[ Closed ]

[anthropophagite]

WHO: Kaneki + Reiner + Hide + Annie
WHERE: Around Florida, honestly this is a road trip
WHEN: Thursday
WHAT: Double not dates
WARNINGS: Canon spoilers, mentions of cannibalism

[ kaneki's life is never "amazing" or "great"; it's hard to when he lives the way he does, with what he is. But the hardest part was to hide it from people who are close to him and sometimes life takes a turn and makes things easier, smoother. Annie knows, Hide knows, Reiner knows; that made things smoother. Not amazing, but a bit better. Of course he still struggles a lot, to be looked at as "not human" and worries that they look at that inhuman part whenever they are with Ken. But in all honesty, after admitting to it, after he allowed them to know, it became easier not to think about that.

And Kaneki feels that it'll be alright, in a way; never completely, NOTHING of what he is is "alright", but with his friends, the people he cares for. Yeah. It'll be.

He has decided to do more. Enjoy that state of "alrightness". So he talked to Hide and then Reiner and Annie, and he decides why not hang out together? He never really left the cities with Annie before, and Hide wants to explore America and Reiner still has to meet and get to know Hide, so it's all good if they go together somewhere. Kaneki isn't sure where, but they will get to that.

They agreed to meet near the train station, but Kaneki decided that no, they won't be going by train. Because he does have a driver's license, and thanks to being an imPort, kaneki rented a car - not a hoover car, he doesn't know how to handle that - a black simple one that wouldn't be too expensive to rent for a day, and he drives off to the meeting point. On the luggage he has all sort of traveling utensils that might be necessary along with towels (in case someone goes skinny dipping again HI REINER) and, of course, he brought along his imunosuppressant drugs and those special "sugar" cubes. Another good thing? He isn't wearing the eyepatch. He can't drive with it. ]

Comments

can we name it cuddles

[lyingheart]

[ at least he seems interested in this... Annie mostly figures something physical is easy enough to get used to doing. let's all be kinetic here. she looks at him, then looks out at the waters as well. ]

Staying toward the center was their suggestion anyway.

[ She holds her paddle in neutral position. ]

Are you setting our stroke speed, or am I?

we can name it cuddles.

[nagachika]

[Annie would be hard-pressed to find an outdoor activity that Hide wouldn't be interested in. At least, not one that he'd show no interest in until trying it. He could always decide later that it wasn't fun at all and tap out any time. His impulses often got the better of him--but today, he was full ready for a boating adventure.

And manatees.

And talking with a real beauty. What could go wrong?]

Centre of the lake it is--also. Ah. I think it'd probably be better for you to set the stroke speed. ...I might get a little into it and accidentally use my powers if I'm in control--yanno?

and it shall be our cuddles

[lyingheart]

[ That was exactly the reason she asked; it's good to hear he's reasonable with what might happen if he wasn't paying attention. Annie makes a noise of acknowledgement in her throat before moving her paddle into position and using it to turn the nose of their kayak toward the center of the river.

It really is a nice day, all things considered. Annie picks a fairly sedate pace finding the whole experience strange. It does mean she lapses into quiet for her own thoughts, looking at the river (it really is striking how clear the water is) and the shapes of fish darting around underneath them.

... Sorry, Hide, you ended up with the not chatty of the two shifters out here today. ]

[nagachika]

[He grew up with Kaneki his whole life--having to deal with someone who didn't talk as much as they stayed inside their own head was not only his specialty, but it was something that would never bother him. He'd fill in for the silence left, and he always would.

He concentrates, mostly, in keeping the pace even and steady, careful not to let his hands take control of the flow they had managed to keep(it was odd, the boat rocked more than a few times, a couple apologies let out here and there) but somehow, they managed.]

Hey--I think I see some frogs over there. Ne, Annie-chan, do you think manatees eat frogs? Or are they vegans, maybe. ...Eating river weeds sound a little gross...

[lyingheart]

They're herbivores.

[ She says at last, but to be entirely honest she only knows that because she overheard someone else talking about it. She doesn't actually know what a manatee looks like. Someone said sea cow... which doesn't help. Nothing's been big enough to be a cow that they've passed by. ]

... Have you ever gone frog catching?

[ It's easy enough to drift along if they like, no real purpose to hurry off elsewhere downriver unless they were worried about missing the manatee convention. Annie looks back to him when she asks her question. She's not even sure why she's asking... it's not like she's ever gone frog catching. Yet still... ]

They're probably tastier than the river weeds.

