nysalogs | [OPEN] werewolves don't usually walk alone.

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[OPEN] werewolves don't usually walk alone.

Who: Rocket (

beatupgrass) & anyone who wants to wander into the wilderness with him
What: Looking for kidnapped folks
When: Late October
Where: Nadril & Josa Forest
Warning(s): You know... Rocket's mouth. And werewolf-y fallout.

𝐈. 𝐂𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐈𝐍 𝐃𝐈𝐑𝐓 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐌𝐔𝐃

[Coming on this mission is a matter of personal interest for Rocket who was one of the people abducted by Raysc's men months ago, back before the dragon and the Natha's sudden departure. As such, he's taken this matter extremely seriously... Even if it's difficult to take him seriously in a raccoon-sized parka and tiny little snowboots that some jackass had to custom make for hi gawky feet. That cost him an unfortunate amount of silver. At least he's warm, now.

Unfortunately, with warmth comes a clear cost- he's not nearly as nimble as he usually is, as evidenced by how he attempts to climb a tree to get a better vantage point in the forest and the branch he's on snaps with the added weight of his winter attire and all the extra snow and ice, and he tumbles out of the tree and lands unceremoniously into a pile of snow at the base.

It's fine. He's fine. He pokes his tiny muzzle out of the snow and bares his teeth in a snarl.] Don't you dare say a frickin' word.

𝐈𝐈. 𝐀𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐒𝐏𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐁𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐃

[The entire forest sets Rocket's animal hindbrain on high alert, and if he was edgy entering this region, then he's even edgier the deeper they go towards the forest. Every now and then he'll a howl or a yip and freeze, reaching for his gun, but the world goes quiet again and he presses on.

When the first footprints start to show up, he's the first to notice them, being closer to the ground. He waves his partner to stop.] Hey, hey... Stop. Look at that. Is that supposed to be from an animal?

𝐈𝐈𝐈. 𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐘𝐎𝐔, 𝐌𝐘 𝐋𝐎𝐑𝐃, 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐈 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐍𝐎 𝐊𝐈𝐍

[The return from the region is met with bitterness from a certain raccoonoid, who was expecting a fight and got nothing of the sort and while he's glad it wasn't more kidnappings from cultists, it isn't better. He's restless, feeling like something is gnawing at him, and not even the drinks at his favorite bar in Nadril can really do much for it.

As he leaves, scratching at an itch under his chin, he notices some sort of bird-like creature hopping about, minding its own business on the snow covered streets and something just clicks in Rocket's head. Slowly he drops down on all fours and slinks towards it, eyes narrowed, teeth bared, every bit of body language conveying a creature on a hunt.

...A creature in a jumpsuit with a gun on his back who, if you know him, would literally not be caught dead behaving like a common animal, and yet here we are.]

𝐈𝐕. 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐃𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐃

[Anything else! Blizzard stuff or otherwise.]

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[ Spider-Man isn't too sure what he was thinking when he agreed to take on this mission. Spiders don't exactly do well in the cold, and while his webbing can survive brutally cold winters (he knows this from fact; New York City can get pretty cold in the middle of February), the young man in spandex isn't sure the same could be said of him.

So - yeah, Rocket isn't the only superheroic type in a warm coat looking a little less than cool because of it. Add to the tuque on his head, and Spider-Man looks downright ridiculous, all red-and-blue spandex, mask, and winterwear.

He shrugs, raising his hands in surrender. Don't worry, buddy. Spidey won't say a word. ]

Hey, I'm just glad you didn't fall on me.

[Rocket shuffles out of the snow and brushes the powder off his head, and then drops down on all fours to give a very much animal little shake to dislodge any extra.

And then he just moves on like it didn't happen.]

Those things that're moving out there are comin' from somewhere, but I can't see for crap in these conditions.

Yeah, and I don't think the weather's gonna be letting up any time soon.

[ Spider-Man lifts his head to give the skies through the thicket of trees a brief study. It's hard to see cloud from sky; the blizzard snow's been picking up.

