2020-04-10 - Boomstuff Therapy

Lilith is no longer head-rended from an encounter with the Vivisectionist. Instead of going to work, or calling Erin or Jacob to have a secondary look at her (as suggested by August) like a responsible person, the woman texts and arranges with Easton to blow things up in the forest. Priorities, right? Also, she still has a gang of rind-melon fruit in the back of her SUV in recycle-happy grocery bags with nice big shoulder straps. Thankfully, it takes a while for that kind of fruit to rot, but they're just going to blow it up anyway, or shoot at it, so it's fine.

It's afternoon. It's still a bit spring chilly and damp, but it's comfortable and not raining, so that's great. Lilith arranged with Easton to park where some hunter trail is on the other side of the forest, looping around natural entry points that are more common in town. They're less likely to be overheard or ran into, that way, plus the beat down drive trail into the woods ensures they don't have to lug guns, bombstuff, and fruit too terribly far for the sake of wooded seclusion. When the brunette parks, she gets out of her car and leaves the radio on thump to sing along while starting to unload some things in preparation, a striped candy stick (strawberry watermelon, whee) tucked in her mouth.

...live fast, die young, bad girls do it well... live fast die young, bad girls do it well...

Hopefully the song isn't an omen.

The text is met with quiet satisfaction and slow nod. The death of melons has long been foretold and lo the day has come. Easton makes ready all of this gear that he's thought long and hard about. What can he get away with firing in the open, how much does he want to lug, how much does he want to spend on ammo just to destroy some fruit, etc. There's a lot of planning that goes into such a thing and Easton has relished every last minute of it.

And now he's pulling up in his dark green Jeep, the soft top is back on for the advancing warm weather and Lilith can easily hear the country music bumping out the speakers as he pulls up. Thankfully it is mercifully killed when the engine is shut off and Easton pops out. He's dressed for shooting in tactical pants and boots with a plain gray henley. He grins and calls out, "Who is ready to blow some shit up!" Granted he is light on the explosives, but he's working on remedying that situation. He wastes no time in going to the trunk and pulling out a suspiciously small backpack of 'supplies.'

In case you were wondering yes, he does have a plethora of jokes about good things in small packages, the size of his package, etc ready to go.

Lilith has laced up some black hiking boots over distressed granite denim skinny jeans, hair up in a messy bun out of the way. Fresh faced with lip balm flush and suited for casual, the black little t-shirt she's wearing underneath the North Face windbreaker advertises a Miami nightclub in red splash lettering. She eyes the Jeep while standing at her back trunk to zip up, and she screws her nose at the country music after she turns her own SUV and music off with keyfob button. She doesn't say anything about it yet, she's more interested in what Easton gets out and tugs from his own vehicle storage.

The backpack is rather small, isn't it? But bombs don't have to be big to be fun. In fact, once he's out and she's popped the candy stick out of her mouth to hold before tucking in a cheek again to free her hands, she comments, "Oh man, mememe. I've had a hell of a week. Did you make sparkler bombs? I forgot about those, but they're admittedly out of season without firework stands around." After lugging a bag of fruit onto her shoulder and passing one off to him to carry too, she slings on a beautifully-stocked collector's rifle in a carry case onto her back and slams the trunk in preparation to get moving.

Also, there's another thing she's curious about (and excitable about), "Did you bring the shred-gun?"

Easton hoists the bag up onto his back effortlessly and in fact it looks pretty much empty from the outside. He shakes his head and says, "I didn't. I decided to go a slightly different direction thanks to the wonder of the internet." He grins, very much appreciative for all the nerds out there who figured out all the chemistry and physics needed for, "I made some thermite reactive targets. So they get hit, they go boom!" He's obviously quite proud of himself for this little engineering feat and is very much looking forward to testing it out.

He heads up the trail with the bag of fruit over his shoulder and shakes head, "No.. but I did bring my automatic shotgun, which... is so fucking sexy it hurts."

Lilith starts to trek out, then makes note with backwards glance as an afterthought and notation. She's so exciteable about charging ahead and getting somewhere the pair of them can set up, she almost forgets to look at where they actually are. Though she knows the area well enough as a local, she doesn't usually come in from this side, so she makes a mental note while walking and eating her piece of candy in bits now, instead of just cheek tucking it.

