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Who: HANGE!!! GArak, Coil and Zhas
Broadcast: none
Action: closed to Red Fish crew
When: sometime... when they're in range of the planet... after whenever the waystation mingle goes up...?

[She'll take a look at the spa later - after slowly going a little stir-crazy on the ship, Hange wouldn't close herself in another building (no matter how luxurious) by choice.

Now, just as she's been, she prowls and paces along the edge of the forest, looking in. She looks excited: her eyes wide, pupils dilated, grinning absentmindedly. The movement never quite stops. The whoops and cries of distant birds or other, more alien things; the smell of wet ground and the rustle of leaves... it's like home, just like home, just like being at home, all she needs is her 3DMG and her horse and her squad. If only.

Hange will head in soon. She's seen that path and - it could be a trap, but her nature is way too direct to pass up so courteous an invitation. Soon enough...]

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[Apparently, the forest will keep up the illusion a little longer, maybe just to screw with them now if they won't run away. The titans keep pace with them, strolling along through the brush, one lazy step for ten of Coil and Hange's.

Hange drops back to talk to them.]

Congratulations, your first sight of a titan and - [Well, she glances to check] - you didn't piss yourself! Some soldiers do, you know!

[thank goodness for that. and he points to his eye, and signs an emphatic 'a lot' --a common sign, and quite self-explanatory.

he's used to monsters and terrors, even though these were certainly ranked in the top three. being what he is, he's a little more resilient toward some of the mind-altering fear that mortals feel when faced with creatures that shouldn't be.

luckily, for his own dignity.]

Haha. [She keeps them at a trot, keeps scanning the surroundings, but she glances back at the titans pretty constantly. They're all out for a happy forest stroll. How picturesque.] Your history seems like it must be pretty interesting, kiddo!

[ha. his eyebrows lift and he nods in her direction.

she's one to talk.]

Those things are called titans! [She'll just fill him in while she walks along, waving her arms towards the subjects in question.] They've really decimated the human population at home. But don't you find their precious smiles kinda charming?

[They do look pretty happy.............]

[ha. he just shakes his head.

not charming at all. nope.]

We should name these guys. They're following us around just like puppies! [They're not like puppies at all.] So we'd better name them!

You feel that heat? These guys are boiling hot on the inside. If the teeth don't kill you, hitting the stomach will. They'll eat their fill of humans until they're full, but that won't stop 'em! Once they fill up, they'll vomit up the humans they've devoured and continue on eating. We have no idea why they keep at it. Some say they just like the slaughter. They don't sustain themselves off of humans anyway. They photosynthesize! So, in the normal way of things they're inactive at night, lucky for us.

[he's listening, but his attention is everywhere that Hange isn't actively looking. she can do all the naming and fawning she'd like--he can't exactly contribute easily or comment on all of this horrifying trivia, so he simply absorbs it while they stroll.

and after a minute, he makes a motion like he's telling her to keep her eyes on the road, whether she's really paying attention to the world around the titans or not.]

[She is, so she ignores the gesture completely and keeps talking.]

There's only one vulnerable point on those guys! Well, you can carve out an eye or slice certain tendons, just like in humans, but that's a stopgap measure because they'll regenerate. Still, it can provide you a few seconds to get out of immediate range. If you want to kill one of them off, you have to slice out the nape completely.

See the tallest one there? [There is one that's a meter or so taller than its companions.] I'm gonna call that one Skip. The one with the beard is Johnson. The other one can be Smiley!

[he's trying to keep to himself like he should... but yeah. he really can't help shooting her a tired, wary look with the whole naming thing.

her sanity is definitely being called into question.]

[She's perfectly sane! She's perhaps a little too sane. She just likes to have fun. She grins at him right back.]

Smiley because they smile so much, you get it?

[and guess who is really bad at having fun.

Coil just looks at her. only offers a blink.]

[She laughs!]

These guys are around the medium size you normally see! You get little ankle-biters that maybe come in at around ten feet, and this type, and the ten-meter type we saw with your big friend. The biggest one on record is sixty meters, though. Big enough to see over the wall.

