[color=lightgreen][center][h3][i][b]Day 1: 21:32:05 Babuskha's House (Oksana's Grandmother) Somewhere outside the village of Pristupin, Libor Province Republic of Polavia Magazines: Loaded [/b][/i][/h3][/center][/color] [img]https://freerangestock.com/sample/46667/barn-in-a-field-at-night.jpg[/img] The presence of Silas was a surprise to Oksana. She'd seen him in the local clinic, but a homevisit? Babushka, you had to tell me!- she thought to herself. But, he knew what he was doing. And despite his craft requiring violence, Babushka hadn't seemed to complain. Even if his was more related to trauma, it did wonders for the hip, it sounded like. And that put him in her good books, the one Libolian she could trust. [quote=@BigPapaBelial] He's turning back to the group as they are arming up. "Alright, trust then...the lot of you are going to need a medic sooner or later. I never thought I'd be working with a Bunch of former Reactor again. But well why the hell not?" [/quote] "Never thought I'd see you treating my grandmother. Without consent. But because it's you. And only you. Thanks." Oksana chirped, her look not of a smile but of a blunt instrument, the fact it wasn't a threat showing in her Polavian way, she appreciated him. "I might need to talk to you later, got some odd requests, but....nothing urgent. You good? Up to what we're in for? Despite our supposed chief being a difficult bastard?" The Polavian added, keeping that light in touch, knowing it was best not to make too big of a deal of her certain use. Meanwhile, Felix had pissed off Rowan. Not surprisingly. [quote=@LadyAmber] Rowan gave Felix a dirty look. [color=#39FF14]“Oh you want a big batch of spell ink. You know what I use that big cauldron for… you know the one you want me to leave behind! If I have to leave all my gear here, I won’t be able to set up a still to provide Borys with alcohol either. Fuck you Felix!”[/color] [/quote] The door may as well have slammed, as Felix looked on, Rowan leaving scene fast. "For fuck's sake, Rowan, thin....ah, dammit." The shapeshifter exclaimed, watching her head out. With a sack for collecting items from the forest at least. "How did you become an officer again?" Oksana asked, as Felix chuckled, shaking his head. Not a great start. "Against my better judgement." The reply was laconic, as he sighed, looking across to Borys, trying to calm her down, but that coming slow. [quote=@Starlance] “Easy, easy. He may be dense enough to sink in pools, but he’s from Liboli, it’s not his fault. He wants a big batch now to cover for the possible absence of the cauldron later.” He tried to calm Rowan down a bit. “Like it or not we’ve been seen together, by now we’re all on the list, if for no other reason than to prevent us from helping him. So we either put the cat in a carrier crate and mail him express back to DSR, or we figure out how to live together until this bullshit blows over. And the former is snitching bitch behavior and thus not an option.” He declared with the finality of someone who has been through a Polavian prison and had their code of conduct hammered into his mind, “I agree we should move out of here. If Harry Whatshisface is willing to raid a pub in broad daylight, he’d turn Maria Denisovna’s house into splinters without a second thought.” [/quote] Felix appreciated the assist, though he knew it wouldn't help Rowan's scowl. Nor Oksana's. "She'll be fine. She survived eighty years of oppression. They'll get their ears talked off. And Rowan is only getting supplies." Oksana almost barked, defensive in a way, as if to deflect her own thoughts. "But wards are a good idea. Don't plant them too obviously. Brings more attention." Oksana looked to Rowan, her Polavian demeanour completely the opposite of perhaps the excited, manic DSR native. They had more work to do. Felix had more planning. And he scribbled more. Crafts, vessels, weapons, abilities, knowns. That much he could draw from what he roughly knew. Oksana had the rest of her ghillie to put together, and big 7.62mm rounds to chamber into magazines. And a microdose of ketamine, through an inhaler she'd kept, taken quietly on the side. That bar fight had affected her far worse than she wanted to admit. She'd controlled it, but at one point, she was pretty sure she saw Rowan come in with a pitchfork and hit Borys with it while in here. She said nothing. She saw shit like this all the time, Roxie was now frankly used to hallucinating with this many visions in front of her, triggering when she tapped into it. But the involuntary stuff, while it was nowhere near as bad, flared in trauma. She had taken a lot on, but that fight or flight, whatever it was, maybe the interference, it did something. When time stopped, she still kept seeing, and it hurt like hell. Disassociated her. The ket brought her back, the opposite of what it did to anyone recreationally taking it. Like any bad dream, you knew it wasn't real when certain details could be spotted that weren't quite right, like Borys bleeding out. Drugs it was, but a teeny sample, enough to keep her back in check for at least whatever happened then. Back to faraway combat, she'd be happier. Felix looked to Borys in the meantime, sighing, thinking about what he'd said earlier on that comment. The Polavian was mildly drunk, but, he wasn't holding back his tongue. He had a point. If the