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| The Camp Grounds |
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With the removal of underbrush and a half-dozen small trees, there is now a tiny clearing around the dropship. It has begun to fill with detritus from the ship, including all of the seating, padding, and removable plates or bulkheads. Several tents have been set up within the clearing, set close together within the confines of the surrounding trees. A small collection of weapons sits under a parachute-cloth shelter by the door of dropship, open for community use. A three-holer latrine is set up downwind of camp in the prevailing breezes, and a rough wall stretches between trees at the edge of the clearing, dropship plates and felled tree-trunks stacked up and lashed together as best as the Delinquents can manage. There is a gate at the north end, a single panel that can be rolled aside at need. The forest immediately surrounding the camp has been cowed into near-silence, but is still vibrant and green to a people used to stark metal bulkheads all around them. |
| It is Afternoon on Thu May 19, 2149. |
Cameron, having not a drop of shame to him, has no personal space or even the vaguest interest in privacy. So he takes invasion of personal space with a casual, cool practicality, paying attention with his eyes dark and intense as limbs are moved here or there to adjust his weight distribution and posture. "Okay this actually just feels better. I see what you're getting at." That said, he listens to Morgan answers, and looks curiously to Stone.
Kai's attention is on Jael at the moment, as the smallest of her students. She appreciates that it's awkward for the small teen, and carefully helps adjust fingers and so forth in order to help her get it into the right position,"Keep it here, it'll help support the weight of it and give you some bracing.. this here is the sights, you can use that to help line up your shot. One of the things people mess up all the time is that they pull the trigger too hard. Jerking it doesn't make it fire faster, but it will totally throw your aim off. Now you, if you're using one, you'll likely want to brace yourself against something solid. It'll make it harder to move if you need to, of course, but it will help with arm and weight, okay?" she asks of her,"Barrel, slide, bullets go in here. Mode selector, feel free to ignore it, stick to single shot."
"Fighting stance. Knees bent just a bit more, one slightly back so you can pivot for movement. Both hands, cupped like this for stability and taking the recoil, the pushback, so it doesn't break your wrist." Stone's saying still loudly enough to half-deafen poor Cameron next to whom he's standing while adjusting his stance. He pauses to cough a little with a wince, only then noticing the approaching cat…I mean Cass, to whom he rasps. "My throat thanks you." After which he's movin over to Morgan, nodding to the other's stance again. "Foot a little more back for better pivot, but good. Butt of the rifle braced tight, extended arm not locked, but supporting, eyeline to the sights. Good. Now, as to the list, you're probably right. Bullets first." He points to the magazine of the rifle. "The magazine's got those. But the most important in my mind is this here." He moves in to point at Morgan's rifle near the trigger. "Safety. If it's off and you drop your rifle out of combat, someone's gonna get killed. If it's on and you try to shoot in combat, you're gonna get killed. See how you can tell?" He flips it and directs Cameron and Cass to take angle behind Morgan to see it as he'd see it with the rifle. Practice that thumbflick, because it'll save lives." He then proceeds to point out each of the other parts Morgan named, stopping last on the feed mechanism. "Hopefully none of us will need to know this since we've gone through all the bullets, but Kai show you how to clear a jam?" He asks of the medic, voice strained enough, it's clear that it's excuse for a pause in talking to pass off that part to Morgan to say.
"Jam? No." Morgan answers, letting his arm drop and then offering it to Stone stock first. "That's something we should definitely know." He been watching Cam to get an idea of how to best use the pistol and listening to that instruction as well.
Of the four of them in the group Kai's cruelly designed for them — sticking poor Cameron with Cassandra — the girl's the least experienced in handling rifles, and so she pays extra attention to what Stone's saying. Which isn't to say that nearly all of it isn't going over her head, but she's trying, and she's showing no signs of crazy violent tendencies yet. Yet.
"100 year old bullets, yeah, you probably should. We hopefully got all the duds picked out, but maybe not." Stone swings his own loaded rifle to dangle, taking up Morgan's, moving so he can be seen by all through, his rasp barely a whisper, which seems to ease his throat a bit, and is still audible enough with the three of them near. He proceeds to go into the different sorts of jams possible, and how to rerack the feed, reset the magazine, check for stovepipes, and various other things.
By the end of it, glancing up, he realizes he's getting into _way_ too much detail and just murmurs. "Here, just follow these steps if it happens, find best cover you can, keep calm, and do this, this, and this. Speed's good, but better to do it right than pop up to find it's still jammed." He passes the rifle to, of all people, Cassandra abruptly. "Show me your firing stance, then show me a jam clear." Then gesturing to Cameron, smirk lopsided the full lips. "Pass him your pistol. And I don't mean it euphemistically. Show him the stance I just showed you if you need excuse to lay hands on."
