2023-08-24: Interlude (2.22: the woods)

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<Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.

        "So..."
        
        Shinji's lips pull in a thin line as he looks from a map in his hand up to the trees that surround him and his friends. He wears a gray baseball cap, a zip-up windbreaker that stripes from white to dark blue to medium blue, jeans, and red-and-white sneakers. (They'd dried up quite well from the Great Bottled Water Spill, all considered.) His money is in a small, thin wallet that hangs from a cord around his shoulder--not that they're going to find any convenience stores atop a mountain, but it was useful on the way here--and he's carrying a significant load on his back.
        
        After all, he and the rest of the Fated Children are here on a little overnight trip. The sight of the stars from a clear mountaintop sang to him, and when he suggested it to the others, they all went along with the idea. His pack thus includes (among other things) a sleeping bag, a change of clothes, and a telescope he borrowed from Kensuke--technically Kensuke's father.
        
        (He'd checked on that first when they made it to the foot of the mountain--well, first after dry heaving. Mari's driving is enough to shatter buildings, let alone something as delicate as a telescope. Fortunately, being wrapped up in his sleeping bag, it survived the trip without even a crack. Small miracles.)
        
        Another thing on his shoulder wallet is, of course, a map. It would just be foolish to climb a mountain without a map. However, just because you have a map...
        
        "...where are we?"
        
        ...doesn't mean you can read it.
        
        It's more than a little distressing to realize. They'd left in the morning, driven for a few hours, arrived at about lunchtime, gotten a decent picnic in, then started hiking to make it to the top a few hours before evening and set up camp. It's now mid-afternoon, and Shinji doesn't recognize the landmarks that are supposed to be around them. There's supposed to be a gorge, and a river, and a bridge, but... it's trees! It's nothing but trees.
        
        He grimaces, recognizing that he's going to get yelled at by someone (Asuka (we all know it's Asuka.)), and offers the map to his companions. "Does this make any sense to any of you guys?"
        
        Kaworu accepts the map then. He has his own rucksack of hiking items; he also volunteered to carry the two tents. He does it with his usual effortlessness and looks good doing it in his black jacket, off-white T-shirt with green stripe across the chest, black jersey slacks, and dark gray sneakers with lighter heels. Unlike Shinji, who has very short athletic socks on, his feet are bare under those shoes.
        
        "Hmmm..." He looks up and around the area.
        
        "Well?" Shinji prompts hopefully.
        
        "If one of us were to climb to the top of these trees and survey our surroundings from that vantage point, it should be possible to regain our bearings," Kaworu suggests.
        
        Shinji brightens. "That's a great idea!" He turns to include Mari, Asuka, and Rei in his gaze. "So... who wants to do that?"
        
        Not me, he doesn't say but prays in his heart of hearts. 

<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.


Asuka's wore a light red jacket around her waist until they got high enough up that she put it on properly. Her outfit still is fairly light and breezy for the environment. A denim skirt, sneakers, a white T-shirt.

She's hoisted up a black backpack on her pack to carrying her own camping supplies for the hike.

The Ace wrap over non stick dressing on her arm is still present, a reminder that she sprained her wrist working out- definitely not burning herself in the kitchen trying to cook.

"Eh? What do you mean where are we? What's our latitude and longitude?" Asuka asks, eyeing him, "Just bring out your sextant and almanac."

Which, she ASSUMED he'd bring as the navigator on this low tech hiking trip. Her eyes boring a hole into him. The realization he doesn't have something SO SIMPLE causes her eyebrows to shoot up, grumbling as he hands the map over to Kaworu.

After he spends some time looking at it, Shinji asks a question. Looking at Mari, Asuka, and Rei.

Hope perhaps, dies, when Asuka glares at him. Then points at the two boys in Kaworu and Shinji. "It has to be one of you."

Wait, what's her logic on that!?

"All three of us are wearing skirts."

Oh.

<Pose Tracker> Rei Ayanami has posed.


(In the car, water washes over Rei Ayanami. At first, she doesn't mind it. Then the car's aircon, plus the fact that it wasn't a very thick outfit, means that what had been faintly refreshing soon becomes uncomfortably cold.)

Rei is now wearing a long cream-colored skirt (which has been pinned up at the hem to about calf height, lest it be torn or snagged) along with a hooded sweatshirt over a conventional sort of white T-shirt, intended as something plain and perhaps useful as a substitute.

Shinji says they're lost. So it goes.

Kaworu proposes the ascent of the trees.

Rei looks up at the relevant tree. It's tall, after all. Her head cranes to the side, and indeed she says, "It's tall," quietly, before Asuka strikes and interjects with the cultural power of a gendered division of labor.

Of course, it's likely just an accident. "I'd have to undress," Rei says, "and you have longer arms."

Though, at this point, Rei looks towards others. Perhaps towards the tallest of their group.

