Climbing the Walls: The Males of Miami

[Adrian]

((Ok, so the idea behind this thread is that guys revert to boys when in a group no matter how mature they are in other circumstances. Was going to put it in the Grove but figure this setting has more chances for things to get interesting.))

Adrian curled his bushy red tail around his feet and looked over at Dustin with serene yellow eyes. He looked like a statue of a fox but the calm image of the animal hid his own frustration. If he'd been a human his fingers probably would have been playing with cards or a piece of string or anything else he could get his hands on. He'd been agitated for the past few days and he'd determined that he needed to get out of the house.

Which was fine if he were living in a dorm, but he was living in a base, in a war zone. You didn't just get up and leave for some personal time no matter how much you wanted to. Which was why he was glad they'd been dispatched on an extended mission. He wasn't sure what Suji had to do today. They normally did everything in pairs, even her. Adrian didn't have much confidence in whatever back up they could provide if she got into trouble but he agreed with the general principle. But she'd assigned them all to do a limited exploration of the everglades today. It was possible she was at home.

Stop thinking about Suji he ordered himself. The truth was Adrian hadn't gone this long without female companionship and it was driving him a little crazy. He hadn't thought it would. He'd taken his ability to find company if he'd wanted it for granted and since he never shared anything more with his partners than friendship he hadn't thought he'd miss it all that much.

Except he did. He was used to being touched and to being appreciated and, yes, to satisfying his urges. He laid down and buried his head in his tail and told himself to stop whining. If this was really the worst thing he had to deal with then he was lucky. All he needed was a distraction and there was an entire wilderness out there to distract him. There was real work to be done.

<<So how do you guys want to do this?>> he asked Dustin and Richard.

[Dustin]

<<We're just exploring, right? Checking things out and looking for anything interesting?>> Dustin asked in response to Adrian's question. He absentmindedly preened the feathers on one of his wings as he searched for a good answer.

<<Maybe we should all take a sense,>> he finally said. <<Like, maybe I could take vision, Adrian could take small or hearing, and Richard could take the other. Then we can each focus on our chosen specialty as we move around.>>

Dustin wasn't sure if his idea was good or just plain stupid, but at least it was an idea. <<Or maybe we could take air, land, and water? We would just have to make sure we watch out for gators and pythons. But that's true no mater what we decide.>>

[Adrian]

((Going ahead without Richard on this one))

<<You take air, I'll take land, Richard water then.>> Normally Adrian tried not to put himself in positions where he could be considered responsible for what went down. He didn't shirk responsibility if it was forced on him but he never volunteered himself for it, mostly because he knew what it would cost. But he was impatient and distracted today and he wanted the decision, even one as small as this, made and made quickly so that they could get started and then get out of here.

He took off through the undergrowth before Dustin or Richard could question him. He didn't think they would anyway. His choices made sense. Dustin had the best air morph so far and he was already in a fox morph. He supposed Richard sea lion was close enough to a manatee or whatever the local water life was that he could figure it out if he had to.

<<So I take it we're not looking for anything specific. Once again, this is a glorified scouting mission?>> They had heard some rumors that humans lived in these everglades, some of them claiming to be resistance groups. He didn't doubt the reports, humans would live anywhere, but he didn't think the groups out here could be all that big or all that dangerous. They surely would have attracted attention by now.

[Dustin]

<<I think "glorified scouting mission" sums it up fairly well. But still, it's better than staying cooped up back at the hideout. Lets just hope this goes better than last time.>> Dustin tried to keep a cheery tone in an attempt to mask his own discomfort. Their last scouting mission hadn't turned out so well, mostly because of himself.

This time, if something did go wrong, he was determined not to be the cause of it. Which made his position in the air even more convenient. He wasn't likely to run into much trouble up in the sky. He just had to make sure to watch the ground so his allies wouldn't get into trouble either.

Which meant he would need to keep up with Adrian, who had already taken off. Dustin flapped his wings and maneuvered through a couple branches until he broke through the lower treetops. The sun beat warmly on his back as he angled himself around the taller trees. It wasn't an easy flight, but it wasn't too difficult either. And it was definitely fun.

<<I think I see some wild boar tracks,>> Dustin reported. <<Or maybe they're deer tracks. I'm not sure what the difference in their feet is. Oh, and there's a baby spoonbill in a nest by the water up ahead. No sign of any people yet though.>> There were a lot more critters scurrying around too, but none that Dusting deemed interesting enough to mention. His bird's eyesight really was amazing, and noting every rodent and bug and pigeon would get old fast.

<<Any interesting smells down there? You know, besides swamp scum?>>

[Adrian]

<<Swamp scum pretty much sums it up,>> Adrian said. His voice was dangerously bored. Dangerous because he hardly ever got bored. He tried to make it a habit to find something amusing in most situations or at least enjoyable. Bored was an odd emotion for him not only to have, but to so openly display and said more about his mental state than an angry outburst would have for those who knew how to read it. Unfortunately he may not have known his faction mates long enough for them to know that.

He reigned in his temper and tried to focus on the job at hand. It was difficult. It wasn't that there was a lack of things to observe, just the opposite. There was too much. The word "teeming" now made more sense than it had ever before. If this was what the everglades were like he never wanted to visit a rain forest. Everywhere he looked or listened there was something to pay attention to and he was having a hard time forcing himself to sift through it for useful information instead of just letting it all slip by like a landscape outside of a car window.

<<What about you? Spot anything?>>

[Dustin]

<<Not yet.>> Dustin flew a bit higher to get a better view. He had flown around in this morph several times now, but he had yet to go very high. He had gone maybe twice the height of a tree and that was about the extent of it. He wasn't afraid of heights, exactly, but getting too far away from a place to land still made him a little nervous. Especially when he was by himself.

<<It looks like the water up ahead is part of a large bend in a stream. And you are on the inside of the bend. Want to backtrack or try to cross?>> Dustin was scanning the area to see if there was an easy crossing point for a fox when something in the water caught his eye.

<<Hey, I think I see a candy wrapper floating downstream. Yup, from a Mr. Goodbar. Maybe it's a clue.>>

[Adrian]

Adrian muttered to himself. Maybe it's a- but he stopped by a tree and sniffed around it. There wasn't much to smell and nothing that smelled like human to him. But he wondered just how long smells would last in this environment anyway. He was lucky he stood on solid ground at the moment. He knew that eventually a lot of this turned into a watery swamp.

<<I don't know. I'm not getting much either,>> Adrian said, looking up, searching for the cooper hawk, not seeing it but knowing it was there. <<Maybe I should switch to bat morph. It may be more useful and it can fly below the trees. Almost as good as being on the ground I guess.>>

[Dustin]

<<If you want to change forms, I'll wait for you,>> Dustin said. <<Might as well be what you think will be the greatest help. Just make sure you don't wear yourself out by morphing too much.>> He wasn't sure how much Adrian had practiced endurance morphing, but it was always good to err on the side of caution.

Dustin began circling in the air, searching for a place to land. He swooped in and landed on a high branch of a bald cypress tree. From there he would have a great stationary view of their surroundings. Dustin briefly considered demorphing and remorphing himself, but he still had at least an hour left on the morphing clock, so he decided against it.

<<Think maybe we should check and see what is upstream? Running water is cleaner than standing water, right? So people would probably set up camp near running water? At least within walking distance of it, I would think.>> Of course the water in front of them wasn't the only source of running water in the area, but they would have to start somewhere.