When he glances back towards his furry companion, it's to find that he's already heading forward. He lets out a foggy breath, readjusts his scarf, and begins to follow. ]

That 'somewhere's' probably in the creepy forest, right?

Traditionally, yeah? And Nurray ain't gonna be happy if we don't come back with some kind of sign of her people. I've already pissed off enough people with clout on this planet.

[And unlike the rest of them, Nurray can benefit him. He really hates groveling though. He cringes visually in a way that has nothing to do with the cold.] I hate kissing ass like this.

[ Generally Spider-Man prefers not to piss anyone off, whether it be people with power, or those without. Of course, he's got a real talent for it, so maybe he's not the best person to talk to about these things.

That said: ]

Well, think of it like we're helping the families of those who went missing. They'll wanna know what happened to their loved ones.

[ You know, consider the real hero reasons for doing this, Rocket! ]

[Uh. Sure. Yes, that is a thing he cares about.] Right. I definitely, definitely care about that part. That is something I was thinking about when I took this job.

[Cough. He has a hard time remembering to think like a hero when people directly in front of him aren't in danger.

He takes a step forward and immediately there's a snap of a twig so close by that Rocket jumps back against Spider-Man's legs because surely it must have been him responsible for it, but there's nothing but snow. So that had to be something else...

Something close.]

Shit. I think we're being tailed.

[ Oh, Spider-Man can take a hint. He rolls his eyes under his mask but raises his hands. ]

All right, all right - so the feel-good stuff isn't for everyone. Lets just figure this out for whatever our reasons are in one non-frost-bitey piece.

[ He could go on; he's been known to ramble every now and then, but the sudden movement and a talking raccoon pressed up against his legs has him tensing too.

Keeping his voice low, he responds: ]

Well, that's never good.

[ Suddenly his spider-sense is on alert, a sharp and quick tingle at the base of his neck. ]

There - to our left. Something's keeping a close eye on us.

[Rocket swivels his eyes in the indicated direction, reaching behind him for the gun as slowly as he can as to not startle their stalker. He can barely make out something in the shadows, large and looming, but difficult to discern shape-wise. Whatever it is, it seems to be looking directly at them.

And then it bolts the opposite direction, like it's realized it's been spotted and feels compelled to flee, rather than face an all-out attack.]

Sonuva- [He growls.] Well, are we gonna chase it or what?

[Said the raccoonoid as he tries to run in the snow and even on four legs gets tripped up. Whatever that thing is, it knows how to book it under these conditions.]

I guess so?

[ Honestly, Spider-Man had been considering maybe just letting it be in the hopes that it doesn't try to attack them - but there's also a pretty good chance it might be fleeing to warn or recruit the rest of its buddies, and in a fight against two of them ... Spidey's not too sure they'll win. ]

Hold on -

[ Yeah, the snow is an issue here, and if Rocket turns to look over his shoulder, he'll find the spandex-clad superhero whipping straight toward him in an oncoming collision. Don't mind Spider-Man as he gently lifts Rocket from the ground and webslings towards the trees. ]

[What the hell is happening-

And that's the last thought Rocket has before he's suddenly snatched up like so much football and carried through the trees. This is both an adrenaline rush and literally the worst thing he's ever experienced in his life and he can't help but scream a bit, which is not doing the element of surprise any favors.]

What the hell, man? What the hell??

[Normally, he's all in for this kind of thing, but he prefers to have the control and not be the hanger-on, and not all of those trees look sturdy enough to be supporting this weight. Give him a moment. Tactical brain will override self-preservation eventually.]

( Davos honestly thought he was earlier traveling with a dwarf, until he saw the fuzzy muzzle and beady eyes. Knowing other worlds existed is one thing, but to actually experience the truth of such is another. Fortunately for Davos, he's good at keeping his mouth shut. )

I never consider it.

( Davos took a moment to gather himself, he too safely bundled up in the cold. Not as cold as the Wall, but still chilly. )

Did you see anything?

