Does Your Monkey Bite? +Aerys & Dutch?+ +Open!+

[Çħĭγȁ]

Obligatory Pink Panther ref. I had to XD

Of all the things to be dangerous in a forest like this... Adriane sighed and pulled her tail out of a thorny bush-like shrub that was climbing up a tree as she watched. The extra appendage was new, and she still was not quite used to it yet. The enhanced eyesight, quicker reflexes, and propensity to hiss had been interesting enough. But the tail, Adriane wasn't so sure about. It seemed to have a mind of its own.

This was not Adriane's first journey into the wilds of Pandora, but it was the smallest group she'd ever ventured in: just her, the requisite guard, and another scientist - Chris Bristow. She'd spoken to him a couple of times and found him vaguely interesting. He was kind of cute, but from what she'd heard he was unavailable.

Dammit, Ari, this is important! You're trillions of miles away from earth on a planet that you're not made to be on, and thinking about boys!

She shook her head and forged a little ahead of the botanist. In a moment, the forest had closed around her. She could almost pretend she was alone.

Above her, something shrieked. It was a decidedly unfriendly sound, and not Na'vi, either. It wasn't the laughing noise of the viperwolves, or a Thanator's hiss, but still, it raised the hair on the back of her neck and sent her tail flicking between her legs. She took a step back, looking into the branches, and tripped over her own tail.

Up above, something moved. It was huge and bulky and unfamiliar. Adriane scrambled onto her hands and knees, trying to see what the thing above her was.

"Uh, Chris? I think you'd better come and have a look at this..."

Words 308
Comments Three guesses as to what's going to happen if Ari stays under that branch...

[• Aerys •]

Chris wasn't particular sure he'd ever get used to his avatar body. No matter the extra training he participated in late in the evening, the obstacles courses and games and whatever else that had been set up for the humans residing in the compound, he couldn't seem to adapt to the change in height, weight and the addition of a tail. It was a nuisance and had often been the culprit for his numerous face-plants into the dirt (And he had half a mind to tell Malandra that maybe the avatars be better without them, in spite of the decreasing sense of "authenticity"). Even as he picked his way through the Na'ring jungle in Ari's wake he had to make sure he didn't step on it or kick it.

The boy heard the noise and lifted his gaze skywards, ears pricking forward. Shadows blotted out the hot rays of sunlight that filtered through the canopy, and for a moment, Chris had a relapse in memory. Golden eyes widening, he sprang forward through the underbrush and snatch at the girl's pack, scrambling to drag her backwards just as an unfortunately large deposit of Prolemuris dung fell from above...and right where Ariane had been not but two seconds ago.

"You have to be careful," he murmured as he helped her to her feet. "I've had my own run in with the lemurs. And their excrement." He added the latter with a faint grimace, his broad nose wrinkling in disgust. Somewhere in the trees over their heads he could hear the distinct chittering of the Prolemuris, and a brief glance upwards provided him with the sight of a few of the strange monkey-like creatures peering down at them. "It wasn't particularly pleasant."

He took out a small digital recorder from the bag slung across his shoulder and snapped it open, blue thumb brushing across the record button as he tilted it up towards the foreign animals. They lingered and preened themselves with all of the dignity of a jungle cat.

"They're strange things," he continued at length, gaze focused on the small viewing screen of the camera. Chris let the video record for a few moments longer before he shut it down and took a few tentative steps further into the forest. "I prefer plants. Plants don't go around shitting and pissing on you, and for the most part, they don't bite."

---

OOC: Here's hoping I picked at least one of the doors. Not entirely what it is with me and Prolemuris and scat and pee o.O

[Çħĭγȁ]

Well actually in my mind it was something carnivorous that they hadn't seen before, but nine-year-old humor is so much more fun^^

"Oh really? What's this then?" Adriane showed him the series of purple welts on her tail. They were starting to itch in a vaguely foreboding way. "Thanks, by the way." She pulled a leaf out of her hair and grinned. "You saved some of my dignity, if not my life."

Adriane set her pack down and moved to the base of the tree. The prolemuris chattered and skittered away a few feet, but did not flee.
"Hello there, my pretties," she said. "Don't worry, I won't hurt you." A short jump had her on the lowest branch, a few meters away - and out of their line of fire.
This wasn't a tagged troop, and while tracking every animal in the forest wasn't practical or necessary, they didn't really have much intel on the less aggressive animals of the forest.
Go figure, Adriane thought, that we know what a Thanator's bones are made of but can't figure out social systems of animals that are most likely closer related to us than the Na'vi are.

"I'd say you could go on without me," Adriane called down to Chris, "but after this most recent incident you better stay to keep this damsel out of any more distress."