[he's still listening, though there's some moment there where part of his attention quietly hooks on something else and goes slowly reeling out as they walk.

there's something distracting him. some soft sound underneath all the other forestnoise, below the grunts and murmurs of the giants behind them.

he begins to slow, glance off the side of the path instead of watching straight ahead.]

[She continues to chat away about titans titans titans as they walk. Scanning and watching around them, and watching him too, constant check-ins. Accustomed to processing a lot of information all at once. You can't get too flat-footed outside the walls and this is pinging her on all outside the walls, free and in danger levels.

After a little bit with him lollygagging away, and Hange following him, she snaps her fingers at him.]

- say! Are you listening?

[the snapping calls his attention immediately--much quickly than words do. it comes from all that silent conversation he's used to, making small claps and snaps to catch the other whenever noise is finally necessary.

and he blinks at her for a minute, surprised. but it doesn't last longer than that.

something steals his focus away into the forest again. there's no monsters there, though. no people, no strange sounds. the only new element to their surroundings is the rippling sound of some unseen, nearby creek.]

[She cuts into silence abruptly. The titans can, for once, be ignored - they're no threat. What a strange thing to think. She watches Coil instead, alert because he's alert. Alert to try and scruff him back if he goes plunging off the trail. Shadowing him...]

[he's poised... but not to bolt into the trees. his weight is leaned in the wrong direction for that.

and there's nothing else there but the gentle sound of water.

though, it does perhaps sound as though it's getting closer. it's not a violent sound, no rushing rapids or water falling, but it does seem to be drawing nearer to the path through the trees.]

[She stops watching him and looks past him, lips pressed thin, thinking of what to do. His tension is getting to her too, a sympathy she felt for scouts sometimes, outside the walls. Everyone's energy would knot together that way.

It will only be another illusion. He looks ready to bolt for it. She'll be ready to bolt with him, but, well. She wants to see what, if anything, appears. That first.]

[it's quiet. very slow. and really, it sounds wonderful--the water lapping softly through roots and bramble.

and there's nothing to see until it's right at the edge of the path. other than maybe a light rustle through the lowest underbrush, the glint of light on wetness.

it's just water, seeping from the forest and onto the side of the path. only a few inches deep. but Coil gasps as soon as he sees it, scuttling back a step as if it could burn him.]

[Mm. She reaches to put a hand against his shoulder.]

It's not real.

[he whirls his gaze at her, already so strained around his eye when he stares.

right. he knows it's a trick. he'd been waiting for it, braced for monsters, voices...

but then the water continues to gently flood onto the path--deeper in the forest but still not deep or swift enough to threaten their safety. and here it just comes creeping for Coil's boots. all he can see is how much of the path is being met with water, up and down this whole stretch, and imagine how much it must be. how deep it must get somewhere. it probably connects to some swollen river.

he could lose his footing, slip and fall, stick in the mud until it rises up over him.

regardless of the hand on his shoulder, there's another gasp and he backpeddles further across the path. visibly biting down panic. forget the giants-- this is what really scares him.]

Close your other eye!

[She steps with him. If he goes off the path, she'll go with him. It's just a guess. Maybe it's all visual. If he can feel it too, he'll probably lose it and they'll just deal with that when it happens.]

[he shakes his head! because he already feels like he's drowning, and the thought of being blind or more handicapped than he already is strikes a sharper, more urgent sense of terror in him.

the startled gasps begin to turn into hyperventilation, though he is trying to fight it down. he looks around, as the oncoming tide pushes him back across the path, maybe searching for higher ground. and in the process, he sees just how close he already is to the other side. it's enough to convince him to listen.

so, he sidles close to that far edge, getting as much distance as he can between the water and himself, and desperately shuts his eye.

but he can still hear it.]

Plug your ears too. I'm grabbing you. [And whether he listens or not, she is. She reaches to take hold of his shoulder and get them both walking. They can walk blind. It's fine. It's all good.]