"That sounds promising, at least. Fair gun substitute. And the explosives sound like they might not kill us. How's things with Bennie? You ever give her the ring or were you waiting to earn your way out of the doghouse so it didn't look like a bribe?" She stops in brief to adjust the bag of supplies on her shoulder with a bothered knit of her brows, "Forgot how much damned melons weigh. Imagine the jokes about my magnificent melons, buying all these in the grocery store."

Eventually, after talking and walking a while, they get to a clearing with some broken stumps and huge rocks and dirt elevation-root constructs, etc. It's pretty damn perfect and dim sunlight spreads intermittent rays through the tree canopies above. There's even birds chirping to make it feel like springtime. Too bad they're about to be very loud and ruin the ambiance.

Easton is mostly focused on looking for a decent place to setup and ignoring anything about the beautiful nature except for the fact that he keeps catching his bad foot on roots. To a weird degree. He grumbles as he stutter steps up the trail to right himself and says, "Yes, I prefer the non-dying kind of explosions these days." It helps to have a dark sense of humor. "Bennie is amazing. And yes, I gave her back the ring along with all her stuff when she left me." He shrugs and says, "It wasn't about trying to win points. It was hers." He smirks and says, "But speaking of rings, I have one I'd like you have you take a look at. Professionally. I've got no use for it."

"I have far too much respect for Byron to comment on your melons." Easton says with a straight face before shaking his head and saying, "Just kidding, your tits are great." He laughs and says, "But I can imagine the melons got a least some weird looks and comments, next time I'll grab the fruits."

Once they are to the clearing to setup, he puts down the melons and opens up the backpack. He pulls out a few pistols, and then some targets and then a couple boxes of ammunition... and then an AR 15 and then an automatic shotgun with four revolving barrels that can hold 17 shells. The bag is obviously not large enough to hold all of this equipment but it keeps coming. There are also safety things like ear and eye protection, because no one wants thermite laced watermelon in their eyes. He grins and says, "I really need to thank Itzhak for helping me figure this all out one day."

Lilith looks around after slumping the bag and rifle off of her body, commenting a little 'good good' in passing on the Bennie status and situation. Then she snorts out a sudden laugh at the compliment coming back around and makes a show of adjusting her bosom proudly. It's underneath her zipped coat and shirt, though, so it's really not that sexy and is more like a guy adjusting his junk with ego. Then leaning aside, she digs out shooting range shield safety glasses to slip on while straightening like a nerd, pointing a finger at Easton with preliminary warning, "... don't make fun of safety, I'm scared of losing an eye to irrational levels these days for trauma reasons."

"Okay, let's save these few for the bullets, then we'll set up those for the charges first to get our adrenaline..." Her hand drops from pointing at him then the fruits with directive, though, when she notices the sheer amount of stuff coming out of a backpack, though. It's like Easton is a damn destruction-primed battle magician. And for as much strange as she doles out and sees, that throws her and is new! After blinking a few times behind the subtle tint of the shielding glasses, she wanders over to look at the backpack more closely, then leans to check the bottom with tug once a lot of the stuff has come out.

"... what the hell? Is this an FCN item? I thought they all broke."

Easton pops on his own safety glasses and says, "Honestly in this town? Not wearing them would be just asking for a dumb injury." He's pretty sure there's a twisted sense of humor somewhere and he's not aiming to find out by losing yet another body part. He notices the look at the rucksack and asks, "Isn't my sack fansatic?" If she's asking about her melons (she wasn't) then he's asking about his sack. He blinks at FCN item though, he's never heard that acronym. "No. It's a thing.. that movers can do." Some of them at least. Okay only two that he knows of, him and Itzhak, but still. He's generalizing.

He grabs two melons and two of the exploding targets and heads down range to get those setup.

Once he's back he looks over the assorted weaponry only to pick up a lowly Glock. He shrugs and says, "No point in wasting a big bullet on something that's going to explode with a little one." He doesn't judge if she wants to move up, but he does wait for her. "I only tested one of these so far, but the result was pretty damn satisfying."

