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( all of AOT is in its gay bar phase and we're proud of them for it.

Annie rests her palm on the top of the satchel, looking a little bemused. puzzled is a good state to be in when it comes to pokemon eggs. )

That's what I would assume, but apparently I'm the donkey. It wants to get walked?

( sure did nothing sitting at home, and it just feels weird leaving it around. weirder than carrying it? apparently not. she shrugs at the question about camping. )

I'm former military. I'm used to roughing it.

( or is she still military? ...

this is it. Annie's claiming her retirement. she hitches her bag a touch higher on her shoulders. )

Any idea how far the airship's drop-off is from our end point?

{ i'd say they are living their best lives but no... no they are not kdsjng

but still, it does look pretty funny. }

How does an egg even know it's being walked?

{ he'll indicate for her to follow though, as he starts walking to board the airship and all. he's done a few trips on this by now so if it's her first time he can give a bit of a tour as well. just a bit. }

Ah, then yeah. Maybe this will be luxury in comparison to that? We'll find out soon enough. This is supposed to be at a campsite though, right? So it may be a bit of a walk to get there.

Magic.

( She says dryly and without pausing a beat.

The airship is designed differently than the ones she has ridden, both on her home world and those smaller ones used for central city transit. She looks around, taking it all in. )

Still feels strange to hear people do this for fun. I suppose that happened back in my world too... just wasn't anything we did.

( Not outside of missions. Eldians weren't allowed to wander around most of the world freely, once they were known as part-Eldian. )

But if it's anything like the military camping I've done, you hike out, set up, and then plan out your rotation. Which for the people here is probably planning out what you're going to do for fun. So probably not the hardest hike.

Camping you mean? Yeah. Most of the time it's about being out with friends. Usually it just involves drinking, maybe playing some games or something--or telling spooky stories! Those come up pretty often too I think.

You've never gone to a campsite just for fun before though? Maybe some other time you'll get to try the fun part on the way there. It doesn't have to be serious the entire time.

{ since the distance is longer though, the airship is bigger to allow for that. they can settle for the time it goes over, and ezra will try and point out a landmark or two. }

( Everything he says makes her wonder how more civilians don't just die when camping. Especially out in the Segments? Why? Is it the thrill? )

No, I've been military all my life.

( Leaving it at that for her whole... explanation. Still, it's easy enough to settle in for the ride... and take in the unfamiliar landscape like she's walked the desert and been dehydrated the whole time. She's flown in a variety of ways now, either in the blimp-airships of home or on Falco's back, but this is an almost peaceful venture, even with the stormclouds she sees on the horizon within Autumn Segment. The more Ezra points out or comments on, the more Annie's likely to ask, part genuine curiosity, part compulsive information gathering.

Journeys have their waystations, and the airship's eventually arrives ~~whenever that timeline is, perhaps even centuries later~~. Then it's a matter of negotiations for next-stage transit, given the distance between the dock and the Maple forest. )

{ to be fair, it's how a lot of horror movies start-

but it's honestly a good question. }

Ah... Well, now we're here, maybe we'll find a spot that isn't dangerous and let you try the casual version of it. It can be pretty fun!

{ it isn't too long to arrive at least, while travelling on foot may take days, it's hours max in the airship. at least after that trip over she'll have a better idea of how things look from above. now they're on the ground and getting close to the destination though, he'll pull off his jacket, the maple trees not too far in the distance now. }

We should probably take a quick break and head over when we're all set up. The camp site should be nearby, but since that's supposedly the danger zone now... we should probably prep before we get there.

{ which means he'll finally ditch his coat, rolling it up to shove it into his backpack and probably finally explaining why he had 0 judgement for what annie is wearing--his own shirt is backless--ensuring that the wing tattoo there is fully on show. }

I... guess. I could try.