[nagachika]

Are they? Huh. They must have to eat a lot to get that size, right??

[See, no problem breaking the silence. He's seen pictures of manatees, and he would be one to admit that they look nothing like cows.]

No, I haven't, actually. I grew up in a huge city. [He makes gestures with a hand, letting them drift for a moment before resuming their paddling.] The rivers weren't really safe to play in, and there wasn't much wildlife to speak about, so...

...

I don't think I'd wanna eat a frog, to be honest.

[lyingheart]

[ A huge city... the cities here are so overwhelming. Annie lives in the middle of one and she still has trouble parsing it some days. ]

... That's still difficult to imagine. Even in the innermost Wall, people had a sense of the countryside. Wildlife might have been another matter...

[ She looks skyward, watching two smaller birds, finches perhaps, dart from their perch in the foliage across the river to alight in a tree. Her eyes linger on them for a beat or two. ]

It's different for everyone. [ She makes to dip her paddle back into the water, enjoying the repetitive, soothing nature of it all. ] What made the rivers unsafe?

[ There are enough different causes (even on her world) that she's really asking which ones in specific applied to his circumstances. ]

[nagachika]

[He lets loose another laugh, dipping the end of his paddle down into the water, leaning over with the ever-vigilant eye out for passing manatees. No luck so far. Sigh.]

'Innermost wall?' Didja live somewhere with boundaries like that? [His head tips to the side a little--and he keeps from tipping into the water. Oops, that was close.]

Oh, that. Well. Tokyo being a huge city and all, people often throw things into water supplies and they get all polluted, n'stuff. Not to mention some companies are real cheap about waste disposal, and tossing things into waterways is 'cheaper'. It's illegal, but hard to get in trouble for something if no-one knows you're doin' it.

[A short sigh.] But hey, there's always springs and rivers in the countryside like this t'look forward to.

[lyingheart]

[ Did she? Yes, but it comes with a caveat she usually points out by making people review her old broadcast from August. ]

Mm. The world I'm from is a very limited, controlled place. At the height of the population of the Human Empire, there were probably only a million or so people alive. That was about four, five years ago.

[ Because most had actually died on the King's mandate following the crush of refugees created by the fall of Wall Maria. ]

Seems like corruption and laze are world-consistent problems. Anything you can deny enough you're not held responsible for, and who, really, is going to fight for that otherwise?

[ The hardheaded and stupid. The people who had the righteousness to do so, and to not give up. Then again, Annie has never been one of those sort, so the question sounds idle, like it's a passing thought with no real need to pause and answer. ]

Ah - look. Fish.

[nagachika]

...Only a million or so. Yipes, talk about a limited supply of people... man, I'm pretty sure there's a million people in one district where I live, let alone...

[No, don't talk about something so negative. They're supposed to be having fun here, and the reboot his expression takes when he decides this is like an electric shock.]

Humans are creatures of habit, I guess. Don't matter what world you're in. 'least there's some hope left with--Oh, fish!! --

[And in his excitement...

....He might just tip to the side, just enough. Just enough...

And the pair of them are going straight into the fucking drink.]

[lyingheart]

[ Annie can't correct them out of capsizing, so she goes over the side with a startled yelp, hitting the water and immediately kicking away from the kayak. The lfiejacket is really awkward now that she's in the water, holding her up and making her bob in an entirely unfamiliar way. She spies her paddle, kicking out so she can nab it before the current mid-river pulls it further downstream.

Granted, this leaves her further downstream than before, but she thrusts the paddle into the water and uses it to touch riverbottom (thank goodness it's shallower here) and keep herself from being dragged further downriver. ]

Hide! Grab the kayak!

[ ... She doesn't want to float swim after both it and him, to be honest. The shock of the water sure has her more alert looking than before, and not in a way she's totally appreciating. ]

[nagachika]

[Did he have a minute to think what an idiot he was?

He definitely had a minute to think about what an idiot he was. A closed-eyed grumble and frown makes it's way over his face as he bobs in the water with help of that life jacket. The water's cold, and it's likely if not for Annie's yell for him to grab the kayak, he might have let it drift away in his quiet annoyance.

Fingers gripping the paddle that he'd fortunately NOT let go of when they'd fallen out of the boat, dripping wet fingers manage to catch the kayak before it manages to flee downstream on them, a kick of his legs to try to pull it closer to where Annie was bobbing.