"... your sack is fantastic, Easton. Man. I want a purse like that on principle, but... I also don't need the excuse to cram more things into it." Lilith cracks a lopsided grin at Easton and shakes her head a little bit at the bag like it's a magic wonder. It is, but it's one kind she's not used to and she's suddenly very curious how it works while tailing up to the set up with the man, watching and examining the charge being set with the fruit, "Is it heavy like you put all those things in it, or does it somehow negate the weight to be manageable? Also, do you have to pack it right to make the things fit? Is there a limit? Can you just put things in it eternally or does it eventually hit some kind of invisible bottom? How did he make it? Is it just imbuement, somehow, that sticks?"

Jesus, calm down lady. Once Lilith gets on a tear to know how things work, she's one thing after another with those mental processes, apparently. The questions come out a bit rapidfire like a toddler wondering about the damned sky, fittingly asking things that are kind of hard to answer here and there. But then there's charges to study and her train of thought changes on the way back away toward the weaponry with more tailing, "How big is the explosion going to be? What's it made of? You just shoot it and it goes off like boom?"

Good luck with all those questions, Easton. But maybe he doesn't have to answer all or many or any of them given he's about to blow something up and show her exactly how it works. The woman leaves her own rifle stowed for now and puts her hands on her hips, seeming a bit ready to dodge run one way or the other. But even though she's poised to move while watching, there's a bit of bouncing anticipation and excitement in her feet.

"I fear for mankind if Bennie ever develops this ability. I'm pretty sure we would all end up living inside her giant hobo bag." She doesn't need any more ability to fit things in there. Easton considers her for a moment as he's busy setting up explosive charges while she peppers him with questions. The look is obviously one of, would you mind holding all questions until I'm not afixing explosives to fruit? But he doesn't say anything. He doesn't answer any of the question either, at least until they are clear of the targets. He thinks about it and answers, "Near as I can tell, I'm folding space. And putting things somewhere over there." He would also like more specifics but he's been practicing and is still not clear on many details. "The weight is definitely not there and the organization doesn't seem to matter. I need to be able to sense it to pull it back out, but it's like any other thing, I always know where it is."

The switch of topics to the targets, gets another look from him, though this one a little more excited to answer questions. "So the explosion should be reasonably small, maybe a few feet blast radius, plenty of oomph to blow up a melon though, maybe crack a cinder block?" Or break bones. "It's homemade thermite.. or something like it anyway." With one more look to make sure she's not going to start firing off questions once he's in shooting stance he raises his pistol. With a steadying breath and small adjustment to his stance he asks, "Ready?" before firing a single shot.

The explosion is fast, and not all that loud. There is a flash and smoke and bits of melon are sent showering down in the area.

Easton laughs and nodding declares, "I like it."

Lilith listens with attentive interest and silence as Easton explains and answers, then she's even more on the level of shut-the-fuck up once the gun is raised. She clearly looks ready, standing there practically resonating with anticipation of boomstuff violence, dark head tipping into solid nod while her eyes fixate on the target behind the safety glasses. Then when the crack of the gun goes off and the resulting explosive ignition happens, the woman immediately breaks her silence to jump a couple of times with an enthusiastic, 'Yes!' and tiny whooping noise of rowdiness.

"I'm not even deaf or dead!" Lilith compliments Easton's bomb-making abilities for being boomy, flashy, and not painfully deafening quite genuinely. Then, after getting her own gun from the waist of her jeans with lift of jacket, she checks it over in brief. It's a Beretta 92 FS 9MM semi auto, sleek and black and apparently favored given the way she looks at the thing before taking the safety off and posing stance for fire at the other explosive target. After wiggling her fingers some on the grip, she gives the warning over to Easton to be polite, but other than that, she doesn't waste a lot of time blowing her own target up, "Heads up!"

When she fires, the bullet hits the target, but is slightly skewed to one side on the melon. However, given the charge is set and ignites, the explosive result is still satisfying. Lilith heaves out a giant 'ahhh' breath of delight while rapt on the fruit carnage everywhere and wafting smoke, "... okay, this really is a fair substitute for blowing things up myself. You're a goddamn champion."

Easton's explosion just gets a smile, but it's a very, very satisfied smile. He safeties the gun and tucks it into a holster at his side and then steps aside to make room for Lil. He eyes her weapon and gives a small nod of approval. He waits until she's in firing position and lined up before saying, quietly but clearly, "Send it." The universal call to fire your weapon at the target. He this time has his phone out and the camera pointed down range at the melon, capturing on video every frame of the destruction.