( if for a moment she sounds more unsure than she does reluctant, it's because she is. what's... fun? the drinking? the just being around a campsite and not having to prepare for training and drills? the companionship of... friends? annie does a brief mental inventory of those who'd say they're her friend, and comes up with about four names, and two of them are from home.

what's weird is there's more than the two, but people are willing to be friendly even to gloomy persons such as herself.

they arrive sooner than she expected. these flying ships make good time. )

Has the camp site even been previously secured? Against whatever the Maple Forest has living in it?

( the fact this is an issue at all inclines her to believe not, but what does she know? poor administration isn't unique to any one world. she's setting her egg to the side and then pulling the ODM gear out of the travel case to start attaching to her harness, glancing briefly at ezra when his coat goes off and is shoved into his backpack. huh. tattoos. magic? reiner made sure she knew about those.

she pulls the egg's satchel back on, securing the top so that even if she has to suddenly deploy her cables, it'll remain in place. it also makes it look like she's cradling her egg as an infant more or less bound to her chest, but that's fine. this pokemon better appreciate her efforts. )

Are your wings from home or from here?

( reiner's magic tattoo is from this world, and annie is likely to end up getting one herself at some point, but in the interim... )

{ too bad for her he's already decided they are now friends. he'll tone it down if she shows proper discomfort though, as much of an idiot he may be with some things--people are thankfully something he's good at. }

I doubt it, if this had to be put up as a quest. That or it had but one of the wards broke or something--if they even have those here.

{ still, he'll also look at the extras she's put on herself now too and suddenly it makes a hell of a lot more sense. thankfully he doesn't look for long, instead rolling his shoulder for a moment as he tries to warm up a little first. }

Huh? Oh. No. All of mine are from home. I did hear there's something similar here but... these are blessings from angels from back home. I take it your... uh gear is from home as well?

( ezra ensuring her friend count is now up to three, three whole different people from different worlds. she's more uncertain what to do with people's genuine efforts than uncomfortable. it's just not her normal. she's not exactly the cheerful, charismatic sort. )

Am I right in assuming wards are meant to act like barriers themselves? Keeping things out or in... if they exist here.

( a twitch of her lips, acknowledging that all of them are crossing over their home knowledge with the learning curve of what's applicable to this world. )

Mm, Reiner talked about his with me... sounds like a few of the people from my world went in for them. None of them are as intricate as yours as far as I know.

( Levi's might be closest, but she has no idea about that. She'll revisit the idea of magic tattoos again in the coming weeks, but at the present moment, she has nothing equivalent. )

Angels as in heavenly beings, right? ( Keeping other mythologies sorted in her head. Angelic gets used as a term back home too, but it doesn't really carry specific connotations she can point to offhand. Probably does in religions she knows little to nothing about. ) Yeah, via bear delivery.

( such a dry statement. the side effect of that delivery had been a long day of cold showers and general irritability. annie had not asked to be unreasonably horny out of nowhere. )

It'll be more useful in the forest than on the way there. Relying on having things to anchor on makes flat, open spaces more challenging.

( she pats the egg in its satchel, more absently checking its position than trying to be affectionate. )

{ she doesn't have to be the cheerful, charismatic sort--she should meet samson. honestly they're fairly similar in that way. there's some differences, of course, but it is a bit like getting part of his best friend with him. in this way, she's going to get stuck with this now. }

Yeah, exactly like that. Someone I know back home was blessed by an angel that gave him the ability to do that. It'd kind of hide the presence of people as well. But yeah, I read about it at some point. I should look into it, I imagine it doesn't hurt as much as these do anyway. But huh? Oh, yeah. Heavenly beings.

{ ah, another victim of the wish boner... maybe don't trust the shady store in future, annie- }

But that makes sense. It looks kind of complicated but I'll try and keep up as best I can.

{ it makes no sense looking at him now, most likely, but he won't get his wing out until they need it. no point of draining manna for the hell of it. }

Ready?

