( What's probably as absurd is the pan-suffocation actually works to some degree. Annie leaves the pan to continue its best efforts in breath-play, grimacing and wiping the back of a wrist over her forehead. A streak of ash marks her skin, but it does get rid of some of the sweat beading there. )
Neither camping nor pokemon eggs.
( It's no direct match to the one she's carrying, but it has a similar shape and size, regardless. A question to examine later. Maybe a pokemon just... laid it? )
Two were coming from there, and another two spread out but arriving from that side of the clearing...
( The one that'd been part of the group of the two most recently slain mantises comes bursting out of the foliage and waves its scythe-like arms around. )
Yeah. That way.
( She says, running forward and sending a cable flying to embed in a nearby tree, starting up another momentum-gathering cycle before she attempts to decapitate or incapacitate the most recent mantis arrival. )
{ ezra don't make annie a single mother of two. one is enough. 😔 }
But yeah, we can find out what to do with that later. Two from--oh.
{ and then annie is off. he barely has a chance to notice they're there before she's running again. } Shit. Okay.
{ while annie goes up this time he stays closer to the ground. he resummons the chainwhip, this time flinging it until it wraps tight around its legs to trip it up while annie is up there decapitating the thing. it may flail a bit more because of it, but at least it isn't aiming for her when there's a pest on the floor as well. he grits his teeth and then concentrates on the palm of his hand, willing fire to appear again but forcing it into the shape of a sword--something that can be thrust right into its leg. }
( For about as much time as she can spare, Annie shoots Ezra the flattest look. Single Mom Annie is denying any accusations of motherhood. )
Finders keepers.
( He's an Egg Daddy now.
Right. His fire makes her remember what she's been working on, and instead of fire, she concentrates on telekinetically shielding herself: it actually deflects dirt sent flying up by the mantis as it hits the ground. If it would do more, she's not planning to test in the field as anything but a last resort.
It means she touches down safely, checks on Ezra with a glance, and is ready for the sixth mantis this afternoon: slightly larger than the rest, it pauses on the outskirts of the cabin clearing.
Then, seeing any fire in Ezra's hand, comes charging like an angry bull right for him. Shit. )
Ezra! Incoming!
( Annie manages to get one of her cables launched and thrust into one of the larger legs, but it's a small injury and she's left running at an angle after the thing before she can shoot her second cable and try to use the combined angles to pull the mantis off stride, sending it stumbling down before it reaches Ezra. )
{ they can come back to the eggs once this is over. for now though the fire itself doesn't engulf the mantis, just focus on burns and injuring the one area until it topples over backwards, crashing into the trees it loves so much.
as soon as he hears annie's voice though he whips around, summoning his chain whip at the same time so that he can fling it towards the section that seems more fragile, holding its head in place. he yanks the chain tight, holding it in place with his right hand while his left hand reaches out towards the air, willing a massive sword shaped flame hold before it comes crashing down into where the chain is holding this thing to decapitate it properly. }
( With the final head hitting the ground, Annie stands there, intently listening for any other creatures coming. With the smoke having died down, and the fire used by Ezra not doing any extended burning, there's less of a draw to this particular campsite than before.
She holds herself still, then points to herself and up, briefly running at then pulling herself up and up into the trees, perching up high enough to survey what's around. Nothing else in the vicinity that she can see is moving like the mantises. She doubts that's the last in the whole forest, but it's very likely at this point they've cleared out the nine who'd been in the nearby region.
She makes it back down to the ground at speed and with perhaps a surprising amount of grace, swords reholstered, cables retracting to rest at her sides as they had been originally. )
Was there some number of these things we were supposed to thin out? I don't see any evidence of more groups in the immediate area.
{ while annie heads up, ezra starts looking around the site itself to see if anyone had been left behind and hid in the cabin, checking for whatever else may have been left behind. all fires are made to disappear and he finally takes a deep breath once he's checked around and no one seems to have been left behind. }
I don't think so, they just said any that are in the area I think. These types of quests tend to be reoccurring though, like some may turn up here in a few days or something. They probably really should set up wards here.
If they do I don't know about it. I think I remember seeing Riki's shop having something like it, but I'm pretty sure that shop's just for people like us.
( Meaning she's heading into a jog to check the perimeter of this area, ignoring all the dead giant mantises they have. On the other hand, are they supposed to haul those heads back? Ugh. maybe they can take a mandible from each head?
She shoves that thought to the side and looks for signs of people being here recently. There are footprints she catches sight of, but they're not as crisp as hers or Ezra's, so are less recent. No signs of blood that didn't belong to one of the two of them either, or the far more plentiful mantis blood.