Cam winces at the loud direction, but endures it, shifting his stance as Stone indicates. Cameron moves behind Morgan briefly to look at where Stone is pointing out the safety, and he gives a wry nod, "Safety seems a lot important, pretty crucial to keeping control of the gun and only shoot when you intend to. Totally obvious." A sidelong, pointed glance at Cassandra, "It's good you mentioned it, Big Guy." After paying close attention to jam talk, Cam hands his pistol over towards Morgan to trade, and he can't help but return Stone's smirk with a grin, "As if I need an excuse. I'll help him though. I probably won't have the rifle stance quite right though so it might be some mutual helping." He adds as an aside, "Just so we're clear, Cassandra won't be needing pistol training."
"So it's surgery on a rifle." Morgan points out. "Speed's good but doing it right is more important than doing it fast. And he never needs an excuse to do that." he says with a grin, echoing Cam. He takes the pistol and tries to duplicate the way Cam was holding it.
Cassandra's uninjured eyebrow goes shooting upwards when Stone passes her the rifle, but she grasps it firmly and readily in both hands. The butt end is kept close to her body, pressed into her waist, such that if she fired it she would probably bruise her kidney when it kicks. To the untrained eye, though, she looks ready to kick some serious booty, and what cost is practicality if one manages to look cool? One foot in front of the other, she looks over her shoulder towards Kai's group, then towards Cameron. "Float you, Cameron," she says. "I need to be trained same as everyone else after what happened, if we're gonna be worth our salt against a Grounder army. You try to keep guns out of my hands, I'll just go get some bow-training and feather you with arrows instead." As for that jam clear, she casts an eye down the barrel, then places a hand atop of it and tries to feel for where one might pull to clear that… jam.
"Boys and their pistols, amirite?" Stone quips in gravel-whisper with a melodramatic roll of eyes to Cassandra before he's moving over to watch her stance. Shaking head, he moves in to invade her personal space just as much as he did with the boys, albeit looming a good bit more maybe. "Leg back like this, yeah, like that, hips balanced to lend your weight to this foot,…" Thick arms around her, moving the rifle to tuck tighter against her shoulder while he's rasping out from above and behind her ear. "Tucked like this into the shoulder or you're gonna break somethin' tiny as you are, need tighten the supporting muscle too. Wavering the barrel a bit, there you go. See how it lines right up with your eye if you tilt like…this?" Stepping back to look over her stance then, he goes on to nod. "Flick the safety a few times, get used to that motion and I'll be right back for the jam." Then back over to Morgan, taking in the pistol stance, making a small adjustement, but nodding after a second to Cameron for doing a good job showing and remembering.
"K. While she's practicing that and moving on the gun jam. Pistol jams are a pain, so here's what you need to know if either of you ever decide to fire that." And he goes on to give some quietly rasped instruction on clearing the pistol if it comes to it, still in view of Cassandra so she can listen to even if she won't ever get her hand on Cameron's gleaming piece. He does pause to sigh and frown at Cass's comment though, murmuring her way. "You know, it's comments like that that set's Kai's hackles up about you. That and not takin' direction for crap. Ease down a notch for me at least, please. I'm teachin' you, like I said I would. Can go pick up bow after if you want. I may even join you. Gonna have more arrows than bullets soon anyways."
"Cassandra, I didn't try to stop you learning quote-unquote guns. The rifles are community property. I have no say in who gets a rifle, the Cadets have managed that coup. The pistol is mine, though. I salvaged it myself. You're not touching it. So you don't need to learn anything pistol specific." Cameron sniffs, but he does look over to Morgan, reach out to push on his hip a bit. For once, platonically, just helping correct his pistol stance a bit, then he takes up his rifle stance a bit awkwardly and shoots Morgan a questioning look. That said, he focuses on the question of jams, nodding his head seriously. "Okay, thanks, Big Guy."
Boys and their pistols indeed. "You know it." Morgan agrees then comments to Cam "Bet he's got a large caliber." Said loudly enough to make sure Stone heard. "Seriously Stone, don't mind Cass. She doesn't have balls so she talks big to make up for it. She's been a help in the past when it's needed and she doesn't want to be killed any more than the rest of us. And Cass, ease up okay? We get it. You're a mean bitch not to be ignored. Let's move on."
