Armin shook his head. 'I think he was just bored and wanted to chat. It wasn't because of him that I didn't sleep well. Though I'll be glad if he doesn't sneak into my tent again.'

(Lol, my trouble maker. XD)

Dianne: "Ok. But still, he shouldn't be bothering you while you sleep. He won't do that again."

(Nasty troublemaker who drools everywhere >:( )

'Thanks.' Armin finished packing up, and waited for Dianne to be ready so they could get going. 'How many nights of camping until we get to... the next town whose name I keep forgetting?'

(You disapprove? XD)

{Dianne finishes packing and shifts.}

Dianne: One more night of camping before Agamidae. We should arrive tomorrow afternoon.

(Everybody should disapprove of his drooling. XD)

Armin vaulted onto Dianne's back. 'Sounds good. I'm looking forward to seeing it.' He shifted to hawk form and settled down to doze.

{Dianne takes to the skies, flying north once again.}

...

{After another long day of ceaseless flight, Dianne sets down in a clearing in an oak forest.}

Dianne: "Hmm. Acorns. Haven't seen those in a while."

Armin had woken up a while ago, but had opted to stay on Dianne's back, scribbling in his journal. When she landed, he jumped down and breathed in the smell of oak trees in the air. 'This is different. I haven't seen much forest except pine for a while.'

{Dianne looks around as Titan lands.}

Dianne: “Well, at least firewood won’t be hard to find. You two, (centaurs) go get dinner. Barnabas, go get some firewood. Armin, let’s set up camp and make a fire pit.“

'Right.' Armin went to the crate and retrieved his tent, beginning to set it up on a flat patch of ground at the base of a particularly big oak tree. The tree's branches cast the tent into shadow.

{Dianne grabs a shovel while a centaur sets up her tent. Once she finishes the fire pit, she looks over at Armin.}

Dianne: “Now, where’s that ghoul with the wood?”

Armin shrugged, looking around. 'Probably messing around in the forest somewhere. Shall I go and look for him?'

Dianne: “Go ahead. Just don’t get lost.“

Armin headed off into the oak woods in the general direction he'd seen Barnabas go, drawing his sword as he went. //Just in case there are any of those weird monsters. I'm sure they can't have spread this far, but you never know...//

After walking for a bit, he called Barnabas's name. 'Hey, ghoul guy, where'd you go?'

Barnabas: "I'm over here."

{Off by a thicket, his tell tale green glow could be seen. He was crouched down by a large pile of wood, staring frustratedly at a small mouse.}

Barnabas: "I'll be coming back soon. This stupid thing isn't afraid of me..."

Armin snickered when he saw what the ghoul was looking at. 'You can't scare a /mouse?/ Why not? Mice are scared of everything.'

{Barnabas snorts.}

Barnabas: "Apparently not. This guy's afraid of....his wife finding out about an affair he had with a bar maid, and that second, secret family he goes to visit on the weekends....And he tells his wife that it's office meetings?! So scandalous!"

{Barnabas then looks at Armin.}

Barnabas: "Bruh, I think this mouse is actually a shifter..."

'No way. Why would any self-respecting shifter decide to turn into a mouse?' said Armin, guessing that Barnabas was just trying to prank him again. 'C'mon, pick up the firewood and let's go back. Stop messing around with the local wildlife.'

Barnabas: "Alright, if you say so."

{Barnabas proceeds to pick up the wood and walk back.}

Barnabas: "So, you would never shift into a mouse?"

'Not unless I needed to run and hide down a really small hole or something,' said Armin, walking slightly behind Barnabas. 'Why else would I? They're stupid, tiny and defenceless.'

Barnabas: "Yes, but they're also very hard detect. Perfect for stealth. Just imagine, you shift to a mouse, no one sees you coming, and then KABLAM! You suddenly appear and scare everybody! Hahaha, it's perfect!"

'Sneaking up on people isn't my style,' said Armin. 'I'd rather just attack them head-on. Besides, I could get stepped on. Or eaten by a bigger animal. It just sounds like an accident waiting to happen.'

Barnabas: "Yeah, if you're a scrub. If you actually had skill, you could make it work."

{By this time, the campsite had come into view.}

'It's not lack of skill. It's just the way I prefer to do things,' said Armin unconcernedly as he stepped into the campsite. 'I don't like shifting into anything I'm not used to unless absolutely necessary.'

Barnabas: "Ok, but it seems like a gross waste of possibility to me."

{Barnabas walks up to the firepit and drops wood into it. Dianne proceeds to light it and sit by it.}

Dianne: "So, where was he?"

'Sitting in the forest trying to scare mice,' said Armin, sitting down beside Dianne and leaning back in his chair with a contented sigh. 'I think that, because we're not letting him terrorise people or livestock, he doesn't have anything better to do.'

Barnabas: "Well, I gotta feed somehow, man. You got a better idea?"

Dianne: "Can't you go scare the deer around here?"

Barnabas: "There's really not that many..."

'Well, you're going to have problems when we get to the tundra,' Armin remarked. 'Apparently, animals are kinda scarce up there.'

Dianne: "Yeah, you might go hungry for a little bit. Sorry."