By the time she rounds back to him, she's shaking her head. )
Didn't see recent signs at this camp. Unless we want to trek through the woods for a while looking for people, we... ... ... do we need to take parts off these things as proof or will they send people out to drag them off?
{ his own search has proven to be fruitless, but at least he now has his backpack slumped over his shoulder, the actual backpack part facing forwards from himself, rather than on his back. }
We can just take photos, right?
{ he'll pull his phone out, twist around so he gets annie in the frame, as well as the many mantises behind them both. } I didn't see signs anyone was still here though. Everything must have been abandoned when these guys turned up.
( Annie's expression in his photo is a little confused, head cocked just slightly to the side, because...
... she'd forgotten the phones take photographs. Photography isn't strange, it's just the easy way to take photographs by phone that has completely flown out of her head after all this time shoving new information in. The fact she's been using it regularly to pay people or to send text messages and not, you know, making many calls or anything video, and completely not taking any photos, is...
... Okay, she can't believe she forgot all about that. Heading back to Ezra, she gestures for him to show her what he took with his phone. )
I completely forgot we could do that with these things. ( Mismatched technologies...! ) I think you're right. We're lucky there weren't people around to have to keep out of harms way, especially with these things roaming in packs.
{ if it's new it makes sense. he's from a world where phones are the norm. nothing used here on them is different to come. he shrugs at her statement, tucking his phone away after. }
No problem. It isn't any different for me from home so it's easier to remember. But yeah, at least now we can just let them figure out how to clear this up. Let's head back? I guess we could do the quicker route if you wanna get back faster too. We should be able to use the teleportation crystal instead. It's just good to do the airship at least once, y'know?
( Not to the Maple Forest or whatever it's called, but she gives him such a look of absolute baffled confusion leaning toward irritation, he might want to... start walking. )
The city's lousy with airships for getting around already!
{ he does, at least, look sheepish when she seems to be annoyed by all of this. }
Sure, sure! I'm not complaining about that. Honestly I figured it'd give us a chance to get to know each other on the way over, it's easier to fight alongside someone then, right?
Uh-huh. You may have noticed I'm not the most tactful person in the world.
( She can be more tactful when needed. Probably. Annie usually opts for silence over tact, but that's because she's blunt from her perspective. Nowhere near always right, just depressingly often right for shitty reasons.
Those don't apply at present. )
Idiots might be the ones who shake up the world most, so you've got that going for you.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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Neither camping nor pokemon eggs.
( It's no direct match to the one she's carrying, but it has a similar shape and size, regardless. A question to examine later. Maybe a pokemon just... laid it? )
Two were coming from there, and another two spread out but arriving from that side of the clearing...
( The one that'd been part of the group of the two most recently slain mantises comes bursting out of the foliage and waves its scythe-like arms around. )
Yeah. That way.
( She says, running forward and sending a cable flying to embed in a nearby tree, starting up another momentum-gathering cycle before she attempts to decapitate or incapacitate the most recent mantis arrival. )
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{ ezra don't make annie a single mother of two. one is enough. 😔 }
But yeah, we can find out what to do with that later. Two from--oh.
{ and then annie is off. he barely has a chance to notice they're there before she's running again. } Shit. Okay.
{ while annie goes up this time he stays closer to the ground. he resummons the chainwhip, this time flinging it until it wraps tight around its legs to trip it up while annie is up there decapitating the thing. it may flail a bit more because of it, but at least it isn't aiming for her when there's a pest on the floor as well. he grits his teeth and then concentrates on the palm of his hand, willing fire to appear again but forcing it into the shape of a sword--something that can be thrust right into its leg. }
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Finders keepers.
( He's an Egg Daddy now.
Right. His fire makes her remember what she's been working on, and instead of fire, she concentrates on telekinetically shielding herself: it actually deflects dirt sent flying up by the mantis as it hits the ground. If it would do more, she's not planning to test in the field as anything but a last resort.
It means she touches down safely, checks on Ezra with a glance, and is ready for the sixth mantis this afternoon: slightly larger than the rest, it pauses on the outskirts of the cabin clearing.
Then, seeing any fire in Ezra's hand, comes charging like an angry bull right for him. Shit. )
Ezra! Incoming!
( Annie manages to get one of her cables launched and thrust into one of the larger legs, but it's a small injury and she's left running at an angle after the thing before she can shoot her second cable and try to use the combined angles to pull the mantis off stride, sending it stumbling down before it reaches Ezra. )
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as soon as he hears annie's voice though he whips around, summoning his chain whip at the same time so that he can fling it towards the section that seems more fragile, holding its head in place. he yanks the chain tight, holding it in place with his right hand while his left hand reaches out towards the air, willing a massive sword shaped flame hold before it comes crashing down into where the chain is holding this thing to decapitate it properly. }
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She holds herself still, then points to herself and up, briefly running at then pulling herself up and up into the trees, perching up high enough to survey what's around. Nothing else in the vicinity that she can see is moving like the mantises. She doubts that's the last in the whole forest, but it's very likely at this point they've cleared out the nine who'd been in the nearby region.
