that's what you get for passing out on the job
Characters: The Rookie (brb_napping) & everybody new who wants to wake up in the same spot. O and maybe animals. Hopefully not.
Setting/Location: Somewhere in a dark, dense forest.
Date & Time: Day 9 - Morning, just around dawn.
Warnings: None I could think of so far. If anything happens, we'll add.
Summary: The newbies wake up in the forest and spend some quality time together. Maybe with animals. Hopefully not.
At first, it was a dull pain somewhere in the back of his head, pulsating through his blood vessels and nerves from deep inside his brain. For a brief moment between the darkness and slipping back into the blurred, dim light of... the sun maybe, he thought he was bleeding inside his helmet. He wasn't, he realised when he focused (and was thankful that he could), but he knew immediately why he would be. It came back in split seconds, and while it hurt, the Rookie was grateful to know he hadn't suffered any worse damage. The drop, the Assault Carrier's Slipspace jump, the crash - the crash. Where was he? And where-
Where was his pod?
He could see again, somewhat blurry around the edges of his field of vision, and with a steady, painful drumming inside his head and a stinging in his bones and muscles that thankfully appeared to be only bruises and minor injuries - but he could see. And when at first, when he had felt grass and soft ground underneath him through his suit, not the hard metal and the seat of his pod, he had thought he had just been thrown out of the vehicle upon crashing, now he knew that it wasn't so easy after all. The Rookie exhaled, a pressed, breathless sound through bruised ribs and shredded vocal cords, and then stood up, in one not particularly fluent, but stubborn an determined motion.
This wasn't New Mombasa. He knew that much from the moment he laid eyes on the surroundings. This wasn't Africa at all. And maybe, this wasn't even Earth.
How long had he been out?
The possibility of having been captured came to his mind first; it made the most sense. But there were no captors in sight, and if what the briefings had told them about their enemies was true, he would be dealing with Brutes primarily, supported by Jackals and, of course, Grunts. Brutes rarely missed the chance of tearing their captives to shreds.
The Rookie turned on his VISR when his field of vision cleared up a little, and looked around. The trees, now better illuminated in the night vision of his helmet, were so different from anything he remembered that he was finally absolutely certain - that he had no idea what had happened or where he was. It took him a few moments to realise he was not alone - and that over there, he could find his equipment and a weird little device that he instantly tested. Now that his comm was obviously broken, just dead no matter which channel he tuned it to, he could use whatever this strange place had to offer.
[ooc: Jump in if you want, fellow newbies. This post is what he's doing with his new junogam now, LMAO.]