Caw Caw

Well okay let’s be completely honest here, Hal got things done on his own time. It might not be necessarily the time it was supposed to be on a general basis, but he tended to work better doing his own thing over following direct orders anyway. Sure this also meant he normally wasn’t top pick as far as mercenaries went, but he could still do a job damn well when he did.

It was what it was. For the Cajun there was no changing things.

“Plenty’s pretty vague.” Seemed a fair point to point out there, right? “It ain’t lookin’ at all that good, but I suppose we ain’t seen the inside yet.” He was giving the other man that much, but that drawl was a bit looser than before. His metaphorical hackles were raised, instincts telling him that moseying his way out of this mess was probably the better of ideas this time. Normally that instinct didn’t serve him wrong either.

“Radios could be knocked out. Just because he hasn’t gotten back ain’t meanin’ he ain’t fine or whatever, he might not be able to.” Was it really an attempt to comfort there? Who knew with Hal. “Don’t thank me none yet.“

Besides he definitely had his own ulterior motives for going along. Ian was likely still in that city somewhere, and he would be damned if he didn’t check up on him if they were heading in. Either way he meandered after Forest easily, keeping an eye on their surroundings as they proceeded forward.

Hal got shit done, but slowly- because he worked at his own pace. Forest, on the other hand, was certainly a top choice. A professional who got his work done quickly, and usually on the terms set- and if he acted on his own terms, it was always for the benefit of the mission. He took his job damn seriously. Maybe part of him found Hal’s lax attitude unprofessional, but hey- wasn’t his merc outfit.

No, he was unchangeable that was for sure.

“Well, sure. Ain’t like I’m gonna remember how many it is off the top a’ my head.” He snorted. There was a sense that Hal thought this was more serious than he did, and Forest stood by his observation that the outbreak wasn’t too bad, and there would still be plenty of survivors. He was adamant about it really.

The attempt to comfort him was not missed, and he smiled a bit, soft and worried still. “You make a good point but….I ain’t takin’ any chances. Gotta see for myself if he’s fine.” If the radios were out…it would be different he thought. If they were out there would still be something in the way causing it. That was never good.

He had no idea that Hal, too, was after a lost lover who was still in the city. He would be sympathetic obviously if he knew- they were in the same position. No doubt it was something they could relate to one another over actually, if they tried. Picking his way through the city was slow goings, but hey…it was pretty fucking empty, which was worrisome.

As long as you did your job without fucking it up for everyone else in the process, right? Really Hal might not be the best suited for these situations, but he could roll with it when he had to. He was… adaptable. Sometimes. This particular merc outfit was one he’d worked with several times before, so at the very least he had an idea of what he was dealing with this time.

Of course that didn’t mean he wasn’t unwilling to bail should it be necessary. He damn well wasn’t going to go down with a sinking ship, and if it ceased to benefit him and instead hinder him he damn well knew when to get the hell out of Dodge.

“How many jobs y’ve seen?” A brow was raised there, but there was a flicker of bemusement on the Cajun’s face. “Gov’s done wipes on much worse situations, ‘n when’s the last time y’ve seen a survivor mosey on by us? They’d be escapin’ any way outta the city possible, just not the main roads.” Main roads would be stupid anyway - those were the first hit, and probably had the most infected outside of buildings and shelters themselves.

There was nothing, nothin!, only more of that silence. “Y’re quick y’leave your point.” A languid drawl there, on brow raised. Must be a pretty good friend if Forest was willing to ditch point to go off and find him. “Guess I better come ‘long, keep y’outta more trouble.”

Besides, it was pretty boring here.

At the very least, Hal was dedicated to his work and he worked damn hard. He was the sort of guy who got stuff done and Forest appreciated it. Even if he was familiar with the other mercs…Joseph was always his priority. Always.

So long as Hal didn’t get in the way of that priority, he could do as he pleased. Nothing else mattered as far as the infected man was concerned. Their corner was clear, it would remain clear. There were other teams further up who could pick of anything that tried to get into their area anyways.

He had to find Joseph.

“I’ve seen plenty.” Not really the best answer but it was all he could give. There was no exact number he could remember. “Just because there ain’t survivors comin’ out through our zone don’t mean there ain’t survivors comin’ out.” Optimism never hurt, and he knew people were escaping. Yet something gave him a sense of urgency to find Joseph.

