(no subject)

[hecu_marine]

Shephard's gonna be in Poland, or what used to be Poland, real damn soon. He's got a helicopter to fly and then a lot of hell to raise (once he gets past the throwing up part, which has unfortunately become pretty much ritual for him whenever he touches down successfully). He's just tidying up a thing or two before heading out, and by 'a thing or two' we mean 'the hide of a yerik that he managed to take during his visit to Pandora with Tsu'tey'. The hide's upstairs. He spoke with Tsu'tey at some length and came up with a chemical bath that he figures should do the trick for turning it into the equivalent of a buckskin. That's gonna take a few days, though, so right now he's not touching it. He's going over the one other thing he took from the yerik instead- the animal's largest teeth. Elk on Earth have big damn canines that make for nice carved ivory objects, and yerik teeth look to be about the same.

Oh, don't look at him like that. Tsu'tey's people got the meat.

Anyway, feel free to bother the fellow in military fatigues who's currently meticulously cleaning the rather large teeth of an animal found nowhere on Earth. Or don't. Up to you.

Comments

[donthidemycigs]

As far as Dr. Augustine is generally concerned, "don't" is the only conscionable answer to willingly approaching and speaking to anyone dressed in military fatigues. Especially ones with his kind of hobby. She's assuming the meticulous care he's taking with those teeth isn't meant to preserve them for scientific study.

At least he isn't polishing his gun.

She carries a coffee mug (whether or not it's actually filled with coffee is beside the point) to a table neighboring Shephard's, and pulls her smokes from her pocket. It gives her a chance to take a closer look at those canines.

[hecu_marine]

Shephard's idea of preserving things for scientific study usually involves dissecting them out in the field and poking them until they ooze something he recognizes. Not that he would pass up someone else's research on critters' anatomy and physiology, if it was good and meant he didn't have to figure out what the hell the big yellow wiggly thing next to the lungs was.

Right now, he's making absolutely sure that every nook and cranny of the teeth are as clean as he can get them without causing damage or using chemicals, so there's some toothpicks and lint-free cloths involved. With elk teeth, you sometimes get one that's best just preserved whole and mounted somehow. With the right kind of bone, sometimes carving is the best use. The way he sees it, he needs to know these things properly before he starts doing anything to them beyond a good thorough cleaning.

He might notice the smell of tobacco if Grace has already lit up, but otherwise he's not likely to. Concentration. It's a thing.

[donthidemycigs]

Grace is proficient at fishing out a cigarette and having it lit halfway to her lips. She's not accustomed to waiting for things, and she's had a lot of time to practice.

She sits down gracelessly -- which she supposes is one of life's little jokes -- and studies Shephard between puffs and slow sips from her mug. She's pretty sure she's going to regret this, so having as much nicotine, caffeine, and any other -ine that could be in that mug running through her bloodstream as possible will hopefully make this a whole lot less painful.

"Craft project from home? Or is this place a hell of a lot more interesting than I thought?"

[hecu_marine]

"Ain't from home, exactly, but these ain't from here." Shephard sets one of the teeth aside and glances up.

And blinks a few times, because while he is so far from geeky that his idea of a good scifi movie is Alien Vs. Predator, he has at least seen some clips from the original Alien.

He'll be okay in a moment, honest.

[donthidemycigs]

Grace has this effect on people.

At least, Grace likes to think she has this effect on people.

She smokes quietly, giving him time to soak it all in. She is a pretty impressive sight, and at least it means the mercenary has some sense of taste. Not that he'll be getting any, but Grace has been called a number of things in her lifetime.

"Cougar?"

It's a guess on the teeth, you see.

[hecu_marine]

Mercenary? It's a lucky thing she didn't say that out loud... then again, she's a civilian. Bless her heart.

"Not even close," he says, and after a moment's thought adds, "Ma'am. These here might be pointy as fuck but they ain't from a meat eater. Canines off a-" He thinks for a bit, then shrugs. "It ain't a deer, exactly, but it's close enough."

[donthidemycigs]

Hey, she's a PhD. Thank you very much.

An eyebrow goes up when he tacks on the polite address. "That's one hell of a Cervidae."

Hm.

"What are you, some kind of hunter?"

[hecu_marine]

Civilian egghead then. Even better.