Like Cameron, Cassandra doesn't budge when Stone steps into her space to help her with her stance, easy as can be; which is not, perhaps, to say that she doesn't mind it. She sure slides a discretely suspicious eye his way, because boys will be boys, and Cassie doesn't trust even the boy scouts among them. (She probably doesn't trust girls either. She is known at most to trust plants and her own Earth Skills.)
All the same, his tuition is useful, and she takes it in. The safety gets flicked, as instructed, and her stance is adjusted to no longer be a danger to her own person, so it's more likely now to endanger others. Once Stone has stepped away and she's now on the receiving end of Morgan and Cameron's words, they get a dark side-eye too — but no words in retaliation.
Stone is a little too dark to show much of a blush, but it's there in his body language for all he's trying to play hardass teacher here, and so he's distracting himself with turning to Cass to help her with the jam clearing sequence while Morgan sorts Cameron's rifle stance with with another of the rifles Stone snagged from a table earlier for him. Once she's got her jam clearing going, he's looking over to give some direction to Cameron for his rifle stance, letting Morgan guide him into place. After being satisfied with that, he's having Cameron go through the rifle jam clearing in turn, Morgan go through the pistol clearing, then Cam. When finally he's satisfied with all three of them being able to tell safety on/off, holding decent stance, and being able to clear a death-jam, he's moving on, unclipping his own rifle, popping clear the magazine, and racking the empty chamber to make sure there's no bullet in it. That mag is swapped for an empty off the table and suddenly they have three rifles. Stone's is given to Morgan and the gigantic ex-C is moving on to the next lesson. "Into stance and I want you to look down the sights. See how they line up, one floating in the other? I want you to aim at that tree over there and hold it so the sights are centered on it, floating even to each other, and then see how hard it is to hold them steady like that for long. Keep them lined up though, and I'll come to each to point out where you're aim is off."
Cameron blinks at Morgan a moment, and laughs, giving a speculative look over at Stone for a moment, "Probably. But you're supposed to be thinking about guns right now. Not guns." When Morgan is given a new rifle, Cam reaches over to take the pistol back and tuck it into his pocket. Boys with their pistols, indeed, for sure. Cam's paying a lot of attention to where that pistol is. He goes into stance, and lifts the rifle, looking down the sights seriously. Cameron is very, VERY good at focus and self-control. He is also as steady as ice. Well, ice in a freezer. Or antartica. Ice that isn't going to melt, you know.
Now aiming is something Morgan practiced a lot of, standing in the cargo hold and aiming out at the wall in case the Grounders came over or through it. He wanted to be ready to shoot them since he knew they were coming. It's the firing though that makes all the difference and he's still yet to do that.
A common adage is that if you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all. Cassandra, who scarcely has a nice thing to say about anybody, is remaining perfectly silent for the moment, so she the age-old message must have gotten through to her. It's kind of creepy, actually — those mean-bitch vibes radiate off her in waves, even when she isn't saying anything, carved into her down-curved lips and tightened jaw.
She casts another glance towards the boys to see how they're doing, settling on Cameron in particular when he shows his impressive fortitude in aiming that gun without so much as a twitch. It becomes a competition, and she too turns her eye down the barrel and sights, gaze level, posture still. She gives up too soon, however, unable to get past comparing herself to her rival when she should be focusing on her aim.
Moving down the line, Stone proceeds to invade personal space again, lining up right behind each of them, crouching enough to line his gaze up over their shoulders, practically breathing down their necks. Cassandra gets a hand suddenly touching her extended arm from behind, firm, calloused fingers tightening lightly on her forearm. "Tighter here,…" and up to bicep. "…a little looser here." On up to top of her shoulder. "And WAY looser here. Need to relax a few dozen notches, girl. Good hold horizontal though, just have to work on your vertical line up a and staying loose, even amidst the crazy."
Moving on to Cameron, Stone snorts a bit at the rocksteadiness. "Great hold, but you need to angle one or two degrees down…" Stone very gently taps the barrel down with a big dark arm reaching from behind. "There, see how those fall in line. You want it like that and just that steady when you take a shot."