“That dumbass means more to me than every bone in my goddamn body means to my motor skills.” Weirdest way to put it but hey, it was a way. “He’d have gotten back by now if he was fine, I just…I need to know he’s safe.” A pause. “Thank you, for comin’ with.” A smile was cast to the man, and then he was off, moving at a quick pace towards where he last knew Joseph had been, hoping he hadn’t moved points without telling him.

When it came to teammates for the most part Hal was not loyal to them - saving his own hide, and Ian’s, was definitely far more important when push came to metaphorical shove. He had a survivor streak a mile long in the long run, and very little capacity to care for so many people that did not immediately matter to him.

Or so he preferred to think, at least.

“Gotta lot of area t’see. Saw the map - most of the city’s on lockdown too.” And yet here they were, out in the almost literal boonies, picking off stragglers that meandered their collective ways through. Totally worked, he supposed, but even he had to wonder the ultimate usefulness of this. “If they’re gonna do that they ain’t gonna wait long.” A pause. “If they can’t pull out ‘nough survivors to satisfy them they’ll call a total wipe.” Shitty as that was.

There was supposed to be another team relatively close, but Hal hadn’t heard any gunfire from that direction for some time. It… could mean several things, really.

They definitely were going to be waiting. Although Forest had rung loud and clear there was nothing on the other end beyond a hiss and crackle - static. Brows raised as the Cajun waited a moment, another, before finally pointing out the obvious. “Well that ain’t good.”

Forest would of course always prioritize Joseph over other teammates, but the man was always loyal. It didn’t help you any to not stick by your allies in combat situations, and even if they were mercs from all over, they still managed to usually get along alright. So long as they watched one another’s backs that was important.

That Hal preferred to be a self centered loner didn’t matter so much to him, because well….Hal was his own person. He had his own values that were important to him and Forest usually didn’t give a shit unless the man actively tried to harm him.

Which he wasn’t doing at that moment.

He shook his head. “Nah, ain’t that bad.” He’d seen the inner most bits of the city passing through to head them off at the outer rings. This was a small outbreak. “Plenty of survivors getting out I’m sure, we’re not getting wiped.” No need for cleansing the area.

At least they had that much in common, despite obvious personality differences. Hal didn’t have many friends - solitary and morose, he didn’t go out of his way to make them and it took a particular sort of stubbornness to get close to him anyway. But his friends… they meant the world to him. He’d protect them with everything he had left to give.

“Nah, it ain’t.” Which was alarming in and of itself - how quickly these things could spiral so drastically out of control. “How bad y’think this one is?” A pause. “Ain’t seen none’a big shit yet, although some’a these guys are movin’ pretty fast.” Faster than what he’d consider normal.

Innocent lives were always lost when these sort of outbreaks occurred. It was terrible to consider but it was also the harsh truth of the matter too.

Well that didn’t sound great. “Think we should radio t’find out what’s goin’ on elsewhere. We’re kinda out in bumfuck nowhere after all.” If shit was gonna go down it was… very much so unlikely to go down out here where the two men were stationed at. The silence wasn’t necessarily getting to him, not even remotely, but he was certainly curious the status of things elsewhere in the city.

They were both loyal men, but in different ways, sort of. They just had a different approach to things, and in the end Forest was also dedicated to his teammates. STARS had made him appreciate such things, and had given him a desire to protect the people he worked with too.

He fought harder for his friends though.

“It’s hard to say, without having seen the whole area...” Would that he could fly. “But I haven’t seen anything that makes me think it’s bad enough for ah...extreme measures.” Forest shrugged. It was still pretty damn bad though, but there were survivors! Plenty of them actually. He could tell.

He thought about the suggestion, and then nodded. “That’s not a bad plan...I can’t hear anyone else nearby and...from experience communication is smart. Been doin’ this long enough to know that for sure.” He snorted.

To be fair to the other man it honestly wasn’t even remotely difficult at all to get on Hal’s nerves. He was a man who didn’t necessarily need a lot of other people around - one or two at most was fine. At the very least right now he wasn’t in such a foul mood to actually snap at the dude - something that could always change all things considering, but he had at least some vague form of common sense.

Well… sometimes.

“Sounds like’a last ditch effort there.” To have an entire city wiped was a pretty big deal after all. He knew it happened before, knew it very very likely to happen again, but hell that was a pretty big deal to have to go and do. Plus let’s face it innocents were always killed when a city’s destruction was in order.

