Cameras? What Cameras? [Event Mission. D-Rank. WC: 911/100]

Mission:

This was hilarious. He was getting paid to do things he did regularly on his time off. God, he loved his jobs sometimes. The amount of overlap was hilarious, he could literally get paid to do his job at the center, but instead of costing the already underfunded place more money, it was his military pay going to him, and the taxes he paid going toward funding the center. Win-win for everyone.

He was a bit... strange looking at the moment, with a pack on his back filled with his mission supplies and an odd cloth pack hanging across his front. Even stranger, the pouch across his front was shifting and moving on it's own. In said pouch was his new little buddy, a joey that had to be taken from it's mother due to circumstances that meant he would be a danger to his herd. So, he was being hand raised, specifically by Karukaya. Given how easy and short this mission was, he'd elected to take the baby Coen with him; otherwise the poor guy would be alone in his apartment, and that was a bad thing for babies this young. He needed to be around people, specifically his caregiver, for as much time as possible, so that they could bond. Otherwise, the joey would grow up angry, and unable to handle being worked with by the vets and such at the center.

For now, Karu was taking the long route around the area, scouting to make sure the map itself was accurate, as it was on the older side, and the volcanic nature of the region could cause some pretty significant changes relatively quickly. After an hour or so of wandering, he concluded the map was good enough for the moment, and went to work. The first camera was a good 500 meters away from his current position, and only took a few minutes to jog to. A special key was needed to open the camera case, and he retrieved it from the case in bit backpack that held the replacement rolls of film. The lock opened with no problems, and it took him less than a minute to retrieve the used film. Another three minutes and a fresh roll was loaded, the case cleaned out ( a small vine was trying to set itself up inside) and closed.

The second camera was over two miles away, and that was a good half hour trek through the open brush. The trail was non-existent, so he had to use a bit of scouting to actually find it. The brush was growing high here, so he used a kunai to clear it from around the camera and the key to open it. The film was removed pretty easily, and replaced just as quickly.

On to the next. This one wasn't as far, roughly a mile or so to the east. Another half hour trip, the brush was pretty thick in this area, and the next camera was in about the same shape as the previous. Overgrown, blocked, basically unusable as it was. he spent some time clearing and cleaning, then cracked it open. It was a pain in the ass to get the film free; it took almost 10 minutes to free it without breaking the special case it was in to keep it from being over exposed. Once it was free, he attempted to load the fresh film and was met with the horrifying sound of the protective case snapping open the moment he got it into the slot.

"Well, shit." he dug the wasted film out and flashed a light into the space, noticing the sharp edge of a branch poking free near the back. "Great." He pocketed the wasted film and pulled out the map, circling the camera's location and making a note that it needed replacing. "Oh well, two more."

The fourth was easier to reach, back out in the open areas where the worst he had to move through was some tall grass. A little dusting off of the camera case, a quick swap of the films, and on to the last camera. The 5th and last was the farthest out, nearly 4 miles from the rest. That was the longest trek, a good two hours due to the terrain and occasional dense brush spots along the trail. It was at least in good shape, clear and clean and took it's fresh film without and trouble.

Well, he had his film, he'd replaced what he could, now it was time to head in and report the broken camera.

"Oi Karu, that you?" His radio was going off, and an odd time for it to be, as it was his issued radio from the wildlife center.

"Megumi?"

"Yeah, that you over by the research cameras?"

"You out spotting?"

"Yeah, jeep top. I can see you through my scope."

"How far out are you, I'll hitch a ride back in with you guys if you have room."

"Plenty man. We're 600 meters to the north and west. Head for the big tree and look off to the west about 15 degrees or so."

Trotting to the tree as he was instructed, he focused in the direction and spotted the jeep pretty easily, "Awesome, I see you now. Be there in a few minutes. You can meet Coen, I have him with me."

"Sweet, see ya in a bit."

WC: 911/100