"Mhmm that's a keeper." He grins and laughs when she talks about it as a substitute. "Okay but next we're lining up at least four or five and taking out the auto shotty. A little more close range and little bit of rapid fire. It's got a good kick though so make sure you're braced."

Easton just said line 'em up and she's ON that the second he mentions taking out the autoshotgun, especially after the high of the explosion and flying pieces is settled into her. On her way to the makeshift forest range they've made, though, she doesn't go all the way out with dragged bag handle. Instead, she counts her steps based on what she knows she wants as an impact range for a shotgun, steals a glance back to visually squint and measure behind her safety glasses, then looks back forward again with a hum, "Here? Here. This is good." After nodding to herself and not really waiting for an answer, she starts to line rinded fruit and melons and cantaloupes up in a horizontal line, though some of them are elevated on a fallen log or stump or rock, so each is kind of at a different height to make for target variation.

While she's doing that, she trusts Easton is arming and loading the pretty autoshot and calls back over her shoulder with sudden wondering, "What's this about a ring you want me to look at? I forgot to let that sink in til just now, apparently, and I'm curious." She pauses and turns with straighten to rub her hands against the hips of her jeans while eyeing the man dubiously a fleeting time with thought, "... it's not something cursed, is it?" It's Gray Harbor, this is a valid question, and she's HAD a cursed ring before, just last summer! Paranoia might be flaring as she makes her way back over from the setup to look at the gun.

Easton gets the shells out and starts the loading process. It can take up to seventeen at once so it's quite a bit of effort to fully load the beast up. He looks up when she asks if that's good and he just raises a thumbs up and goes back to loading the gun. Once that's setup he pulls out a pack of cigarettes and lights one up, offering the pack out to Lil when she comes back.

"Oh yea." The ring. Right. "Thorne told you my ex is in town? And is now his lawyer?" He's not sure how much business Byron talks about and honestly he wouldn't be surprised if that answer were 'not much'. He continues anyway, "We were engaged." He lets that sink in and gives only the faintest of shoulder shrugs that hint at it ending badly. "She returned the ring and fuck if I have anything useful to do with it. So I figured I might pawn it and buy some more guns. A plan I'm assuming you approve of whole heartedly."

"But no, no curses as far as I know. Unless Katherine has made a deal with the darkness to consume my soul? But... she seems to be handling it a bit better than that."

Lilith tries to remember if Byron mentioned anything about his lawyer, she just knows he's been having to deal with one more lately in lieu of the Casino arrangements and signings and so on. After a moment, she just kind of shrugs, then makes an 'ahhh' noise of understanding, knocking a loose piece of hair with sweep back behind an ear before taking the offered out pack of smokes to tamp one out. She immediately starts to light it with flare of power out of habit, but catches herself and uses the lighter he has to use like a normal person instead, "Well. If she starts flirting with him in front of you to try and get your hackles up, I'll certainly find a way to take care of it."

Uh huh. Take care of it. Lilith might or might not be serious, she has that dry kind of deadpan humor sometimes that usually indicates she's putting on, but it's hard to tell. Also, she's DAMN capable of wrecking someone in a way that would resonate 'back off' considerably. You know. With blood and fire. But! After a moment, Lilith cracks a smile and blows out a plume of smoke into the forest air off to one side before she takes to eyeing the gun instead of the man again, "Mostly, though, I agree with the pawn and purchase plan, yes. Obviously."

"I would love nothing more than to sic you on her.. but sadly, she's on her best behavior which makes me the asshole." Easton frowns and then shrugs, "But I was always the asshole, so.. that's not new." And he's not self-pitying here, more self-reflecting. He snaps back to the topic at hand and says, "Okay, so you can just keep squeezing the trigger but it's got a real good kick so start with one and get a feel for it before you knock off a couple." He steps forward and a slings on a pair of ear protectors, not needed for the pistol but appreciated for the shotgun.

He raises the barrel to his shoulder, aims and fires once. The impact on him is obvious. He looks to Lilith before firing off two more rounds, taking a step forward before each one. The melons explode with less flash and smoke than before but with just as much if not more shrapnel. Easton grins and safeties the gun before handing it back to Lil and getting out of the way.

"And I appreciate your approval."

