[Vwyx]

"I think... that that goes for all of us," Eamon said, watching the corpses of their foes disappear. His shots might have hindered the Nevermore, but he had been unable to provide a finishing blow.

"I can't believe we got blindsided. Maybe in the future, we should always have one person watching the sky!" he suggested, his need to cover all bases momentarily surfacing. "Wait, no... that makes no sense." He shrugged, muttering to himself. "Should we carry a birdhouse with us? No, too tacky. Pet Nevermore? Too angsty." He finally snapped his fingers. "I'll have to add an armored umbrella attachment to Wry Bretwalda," he concluded, his face utterly serious.

[Zerco]

After seeing that the battle was over, Shiro assumed a more relaxed stance, reloaded her guns and put them on her belt in their box form. She went over to her teammates and said, "At least it was a nice warm-up exercise!" with a smile on her face. Sure it was a little short, but fun nevertheless.

She chuckled slightly at Eamon's remark. "I don't think that's necessary, big guy." She said as she patted Eamon's shoulder, still giggling a bit.

[Flooberoid]

Cara smiled warmly at Helena and spoke in an encouraging tone. "It's alright. We can't expect to work perfectly as a team on our first mission. Better these things happen now than when we could really get hurt, you know?" After seeing everyone fight, Cara took note to prioritize defense in the upcoming battle. With everyone but her focusing on ranged attacks, she would have to be ready to take a beating in melee combat.

Eamon was right, regardless of how goofy he sounded, that they needed to keep watch all around them. Cara had carelessly (Caralessly?) allowed herself to be caught off guard by an average, everyday Grimm. If the real deal got around her defenses, well... her first real mission could be her last.

She would have to address that with the team eventually... but it was better to save that for later. Let them celebrate their small victory here for now. With that, she started wading across the creek.

[nathan67003]

Helena's worried face turned into a large, warm smile at Cara's response, soon replaced by an amused one when Eamon started spouting inane solutions to the Nevermore outta nowhere problem. She couldn't help but giggle.

When Cara started wading accross the stream, Helena started by looking around the exposed part of the water flow, trying to find the easiest spot to cross. Sure enough, at the edge of the clearing to her left, the stream had a few rocks going through it. Looked traversable enough. "Umm, Cara, I think there's a spot on the left that's easier to cross."

[Vwyx]

Eamon, hearing the suggestion from Helena, leaned out over the water to test the rocks with his weight. "Seems stable," he called, sliding his shoes around on the dark-stained rocks. "Just a little slippery."

He shot a grin at the rest of the team. "Unless you were all hoping to cool off?"

[Zerco]

Following her team, Shiro went over to the creek and glanced over the water to see how deep it is. It didn't look  uncrossable, deep parts here-and-there but mostly safe as long as you watch where you step. She went over to where Eamon stood and proceeded to cross the stream. "That wouldn't be such a bad idea actually." Shiro said in reply to Eamor with a half grinning half smiling expression. If she wasn't on a mission today she would probably be neck-deep in the water already, this warm weather was just asking for it.

[Flooberoid]

Cara looked at the rocks on which Eamon stood, dismayed at her own ineptitude. "Ehehehe... Where's your... sense of adventure? You, uh, never know what you might find wading through a creek!" Something slimy wrapped itself around her leg and made her speed up.

Eventually, Cara did manage to make it across the creek despite her poor choice of crossing point. At the other side she found a sunbeam and lay down, hoping to dry off as much as possible before the others reached her.

[nathan67003]

The thought of lightly shoving Eamon, just to make him struggle to retain balance, crossed Helena's mind for a split second. She, however, decided against it in the end, deeming it too mischievous & inappropriate for the current situation.

When her turn came, she rapidly jumped from rock to rock with a deft foot, landind on the other side of the creek entirely dry, save for the slight splashes from the running water. She then walked towards where Cara was enjoying the Sun, taking her time to enjoy the surroundings.

[Vwyx]

"Wow, that's our leader," Eamon crowed in admiration. "Always on the lookout for a new challenge." He dipped one foot into the water, shivering at the relatively cold temperature. "I'll... um, leave you to it. Wouldn't want to, uh, steal your thunder. Yeah. That's it."