Not a lick. [Rocket emerges, fur coated in wintery powder that he brushes off as best as he can.] But I know there's something movin' out there. We were hearin' it the whole way up here.

[He shudders, this time not from the cold.] Something about this gives me the heebie-jeebies. I was kinda hoping for crazy bastards sacrificing or torturing people, y'know?

[What a weird thing to say.]

( Davos, who have witnessed people being sacrificed and tortured would like to disagree, but Rocket does have a point. )

I agree. It is very quiet. ( Is this what the men of the Night Watch faced when they encounter the Others? The looming, cold that can hide the inhuman foes and their dead men? ) Too quiet.

[His need for vengeance cannot be sated. He will take what is his in fire and blood. And he can't do that with fucking... manwolfbear things. He has no beef with them until they actually do anything except... Loom.

Which, incidentally, his eyes catch something shadowy move in the distance and he catches a brief glimpse of something watching them, but as soon as it notices Rocket looking, it bounds back through the forest, crashing through underbrush and breaking the silence.]

What the hell was that? [He growls.] C'mon, old man. I didn't come all this way not to kill something.

( If only Jon Snow was here. He would know what to do in these circumstances - he ranged in a haunted woods before, he knows what to expect. Davos is just a smuggler and a lord all in one, used to hide in the cover of darkness with a ship.

At least he's got a sword. Not great, but it was something he could get in short order. His hand - the one with no missing digits - curled around the handle as he followed Rocket toward . . . whatever it is. )

I hope the weapon you have with you is sufficient.

Oh man, you have no idea. [Rocket can't bring it out until he gets closer, because if he wants to run in this heavy snow, he has to get down on all fours and sprint, but he skids to a stop as he reaches the top of the hill he could have sworn he spotted the creature lingering on. A lone tree has been clawed savagely with thick gashes across the trunk.

It's here that Rocket pauses and removes the canister from his back, hitting the catch and allowing the laser rifle to snap into position. Because on top of being a gun, it's a collapsible one. Of course.] It can't have moved that fast...

( A chill goes down Davos spine when he spies the claw marks on the tree. He pulls out his sword, just in case, the metal barely gleaming in the haunted gloom. Although despite it all he can't help but stare in wonder at the weapon folding out like one unfurls a scroll. Whatever it is, it looks nasty, nastier than a scorpion. He had to shake his head to get back to business.

Davos sees another twitch of movement at the corner of his eye and turns, bracing for any attack. ) I just saw something move.

[Rocket bares his teeth in a snarl and turns his weapon in the direction indicated, but sees nothing. To his left, another branch cracks, and he can't tell if it's the one that had just moved or if they're somehow surrounded.]

Keep your eyes up, dude. They're either real curious and scared or they're trying to surround us, and I tend to assume the latter.

[His fingers itch on the trigger and the second he hear another snap, he snaps, himself, turns again and fires off a blast of hot plasma that sears across a tree and hits nothing.] Dammit.

( Davos flinched at the sudden noise and light coming from Rocket's weapon. He never seen anything of the like, not even from Melisandre.

Again he spots another thing skittering between the bushes. ) A wolf?

It's got two legs. [And then, almost as an afterthought, he cringes, his tail tucking between his own legs.] Aw crap. They could be some of those chimera let loose in the woods or they could just be a new kind of creature, but what hits Rocket hardest is they're not what he thought they were and that disappointment hits hard.]

It ain't Raysc's people, then. [The cold winter-assaulted forest goes quiet again and Rocket takes a tentative step forward... and then another. Nothing snaps or breaks or howls, meaning they're probably safe to move forward.] Well, it's not over yet, I guess. We still gotta find those people.

[Generally speaking, Rocket is a little easier to process if Gabriel just thinks of him as the same kind of anomaly as Winston--not that genetically-engineered hyper-intelligent gorillas from the Moon are particularly easy to swallow. He hasn't forgotten, however, Rocket's penchant for weapons design, and Gabriel still wants in on that.