Finally on to Morgan, he's leaning over close, head canting before he catches himself with a little growling wince of pain. "Sorry, yeah, like that. Got a little touch of horizontal jiggle on the in breath, but that's what we'll talk about next. Breath control while taking the pull on the shot is the biggest problem most people have shooting. Each person is a bit different on what feels right for them, but the key is to keep it slow if you can, even during combat. Take that extra half-second to breathe in, out, and in again, let your body and mind relax into the shot, and then find the trick that fits for you. Some people like to fire just as they reach full breath and pause, some like to fire on the pause at the end of a full exhale, some prefer half-breath, and others just have to be keeping a steady breath pass. I prefer to fire on exhale. You relax into that release, feel it when you're relaxation point is maximum, and then you gently squeeze the trigger. Squeeze, don't pull, don't jerk. It doesn't take much pressure on a combat weapon, so there's no need to screw up your shot gettings spasmodic. Try that a few times. Keep the aim steady on that tree, experiment with breathing and squeeze the trigger gently. you'll hear a click of the dry fire, try not to jerk.
"Ooh, gotcha. Thanks, Stone. I see it now." Cameron's not really doing anything special in 'aiming' here, he's just doing what he does best: minimizing his entire body's movement and keeping utterly and completely still. So when Stone taps his gun down, Cam takes note, and moves precisely only as much as needed, and then holds. This is why Cameron's so good at being sneaky. Self-control, self-awareness. But he keeps himself aiming, even as Stone goes off to point out others, and listens to talk of breath control. "I'm used to low, steady, deep breathing. Quiet, controlled breathing. It sounds like on exhale would be better. I think." But, taking aim, he breathes, steady, in, out, click. He doesn't jerk. He does tense very slightly, but he doesn't jerk.
"A steady hand, a gentle squeeze. I think I can manage that." Morgan comments dryly with just a hint of a grin cause you know what he's thinking right? He has no problems with being corrected and even less so with it being physical. "Cam's good at hiding. He's used to be quiet and precise."
Stone's advice to Cassandra that she really ought to relax is a good one, but it doesn't immediately take. If anything, the sudden hand gripping her arm and the ex-C's breath on her neck has her tensing tenfold, and he's even close enough that he can see it raise hairs. One of her fingers creeps up to the trigger to give it a reassuring squeeze, not quite pulling it, but testing the motion. Fortunately, the rifle isn't loaded, even if her finger were to slip. It's a split second before he moves off, but rather suddenly her entire posture just loosens up entirely. Once she's relaxed, putting aside whatever spirit of competition or mean-bitch thoughts she's been harbouring, she's putty in his hands and following instructions like a perfect student, with no hesitation or resistance. It's like a switch has been flipped, and she no longer seems like herself. She seems much better, really.
A smirk is sent Morgan's way when mention is made of all this controlled breathing stuff. She can't help but ask, "Are we still talking about guns here, or have you three been reading Wren kom Trikru's book?"
"He has a book?" this from Kai as she and Elias come to join the other group, eyeing the gathering but settling on Cassandra, specifically with no pretense that she's not eyeing the other girl like she just spotted a rattlesnake,"Though speaking of which.. in addition to this.. if people want to join me for a.. ah.. hike.. out to the caves.. soon, you might want to bring a sword or sword-like object."
"I've got no clue what that means, but I pretty much assume everything out of their mouths involves sex. It simplifies things." Must have made that whole talking about sewing his throat up a kind of creepy conversation though. For his point, the now barely whispering Stone is moving between each as they do a couple practice shots, again invading space to look down their sightline, but finally he's stepping back and nodding contentedly. "Congrats, you all can shoot a tree and have a good chance hitting it. Stick to the archers if it comes to real fight and you're one of the ones assigned guns. They don't dodge about as much even if they are quick, and tend not to be darting in and out of tree cover while shooting. Remember, take it slow. Better to aim and hit than rush and miss. Especially on as few bullets as we have. And anyone touches fire selector to put it more than single shot, I'll kick their tushes, even if I have to come back from the dead to do it. Good job though." That raspy horror-voiced praise sounds genuine though, and Stone seems to really think they might have some feasible chance as he's moving forward to take up his rifle again once Morgan's practiced sufficiently, racking his loaded mag back into it.
"If we survive another day or two, I could probably teach some more about tactical movement, but for now, best I can tell you is keep knees bent, move smooth and steady to keep stable fire line, and take your time to line the shot up just like before unless you absolutely have to be moving while shooting to stay alive, then move, cause dead you're no use to anyone." That all said, he's turning with a wince at Kai's comments, brows furrowing and then rumbling with a sigh. "Give me a sec to grab a blade. What's goin on?" Yeah, cause she totally meant for _him_ to come. He'd probably bleed to death lifting his arm wrong with a sword in it.