She makes it back down to the ground at speed and with perhaps a surprising amount of grace, swords reholstered, cables retracting to rest at her sides as they had been originally. )
Was there some number of these things we were supposed to thin out? I don't see any evidence of more groups in the immediate area.
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I don't think so, they just said any that are in the area I think. These types of quests tend to be reoccurring though, like some may turn up here in a few days or something. They probably really should set up wards here.
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Those things are native to the forest. If they want to keep them from doing this over and over, they absolutely should be setting up wards.
( A pause, and she wonders: )
Think anyone sells wards like that back in Nightwake? It seems like that's a form of magic that shouldn't be limited to Otherworlders.
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If they do I don't know about it. I think I remember seeing Riki's shop having something like it, but I'm pretty sure that shop's just for people like us.
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( So strange to her. Unless... )
Maybe he has a line for the locals too?
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{ it's a long enough trip out here and he doesn't have a teleport crystal yet so they do have to journey back. }
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( Meaning she's heading into a jog to check the perimeter of this area, ignoring all the dead giant mantises they have. On the other hand, are they supposed to haul those heads back? Ugh. maybe they can take a mandible from each head?
She shoves that thought to the side and looks for signs of people being here recently. There are footprints she catches sight of, but they're not as crisp as hers or Ezra's, so are less recent. No signs of blood that didn't belong to one of the two of them either, or the far more plentiful mantis blood.
By the time she rounds back to him, she's shaking her head. )
Didn't see recent signs at this camp. Unless we want to trek through the woods for a while looking for people, we... ... ... do we need to take parts off these things as proof or will they send people out to drag them off?
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{ his own search has proven to be fruitless, but at least he now has his backpack slumped over his shoulder, the actual backpack part facing forwards from himself, rather than on his back. }
We can just take photos, right?
{ he'll pull his phone out, twist around so he gets annie in the frame, as well as the many mantises behind them both. } I didn't see signs anyone was still here though. Everything must have been abandoned when these guys turned up.
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... she'd forgotten the phones take photographs. Photography isn't strange, it's just the easy way to take photographs by phone that has completely flown out of her head after all this time shoving new information in. The fact she's been using it regularly to pay people or to send text messages and not, you know, making many calls or anything video, and completely not taking any photos, is...
... Okay, she can't believe she forgot all about that. Heading back to Ezra, she gestures for him to show her what he took with his phone. )
I completely forgot we could do that with these things. ( Mismatched technologies...! ) I think you're right. We're lucky there weren't people around to have to keep out of harms way, especially with these things roaming in packs.
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No problem. It isn't any different for me from home so it's easier to remember. But yeah, at least now we can just let them figure out how to clear this up. Let's head back? I guess we could do the quicker route if you wanna get back faster too. We should be able to use the teleportation crystal instead. It's just good to do the airship at least once, y'know?
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( Not to the Maple Forest or whatever it's called, but she gives him such a look of absolute baffled confusion leaning toward irritation, he might want to... start walking. )
The city's lousy with airships for getting around already!
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Yeah I'm pretty sure they added crystals near the air stations, I didn't realise at first and I haven't used them yet on my own so I could be wrong.
{ he hasn't been here THAT much longer than her- }
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No more scenic route unless we need a break!
( ... so yes they can airship at other times. )
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Sure, sure! I'm not complaining about that. Honestly I figured it'd give us a chance to get to know each other on the way over, it's easier to fight alongside someone then, right?
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Easier than suggesting you want to do that first?
( She'd probably be inclined to have asked why, so ironically, he had the best approach for Annie. Don't say anything, just make it The Plan. )
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{ honestly is she even going to question that.............. }
what did i do to my html...
( She doesn't even sound like she means this rudely. The words are rude, but the tone is more. Mystified. )
ate it
I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to say that to someone's face. At least without knowing each other a while first.
{ he pauses, then: }
But I guess we did just go through something.
oh my gosh you're right i did and it was SALTY very rude
( She can be more tactful when needed. Probably. Annie usually opts for silence over tact, but that's because she's blunt from her perspective. Nowhere near always right, just depressingly often right for shitty reasons.
Those don't apply at present. )
Idiots might be the ones who shake up the world most, so you've got that going for you.
at least it wasn't sour :(
Maybe not. But it does remind me of someone I know back home.
{ but her later comment has him gazing at the floor rather than her as he walks. }
And I dunno about that. I guess only time will tell, huh?