Professor Qasim Rivera sighed to himself as he slowly began pitching up his spacious tent, working slowly and methodically with the ropes, pegs and poles, stifling a yawn as he grumbled to himself, annoyed at his own tiredness. The self proclaimed professor had skipped sleep the last two days, an act that wasn't exactly the wisest for you health often, but was the case in which he found he much closer to Glitch territory than he realized in the forest, having to be on the move for hours on end in between small moments of respite he mostly used to check his supplies in the heavy cart he hated dragging around or a few minor tests and experiments which he noted down, often with unfortunately unfavorable results. It certainly had been a bit of a dead end in his research these last couple of months, no real new discoveries of any notable kind, but he scribbled them down anyways, after-all writing things down was the difference between research for science and just mucking about.
He then gave a quick tug on one of the tent's ropes, satisfied with his work as it gave a strong 'twang' as he pulled it back and released it. Qasim then turned to his old beaten up cart. He really thought he should get a new one, but the truth was he simply thought repairing it was much easier in this day and age than finding some brand new cart in the middle of nowhere, while bartering for one in any of the settlements would just take him all day. No, repairing from any spare part she could find or trade for was probably his best option. Not that he often went in for trading, usually doing so only to get supplies when they need to be replenished. Qasim then wondered why was he discussing facts that were day to day normality to himself in his head. He shrugged it off as he was about to drag the cart into his tent and set up some research equipment as well as, and more important to his exhausted mind, his sleeping roll. However, he was abruptly met with the sounds of gun shots in the distance, leaving him to freeze in place, startled by the sudden booming and unexpected noise.
He stared into space a few seconds, then changed to peering around his surroundings, all the while mulling the decision over whether to investigate the noise or not. Having given it some thought, he stretched out his back before rummaging around the cart to pull out his makeshift flame thrower, rubbing his eyes as he began wandering away from his tent and cart, leaving it unattended as he headed towards the sounds of fighting. He just knew he was going to regret this.