07-05-2018, 09:48 PM
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There were too many aspects of being an animal that was strange and probably something that Wash would never end up getting over. Church already had to deal with such instincts that he wasn't used to having when the dog started to basically chase his tail. Something that Washington hadn't had to deal with as of late and he doubted he would. That was a dog thing. He just sure as hell hoped that there wasn't anyone that was going to dangle a string of yarn in front of him thinking that he was just going to smack it around like some house cat. Would it even effect him to that degree? He used to do that with his cat Loki back in the day. The cat always getting into trouble constantly but basically having nine lives. Then, of course, there was a laser pointer that came to mind, which he would refuse to think would make him chase it. He was smarter than that. He wouldn't be taken advantage of either. Although, he says that and yet the organization that he had put his faith and trust into ended up betraying everything that he had once known. All because he had the memories of what Episolon had carried with him.
The death of Allison and what it had done to the Director to try and recreate her because he couldn't live without her. He should have just let her go. At least that's what Washington did when the memories would flash in front of his eyes. He had yet to see Caboose dealing with animal instincts though. Which... probably wasn't surprising since the simulation trooper had trouble doing decent tasks. The golden retriever seemed large enough to take on others that were around his size, and even maybe more capable in battle than Church was. The border collie almost showing no military skill when it came to simple instructions, but he hadn't interacted with the simulation trooper enough. Agent Washington also didn't know how they were fairing with everything else that was going on. He was currently struggling with every small thing that decided to rear its head. The instinct that he had at the moment that he was struggling with a lot was killing those in the outpost. Being one of the larger predators just meant that his mind was thinking that everyone he came across was potential prey.
His only method of attack while he wore his helmet, of course, was his paws and not his teeth as he couldn't use his mouth. He had this happen to him when he interacted with Church, who was a lot smaller than he was. The canine had pissed him off, and there seemed to be almost a mental delay as he realized that he could just kill the canine with the swipe of his paw. The size difference between the two of them pretty drastic enough that he could injure those that were much smaller than him. When he was on patrol he would sometimes spook out either a rabbit or a deer from its hiding place. The first time it happened, he had chased after the small rodent, like it was a natural reaction to something like that. It took his mind a couple moments to realize how WRONG it felt to just start chasing after rabbits. He wasn't an animal. He was a HUMAN. From that moment on he realized why he was feeling so strange all the time and made an effort not to act like that anymore. So far that didn't show the residents that lived in the Ascendants.
Even though he was an animal, and he refused to go hunting even after seeing some cats coming back with other animals in their mouth. He couldn't stomach it. He would much rather eat an MRE than something like that. So, he starved himself. Probably not the best decision that he had ever had in his life, but it would mean he would give himself more time to get the job done he wanted to do at that time. A compromise. However, he could only last so long in a body that required a decent amount of meat, and so there had been a moment where he was just staring at a severed leg of a deer. Refusing to eat it. At some time he could easily just force it down his throat, but since he knew for a fact he would throw it right back up there was no point in trying. Ascendant civilians caught his attention when they asked if he was okay, which he was quick to lie about and say he was perfectly fine. After a little bit of arguing, it was someone that went by the name Imperia that came up with a solution. She had jerky. Jerky that seemed to be a staple in her diet, and something that Washington recognized from his time in the UNSC when they got something special in the food that was brought to them while they were on missions.
It was pretty tasty, and it was just the right thing that he needed. That only happened a couple days ago. Meaning Agent Washington was still struggling with the effects of starvation. The effects were hard to tell on such a large body if someone wasn't paying attention enough. He had been in pretty bad shape right before Agent Carolina had landed on the same patch of land that he did. He hadn't been sleeping thanks to his hallucinations, and he hadn't been eating on top of that. Working himself tirelessly to figure out what damned planet they were on. Something he had eventually figured out after a small amount of time. Which probably didn't help their case but it was better than nothing. The more intel and data he could collect the better. The Freelancer had thought that Carolina wouldn't have been in fighting action as soon as she appeared. She had obviously been shocked when he had come across her, but that shock had quickly turned into anger. Which ended up with him on the ground. Something that he didn't want to repeat anytime soon It was amazing at how just talented she was though, capable of knowing how to move her body the right way, while he struggled to even use his paw to grab something.