<Pose Tracker> Mari Makinami Illustrious has posed.

And so they arrive, healthy and whole.

Well.

"Aaah, what a refreshing trip that was!" Mari luxuriates, as Shinji dry heaves in the background.

-Relatively- healthy and whole.

For her part, of course, Mari emerges from the car looking as vibrant as the first day in spring. She carries the large bag on her back as if it were light as a feather; the skip in her step, at least, seems completely unencumbered as she sets upon the trail with a big, excited grin that can never mean anything good for anyone.

"Time to hit the old dusty trail! Lead the way, young pup!"

                        ~*~

"Hummm. Alas, the young pup has led us astray."

It's uncanny, how Mari can still have that same, teasing delivery after however many hours of hiking.

It must be her secret superpower.

The observation is made a good ten seconds into Shinji's scrutinizing of the map and Asuka's subsequent critique. It should be noted she's not actually looking at Shinji, or Asuka, or even the map.

She's just leisurely reading her book, 'THE JOURNEYMAN'S ALMANAC: THE SIGHTS OF OLD HAKONE' while the rest of them debate.

Eventually though, when they reach a potential solution, Mari stops reading. She looks up, to meet Shinji's gaze, head cant. "Hum?"

Asuka counters adroitly. Mari quietly claps her book shut. Pushes her glasses up the bridge of her nose until they glint in the light. She approaches. She pats Shinji's shoulder with her free hand as she passes by, towards the tree. Is she the hero they deserve, even in a skirt--?! She reaches the tree, and--

--smoothly pivots until her back -=flumpfs=- against the tree trunk, and then turns her hands palms up, cradling her book between them.

Like a stepping stone.

"A leg up for our hero," she coos. Rei interjects.

I'd have to undress...

Mari blinks. She looks at Shinji, in wide-eyed wonder. Her launch pad is still presented.

"Unless you want us to get undressed instead?" she wonders, guilelessly.

"Oho. The Puppy is becoming a real dog~."

<Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.

        "It is," Kaworu says to Rei, looking up at said tree. He smiles over to Mari next, nose buried in her almanac as it is. "So you say, but I imagine you enjoy the prospect of the unexpected," he observes. After all, she doesn't sound like she feels that alas at all.
        
        "What? How would I know that?" Shinji meanwhile asks Asuka, momentarily baffled. The look on his face when she tells him to bring out his sextant and almanac might be priceless if it didn't also mean they're all very, very lost.
        
        He didn't think navigating a mountain would be this hard... Aren't there supposed to be trails and signs that they can just follow?
        
        "Wait, why us?!" Shinji protests at first--until Asuka brings out some extremely solid logic. His face reddens as he imagines--no, no, he puts that thought out of his head. Or at least he tries. "O-oh, right."
        
        Rei brings up a good point too, and Shinji's blush deepens at the cavalier way she mentions undressing. Knowing Rei, she'd probably do it, too... but his face reaches its bloodiest hue yet when Mari seems to wordlessly volunteer, only to offer a handhold--and then make that accusation. He chokes and sputters, "N-no! That's not what I was saying at all!" He looks to his pants-wearing friend, expression pleading. "Kaworu-kun...!"
        
        Meanwhile, Kaworu naturally is totally unfazed by the idea of girls's clothing in a state of compromise, smiling as calmly as ever. But that's Kaworu for you. He's just as calm when Shinji turns that pleading look on him; this was about what he'd expected the moment Asuka made her point, and he doesn't mind at all. After all--
        
        "All right. I'll do it," Kaworu says.
        
        "Thank you!" Shinji utters, breaking into a relieved smile.
        
        --while he doesn't need a reward, that alone is enough to motivate him.
        
        Kaworu smiles back, eyes squinting briefly shut. Then he sets down his hiking gear, strolls over to a nearby tree, and presses his right palm to its trunk. It might be an oak, it might be a birch, it might be something else entirely. Who knows? They are Children of the knowledge of man, and Evangelions aren't made of wood.
        
        That matters little to Kaworu. After a scattered few seconds of observation, he's up like an arrow with Mari's boost with almost alarming speed and grace, with not so much as a 'hup!' of exertion as he moves from branch to branch. Within a minute, he's reached the top.
        
        There is a long moment.
        
        Then he descends. His descent is even quicker than his ascent, because it is, strictly speaking, a fall. Without hitting a single branch on the way down, he lands in a kneel, one knee raised, hands in his pockets. Then he stands as if he'd returned from a casual stroll.
        
        Shinji needs a moment of clutching his chest and almost screaming to adjust. He'll be fine. After all, Kaworu's fine.
        
        "The gorge we seek is one point five three miles northwest," he announces, nodding in the appropriate direction. This is as the crow flies, and consequently there is quite a lot of brush in between here and there--but this mountain is at least not known for poison ivy or anything similar. "However, it seems the bridge is much further down the mountain than anticipated. We'll need to backtrack."
        
