[hr][center][sub][color=cecece]DAY 1[/color] [color=ea3333]《》[/color] [color=cecece]STEELWATER [RD-PRS][/color] [color=ea3333]《》[/color] [color=cecece]Afternoon[/color] [color=ea3333]《》[/color] [@Prisk][@Aeolian][@Rockette][@DeadDrop][/sub][/center][hr][table][row][/row][row][cell][url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/5365760][img]https://i.imgur.com/5O3b763.png[/img][/url][color=2e2c2c]▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇[/color][/cell][cell][quote]
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	The firefight lived just as quickly as it died, except in this case the targets were unalive, but not quite dead. Her spirits had established a perimeter ensuring there were no more reanimated corpses waiting to sabotage the group around a corner or a corridor. The rest of the dispatching was left to those with more infantry experience. When it was all over, Eunji could feel the heat off the smoking barrels of those around her. Particularly a new face, a woman she had never seen before or read a dossier of. The rescue perhaps, but she would have to catch up much later. For now, with the small lull rose the next rising action. An assemblage of the minds between Isolde and Eunji. To be honest, had the two been able to become one person they may have been through this plague by now. That is, if they were able to dispense control properly. Oil and water they were for now, at least in their approach to solutions. 

Emilia, the ever-apparent leader, and tenured vet was also a part of the conversation while the others fell silent, for a while. Eunji was already fatigued from the perspicacity in which Isolde carried herself, commanding something from them that they had passively given her. The voracity for her work and image never felt satiated. And after the bullets came a bomb. Metaphorical at least. This Benjamin figure was becoming more of a sign of the end in biblical terms than the son of the right hand. Although he did manage to create a tribe, just not the right one. The discomfort from Emilia was obvious despite her stoic outer shell. Eunji could [color=38b54a][i]feel[/i][/color] it, even [color=38b54a][i]sense[/i][/color] it, how? Well humans inhale anywhere from 1,000 to 10 billion spores a day, in that firefight alone she inhaled thousands of spores that had Eunji’s spirit attached to them. 

It was an invasion of privacy, each spore working its way through her body. The central nervous system especially, which helped her empathetically feel the tumbles going on in her head that no one else was privy to. The same feeling one got from reading someone else’s diary, just less invasive. The praise, no matter if it were backhanded or not, was well received by Eunji and partially distracted her fixed gaze on the side of Emilia’s perfectly curated skin. Nothing less for the face of almost every sponsor, including skincare, from here to Goryeo. Isolde was quick to cut to the chase and become quite grim, at least they were in accordance. Benjamin needed to be brought back alive, not like Emilia would have wanted anything less. Plus, if Benjamin’s blood helped them find a cure, it would do wonders to mitigate the lives loss in whatever carnival of corpses lay behind Isolde’s operating room. 

[color=38b54a]“Haha, yes [b][i]exactly[/i][/b] like in the movies Garuda”[/color] she chuckled with playful delight, devoid of malice. [color=38b54a]“Thank you, Isolde, astute as ever. As you all just heard this is a fungus I’ve worked near and dear to. To keep it short and in layman’s terms. There’s a fungus that actively releases spores vital to its propagation and survival. The spores are specialized to attack and infiltrate ants below the canopy. Once inside they more or less grow and take control of the nervous system of the ant. Killing it once it grows sufficiently. Once fully mature, it will use the ant’s corpse to climb to an altitude high enough where humidity and temperature will allow it optimal growth. From then it closes the powerful mandibles of the ant around the bark allowing a fruiting body to grow and repeat the cycle.”[/color]

Eunji took a pause to both let the information sink in like the vicious spore and catch her breath. The feeling welling up in Emilia stirred the innards of Eunji. A sad kind of smile formed on her face.

[color=38b54a]“I believe these are just the prototypes. If there’s anything I know about fungus its that they adapt incredibly fast, are brilliant as animals, and take everything from the environment. Not to cast a dark cloud over our heads, but with Benjamin’s blood, Aeon blood, there’s no telling what their ceiling is. They’ll only get more durable, disfigured, and monstrous the longer they live and adapt. Worst case scenario that hulk we put down is chump change to what they spit out. Best case scenario they can’t secure enough resources in this hell hole to adapt fast enough. And we find Benjamin and create a cure. Whether it’s him or Bahamut is unknown. It’s better to assume the two are one, so this is going to get a hell of a lot harder if it wasn’t there already.”[/color] Eunji put a hand on Emilia’s shoulder gripping it slightly and gave her a warm smile, [color=38b54a]“Well get Ben back, alive don’t worry. We won’t hurt him, [i]trust[/i] me.”[/color] Soothing words for the face of the team to put her mind at ease. Isolde probably agreed but wouldn’t hurt him [i]too[/i] much. 

The mood was quickly derailed once more by the admission of truth from the Tenebrae royalty in the standing in the wings. Eunji could feel there was more than just the kernels being portioned out to them, there was more secrecy shrouded between the party members than there should have. A knot was forming in her stomach, maybe she made a mistake putting this patch on her jacket. It started to feel more like a target than one of honor. She would keep tabs on everyone like a fruiting body, until she could trust them fully. [color=38b54a]“Well, whatever the case we better decide if we’re all in or folding like the cards lover boy plays with outside of the cockpit.”[/color]

Eunji’s fated chat with Isolde would have to wait for now. Fate was out of their hands. 
 
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[color=99945e][b]Post Summary[/b][/color][hr][color=99945e]Eunji imparted a synopsis of the work she had been published for, hoping to provide some comfort to an ailing Garuda. Eunji took stock of the feeling running through the bodies of others and structured her personal and team goals from there. One thing's for sure, everything is FUBAR.[/color]