Forum Thread

"Okay." Sylvie said, but first she got her knife from where she'd stuck it into the ground. She also cleaned the knife, she definitely didn't want to have the blade corrode on her in such a situation. "Wake me up for the second." She added, after cleaning the knife and sheathing it. She settled down near the center of the clearing, curled around her backpack.

---

"Okay." Cutter nodded. He checked his pistol was by his hip and then sat down. He looked over his shoulder at Jack. He still wasn't entirely sure if he trusted him. The woman had seemed harmless enough... right up until he had told her to throw the knife. He had drawn up conclusions on both of them based on what he'd seen. He wondered if they'd done the same.
He turned his head so it was facing the trees directly in front of him and started thinking about the mutant that had killed the last few soldiers that had managed to survive. Atriox. He still wasn't sure how he'd managed to get out of there alive. Atriox had taken the half clip Cutter had fired into his soldier as a personal offense. For all that Cutter knew, he was still out there... and still wanted him dead.

---

It was hard to find sleep at first. Sylvie had been alone in the wastelands that was left of Earth alone for long. She had never been comfortable even with her friends before everything happened five years ago, and those long, five years had taught her that friends were hard to come by. And eventually they all just died and left her alone again. Sylvie creaked her eyes open for a moment, before closing them again. She tried every relaxation technique she could think of, and soon enough sleep had lured her into its embrace.

---

Cutter looked up at the sky. The moon was nearing the end of it's ascent. He put the time at around eleven. He'd wake Sylvie up in a few hours. He closed his eyes and listened to the others breathing behind him. It was a comforting sound. After years, he'd found people who were watching his back and not deciding where to insert the knives. He opened his eyes again. He reminded himself not to get too close. Everyone around him was dead. It was just that nobody knew it yet. There was no way the world was going to heal itself this time, at least not quickly enough to change the course humanity had set itself on. Perhaps it was for the best, kinda like giving the Earth a factory reset, minus the humans. He thought over this, gazing into the distance.

---

(More background!)

Sylvie wished her dreams would leave her alone, but that was probably too much too ask.

"Sylvie, where are you?" Charity asked from below. Charity was one of Sylvie's more disliked friends.
"Upstairs!" Sylvie replied, still fixated on her watercolor paintings. Sylvie found out she wasn't half bad at watercolor a few years ago, and it was her only hobby besides cheerleading. Actually she basically sucked at it compared to the more artsy students of her school, but it wasn't like her parents knew of her hobby.
"What are you doing? Don't tell me you're still messing with those paints." Charity asked, barging into Sylvie's room.
"Gee Charity, I'm not messing around with them. I'm painting. Get that to your head, maybe if you get that through your thick skull you'll actually pass languages."
"As if you're any good at it!"
"At least I pass. Anyways, one of us has to finish these posters." Sylvie muttered.
"Just practice cheer leading, Sylvie! It's not like you want to become an artist when you're grown!"
"I don't want to become a cheerleader, either." Sylvie pointed out. Charity groaned.
"Are you kidding me? Sylvie, you're this school's best cheerleader, captain of the school cheerleader team! You should be grateful that you're so good! Do you have any idea how lucky you are?" Charity began to rant. Sylvie ignored the girl and continued painting. Whose life was it anyways, Charity had to right to tell Sylvie what to do in life, it was wholly Sylvie's decision.

---

(YAY!!!)

Cutter, though emotionless on the outside, wished he had something to pass the time. A book would've been nice. Damn, he'd even settle for an military field manual. For what must've been for the tenth time, he checked that his clip was fully loaded and that he had several extras nearby. With that out of the way, he picked up what was left of the chocolate bar and broke off a piece. He sighed. As far as food went, they had enough. His major concern was water. And that meant that they'd have to venture into the cities soon enough. And after that? Cutter didn't like to think about that. Thinking beyond their very next action was just asking for trouble.

(New Character: )

---

(Atriox looks so CUTE![What is wrong with me...])
(Timeskip soon? Night's kinda boring... But that's your call.)

