you're in the jungle, baby / you gonna die

[lucetimods]

Who: All draftees
What: Fighting the Third Party... and perhaps the wildlife.
When: June 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th. (Characters will be pulled out at 11:59 of the 6th.)
Where: An as-yet unmapped by the Malnosso tropical rainforest.
Summary: Here are your details. Try to stay alive, won't you?
Rating: Anywhere from PG to R.

No cut for you. Most of you will know how this works by now; if you don't, follow the lead of the others, or perhaps look to the last draft's fighting post for ideas. Don't forget to use your handy dandy character tags. Go forth and conquer thine enemies!

Comments

[herotypical]

She stroked the inside of his forearm with her thumb. Ignoring what she thought might be stiff blood. Day one and already she wanted little more than a hot, long bubble bath. Buffy listened to his verdict upon the stars with a kind of appreciation; she often forgot that the pirate did, in fact, know so much. A different kind of knowing than how Giles knew or Willow knew or Dawn was getting to know. If Jack knew about equatorial zones and that the stars would be different, she decided he must know it because of his worldliness. The traveling and the pirating and the experiencing so very much. Not from books. Hard learned lessons. She could respect that.

"I've been in that village for too long. It keeps slipping my mind that there's a whole rest of a planet attached to Luceti."

[all7seas]

A whole world to explore, and they only got it in bits and pieces. Fractions. Jack tried to picture the barrier exploding and everyone he knew scattering to the four winds. Perhaps there would be people they would never see again, and others they'd be glad not to see. He imagined he would wander, rather than taking up residence. Take the boat and go, perhaps to seek out bigger and better boats to hijack. But there would be people he'd want to take with him, whom he was certain likely--at least in the cases of a few---would not want to come.

For some reason Robin Whitby sprang to mind, and fractured realities, and Jack grumbled something unintelligible as he curled an arm around her protectively. Whether that protection was for her or himself, he could not say.

"Aye---there's a horizon out there, somewhere..."

[herotypical]

"...And cities. The first field was an empty one -- I didn't go, though." Others had. And Albert had documented it as he always did. "Which makes me wonder if there are cars and malls and theme parks. Not that I want to see them. Not for fun. Not after...well, the infiltration."

It had been a very odd experience, that infiltration. Very odd indeed.

[all7seas]

The sleepy pirate pushed one hand off the tree behind him, sending them swinging before he embraced her again.

"Before my time, that infiltration."

It might have been an invitation to tell him more; but Jack was tired. He'd try to stay awake enough to see the tale through.

[herotypical]

She made a soft sound of disagreement. "The one I went on -- disguises and everything. Not the time they broke into the barrier.

In that Malnosso facility, they had televisions. And the Luceti Project was, like, headline news."

[all7seas]

The one he'd been left behind on. That was back when things had been decidedly bad between them. He lifted one of her hands to his lips. Listening.

[herotypical]

"We're a cause, Jack. It's not the kind of black and white world out there that people are expecting." Buffy felt a lot of qualms over how people seemed to mistake the nature of the Malnosso. Too often, they took them for far more potent than they really seemed to be. That was a problem. It gave the enemy too much power. "Not everyone out there agrees with what they're doing to us and not all of dissension is Third Party style fanaticism."

She spoke quietly. Perhaps it was more about working through her own thoughts on the problem. After all, she hadn't had ample opportunity to do so aloud. Either way, she would be fine with talking him straight to sleep.

[all7seas]

"So we've good-hearted champions out there, is what you're saying?"

His own exhaustion, the hypnotic sway of the hammock, the potent scents of flowers and humid air, and the not-unwelcome-in-spite-of-it all warmth and sweat of the girl lying so close to him were starting to send the pirate off, in spite of his interest in this tale. Things had ended so badly between them after that draft. She'd stumbled upon him in the forest and he'd given her food and they had argued and he'd told her to get out. It surprised him that now of all times he should get the whole story.

[herotypical]

"Hmm. Maybe. Or maybe some not-so-good-hearted champions. There's a definite profit-making edge to the whole thing. Somehow. After all, they've got accountants.

And wars are expensive -- this one extra so, I guess." She fell silent to swing with him for a few moments. "They've found a way to manufacture Shifts. I guess they're normally a natural thing in this world and they've built machines to do it for them. I think..."

This sort of element was not her own. There was another tidbit far more interesting from the whole fracas but -- but she was always wary of bringing the General up with anyone. Jack, especially.

[all7seas]

It was difficult to escape reminders of the General, especially with his locket hanging around Jack's neck. He idly began to play with her hair, winding it around his fingers.

"Profit-making through war? Smacks of Beckettism."

[herotypical]

"More like the war's eating up the profit margins. Which...happens. Windows get broken. Designer lamps get smashed."

She shifted her cheek against his shoulder.

[all7seas]

"Mmhmm." The pirate's breathing was beginning to slow as he drifted off. This would probably be the last rest he would have before being sent home.

[herotypical]

And she kept talking. Describing the motivations behind her disguise choice -- a scientist's white lab coat, glasses. And describing the last time she used the disguise to get into the Initiative. Just...words, really. A lot of them. The cleaned up, no-horror versions of things. And somehow she ended up on the subject of college and classes via Maggie Walsh the Initiative leader and psych prof.

"And that's why I think Rasputin's a vampire. Or some kind of demon, at least." Jack was probably asleep, now. That was good. She would stay with him and listen for the warning signs.