Sep 25 10:01:15 107 PA - Very Different Philosophies

From Chronicles

Sep 25 10:01:15 107 PA.

LANDING STRIP: Very Different Philosophies

Ten in the morning and nice weather is a pretty good way to return home from putting one's self in harms way. The Sun is high enough that only the thick, curved blades of the transport helicopter cast any shadows on the ground. Various technical people are already fussing with the 'chopper, seeing to its engines, sensors, and apparently arming it for a new mission. Gabriel has only recently stepped out of the large passenger compartment, perhaps only twenty yards or so distant. A black colored combat pack is on the ground, the recipient of increasingly numerous pieces of his armor, which by his expression and body language, he seems more than happy to be stripping.

Daeni emerges from the gates, although any mission she may or may not be involved with likely does not include the air vehicle at this time. She is unarmored, yet as armed as she ever is, for to be otherwise is foolish. Gabriel's presence is noted, as is his proximity to the aircraft, causing her path to alter for approach. "Go on more Op?" It may be only recently-acquired slang, but the word is certainly shorter and more efficient than other choices.

Gabriel looks up at the sound of the elf's voice, his look inquisitive, even though he presumably recognizes the tone. In either case, it rapidly turns to his normal pleasant smile, and as he wipes a hand briefly across his cheek, he says, "Hello, Daeni." He waves back to the helicopter. "Yeah, someone actually hired me to do something that I do, for once. Little trouble with a merc group up north. Really wasn't that exciting, actually. How're you doing today?" His head then cocks to one side, "Not to be to blunt or anything, but how's your face?" pub Happy Friday, Sage. :)

"Face good. Mask vanish." Daeni rolls her shoulders with the explanation that is blunt, if vague on other details. "Good you find work, bad was boring."

With fingers quickly sweeping through his head of short hair - unusually mussy for him, but to be expected coming back from combat - Gabriel chuckles a little at the woman's statement. "It's good that your face is good, and yes, it was bad that it was boring." *COUGH* "Wow. Excuse me. Chopper kicked up a bunch of dust when we set down, and I guess I managed to inhale some of it." His eyes scan side to side for a moment as if waiting to stifle another lung expulsion, but nothing comes of it. "If you don't want to talk work, just say so, okay?" comes with questioning eyes. "Old Bones. Quebec. Same place, right? I know where Chicago and Quebec are. Pretty good picture of how far the Coalition has already spread. You think that if they manage to take the city, they'll be able to hold on to it?"

Daeni shrugs once more. "Not know if Coalition keep if take. Not know how many, what weapons, how many what weapons fight against Coalition. Know is best Coalition lose, all die. Maybe will come here so can die."

There an amused smile, the kind that a grown person might find insulting if it lingered long enough. Fortunately, it flashed past. "I spent a good few years killing Nazis. Wouldn't mind picking it up again. But honestly, as tough as this little city is, I don't personally think that it could hold out against the bastards. There is unfortunately something to be said for being able to throw waves and waves of cannon fodder at your enemy, backed up by masses of equipment, bad or good." He taps the middle of his forehead and explains, "The Soviets won the Eastern Front that way, the Red Chinese beat Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists that way, and the North Koreans damn near did it to us." He shrugs. "Three-hundred Spartans held up three million soldiers of the Persian army at Thermopylae. But it was a suicidal holding action. Quality can beat quantity... but only to a point."

"Believe three hundred beat millions." Daeni cants her head to one side as she considers that. "Even if many more, not need kill all. Kill many, rest fear, flee. If Coalition kill all who different, all who different kill Coalition. Not fight for city, fight for life. Make fight stronger."

Gabriel's face falls into a visible set of genuinely considerate thought, head bobbing slowly. When he speaks, it's to say, "I disagree. Small groups, with the right geography and intelligence can hold up far more massive units. A single sniper can hold up a division. But eventually, the sniper, and the small force, will be overrun, particularly if you're fighting an enemy who has no qualms about sending in waves of soldiers to overwhelm like a steamroller of flesh and nothing more." A thoughtful index finger is raised vertically before his face as he adds, "However, small guerrilla units can cause a continuous pain to the large army. Distractions, annoyances, and group is lucky and bold enough, maybe the occasional strategic target, like an ammunition dump. But guerrillas only win wars if the opposition isn't willing to keep dying." The man's head shakes slowly right and left. "These guys? The Coalition? They don't strike me as the kind of people who'd care about such a thing. Just let people keep dying in pinpricks. The French Maquis did it against Hitler, and it pissed him off, but that was it. Send in the conscripts. The Cossacks did it to him in the east, and he didn't care. Just send in the conscripts." His last statement is said with more force. "We don't want them to come here to fight. Yes, there's something to be said for the home-field advantage. But in war... he who picks the battlefield controls the opening moves." who