"Look. We're all assholes. Every single one of us. Except me, I guess. I'm an angel and a princess. I even have a pedestal to sit on." Lilith comments offhand while standing and smoking and watching Easton set up with the shotgun to brace and take aim. She tamps ashes from the cherry-lit tip into the wind and visibly considers a moment, though, once the man has pulled out ear protection. Because she's smart and not afraid of looking like a darling little girlie standing there with her ears covered to prevent the big bad boom from hurting her ears, that's exactly what happens while she's anticipating and watching. However, she has a cigerette dangling out of her mouth and safety glasses on, so that helps her look a little more hardcore and appropriate to the setting while her palms are flatted with smash at her ears.

Once he's fired and made the fruit whipcrack into burst that's utterly satisfying given Lilith's face, she pulls the smoke from her teeth's grasp where it's pinched to hold during ear cover and immediately leans to put it down on the edge of a rock to pick up again in a moment. She wants her hands nice and free and she looks more than ready. Then again, she might be an empowered asskicker, but there's a moment there where she considers the fact she's actually kind of built physically like a barbie doll, the brunette model. And maybe that moment of realization she might get knocked on her ass makes her damn determined NOT to get knocked on her ass.

Once she's got the gun up, aimed, and her body braced, she stands for a moment and checks her balance with subtle forward, then backwards leaning, feet at plant. Then she doublechecks, despite her excitement and haste to get the gun in hands, because she doesn't want a kickback stock in the face, either, or a bloody nose. There's payoff in her determined self-assessments because she not only stays standing and manages like a champ, but she dead-centers the shot for a good impact flying explosion of fruit.

Then, abruptly, while lowers the gun, she starts to laugh and looks tempted to hug the thing given how she's looking at it before handing it back.

"... that's my new boyfriend, now."

Easton watches approvingly as Lilith takes the time to square up and really prep for the shot. It's obvious that she's handled some guns before because she's controlling the movements well and not taking anything for granted in the process. He places the cigarette in his lips and pulls out a phone again to again video tape the shotgun.

".. that's my new boyfriend, now."

Easton looks on approvingly and says, "Yea, me fuckin' too." What he already has a husband and a girlfriend but the boyfriend slot was open and she does make a very convincing argument.

Lilith sighs like she has an epic crush while handing the gun over to Easton again, then eyes the fruit with a sudden perk of her lips for what remains. Leaning over to pick up her abandoned smoke once her hands are free, she goes to up the ante with... what's kind of maybe a dangerous idea, but it's probably fine, they know what they're doing and she's all high on playing shoot-and-explode.

Abruptly, she wanders right onto their makeshift range and leans to pick up the canteloupe on a tree stump before climbing right on the stump herself to get some added height boost with her target fruit. And while she's doing that, she tells Easton, "Okay. I'm going to throw this up into the air... right there..." Lilith points at the space next to the tree stump she's standing on, takes another hit from the cigarette, then flicks it away to the forest floor while continuing, "And you're going to shoot it."

So okay, what if he goes hard right and shoots her instead? Apparently, that's not a deterrent, because she's ready to pitch that thing up and out, holding it like a bowling ball psuedo-granny-bowl-style to ensure it goes up more than it moves outward, "Make it rain?"

Easton accepts the gun back and for a brief moment gives it a slightly amorous caress, with a smile on his face. He gets a concerned look on his face when Lil starts wandering down into the target range though. He gets even more concerned when she talks about her plan. He is shaking his head before she's even finished explaining this new game though. He might love guns and explosions but he's not about to be shooting towards a person any time soon unless he means to add some holes to that person.

"Nope. Nope. Nope. Come back.. I have a better idea." He points the gun down at the dirt and with his free hand pulls at the melon in Lilith's hands. If she wants something to launch some fruit to shoot, he can provide a much better, safer mechanism than her anywhere near the line of fire.

"... tsk, it's not like I'm putting it on my head like an apple." But now Lilith is unwittingly considering that even though she knows it's crazy and a stupid impulse to have with absolutely no purpose beyond adrenaline when you don't get shot in the brain meat. After breathing out a soft huff of sigh, she starts to hop down, but suddenly the melon is yanked from her hand and she makes an 'oh' of realizing noise. Nevermind that the purpose of coming out here to ruin things was to try and do it without beacon-slamming the Dark Lord Eyes or whatever with attention grabbing flashes of power.