Elias walks along with Kai, still holding a rifle and keeping the barrel pointed to the sky. It isn't loaded, apparently, but it's a thing to maintain good habits. He does look around for the place that he can turn the gun back in, though. He's apparently had quite enough of handling it for the time being. "Thanks for the lesson, Kai," he tells her with a smile before shifting his attention between Kai and Cassandra. A brow is raised, but he doesn't even try to follow that string of conversation lest he die of embarrassment. He does keep walking along with Kai, however.
Cameron listens to Stone again, attentive, and finally lowers his rifle, rolling his shoulders a bit. Holding it up for so long was new and awkward, so pained him a bit, but that's what self-control is for. "I expect if non-archers get close enough it'll be time to engage with a sword. I may be new at this gun thing but I'm pretty good on my feet and with my hands." Then he blinks over at Kai, "The caves? Where are we going and for what?" He eyes Stone a moment, then turns a questioning look to Morgan, his expression all: Doctor knows best. "Cassie, don't talk about things you don't understand. Like emotions. Or passion. Or sex. It'll just hurt your brain, okay?" He smiles at her. That's a little creepy.
"Yeah, it's on tantric sex. Whatever that is." Morgan tells Kai. "I want to read it just to find out. Most of them can't read it seems and Wren has been trying to learn on his own somehow. Silver's been helping him." Maybe she's read it. He'll have to ask. "Why are you going to the caves? Bath time before it's too late?"
A hike! That sounds right up Cassandra's alley. She even has a sword-like object right there at her right hip, in the form of an extremely sharp, Grounder-made machete. Kai's suspicious attention isn't missed; Cass herself has been eyeing the Captain's daughter warily throughout this entire study session, fully cognisant that her handling a rifle at Stone's behest, even an unloaded one, was bound to raise at least one eyebrow. Unfortunately, she doesn't deign to join at this highly suitable invitation. "You'll find some swords in the armoury," she replies, referring to the designated tent just outside the Dropship, used to keep all their best weapons dry. There are two swords in there, specifically — or there should be, if no one's been coy taking any and not returning. But her sword is hers, and it never leaves her side. That much is made clear by her words and stance also: she's not volunteering at the moment. It's been barely two days since she was found covered in blood in the forest, and she probably isn't feeling up to it. Cameron's comments to her get a sidelong raise of her eyebrows. For Cass 'Boner' Bonheur, the girl who reputedly fucked the Earth Skills teacher she got floated, that's probably the first time anyone's accused her of having a dearth of sexual know-how. She's used to the opposite, albeit with the same degree of scorn.
"Hold up Boy Scout, you are five kinds of benched from anything melee." Kai utters with a hand raised towards Stone,"Right, cos I'm so inviting the general populace along for group baths. And afterwards we'll sit around and read Wren's book and work out how to beat the Grounders through sex. I told you. It's a hike. With swords. More particularly it's a trust exercise and training practice for those of us stupid enough to be on the front line. Which doesn't include you. So why don't you take Bonheur and tell her what we discussed earlier if you haven't already?" she's apparently not about to explain too much more than that for the moment for all that she shifts her eyes to Elias for his thanks with a smile that actually doesn't seem to contain any sass or sarcasm for once in her life.
"I'm good for an exercise, Kai. I'm better with a sword then I am with a gun anyways. I could use some more practice, though. I can always use more practice." Cameron then grins at Morgan, "What I don't get is why someone needs a book to tell them how to have sex. But Grounders are weird, maybe they don't like experimentation." That said, he looks to Morgan with a tilt of his head and a questioning look, expression reading easily: wanna come? And an arched brow and a glance towards their tent, probably as easily read: want me to stay?
"Actually, a bath would be a good idea. No telling when you'll be able to get one next." Morgan points out. "And when's the last time you cleaned your clothes? Get hit with an arrow and it'll push the filthy cloth into you, increasing the chance of infection." Both he and Cam are fairly clean as it turns out, having gone to get one themselves after sewing up Stone, Fi and Lip. "It was a pre-war book." he clarifies then shrugs. "Your choice. Go if you want. But not you." he tells Stone. "You shouldn't even really be doing this the way you've been moving around, leaning over, craning your head. I'll need to check your stitches and if you tore any, I'll need to stab you some more."
Stone pauses in his stride at Kai's words, pride bristling almost visibly as the big bastard rotates on her, face set in a cromagnon sort of scowl. He looks like he's either about to argue or maybe just challenge her to a wrestling match right there and then. Given all the innuendo flying around tonight though, someone would probably take it to mean kinky things. Regardless, before Stone can get out an argument, Morgan's speaking up with all the authority of doctor-adjacent capability behind him and the 6'8" ex-C lets out a giant irritated huff before gravel-death-voice whispers out. "Fine then, come on Cass, if you please. Bring the rifle. Need some practice clearing jams still anyways." Stone's half-dead rasp is flat and hard, but he threw that last bit in there probably just to tweak Kai a bit in return. Regardless, the big soldier is turning to start stalking off towards the mess tent, growling something about "stupid mother fluffing arrows" or some such.