She moved up again. The lemurs chittered and backed away -- and then, with screams of panic, bolted.
"Crap." Adriane sighed and put away the little device she'd been holding - similar to a dart gun, but instead of tranquilizer it shot irradiated disks that would embed in the skin with all the pain of a mosquito bite - and allow the animal in target to then be tracked. "Guess I scared them away." She paused. The forest was quiet. "Knowing my luck, though, it was probably a flock of deranged leonopteryx come down to eat anything that moves."
She leaned over the branch.

"How's it going down there, Mr. Bristow? What have I done this time?"


Words 344
Comments saw Avatar again last night!

[Dutch]

{OoC: Ok, sorry this took forever but hopefully I'm back in the swing of things with this post.}

An audible sigh would sound from Dutch as he squatted atop a large boulder which a tree had grown around. His boots dug into the muddy blue moss that covered it, and his tail swung slowly to keep balanced. All this sciency crap is making me hungry... Thought the slightly ornery guard. He shifted on the rock to sit on it and placed is rifle to his right next to his thigh. Dutch watched Chris and Adriane go about their monkey business with a chuckle at his own unintentional pun.

"Heh... monkey business..."

Dutch mumbled with a stupid grin. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a protein bar from it. A grimace touched his face at the thought of the chalky, fake chocolateness of the bar, but he was hungry, and who was he to fight nature? The wrapper slightly crinkled among the other noises made by the jungle. His ears perked as a noise caught his attention, but when nothing came of it, he shrugged and took a nibble off the bar.

The protein bar was gritty and unpleasant, and probably didn't taste much different from the crap that almost fell on Adriane. Shit bars- now with extra nuts! I should be a spokesperson or something... He thought with a chuckle as he chewed. One of the prolemuris chattered and hung down from a branch near Dutch, large curious eyes met with Dutch's wary ones. One of those bastards made off with one of his boots once, Dutch didn't trust blue-monkeys.

He had a thought though, a peace contract of sorts, well, maybe not peace... Dutch took another bite of the bar before he held it out towards the prolemuris. The two creatures looked at each other for a moment before the blue-monkey snatched the protein bar from Dutch and leaped off into the jungle.

"Hope you enjoy the shits those things give y'four armed bitch!"

Hollered Dutch at the fleeing prolemuris. He snickered at himself and adjusted the harness that sat on his bare torso. His butt was tired of the rock, and he was curious what was going on. Dutch grabbed his rifle and somewhat gracefully slid off the boulder onto the ground with a thud. He jogged up to Chris and looked up to where Adriane was perched. Dutch waved up at her and laughed at the tiny tag-gun.

"Y'know, you'd prolly do more damage throwin' your boot at it!"

[Çħĭγȁ]

Adriane sighed with relief when she realized that what scared the lemurs had just been their guard and not something dangerous.
Of course, she mused, "not dangerous" were not the precise words to describe Earledutch. Perhaps "unintentionally catastrophic" might be better...
But then, he was a guard. It wasn't his duty to be grammatical, only protective.

"That's your job, Mr. Samson," she called down, before turning to scurry back across the trunk to ground level. "Isn't that what they pay you for? Or is it just to feed the natives whatever you happen to have in your pack?"
She grinned at him. Initially she'd thought that it would be hard to get along with the less science-y types, but Earledutch was pretty nice, and he could have a sense of humor, too. Occasionally.
She pushed through the undergrowth to where her own bag was laying, put away the tagger, and slung the pack onto her shoulder.

"Seeing as you successfully scared off my friends, I have nothing more to do here and therefore it is up to our dear friend Mr. Bristow as to where we go now."

She turned, expecting to see the botanist leaning on a tree looking bored or something, but he wasn't within her immediate line of sight. Of course, in the Na'ring jungle this was about ten feet, so Adriane wasn't too worried. But they couldn't sit around here all day, and they had another couple of hours before they were required to return to the lab.
She moved forward, gesturing to Earledutch as she did so.

"He was just here..."

Words 277
Comments Is that OK, Aerys, or am I being godplay-y? I can change it if you want but honestly my muse is pretty low right now...

[• Aerys •]

Chris couldn't help the frown that curled the corners of his mouth as his gaze followed Adriane up the tree. It knotted his stomach just thinking about being anywhere but on his own two feet on the ground, his tail flicking with uncertainty. As it was, he gave Ari a brief wave to reassure her that everything was fine, even though he was relatively certain that that was supposed to be Dutch's job. After all, he was here to protect them, not sit around and munch on shitty protein bars.

He sighed and moved away from the trunk, eyes following the progression of fleeing lemurs idly. In spite of his eagerness to be out in Pandora's wilderness, his heart was not in this animal research. On more than one occasion he had been presented with the ideal opportunity to study the exotic flora on the moon. But...each of those times he had never had the proper tools, nor had it been a formal assignment given to him. No matter his desire, Chris was lucky to be here, and he had little intention of breaking the instructions given to him.