( She evaluates him for a moment after the comment about tattoos here not hurting as much as the blessed ones do. Sounds typical. Granted, his actually also sound blessed, what with the angels and demons thing, but she could also turn into a giant skinless woman because she inflicted limited self harm, so really. Titan Shifters have nothing to offer in commentary. )

I'll stay grounded until we're dealing with the mantises anyway. I have backup for the fuel, but I'd rather not use it unless I need to.

( That said, she inclines her head to him when he asks if she's ready. )

As I can be. I still can't believe the locals vacation out here...

( And as they head out: )

As far as you know, does this Maple forest or whatever it's called have any unique, weird magical issues of its own?

( Magic. Treat it like a natural disaster. Surely this will make it make sense. )

{ to be fair the 'ink' is also from a crying statue and is essentially liquid manna. it's pretty different to regular ink. but really he hasn't exactly had regular tattoos to compare. every inch of skin is kind of kept on the off chance he gets more blessings in the future. }

Same, same. Really I'd get it closer to the city but this far out seems insane. It's my first time coming to this area as well though, in the past I mostly went to the summer one. We'll have to keep an eye out just in case.

{ at least the walk to the edge of the maple forest isn't far, once they're at the edge and heading inside to find the clearing though he'll give annie a nod. }

The camp site shouldn't be too far in I don't think...

( A statue wept and y'all tattoo'd yourself with it. Annie would not actually be able to say that's too wild considering her home if she knew, but everywhere be wilding. )

It's still far enough from the Darkness people must mistake themselves as safe.

( She hums acknowledgement, rolling her shoulders back a touch. She studies the the woods they're passing through, then abruptly goes still. In the middle distance part of a cabin roof is visible, but that's not why she's paused. The mantises aren't as large as many of the Titans she's dealt with, but they're much more a natural part of their environment.

And she's just spotted two moving slowly and carefully through the trees they seem to tend, turning their attention toward the campgrounds. Where's the third? She gestures for Ezra to lean closer, mostly because he's taller than she is (why is everyone tall) and she's speaking in a murmur that should carry to him but not across the entirety of the distance to the visible mantises. )

Two southwest of our position. Can you see a third?

{ can he at least say that originally his first set of that was from gabriel directly forcing it on him, not a needle? because... yeah if that hadn't happened maybe he'd be living blissfully unaware and not inking himself up with this still- }

Likely, but anywhere out here should be dangerous compared to the city.

{ he'll at least peer over at her when she indicates, leaning down as requested before he finally spots what she sees (unfortunately while he can react well, he is not the most observant...) }

Shit. Okay let's--

{ it's not seeing it this time that gets his attention, considering it comes from behind them this time but there's a rustle of the trees leaves before he's grabbing annie by the shoulders to spin her out of the way and getting cut on the shoulder himself. }

...Guess we found the third.

( Any movement she would have taken is interrupted when she's grabbed and spun around, leaving the strike from the third mantis to come down with a glancing hit to Ezra's shoulder. Annie curses, wrapping an arm around Ezra's waist and shoving him backward before she manages to shoot the grappling cable out of her other hand's grip, dragging him along with her as the recoiling pulls them both suddenly and sharply out of the mantis's path.

All three are clearly already agitated and ready to thrown down at anyone moving in the area, the one that'd lashed out lifting both scythe-like forearms in a clear threat. Only a strange, breathy call from the other two turns it away, and it scuttles on creepily silent feet toward the rest of its group, moving on the cabin and the wood kept by the fire surely near there. )

Well isn't that great. How's your shoulder?

( Letting go and abruptly starting to jog after the mantises, listening for an answer even if she doesn't appear to be waiting for one. If she needs the speed her gear can give her, so be it. The mantises aren't yet moving as lightly as Titans of the same size, but they were more solid too, and she doesn't know what their armor will be like under her blades.

Also, there's no sound of civilians screaming, so it's likely this particular cabin and site isn't one of the ones more dangerous for these creatures to be around. They have time, if that's all true. )

{ it isn't too deep, at least, and while it stings he can live with it. annie's shorter than he is, that could have very well have been her head instead. he yelps as she grabs him in return, her gear pulling them out of harms way. }

It's not that bad, really! { even though he's wincing, he can live with it. } Promise next time I'll be ready enough to use a shield.