team were competent, they'd have done some seriously dark shit. Felix would have made a scene of it. Eaten anyone that didn't comply. Got the result. They were too slow, too sensitive. That was where Felix knew he differed at least. You put your own at risk not going all the way. [hr] Looking across the team, Felix looked to the board, Rowan coming back in with supplies. She'd calmed down, and come back in, dragging and making the cauldron quietly scream into stone. [quote=@LadyAmber] Rowan sighed as she started the conversation. If they were going to work together they needed to have all the facts. Secrets like these could cause trouble down the road. [color=#39FF14]......So get used to me being grumpy. I don’t like the dirt, mud, great outdoors, and creepy crawlies.” [/color] [/quote] "You picked the wrong country, Morgana." Oksana added, thinking about her other phrase. "I could use some healing potions to top up my stash where internals are concerned, and Silas can't fix us. And I agree, leaving is a good idea." Oksana endeared herself a little to Rowan. She was feisty, wild. She had heard the stories, despite her being a resolute, genius of a chemical weapons expert, she knew how to hold herself in a fight. A classic witch, but one that took no shit given the situations she ended up in. She liked that plenty. Oksana respected it, because she said it how it was. The Polavian turned to the Libolian, ready to go. "Felix, gameplan?" The taller Libolian was in the midst of something else with Rowan, before turning. "Changing appearance is a nice trick, but, shit hallucinates like an AI bot done wrong. Anti-surveillance would be handy. That one, that is some proper, proper bullshit. Keeps us off CCTV, and we'll need that in urban areas. Then brew something for yourself, Rowan, plenty of non lethals, if we run into people we don't want to kill. And of course, acid for everyone else. You're into chemical warfare, right? I'm sure you have something up your sleeve." Felix replied, knowing that bridge was hard to mend, but Oksana butted in. "If you don't like here, you might enjoy Novy Jork. It has culture. Sights to see. But is very expensive now. Seriously. Tourism killed it. Borys is almost right there." Oksana added, as she hucked over her ghillie, sleeves on, before drawing the bush from her head, keeping it like a hood, the Druid Scout Sniper less like a typical witch with less of a hat, and more of a hooded, cloak-and-dagger kinda druid if she ever had to be one. The hood had two bits- one that entirely covered her head, and another that gave her a bush. It saved a balaclava, which Roxie wasn't a massive fan of. She had a GPNVG set in a frame on her stubby wool hat, the moving bush that gently blended into everything she stepped on appearing to have glowing green eyes. That was some Druid drip. She looked across to Borys, the the Polavian taller than her male counterpart, cracking a chuckle. "You drunk bastard. Can't believe you agreed with me earlier. You really are cased." She broke an actual smile, walking across and casually picking up his AK, rotating it around, before passing it over. The stock being a shovel was enough to break her into a full grin. From her usually stoic demeanour, that was something. "Seems like you maybe shouldn't gamble though. You need a coffee before your drunk ass falls over. I left hot water and a compress there. Felix might need some too. Or he will pass out. By the by." She mentioned, leaning in, walking past, eyes gently cloudy. "For some reason, I think we might be even soon. Just popped into my head. Or, maybe that's me tripping on shit." She added, cryptic, perhaps almost as if she wanted to get that strange thought out of her head. Or the ketamine was still settling. Felix on the other hand kept his hoodie on, stubbed bobbled grey wool wizard's hat on, that felt like it almost made his vessels almost activate better. Looking good, feeling good. Rifle on plate carrier, he was arguably the most tactical looking of the bunch, gloves on, and looking across to the team. The only thing he was missing was wrap-around sunglasses, but he preferred to keep lower profile. Nothing screamed "man who turned into lion", bar the patch on his tactical hoodie. Of what looked like a sketched out lion's head. If some had a sign for what blood group there were, the lion indicated "Shapeshifter", just in case someone picked his body up and then absolutely pissed themselves when a lion appeared. He'd needed that after the second time he turned and nearly got shot. He didn't really need NVGs, given his senses in his other form carried over fairly well, making his sight in the dark about six times better (three in human form) than most, and his hearing, when tuned, absolutely sharp as a nail. Though no high pitch noises, were preferred. Cue a little montage. A bit crap, really, because it had no glitz and glamour, it felt more grindhouse, more B-Movie than it did refined. Among hay bales, halogen light, a team slowly came together. [hr] After plenty more rigging, crafting, gearing up, the team were ready for an impromptu brief. The main reason why was because the big tank of herbal tea was now empty, with mugs in everyone's hands, a cigarette in Felix's hand, his old habit dying hard. "I don't start briefs with apologies. But sorry you've been dragged into this mess. I'll