left the vagabonds a trail of stones.

[curtailment]

[ these damn hugeass trees.

...yeah. so the forest is huge, trees unbothered by humanity's need for wood, given a hundred years to grow and flourish. most of the time, they're useful for 3DMG maneuvering, but right now, they are just a gigantic pain in the ass. ]

Hey. You're supposed to be the smart one out of those three, aren't you?

[ armout, he's talking to you. ]

Comments

[contusive]

[ omfg, he is with lance corporal levi, and — they are lost. he had his suspicions, but dang. armin is the smart one, yeah, because he doesn't say it aloud. (eren would.) ]

How far from the rendezvous point do you think we are?

[curtailment]

[ they are so lost. levi, despite being... well, himself, isn't stupid enough to not admit it. ]

Fifteen minutes by horseback. About.

[contusive]

[ he shifts in his saddle to find a beam of sunlight. ]

If we keep the sun on our left shoulder, we shouldn't get lost going back.

[curtailment]

[ that's a good idea, actually. levi adjusts his position in the saddle, straightens a little to look at their surroundings. ]

Then let's get going.

[contusive]

[ steady trotting, then. he would rather not tire his horse too soon and especially if they run into titans. levi might be humanity's strongest soldier, but even he suffers losses. ]

Sir? May I ask why you aren't with Eren?

[curtailment]

[ grunts, and then waits for a long pause, as if he might not answer at all. ]

I was. [ presses his horse to go a little more quickly. ]

If he does shift, we'll find the others more quickly anyway.

[contusive]

[ trailing behind but he does keep pace, at least. it would be proper for levi to lead, anyway. this is bad, though. he had hoped someone else assumed watch of eren. now... he might shift, and he's too reckless to consider not to. ]

He can find his way out of a forest.

[curtailment]

He can't fold his own goddamn clothes right, so I doubt that. [ welcome to your lance corporal's weirdass standards of competence. ]

[contusive]

[ WOW, THE STORIES ARE TRUE. ]

That's a weird standard...

[curtailment]

[ GLARING RIGHT AT YOU, ARMOUT. he may be an inch shorter but he has scary (dead) eyes, okay. ]

[contusive]

[ ! ]

S-sorry, sir!

[curtailment]

Tch.

[ dismissed. ]

It's important to keep things neat.

[contusive]

I agree! But cleanliness requires an attention to detail. Which, obviously, Eren does not have. But he sees the larger picture, and that's a different sort of competent. [ ... ] Sir.

[curtailment]

[ he snorts, but without quite disagreeing — ] He's got guts, if nothing else.

[contusive]

[ thank you for not shit talking his bestie anymore. ]

He was always the first into the fray when we were kids.

[curtailment]

Of course he was. At least now he's got more of a chance of surviving on his own.

[ ahh, it looks like they're getting closer. at least, he thinks he recognizes some of the trees, which have marks of 3DMG marks in them. ]

[contusive]

Mikasa will keep him safe.

[curtailment]

Ackerman? She's not supposed to be around him.

[contusive]

[ that's news to him... ]

But... Why!

[curtailment]

[ i'm making this up as i go in case you didn't guess ]

It's a danger to both of them. Ackerman's too fixated on him.

[contusive]

[ armin thinks to protest, but no, he can see the reasoning behind the decision. it's true. and not only is it a danger to them but others in their squad. unnecessary casualties. he falls silent. ]

[curtailment]

[ levi'll take the silence over conversation. they're approaching fifteen minutes of travel, now, so they should be getting close to the camp.

oh look, another horse..! there's no one on it, though. levi urges his mount into a trot towards it. ]

[contusive]

[ he shifts in his saddle, looking for possible 3DMG marks or... even a corpse. high up, a scout hangs from a particularly fat branch by cable. the upper half of the soldier has been devoured. ]

Lance Corporal...

[curtailment]

[ ah. ]

We'll come back for her body.

[ they have to take her remains home. but first... ]

I'm going up to check.

[ FWOOSH goes the 3DMG. time to jump past the dead body and check for more titans from the branches. ]

[contusive]

[ directs his horse closer to levi's and reaches for the reins of the third horse. he wants to know what levi sees, but he knows better than to shout if it will attract undue attention. ]

[curtailment]

[ he gets high up enough that he can get a good look around. and yes, hello, there's five meter class wandering through the trees, but it looks like it's alone.

swings back down to the ground, and then mounts his horse again. ]

Just one. If we get past it or take it out quietly we'll be close to the others.

[contusive]

[ how can he be so calm... meanwhile, armin looks as anxious as he feels. ]

Do you think we can avoid it?

[curtailment]

[ because he's the lance corporal, OBVIOUSLY. even though lance corporal isn't even his real rank title... ]

If we move fast. It doesn't look like a deviant, but I don't know. Hange's the one who knows about that shit.

[contusive]

[ oh, are we using "captain?" nonetheless! armin nods and presses his heels into his horse. weak as he is, he can do more with his attention than most. like watching for the sun on his shoulder and checking for a titan and leading two horses. ]

[curtailment]

[ i'm making it up, tbh. in any case: good 4 u, armin, you're tactically competent unlike levi.

the titan hasn't seemed to spot them, at least. but as they're reaching the closest they will be to it, it turns its head slowly, like in all the horror movies. ]

Ah, shit. [ glances at armin. it hasn't started moving towards them yet. ]

Any tactics you wanna share? [ he's already grabbing the handles of his 3DMG, anyway, like he doesn't care what armin's answer is. ]

[contusive]

[ armin notices. as if the lance corporal needs his advice in how to kill one titan, anyway. so he only readies to grab the reigns of levi's mount. ]

Don't die?

[curtailment]

[ doesn't even deign that with a verbal reply, just snorts and launches up into the trees. it's one of the normal ones, so he jumps to the appropriate height, and spins, cutting it down nice and neat. as nice and neat as a titan killing can be, of course. he still ends up with blood on his hands and a little on his jacket.

it's only about half a minute before he drops back into his horse's saddle and takes back the reins. riding hard, it's not long before the camp is visible in the distance. ]

I'll switch out horses to go back for the body. You can join the others.

[contusive]

Yes, sir!

[ and heels into his horse, armin rides ahead to know what the hell is happening. and also, hey, we have an extra horse. ]