[Flooberoid]

((Sure thing, Malus. Personally I don't mind waiting as long as we need to, though.))

Manmade? This place certainly was well hidden and well protected... Maybe it was carved out by pre-dust man? Maybe this was the one safe haven for the ancestors of all mankind?? "...I dunno..." was all Cara could say.

Though she wanted to be helpful, Cara really didn't know much about survival and hadn't particularly planned around their camping venture. She certainly didn't trust herself with something important, like the food or the fire. "Hey, uh, I can't help much with setting up camp, but... I'll keep watch? And I'll take last pick for night watch shift. Is that alright?" That was one thing she could do: No Grimm would get into camp unnoticed while she was on guard.

[nathan67003]

"Alright!, Helena said cheerily. She took a large, empty metal... Container? Pot? From Eamon before striding off to the North, North-East, where she remembered the presence of a small river. It'd probably take a while, though.

Which didn't stop her from smiling. At all.

[Vwyx]

"Sure, sounds like a plan!" Eamon said, easily agreeing with his team leader. He rummaged around in his pack, securing small items that he'd need to set up the tents and other camping necessities. As he hammered down the pegs, he waved Helena off on her journey to find water, already planning out the temporary base's layout.

"Tent here, firepit there, lavatory hole off to the side..." He muttered to himself as he constructed what his team would use as lodgings.

[Flooberoid]

With confirmation from campmaster Eamon, Cara took off to ensure the security of the area. She had planned to investigate an arbitrary radius around the campsite (that is, as far as she intuitively felt was adequate) to determine which directions they were most likely to be attacked from. This was to be quite the task, and it wouldn't be until after camp was completely set up that she would return with a report.

The forest side of camp was quiet, Cara's footsteps upon the twigs and leaves of the ground being the most action that area would see. Whether to escape the eerie silence, the shadowy canopy, or the endless unknown corners about all the trees, Cara chose not to explore too deep into this region. Instead she assured herself that the forest itself naturally hid their camp from hostile presence. Any wildlife that could pose a threat at this time of night would likely be headed away from the rocky region anyway, toward water, nests, burrows, or whatever else in the forest.

Upon the rocky side, Cara stopped and took a moment to gaze into the sky. She rarely left the city limits at night, and was always awestruck by the stars whenever she did. She sat there much longer than she had meant to, viewing the dazzling points of light, counting them, seeing both named constellations and patterns of her own... By the time she became tired of this, Cara realized she had been stargazing for nearly 45 minutes! Hastily resuming her search, she tried in vain to make out her surroundings. Oh, how I wish I were a faunus right now... she thought to herself.

Regardless of time, Cara felt obligated to complete her survey. She knew which way camp was, and as her eyes adjusted she started to make out some faint rock formations in the distance. One in particular was an open cave mouth, not more than 200 meters from their camp, which Cara decided to investigate in more detail. Much to her dismay, the inside of this cave was so utterly pitch black that no matter how close she came, she couldn't make out a single thing. You are NOT likely to be eaten by a Grue... she chanted in her mind while nervously approaching the opening. Step after step became slower and slower as the darkness became palpable and started weighing on her body. Finally, she caught a glimpse of something. Something... white? She squinted. It was long and white, and as she traced what she could see a curve started to form. It wasn't long before she put the pieces together, and seeing the head confirmed it. Just as she realized what she was looking at, Cara started to feel eyes focusing in behind her. Slowly and carefully, she turned around and was relieved to find nothing. She sighed with relief, and snapped her mouth shut upon hearing the sound. Peering back at the snake, which thankfully hadn't moved an inch, Cara realized this could not go unreported.

But first she had to get the hell out of there. Quickly and quietly.


Cara finally made it back to camp, trying to keep her cool. Regardless, what she had found was written all over her face. Without a word, she sat down upon one of the seat-like structures in the rear and waited for someone to ask what had happened.

[Vwyx]

Seeing Cara back from her scouting trip, Eamon went to get her. By this point, the camp was mostly set up, and so he was eager to see what she had seen in the surrounding area.

"Hey, Cara, what's u- oh, hell, what happened?" he asked. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

[Flooberoid]

((Sorry for the delay, I was vomiting up internal organs))

"A snake, Eamon. I saw a snake." Cara scanned the treeline for signs of the others, her face going pale. "If you know where Shiro and Helena went, now's the time to bring them back. We're safe here at camp, but out there..." She didn't feel the need to finish that thought. The point was across.

[nathan67003]

(I actually missed that post, somehow. My bad.)

Helena had just started coming back after picking up water. Sure, she'd found a sufficiently large stream to fill the container with, but holy *dam* was it far.

[Zerco]

Shiro wandered the forest, hunting for animals and looking out for anything edible. She stumbled on a pond which happened to be a nesting area for geese. She managed to shoot a goose down from a distance before they saw her, she also gathered a couple eggs from the nests. Jackpot! She thought as she happily grabbed the goose by its legs.

