We are the people that you'll never get the best of (Open)

[fiteclub]

Who: Anita, and all comers
What: Arriving, exploring, catching up and preparing for what looks like is gonna be a long roadtrip.
Where: Camp 1: Melai Temple
When: About a day and a half after the original crew encamps, until departure.
Warnings/Notes: Violence against animals/animal death. Nothing else I can think of at this point, if it changes I'll edit this. While everything up here's been written in prose, I'll switch to bracket/action spam too.

Cut to now, holy wow (Anita + Kon)

Anita's followed the subtle, barely unconscious pull through the forest until she can hear the sound of music without straining, all the time doing her best to be careful of her footing and the path she takes. There's something unearthly about being here, beyond normal mortal moments. Closer to when she would perform rituals with her grandmere and others, before Anita's grandmother died.

Soon enough though, the sight of a large and ornate building peeks through the trees, and she sighs in relief.

And once she hits a clearing near what seems to be an entrance, she comes into view of a familiar looking person who looks older than she last saw them, only a few hours ago. "Kon?"

Can somebody come and take this off my chest? (Open)
Going out past the immediate temple grounds to forage seemed like a good idea, at the time.

It's in the middle of said foraging (after successfully having found a variety of root vegetables that she's reasonably certain are good for eating) that she hears the gruntling and squealing coming from the trees behind her, and she freezes, slowly turning around.

Wild boar.

Several of them.

Anita has just enough time to pull one of her blades out and dive to the right as an immense boar comes down on where she was a few seconds ago, the only sign that it was that close the flash of steel and splatter of hot blood, with angry squealing.

While she might not want to kill all of them, and would certainly prefer not to, if it comes down to herself versus thinning down the local population, it isn't that much of a hard choice if she can't stave enough of them off or get away.

Some help could come in handy right about now. 
 

If your shit is not together it'll never be (Open)

In the downtime at night, once it's become slightly too cold, and fires have been started up to stave off the bite of the chill, Anita can be caught staring into the fire, thinking, or finishing up tying up a braid done from her hair, now whiptight and temporarily tamed.

And, if your hair is long enough for the same treatment: "Want me to do yours, too?"

Plant the seed open up and let it be (Open)

Anita scavenges from the remaining supplies a bag of her own from an old sack, and is able to fashion a strap for it to make for easier carrying. Flint, a small set of needles embedded in a pincushion along with thread, and a whetstone all soon find their way into the bag.

There are good odds on finding her examining the remaining cloaks and blankets, trying to sort out the ones with less holes and still with a chance of being able to hold out the weather compared to the rest.

That is all the time you got to make your point (Open)

None of these fit? Feel free to go with something of your own. 

Comments

If your shit is not together it'll never be

[dirtyredneck]

Daryl shook his head at the offer. His was shoulder length and getting longer every day, but he didn't feel like pulling it back at all. He liked letting it just go. It was a change from back Before, when his Daddy and brother, their friend, they'd call any man with hair longer than an inch a girl and question his supposed owning of balls. Got to be to the point that he'd never let it grow out before. Now he could. And did.

"Thanks," he added to the head shake. The offer was new and not made out of malice, so no sense not being kind back. Then, just a little quieter, a little softer and unsure, almost shy: "I uh... had some friends with hair like yours. Ain't had much practice with it, but I know how ta braid somethin' that'll stay for a few days if'n ya need it."

[fiteclub]

"I appreciate it, but I think this one will stay in place for a good bit," Anita answers. "Thanks, though."

While he had pushed on the matter of if she could kill, Anita doesn't- can't, really- hold any lasting annoyance or resentment on the matter, even if she's still wondering about it. Not with where they were. And even then, it's not like she hadn't come close to it before, despite the opinions in Young Justice with regards to killing ('We don't kill.') and the grey area ended up in.

"Where were you, before this?"

Because generally people don't really leap to asking that kind of question of teenagers.

[dirtyredneck]

"Virginia. Just outside of D.C." he answered easily, left hand moving to fiddle with a leather wristcuff on the right. It was fairly austere, but had silver filigree embossing it. His eyes drifted to it before he could stop them, but once he realized what he was doing, he pulled his hands apart and let them drop in his lap as her went back to scanning the room. Ever on alert.

"You said yer from the bayou, grew up there....That mean Louisiana?"

[fiteclub]

Anita nods. "Yeah. I lived there with my grandmother, until I moved back in with my dad when she died." The difference between living in an old shack in the bayou and then a duplex in the suburbs would have been a shock if she hadn't already been spending time with her dad before that. "Maryland was different."