        "Oh, s-seriously?" Shinji says, face falling. "I'm sorry, I must've completely mixed up where the turn was supposed to be... At this rate, I don't know if we'll make it to the campsite before nightfall. We might not be able to stargaze..."
        
        Kaworu glances at him, taking in his disappointment. Then he looks at the others. "...though we could also simply make our own bridge."

<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.


Asuka's eyes narrow as Shinji reddens, as if in suspicion as to whatever thoughts he might be thinking right now. And as Rei suggests that she'd have to undress.

"You're not doing that out here."

If there's one thing Asuka has learned from her time in Middle School, and High School, it's that guys like to talk about peeping on girls all the time.

Granted she knows Kaworu has no interest, and if it's just Shinji they could keep an eye on him, but it's perhaps just better in her mind to keep Shinji's thoughts off of a naked Rei and naked Mari a little more than a naked her.

Even if she doesn't want him to see more of a naked her than he has already in their home life.

Or does she? She doesn't know. Shut up.

And Mari - exacerbates those thoughts, as Asuka crosses her arms, staring at him, "Do you?" Asuka asks, with an edge to her voice.

As he sputters, and calls upon Kaworu, Asuka seems satisfied. "See? Was that so hard?" Asuka doesn't REALLY watch Kaworu's ascent, or his descent, seeming unworried about what could happen. In the meanwhile she looks at the map herself.

"I can't believe you didn't bring a sextant." Her eyes do flit towards Mari's almanac, then back to the map, then back to the almanac. But-!

Kaworu descends and-

Asuka actually nods, despite the tension, trusting his instructions are actually accurate, she stuffs the map pointedly back into Kaworu's hands, even as Shinji apologizes for the obvious delays.

Kaworu does offer an alternative-

"How wide is the span on the route you're proposing?"

Far be it from her to turn down a challenge.

<Pose Tracker> Rei Ayanami has posed.


Rei glances towards Mari with something resembling polite suspicion at her guileful guilelessness. It has a subtle fond undercurrent. Kaworu volunteers to do so instead of Shinji and this, too, seems adequate. Kaworu places his baggage down and climbs upwards, with surprising speed. And silence, too!

During his absence, Rei looks towards Shinji. Her gaze can speak silently; 'as expected'. Did they expect Kaworu to climb differently, somehow?

Asuka is looked at then, and in silence, other than a couple of blinks. This too has a silent message behind it: Why not? There is none of the slight playfulness that was in her eyes as she looked at Mari and Shinji. But before much more time can pass -

HE IS ONCE AGAIN AMONG THEM.

With a report.

Rei exhales at the news of additional walking but seems otherwise accepting of this new discovery. Asuka is the one who seems to have an alternative route in mind. "If you fell, you could die," Rei tells her. "At best you would be sorely injured."

Mari gets a question, quietly. "Did you bring an axe?"

<Pose Tracker> Mari Makinami Illustrious has posed.

So you say, but I imagine you enjoy the prospect of the unexpected.

Mari's answer to that is, of course, a big, wordless smile.

Why offer directions, after all, when you can simply enjoy the journey?

It's much more memorable when there's a stumble or two along the way.

That's why she just takes the time to let herself enjoy the moment as Shinji finds himself flustering, caught between an Asuka and a hard place. She remains a beacon of wide-eyed innocence and surprise, even as Shinji adamantly denies his ~suspect intentions~. Somehow, that innocence makes her paradoxically look -less- innocent, but this is, truly, the power of Mari.

"Honesty is the best policy, Puppy Boy," she advises, gravely.

Eventually, though, Kaworu volunteers, as was perhaps inevitable. Book still offered up, the second she feels the sole of Kaworu's shoe on the hardback cover, she gives a little "hup!" of a push, helping the Fifth Child ascend that much more quickly up the tree. And then?

And then, she's back to reading, offering Rei a brief, sidelong long and a friendly wink as she catches the blue-haired girl's stare before burying herself back in her book.

I can't believe you didn't bring a sextant.

"You gotta have a sextant," Mari supplies off-handedly, turning the page of her book. Is she -- clucking her tongue--??

Kaworu ascends. Kaworu descends.

And Mari flips to the next page of her book with casual nonchalance as the silver-haired young man comes into a graceful dead drop just next to her.

"Huh! Did you know there's a volcanic lake here?" she asides to Kaworu and the others, voice effusive with interest.

Yep. Shinji is absolutely the only one here capable of a normal human reaction to Kaworu just kind of dropping out of the sky.

She listens to the assessment. To Kaworu's suggestion, and Asuka's CHALLENGE ACCEPTED. And then --

Did you bring an axe?

"Ufu."

Asked that fateful question, Mari's glasses glint, obscuring her vision. She opens her bag, tucks away her almanac, fishes around, and--

"Ta-da! One hatchet, ready for hacking~!"