Except...as he looked over the sea of foreign plants, his curiosity seemed to take control of his subconscious. Before he realized what he was doing, his footsteps were carrying him away from the other two, bronze eyes widening as he caught sight of a massive trunk of octoshroom several paces away. It was just as wide as it was tall, the crown of the lavender-colored plant tilted into the soft light. Chris remembered his reading about these fungi clearly; they were rumored to be poisonous if consumed in large quantities, but acted as an antidote for venomous stings for the Na'vi. Beautiful but deadly, like so much of the life on the moon.

So engulfed in his fascination with the plan, Chris almost didn't hear the distinct rumble building somewhere behind the octoshrooms. His ears swiveled forward, brows knitting, and, tentatively, the avatar took a few steps towards the noise. While he still couldn't see anything, there was an odd sense of foreboding about such an ominous noise, and something that was enough to make the young botanist take several steps backwards and stumble back to his companions.

"Dutch? Adriane? Er, do you guys hear that?"

---

OOC: Chiya - Nah, I don't mind people moving my characters around if it keeps plot going. ;D

[Dutch]

Dutch's eyebrows slid up and an impressed expression took place, she did have a good point, he did have the over-compensating weapon after all. Say 'ello to my little friend... He thought with a chuckle. He grinned at Adriane's words and gave a little shrug, Dutch had gotten used to the condescending tone every egg-head on Pandora seemed to possess.

"Well, not only those two- they pay me to look pretty while playing John McClane in the jungle and feeding the natives crappy food. I figured you'd know this by now Miss Adriane."

He responded with a laugh. Dutch watched as she grabbed her pack and looked around for Chris. His ears swiveled about (a very odd feeling Dutch might add) until the acute sound of a human breathing was barely detected. If there was one thing that was truly deadly, it was a trained person in an avatar body. It would make sense that none of the scientists would have picked up the sound of a human so easily, but the guards were trained rigorously in their bodies, more so than the scientists.

"He's over here Ari, follow me."

Dutch motioned for her to follow and shouldered his rifle. He walked towards where he had heard Chris and sung a little tune to himself under his breath. In the jungle... the mighty jungle... the Na'vi sleep toniiiight. As they got close his ears perked forward as a soft thudding sound began to spring up. Just after that started he heard the worried tone of Chris. Dutch lengthened his stride to a jog and ran up to Chris, stopped just behind him.

"Yeah, I do. Let's get out of here. Now."

He said, is voice a rare harsh tone. Dutch could joke and shoot shit with the best of them, but when crunch time went down, he was all business. His right hand motioned for Chris and Adriane to get behind him as the thunder only got louder. Please don't be a thanator please don't be a thanator please don't be a thanator... But he realized that if it had been one, he would probably be lunch already. With his rifle pressed against his shoulder and aimed towards where the sound was coming, Dutch gave a defiant gaze.

"Yippee-ki-yay..."

[Çħĭγȁ]

Adriane stalked up behind Dutch, tail straight out and bristling at the end. Her human nerves were jangling, but the Na'vi in her didn't seem frightened... perhaps, she thought, she should listen to it? But her heart was pounding and anyways facing an onslaught of galloping beasts was best done with at least the readiness to jump away if necessary.

Ari moved forwards again, putting her hand lightly on Earledutch's shoulder.
"Remember, Mr. Samson, shooting a Titanothere in the face is not the way to make them back off, and sturmbeests don't mean us any harm."

She paused, and then moved to unhook the tranq gun from the back of her belt. Basically a larger version of the tagger, it was shaped like a pistol and delivered an anesthetic so powerful it could knock out all but the largest of Pandora's creatures. "Then again, if they do intend to trample us, I'd at least rather have a means of defense."

Ari stood with the gun at her side, head tilted slightly, her Na'vi ears listening to what sounded like hoofbeats. Herbivores, then, not that that made them any less dangerous. But at least they weren't going to end up as lunch.
But, Adriane found herself suddenly thinking, if they're coming towards us at a gallop, how come they haven't gotten here already?
"Perhaps they're going to pass us by," she said. "Give me that."
On these words she snatched the automatic weapon from Dutch and shoved the tranquilizer gun into his hands instead, dropped everything, and turned to shimmy back up the nearest tree.
This, of course, only gave her a slightly larger vantage point... but it was enough.
Adriane began to laugh.
"I think it's all right, you guys," she called down. "Doesn't look like we're in much danger, not from these ones."

Words 322
Comments Aerys, since it was your idea I'll let you do the honors... <3

[• Aerys •]

Chris' knowledge of animal behavior was limited to what little schooling he'd had in college, and, of course, the extensive training he had endured prior to coming to Pandora. His specialty rested with plants, and for good reason—plants didn't try to chase you down and eat you, they most certainly never moved, which made studying a hell of a lot easier than chasing a group of pissing lemurs around, and they were blessedly quiet. Still, he really didn't think it took a genius to understand the patterns of animal behavior, migrating movement included.

