[J2]~ Icarus

To say Annie was pleased to be outside would be a complte lie. Not only did she have to face, yet again, the desolate remains of their old world, but she also had to do so with Mikasa. Being stuck with that righteous little twit only made things that much more difficult. Annie constantly had to remind herself that this was for her people... for Reiner and Bertholdt. As their leader, she had to figure out if the rumours were true.

At this point, she's almost ready to set outside. All the provisions have been packed, her mask has been tested and her vitals checked. Slipping her makeshift blade into her belt, she heads up to the entrance of the bunk, trying to convince herself everything will be alright.

Of course it will be... what could possibly happen out there?

She’s been prepped from this for a while now, when the first wave of rumours spread she’d already started setting up arrangements, collecting gear and making tools to travel on the outside once more. This would not be her first time and she believed resolutely that it wouldn’t be her last. Mikasa trusts that her Journey will be successful; she has a twinge of hope that hasn’t decayed out like the rest of the world around her. Despite her unfaltering hope towards this journey she couldn’t say she was pleased with her companion, Annie Leonhardt. Though she understood that as much as her people needed the aid so did Annie’s she still would have preferred to keep her distance as she always had. The moment she’d met Annie along with her group, she’d been suspicious of them they seemed too…quiet as if they had something to hide, what she didn’t know but it just might be that they knew more of what was going on then they let on. Either way Mikasa didn’t have much of a choice after all they were the two most skilled fighters and the leaders of their group hence they bared the responsibility to ensure their peoples survival.

“At least” Mikasa thought as she shouldered her bag filled with necessary supplies and slipped on her rubber gloves while looking at the gas mask lying on her table “we won’t have to talk”

Too quickly, Annie comes up to the metal barricade blocking their access to the outside… and protecting them from the radiation. The thought of all these human beings trapped underground, feeling falsely safe, almost makes her snicker. If only they knew that this was merely an illusion; that the infections and diseases from the surface were already embedded deep within. Aside from the group she lead, and a small one at that, she looked down on the others inside the bunker. She’d see them going on with their lives as if living like rats was any way to live, like the price to pay for survival from the war had been such a small thing.

So much for that…

She starts to slip on her gas mask when she hears shuffling behind her. Not surprisingly, she spots her travel partner making her way over, features as neutral as ever.

“Ackerman…” the blonde greets her, trying to avoid most of the small talk before they head outside. “Signal when you’re ready. We need to head out before day break”. She had no trust in the other woman, aside from the certainty that she could defend herself on the outside. Annie’s eyes give the other a once over before she goes back to latching on her mask.

Her eyes meet Annie’s sharp gaze momentarily, she doesn’t spare a single world in return finding it futile and unnecessary to partake in idle conversation, and she suspects Annie feels the same way. Either way they had to get used to the silence that would follow them across their journey and she was already trying to relish in it. She did give a small nod of comprehension, the kind she felt she’d be using a lot, since the gas mask would not only infringe their verbal functions, it would block off their facial expressions too. She didn’t know exactly how she felt about that but Mikasa had never really been a very expressive person and from she had observed neither was Annie; they were both stoned faced leaders. Hopefully they’d come to understand and develop small signs, she rationed it would avoid them a lot of trouble, after all they both knew what those wastelands beyond were filled with.

She secures her mask tightly, her scarf wound tightly around her neck and trailing past her lower back. She feels as ready as she’ll ever be to venture out into a cold, dark and desolate world. Even if the bunkers did not escape the dreary atmosphere they did offer a momentary safe haven from the wasteland above. Gripping her axe tightly she turned around to look over at her partner tipping her head toward the door as the awaited “signal”.