Ch 2 headed to Dinosaur Swamp

[sasqaricious]

"If-f-f it is ok can we please change the subject. I would rather t-t-talk about anything other the that subject. P-p-please!" She normally shy, even Richardson can tell she does not want to delve intothat subject!

[Dome]

Realizing his mistake Richardson says, "Oh Doctor I am sorry. I really didn't mean to pry. I just really want to get to know you better. Your the most fascinating person I have met in a long while now. I see you reading a book, anything else you like to do with your spare time?"

[Mierin]

Sam listens to quietly to Tori's questions before nodding quietly. "While I agree with your first point, there isn't a whole lot I can do about that at this juncture. We can only do the best with what we have. By pairing the Doctor up with someone who is experienced, such as yourself, she will hopefully survive as well as learn something. Of course, the rest of the squad will be there to assist."

To the other request, Sam simply nods and says "I will, of course, take that under advisement. Is there anything else?"

[sasqaricious]

"Ok if you want to get to know me better then. Up till recently I have not had time for hobbies except reading. I still do not have any hobbies except listening to music and reading so if you know of any fun hobbies I will listen to them." She is trying not to get worked up knowing she has no real use for friends but probably should get some and other then Socrates she has only talked to Stephans. If the Captain person was not busy she would probably go and meet her. "Actually if you want to do something nice for me. I have yet to meet the whole group, and I am not sure who is who?"

[Tori]

(Posted for Liz. It seems clear browser cache did not rectify the problem. When she got off today, she was going to cycle her modem)

Feline hearing was an amazing thing, like radar, really. She could hear voices for nearly a mile, a mouse burrowing, a pudu's tiny hoof snap the slightest of twig, or the hide of a zebra brush grass. A pogue and a half-deaf EOD were no match for a hunting cat.

"Richardson, don't get worked up into a sweat like a typical horny human idiot, and Pogue, you have nothing to get jealous of. Tori's not stealing your mate, she's adopting him as her human. She likes his voice and the nitrates and ammonium he smells of is vaguely feline. So don't offend her. Now to me, y'all smell like supper time." Janxi licks her lips and purrs away while enjoying a nip, closing her eyes and giving her tail a long, slow swish. She could be dreaming of dinner.

Small reminder how smallish wild cats similar to Tori's original species were domesticated by humans, in the Time Before Rifts. Big cats, like the ancestors of Janxi's parents looked on humans and their livestock as an easy meal.

She listened to Tori's questions and pondered them thoughtfully. The bomb-boy smelled of fear about something as dumb as flying. Both she and tori were naval parachutists, and fear of heights was not in their DSM's, especially as feline naval parachutists. The XO was less than helpful. She hoped her partner would return with some smart answers, rather than more human shortcomings.

In her mind she heard Tori's apprehension. The commander was assigned a mission with a personal interest. The platoon sergeant or whatever he was, was giving short answers. There was a pogue; a randy bomb-boy, thinking with the little head, that could turn said pogue into a babbling fool; two experimental animals trained for the past several months to work together for search and destroy, and a production animal that had the personality of a Prosek Youth Corps leader, and would almost be the cat's favorite victim.

Really the only elements of the team she could trust was Tori, and vice-versa. It was as if someone had thrown the mission together with personnel to ensure it would fail. She knew cats talked and thought in terms of duplicity, but still she wondered. Telepathically, she shared her observations with Otter.

[Tori]

Tori seemed to space out for just a second while talking to Sam. The distraction was gone and she continued listening. It seemed odd that Sam couldn't reject an unfit member from the team. In a SEAL team, it was the team's six duty to boot any member that didn't put out, or keep the mission as his priority.

"Sir, I'll do what I can on landing to get the pogue squared away. She ain't even wearin' her armor on the hop over indian country, and I'll bet you a slider (hamburger) that she don't know how to wear it. I'll try to give her some basics on weapons, but it might be better not to give her one. She could be more dangerous to us than to an enemy. As for the rest of the intel, let me know if we can help with anything, or anyone."

She stopped to ponder Janxi's telepathic question, "Sir. Since we are talking frankly, I guess I need to know if you have any enemies. Like a superior officer in your TO&E (table of organization and equipment/chain of command) or like a senator or someone. It just seems odd to us that you've been handed a mission where you and your exec have a deep personal interest, assigned a pogue and two experimental cats. You have only one human replacement that wants to mate with the pogue. Enlisted persons, especially animals, are not supposed'ta ask who or why, we're s'posed to do and die. The military works in strange ways, but even to this petty officer, somethin' here's a little hinky. We got your back, Six, and you can expect us to put out. HooYa!" The near breathy whisper of the war cry did nothing to muzzle its intensity.

[Renekin Skywalker]

"For an animal that asks why," Socrates says to Tori, since Dog Boys have good hearing, too, "you don't seem too worried about being one of the problems the Captain needs to face." Putting this rifle down and moving to his blades, he adds. "It would, in fact, be better for the Captain if you did start being the kind of soldier that she needs, and not the kind that distracts her from something so important as this."

His ears continued to move, listening here and there. He had been quiet, taking everything in the whole time. "Trassk." He says, after a moment. "When you have a chance, we should talk."

[Tori]

Tori whirled in a lightning spin, natural claws at the ready. She saw he was reaching for vibro-claws and laughed. " Fox, I don't need anything more than what I walked out of the tube with to whip your (buttocks). I asked to speak to the Captain privately, crotch-sniffer, and listed two experimental felines among her issues. Just because you are too high and mighty for 'nip, doesn't mean you got a beef with me. I should have listed a lapdog as well, I see. I ain't gonna ankle-bite my brother SOLDIER in a fratracidal engagement and save my derision for the enemy, but you wanna come see me off duty sometime, I'll see to it you ain't never gonna hump another leg as long as you live, and that's a promise, Benji."