So, standing there and listening to the stampede of whatever it was that was coming, Chris realized that their pace was anything but a leisurely trot. His amber gaze widened as he took a few more steps back, bumping into Dutch. “Uh, it's not the things in the front I'm worried about,” he said tentatively. The boy finally tore his gaze from the forest ahead to look up to Adriane, stomach lurching even as he continued. “I vote we get up in the tree. Now.”

Shoulder his bag more firmly, Chris clumsily scrambled up the roots and, with shaking hands, took ahold of a low branch and hefted himself up. He could hear the ascending sound of hooves now, the noise nigh drowned out by his own thundering heart as he strove to focus on keeping himself from tumbling out of the tree.

Hand, hand, foot, foot. He let the mantra beat through his skull, but before he could reach the other scientist perched up in the boughs, the herd broke through the small clearing they had been in. The botanist clung desperately to the branches and dared to look down; it was a galloping band of hexapede honking wildly. A brief glance down told him Dutch was right at his tail, and with a hard swallow, Chris willed his limbs to work all the faster.

It was with a gusty sigh of relief that he plopped down on a branch close to Ari's, his legs straddling the smooth bark of the tree. The stampede was beginning to dwindle by now, but he still couldn't make out the end of the frantic procession. “Something's chasing them,” he said loudly as he glanced to the other two avatars. “Let's hope that something can't climb.”

---

OOC: I was thinking either a thanator/thanators/Na'vi or something else carnivorous would be the thing coming after the hexapede. It's up to you guys, as long as it involves some kind of potential danger ;D

[Çħĭγȁ]

Gah, sorry for taking so long to reply, I had a busyyyyyy...

Adriane stared at Chris blankly for a moment. Then,
"Damn it! What kind of a naturalist am I?" She pulled off her pack yet again, and shoved it at Chris, silently cursing herself. "Here, hold this please."

She crouched low and scuttled along the branch, tail whipping behind her for balance. When she made it to the trunk she began to climb again. She'd climbed a lot back home - the walls of the house, and the genetically-engineered trees her father had had growing in the solarium - but this was somehow different. She hadn't been climbing for her life then.

Let's not get ahead of ourselves, she thought. There are plenty of predators here - slingers can't climb, and I don't think Thanators can... but if it's a pack of viperwolves or something, we are so screwed.

Adriane finally reached the very top of the tree. Figuring out which muscles to move to actually make her tail do something took a bit of time, but finally she got it and one of her legs hooked around a sturdy branch, and leaned out.
Something huge and dark was moving among the trees. The herd of hexapede numbered at least several hundred - Adriane had never heard of a herd that big - and she couldn't tell what, or how many, the dark shape was.
But the hexapede were running from it, so odds were it was pretty unfriendly.

Adriane scrambled headfirst back down the trunk to the branch Chris and Dutch still shared. At another time she might've thought the ability to do that was insanely cool, but right now she was just worried.
"I think you'd better get higher, guys. Something big is coming and I can't tell what."

Words 306
Comments Can I discover a new predator? Ooh, please, can I? *big anime eyes*

[• Aerys •]

It was difficult even watching Adriane as she ascended the tree, his stomach giving a sickening lurch at the thought of getting any higher off the ground. He clung to his branch and watched the hexapede thunder on below, torn between getting out his digital recorder and trying to keep himself from toppling out of the tree and getting trampled. In the end Chris deduced that there would be plenty of opportunities to capture the flight patterns of the deer if he didn't die. No competition.

“Uh,” he groaned. “I'll stay here, if that's okay with you. I don't like trees very much.” Besides, if it was indeed a thanator or something else menacing that was chasing the hexapede, they'd be bent on catching their prey. Not looking up to see Na'vi-like things hanging out in a tree. “If you just keep still it won't see us.”

Whatever it was. Chris tightened his arms around the tree and drew his legs up, doing his best to stick as close to the smooth bark as possible. The ground seemed to quake with the intensity of the stampede, the thick fern-like leaves around them vibrating. Judging by the speed of the animals and the direction of their exodus, they were not being followed by a pack of predators. Thanator, if he remembered correctly, were solitary hunting creatures, and viperwolves scavengers. He'd heard of slingers, but had been fortunate to never cross paths with one...

A high pitched screeching made him flinch and duck down, the markings visible on his body shimmering with fear. “Shit, maybe being up in a tree wasn't such a good idea.” He glanced up to Adriane a few branches above him. “Ari, come down. I don't think you should be up there.”

Another screech tore through the roar of hooves, a little closer this time. “Come on!”

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OOC: Check your PMs =P