{ while he runs he's already summoning camael's chain from his arm, his arm glowing gold as the handle seems to materialise from the skin itself. }

If we get on top of the cabin it'll make them easier to fight. Probably.

( ... Right, her own shield. Annie leaves off activating the Safety Pin for now, since she's not fully sure how well it works covering herself and someone else. As it is, there's not a lot of time to think and plan, just to move. )

I'll meet you up there.

( She says, and then she's deploying her cables into the trees and is up off the ground in a whirring rush of sound and motion. Jamming the hilts down onto the blades at her thighs, Annie descends on one of the mantises and aims for the joint at the back of the head, slamming down with both blades and gouging through. Then angle seems right, but she can feel the resistance even at the joint, and knows she'd need more momentum and force for severing.

Manipulation of cables leads to her touching down on the cabin's rooftop, slowing her run to its peak and whipping around to face the direction the uninjured mantises are coming from. Sure, she didn't manage to kill the first one yet, but it is significantly injured enough not to be doing more than flailing around where it'd been hit.

Also, she just punctured multiple trees doing this. Annie has become Maple Mantis Most Wanted all in about a minute. One charges the cabin roof, and she's already off again, baiting both into trailing after her and scything their front arms at the sky. GET DOWN HERE AND DIE FOR HARMING THEIR WOOD, WOODPECKER THING! )

{ his own is a different one to the safety pin--but barachiel can still offer something when he needs it. }

Sure. { he may not know how her gear fully works, but there's some understanding of it from how she pulled them back before. his own movements take less effort as he runs towards the mantises. when he's paces behind though it slows to a walk, the wing at his back expanding out and letting his feet lift off the ground gracefully. it's a lot less of a destructive start than annie begins, but it's probably a strange sight to see when he finally rises up to tower above them all. his right hand reaches for his left arm, pulling the chain whip he summons from inside. }

Hey, ugly. Up here too, don't forget about me.

{ it's the only warning before that chain whips through the air though, swinging around the one's neck that annie injured to use as an achor until he can pull himself in. it helps him pick up speed, essentially soaring through the air until he flies past it, that wing at his back cutting through the same spot annie hit before. at first it isn't enough, but as he keeps flying forward while gripping onto the chain the final tug as he flies too far to make it reach its tether is enough to snap it off. }

( This is why a safety-pin will be in his future. Just, well, weeks away and for other, related reasons.

Annie hits a tree with the bottoms of her boots and adjusts her trajectory out, catching some of how Ezra moved and making a mental note about the wing being multi-functional. Possibly some property of what it was, tattoo-and-blessing wise.

What's more relevant is the decapitation of one Mantis, right as she launches one of her grappling hooks right into another Mantis, puncturing through its exoskeleton. It allows her to arc over the range of its long, scythe-like arms and come down with force on the juncture of its head and neck, this time cutting through completely while her one cable retracts and she jumps back off the twitching creature, starting to collapse onto the ground.

The problem isn't with the two now dead Mantises. It's not even with the third that Annie is blocking a strike from even as she's changing direction and pulling herself back out of reach. No. The problem is the third Mantis slams a leg down into the banked fire where wood had been burning and sends sparks flying into the air, which are then caught and pulled further along by the breezes winding their way through the forest.

This will not be a noticeable problem for a good five minutes yet. But it will end up being a reason for a larger number of Mantises to show up in defense of their forest trees if those sparks, now settling partly onto the dried grasses around the cabin, don't end up snuffed out.