get you out of it, at least. Got plenty of reasons to. Oksana is our local. She's sober, and she can see into the future. Borys is your secondary translator. For pastoral support, see Silas. He might hit you over the head to help." Felix was a bit dry in his humour, but dry generally. But, he held it together at least, as Oksana looked over at him, from the pallets she sat on. "And this is going to be boring." Oksana replied, Felix going nowhere today. "Come on. Fuck's sake." "Okay. I can hear you like, infinitely though. I can't do briefs. Tell me who to kill, where and when." "Ah." "Yeah, foresight is a bitch." "Could you just like, nod?" "Sure. Papers, Please. Felix, continue." Oksana replied, knowing she'd have to grit her teeth through this one. At least she was slightly drugged up. She'd be fucking hallucinating all sorts of bullshit if she was this bored. And that was a sniper talking boredom. She could sit in a hole for ten hours, drift her mind to.....not her past, but something nice, but briefs? She hoped she didn't fall asleep. "Okay. So, I suggest we get papers, Oksana makes a point. She has a contact in Novy Jork, and he knows the undereworld well. That gives us a shot to at least blend in and relocate, put distance between us and the team, maybe, if we're lucky, get false identities to go home. Or find other mercenary work. You shouldn't have to deal with my bullshit, but if you get cut loose, go it alone and that team go after you.....you all know the game from SERE. I don't think they will fuck up that bad again." Felix looked to the group, knowing Rowan was about to chirp in. "And I get it. Driving would be easier with spells changing us. But we're too many for the car, and one ward-carrying cop, and we are screwed. But we need to check our situation to see if we can salvage it. There's a ridgeline in the forest where it looks like we can get an overview on Pristupin. Get an idea of how much police there is. I didn't come here to kill innocent people. But if we have to, if fired upon, shoot back." "Or if you find former Security Apparatus, shoot on sight." "Thanks, Roxie." "No worries! Glory to the Polavian People's Republic!" Oksana sarcastically chirped with an old slogan, looking to Felix again. This was fucking infuriating to him. But the team might have been amused. "Indeed. The alternative exfil, if the place is swarming- is we have to get out of the net, is the train network. Which doesn't stop for man or beast, Partisans, anyone. Our access is located three klicks here. Koley Trainyard, through the forest which keeps us out of thermals and out of sight. A boneyard, but, it's on a corner of the main line, so trains slow down. Enough for us to catch a lift. And get to where we need, out of where we are currently being looked for by at least two, possibly three, different agencies." Felix pointed, the black line going all the way down to the city. Oksana was blunt in reply. "Full of Albani Mafiya, kurwa. Backed by hired goons from the Security Apparatus that are drunk on power from ten years ago are there. It's why trains are a sham. And Rowan is right. We can't exactly catch an Intercity at Kralovec South." Oksana chirped in, Felix nodding. "That's why. Enemy of our enemy isn't our friends. And I'm not looking at second class. We find a freight train rolling past, and get on it. Sneak past the people running the place and, or, zero anyone we find that stops us. We're all running craft. That isn't normal for a Reactor detachment. Gives us a lot more of an edge now than we had before when it was one apiece. So that gives us plenty more balance in a fight. Silas heals, Borys can take bullets when he's fucked up, Rowan just hurls alkaline at people, and Keodis seems to just make shit blow up more than usual." Felix added, making a valid point there, Oksana agreeing at least on that one, continuing. "Oksana, you know the contact?" "I'll get you there, I know how to find him. Pale Pavel's gone up in the world, apparently. But only once we're through, I'll come home once the papers are done. You'll need some money. You all have cash?" "DSR Dollars enough?" "They'll do." "Perfect. Last thing. Rowan's got us some extract glyphs. Limited in supply. But they come back here, max range, Novy Jork. Means we can resupply, Rowan can cook up more potions, and Silas can...do whatever he does with skulls these days. Oksana's put a fairly chunky illusion spell inside here so any visitors won't see this apart from us." Oksana winked to Rowan, waving her PB in one hand, Marlborough Gold cigarette in other. "That one isn't just in Wiz-Tac." She smirked, inhaling a deep bit of cig, before looking to Felix. "Ready in five, team. Everyone, set comms. We'll head east and start this merry fucking adventure." He sarcastically called to the team, knowing that barely recovered from a drinking session, they were off to go do some recon by fire. Find out their situation. And packed up, as much gear as they could carry in tactical packs, rifles in hands, they were prepared to walk into the big, dark, gloomy Polavian, pine woods, trees swaying in the breeze, the moss like carpet against pinecones and sticks of wood. Behind the clouds, an infinite, endless ocean of stars, the crescent moon, and the silouette of tactical wizards on the move. [img]https://c.stocksy.com/a/efO300/z9/809822.jpg[/img]