 It took her quite some time to find the pond and by the time she was considering to head back it was getting darker and darker already. She fastened her pace and started moving towards the place where her team set up the camp. She was also hoping that the gunshot didn't alarm any Grimm that might be lurking nearby.


[hc]

(Sorry for the late post. >.<)

[Flooberoid]

((OOC: Ha ha, you're fine, Malus. ^^ Does seem that our post order got rather out of whack, though. I'll post now, then Vwyx, then Nathan and finally Malus, and we'll carry on like that from here on out. That work for everyone?))

Hearing the gunshot, Cara immediately stood up. "That would be... Shiro, probably!" Cara realized, remembering that Helena was using a bow. "I've got to go make sure she's not in trouble. Eamon, I'm trusting you to keep our camp secure." With that she dashed off in the direction of the shot.

Along the way, Cara nearly collided with Helena. In her astonishment, it took her a few seconds to get her words out. "Get back to camp, now! I'll be right behind you!" She told Helena before again dashing off without leaving time for reply.

Finally Cara came across Shiro, who was marching casually in the direction of camp. She slowed down, both in movement and in speech. In the blackness of night, it took a few seconds to register that Shiro was unharmed. "Shiro! You're... perfectly fine? What in Remnant was that shot about?"

[Vwyx]

Eamon's head snapped around at the gunshot, and then met Cara's base as they both instantly realized the potential implications. "Got it," he affirmed, his weapon smoothly sliding into his hands as he put his back to a wall that afforded him sightlines across the camp. "Good luck."

Of course, nearly as soon as Cara left, Helena arrived. Looking down the barrels of his gun, he recognized his teammate, hastily lowering Wry Bretwalda. "Helena!" he exclaimed. " You're OK! Did you see Shiro out there?"

[nathan67003]

Helena was still walking through the woods, enjoying her surroundings as per usual, when she heard what sounded just like a gunshot. She instantly stopped while her smile dropped, listening intently for further auditory information. Nothing apart from the usual sounds of the night. Not a hint of struggle, no subsequent gunshots, no pained or panicked screaming. The only conlusion she could come to was that somebody was hunting nearby - which was kinda unusual, but whatever. She restarted her trek at her normal pace, her small smile returning to her lips.

A few minutes later, the sound of something quickly approaching her from the front made her stop again. Judging by the rythm, how loud it was and the fact that there weren't any red glowing spots or roaring, thrashing or growling clearly indicated - in her eyes, anyway - that that something was human, not Grimm, and probably didn't mean harm. No, what showed up in the first ray of dim moonlight was Cara's slightly panicked face, which nearly collided with her own. Said person then expressed some distress and urged Helena to get back to camp before rushing further into the forest. Helena strated walking again, but faster and, this time, without a smile.

She rather quickly came into view of the camp, which was pretty much all set up, and was soon greeted by Eamon, who seemed worried as well. Frowning a bit sue to the bizarre situation, she said "Hey, Eamon. Of course I'm fine, why wouldn't I be? And no, I didn't see Shiro. Oh, here's the water, by the way!", she added with a big smile while handing the self-designated cook a bucket of water that was quite literally filled to the brim and had remained like this during Helena's entire journey.

[Zerco]

I wonder if the others already came back to camp... Shiro thought as she marched through the forest. Suddenly, she heard something approaching swiftly towards her. That something, or someone, as she later realised was Cara who seemed to have just gone through an emotional roller coaster.

"Oh, that? " She said as she held out her hand to around chest high so that Cara would be able to see the goose clearly. She smirked as she continued, "Look what I got for us! Isn't it just awesome? Oh! And I managed to find some eggs as well!" She said energetically. Though... If Cara heard the shot then its probably best to be careful... She looked around, not that it mattered much since she probably wouldn't be able to see Grimm in such darkness anyways.

[Flooberoid]

"Uh, yeah, it's... great! Really cool. We should definitely show it off back at camp... right now..." Why had they sent a gunner out hunting in the Grimm-infested woods at night when there was a perfectly good archer on hand?! Cara gestured back in the direction of camp. On hearing some rustling behind them, she started walking while pushing Shiro's back in encouragement.

[Vwyx]

"Uh, thanks, Helena," Eamon said, accepting the water awkwardly, leaning his weapon's barrel against his shoulder with his other hand. "It's just that we heard some gunshots and thought that there might be trouble." He shrugged helplessly. "We probably should have specified melee weapons only, and paired up. This isn't a horror movie!"

Sighing and leaning back against the outcropping wall, he frowned a bit. "I guess we aren't really used to the little things that Hunters have to learn eventually." He brightened up a bit, though, as he looked on the more positive side. "On the other hand, if you're here, and Cara's getting Shiro, then we'll all be set! It's a good thing nothing bad happened while we were separated!"

[nathan67003]

"You're very welcome!", Helena responded before sitting down nearby. She giggled at his mention of a horror movie and listened to him as he went on, her usual slight smile on her lips.