The third Mantis lashes out with one arm in the direction Annie swings past in, hitting the ground with both feet and running immediately to keep momentum, balance, and her knees happy; lashes out with the other arm in Ezra's direction, objecting to both of these horrible things and all the dangers its wood faces. )

{ everything is fine, annie, in fact his shoulder has probably half healed already by now. the blood drying to his skin as he moves through the air. some of it will stick to the front part of his top but he's clearly not bothered about it at the moment while he's stuck on thinking of how to keep them both safe.

luckily, despite not seeing the fire, the sound of smell of sparks and smoke from the mantis hitting the fire is enough to draw ezra's attention. summer's powers is a blessing here, since he can control that from spreading too far--but also control where it goes. }

Don't get too close to it!

{ ezra's right hand reaches up to swing the chain up and around the mantis' arm, the chain wrapping around to hold it in place. his left hand spreads out as he concentrates and suddenly that fire will bulge. it doesn't go for the forest itself, but seems to crawl up from the ground and up along the mantis' body itself. it takes merely seconds before it is engulfed in flame. }

( Annie's own Summer control is far weaker, being far more new: she doesn't try when she sees the flames responding in a way that doesn't align with nature. In fact, she shoots a cable higher into the trees and perches there on a branch, out of his way in the moment and scanning the forest for anything else incoming.

There, there, and there. Fine. Looks like a mantis party.

Annie's cable punctures the flaming mantis as she swings back down and decapitates it in a smooth motion, hitting the ground running after and gesturing in two directions. )

At least three more incoming, and I think there's a second set behind them! Can you kill the flames?

( The blaze is already beyond her ability to quell right now, though she has enough ability to render flames temporarily harmless to herself. )

{ to be fair he's been here 2-3 months and still only has a handle of some of the basics. he is not the best guide for this. the fire part though, that he has down well enough for this.

that mantis goes down and the fire gets snuffed out this time, smoke rising in the air from the wood that was set aflame before. while controlling the flames the wing at his back will fade away. }

Done. I uh... can't do anything about that though.

{ he indicates to the smoke. }

Maybe if we stomp on it?

( It'd help if they had more of the usual campfire suppression equipment around: dirt in buckets, sand, things like that. Annie jogs over while keeping a mental calculation on the speed of the mantises running in the back of her mind, kicking some dirt up onto one of the larger smoking parts of wood. It does technically help cut down on the amount of smoke it's issuing.

Somewhat.

But the sounds of large bodies moving through undergrowth are right on them again, so she's using her cables to get back up to higher ground, pushing off one tree and then another as she hits them to reposition as two more mantises enter the clearing, both aiming straight for the smoking cabin. )

Can you see anything like a bucket around here?!

( She calls out as she heads into another dive, the mantis's sudden shift in position meaning she slices through the joint of an arm instead of its neck. Annie flips herself out of the way of its other arm, cable shooting into the mantis's thorax to help her swing around and shoot off in another direction, avoiding the second mantis's attempt to cut her out of the air. )

A bucket?

{ annie's running and zipping around like crazy, while ezra stands in on the spot, turning in circles as he squints to see around the smoke. }

Where am I supposed to find a bucket?!

{ she's doing okay at the moment, but he'll get closer to the cabin to start going through the camp supplies that had been left behind. there's a mug, some spoons, a deep pan and an ...egg? }

Would a big pan work?!

{ honestly he probably shouldn't be staying on the ground while the mantises are still trying to murder them, but he has an easier chance of getting out of the way since he doesn't have to rely on wires. annie will see him step back into the clearing, one hand holding a big pan, the other... a pokemon egg. 😔 }

( Annie isn't able to answer until she's finished taking down the mantis she relieved of a limb, using her cables to tangle up the legs of the second one momentarily as she whips past, grimacing.

Her blades catch and slide along the scythe-arm of the mantis when it falls and lashes out, and she's doing a short cable lift into the air before she shoots both into the mantis and drives down again, cutting through the neck joint once more. She lands, flecked with mantis ichor, and sees... )

Are you... you found an egg?!

( Still, she's racing over to snag the pan and not even bothering to gather dirt in it. She just flat out slams the pan down over the largest smoking section, trying to suffocate the flames. )

How does a dedicated camp site have no fire safety measures!?

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