... in fact, she's forgotten that part completely and is immediately also tempted to go fruit ninja on it while it's at tug-hover with a karate chop of hand for effect. But she's also curious to see how Easton pulls it off, so she hops down and backpedals to ensure a good view, even though he's probably not going to do a damn thing til she's right back nearby given the trio of nopes.

"Well then I definitely wouldn't be shooting it, least of all with our boyfriend." Easton waits for her to get out of the way, and rejoin him but when she stays put he considers it for a moment before flinging the melon up and away from her and drawing the shotgun up and firing. The blast manages to just rip some of the rind off, not really get a good solid explosion out of the melon. He calls out, "Aww, I just winged it. Now it's going to die a slow painful death."

He then lowers the gun and motions for her to make her way back up. "Come on, I'll be your person clay pigeon launcher.." He stubs out his cigarette and places it in a garbage bag alongside all the spent brass casings. He'll leave the melon rinds, but he's a pretty well behaved sportsman for the most part.

Lilith may not have grown up with money like Easton to possibly play games of clay pigeon shooting next to a nice round of croquet and gin fizzy lemonades on the estate grounds and all, but she's seen TV and movies and knows exactly what to say in an official capacity. When she returns to set up with the gun again, she's so excited about getting to yell it, she takes a little less cautionary check time to set up and brace, ready to fire. Also she has to move the gun upward with point this time, and even though she doesn't fall on her ass or bloody her nose with the blast recoil kicking back from the stock, she misses.

And THAT pisses her off in a split second on principle. With reflex while backpedaling, she tries to catch the fruit to make it explode where it very offensively did not explode with ammo before. The second the fruit hits the ground, it explodes from the inside core outward, ripped and flayed apart with soft fruity flesh and rind. Clearly, the fall didn't crack it like that, and Lilith gives herself away with the noise she makes right after it happens.

It's pretty much a sex 'unf' in a take-that-bitch kind of fashion. She apparently really likes it when things explode WITHOUT ammo. But speaking ammo...because she missed, she chips into a tree with splintering small explosion of wood. It's just a tree though, it's fine, that's why they're out here.

She's forgotten entirely about the conversation she had very recently about multiple forms of plant life acting up.

Easton is about to suggest swapping out for something a little less hefty but there's no time since she's lining up her shot and ready to go. He duly flings the fruit and watches as it lands unmolested before exploding. He doesn't need Glimmer to detect what just happened there. The sex noise pretty much makes that clear. He coughs a bit and looks away, forcing back a smile. He manages to regain his composure and says, "Well you sure showed it." He is about to say something else when he hears the rustling in the canopy. He unlatches the pistol from the holster at his belt on principle but doesn't draw just yet. He holds up a finger and tries to get a sense if they are shifting out into the Veil or if it's something more mundane occurring.

"... I really wanted to see it explode." Lilith says needlessly to Easton, just the barest touch of hangdog tone in her voice with guilt because she knows she's not supposed to be playing in her glimmer abilities, especially in lieu of the things that have been happening back to back recently. The last thing she needs is to give Byron a coronary all because she's yanked into some dark and dangerous issue and hurt as punishment for flipping her glimmer switches... without any real good excuse other than that-melon-pissed-me-off.

After eyeing where the nearby tree got shotgun gouged, her mouth opens and she starts to make commentary, but when Easton flips the latch on his worn gun belt and holds a finger up, something about his change of posture alerts her to go quiet and stay still, "Quite the woodchipper, though, I guess I didn't miss if there's something to show for..."

After a moment of looking around instead of at the gouged tree trunk or Easton, Lilith seems confused and she asks, "... what?"

Easton frowns and tries to focus on the surrounding area for a moment with his other senses, making sure that all of the objects they brought are still there and that he can still feel everything as is. It's hard though because shifting into a Dream is honestly meant to slide past their senses often times. He shakes his head just a small fraction, "Not sure, something's up in the trees and I'm not ... " He frowns and relaxes a touch, "Maybe it's nothing. Sorry. It's hard not to be jumpy." He hasn't shot anyone who didn't deserve it yet and he's really proud of that, but he still feels like that might just be a matter of time with this place conditioning him to switch into 'fight' mode at a moments notice.