"Aw, you'd be surprised what you'd see if you got some o' those fuckers' mouths open," Shephard says. "Muntjac've got fuckin' fangs." He makes a downward-pointing curving gesture from the vicinity of his upper jaw. "Three fuckin' inches long, on a deer that ain't but two foot tall at the shoulder. Nasty little assholes- anyways, these ain't from them, I'm just sayin'."

One corner of his mouth twitches a little; he nods. "Sure am, ma'am. Couple of my uncles took me with 'em when I was six years old'n showed me how to respect a gun good'n proper. Longbow a year or two later. Ain't looked back since."

[donthidemycigs]

Grace takes a long, long, long swig from her mug.

Respect a gun. What the actual fuck.


"Grace," she says, in a tone that leaves no room for argument. "Dr. Augustine, if you want to be polite."

She's not suggesting he has to be. "There's not much that surprises me these days. I've kept a Dinicthys as a pet; I used to love watching people's reactions when she'd slam her 9-meter mass into the glass back at my lab, and snap those pretty little jaws."

[hecu_marine]

Shephard's going to have to think about this for a bit. Especially the nine meters part.

Eventually he says, "Please tell me you ain't talkin' 'bout a lab at a place in New Mexico name of Black Mesa."

[donthidemycigs]

She squints through the smoke coming off her cigarette, and gives the question some thought.

"Hell of a long time since I've seen New Mexico."

Beat.

"No, I'm a few light-years away from Earth these days."

[hecu_marine]

Shephard exhales. "All right, I c'n live with that. Black Mesa was a fuckin' shithole'n those dinoshark motherfuckers we got in the ocean now wouldn't be there if it weren't for them."

He got through a whole sentence about Black Mesa without using the word 'eggheads'. This is a considerable improvement over everything else he has ever said about the place.

[donthidemycigs]

"Never heard of them," she mutters dismissively, yanking her cigarette away from her lips. Shepherd gets a long hard look.

(Sorry, son. She's not eyeing you up in return.)

"Did you say you have dinosharks? Living in the ocean?"

It's that last part that really gets to her.

[hallelujahpilot]

"That from Earth or Pandora?" Chacon asks at last. She'd been watching him clean for a minute or two, weighing up conversation in her mind.

She's really not sure what she feels about him and Tsu'tey becoming such good friends, given the circumstances.

[hecu_marine]

"Pandora," Shephard says. "Ain't seen a deer on Earth since that fucker in a suit thawed me out, which is a real goddamn shame."

[hallelujahpilot]

"One of the hexpedes?" Then, remembering that Tsu'tey would have said the Na'vi, she adds, "yerik?"

[hecu_marine]

"Bingo," says Shephard, looking up from his work. "Arrow through the lungs. Tsu'tey's got the meat, I got the hide'n teeth."

[hallelujahpilot]

"Yeah, sounds 'bout right." Her mouth twitches into a wry smile. "Really didn't expect to see you there."

[hecu_marine]

"Didn't count on nobody seein' us neither, if you want the truth," Shephard admits. "I got kind of surprised he didn't just turn that fuckin' horse thing and run like hell when he saw y'all."

[hallelujahpilot]

"He's the alien equivalent of a sixteen-year-old boy, and we get along well enough. I'm not sure he thinks ahead that much."

Not outside of a hunt, anyway. She'd (mostly) trust him in a hunt.

[hecu_marine]

Shephard nods. "Well, it ain't likely to happen again," he says. "I saw the place, and it is a fine place, let me tell you. Not that I'd mind seein' it again but I got other places I got to risk my ass a whole bunch first."

[hallelujahpilot]

"Yeah, it's pretty. But reason I had the riflen, y'know?"

With rounds that explode on impact, thank you very much.

"And I get paid for it."

[hecu_marine]

"Sure, sure," says Shephard. "I don't blame you none. You go someplace like that regular, you fuckin' well bring enough gun. I was goin' as a guest, is all, so all's I brought with me was what Tsu'tey said'd be all right."

[hallelujahpilot]

"That's sensible."

Pause.

"Mo'at and Eytukan let you in?"

Just wondering if the boy went through the official channels.

[hecu_marine]

"Said he got permission, yeah," Shephard says. "Took me to see a bunch of Hometree first, too."

He didn't ask who Tsu'tey got permission from. Kind of assumed it was the appropriate authorities, though.