Tori's hackles were raised, and she made herself look as large as she could. The only reason she did not rip his face off was because it was all bluster on his part. No danger sense told her she was in real trouble. Typical dog, all bark and no bite. She hissed and gave a low feline growl before returning to Janxi.

"You foxin' believe this guy? Yeah you! Fox your b**** of a mother. Your sire was a rat just like you!"

[Renekin Skywalker]

Socrates looked at Tori, with an eyebrow raised. "You always show such judgement when high? I thought you said it calmed you down." he said, clear enough to be heard. Looking over to Sam, then Trassk, to make sure they are paying some attention, he turned back to his blades, and preparing his gear.

[Mierin]

Sam just blinks at the cat in front of her, formulating an answer. Before she gets anything out, Socrates' reply to the cat seems to enrage the cat, setting off a quarrel.

"HEY!" Sam's angry voice snaps through the air like a whip. "Can it, both of you!" Turning to Tori, she says "Since you don't know my background or Trask's, both of us have experience working with mutant animals, so no we have not lost a bet, nor are people pooling to stick us in a mission to get us killed. You want to be a good soldier, help the good doctor and can the attitude. NOW."

Hearing Socrates' comments about the catnip also set off Sam's radar - the last thing she needed were soldiers who weren't at their best on this mission.

[Dome]

Stephen is about to answer the doctor when the big cat shoots her mouth off, he grits his teeth and starts to stand to confront her when the Captain speaks up. Biting his tongue he turns to Autumn and says apologetically, "I'm sorry about that I don't know where that cat gets off, she doesn't know me, she's just talking out of her arse. Let me see if she is done putting these ground pounders in their place."

Standing up he makes his way back towards the ruckus and whispers low to the big cat, "keep your thoughts to yourself, K. No body wants to hear your opinions on anything really."

He brushes past and approaching the Captain he says, "Captain when you have a moment, Doctor Santiago would like to meet you since she hasn't had a chance yet."

[Tori]

Tori was about to rebut, when Six gave her an order. Truth was, the best of her nip wore off a few minutes before, and another round would be worthless for maybe another 90 minutes. Without a slight good feeling, she might have been provoked.

She looked over to Six, and said, "Aye aye sir. When you're done with the doctor."

Looking at Richardson escorting the pogue, she saw him glaring daggers at Janxi. No doubt she broke his balloons in a typical marine corps way. She wondered what it was with the army, that was full of tattletales, and personnel that could not handle some of the usual banter marines and tridents were known for.

Senior Chief warned her the army had rebar suppositories, and did not take a lot off of other soldiers, while in the Navy, even animals could walk up to other enlisted men, question ethnicity, paternity, compentency, education, class or any and all of the above, in any given combination. It was the guy that didn't give back as good as he got, or tattled to an officer that was the whiskey delta. It was no prelude to a fight, just male bonding. Sort of like "shooting the dozens" on the playground.

The smaller cat looked to her larger companion, and gave two very human gestures. She shook her head and rolled her eyes. Too bad they had no right at all to seek transfer. As foxed up as this unit was, manning a Barracuda's turret, dead smack on the Mighty Miss, facing the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. At least she could break balloons, break wind, nip, cuss and do everything else a sailor does as second nature, without having to worry about snitches. And people said the Navy was queer.

Until the pogue was done, she had nothing better to do. A time honored tradition while bored, and traveling in a military vehicle was to sing. It did not drown out any essential traffic on the radio or the 1MC. Still, she did not want to get too loud and upset the already angsty humans, so she looked up at her partner, shot a wink, and began to sing, just loud enough for the two of them, and for Lassie.

"My daddy left home when I was three
And he didn't leave much to ma and me
Just this old guitar and an empty bottle of booze.
Now, I don't blame him cause he run and hid
But the meanest thing that he ever did
Was before he left, he went and named me "Sue."

Well, he must o' thought that is quite a joke
And it got a lot of laughs from a' lots of folk,
It seems I had to fight my whole life through.
Some gal would giggle and I'd get red
And some guy'd laugh and I'd bust his head,
I tell ya, life ain't easy for a boy named Sue.

[Renekin Skywalker]

Socrates didn't join in the singing, but continued to work with his gear. The cats were somewhat entertaining and controllable. He understood why his species hunted theirs as animals. However, he was starting to see concern about everyone going after the captain. They should follow the chain of command, approaching Trassk first. Even if the poor human didn't enjoy exercising authority, he could at least give Sam a few minutes to get her own gear ready.

[Mierin]

Sam resists the urge to sigh and simply nods at Richardson, wondering why the good Doctor couldn't take the initiative to introduce herself and why he had to do it for her. Regardless, she moves over to where the doctor is and says to her, "Hello, you wanted to talk to me?"

[sasqaricious]

"Y-y-yes Miss. I just wanted t-t-to introduce myself. My name is Dr. Autumn Santiago and I must apologize for not coming up sooner but I did not know how those two were going to react as th-th-they do not seem to like us over here and being under the influence of an itoxicating substance, I am not sure what the situation would have spiralled down to." She indicates to the two cats which are still staring at her. (OOC - ok instead of me typing it, in any situation she is nervous she will stutter!!)

"And you do not have to worry as I have had experience firing a weapon as Dr. Bradford insisted on us having combat training at the very least. It is stowed away with my armour up in storage." She then reduces her voice to whisper. "And I know this may seem embarrassing but I have never put on a suit of armour before and may need some assistance. Also if I may be so bold, what is a POG?"