[b]"Learning Experience."[/b] [i]"After eons of watching too many names to count be written in far too much sand, and blown away by an entirely uncaring wind, I began to envy the mountains. The stones, who war against the wind simply be being and continuing to be. I know now more than I knew then; Soldiers are best hewn from stone. Let the wind take their names from them. Let time take their features. But let them be of stone." ~ Jerai[/i] ********************************************************************************* The wind howled. Roared, with a simmering hiss just beneath it---the sand, pelting any surface which wouldn't yield to it and be scraped away. This wasn't even the sand storm. If he looked up, peered into the distance, he could see the sand storm. It looked as though the sky simply ended in the distance, vanishing behind a massive cliff which stretched clear up into space. It was an illusion of perspective, of course. The sand couldn't possibly break the Troposphere. Still, from the ground it looked as though the world were a book which some massive set of hands were about to close. "Dunes. All I see are dunes. Did the storm already take the ruins?" The voice filtered in through his helmet speakers, and he didn't respond. Punk didn't know what to say. Where the three of them stood, there didn't seem to be any indication otherwise. There weren't landscape features to use as landmarks. There were no buildings. Just sand dunes, stretching out as far as the eye could see. Roiling with the sand pushed along by the wind, casting a light brown haze over the roiling mounds. The sun hadn't been blotted out yet, as it was low in the sky and behind them. He couldn't feel the heat, but it still [i]looked[/i] hot. "No. We're in the right place." Fox sounded a bit tense. More so than Fault did, yet she was the one to push forward. Stepping past both of them, starting her slide down yet another dune. Punk watched her go until she faded into the blowing sand, then turned his head to regard Fault and signal him to continue on after her with a sweep of his left hand. "After you." Plainly spoken, unable to keep the grin out of his voice. "No, after you." Fault replied shortly. "I insist." Punk shrugged, took a step forward, and let himself fall down the far side of the dune after Fox. It was difficult to tell just how far off they were from the huge cloud bank looming in the distance. It both seemed to cover half of the sky, and never get any closer at the same time. It was definitely getting closer, though. The warnings were very clear about that. They needed to be finished and gone, or safely underground, before the real storm hit. He took his eyes off of it. No reason to dwell on that. Nothing they could do if they weren't quick enough anyway. "Got something. Hard surface down here. Might wanna brace." Fox spoke over a slight wash of signal distortion. Punk's feet hit the solid surface she was speaking of immediately after. His legs buckled, he bounced on his knees, tumbled shoulder over shoulder and then--- He was reaching back for something to grab, when there was suddenly no ground beneath him. Instead, a gloved hand slapped against his wrist. Suspended by the arm his momentum shifted, from outward and downward to backward and downward. He slammed against the side of what he now understood to be a sheer drop. "Cliff there, too." Fox remarked absently. "Watch your step." "I get the feeling you're trying to kill me, Fox. Not directly, but in that passive aggressive way that's...far more dangerous. Nice catch, though." Punk breathed out a huff of a sigh and shook his head. Turning to press his boots into the stone cliff side and begin climbing up with help. "Wasn't me." Fox sounded distracted. "Wasn't me either." Fault added. Punk moved faster, pulling himself up with a yank and push from both boots. His suit and his robes activated on mental cue, channeling energy to briefly negate his weight. It left him free to pull his weapon with his right hand--- "Dude, I'm -blam!-ing with you! It was me. You're welcome." Fault's voice as he came into view through the blowing wind, left hand raised in a half serious surrender gesture. The other hand was on one of his Hand Cannons. "Lucky I blink so quick." "Yeah?" Punk kept his rifle leveled at Fault for a beat, and then stowed it on his back as quickly as he'd pulled it. Huffed out another sigh and dropped his shoulders, shaking his head. "No idea why I'm stuck with you two." "I was thinking the same thing," Fox remarked. "Why send all of the ones he doesn't even trust?" She added after a moment. Punk could barely see her, farther along the edge of the cliff they were all now standing on. She was looking around. He looked out over the edge, and found that he couldn't tell how far down it was. It could have been ten feet, or a mile. "Send us? I don't answer to Ricochet." Punk muttered. "Funny, neither do I." Fox replied simply. "Still, we're here." "I'm here to save your asses, probably. Seems about right." Fault quipped. Punk turned to look at him, and caught a faux-innocent shrug. "What? Just sayin'..." "We're close." Fox, seeming as distracted as she had the entire time. "There's supposed to be a... door, though. Where's the door?" "She's here because she's the only one who knows where we're going. I'm here because you all suck at telling me what's going on, and last time I brought my squad in to lend a hand we wound up in a war zone." Fox was moving along the cliff edge, and Punk was following. Fault was a few feet behind him. They all stayed clear of the edge. "Quit bitchin'." Fault snirked. "Which time was that anyway?" "All the times." Fox answered for him. "Yep, pretty much." Punk agreed. "...bitchass..." Fault muttered. "Ah. I get it. I've got good and bad news---you're getting both, since it's all the same news." Fox suddenly blurted. "Ready? Kay. We're standing on the door. This---I think this is the whole door." "Big ass door." Fault remarked. "...yeah I don't---I'm not seeing how we're going to... I don't even know now far down that is..." Punk spoke cautiously. "Maybe we should call back for some help? Wait out the storm?" "Won't be here when we come back. That storm's going to bury it again. It always does." Fox now sounded impatient, like she'd explained this too many times. She hadn't explained anything. [i]I can see why they're together.[/i] "How do you even---" Punk started. Fault interrupted him. "Sweet, well we can figure out how far down. I'm gonna check." He sounded excited. Fox stopped walking, and turned to both of them. Punk glanced back and found Fault shaking out his sleeves as though that would help clear them from sand. As though that actually mattered. "Wait. How are you going to---" "Jumping!" Punk watched as, after announcing that he was doing it, Fault turned and took two running steps. Spread his arms, pitched forward in the air, and vanished into the blowing sand after a few sailing feet. He slowly turned to look back at Fox, who had one hand on her helmet and one on her hip. Staring up at the sky as if appealing to a higher power to save her from overexposure to idiots and testosterone. "Should we---" Punk began. Fox cut him off. "After you."