Produces one (1) hatchet with a boldly bright pink handle.



why

why does she just have a hatchet loose in her bag

Gai Kurenai teleports in.
Gai Kurenai goes Out. 

<Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.

        "W-why would you want me to bring a sex tent?!" Shinji hisses at his girlfriend, still red-faced and now holding a hand up to shade his nose. For no reason.
        
        It doesn't help that Mari agrees about sex tents. OF COURSE Mari would agree about sex tents!!
        
        Kaworu really is incredible at everything he does, though. Shinji catches Rei's look and gives her a little smile. 'It's so like him,' it says back. They didn't expect differently at all.
        
        "Oh--is there?" Shinji wonders at Mari of volcanic lakes once he's finished making sure he hasn't had a heart attack. Everyone else is so normal about it, he has no choice but to go along. "I hope it doesn't steam up the view tonight. I know there's a lot of hot springs in a lot of the Hakone mountains, so I was hoping a mountain a little further away would be better."
        
        He doesn't protest about Kaworu getting the map this time, though he feels a little bad about it. Still... Kaworu's reliable. If it means they'll get to stargaze tonight after all, it's okay if he leans on him a little more, right? In the meantime--he looks at the gear that Kaworu put down, grimaces, and... takes up some of that load himself. Even if he's going to be huffing and puffing pretty hard by the time they get to their destination, it's the least he can do to help out after he got them into this mess.
        
        Kaworu, noting this, gives him a fond smile. Then he looks at Asuka, smile fading. "Let me think..." He glances at Rei and Mari at the exchange about an axe, and smiles anew when of course Mari delivers. Rei makes a good point about the Lilim of the group... but-- "I'll make sure that doesn't happen," he reassures her. To Asuka, he says, "If Mary can chop us down a tree that's twenty meters tall and at least half a meter in diameter, that should be sufficient."
        
        Shinji pauses and considers this. "Half a meter across? For all of us? While carrying all this gear?"
        
        "Yes," Kaworu replies.
        
        "..." Shinji opines. But he doesn't protest or complain, which just goes to show how much he trusts him.

<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.


IS honesty the best policy? Asuka is rarely honest, on the surface at least, though if one speaks Asuka perhaps she's always honest.

At Mari's advice, Asuka gives him a MORE suspicious look because while Mari COULD and is LIKELY just messing with him, it's just as possible she saw something Asuka didn't.

Something important.

Something lewd.

And now Asuka's red-cheeked too while glaring at him.

It's a contrast however, when Asuka doesn't hear the separation of the two terms from Shinji, "Why wouldn't you bring a sextant on a camping trip!?" Asuka points out, "It's basic stuff!"

She says, oblivious that it's becoming innuendo right now, unaware that nothing is sacred, even a basic navigation tool.

Kaworu explains, and with crossed arms she nods, "Half a meter. That's not bad. I've got plenty of rope too."

Rei suggests that she might fall, "And? I'm just not going to fall." Asuka tells Rei, "You've never seen me during my gymnastics workout."

She boasts, even as she ceded responsibility towards tree climbing to Kaworu... for reasons, of gendered clothing.

But when Mari brings out a hatchet at Rei's request, ready for hacking, "Okay. Now bring out your sextant. I know that you would have one." Asuka doesn't but then again she's also not the navigator. "We're going to teach Baka Shinji how to use it on the way."

She has no idea whatsoever how deep in the hole this is going right now.

<Pose Tracker> Rei Ayanami has posed.


Mari presents her hatchet for inspection. Rei nods once. "Then it might be possible," she says.

???

Though Kaworu is feelin' it too. Rei gives him a nod, even if he's orienting his expanation towards Asuka.

Rei seems to have no opinion of sex tents, good or ill, although she does cast a slightly sidewise look towards both Shinji and Asuka as they joust, however passingly, about it. Then Kaworu makes an estimate... which makes Rei's eyebrows raise slightly.

"That tall of a tree... it would be an old one," Rei says.

"Rope?" Rei asks Asuka, as if not quite getting it. She looks at the others, perhaps Kaworu in particular in case they have insight on the matter. Somehow Mari does not get prompted to ask this, although Rei does ask Mari, almost shyly, "Can I carry it?"

Perhaps she just wants to help.

Or maybe she wants to free up Mari's hands, so she can get out her sex tent.

"Do you think a dead tree would be safe to use?" Rei asks Kaworu, after a little while.

<Pose Tracker> Mari Makinami Illustrious has posed.

I hope it doesn't steam up the view tonight.

"Hmmm. There's -always- a risk of steam, I dare say."

Does Mari hear it? The subtle space that befouls the noble sextant into something far more crude and lascivious? Does she understand why Shinji is all but beet-red and dying inside?

Her brows climb ever-so-steadily as she observes the exchange between Shinji and Asuka, her lips curling with cattish perfection.