Which is, perhaps, at least some of the reason why he's out in the woods with the guy. Can't hurt to foster this friendship, as much as Gabriel has friends, anyway.

He's surprisingly calm, given the general spookiness of their surroundings. Gabriel imagines that Rocket has hearing and smell beyond his own (and he's enhanced, even), so between the two of them they should be able to detect anything watching them long before it makes a move.

Gabriel takes a few steps forward to look at the tracks once Rocket points them out.]

Some kind of animal. Nothing I've seen before.

That's a real big animal.

[Rocket tilts his head a bit and then walks a few steps, trying to match the prints in the snow. He can't quite match the stride, of course, but what he does figure is those are prints from something with two legs not four.]

And most animals don't walk on two legs like that. [He is not liking that, but he also doesn't know what kind of creatures live here. That could be normal. It doesn't always have to be a thing.]

Some animals are real big.

[He shrugs, but the truth is that Gabriel can't quite match the stride either. Ominous!

That said, they are on an alien planet. It could be anything, but if Rocket is on edge it's likely nothing he's seen before.]

Not familiar to you at all, huh?

I mean, I've seen some crazy shit on all the planets I've been to, so this isn't that weird in comparison to that. [He drops down on all fours, thinks about it, and then gives the print a sniff. There's a definite trail and a specific, unfamiliar scent.

And then he's back up on two legs again, brushing loose snow off his hands like he didn't just sniff the track like a fucking dog.] But most of the crazy shit here are either dragons or smaller things or bigger things with different feet. [But... but...] There were these monsters though. They were like a combination of different things somebody made in a lab. I never did figure out where they ended up. That broad who looks after the dragons took 'em somewhere.

[Yeah, Gabriel raises an eyebrow a little at Rocket's sudden quadrupedal maneuver, but otherwise doesn't any anything about it. He isn't about to question the methods, especially when it's clear he's picking up on some kind of trail.]

In a lab?

[Given Olympia and Wyver's general technology level, that descriptor in particular doesn't bode well.]

[He shudders involuntarily, ears flattening to his skull.] Evras in Olympia's got a pretty good one. I should know, I've broken in there bunches of times.

There's a name I haven't heard before.

[Though he thinks maybe now that he should have. Gabriel Reyes hates not knowing things.]

Does this seem like their work to you?

He's been quiet since the whole dragon thing. Maybe he died and nobody cares 'cause he's a torturing dickbag.

[Rocket would love that. And also be pissed he didn't get to do it.] Point is... Probably not. He wouldn't want something like that to get this far out. There's no way he can keep tabs on 'em here. Either somebody else has got a lab or they're just the natural inhabitants of this creepy frickin' place.

[Tundra and looming forest are not Rocket's favored terrain.] Much as I hate it, we're gonna have to actually run into one to find out, but I'd bet some silver on these things being responsible for Nurray's people.

Yeah, I missed all this.

[There's piecing it all together from talk around town, of course, but he's glad to be hearing things from a primary source. What he can't argue is that they aren't going to know what they're up against until they run into something.]

I'm a little jealous.

What? That you missed dragons, chimeras, people gettin' kidnapped and stranded in the mountains by assholes, a viral outbreak...

[He squints, considering that list.] Yeah, never mind. I'd be pissed if I missed all of that too. It's been one thing after another since we first landed here, and from that outside, it probably looks like you're missing out.

[He just sort of awkwardly pats Gabe's leg.] Don't worry, man. Plenty of adventure and near-death experience to go around.

[And as if in response, another howl goes up from a distance.]

[Gabriel’s eyebrows creep slowly up his forehead, but the truth is he’s fairly interested—and yes, pissed that he missed all of that. Maybe not the viral outbreak, but everything else seems a little more exciting than stomping around in the woods and diving in lakes for missing parts. He’s about to quip something to that effect when they’re interrupted.

Definitely some kind of creature, then. A wolf?]

Sound like a near-death experience to you?

[Because Reyes is ready to go looking.]