Kai's actual smile gets a mock-bewildered look from Elias as well as a bit of a startled gesture. Clearly playing around, he smiles back at the girl with a quick wag of his brows before its back to business. "Sword training sounds good. I've gotten okay with the spears, but they aren't as easy to carry around." Stating the obvious, clearly, while there are some mild eye-flirtations over in Kai's direction. For now, he just brings the rifle along as he doesn't see any secure location at present to set it down at. Other people seem to have theirs as well, after all. "Sword training," he says, nodding his head. "Sounds good." He gives Stone a wary look as he turns to potentially argue with Kai, but his attention is easily captured briefly by the exchange between Cameron and Cassandra. Looking at them both thoughtfully then, he just shakes his head before moving along.
"Excellent, rifles stay here." which isn't necessarily something Kai's a fan of despite being the one to say it, totally ignoring Stone in the blind confidence that if he wont listen to her that Morgan totally has her back in that regard, only to turn a dubious eye at him given her current filthy state with an arch of her brow,"D'y'know just how much more digging I have to do out there? Besides, it hasn't done shit for my hand yet." yes, somewhere under all that, there's a bandage on her hand, not that it's easy to tell amongst the dirt already encrusted on her. She hands over unloaded rifles to one of the other ex-C's to put back into guard rotaton for the moment, adding for Morgan,"I'll worry about a bath later."
Morgan may blatantly be joking about stabbing people, but it still sends Cassie's eyebrows shooting upwards towards the giant bruise on her forehead, considering stabbing people is precisely what he was boxed for. She gives him a look, but it's Elias who gets her verbal attention for the moment. "Ask Asher about teaching you sword stuff. He could probably skewer you better than anyone." Her chin jerks in the direction of the fellow's tent, and then she hitches the rifle in her hands to follow after Stone. A smirk curls Kai's way as she does so, taunting, and the business end of her gun is even pointing at the fellow's back as she moves. Fortunately, it isn't loaded.
Elias moving out has her turning to follow him, calling out after Stone and Cass,"Y'can't even keep from pointing it at someone's back, Bonheur, damned thing better not be loaded."
"_Twice_ as many stabbings times as strictly needed, Morgan. I promised him I'd get you to be malicious about it if he overdoes it. I'll help you whenever you need but holding the wound together was a bit gross." Not that he showed it at the time, of course. Priorities. Cameron moves over to Morgan's side, and leans over to kiss him— and it isn't too quick, either. But it doesn't linger too long, for that matter. "See you when we get back." is whispered deeply. That said, he goes over to deposit his rifle with the others, though he still has his pistol tucked into his belt, and nods to Kai, "Whenever you're ready, Kai."
Stone doesn't slow despite calls of him having a gun pointed at his broad back. One, he's fair confident it's still unloaded, two, at the moment he's irritated enough, a gunshot would just make him grumpier, not do much more.
Morgan puts his hand on the back of Cam's neck to prolong the kiss just a bit more before he lets his arm drop. "Watch your back. They're out there. Somewhere. And they're better than you at sneaking around forests so be doubly on guard. Take some containers with you for water."
"Good idea." Kai agree's with Morgan's suggestion about the water containers, electing to ignore the kissing bit between the two fellas even if it does make her eyes slide towards Elias and then away,"C'mon, water containers." she utters as she catches up to the other Delinquent,"And swords. And let's home we don't get found by the enemy on the way."
Elias turns his head towards Cass and furrows his brows. "Well, if the goal were to get skewered, I'd just go wandering off into the forest," he notes in return to her before allowing himself another short chuckle. "I'll keep an eye out for him. Whether or not he'll actually show me? Pfft. You know the guy better than I do." A roll of his shoulders is given before he shifts attention back to Morgan and Cameron. A smile forms on his own lips before he too glances over at Kai. "Water containers? Right." He starts wandering off course just a bit in search of the smaller makeshift canteens.
Cam can be stopped for longer kisses. Cam practically melts at such gestures. He'd probably sit there and make out seriously in front of everyone if Morgan wanted. But just the extra lingering? He's okay with that, too. His grin when he comes away is smug, but then he's nodding, "Good idea. Water." And he goes to collect some containers. As for weapons, he's got them all and his armor on already, so he's ready to fight. Hell, Cam's been ready to fight since he came out of his fever dreams and hasn't been seen unarmed since.