Gabriel squints inquisitively. "Daeni, do you hunt the same way that you go to war? Just find something that you want, charge it, bash it to hell, and go home?" A staying hand is held up. "I mean no disrespect, I'm just curious as to how your mind works."

"Match hunt to prey." Daeni explains with an absent gesture of her hand. "If fast, am stronger. If stronger, am faster. If both, am smarter. Few prey stronger or faster. If need hide, sneak, track, will do this. Still is fight in end."

"Interesting. Interesting. That's very straightforward strategy." Gabriel considers for a longer moment, "Okay, if you'll allow me to pose another hypothetical to you, consider this. If you knew that you could absolutely kill something, without being hurt, but you could either get right in its face and tear it to pieces, or would you be content with plugging it in the head from a mile away, before it even knew you were around?"

Daeni's lips curl upwards into an expression between smirk and smile. "If no others, no need be quick. Tear to pieces, slowly. Is more fun, can make more challenge. Easy fight, learn nothing. Hard fight make stronger."

This time, the woman's statement brings a genuine - but still respectful - laugh to Gabriel's lips. "Please Daeni, I don't mean to repeat myself, but once again, there is a certain resemblance between you and Natasha, God rest her soul. Not that she'd actually choose your option, but she would often at least enjoy considering it." The man seems to fall into a distant reverie for a time, touching the small cross at the base of his neck in an autonomic gesture. The head finally shake itself back into reality. "I like to do my duty with no one knowing where I am, or better yet, that I'm there in the first place, and best, that anyone was ever there for whatever happened. One of my men, a Sergeant Peter Alexopoulos, a first-generation Greek-American... as I was a first-gen Polish-American... he started calling me 'Dionysus' after the Greek god of mystery. Obviously, as the way of the English language goes, it got shortened to 'Dino' and everyone but us assumed that it had to do with large and scary reptiles." Gabriel offers a large and toothy grin. "Obviously, I am far from being a large and scary reptile."

"Not look like lizard." Daeni nods, her lips retracting to merely a smirk, albeit one of amusement. "If fight many, fight unseen. Save last enemy for close. Maybe let some live." Her near-smile returns. "Is good enemy be afraid." After a moment, she adds, "If remind Natasha, maybe would like if could meet." She knows this is not possible, yet the comparison is intriguing, if not complimentary.

Gabriel smiles softly. "Yes, it would be an honor for me to have you to meet her, and I know that she would enjoy your company. Sometimes it's good to think back on where you've come from, wouldn't you think?"

Daeni loses what little sign of mirth her visage bore. "I remember it, but do not think of it much. Is past, cannot return to past. If could, not want to."

The short man quirks an obviously intrigued eyebrow. "Really? You never reminisce about the past? Maybe happier times? People you loved? Surely, we all must admit that we have lost loved ones, but we cannot let their memories fade, can we? My family, my parents, my men, my entire world, is gone. Yet it lives on," he smiles and taps his temple with the index finger of his right hand, "right up here. As long as I live, as long as I pass on their story... they will never cease to exist." The last statement is slow and deliberate. "They are eternal."

"Never forget," Daeni clarifies, although not with as much nonchalance as she might prefer, "but not think of always. Keep mind in now. Is best. If look much back, too much ahead, not see where are. Is stupid."

"Sage advice," Gabriel concedes. "One moment, please." The man lifts his left leg up and unclasps the locks holding on his final piece of armor, a greave. It is unceremoniously dumped onto the pile of previous exoskeletal debris. With a smile, his face is lifted back to the elf woman, very relieved. "Whew! Damn, I hate that stuff. If I were slightly more careless with my life, I'd leave it off because it's such a damn inconvenience. Lucky you." His eyes open expressively, one of those human things where you can point without moving at all.

