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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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[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.]

[he fumbles and fights for a second, but then he rushes with her with hands clamped over his ears. he's got one shot at this and he knows it.

it gets tough when he steps down and feels the splash of a few inches of water, though. it makes him jump, shoving into her, but he's still moving forward.]

[All right, she'll get them both running.

Part of her is considering if she should just scoop him up in a carry. That'll be awkward with the gun; she'll consider it if he gets worse.]

[it'd be like trying to carry a giant, panicking cat that has a nasty habit of going right for the pressure points.

the water reaches a limit, though. this forest plays by some set of rules. the titans didn't bear right down on them on the path, and the water doesn't flood all the way across. there is some wetness to splash through, just to scare him, but they still have that skinny strip of space to run along.

and eventually, the forest gives up. it's a long swath that has been flooded, but there's an end on the other side. not that Coil's going to notice in his panic, but it's there.]

[She whacks him firmly on the shoulder.]

You're clear!

[his wheels spin without traction for a minute, bringing his hands down and opening his eye but still ready to flee or fight, staring around without really seeing.

and still hyperventilating, with wetness smeared a little around his eyes. still on high panic but hopefully beginning to come down.]

[She looks off into the woods, to give him at least that little veneer of privacy. No rush. He can take a few minutes to collect himself while Hange cordially pretends not to notice he's crying.]

[he's grateful for it, really.

once he's certain that the flood is behind him, he makes sure not to look in that direction again, eyes anywhere else while he works on calming down. drumming up that willpower of his, long deep breaths, rolling tension out of the knots in his shoulders.

his hands are shaking badly, but he wipes off his face. adrenaline like waves of tiny needles in his blood, slowly receding.

and he doesn't want to look at Hange even once he's leveling out. he doesn't care about her, of course, doesn't care about her opinions... but the embarrassment flares up anyway.]

[She listens to him, counting his breaths and listening to them smooth. Good.

Once it seems like he's under control, she glances back at him again.]

Messed-up place, huh? Let's get going.

[And she'll put her money where her mouth is, and start walking.]

[he also appreciates how focused she is on the task in hand, and isn't wrapped up in whatever personal hassles he's got going on. it's a good trait in a teammate.

he briefly wonders if this is why Zhas is willing to work with her.

but he doesn't think much of it after that. he's having a hard time thinking of much of anything--his mind still half-whitewashed with fading adrenaline. this makes him cooperative, though. following at her heel without another glance.]

[She's mulling over the reaction as she walks. Didn't bat an eye at the titans, but loses his shit when faced with some water to splash through? It's a good weakness to know about. She wonders what the traumatic experience was - it's about the only rationale for a fear like that she can see.

Then again, phobias don't have to be rational.

Eh, she's still betting on trauma though.

All these distractions make her even more determined to get through this goddamn forest.

They're allowed, again, to walk unbothered for a while. Hange is on high alert now, expecting another mind game that either she'll have to deal with, or possibly help Coil deal with. It still means when there's the distant cling of ringing metal through the trees, the sound of a yell, words indecipherable but urgency obvious, she stops and her head turns like a bird dog. Point! And squinting into the trees.]

[yeah, it's a weakness that tends to come up--he can't go near the hotsprings and he's never set foot in the small shuttles. he doesn't even go near the windows in the ship, if he can help it; it's all related.

and it's enough that his nerves are still hotwired and oversaturated when the little sound pings cold through the air. his attention snaps with hers out into the trees, instantly on high alert.]

[Hange stalks for the edge of the trail and it seems like she might actually leave it, but she stops just short of going that far and stares up into the trees.

If Coil follows her gaze he can see people up near the canopy, some of them lower - the metallic sounds the scrolling of wire against metal, or swords being drawn. Enormous figures just like the ones that came so close to running them down lumber amongst the trunks. The humans are putting up a good fight, but they're slowly and surely being demolished by grabbing hands and crushing jaws, the shouts of panic evidence of which way the battle's going. The green cloaks are visible, fluttering as the scouts swing from tree to tree; there's the occasional flash of light as a wire catches the sun in a line of silver.

Hange raises her fingers to her mouth and whistles, long, loud, ringing through the trees.]

[and Coil just watches--tense and quietly stressed. not so much caught up in concern for the casualties, but concern for the sanities of the two still on the path.

he's still feeling deeply disturbed over actually being convinced by illusions. this is not supposed to happen.]

[When nothing happens she whistles again, and again. She doesn't... expect anything to happen, exactly - but she couldn't possibly not test it. Not when the lives of comrades are potentially at stake.

The titans eat humans like popcorn, tossing them back easily. The forces in the trees dwindle down to nothing and the titans turn and walk towards the path. They're deformed in new and interesting ways different from the last group, who apparently wandered off... somewhere.

Hange tenses but steps back. Anger hangs around her in a pulsing cloud, although it's controlled.]

That should've brought in a horse if there were any out there.

[he's distantly relieved, but only because he hopes that this means she can give up on this scene and leave it behind.

and to reinforce the point, he takes a step back and nods toward the rest of the path. poised to move.

let's just go.]

[she steps his way, though she isn't looking at him or the trail. She's still staring at where the scouts were, as if through force of will she could make them reappear, even if there wouldn't be much left but... Well. The pieces. This is all so wrong. She craves being home with a feeling like thirst.

but, fine. She's walking. She's walking.]

[yes good. as soon as he's sure that she's moving, he continues on. he'll lead the way if need be.

maybe speed is the key--get moving and find the end before something else can catch them.]

[He can take the lead if he wants, though Hange is restored to her former respectable clip. Maybe she's thinking the same thing he is. If they can just plow through these woods as fast as possible... although it'd be fascinating to study this phenomenon more, it'll be a sweet reward to reach the end of the path. Since clearly, the trees are trying to distract them.]

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oop, yep, this is one I thought I replied to already

<3

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