Kai goes to collect a sword for herself, and some containers, because they definitely can't have too much water, opting for,"Take a few mins if you want to sit down and rest a little first.. same for you too, Cam, y'know.. if you wanna." there's a nod in Morgan's direction,"I'm going to let Grey know what's happening. The long and short of it is that Wren, one of the one's that showed up and helped stop the fight yesterday, has offered sword training. Now maybe he's full of shit and it's a trap, but I don't think it is. And every edge we can get to try and survive right now is worth having."
"I'm inclined to trust anyone from Coesbur up until they betray that trust." At which point they will be Cameron's enemies for life. That's how he rolls. "I don't need any rest, but yeah, go let him know. I do suggest as we approach where we're supposed to meet, you let me scout ahead. Just to make sure he's alone or there's no ambush, I can probably see it and get away before they see me. It never hurts to approach a situation with a forward scout gathering intel, right?" And he looks back when Morgan decides to come and looks quite pleased.
Elias nods to Kai again and grabs a sword. "Wren?" he asks, furrowing his brows. Really, he can't tell the Grounders apart. He hasn't spent enough time around them clearly. With two containers of water and a makeshift sword, he makes his way back over towards Kai, Morgan, and Cameron. "Well, they've been on the up and up so far. We really don't have anything to lose." He continues walking along after them with his rifle slung over his shoulder and other items in hand. "So we're going to Coesbur then?"
Kai gives a dip of her head for Morgan and slings an arm around Eli after she grabs a container herself before smiling at Cameron,"Considering that what little I got between that girl Gideon and Wren amounts to they're probably signing their own death warrants for what they've already done? Yeh. They've earnt my trust, too.. and I'm good with that idea. The reality is that we're making this shit up as we go along. I mean.. I studied tactics.. that was like.. the one thing that my father and I actually saw eye to eye on.. but this isn't the Ark.. none of us are Guard, and we're fighting people that have been doing this in this environment since they were old enough to walk.. above and beyond the numbers game and the rest of it.. so the more we can learn about how they fight.. the more likely we all are to survive." there's a nod for Elias,"He was the one who was doing all the talking. He came by the wall earlier while I was out there. And no, we're going to the caves. He's going to meet us there."
"Me, I'm just a botanist." Cameron shakes his head slowly, sounding wistful, as he responds to Kai, "And an artist, and a political agitator, I'm a guy who took intense glee at evading the Guard for a year during my Exhibition, humiliating them, the Council and Jaha at least every week. No offense, Kia." He shrugs, "Point is, we're all down here and we're making do. I killed a grounder when we went to rescue Morgan." And the others. But, really. Morgan. "I called the Ark when my Mom brought the radio down. I'm not saying I'm brave or the best warrior or even special, what I am is committed. To survival, for us. Our people. Whatever it takes, whatever it takes, I'll do it. Without hesitation. Holding a grudge and being angry and idiotic about hating Grounders is the kind of utter foolishness we don't have time for. Either Wren helps us, or he doesn't. If he does, we're stronger. If he doesn't, hopefully I can tell and we can abandon the plan before we're weaker— and we learn his duplicity. Either way, we might not win but we don't lose either."
"Just a botanist," Elias echoes Cameron with a small smirk on his lips. "A skill we're going to need for any sort of prolonged survival. I'm a /farmer/, man." With that said, he gives the sword a couple of practice swings well away from everyone else. "I get your point, though. We have to make do with what we do have." Going quiet then, he's content for the moment to follow along. Another look is cast again to Kai and he tilts his head slightly to one side. "We need them, whatever the case. They know how to live down here. We're getting by on outdated earth science and hopes. If there's a chance Coesbur can help us, I'm gonna' take it. Definitely."
"None taken." Kai shrugs with a faint smile though it sobers swiftly enough, hand going to the band she still wears,"That's what I'm figuring, yes." she agree's,"It's worth the risk. Now if I can get Grey to understand it's better if he's up the top of the damned ship rather than staggering around here like a wounded bull.. we might have a snowball's chance in hell." at Eli's 'I'm a farmer' the ex-C actually seems to decide it's okay for her to lean over and give him a kiss,"Exactly. That's why the more people we have making sure the assholes don't go after Gideon, and the more we can show that we want to learn from them.. well.. we survive the week I'll be happy. Yeh?" she turns towards the gates,"And for the record, I hate my father, so I've got no beef with you Cam."