Barnabas: "Mmmmmmm.....:("

{Just then, the centaurs return with a rather large boar.}

Dianne: "Oh boy! We got pork for dinner! :D"

'Something other than deer? Great,' said Armin, eyeing the boar. 'Huh, I've never actually seen one of those in real life. There aren't any in Vallis.'

Dianne: "I know, and my quality of life has suffered as a result."

{Dianne wastes no time in grabbing the boar and dragging it away to prepare it.}

Dianne: "Bufo, get me my spices."

Armin sat back to watch, seeming vaguely amused by Dianne's enthusiasm. 'Do those things actually taste like pork?' he mused. 'I know they're basically wild pigs, but they're still not exactly the same thing.'

Dianne: "Oh they taste divine. The trick is you have to roast 'em in their own fat. Mmmmmmm...."

Barnabas: "...I wish I still had taste buds..."

Armin gave the ghoul a sideways glance. 'Well, that makes me feel better about myself. At least I can still taste /some/ things.'

Dianne: "Wait, you can't taste anymore, Armin? What?"

Armin blinked. 'I /can/ taste. Just not very well. It's because vampires don't need anything except blood. I thought we talked about this already.'

Dianne: "Huh, I guess I forgot..."

{The centaurs walk by with a large slab of rock. It seems Dianne was going to cook this boar differently from the deer.}

Armin just sat quietly and watched, looking a bit drowsy. Though, he didn't fall asleep like Dianne usually did when he cooked.

{The draugrs placed the large stone slab in a clearing. Dianne put the prepared pig on the slab and shifted. The centaurs applied spices to the pig, then moved away as Dianne blasted it with fire. The centaurs would run in between gouts and apply spices to the boar. The whole process looked like some kind of strange, arcane ritual.}

'This is a pretty dramatic way of cooking something,' Armin muttered as he watched, though not loudly enough for Dianne to hear at that distance and over the sound of roaring flames.

Barnabas: "Yeah....And I'll never know how delicious it tastes..."

{After a few minutes of this, Dianne walks back, with the centaurs carrying the boar on the stone, as if it were a platter. The smell eminating from the boar was savory, similar to what one would detect outside a five star smokehouse.}

Dianne: "Dinner is served. Enjoy."

Armin carved off some of the meat for himself and cautiously tried some. '...Hmm, that's pretty good,' he said, seeming a little surprised by this. 'Way better than deer and elk.'

Dianne: "It's great, right?"

{Dianne serves herself some pork.}

Dianne: "They don't have this anywhere in Soveriegn."

'That's a shame. The people back home should import them from other countries or something.' Armin cut off some more meat and added it to his plate. 'Not as good as fish, though. But, that's just my personal preference.'

Dianne: "Maybe if you had tastebuds, you'd understand why this is the greatest thing ever."

{She says teasingly.}

'Maybe if you knew how to catch fish, you'd appreciate them more,' Armin replied in a similar tone, without missing a beat.

Dianne: "Maybe we should have a cooking contest when we get back, see who really understands food."

{She says chuckling.}

Dianne: "In all seriousness, good food is good food, whether it's pulled out of the water or snatched off the face of the planet."

'Of course. To each their own. I grew up eating fish all the time, so I have a lot of fond memories associated with it. It also helps that I can still taste it almost perfectly, for some reason.' He paused to cut a chunk of meat into smaller pieces. 'Got any favourite foods, other than this?'

Dianne: "There's this rare species of bovine that people are breeding because their meat is beyond succulent. They're big, stupid, and the most delicous thing you'll ever eat. I've gotten in serious trouble for snatching them from farmers."

{Dianne laughs, seemingly at the memory.}

Dianne: "Oh, that was well worth the ballista bolts in the back..."

Armin snickered. 'So you really do steal livestock from farmers? I always thought the farmers on the plains back home were just being paranoid.' He shook his head. 'I wonder if anyone in Vallis breeds those. I've never heard of them.'

Dianne: "Hey, that was a long time ago, and I only took the old one who stopped giving milk anyway. And no they don't. I checked."

'Fair enough. And that's unfortunate. Seems like there's a lot of good-tasting stuff that we don't have back home.' He fell silent then, preoccupied with his food.

{Dianne falls silent as well, just enjoying her meal with the biggest smile on her face. However, the draugrs all pick up their heads and look off into the forest.}

Dianne: "What is it?"

Centaur: "Something approaches."

Armin had almost finished his smaller share. When the centaur spoke up, he put his plate aside and gazed around the clearing. 'That's not very helpful. /What's/ approaching?' he asked, resting a precautionary hand on his sword hilt.

Centaur: "It looks like...A small dragon. Ten footer. Female....And another dragon, male. They're crouching in the brush. They don't think we can see them..."

{Dianne puts her plate down and stands, scanning the woods.}

Armin stood up as well. 'What do they want?' he muttered, looking around. He couldn't see anything, nor could he smell any unfamiliar dragons. The scent of the roast pork was making it hard to distinguish anything else.

Dianne: "Not sure. don't they see the centaurs?"