Yep. It's got "this is a bad plan and we shouldn't walk directly towards it" written all over it. [Rocket's lips curl back in an almost predatory grin, which is a bit weird, given that whatever is out there is likely to be three times his size and he's barely a mouthful to it. He's extremely confident and has the power of god and anime guns on his side.]

Let's introduce ourselves.

Race you there.

[It's a bad plan and they shouldn't walk directly towards it, but Gabriel is unholstering a gun and taking off at a clip. Rocket might be able to beat him simply by virtue of a four-legged gait (if he chooses to use it), but Gabriel is no slouch. The thrill of an impending fight has him excited, and he flags Rocket to go wide--if the two of them approach from opposite sides, they might be able to cut off its escape routes.]

[Rocket's tactical-minded brain remembers that Gabriel's faster than the average human and accounts for that as he moves into a flanking position at the same pace. Two threats coming from two sides at the same pace is a good nightmare for a cornered beast.

Rocket crouches, waiting. He sees a shape start to move, but it's dark and hunched and almost blends in with the surrounding terrain and the evening sky. It's almost a shadow, but it's a shadow in Rocket's sights.

He fires a shot meant to hit the spine that only hits the shoulder as it catches one or both of their scents- someone wasn't downwind or it's more clever than Rocket thought. It howls to the sky and begins running at a full sprint in Gabriel's direction. There goes the sneak attack.]

Shit, shit, shit. I almost had it!

[Despite the fact that Gabriel's talents mostly involve covert ops, there's something to be said for a nice chase, especially when he has the upper hand. He's under no illusions about being able to sneak up on this thing, especially if it's an animal with presumably a better sense of smell than them, but he's more than ready to engage it if things come to that.

They're not able to get the jump on it, but that's okay. He sees the shape coming towards him and he readies his won guns, firing point-blank at the approaching creature.]

[Blood hits the snow and Rocket can smell it even with him still running to catch up. The creature roars and veers off course, trying to reach the safety of a cluster of trees, leaving a bloody mess in the snow as it goes. Rocket catches up, breathless, to Gabriel.]

That thing ain't long for this world. [The tracks and arterial spray melting the packed in ice basically show that and provide a nice trail to follow, so he's not in a hurry to run after it just yet. If they back it into a corner when it's dying, then they're gonna get ripped to pieces. He gives it about five more minutes before it bleeds out and collapses.] Good shots. Both of 'em. I am definitely keeping you on my side.

[Perhaps it wasn't a good idea to shoot it, but Gabe is under the distinct impression it wasn't friendly. He's trained himself over the course of many years to not think too hard about the things he does in the moment. He's breathless for a moment, as if he's not sure if that really did it, but when Rocket catches up it snaps him back into the moment.]

You can show your appreciation by designing me some guns.

[He hasn't forgotten about that. Still, there's a more pressing issue, which is the blood trail that leads deeper into the forest. Gabriel thumbs in the direction of the animal.]

Might as well finish the job.

Oh okay. I get it now. [He snorts and rolls his eyes.] I appreciate a dude who's straightforward about wanting something out of me.

[Also it's not like he would have said no, regardless. He's a furry egomaniac and likes showing off.

He'll worry about designs and possible parts he'll need to salvage later, though they briefly alight in his head. Calculations and feats of engineering occupy whatever space in his massive cortex that doesn't have KILL IT KILL IT KILL stamped all over it, and for a second it wins out. Just a second though. And then he's shaking his head and focused on the blood splatters and footprints.]

Guess we better. It might limp all the way back to its friends and boy will they be pissed... Or just eat it.

I will only ever be straightforward with you.

[Gabriel says that like he means it, but even that might be a little up in the air. Something more accurate might be 'I will only ever be straightforward with you as long as our goals align or it's otherwise convenient for me', but Reyes knows not to say the quiet part out loud.

They can talk guns later, when they take care of the creature. Luckily, there's a very obvious trail for them to follow.]

This way.

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[OPEN] werewolves don't usually walk alone.

i. bc its too cute

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lmk if this is not ok

this is the most ok ever

1.

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