Once he'd finished crossing the path of rocks, he plunked himself down next to Cara and Helena, taking the time to inspect his shoes. The rocks, it turned out, had a slimy film over them, which even left faint tracks in the grass behind him. The sole male of the team looked at the marks, then at his shoes with his lip curled in distaste. "Why does nature have to be gross?" he wondered aloud.

[Zerco]

Shiro crossed the stream just after Helena. When she saw that Eamon's shoes were covered in slime she cleaned the goo off her boots in the grass. She went over to her teammates and energetically said, "When! That was refreshing!. She sat down where the others were and laid back while also supporting herself with her arms behind her.

[Flooberoid]

"Could be worse," Cara told Eamon, and she meant it. Not that it seemed important to admit her mistake; the grimy, soggy clothes on her lower body were evidence enough of that. Frankly, her drive to rush this mission to its conclusion had been quashed somewhat by the whole ordeal. At the moment, she just wanted to bask in the sunbeam awhile before marching back into the dreary forest proper.

Still, it was her duty as leader to be at least as motivated as her comrades, preferably more. At the very least, they must reach the target zone by nightfall. Referencing the creek and clearing on the map, Cara was able to determine that they were well on pace to meet that goal. She spread the map out on the ground to show everyone what she meant. "Hey guys, check this out. We're making really good progress! Should be at the rocks by evening."

"Of course, there's no rush. No need to push ourselves if, you know, we need to camp out tonight. Or something," she hinted none too subtly.

[nathan67003]

Helena took the opportunity that all her teammates were lazily basking in the sunlight to walk right outside the pool of light and enjoy her surroundings, again, a slight smile floating on her lips. This was really a great day. At Eamon's complaint about the nature of nature, she was almost tempted to remind everybody that nature isn't gross ini itself but thought better of it and let everyone enjoy the break.

When Cara spoke up again after a small while, Helena turned towards her and stepped closer, entering the sunlight - which seemed to make her hair almost literally glow. When Cara mentioned camping, however, it was her face that lit up. "Ooooh, camping!

...Wait. Who has camping gear with them?", she added while looking at her comrades with a slightly puzzled look.

[Vwyx]

"I mean... I brought my stuff," Eamon replied, shifting the backpack that he'd packed especially for the trip, knowing that he'd be part of a long-distance overnight hunt. He splayed the pack on the ground, inventorying its contents. "Let's see... some dried rations, a stocked medical kit, a couple of pans - in case we found eggs - a kettle, some firestarters, two flares, a compass, a map of the area around Beacon, a bedroll, and a smallish tent."

He met the eyes of his teammates. "Bivouacking is serious business," he clarified.

[Zerco]

Shiro took a quick look at the map when Cara showed them where they were. She chuckled slightly when Eamon 'explained' why he was so thorough with what he brought.

Shiro flashed her backpack when camping became the focus of the conversation ."Camping huh?" she thought aloud. She was really happy that she brought her sleeping bag with her. "I packed some rations too as well as a first aid kit and a sleeping bag. Camping is not a bad idea, the weather is exceptional, we all could use some rest before fighting our target and how are we supposed to find the King Taijitu if we can't see in the dark?" She said enthusiastically. Her voice seemed to shift pitch to a higher and cuter one as she continued, seemingly lost in her own thoughts and interlocked her fingers. It would be totally awesome if Shiro could camp together with her new teammates at night. We could tell stories and get to know each other, and, like, Shiro and her teammates could totally be best friends forever! Then just like that we'll go to where the Taijitu is and we'll, like, beat up that meany Grimm that bullied the huntsmen! With the assignment complete we'll return to Beacon and we'll be totally praised!" She said with a huge smile on her face, still lost in her thoughts.

[Flooberoid]

"Uhhh... right. What Shiro said." Cara gave her quirky teammates a long, bewildered stare. I was just gonna grab some firewood and find a nice bit of rock to sleep on... Camping is more complex than I imagined... she thought.

Folding and putting away the map, Cara finally rose to her feet. "Anyway, we can't waste too much time if we wanna get to the rocks and set up camp before dark. Let's make tracks." She clapped her hands loudly in front of Shiro's face before leading the way out of the clearing.