"Anyway.. we should probably call it soon. We spend too much time up here making noise and someone's bound to come asking questions. Not sure everyone will understand some good clean melon murdering fun."

This time, it's Lilith who gets to looking a little spooked as she makes a slow turn in place, feeding off of Easton's caution. He may not notice what's happening little by little, but he was on edge and alert with notice of something before. They're still in reality as they want and know it, technically, their things are still there and they're in the forest, but their senses in turns tell them something is off, like they're next to a shifting Veil thin spot, and THAT is a bad thing considering how deep in the forest they are.

Abruptly, the brunette nods after she completes her turning revolution of survey in place, then she moves to pack up and help Easton pack up too. She never even got to get out her rifle, but she slings it on in a hurry now and checks her handgun, though... honestly, if they're about to get mauled by the forest itself, those things won't really help given how big the trees are out here, she knows it, and if ALL the trees start acting up, they're severely surrounded and outnumbered. Her eyes continue to flick to the path they came in on, though, because something is...

"Okay. Yes. I think we're done. I liked this very much, but I don't want forest vengeance. Something feels funny." Right when they start slinging glimmer and she shoots a tree, go figure, "... the trees are getting closer together over there. We might be about to lose our way out."

He can't tell what is happening but Easton also is in no mood to screw around and find out. He grabs his rucksack and starts unceremoniously shoving material back into the sack, shaking his head and keeping his eyes on the lookout. The joking and brash personality is replaced by the Marine he once was, with a fierce glance that tries to look for any number of possible threats. It's one of the worst feelings for him in that he can never know what he might face in a dangerous situation, constantly being deprived of even the most basic of sit reps.

"Agreed. It was fun." There is zero fun in his voice at this point. The feeling is starting to turn palpable. "I didn't pack a chainsaw.." It's not so much a joke as he runs through a mental list of how he would fight trees. "But let's get a move on and worry about dead ends when we hit them.."

A rustle in the bushes to their right finally gets Easton to draw his gun, as if his muscles had just been waiting for any reason to do so. But whatever it was though seemingly large doesn't materialize and after a second or two of waiting with gun trained he picks up the pack on his back and says, "Let's move."

So. They're all packed up and Lilith moves when Easton says 'go' because she's not a moron, no matter how dug in or scrappy she can get sometimes on principle. She's not trying to catch a whole forest on fire, plus with as big as the trees are, that would actually be pretty hard, even for her. Same principle as blowing the thick trunks apart piece by piece to any effect, there's just too much for her to deal with at once. She knows her limits and also has a general don't-fuck-with-plants kind of rule because she's been an accidental plant wilter and killer all her life, just about, she's very sure the plant world has vengeance planned for that.

But uh. When they take off to blow toward the path (because it is closing up even though they don't see the trees actually move) she... hits a tree and bounces back with defensive shove of her hands at the last second. Where there was space, suddenly, there isn't, and she looks over to see Easton having the same issue. The gap between trees is on the other side of the path, now, and after sucking in a breath, she cusses on exhale to call the trees 'fuckers' and heads that way next with a pivot turn and burst of speed, "This way!"

Easton holsters the pistol because really it's not going to do anything to a tree and frankly it's more likely to ricochet and hurt some of the far squishier humans than the trees at this point. He stumbles into a tree and tries to squeeze through a narrowing gap but can't before he turns and sees Lilith pivoting in another direction. He spins and follows after her narrowly making through a gap but glancing over his shoulder he sees the same can't be said for Lilith. "Shit. Lil!" He wishes he had at least a machete or something useful to help clear out another path but he has nothing, well except determination. He moves around the trees through the brush, yelling, "Come on."

If the path is getting blocked, he's going to try and head off the path, which of course is murder on his leg with the brush and the uneven ground but it's what he has for an option.

Lilith almost gets through, but at the last second, she gets kind of smushed and caught between some low branches and another invisible shifting of the tree positions. She gets furious about this and looks at Easton up through the gap with a grit of her teeth, suddenly bolstered. And... innovative levels of pissed off. She flashes with power and temper all at once, and suddenly, the edges of the trunk wood and branches fly apart, though it's just chunks to set her free and make more gap, the trees themselves are quite thick and huge.

"Move!" It's whipsnap authority in Lilith's voice as she addresses not the man she can see, but the trees themselves, threatening consequence, "Move or burn."