"Ufu."

Of course she does.

Like it could even be a question.

For now, though, she just lets Asuka and Shinji dig the hole for her; she has important labors of her own to undertake. Shouldering that hatchet, her other hand snaps off a snappy salute and an "Aye-aye, Administrator Tabby Cat!" to Kaworu, prepares a smooth pivot --

And then comes face-to-face with Rei, making that nigh-shy request. She blinks. Her head tilts.

And with a wordless little smile, she draws the hatchet away from her shoulder so that she can flip it into the air, catch it by the broad and flat of its axe, and offer it to Rei, pink handle-first.

"Vanilla Bean, I hereby deputize you as my assistant. You shall help me find and fell the tree that will pave the way to our destiny. Are you ready~?"

It's only when Rei accepts the axe, that Mari looks back to Asuka and Shinji, over her shoulder. Her gaze lids. Her free hands drift towards her bag as she rocks on her heels almost... coyly? Coquettishly?! Why is she making such a simple request from Asuka seem so scandalous!?

"I -might- have a sex tent," she says, and the space is subtle unless you're looking for it as her hands draw into her bag... and then stop.

"... but we should -really- get that wood! Don't worry, don't worry." She winks, over her shoulder.

At Shinji?

        At Asuka?

                At BOTH?!

"When we reach our fated destination, I'll grant you access to my sextant, Puppy Boy."

And that lack of space is subtle.

"And then you shall learn the sweet shame of your words and deeds~."

Unless you're looking for it.

"Sally forth, Assistant Bean! We go to chop!"

BBSYS: Post 1228, 'Away!!!' has been published to Vacations by Eight York. 

<Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.

        Honesty is definitely NOT the best policy when it comes to girls and taking off their clothes, and Shinji knows better than to even touch that one. Innuendo not intended.
        
        Mind, he doesn't mean any innuendo with the sextant, either. He's just genuinely mishearing and misunderstanding what Asuka means. Honestly, it doesn't make any sense in context! But he doesn't know what a sextant is!!
        
        Kaworu meanwhile knows perfectly what a sextant is and has no idea why Shinji would be getting worked up about it. But that's fine. Shinji is wonderful at all times in all ways, including when he's getting worked up for mysterious reasons.
        
        Worked up, and nearly dying on the spot as Asuka claims how basic what she's talking about is. At this point, Shinji suspects that there's some kind of misunderstanding here--this just doesn't seem like Asuka at all?--but it DOES seem like Mari, and Mari's... Mari-ing it up. Mari-nating them, you might say.
        
        Shinji makes a small agonized noise and sinks to his knees as he covers his face in both hands. "I don't want your sex tent, whatever that is," he mumbles.
        
        At least he's faithful...?
        
        Kaworu watches him with a bittersweetly fond smile before looking over at Rei. "It would need to be. It's a rather wide gorge," he says. "There are other ways, but... this would get us into the least amount of trouble, I think." Asuka says she has rope, and Kaworu nods to that too. "Very well. Let's be on our way, then. We'll have to find an appropriate tree to cut on site."
        
        Would a dead tree be safe to use? Kaworu considers this. "It depends on how recently dead it is," he muses. "We'll have to see what's available to us."
        
        He smiles fondly too at Rei's request and Mari's deputization. If this is their destiny this time, then it's a welcome one indeed.
        
        Before they head off, Kaworu offers a hand to Shinji. He peeks up through his fingers, then accepts it with a grimace.
        
        "Kaworu-kun? What's Asuka mean by a sex tent?" he whispers.
        
        "A sextant is a navigational instrument containing a graduated 60-degree arc, used for measuring the altitudes of celestial bodies for use in determining the latitude and longitude of the observer," Kaworu whispers back, dictionary-perfect.
        
        ".........oh."
        
        Shinji is very quiet on the way to the edge of the gorge.
        
        ~ * ~
        
        Fortunately, the underbrush, while thick, isn't thorny, so it isn't too difficult to tromp their way through. Kaworu leads the way well, and perhaps it's only natural that following his footsteps means a far easier path through the woods. Given everyone's equipment, it's still an effort to reach the gorge, though. As they get closer, they'll hear the rush of water from the river far below. If one fell from this height, they'd probably survive... long enough to die from drowning instead.
        
        Shinji looks a little green around the gills as he peers over the edge, then carefully backs away. Kaworu, as always, is wholly unfazed. There's several feet of clearing between the woods and the edge of the gorge on both sides, but his earlier height requirement took that into account.
        
        He doesn't comment on which tree he feels would be best to fell. Mari has assigned that task to Rei, after all. If Rei asks him, he'll be happy to weigh in, though.
SCENESYS: You have RSVP'd to Scene #427: Captain's Celebration. Eight York has been notified.

<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.


