happy anniversary [open]

[circumitus]

CHARACTERS: Rey and YOU.
LOCATION: Various.
WARNINGS: Blood and violence for the third prompt.
SUMMARY: Rey Does Stuff: The Log. Just the kind of stuff you'd expect on your fourth year anniversary, woo.
NOTES: I've got some prompts, but if you want a super special awesome starter just for you, I can whip one up as well. Or you can. Whichever.

---

I. Make Your Bed The River (Outside the Tranquility, Early December)

It's strange every time Rey thinks about how she's not living alone anymore. She had only ever lived with one person on the ship, and they weren't around to make sure her head stays on straight.

She is used to living a spartan lifestyle. Having too much useless stuff was never her thing. But now that she isn't the only person living under the roof she's made out in the jungle, she figures it's worth going scavenging for extra supplies. At least in the places she can immediately access...

The Tranquility creaks and groans before her, sunk into the earth and teetering over the ledge of the cliff. She assesses the damage first before she begins climbing into the opening, leading into the medbay.

II. It's A Trap! (Jungle, Anytime)

Max may have given a public service announcement about his similar endeavor, but Rey hadn't been quite so thoughtful as to give warnings about her traps just yet. Mostly because she's still working on them. Hoping that she could catch game or, even better, whoever or whatever is out there that they haven't been introduced to yet.

Plus, she's convinced that whoever murdered that crew member the previous month was not one of their own. This much she was positive when she found the spears in the stampede not too long ago. With the masks and the storm, though, you can never be too certain.

Red X marks have been placed near her little pet projects. You can either find Rey digging a hole somewhere with a makeshift shovel she's put together, or setting up a wire trap or a tree spring noose made from things she's collected from the jungle and the ship.

Either that, or you may find yourself taking a seven foot plunge down one of those many holes she has made.

III. Oh, To Be An Animal... (Anywhere, After the 17th)

It isn't the first time Rey has encountered subjects of horrific diseases. Hell, at a few points during her tenure aboard the Tranquility, she had been a victim of some of those illnesses.

Suppose it was a matter of time before something like this would happen. After all, they're aliens to this world, introducing new bacteria and such to the wildlife. It's just a surprise that the natives have fallen prey to these mutations first.

One can either be passing by when they happen upon a tree-dome made of wood and metal overhead. There's a noise of frenzied, animalistic screeching coming from the inside. A window opens, and the corpse of one of the sickened creatures come flying out.

After a while, she has come to observe the mannerisms of these afflicted animals, watching their behaviors from a distance. You can also find her lurking among trees -- above or below -- watching one of them ripping into their own faces.

Whether one of them is attacking you, or you stumble upon her putting one of them down... Well, the timing is pretty unfortunate, either way.

The worst part is, it isn't the first time this sort of thing has happened.

She's seen something akin to this before.

And that never bodes well. For anyone.

Comments

2 you caught Death! wait

[likescats]

Well this certainly is the bottom of a hole.

I SUPPOSE THIS IS WHY PEOPLE PAY MORE ATTENTION TO WHERE THEY ARE WALKING.

[circumitus]

At the time, Rey was working on some netting when she heard the sound of something slipping from not too far away. When she makes it to the hole, she finds not an animal or a potential native, but an old man instead.

"Shit. Are you okay?"

[likescats]

And getting back on his feet. Gravity is annoying when you actually have to pay attention to it. He just seems amused by it all though.

I BELIEVE I AM FINE. I WOULD NOT SAY NO TO A HAND UP HOWEVER.

[circumitus]

Oh, right.

She doesn't look like much from where she's standing, but as Rey kneels over, she holds out a hand attached to a rather muscular arm for Death to take.

"Here, will pull you up." She pauses. "Apologies, about all this."

II

[oldmanhusker]

Bill is not an unobservant person. Red X's tend to mean something after all. So he manages to avoid the seven foot drop and continues further to find Rey in the midst of digging. He gives an approving nod. It's a good idea, even if some of the civilians could do with a warning.

"If the animal's keep getting worse this will be useful."

[circumitus]

Oh good, someone gets it! Not that Rey would hold the person accountable if they had. Assuming that the people living on this planet can't read English (and assuming that the everyone coming from the Tranquility can read), she may as well put up a caution sign.

But that would be too obvious, wouldn't it?

"It's helped out thus far," she says, with calloused hands and a face caked with dirt. "Good work on noticing."