Although he swept the area with his scope he didn’t immediately note anything particularly nasty in sight. The lull was both alarming and uncomfortable and it seemed as if the other merc noted it too. “Well aintcha a ball of sunshine’n daisies.” But that was… almost a concerning point there. “There’s other groups. If some big shit’s goin’ on they’d report it.” And the radio had been pretty silent of that sort of chatter thus far.

Did the guy ever stop talking?

“Dunno ‘bout all that.” Ah, there was another one! The Cajun completely missed the other man’s scratching as he lined up another of the infected, shifting his angle and grip to one more comfortable before firing.

Forest was the opposite, a friendly and patient man who never seemed to get that angry with people. Unless they hurt his friends, then they were absolutely dead assholes. He didn’t abide anyone who hurt his friends, and they would quickly find themselves with a dangerous and angry enemy.

“It always is.” He agreed. “But it’s not uncommon....” Extreme measures sometimes had to be taken, but it was always a great loss. “I’d rather be able to clear the area manually....ensure all survivors get out safe.” The thought of losing innocent lives ‘just to be safe’ made him feel sick.

The man snorted. “Well I can be, if I wanna be. Just bein practical is all. Got enough experience to know these little ones usually mean someone’s planning something nasty elsewhere.” It was logical. Distract the BSAA and other relief groups and mercs, get away with something bigger and more awful.

He definitely did not stop talking.

Oh that was nice, that was definitely nice. He turned lightly to look at Joseph as best he could given the angle. “Oh really?” He smirked, clearly teasing him. “What do I owe it to ya for hmmm?” This was a fun little game, he thought, teasing Joseph was always fun.

Lips curved into an all too knowing, all too teasing, smirk. Joseph knew the other man’s game by this point - knew it almost too well - but it was certainly one that both men could play. “Guessin’ ‘cause I said so’ ain’t gonna be a good enough answer, huh?”

Lining up his sights the Cajun took out another few of the shambling horde before he found himself left reloading, doing what he could in order to make certain he was prepared to the next well. The only sour note was that he seemed to have gotten teamed up with someone relatively chatty this time and he bit back his annoyance, knowing the need to at the very least hold his tongue until the area was clear.

Antagonizing and starting up an argument with your fellow merc while things that wanted to kill and eat you were venturing your way sounded like a shit idea even to him.

“Ain’t gonna argue too much. These one are a lot easier than the last group I hadta deal with.” That had been a particular annoyance he didn’t want to relive. The damn bastards had been able to climb for crying out loud. “Don’t look like there’s that many mutated with ‘em either.” Could just be him but he hadn’t seen any as of yet. No dogs, none of the even more grossly horrid horrors amongst this group’s midst.

Easy mission in and out.

For a moment it looked as if they had at the very least a little bit of breather. He still kept an eye on their surroundings as well and in the distance he could occasionally hear the pops of other gunfire… but so far it looked like things were at least a little bit clear and..

…. oh gee the other dude was talking again. Surprise surprise. “Name’s Hal.” It served as a name at least, right? He preferred it in any case.

Of course, Forest didn’t seem aware of the fact he was grating on the Cajun’s nerves. He had little experience with antisocial types, people who didn’t like interacting with others. Everyone on STARS were pretty friendly, except maybe Wesker but well...he’d turned out to be a lunatic apparently so he barely counted.

“I like the easy ones better anyways.” Forest said with a grin. “Feels way better if you can keep a city from having to be totally incinerated.” It left people able to actually go back, rebuild. It was nicer.

“Hell naw, they ain’t got nothin’ too dangerous with ‘em. Kinda makes ya think there might be somethin’ worse goin’ on elsewhere eh?” Maybe they were a distraction. That was a scary thought. They wouldn’t know until much later on though, unless some city in the distance got nuked or something like that. He doubted it though.

So the man was named Hal. Interesting. “Nice name...simple, easy to remember.” He laughed.”It’s good to meetcha.” The man definitely didn’t run in his usual merc circles that was for sure. He knew a lot of the men they were out there with, but Hal was a stranger until now.

basically, i love them!

i’m not going to force them on you, however.  but if we are in a thread & you think it’d be cool if a relevant character joined in, just tell me! or i’ll ask you.  d (^_^) b

if you see one of my threads, & you think you want to join in, just ask me or my partner &  we’ll see if everyone’s okay with it.  o (◡‿◡✿)

because, one x one roleplay is limited sometimes.  ¯\ (°_o) /¯    & group threads are super AWESOME.  (●ゝω)ノヽ(∀＜●)