Daeni looses a snort and crosses her arms before her. "Is not luck. Train, skill, sacrifice, not luck. Make own future, not wait for chance." A rolls of her shoulders follows, disparate with the preceding scoff. "Still wear armor when is smart."

Gabriel nods pleasantly for a long while, then guides the subject matter to another topic. His head jerks slightly to his back, clearly indicating the military helicopter, which even now is beginning to spool up for flight, another load of combatants in the passenger compartment. "You know, I do odd jobs around town if that's all that I can get. Fortunately, as you can see, I'm getting better, more interesting work. But I don't have to. I could live the rest of my life away out in my little clearing, walking the forest, never seeing civilization or another living soul save once a year to buy a box of bullets. But I like the work, it keeps me from getting bored, and makes me feel like I'm accomplishing something for the world. I like that." Once again, his head tilts to the side. "Please take no offense, because none is intended - but you. You remain a mystery to me. You certainly survive, that much is obvious. Do well for yourself, too. But do you have any goals? Anything that you want to do besides simple survival?"

"Hunt dragon. Is greatest prey." There is no delay for consideration by Daeni prior to her answer, although some is made for subsequent options. "Maybe find other hunter, almost same skill, maybe as fast, as strong, so can hunt together.

The man smiles widely. "Oh? Just a hunting companion, or also companionship?" It's an honest question, clearly, but also with the tiniest of smirks.

Daeni regains some of her own, prior smirk, and follows with a familiar shrug. "Maybe. If strong, fast, skilled enough. If enough power for hunt same prey, maybe worth for mate."

Gabriel smiles very widely. "Well, a little more love in this world, and it would be a better place. Don't quote me on that, though. I'm pretty sure that's a rip-off quote from Clint Eastwood in 'Pale Rider.' Good movie." He tacks the opinion onto the end of the sentence. Then, "I suppose they don't have movies where you're from though, do they. More of a natural place?"

"Movie? Not know word." Daeni shakes her head, confirming his theory with a belated, "No. Have elf, dwarf, many tools, weapons, much prey. No movies." With no understanding of the significance of such things, she comments upon the other topic at hand. "Is good have ally, partner, other. Is not easy find, in any world. Maybe hardest in this world."

"True and not true, Miss Daeni. On one hand, some people look for it and never find it. Others, well.. we find it when we aren't even looking for it." He gives one of his shrugs, one of the signature ones that expresses simply, "Eh?"

Daeni echoes the shrug in similar sentiment, albeit without the interrogative. "Maybe will find, maybe not. Can survive alone if must. Live here hundred seasons, dozen more is no challenge."

Gabriel shakes his head with a smile. "Only freaks live to be that old. No offense, not you, us. Only women ever make it much past 80, much less the century mark. We're a little squishy. Tend to suddenly hit a wall, age quickly, die. Sometimes people linger, but in a sense, that's worse than going faster than you can notice." His eyes go vacant as he added, "Of course, there are those who die long before their time is up. I suppose that you just have to trust that in His wisdom, they're taken to a better place, for a reason."

"All things die. Is not to fear, fight." Daeni exhales a fresh snort. "If are smart, quick, maybe outlive me. Hear many tales of where dead go, only know truth when die."

He scratches the back of his head in momentary thought. "Well, to be totally honest, I believe in God and all, and that He has a plan for all of us... but I'm sure as hell going to try to make Him think twice about taking me before I'm damn well ready to go." Gabriel gives a very serious nod of his head to punctuate his point. Gabriel's eyes open wide, he breathes deeply, then exhales quickly. "Miss Daeni, I'm afraid that I've taken us into some territory that's a little more philosophic than I was looking forward to coming back from an op." With the armor pieces gathered in his bag at this point, he reaches down and hefts it with one hand. It's obviously not exactly heavy, but not light, either. He offers a casual salute with his free right hand, and says, "I think I'll be off now. Enjoy the day, Daeni, it's beautiful weather. Good time to be alive." With a final smile, he turns and begins walking out of the landing strip, just as the helicopter finally lifts off.

Daeni simply nods. "Is always good be alive. Not know where go, if go, when dead, but think is boring." She turns to observe his departure, paying little mind to the rising aircraft or rotor wash.