"Yeah, rope." Asuka doesn't think anything of it for a moment, but then thinks upon it and eyes her from the side, "It's part of building one."

This at least offers some explanation to Rei of her intentions, not simply to use an old tree as a balance beam, but perhaps it's surprising she at least tried to understand Rei's meaning there?

Fortunately her attention gets diverted away from assistant Rei's the sex tent crisis of 97. As Mari suggests she might.

"Might?" Asuka raises a singular eyebrow at her, and suggests they must get that wood. To hurry up and-

-wood-
        -fated destination-
                 -sweet shame-

"Why do you always have to make something as simple as a sex tent, weird!"

And as Shinji rejects it, Asuka glares at him, oblivious to his show of loyalty to her in this regard, "You're learning to use her sex tent, and that's final. It was your responsibility to know how to use one already."

(Did she actually say sex tent either time? No of course not, but now Shinji can't get it out of his head, even with Kaworu's subsequent explanation, can he? So she might as well have.)

Either way, she's taking the lead on the way to the gorge, perhaps giving Kaworu and Shinji some of that time alone. And once there, Asuka sets down her pack, and takes out the coils of rope from it.

"Right. Pretty simple. Once Catty Four Eyes and Ultra Girl handle the tree, I can be the first across, then I'll tie it off on the other side to give the rest of you a handhold."

Oh. Is that what she meant?

She does at least seem pretty confident! But, keep looking, like Rei said... it'd be super easy for her to fall.

<Pose Tracker> Rei Ayanami has posed.


The hatchet rests, pink in pale flesh. Rei's hand curls around it, grasping it. She shifts it a little to test its weight. "Understood," she answers Mari, raising it upwards and resting the head of the hatchet (duly sheathed, of course, for your protection) over her shoulder.

Thus armed, Rei walks. Perhaps she will grow into the role of deputy axewoman. Perhaps the hatchet will suit her. Keep on rolling forwards, walking up the hill. "That's true," Rei answers Kaworu along the way. "I don't think we could move the wood very far."

Some time passes, moving through the underbrush. Rei does not take practice swings at nearby trees and foliage, despite some brush rushing over her pale calves. Nothing clings or sticks or tears, though. It's polite; the forests of Japan are not perilous things, all told.

Well, not from the plants.

SOON ENOUGH:

Rei looks upwards, as if to judge the height of trees from the ground alone. She raises a hand for a moment, holding it up to the sky, which is an enigmatic thing to do, but seems to assist her.

There are, in the end, two choices.

A snagged old camphorwood tree, something that died long ago - perhaps by lightning strike or some sort of subtle disease, or maybe from wind uprooting too much of its root structure, or out-competition, or yokai problems, or any of a dozen other woes that the majesty of a tree might have.

Or another one, in the flush of life - a black pine, the wind whispering through the branches.

"At least they will smell pleasant," Rei comments to Mari, as she uncovers the hatchet.

<Pose Tracker> Mari Makinami Illustrious has posed.

Why do you always have to make something as simple as a sex tent, weird!

Mari Makinami Illustrious' answer to this is to smile a beaming smile and to wave a finger-wiggling wave in Asuka's direction.

"Ciao ciao~" she proclaims, before she meanders lazily off with Rei, content that the seeds that she has planted will eventually bear further-mortifying fruit.

And that, in turn, will make another memory for them to cherish, years down the line.

Why wouldn't she be content with that?

                ~*~

And so, Mari reaches a period of time and space that is SOON ENOUGH with hands clasped behind her back and a nonchalant-yet-purposeful step to her gait. Her whistling fills the air -- a Minmay song, 'My Beautiful Place,' as she sweeps the forest, bespectacled gaze seeking out the perfect tree for their fell (GET IT) purposes.

Aside from that whistling, Mari's comfortably quiet for the most part, content to let the others converse or - alternatively - let Rei ruminate without interference on her part.

It's only when they reach their destination that she comes to a slow stop, and tilts her head fractionally to the right.

"Mm."

In the end, there are two choices.

She looks to the thriving black pine.

To the dead remains of the camphorwood.

One vibrant and strong, one long without life -- or purpose.

"..."

The light catches on red-rimmed glasses as she approaches the deadened tree. She places her palm on the former majesty of its trunk.

"You want to be useful again, right?" she whispers to that dead vegetation, and allows herself a little smile. "It's okay. We all do. Even the dead."

And with that, she looks back to Rei, jerking her thumb at the camphorwood.

"We've found our mark, Vanilla Bean! Let the first blow be struck!"

And with that, she'll step aside to let Rei take care of hatchet duty. If she needs help, Mari will take over, but otherwise... the bespectacled pilot of NERV is hands off, letting the First Child experience this all on her own.

For as much as she wants.

<Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.

sex tent
        sex tent
                SEX TENT
        
        "Asukaaaa," Shinji half-groans, half-whines, when she insists he will learn to use Mari's and like it. If he were bolder and maybe a bit more suave, he'd make a lewd sort of joke right now, maybe bouncing off of Mari's coquettish little remarks, among other things. As it stands, it's all he can do to not just collapse under the weight of his embarrassment, and also all the gear he's carrying.
        
        He sets it down well away from the gorge, near the tree line. He'll take a few moments to sit down and catch his breath, too. Kaworu stands nearby, offering him a water bottle; Shinji accepts it with a grateful smile and drinks it down in one go. Then he'll take some time to lay down and cool off. Don't mind him; he wouldn't be much help with building bridges, anyway.
        
        Kaworu watches over him, hands in his pockets, his gaze fond (as it always is with Shinji); then he regards the others. Rei chooses a tree to fell; Asuka volunteers to go across first with the rope to create handholds. There are other options, but Kaworu keeps his silence--or close to it, as he hums in unison with Mari's whistling. As he said: this is what will get them in the least amount of trouble.
        
        They want to make sure to get to the summit before nightfall, after all.
        
        Kaworu's gaze softens as he bears witness to Mari's choice. Before long, the camphorwood tree has fallen, forming an initial bridge between this side and the next. Kaworu inspects it to make sure it isn't too rotten inside to bear their weight and the weight of their gear. It may be a bit dicey, but there aren't any signs of termites, and the wood holds up under a touch. It would be a problem if there were a forest fire... but there isn't! So it's fine, probably.
        
        "After you, then," he tells Asuka, stepping back and tucking his hands back into his pockets. 

<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.


"What!?"

Asuka watches Mari waggling her fingers with the 'Ciao ciao~' even while Shinji is near collapsing under the weight of something, "Now both of you are making this weird!"

Asuka doesn't hum to the whistling of the two lumberjacks, her eyes moving to witness their choice. Far from being sentimental on it.

"That'll do."

It's all pragmatism to her, application, challenge. Which is why it's unusual perhaps that even after the tree is felled, she keeps her eyes on the chasm.

She hasn't fallen on a balance beam for years. Her balance is pretty much as good as it can be. But that's a meter and a half from the floor versus this.

Even if it's wider, it's not smooth footing either.

'If you fell, you could die,'
        'if you fell'
                 'you could die'
                          'fell'
                                   'die'

Asuka isn't afraid of heights, and ordinarily she'd take that as a challenge, but the longer she stares with Rei's words echoing her head - it sounds less like a challenge to her.

... it sounds more like...

Wordlessly Asuka ties the rope around her waist, into a knot, giving Rei a glance, before handing the other end of the rope to Shinji and Kaworu. "Don't let go, it'd be a pain to throw it back that far after I pulled it back up."

Is it really not about her safety then? Or just too much pride to admit it is.

Stepping up to it, she places hands on both hips, putting one foot in front of the other, on the uneven bark, into the dips and divets, the grooves and lines between the scaly bark. At one point there's a small wobble despite the very heavy trunk, and she stills, taking the hands off of her hips and holding them both out to keep her balance.

And once she finds it, she continues her trek across. Once upon the other side, she looks back at Rei - and it's hard to say what she's conveying there?

'See? I could do it fine.'

Or??? Something else?

Either way she cups her hands and calls back- "Alright, tie it off about chest high to a trunk, I'll do the same!"

As she then moves towards untying it from the waist, to wind her slack around a sturdy enough looking tree.

Ultimately she'll wait to fully tie it off though as she wants it as taut as possible. But... perhaps stargazing is in the cards after all.

<Pose Tracker> Rei Ayanami has posed.


For once, it is not the young who will be the sacrifice.

Rei's first several hatchet blows are... well... her grip is good but she's using it as if it were a progressive hatchet and she were trying to get at the core of the dreaded Angel, Treeiel, the Tree Angel.

She figures it out sometime around blow #3. "Like this?" Rei asks Mari, and with a little bit of heming and hawing -

Well, she works up an honest sweat, and thankfully, Mari is able to guide her to make sure the tree falls in the right direction to do most of the work. It is somewhat breath-stopping to see the tree fall, but in the end it does not bounce off or roll into the ravine; Kaworu's length estimate might have been over-generous (who can say?) but in the end it worked out.

Rei opens up one of the drinks and takes a long sip from it as the group regroups. Asuka ties a rope around her waist.

Asuka looks at her.

Rei returns the look but her face is unreadable.

What does this moment mean?

Rei cannot tell. When the rope is tied, though, she steps forwards without hesitation, striding across in a slow and deliberate way, hands on the drawn-tight rope and feet moving crab-fashion across the stout dead camphorwood tree.

It creaks a little towards the middle, and Rei looks down, but it doesn't seem to give her more than a moment's pause.

Off she goes. Sweeping a bit of stray-blown hair back with one hand, Rei looks back across the dividing breach.