[oldmanhusker]

"I saw enough action on the ground to watch terrain." YOu couldn't specialize too much at the end of the world. No one could afford it any more. "We need to get the defenses beefed up. We're too vulnerable right now."

They were still using tents.

III

[foundafamily]

Firo is on his way back with a bucket of water and arrives just in time to see their visitor shown the door. Window. Whatever. His knife is immediately in his hand, but it doesn't look like the poor thing is getting up again.

Firo delicately steps around the body to look up for Rey. He grimaces, "That thing got in our place?"

Ew. There could certainly be worse, but that doesn't mean he has to be happy about it.

[circumitus]

Hearing Firo's voice from outside, Rey pokes her head out the window the creature had invaded from. She bears down on him and the body of the mangy, feathery beaked animal, which has now been burnt to a crispy critter.

"Damned thing came in through the window." She pauses, realizing that she could've hit him when she sufficiently defenestrated the rabid animal. "Are you okay?"

[foundafamily]

"Guess they don't really teach 'em manners out here in the jungle."

He casts a pointed look at the bird bacon behind him. "Fine, compared to some things around here. I'm comin' up, okay?"

He tethers the bucket to their little pulley and starts climbing up to join her. When he reaches the top, he folds his arms and leans a shoulder against the wall. "So how many 'guests' have we been gettin', huh?"

one.

[theroadwarrior]

[Max had been planning on just sneaking a peek back into the Tranquility off and on, in case new supplies re-spawn in there during the jumps; they've made a habit of spitting people's things out everywhere outside of it, but Max can't help but wonder if it's true of the mess that was the locker room, or the med bay, or even where the lifts used to be before it was damaged beyond help.

He leaves Dog down at the side of the ship, and she's well-trained enough that she simply sits with her tail wagging and her tongue lolling, awaiting more instruction from the odd man who feeds her. Max himself is quick and agile despite how his build suggests anything but — lean and more of a fist-thrower than someone to scale a wall, though he's full of surprises (and climbs far too many vehicles and cliffsides to count).

His knee does ache when he finally drops down into the entry, but that's mostly his own fault for not resting it more often as of late. Places to be, traps to set, all of that fine stuff. He's surprised to find Rey in here, though. In fact, he just sort of stares for a moment. Doesn't bother moving just yet, because he knows she knows he's there, so he'd like to see where he stands with her in this place.]

[circumitus]

[She definitely knows that he's there.

[Rey blinks at him for a moment. It's been some time since she's seen his hobo face, and admittedly she could be expecting much worse to be climbing up from the side of the ship.

[Also knowing that there's no way in hell Max would be the one to initiate conversation, Rey surprisingly takes the reigns:]

You needing something here as well, or are you just that bored?

[theroadwarrior]

He considers if he should 'tag along', just wander in unison because why the hell not. As much as he hates company, he also is able to admit maybe it could be important to have others around in a place as unstable as this. Glancing around the area, he shrugs.

"Thought more supplies could've materialized. Some appear outside of the ship, during... mmm... during the jumps."

1

[lafautedevoltaire]

Gavroche is a scavenger by nature. He's a lot of things. Mostly he just wants to survive. And someone who can climb and slip into small places where supplies might have settled is useful.

And when he spies someone else... well, he likes to help. It might be something he's seen. "Are you looking for anything special?"

[circumitus]

Rey is surprised when she finds that she isn't alone. She'd come up here to do a little scavenging herself, though with no clear goal.

Upon seeing Gavroche, however, something else comes to mind.

"Just some spare pillows, blankets." She pauses, her mouth tightening into a thin line. "Perhaps something that a boy would like...? Been looking after Muscovy." That last part she feels the need to add real quick.

[lafautedevoltaire]

It's good that someone is looking after Muscovy. He's much smaller, after all. He could use help. But the right kind. "He'll like something that makes it clear you know he can help with a lot of things."

That's what he'd like. "I think there's still a couple cabinets of those medical blankets. They're scratchy, but we can break them in."

1.

[coldhardy]

Elsa has been keeping more or less to herself lately. She doesn't need the warmth of the evening fires: it seems better to leave them for someone else. She helps with water as needed, although it seems to mostly be sorted these days. She'd read, but the books on offer are mostly terrible, and the tents often feel too small and dark for her to want to spend much time in them.

She walks the perimeter, sometimes, patrolling, but never runs across much of interest. If she sees a sick animal, she leaves it alone, never without a soft knot of guilt in her stomach.

