three, four, the corpse soldier

[breqintopieces]

who: Breq and OPEN
what: Various: Monster dive-bombing, Prijata gifts, Guardwork, and more.
when: June
where: Around the Quarantine.
warnings: M for Monster fighting, probably. Warnings will be added as necessary.



i. TDM prompt: death from above

[By all accounts, it's a normal, bustling day in the Quarantine. Nothing particularly daunting is looming, it's nowhere especially near the walls of the Quarantine, the street is full of pedestrians going about their business.

Maybe it's something about the shadows passing overhead that clues her in. Maybe she just happened to look up at the right time. Maybe the alert from the Perimeter Guard, that the migrating pterodactyl-like birds have been diving in and attempting to attack or carry off people.

Whatever the reason is, the moment one of the creatures gives out a cry and starts to dive, Breq is dashing forward.]

Get down!

[If the hapless person isn't fast enough about that, the tackle that Breq's going for might just do the trick.]

ii. Prijata gifting

[If Breq has talked to your character in any degree of depth since her arrival, there is a good chance she's coming around to see them. To a house, a job, a favored cafe, somewhere convenient and common for them to be found at. It's rude not to present a gift in person, after all.

As she approaches, she takes pains to be sure she's adopted a pleasant smile, and the box in her hands (decorated simply, tied shut with a ribbon) is held neatly in both hands. As soon as she comes into conversational range, she nods in greeting.]

Hello. [She lifts the box slightly.] Sorry to interrupt. Do you have a moment?

iii. Perimeter Guard/Surveyors general

[Now that she's recovered from the injuries that had her in the hospital, Breq has been making herself a regular sight in the Perimeter Guard barracks. She's not living there-- the trip to work may be longer this way but it gives her reasons to know the city-- but from the hours she spends here, the other Perimeter Guards might be forgiven for assuming that she might stay here after all. Whether she's writing up notes from her latest surveying trip, making her way to or from one of the missions, or simply taking the time to train her strength back up, it's easy to find Breq in the barracks.

Right now, she's sitting on a bench in the side of the training areas, her equipment laid out next to her, including a bag and water bottle. She's dressed in preparation for a match in light easy-to-move-in clothing, but although she looks up every so often toward the mats where people are pairing off, it's not the focus of her attention. Rather, her head is bent over the flove in her lap and the thread and needle she's using to deftly patch up a torn seam.]

iv. wildcard

[If there's something else you'd like to do with Breq, from Prijata or just in general, feel free to go for it! Or if you'd like to arrange for me to write up a starter, you can contact me via PM or at needslineface

Comments

[advanced]

Yeah, I've been here a while.

[Over a year now, well over a year, and he's seen these sorts of creatures come and go in the past. He's not sure what draws them in at this time, perhaps it's a migration or mating season or something, but it's dangerous and annoying whatever it is.]

Easier meat than trying to get at one of us.

[breqintopieces]

[Breq gestures acquiescence, after a half-second's pause. She can deal with that, though she resolves to contact the proper authorities when they're done. Any nearby people she turns to with a brief 'Move along, citizen. You don't want to be here when more of those things show up.'

As soon as that's done, she turns back to Bucky, inclining her head politely at him.]

I'm Breq. Thanks for your assistance here.

[advanced]

[There's a moment where he almost offers a fake name. It's still an instinct to be careful, to hide his tracks, but it's pointless now. Too many people in the city know his name and face, and Pierce knows too much for him to hide.]

Bucky. Bucky Barnes.

[He holds out a gloved right hand to offer a shake.]

You're good with that gun.

[breqintopieces]

[Not the first repeat name she's met so far in this place, but she can't say she knows enough about the worlds represented here to say if it's a common one, so the familiar name goes unremarked, for now. At least she's familiar with handshakes for now, and notes the presence of the glove. Unusual, since as far as she'd noted most humans here didn't keep to Radch customs of covering their hands.]

Plenty of practice. And yourself?

[advanced]

Same.

[It would be stupid to deny it, and besides admitting he's had practise isn't giving her his life story.]

You a member of the guard?

[breqintopieces]

[She nods.]

Surveyors.

[Not that she's let it stop her from helping the other branches unofficially as needed. She may have spent the most recent part of her life living a transient existence, but that doesn't erase the years of being a soldier.

She stills at the sound of flapping wings, turning her attention skyward as another of the beasts starts to circle.]

[advanced]

[A surveyor makes him less nervous than an actual member of the guard, but it still puts him slightly on the defensive. There's no warrant for his arrest out in Quarantine, but old habits die hard.

He glances up and frowns to himself, they've spent too long chatting and now there's another one.]

You have access to the weapons the guard use? Think you can run and get something more suitable for this, hunting rifle or a sniper rifle, and I'll hold it off.

[breqintopieces]

And are you authorized for me to hand it to you?

[Not that she's particularly worried. She's already starting to move, because regardless, it's the sensible thing to do here. She doesn't have many Presgr bullets left for this gun, and it's better not to waste them. And whether he's part of the Guard or not, Bucky's proven himself able to handle the situation, and a firearm.]

[advanced]

No.

[Not even close, he exists well outside of the law as far as the permimeter guard are concerned.]

Get one anyway, this isn't the time for authorisation.

[breqintopieces]

[She takes 1.2 seconds to consider the possible ramifications, the possible weight of his training, the potential that this could end badly.

In the end, she nods. She has the Presgr gun, her own gun, with her. She can fight back, if it doesn't end well. And a long range rifle won't give him any advantages if it comes down to a close-up struggle. And then she's off-- it won't take her long to return, rifle in a case that she sets down between them. She doesn't take her hand off of it at first, but looks squarely at him with a face that is set but expressionless. There's the hint of an edge to her voice.]

Don't misuse it.

[advanced]

[That very nearly makes him laugh, a bitter and unamused sort of laugh. If she knew how much he'd misused weapons in his life, how many people that he'd killed, she'd never have given him this.

But he doesn't laugh, he just shoulders the rifle with the fluid ease of someone who's spent so much time shooting things that a gun is just an extension of themselves. This is where he excels, it's what he trained for the most - long range sniping on a moving target.]

I'll bring them down, you finish them off. Deal?

[breqintopieces]

Fine.

[She'll be tracking his aim, more than the creatures, during the rest of their hunt-- Bucky is going to return that rifle to her, one way or another, by the time this is done. That much she's certain of.]

[advanced]

[He's as good as he said he was, decades of training paying off.

He shoots each creature in the wing, making it so it's crippled and has to land, giving an easy target for Breq to finish them off. He works methodically, expressionless, not seeming to notice the screams of the creatures as he fires and moves onto the next one.]