"The rope was good," Rei says. "Will you leave it?"

She raises a hand to wave at those on the other side.

<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.


Rei asks a question, Asuka looks thoughtful for a moment rather than annoyed at her, "Yeah. It's too much of a pain to retrieve it from the other side and-"

Then looking back across the gap.

"-who knows? Maybe some other group of hikers will find a use for it."

<Pose Tracker> Mari Makinami Illustrious has posed.

If nothing else, Mari is an enthusiastic instructor. She takes to it naturally, in fact -- demonstrating to Rei when she seems to be treating the tree more like a dread Angel to sacrifice to avert the Fern Impact, but letting her apply what Mari teaches her by herself.

Rei, also, is a quick learner, and a dedicated one; it's something Mari knows very well by now. So when, by the third blow, Rei asks her question, Mari feels that it's sufficient enough to

"Ayyyy."

and fingergun at the First Child in approval.

Eventually, Rei accomplishes her deeds. The tree falls. It seems like it will hold, dead and old though it is; it's better this way, Mari thinks.

But eventually, gradually, bright blue eyes slide towards Asuka as she stares at the gorge, as she hesitates at the precipice. Her expression is an inscrutable thing as she watches Asuka ultimately overcome whatever trepidation stills her, and makes her way across, perhaps more cautiously than she expects.

Asuka looks at Rei. Rei looks at Asuka. Mari looks between them both.

"Hum."

The meaning may not be understood, but Mari knows... that doesn't mean the meaning is lost.

Rather than anything else, though, Mari silently slips forward. And it's just as Shinji lets his guard drop, even for a MOMENT--

--that the sinister shadow of Catty Four-Eyes falls upon him, hands racing down his arms until they reach his own hands, to clasp, and guide them upward.

"Here, Puppy Dog," she whispers, -salaciously-. "Just for you..."

She guides his hands, and slips something between them. Something... hard? Something metal?

Soon enough, Mari is slipping away,

leaving Shinji Ikari to contemplate his first experience handling a sextant.

"Please... be gentle with it~~~~."

And with that, when the bridge is ready, she'll be the first to approach it; when she reaches it, she pivots smoothly, offering Rei a hand.

"Time to gaze upon the heavens, Vanilla Bean."

She'll help guide her up. Make sure she's ready and able if need be, following shortly after.

She's sure Kaworu can keep an eye on Shinji. And she's confident they'll make it where they need to be in time.

"Don't worry, your highness! I'll be there soon to make sure you're not lonely~!"

What -can't- human ingenuity do, after all?

<Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.

        Kaworu accepts the other end of the rope first--Shinji's sitting on the ground and needs to roll up to his feet to follow suit.
        
        "We won't let go," Shinji says, with the air of a promise; Kaworu remains silent.
        
        For Shinji, it is a promise. For Kaworu, it's simply a practical matter. But neither of them will let go until Asuka's task is done. Once she's done, Shinji and Kaworu share a nod, and Kaworu goes to tie off the rope while Shinji gathers the equipment anew. Shinji's even more cheerful about it than before. Maybe stargazing is in the cards!
        
        As for Kaworu's estimate, perhaps it was overly generous, but given the circumstances, it's better to err on the side of too much than too little. There are so many things that can go wrong, after all.
        
        But for now, Kaworu takes in Mari and Rei's choppin' time with a fond little chuckle. Even Shinji looks their way with a smile, too.
        
        Now that they're all working together towards a goal, rather than wandering lost in the woods, it's a lot more--fun. And a lot more meaningful.
        
        Maybe they're all bonding in their own ways, even more so than Shinji realizes.
        
        As Shinji's getting the gear ready for crossing--he suspects this will fall on Kaworu's shoulders, too--Mari approaches. He tenses instinctively as she runs her hands down his arms. "Makinami-san, what are you--" he starts to say.
        
        Then she slips something down into his hands. He looks down. It's vaguely A-shaped and pointy.
        
        He makes a face and glares at her, cheeks reddening again. He can guess what he's just been handed. With a grumble, he packs it up with the rest of the gear, then brings them over piece by piece to the dubious bridge.
        
        It seems even more dubious up close, and for a moment, Shinji hesitates...
        
        But then, as Mari and Rei cross, following in Asuka's wake, Kaworu steps up next to him with a smile.
        
        "Shall we go together, too?" he offers, picking up and shouldering half the burden, then offering Shinji a hand.
        
        Shinji can't help but reflect that smile. "Yeah," he murmurs, accepting Kaworu's hand. "Let's go."
        
        It might be a terrifying cross while they're crossing... but Kaworu's footing is sure, and his grip never wavers. For once in his life, Shinji doesn't look down, but forward, and together they make it across unscathed.
        
        There's still more forest ahead of them--but once they're past that, the path to the mountaintop awaits.
        
        They'll make it just in time to set up camp and watch the sunset.

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