{Just then, Barnabas appears behind the dragons, dropping a massive, fluffy tarantula on their heads and screaming at the top of his lungs.}

Barnabas: "SPIIIIIDDDDEEEEEEEERSSSSSSS!!!"

{The two dragons absolutley go balistic, running, tripping over each other and crashing into the middle of the campsite.}

Dragon 1: "AH! Get it off, GET IT OFF!!"

Dragon 2: "Kill it! Kill IT!"

Armin dived aside as the dragons came stampeding through, barely avoiding getting run down by one of them. 'Hey, cut it out!' he exclaimed, tensed to shift into hawk form if necessary. 'The spider's gone!' //Dragons? More like panicking horses...//

{The two dragons looked at each other, then to the numerous centaurs surrounding them, then to Armin. They huddled together defensively.}

Dragon 1: "Nice going, Maurice, freaking out about a little spider, ad now we're surrounded by zombies!"

Dragon 2: "What? Ellie, you were the one that flipped out, not me!"

{As the two bickered, Dianne steps forward. With a snap of her fingers, Titan came into the light, towering over them.}
Dianne: "Hey! What the hell are you two doing out here? And why were you stalking us?"

{Once the pair saw Titan, They siezed up and went pale, shivering intensely}

Ellie: "I-I...I....Uh......"

Armin stepped forwards. 'Look, we're not going to hurt you without good reason. Ignore the legion of undead monsters.' He stood in front of the two dragons, glancing back and forth between them, his left hand resting over his sword hilt. 'How about you explain why you were watching us?'

{The two look at Armin momentarily before starting to bawl.}

Ellie: "Wahaha! I-We-we were just-we were going to the couple's spot, but I forgot to bring the food, and-and-we were just so hungry....."

Maurice: "Y-yeah, and your boar smelled so good-we-we....we wanted to see...sniff....if we could snatch it when you went to sleep..."

Ellie: "I just wanted a romantic trip with my boyfriend, but now....We're just going to die!"

{The two hug each other and continue to cry, while Dianne just facepalms at the exchange.}

Armin sighed. 'You two are the worst excuse for dragons I've ever seen,' he said flatly. 'Can somebody escort them out of here? They're not having our food, there's not enough for both of them anyway. Also, you two, quit bawling,' he added. 'We're not going to kill you. Though I might if you don't shut up.'

{Unfortunately, Armin’s comments just made them bawl louder.}

Dianne: “Stop whining, would you? Look, these centaurs are going to escort you away from us. Don’t come back.“

Ellie: “ /Sniff/...Ok...”

'If you do come back, I'll ask Barnabas to drop spiders on you again,' said Armin warningly. 'Now get the heII out of our campsite and find some other spot to do whatever you were planning to do.'

{Barnabas lifts up the tarantula menacingly as the couple was led away.}

Barnabas: “Trust me, they ain’t in the mood anymore to do what they were planning to do.“

{Dianne sits down, rubbing her face in an agitated manner.}

Dianne: “They made me drop my food in the dirt...”

Armin remained standing, watching the pair get led away by the draugrs. Once they were gone, he walked around the perimeter of the camp, as if to check there was nothing else lurking in the trees. 'We've got an entire boar,' he said as he did this. 'Just get yourself some more if you want.'

Dianne: “True. Doesn’t make the urge to murder them any less though.“

{She goes and gets more meat, then sits once again.}
Dianne: “Well, that was weird. If they wanted food, they could have just asked.“

Armin finished scouting the camp and walked back to his chair, slumping down in it and closing his eyes. 'They probably just assumed we wouldn't give them any and thought their best chance was to steal it while we weren't looking. Too bad for them. They were clearly young and inexperienced.'

Dianne: “Yeah...young and stupid if you ask me.“

Barnabas: “And they were both afraid of spiders. That was awesome!”

Dianne: “What is it with you and spiders?”

'Spiders are a pretty common thing people are scared of. That's probably why he likes them,' said Armin. 'Or maybe he's just like Ana and thinks spiders are adorable or something,' he added, opening one eye to glance over at Barnabas.

Barnabas: "Both :'D"

Dianne: "Fine, so long as you stop throwing them at Armin."

{Barnabas then picks up the fluffy spider, presenting it excitedly.}

Barnabas: "So I can keep it? :D"

'Where did you even get that from? I thought tarantulas lived in warm climates,' said Armin. He didn't take his gaze off Barnabas's spider as he spoke, and subtly shifted his chair a bit further away.

{Barnabas looks over the spider curiously.}

Barnabas: "....Y'know, that's a good point....it was just in the underbrush."

Dianne: "Someone's escaped pet, maybe?"

'We're not close to any towns, are we? If it's someone's pet, it must've been out here for ages. I'm surprised it's not dead yet,' said Armin. 'Well, whatever. I don't care if you keep it, as long as it stays far away from me.'

Barnabas: "Yaaaaaay! :D"

Dianne: "I'm actually not sure. Well, Those two dragons came from somewhere, right?"

'Hm. Maybe there /is/ a settlement nearby. Or maybe they were just wild-living dragons,' said Armin. 'Though, they seemed too stupid for that.' He shrugged and closed his eyes again.