It's impressively domineering and threatening enough (especially with the idea of fire thrown in) but the trees aren't really listening. The branches above rock and whisper and tremble and clack with acknowledging, but they open no path and promise nothing with movement for advancing onto the path. But she's made herself a hole, and once she's free, she blows toward Easton with reaching to try and get a grasp on his arm because... if the trees separate them and they get fully snared into dangerous and strange, not just the fringes trying to suck them in, they're more fucked.

Easton finds it not at all funny or strange that Lilith is both yelling at and threatening the trees, it feels like a perfectly good strategy to him. His eyebrows even raise his eyebrows a bit, considering how good of a drill instructor she might have made. He is grateful to see that she's able to get through and reaches back to grasp her arm. If it weren't for the fact that's he's playing the roll of blunt object crashing through the brush she would easily out pace him. As it is an encroaching tree tries to push them down a ravine which causes Easton to bark out a "Fuck off." And for a moment the tree seems stunned, as if not being used to being spoken to in such coarse terms. For a second it looks as if its branches make a clutching movement, as if miming how wounded it is, but Easton couldn't care less. He's crashing on a head, keeping his mind focused on where they are parked which thankfully still feels like a place he can find.

"Yeah! Fuck off!" Lilith suddenly chimes all petty once she sees that... it worked! In fact, it sounds a bit smug too, on Easton's successful behalf, because she doesn't actually SAY that until they're free and clear and on the path along the hunter's trail at a dead run. Then she runs a little faster, in case tree taunting was a bad idea after the fact. There's absolutely no call to slow or stop until they get to the parking area, winded and breathing hard.

Then, triumphantly, Lilith does two things. First she leans in brief to catch her breath against Easton while they're still grip conjoined at the arms with the reflex panic of trying to keep together against the forest, and while she's there, she starts to helplessly laugh while trying to breathe at the same time. Then, on straightening, she up and pops Easton right in the fucking face.

... she told him he'd never see it coming, didn't she?

The running part is a little harder for Easton than Lilith, even on the trail and he quickly lags behind her, wincing with each step but managing to at least mostly keep pace. His fitness is fine, but he's still breathing hard when they get to the cars. He laughs as she leans against him and then for a moment he sees a shift and for a moment something like fear crosses his face. No, he doesn't see that punch coming, he for just a moment thought this was going to take an inappropriately amorous turn. And that makes the punch just all the sweeter. His head actually moves back at the punch. It's good enough to get him to exclaim, "Fuck!"

For a moment, his eyes flash with a furious anger that looks like he might retaliate but it fizzles out into a low dark chuckle. "Okay. I like it." He hadn't forgotten that she promised to punch him in the face one day, but boy howdy did she do a better job of picking her moment than he expected.

"That's yer one."

He's smiling, but there's still enough intensity in his eyes to let her know he means that. He shakes his head and says, "I'll see you later Lil."

At this point, mostly Lilith did it because she was high on adrenaline (and because he told her she was all talk) and remembered that in a flash out of the blue. She's into bad decisions for some reason recently, anyone with their wits knows hitting a man while his blood is high and his hackles are risen is a bad idea. It's apt to get you hit back or escalate elsewhere. But also it feels good once it's done because she loves her Byron, she has since she was six years old in their own special circumstance bonded way. She's wanted to do that for a long time on principle, even though she had pulled back to hide from the Thorne boy in high school when he was catching most of his flak from a popped-collar Marshall.

But also, it hurts her hand, she knows how to hurt a man, but throwing a punch is different and she doesn't actually do it that much. Ouch steals some of her own adrenaline high enough to calm her down to natural winded catch up breath, backing up to make a little blow kiss gesture toward Easton, speaking understanding of it being the 'one' in her own way, "... yeah. Your face is hard, I'm not real inclined for round two. Thanks for the explosions. Come by the shop with the ring, hm?"

Then after fishing out her keys, she gives Easton a bit of a shameless lopsided grin instead of being properly modest or apologetic or guilty about choosing right then to pop him in the face. Waving them with jingle, she heads out as he does, "See you later."

"I'll be by." Easton starts to recover some of his sense of humor and is not a little charmed by the fact that she just moves past the fact that she punched him in the face without an apology.