Cameron grins at Elias, "I have eighteen tomato plants planted. Eighteen. That's from one tomato the Grounders gave me in their village to eat, I saved every seed, germinated them, prepared them. That's a start. A pitiful start, but a start. Believe me, I know the value of farmers. I'm just saying, right here, right now, being flexible is important too." Cameron purses his lips at Kai, and tilts his hed, "Ask Morgan. Grey's not as bad off as Stone. Stone should maybe be up in the top, and Grey leading. Grey and I we don't see eye to eye on a lot of things, but he can lead and he can move around enough ont he ground to give order, and in a crisis, I think people will listen. That matters. Stone though, I think we can't risk him doing anything but sniping. I mean, I'm not a tactician, I only have a basic training in first aid, but that's what I think." But he nods otherwise in agreement with Kai, and with a gesture to Elias, includes him. "So far, Gideon and the others have shown good faith with the treaty. Maybe they won't, long term. But right now, tomorrow is a lot more important to me then next week. I'll think of next week in five days. I don't have the energy to plan for six disasters from now when tomorrow's is on us."
"Oh, I can be plenty flexible," Elias says, laughing quietly again and shaking his head. "I can fight a little bit and, like Cameron, I've got some first aid training. Not enough to do like…a field surgery or anything, but treating wounds?" There's a bit of a shrug to his shoulders at that. "At the very least, I can help to stabilize someone if they fall." The young man rests the sword up against his shoulder again, looking over to Kai once more. There is another nod for Cameron then as he mentions most of the Grounders honoring the treaty. With Coesbur, anyways. "Well, any edge we can get. I don't completely trust the Grounders myself, but we need to know what they do about living on the ground."
"There's room for more than one up there." Kai notes for Cameron,"And frankly having two good shooters up there would mean twice the kills. Bonheur hopefully can act as spotter, if she recognizes the bitch in charge of this shitshow, one of those two can put a bullet in them and maybe it will be enough to break the line. I'm not going up there because unlike either of them I'm not already shot full of holes and liable to pull a stitch. They can play hero some other time, we sort of need them to not bleed to death in the interim." there's a grimace,"If we survive tomorrow and there's not a third wave straight after it.. I'm planning on sleeping.. at least a day.. maybe two.. and those assholes can worry about getting people to actually follow orders. Besides, the perch gives people an overview of what's happening down here which is tactically better for directing the masses anyways. They sure don't want to listen to me, if they'll listen to the thug I'm okay with that."
"Mom always said, you never know when a machine will bite you and if someone is needed nearby to keep you from bleeding out." Cameron glances away, his expression darkening. How long is it now? Two weeks since his mother fell from the sky to bring them the radio— the radio that no longer works— and died because of that? "So I have basic first aid, but honestly, I'm better with the sword after the practice and fighting I've done. But push comes to shove, I'll aide those in need." Then he looks to Kai and nods, "AH, didn't realize there was a lot of space that had decent cover. I'm not keen on heights. Feels too much like being in the box. But good luck talking Grey into it. I like him but his skull is iron and three inches thick." He gives a half a shrug, helpless. What do you do about people like that?
A nod of Elias' head is given in response to Kai's remarks about there being room enough in the 'sniper's nest'. "Two shooters would do well," he says. "Or someone just up there keeping their eyes on everything, but another shooter up there would be nice." The sword is swung down at a couple of longer weeds growing up from the ground just for the hell of it apparently. There's a look to Kai then and this time he leans over to press a kiss to her cheek in his own playful manner. "You'd better survive," he notes, giving a solemn nod of his head. "If you die, I will kill you." He gives a quick wag of his brows before looking over to Cameron then. "I imagine I'm better at First Aid than fighting," he admits. "But hopefully I can at least pick something up from that Wren guy. I have no idea what I'm going to be doing, though. Probably just helping Morgan and Layla and them."
"Wont say it's easy. Will say it works." Kai notes with a shrug,"But yes. I expect he's going to be dumb and decide to stay on the ground in some macho pride bullshit. Just means I stick someone else up there. Maybe Joaquin. Frankly, I wish people would start listening to what's tactically best.. but y'know.. if I was going to start wishing like that.. I'd put Kane in charge of this shitshow and a whole platoon of dragoons between us and them. I can think of a whole bunch of people I'd happily stick on the front line none of which are actually on the ground.. at least, not in one piece." she does stop by and let Grey know where they're heading, knowing Morgan's doing the same before they all head out,"Oh you mean like your dumb ass? Next time I'm /totally/ shooting you in the leg and leaving you in the dropship."