08-08-2013, 12:04 PM
”Yah. There has to be more than one in this mess. The one from the hospital was dropped off, which means he has buddies, and rougarou are smart enough to form little packs. Chupakabras are a lot more mistrusting of others of their kind. But who knows...”
Rune kept to business even though she was dying to ask Aria more about her life. It sounded awful, truth be told. To have to constantly ward yourself from freaking out. How was the girl still sane?
”Then again, rougarou can hold down jobs. Their families may not even know anything is different about them, except they’re gone a lot, or maybe they have lots of affairs.” Rune shrugged, thinking back to a family outside Omaha. A wife had hired a PI to tail her husband whom she was certain was cheating on her. When the PI went missing out of thin air, his body found three weeks later in a cornfield as though he’d been mauled by a wild animal, well her and Uncle Seth drove straight there.
”Chupakabra are really similar, but much harder to hold down normal lives. They’re sick after all. It’s a virus... or is it a parasite...? I can never remember which. Anyway, they’re probably the more vampish of the two bloodbags.” Now she was just chattering mindlessly. It’s not like she thought Aria didn’t know that already, but the talking kept her distracted enough to ignore Hood’s stalking into his bedroom to change. Though she did exchange a quick glance with Aria after he was out of sight.
”I guess we should get ready.” Rune sat up, catching the icebags as they slid off their positionings and laid them aside. She’d throw them back in the freezer on her way back down the ladder.
Which meant she pushed herself up, wandered over to her duffel bag and began rummaging through it. She had to get the belt holster for the sidearm she planned on carrying. This particular rig had a slot for a knife situated in front of the weapon too. She wasn’t like ‘street-fighter good’ with a knife, but sometimes it came in very, very handy.
A LED penlight was going to go on the other side of her belt alongside a fog popper. It was about the same size as the light, but the metal tube had a flipper on one end which unlocked the mechanism. Depressing a button would click a timer, and five seconds later (best used when thrown), the fogger would fume up a room the size of Hood’s trailer in moments. It was useful when trying to disorient and get away (from police or monsters). There were other versions rigged with tear gas, but Rune stopped using them after an unfortunate incident that left her cornered and forced to proceed back through the very room she’d just smoked. That left a mark.
She usually wore just her tank and jacket for this kind of work. But since there was going to be at tactical vest involved, and since there were lots of buckles and straps and velcro, she was sure to get the inside of her arms and ribcage all rubbed raw. So she grabbed the only bodyarmor garment she owned: a long-sleeved lycra-based shirt, and right there in the middle of the room ripped the standard tank top over her head and chucked it at her bag. She had on a black sports bra beneath, and didn’t seem to be in too much of a hurry to cover back up while she messed with the new article of clothing to the right orientation. In a moment, it was tugged back over her head, pulled down with one sliding motion, and tucked into her pants. Rune was all about being compact on things like this for the same reason she didn’t wear jewelry. The material, though snug along every ridge of her arms and torso, should help with staying cool. It was the same type of thing professional athletes wore under their uniforms back in the States.
She chucked the ice bags back in the freezer and tested out her shoulder with a few twists and turns on the way back. She gathered her things in one arm and hauled herself back down the ladder one-handed. Where it was time to slap everything together, and buckle it all on.
By the time they were ready to go, she had on a utility belt holstered with her sidearm and knife on her strong side, flashlight and fogger on the other hip. Three spare magazines were attached within easy reach. A Kevlar vest with four more spares, two on each side of her torso, covered the body-conforming shirt. Pouches higher up on the vest stowed a couple lightweight, spare tools like the Kulku stake. She didn’t anticipate needing them within as easy a reach as the weapons and clips, etc, so she wasn’t too worried about their awkwardness. They were purely speculative anyway.
Finally, she put on the black-rimmed Land Warriors. Unhidden behind the clear lenses, the pink of her eyelids sparkled behind the high-grade black, almost as dark as the thick liner around her eyes. She even went to the trouble of respiking the top of her hair. All in all, she felt pretty awesome.