Was he jealous? Maybe a little bit. When he had arrived where Carolina was training, he certainly didn't see the dummy head that was down on the ground. Oh. That could have been him. He wasn't sure exactly how she had managed to take the dummies head off, but he wasn't about to ask for a demonstration either. Carolina always had an intimidating aura, but he wasn't all that intimidated now that he knew who she was. Did that mean he could fight her off with that knowledge? Not even close. Agent Washington noticed that she was doing something with her paws though when she turned around. Was she tapping them? He hadn't noticed that originally before, and his gaze had momentarily turned to look down at her paws before she started speaking and changed the focal point of where he was looking. His helmet raised itself only a little bit, as he was still bigger than she was. The other said that they should have been prepared for everything. Which was true. They were used to crazy and absurd things happening to them.
But this? "I don't think there's anything in the Freelancer handbook saying how to deal with being changed into an animal." Washington would say with a low huff from his jaws. He had read the book plenty of times and had almost had to read it again when he was charged on lockpicking duty until York said he was okay to go. Maybe the confidence she had thought wasn't true. Maybe she was just freaking out as much as he was with their current predicament, but he wasn't going to analyze her. He wasn't the counselor. At the mention of him gaining weight, Washington would let out a choke as if he had choked on his own saliva.[,b] "Hey it's not like I got a choice what I turned into when everything exploded."[/b] Of course, there was no real anger in his voice. If anything he was just messing with her just like he had before. He wasn't even sure if she had tried to offend him about what happened. He could point out that he at least had his armor and she did not. When the other started to move and look at him, Washington kept her gaze before she asked him a question. He gave a curt nod of his head, his body language almost taking a soldier stance as if he was lining up with others. But he kept eye contact instead of looking straight forward like some others did. "There is a lot that we don't know. After some scrounging around though and using the telescope that they have, I was able to figure out that we're actually on Earth. Although, considering how dated everything is, I'm not exactly sure if we are on the Earth that we know of, the Earth that's protected by the UNSC. I say that because there is a distinct lack of human activity, and no humans would leave expensive equipment behind to just rot away. There also is no signs that Earth has been attacked by aliens which is another clue to it. There has been one factor that is common between both us and the simulation troopers. An explosion. I was told by the simulation troopers that a bomb went off fairly close to them, but it wasn't the same explosion that got us. For us, I believed that with the alien technology that we had on board, as soon as we crashed it could have possibly affected that technology or even activated them, and it was mixed with the explosion.
Putting us to where we are now. Which means there is a chance that other Freelancers and those that still remained in the ship suffered the same fate as us. There have been no evidence of Freelancer equipment or even armor pieces that I have discovered in this area, so I think it was the only organic life that was brought here. Although I do have my armor, so if an organic is inside of something, there's a chance it can be brought with them as well. On ways of potentially getting back, I got nothing as there's a limited amount of technology that's available here. With the way that this outpost works, they're very willing to give you anything that you may need if you ask for it. They aren't violent from what I can tell and are more on the level of civilians. My current mission is to see what other members of Freelancers appear or even simulation troopers appear in the next couple of weeks. If none do, then I'm changing to looking around for any alien tech that may be here on Earth and making potential contact with nearby humans if possible." Washington said everything that he knew and what he was able to discover. He didn't mention the what they considered to be magic, because he still didn't know what that was himself and didn't know if they were trying to mess with him. That was all that the armored smilodon had to offer when it terms to what he had going in this establishment. He, of course, didn't trust anyone in the Ascendants. Why should he? Having just got over getting stabbed in the back. His head would make a small twitch to the side though as memories from Episolon echoed in the back of his head. The thought of betrayal bringing up what had been done to the Alpha right under their noise. He clenched his jaw through all the pain, but other than the small movement the Freelancer remained still. "speech"
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