Anita isn't as actively on alert- she's still younger and hasn't been exposed to that much danger in areas that have been considered safe- but she still makes the effort to keep aware of her surroundings, with her baton in reach.

"Can't say it's not nice to be somewhere with more trees and wildlife again, though. Weird circumstances aside."

Plant the seed open up and let it be (Open)

[greyerrant]

A large man clad primarily in a grey chiton (basically a space toga), is also scavenging for basic supplies. He pauses, looking at her, and something like shock enters into his expression for a moment, then he bends down to grabbing a few more useful bits and bobs to himself. He seems somewhere between reticent and worried about acknowledging her further.

[fiteclub]

Anita is tall for her age, and for being a girl, and still has a few more inches to go, in all likelihood. Her father was a big man. In her tenure on Young Justice she's encountered all kinds of people (including aliens) who are very tall in general.

The man she's encountered in this storeroom dwarfs most of them.

He doesn't seem to really know whether to acknowledge her or not beyond the eye contact they've already made, but Anita's willing to make the first step, straightening up to her full height. "Are they all as big as you, where you're from?"

Hopefully it isn't taken in the wrong way.

[greyerrant]

Loken is quiet for a few moments, his expression rapidly shifting from concern to a more neutral one, her question forcing him to contemplate an answer, and his lips purse for a moment before he responds, "There are some that are far larger than I, such as my gene-sire. But I am generally considered to be larger than human-normal, given my genehancements, yes."

He looks at her rather blankly for a moment, then remembers that it's best to smile at humans when answering their questions, as Astartes can seem rather grim and intimidating otherwise. His smile is broad, though quite obviously forced.

[fiteclub]

The best way to deal with awkwardness is to just pretend it's not there and forge onwards. Like right now. This is pretty peak awkward, but she's committed herself to conversation now.

"It sounds like there are a lot of people like you where you're from."

Braid me up inside

[loadme]

Monika was by the fire too, and she was eternally grateful that they had been started.

"Oh, sure! I haven't had it braided in a long time."

More like never.

Additionally, her hair was also very long.

[fiteclub]

"Well, depending what it's like once we leave here, you'll probably want to keep it braided or up somehow," Anita tells her, as she walks over to where Monika is sitting and adjusts to sit down behind her. "That or cut it, if you have a hard time keeping it out of things. Those are some thick woods out there."

It's the main reason she's braided her own hair and plans to keep it like that.

[loadme]

"I probably should, huh." All that long hair was just asking to get in the way.

"The thing is, I've had my hair this way for as long as I can remember. So to do a permanent change like that... It's pretty big, wouldn't you say?"

[fiteclub]

"Yeah, I get what you mean," Anita says. "Honestly though, it's up to you. If places like this temple are going to be the norm for anywhere else we find, it'll be hard to keep your hair clean after awhile. There are already a few guys wandering around looking like birds have started to nest on them."

She gives Monika's hair a lookover, before asking "Do you want it braided high from the crown, or want it coming down the nape?"

Cut to now, holy wow

[konman]

[When Anita finds Kon he's hauling firewood. Even without superstrength he's able to carry huge stacks of it loaded on each shoulder.]

[When she calls his name, he looks surprised at first, and then a wide smile spreads across his face.]

'Nita! 'Eeeey!

[He drops the cords of wood messily and runs - not flies - over to her, pulling her into a massive hug that lifts her right off the ground.]

I feel like I haven't seen you in forever, but I'm kinda not surprised you're here.

[He puts her down again.]

This one's a weird one. I'm half-convinced Cissie's going to get teleported here by Cass having a happy thought.

[fiteclub]

[Things hugs do: make everything better for at least a second or more.

At least until she needs to begin getting everything figured out.]

As helpful as she would be here, I don't think she'd be happy with that happening again. So Cassie is here too, huh? I already spoke to Tim [-Not Robin, and that was a close one she almost tripped on-] through the mirrors. Turns out they're magic.

[She taps on the small mirror that she's tucked into the side of her belt with a wry smile, before breathing in deeply. Question time.]

Okay, question. How long has it been since you last saw me? Because I've got a big suspicion it's been a lot longer for you than it has for me.

[Because you are really, really big now, Kon. In most terms of the word. Not to mention the fact it seems someone finally got him in normal clothes. Even if they still have the 'S'.]

[konman]

Uhhh.

[If he looks like a deer in headlights it's because he's trying to figure out what number to give her, the amount of chronological time it's been since he saw her last (which would include the dirt nap), or how much time he remembers passing since he personally saw her last (which obviously would not include the dirt nap).]

Chronologically it's been like two years, but in Kon time it's been like one year, I guess?

[He doesn't explain what 'Kon time' is.]