By the time she was ready to go, she was dry-swallowing a tiny pain pill she’d stuffed in a pocket, just to take the edge off. Then she slung the MP5 over her shoulder, ”Ready to rock ‘n roll?”
Rune kept to business even though she was dying to ask Aria more about her life. It sounded awful, truth be told. To have to constantly ward yourself from freaking out. How was the girl still sane?
”Then again, rougarou can hold down jobs. Their families may not even know anything is different about them, except they’re gone a lot, or maybe they have lots of affairs.” Rune shrugged, thinking back to a family outside Omaha. A wife had hired a PI to tail her husband whom she was certain was cheating on her. When the PI went missing out of thin air, his body found three weeks later in a cornfield as though he’d been mauled by a wild animal, well her and Uncle Seth drove straight there.
”Chupakabra are really similar, but much harder to hold down normal lives. They’re sick after all. It’s a virus... or is it a parasite...? I can never remember which. Anyway, they’re probably the more vampish of the two bloodbags.” Now she was just chattering mindlessly. It’s not like she thought Aria didn’t know that already, but the talking kept her distracted enough to ignore Hood’s stalking into his bedroom to change. Though she did exchange a quick glance with Aria after he was out of sight.
”I guess we should get ready.” Rune sat up, catching the icebags as they slid off their positionings and laid them aside. She’d throw them back in the freezer on her way back down the ladder.
Which meant she pushed herself up, wandered over to her duffel bag and began rummaging through it. She had to get the belt holster for the sidearm she planned on carrying. This particular rig had a slot for a knife situated in front of the weapon too. She wasn’t like ‘street-fighter good’ with a knife, but sometimes it came in very, very handy.
A LED penlight was going to go on the other side of her belt alongside a fog popper. It was about the same size as the light, but the metal tube had a flipper on one end which unlocked the mechanism. Depressing a button would click a timer, and five seconds later (best used when thrown), the fogger would fume up a room the size of Hood’s trailer in moments. It was useful when trying to disorient and get away (from police or monsters). There were other versions rigged with tear gas, but Rune stopped using them after an unfortunate incident that left her cornered and forced to proceed back through the very room she’d just smoked. That left a mark.
She usually wore just her tank and jacket for this kind of work. But since there was going to be at tactical vest involved, and since there were lots of buckles and straps and velcro, she was sure to get the inside of her arms and ribcage all rubbed raw. So she grabbed the only bodyarmor garment she owned: a long-sleeved lycra-based shirt, and right there in the middle of the room ripped the standard tank top over her head and chucked it at her bag. She had on a black sports bra beneath, and didn’t seem to be in too much of a hurry to cover back up while she messed with the new article of clothing to the right orientation. In a moment, it was tugged back over her head, pulled down with one sliding motion, and tucked into her pants. Rune was all about being compact on things like this for the same reason she didn’t wear jewelry. The material, though snug along every ridge of her arms and torso, should help with staying cool. It was the same type of thing professional athletes wore under their uniforms back in the States.
She chucked the ice bags back in the freezer and tested out her shoulder with a few twists and turns on the way back. She gathered her things in one arm and hauled herself back down the ladder one-handed. Where it was time to slap everything together, and buckle it all on.
By the time they were ready to go, she had on a utility belt holstered with her sidearm and knife on her strong side, flashlight and fogger on the other hip. Three spare magazines were attached within easy reach. A Kevlar vest with four more spares, two on each side of her torso, covered the body-conforming shirt. Pouches higher up on the vest stowed a couple lightweight, spare tools like the Kulku stake. She didn’t anticipate needing them within as easy a reach as the weapons and clips, etc, so she wasn’t too worried about their awkwardness. They were purely speculative anyway.
Finally, she put on the black-rimmed Land Warriors. Unhidden behind the clear lenses, the pink of her eyelids sparkled behind the high-grade black, almost as dark as the thick liner around her eyes. She even went to the trouble of respiking the top of her hair. All in all, she felt pretty awesome.
By the time she was ready to go, she was dry-swallowing a tiny pain pill she’d stuffed in a pocket, just to take the edge off. Then she slung the MP5 over her shoulder, ”Ready to rock ‘n roll?”