WIP Boldly IC Post

Internally, Archer all but went off on the woman for wasting ammo like that.  Externally, he instead just blinked at her slowly.  Though the shots were unexpected, he had been trained for a poker face in situations like this, even [i]if[/i] his instincts were screaming at him to duck or at least flinch when the retorts went off.

"I was actually familiarizing myself with the crew when I was summoned to this....exercise," he admitted, "three hundred is a lot to go through and I wasn't having the best time concentrating.  I don't know if a glitch or some arse is trying to prank me," he grimaced, "but my office is a right frosty 18 degrees."

Given the now retreating form of the redhead had yet to identify herself, Archer was all but at a loss as to what to refer to her by - especially considering the mood she seemed to be in.  Looking towards the others, he waited to see what they were going to do.  You didn't get far in Room 39 by being gung hu....not that he, as much a desk jockey as his career had been since the explosion, could really say much about how field agents normally operated or acted.

"I'm going to have enough trouble just getting through this muck," he pointed out, though if Aoibheann was still close enough to hear was unknown, "so I'm not going to force any of you to hold yourselves up to keep me company," a soft, dry chuckle escaped his lips, "and if I get left to far behind, I'll just light this on fire," he hefted the branch-turned-cane for a second.

He left unsaid that the firey redhead had yet to introduce herself.  Less fuel to add to the fire fueling her temper at the moment, he decided.

"Bet you she kicks the calendar first," Archer blinked at Polaski's turn of phrase, but otherwise didn't respond as the other man drew his own sidearm and set off to follow the woman.

Twelve hours - that was a long time just to find each other in this dimly lit forest;  Archer couldn't help but be suspicious that there was more to the Captain's plans than they had been told.  Caution slowing him down even further, his three legged gait put the intelligence officer at a disadvantage in this environment as he moved forward.  As much as he thought that redhead needed to use the brain between her ears for something other than being loud, she had so graciously insisted at being the bait in case whomever, or whatever, was the source of the flickering light was hostile or trying to trap them.

Archer suppressed an exhasperated sigh when the night air carried Aoibheann's concerns about drink and smokes to his ears.  Of all things, it was these things she was concerning himself with and he barely caught his arm in time to prevent a loud facepalm, instead turning it into a swing to push around one of the numerous trees.

"Miss, you won't be drinking while you're supposed to be on high alert. It's a foolishness of the highest order, and while I may not have the authority to put a stop to it, I would certainly hope our Major would have the common sense required to. Now, back to our situation, I believe our bright haired compatriot has had the brightest idea of the night with her torch. Perhaps you'd be so kind to demonstrate the making, Miss...?"

Though Archer was still to far out, and his eyes still adjusted to the dim light reflecting off the virtual moon in the night sky, a slight incline of the head was unavoidable as he agreed with whomever had just called the redhead out on her concern over her vices.

"Since we all seem to be friendly and all," Archer's voice called over to the group, "mind lending a hand?  I'm not as fast or nimble as I once was."

As he mused over the old saying that a group was only as fast as its slowest member, and how his limp likely made him that very individual for now, he squinted against the glare from the torch as it assaulted his dilated pupils.  For the moment, all he could make out were the vaguely humanoid shapes in the range of the torch's light while his eyes struggled to make up their mind about if they wanted to adapt to the new source of light or stay dilated for the night around them.