it'll be you and me up in the trees and the forest will give us the answer

[hatesdolls]

Who: Asuka and Zelman
What: FOREST ADVENTURES
When: Today!
Where: The... forest...
Rating: PG-13 probably. Asuka is not happy. :(

Comments

[exanimatus]

I'm bored, she says. There's nothing to do around here, she says. He takes time out of his (arguably) busy schedule to be mostly selfless for a change, and what does he get? If we get eaten by a bear, she says. No wonder he never does anything nice for anyone.

"Goldfish," Zelman turns a little to look back at her, wearing that bland expression he finds himself using more and more these days, "We can't have been walking for more than a half-hour."

Especially since he carried her out over the city. They skipped most of the hard part (even if the time was actually more like forty minutes). This, for him, was like a walk in the park. A dense, tree-filled park.

And then, a little smirk. "Aren't you supposed to be the pilot of a giant fighting machine? Don't let a little nature get to you."

[hatesdolls]

"It's not getting to me!" She says quickly, straightening up and brushing her hair over her shoulder, as well brushing away the memories that those words bring up. Pilot. Fighting. Nature. It's too easy to remember how tiny the trees looked as she fought in Unit 02 in the Geofront. It saps some of the life out of her, and it takes her a few steps to bring herself back to the present.

If she thought harder, she could remember a more recent fight in woods. But she knows better than that.

"Besides," she continues, "When did you turn into a park ranger, Bloodsucker? This isn't exactly your element."

[exanimatus]

Zelman remembers the latter as well, but it's little more than a small brush on the side of his awareness. It wasn't anywhere around here. It was a long time ago. It wasn't important. It's not worth remembering. It's fine.

Or so he keeps telling himself.

And so Asuka's complaints become a double-edged sword; at least she provides constant input for amusing output. He brushes some particularly low branches out of his way, holding them up so as to not whip back and smack Asuka in the face--as funny as that would be.

"And how would you know that? When I was your age..." It's a phrase he uses jokingly (and sparingly), "A lot of Europe was nothing but forest. Be happy you don't have to trek over a Polish mountain."

[hatesdolls]

Asuka moves a hand up to hold the branches aside herself--not because she didn't trust him to keep holding them, but because she certainly didn't need his help after some of his commentary in the past few minutes. She's a big girl. She knows how to take care of herself, and a few branches weren't going to be the end of her.

"Could have fooled me. At this rate, we're going to end up in Poland," she pokes him in the chest as she walks on, passing him by and putting her hands on her hips. "How much longer do we have to keep walking?"

Really. She could be back in her room, sleeping. This nature stuff was overrated.