A bunch of stuff happened and then a bunch more stuff happened so I pretty much haven't seen you since the team -

[He stops, and then starts again.]

Since some stuff happened.

I would've liked to see you sooner but more stuff happened. And then when I got back on my feet [after being dead] I was juggling a lot. I was still making the rounds to see everyone again after - [fuck] - stuff. Lots of stuff. Then this happened and now we've gone all Tolkien, I guess.

[fiteclub]

[Excuse while she processes this.]

Whaaaaaaaaaat.

[Okay, processed.]

Two years?!

[Not even beginning to touch 'Kon time'. At the same time, it still explains a lot. Not everything, but a lot.]

That is a long time to leave someone out of the loop.

[It's too late to do anything about it now, here, at least, but you've basically guaranteed your younger self- alternate timeline? However this will work out once it's done- a preemptive chewing out of some kind, Kon.

Anita settles for groaning into her hands for a second.]

You remember everything with Secret? Greta? The thing with Darkseid? [There is a nonverbal but fully implied 'you better' attached there.] That just happened for me.

Can somebody come and take this off my chest?

[astrarche]

[That was a good dodge, good form, and Sariatu is in the right position to drop on top of the boar. Good meat on those. Too bad about the numbers against them.

Still the angry boar is likely to turn on the girl who wounded it, so Sariatu does drop from the trees, screaming, activating her sword's power to stab the boar. Its retaliatory swipe with its tusks would have gored her if her invisible armor were not on, but as it is, all it does is throw her over to Anita's side.]

He'll come back, get ready!

[fiteclub]

The first reaction of 'is that a monkey with a sword gets tamped down because right now is emphatically not the time to be reacting to that sort of thing. Main problem: big angry boar and friends.

Some experimentation with her teleportation magic before this has made it pretty clear to Anita that it isn't an option for actually getting out of this mess as easily as it normally would.

And the big boar, bleeding from one gaping cut to its front leg and a stab wound to its back, shows no sign of being less incensed by the new arrival or impeded by its injuries, and the ones approaching are still in hale health.

At least they're smaller.

Go left!

[Anita calls it out while fully arming herself, pulling the other blade from her back, crouching, and then as the boar comes down takes a flying leap, slashing with both blades at its rear as she lands, twisting to stay in a guarded position and prevent the much smaller hogs from taking her by surprise.]

If your shit is not together it'll never be

[the_hit_list]

Tim just. Looks at her.

"No, I'm good." He counts to sixty in his head and surreptitiously rakes a hand through his shaggy hair, dislodging a few small leaf fragments.

[fiteclub]

Anita grins back, because unfortunately for Tim, coming out with a few leaves only undermined the attempt he made with that look.

"Sure? Should I expect some twigs next time you do that?"

[the_hit_list]

'Shush, woman' was on the top of the list of things that he didn't have the testosterone to pull off saying. Where was Kon when he needed him?

"I'm penciled in for rolling down a muddy river embankment at 8, and then I thought I could squeeze in running through brambles before lunch. I'd have to bump something to make room for styling with twigs."

[fiteclub]

Somewhere that put him at a safe distance from getting sass, probably. Then again, it's Kon.

She snorts. "Just combine it with your bramble run, sure you can squeeze that in at the same time." Anita pulls the long braid she made of her own hair to the front, letting it fall down her shoulder. "Some of you guys are starting to look like a mess."

Then again, Tim's pajamas really aren't helping with that in his case.

If your shit is not together it'll never be

[mark_in_the_sands]

Please? Every time I try to put it up, it falls out all lopsided.

[Wearing her hair androgynously short for most of her life has left Cassie with minimal styling skills, especially when denied access to elastic bands.]

[Cassie scoots over to where Anita's sitting without waiting for confirmation. Anita did offer, after all.]

[fiteclub]

Ha, I'll fix it. It's nothing a bit of texture won't help with.

[Once Cassies's settled where she's sitting, Anita leans forward, and begins to separate it at the crown of her head, working it into the beginning of a fishtail braid.]

I don't know if it's the same for you anymore, but this whole thing is up there in weirdness for me.

[mark_in_the_sands]

I guess that's one thing the no-'poo camping hair look has going for it.

[Cassie resists the urge to lean back against Anita's legs, since the other girl probably needs a bit of elbow room for this endeavor.]

Nope, it's still weird for me too. I mean, part of it is the "ha ha, no powers for you" thing, but...

[Cassie gestures, trying to find the words.]

I don't know, I think if I stopped finding our lives weird, I'd have lost touch with what it means to be a person, you know?

[No, she does't know, not completely. Cassie hadn't known about her father back when Anita was from. Ugh, time travel was the worst.]