"Have you watched Frozen yet?" Charity asked, looking around Sylvie's room.
"Why would I? I'll just wait till' it comes on Netflix or something, I'd rather not pay for expensive tickets to the movies... Plus, the exams and also the games are coming up soon, I should focus on that first."
"Jeez, I forget how adult-ty you are sometimes..." Charity groaned. "Look, nevermind the exams! I know you, Sylvie! You'll pass without breaking a sweat, unlike the rest of us."
"I need to do more than just pass, Charity. I need to get good grades." Sylvie justified. "And I can't do that if I'm constantly going out with you guys."
"Okay, okay." Charity backed down, defeated by Sylvie's use of logic. Sylvie couldn't help but feel a seed of pride somewhere in her heart. She had never stood up to her friends like that before. She had always been a spineless pushover in her past, and that affected her grades. Now though she was going to do everything correctly. She would study, and she would get amazing grades. She would pass with flying colors. She had to, her parents have supported her buying a more expensive watercolor set and they were planning on getting her a few of her own knives for her birthday.
It was the least she could do.

---

(Y'know, I agree.)

Next Morning.

Atriox woke up. The first thing he was aware of was the ache in his shoulder. It had been four years since thbe encounter with the human, but it had never quite healed. He looked around. Solium, his nephew, was fast asleep. Polous, a fine specimen of all that his race respected, was still awake, on lookout. Unfortunately, all his race respected was muscle. "Solium." Atriox grunted. "Uncle?" he was awake immediately. Atriox had taught him discipline from a very young age. "What's wrong?" he asked. "Nothing." Atriox said. "It is merely time to get up. Or are such things below you?"
"Sorry, Uncle."
Atriox grunted. The young were supposed to be up earlier, were they not? "Polous. What news from the watch?"
"Humans."
"Where?" Atriox asked immediately.
Polous pointed towards the rising sun. Atriox stood up. "Well, Polous. I have denied you your hunt for far too long. Let us move."

---

Cutter looked around. Everything seemed calm. "Everybody still alive?" he asked, looking around.

---

(Eh, did he quit?)
"Surprisingly, yes. Just a bit irritated someone didn't wake me up for a watch. The mutant - I mean, Jack is over there." Sylvie pointed at the mutant's sleeping form. She really was surprised that they were still alive, but out of respect for Cutter she didn't voice her rather venomous opinions of Jack.

---

(He hasn't notified me if he has...)

"Yeah, sorry about not waking you up. I was fine with staying up. Anyway, we need to move soon. The nearest city is in that direction." Cutter stated, pointing North. "And we need water. So that's where we're going. Let's take an hour to get ready. And, Sylvie, I'm gonna teach you how to handle a gun properly." He said casually. "Honestly, how did you survive five years with a bad aim?" The question was rhetorical, but, from what he'd learnt about the woman so far, he was probably going to get an answer. He looked over at Jack and decided not to disturb him for now.

---

Atriox ran as fast as he could, well over eighty kilometers an hour in short bursts. He knew he would tire long before he reached his prey, but he wanted to close the distance as quickly as possible. From what Polous had said, the humans were currently idle and Atriox had learnt to trust Polous' nose. Solium was having some trouble keeping up but, like a true Jiralhanae, he didn't complain once.

---

Sylvie tilted her head, a mischievous smirk crossing her face. "Is that a rhetorical question I hear?" She replied, as she put on her backpack and strapped her knife to her waist, it had previously been in her backpack to avoid the dirt. "For the record though, I did it by avoiding mutants and cities at all costs. I usually take my water from the leftovers of water sources, purify it with a low-smoke fire if I absolutely have to."

---

(Yep, he's left. Real life caught up with the poor guy.)

Cutter rolled his eyes. "Of course you did." he muttered. He needed something to act as a target. He looked around.There was nothing in the immediate area that shouted 'bulls-eye' at him. He decided to improvise and threw her his pistol. "I want you to hit that." he said, pointing at a rock, the size of a football, some fifteen meters away. He had to gauge just how bad she was with a firearm.

---

Sylvie cursed as she caught the pistol. She tried her best to get the shot, even going so far as to spend a whole half minute aiming. The rock was pretty big, and fifteen meters was a distance she could stick her knife at. But the bullet? The shot pretty much went wide and hit a tree instead. Then again, Sylvie thought, I always fail carnival games for this reason.