He looks over at her, now, thinking a moment before...]

...Oops.

[Nailed it.]

[lyingheart]

[ Oops. Annie pulls her paddle up as she takes hold of the kayak, kicking her legs and pulling herself up and over where she'd been sitting on the kayak before. It's probably more polite to tell Hide what she's doing, but Annie just launches into it as it is, centering herself over her seat before rearranging her grip on her paddle and twisting around until her butt's back in her very damp, not so pleasant seat. She swings her legs up and around last of all, knowing they're drifting the whole time, then balances her paddle over her legs while gauging what she needs to do in order to stabilize.

... And it's after all that where she looks back to Hide, her hair plastered to her face, sticking in crazy curling shapes over her cheeks. ]

Next time you want to go swimming, warn me first, huh?

[nagachika]

[Oops. It'd definitely be 'polite' to tell Hide what she's doing, but as she doesn't he's pretty content with(Let's face it, he caused the accident, he can deal with a bit of bobbing in the water as punishment)waiting to see what she was doing. Maybe he could copy it and manage himself back into the kayak, as well. Here goes nothing. And here's hoping he doesn't tip her right back into the water.

...Fortunately, that doesn't happen. His fingers reaching up to try to brush the water out of sunflower-blonde hair, he shoots Annie a bit of a grin--he can't help it; she's still cute despite how miserable she looked with her hair all messed up.]

...Yeah. Yeah, I think I'll have to warn Both of us, next time.

[lyingheart]

[ Cute as the drowned cat? She'd scoff if she knew the thought process, but thankfully for them both, she doesn't. Annie's priorities are on far different lines than those...

... and honestly, she mostly only picks up on flirting when it's blatant, and even then, she takes it as a tease, nothing genuine. Who the hell is dumb enough to actually flirt with her? ]

Which I'm hoping means you're not planning for us to swim with the manatees if we find them.

[nagachika]

[You know when you put a cat in water, and they get all puffed up and bits of hair poke out here and there? Yeah, just like that. Cute.]

...Uh. Well. No. They're big, right? Really big... swimming next to one might be dangerous. [He has no idea they're basically like giant moping sea-cows.

He's going to attempt to get back in the Kayak now, too, Annie--you might want to give him a hand so they don't capsize again.]

[lyingheart]

[ Annie is equally clueless as to the nature of manatees... though swimming cows mostly puts her in mind of vegetarians with possible territorial issues.

Annie braces the kayak after gesturing for Hide to make his own flopping, belly sliding way in. She has her paddle tucked up under one arm for the duration, leaving it at an awkward angle. ]

Large does tend to mean dangerous. Up with you.

[nagachika]

[And up with him he gets. He's going to place the paddle on the kayak between them; balancing it pretty evenly as his hands draw through his hair--brushing the water free from his head. It's standing up every which way, like a really sad porcupine.]

You think they're like sharks and attack people? Or maybe they're like dolphins.

Dolphins are pretty large, but they're pretty harmless.

[lyingheart]

[ She has a temporary urge to reach out and pat his hair down. She's curious if it'll stick right back up, or if its waterlogged enough to turn into a cap of hair again.

Instead, she looks forward, getting her paddle in her hands again. ]

I don't think that people here make money telling others about dangerous animals that'd look to kill them. Not that dolphins are so harmless...

[ She's... she's not going to explain where the danger comes in. ]

[nagachika]

[If she does, she'll see exactly how stubborn that mop of spikes is. It really will spring back up the minute she tries to make it behave. There's no taming the mess.]

...Yeah, you have a point. But at the same time, you'd think warnings'd be like.

...Basic.

[He laughs, but tilts his head a bit...]

Have you ever been bitten by a dolphin, Annie-chan?

[lyingheart]

[ She doesn't - but Annie is very rarely handsy, and even more rarely with people she doesn't know better than she knows Hide. In the end, she dips her paddle back in the water, backpaddling to pull them away from a half-submerged tree they're drifting closer to with the pull of the water downstream. ]

No... but I do recommend you check that any dolphins you swim with are female, for safety reasons.

[ Dolphins are very playful and inquisitive by nature, but there are dangerous scenarios that can be entered into with the more competitive and... ardent males. ]

They're powerful animals. I had no idea there could be so much variety in the sea... it's incredible.

[ Subtly shifting the conversation away from the specifics of why dolphin males are dangerous. ]