the easiest to avoid collab work this early on in the RP.

The Lodge Outside of Segaso City (RP is now closed by GM)

Justin hadn't been on the move for very long when he heard the sound of fast footsteps behind him. Not being blessed with especially good hearing, he only barely figured out what was causing the noise when the woman he had made a pass at earlier caught up with him and kept pace. For several moments, they simply ran on through the trees, able to use the distant smoke pillar above the tree line as a landmark for their direction. She kept up with him easily enough, leading him to believe that she, too, kept up some kind of daily regimen of exercise like he did. The sound of their breathing and the thud of their feet against the grass-carpeted ground filled the air for several seconds.

On the one hand, seeing her again so soon made his heart pound a little harder - and not just from the exertion of the run. On the other hand, he did feel a little silly about having made such an obvious advance on her in front of so many strangers. What if she had a boyfriend, or had been embarrassed by being approached like that? The thought gnawed at him a bit, even as he chided himself for letting himself fuss over something like this, especially in a situation that could easily turn into a dangerous one.

He did manage to keep his eyes forward instead of letting them stray to his running companion after his initial confirming glance. He let himself get distracted by trying to figure out how to explain how he knew her name, and where he had seen her before...

"Hey, uh, about what I said before back there-"

Suddenly, there was a tremendous rush of air in the distance ahead of them in the direction of the smoke pillar (which had suddenly gotten cut off, as if stopped at the source), followed by an eerie silence that punctuated the pine-scented air, before that silence was then punctured by another loud torrent of wind whistling through tree branches, and the smoke resumed. Justin frowned to himself; had the crashed object detonated somehow? His mind had completely forgotten his attempted apology as he and she both picked up their pace as if through some unspoken signal.

A few minutes later, they came through a break in the trees to discover the impact site, where the sight of the smoking triangular craft dug partway into a furrow in the ground dominated a long, narrow clearing that had not been there earlier this morning. Justin and the woman came to a halt, partly to catch their breath and partly out of trying to piece together the scene - the splintered tree limbs, the alien ship, the dissipating smoke that was beginning to clear up now that any source of fire seemed to have stopped burning...

Justin pointed at the alien ship's open canopy. "Whoever was in there," he panted, "isn't there anymore...so where'd they go?"

Ashley - he still was a little nervous about knowing her name but being pretty sure she didn't know he knew it - turned suddenly, and Justin heard the footsteps moments later. He whirled to face one of the other women who had shown up, the one introduced as a Baroness, who had just caught up with them. He thought she might have been close enough to hear what he had said just now, but he couldn't be entirely sure. Either way, it looks like he had just walked into the middle of an odd mystery.

What he didn't realize, was that he had forgotten something important about the lodge...

---

"What d'ya mean, the door's locked?!"

Boxcar's exclamation - his second in so many minutes - caused Nora to flinch even as she tried the front door handle again as she and the wolf stood on the covered front porch. The door rattled, but the handle kept from turning. "It could be jammed," she tried lamely to explain, even though she knew, with a sinking in her heart, that even if this newer explanation was somehow correct, it would still lead to the same end result. So much for trying to get everyone's luggage moved in while waiting for Justin to return...

Justin. A light suddenly clicked in Nora's mind. "He was going to give us a tour...but he never gave us the key! He must have locked it without knowing we were just about to arrive, and with what happened, forgot all about it!"

Boxcar facepawed. "This day just keeps getting better and better, don't it?..."

Hunters of Remnant: Bleeding Hearts

Thank you! Mostly I wanted a way to demonstrate that landing strategies have a place outside of the Academy setting - and, hopefully, this gives a decent entry point for others to show their stuff as well.

Hunters of Remnant: Bleeding Hearts

The Bullhead's dual VTOL engines roared as the transport approached the beleaguered town of Vasim. The vehicle, an aerial transport painted in the colors of the local Emergency Center, was high in the air, higher than most Grimm could reach - for the moment, anyway. Being primarily a transport, it was not equipped with the chin-mounted gun that military variants of the Bullhead were known to have, and it relied on its speed and maneuverability to get away from danger.

That, and the Hunters and Huntresses it usually carried directly into the fray.

"ETA, two minutes!" called out the co-pilot from the cockpit, her voice miraculously loud enough to be heard over the din of the engines. "Make sure you've got your landing strategy ready, 'cause we are goin' in hot!"

Slater Skywise checked his weapons one last time. Rampart Spur, his twin tonfa/revolvers, had seen better days, all nicked and scarred from heaven knew how many blows. But they were clean and still fired true, and they were loaded up with a full set of magnum Stone Dust rounds for an extra kick. He confidently clicked the revolvers shut and holstered them for this brief moment before drop, and he got up from his seat to hold onto one of the overhead grips near one of the side hatches of the Bullhead.

As soon as the word that Vasim was under attack had gotten out, all nearby Hunters and Huntresses had been asked to provide immediate support. Those that had been near the Emergency Center closest to the village had boarded one of their Bullheads, which came at all speed to Vasim. There hadn't been very much time to gather, so Slater was one of the few who had managed to get there in time for liftoff. It sounded like the devastation was bad...very bad.

If only I'd been there to protect them, he thought to himself, tightening his fingerless gloved grip. The knowledge that he likely would have been slaughtered as well didn't matter; if he could have saved even one person's life, he would rather have done that than hear about this tragedy without lifting a finger. Perhaps he could at least attempt to save any survivors...

"Doors opening in five!" broke in the voice of the co-pilot, who held up a hand with splayed fingers that dropped as the countdown continued. "Four, three, two, one...go, go, go!"

The hatch slid open, leaving a wall-sized opening where a door had been before. The wind tore at Slater's clothes along with some residual dust - the normal kind, not the capital-D sort - and in a glance, he saw the village below, the Grimm swarming, and the handful of Hunters and Huntresses who had already arrived on the scene. Not to mention all of the dead bodies...

Slater's slow-burning anger focused into action as he dropped forward out of the transport, the wind whipping at his duster and skunk tail. He plummeted downward, well aware that landing from this height would be too much for his Aura alone to handle, and his weapons - heavy pistols that they were - wouldn't be able to provide all of the thrust he would need to counter his fall. He drew Rampart Spur in both hands in revolver configuration, and crossed his arms in front of himself as he dropped toward the Nevermore that flew above the battlefield. Oh, he had his landing strategy ready, all right.

He aimed himself at the Nevermore and concentrated for a moment. His Aura blazed with golden orange light, and suddenly he had his Shield deployed directly below him. If his aim was true, he'd hit like a meteor and bring the Nevermore to the ground, where it could be easily dispatched by the other Hunters; even winging it might throw it off balance enough to prevent its attacks on his comrades below. But even if he missed and headed straight for the ground, his Shield would protect him from the fall and provide a shockwave that might at least slow the Grimm down before he joined his comrades in the fighting...

"Heads up!" he shouted, his words mostly lost to the whipping wind as he charged downward, Shield-first.

Hunters of Remnant: Bleeding Hearts

I'll probably make a post soon having Slater be brought in using a Bullhead transport (the VTOL craft used in the first episode as well as by the White Fang in later eps). If anyone else wants to use that as a jumping-off point into the RP, I'd say feel free to use it. Afro's willing to come along for the ride with his character Monk; I'm not planning on it being a collab post per se, just an opportunity for people to get in as I mentioned before.