---

Cutter winced as the shot rang out and absolutely shuddered when he saw the tree splinter. He sighed. "I'll talk you through the basics." he said. Then, he took a deep breath and started.
"Aim with your dominant eye. That usually lines up with your dominant hand. Aiming with both eyes is damn near impossible." he paused. "See these?" he asked, pointing at three studs on top of the pistol. One was near the muzzle, neatly bisecting the gun and the other two were much closer back, towards the trigger. They ones towards the back were parallel to each other and split the top into three equal lengths. "Aim through the back two. When you look through them, the one in front should be in the middle. Exactly in the middle, mind you. Now you'll have what should look like a 'W' with a flat bottom. Make sure you keep this 'W' configuration. Now, aim through the center stud at the middle of the target. Always concentrate on the front firing stud. It's okay if the target goes a bit blurry. Then fire. Hold your breath while finalizing the aim, release it as you're firing. Never put your finger on the trigger before you've finalized your aim. If it's a stationary target or a target at some distance, take all the time you need. That's about it." he said. "Got that?" Cutter asked. "Good. Now, take another shot."

---

Atriox heard a shot ring out in the distance. Polous and Solium hit the dirt. "It's not aimed at us, you fools!" he barked and stopped to look at them. "They're still quite far away." Solium said, getting up and brushing his fur off. "We'll be upon them soon enough. Have I not taught you patience?" Atriox growled. "Forgive me, Uncle." Sollium bowed his head. Polous got up and grunted at Solium. All three were from the same clan. And, as it stood, Atriox was the chief. But his brother had gone and done a very foolish thing- he'd died. Solium would be the chief after Atriox, and he had been training him from a very early age.

---

Username: Kioiki_Uchiha
Character Name: Astros Aununa
Age of Character: 15
Mutant/Human?: She's a hybrid of wolf and human
Appearance:
Equipment: Sword
History: she was abondened by her parents for her mysterious power when she wad of 5 years and is living alone since then along a wolf which she namde Canial ( canial )
Password: Wasteland
Other: she is hard to understand and will hardly talk to anyone but she is close to animals.

---

Sylvie nodded, easily digesting the new information. She tried to do what Cutter had told her (no mistaking that tone!) in a timely manner, but every single time Sylvie adjusted her aim to try and get the front stud properly aligned with the other two studs and the rock, she failed. Miserably so. The formation would collapse every single time she moved, either that or the gun would end up off aim. Sylvie couldn't help the growl that escaped her throat, she was already using her dominant right hand, which was the hand she used to write. Though, she always used her left hand for knifework... maybe that was why her shots were always so bad? No matter, she'd still try with her right hand, since she was pretty sure was her dominant hand. Once she got the studs somewhat correct, she placed her hand on the trigger and held her breath as instructed, releasing it as she pressed the trigger.

The shot missed the rock, landing perhaps half a meter from it and dislocating quite a bit of the soil.

---

(Accepted. Feel free to jump in.)

Cutter nodded. She was making progress. "Good. That's enough... for now. Let's get moving." he turned around and frowned. "Quickly." he added. A small dust cloud had appeared on the horizon. He held his hand out to Sylvie, reaching for his weapon. A howl rose from the direction of the dust.

---

Atriox winced. Polous had let out a long howl. He could see his prey now. A man and a woman. Perfect. Food. It had been long enough, and it was time to break their fast. Solium kept pace, adrenaline pumping through his blood. Jiralhanae lived for the hunt.

---

Kioiki is walking around in search of a prey with Canial beside her .
Kioiki : hope we don't need to eat those rodents again .
Canial nods as if agreeing to Kioiki.

---

Sylvie nodded mutely as she handed the gun back to Cutter, also noticing the small dust cloud on the horizon. Moments later a long, piercing howl rose from the direction of the dust cloud. Clearly, whatever mutants making that cloud had sensed them. This can't be good... Sylvie thought. "I'm following." Sylvie offered, knowing she was perfectly capable of keeping pace with the Marine - years of living in the wild, and her rigorous cheerleader training, had made sure of that. Her pack was already strapped to her back, so that wasn't a problem either.

---

Suddenly canial sees something which looked like a small deer and starts running after it and Kioiki starts following Canual.
Kioiki : * at last something good *

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