This isn't a sick animal, though: it's Rey about to do something dangerous. Rey can handle herself, but it's still better not to go into the ship alone. If you got lost, who would ever know you were gone? How would they know where to look for you?

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Her voice is low and calm and quizzical.

[circumitus]

Rey is mid-climbing when she hears Elsa speak. By then she's made more than one trip inside for supplies, bringing back as much as she could with her sack.

The crew's quarters still had plenty of scraps left that she could use, plus bed supplies that would be useful for the added addition to Rey's living situation.

It's instinct that gives her a start just then, but not enough for her to fall from where she's hanging. Her boots are secured on some footholds, and her hands cling to the metal bars jutting out from the hole into the medbay entrance.

Clinging to it with her good hand, and moves her other to get a look at Elsa down below.

"Don't worry," in case the other woman is. "Have done this before. And don't intend to go in very far." The last thing she wants is to get lost in the corridors. Rey may have once lived in the ship for the last four years, but it's far too vast for her to familiarize herself with every nook and cranny.

[coldhardy]

"How far are you going?"

The ship is a place Elsa really doesn't go -- not inside -- but if there are structural problems, she may be able to support them by making temporary ice beams to shore them up, the way she did in the Engineering complex on that day.

But she pushes that comparison aside. She doesn't like to focus on the hours she spent in Engineering. It weaves in and out of her mind, and she does what she can not to let it rest there any more than she has to, not to have nightmares about what Resnik's husband had become and the man who no one had been able to save from him.

In any case, if it's dangerous, she might be able to make it less dangerous; if someone is trapped there, she may be able to make a way out.

"And what kind of condition is it in in there? I haven't been in it since...." She trails off and shrugs, a sheepish half-smile on her face.

[ryuuzaki]

The noise is hideous.

He's come to talk to Rey about something, but the pained screeching has pulled his attention away from her platform and towards the trees that surround it. A threat is less likely to come from her direction, more likely to come from the animals making the sound.

When he moves closer to it, the noise stops abruptly, cut off, and Rey emerges a moment later.

"More of them." It's not a question; it's a statement that can be confirmed. The situation with the animals seems to be getting worse.

[circumitus]

Blood is on Rey when Ryuuzaki finds her. Not so much that she's coated in the stuff, but enough to be effectively alarming to the faint-hearted.

At least Ryuuzaki doesn't quite fit that bill.

"Yes," she confirms his not-question, rubbing off the blood from her palms against the tree. "This is starting to become a problem."

They may have since reinforced their home, but the people at the base camp are more vulnerable with their tents.

[ryuuzaki]

He tilts his head and looks at her, a frown developing on his face.

"I'm assuming that's not your blood -- not all of it." Some people wouldn't be walking if it were; with Rey, it's hard to say. "How many more have you killed today?"

2!

[pixelation]

When Rey comes around to check on her traps, she doesn't find her next meal, but rather a curious woman admiring her handiwork. Rue knows how to make traps like these, but she didn't have a lot of practice setting them out herself. And the game she was after was much more mundane than much of what they've encountered since their arrival on the planet. At least the vegetation hasn't been a total bust.

She's used to listening for the sounds of movement around her, but it's the communications device pinging at the edges of her mind that gives Rey away, whether she was making any attempt to be stealthy or not. Rue's head lifts not unlike a deer startled by the snap of a twig nearby, ready to bolt for a moment. Then, she relaxes again, rises from her crouch. "This is good work," she offers as a greeting.

[circumitus]

On one hand, the blatancy of her traps that someone would notice them should be a little discouraging. But on the other, it comes as a relief that she doesn't arrive to find that another one of the other jumpers have been caught in one of her snares.

The compliment, however, was unexpected. Rey just blinks a moment, and then nods. "Thank you. Been hoping to catch game or whoever it is that's out here with us."

Ever since the stampede it's been a very real concern.

[pixelation]

"I almost stepped in this one." So, at least it wasn't super obvious, but Rue's also used to making sure she doesn't step in someone else's trap. A person can be stuck waiting in the snow for a long, long time before a patrol or one of the hunters comes by. And a lot of that time is spent praying and hoping that it's the right patrol or hunter.

Watch where you fuckin' step is the moral of the story here.

"It's a good plan. We could probably use more perimeter defense, and one that doubles as a chance for something that isn't green for dinner is definitely a smart move." Rue dips her chin a little, assessing. "You got another move planned?"