[Video]

[neverfeltthatway]

[An abrupt and shaky view of Flamegard, from a vantage point that is both moving very quickly and several stories in the air, abruptly appears in everyone's mind. After a short moment, Armin's voice, high pitched and shaking with fear and adrenaline, rings out.]

There are... at least a dozen dragons heading due west from Flamegard. Young, about horse-sized, and working together, which is unheard of.

[The image pans up to the dragons for a moment - sure enough, there are many large shapes in tight formation flying low in the distance. After a moment, the image pans down again, a flurry of limbs and wires and blades and buildings. Anyone familiar with it will recognize that Armin is using his 3D maneuvering gear.]

Most of Flamegard's knights are on an expedition to the Ash Wastes - we can't stop them here. And any other method of carrying a message inland would come too l-

[The voice cuts off abruptly as he lets out a pained and terrified shout and lurches to the side - landing on a rooftop and tumbling to a stop, which luckily puts out the flames that had begun licking his sides. Throughout the tumble and after he lands, it becomes obvious that he's being chased by at least one of the creatures. Too close to stop unless it wants to take a similar tumble, the creature flies quickly past, breathing another gout of flame. Armin jumps to the side, and then follows, flying back into the air before the creature can turn around for another pass.

He manages to stay behind it when it does turn, and it doesn't seem to see him following. Then one of the cables snags onto the dragon's exposed neck and it seems to rush forward as Armin moves in for the killing blow. At the last moment, he hesitates, crashing into the dragons wing as his stroke goes wide.

Both Armin and the dragon scream as the tumble to the ground, falling a ways apart. With obvious difficulty, Armin struggles to stand - but when he does, he sees the dragon trying to flee Flamegard, struggling with a bleeding gash in the side of his throat and a probably broken wing. The rest of the flight are now little more than specks in the distance. Armin collapses, blades clattering to the ground, his breath coming hard.

His breath gradually slows, and, eventually, he continues.] Any other message would come too late. I don't know what they're doing, but... we need to get the inland cities prepared.

Someone with the expedition, please... let Eren know.

Comments

[moredakka]

Argh! I knew it! I knew it!!

[And here she is in Greengard, miles away, playing politics. What is wrong with people do they not get the whole man-eating monsters thing.]

Arlert-san! A-are they, did they finish any of the cannons??

[neverfeltthatway]

Ah - I think they finished one...

[moredakka]

One won't be enough when they're this fast!

[This is so bad. This is so bad. And she isn't there. She'd promised to look after Eren - ]

I'm sorry! I should've stayed! I'm sorry...!! [No time for this shit. Get it together. Crying never helps.] I'll warn Greengard. I'll make the Baron send help!

[neverfeltthatway]

I know, but I'm not sure what else we can do. And I'm not sure how many knights Flamegard can spare, at least without allowing more dragons through.

It's no use worrying about what we might have done differently. Warn Greengard, and anyone else you can!

[protect_and_serve]

I can inform the palace, if there's anyone there who can help.

[neverfeltthatway]

I don't know if there will be anyone who can help, but that's probably a good idea.

[protect_and_serve]

Can you make it to safety?

[neverfeltthatway]

I t-think so.

[blackhand]

Well, now I know to avoid Flamegard and anywhere nearby in my travels.

[This cheeky as fuck response is brought to you by one master thief who currently has a dragon egg in his possession. Garrett clearly has his priorities set.]

[neverfeltthatway]

[Sorry, Armin just got attacked by a fucking dragon and he's having flashbacks of titans eating his friends because he's helpless to stop a score of them make their way to the interior and attack. He has absolutely zero time for cheekiness right now.]

Where are you know? Can you get people around there prepared?

[blackhand]

Currently a little occupied, but I'll see if there's anything nearby to alert.

[Well that's great and all, but this is Garrett. And honestly, Garrett really doesn't care. He'll send out an alert to whoever is a native of the world that he finds, though.]

[neverfeltthatway]

Good. [He cuts off there because there are a million people talking in his head and, really, what else is there to say?]

[Video]

[ausdauer]

[Suddenly worried, she sees Armin there and begins to get mildly upset even if she's deadly silent. When he seems to be finished with the issue at hand with the dragons.]

Are you dead yet?

[Video]

[neverfeltthatway]

Huh? Of course n-not. [The shake in his voice gives lie to the bravado.]

Re: [Video]

[ausdauer]

[Whew, thank goodness. Annie chose to be distant, lack-luster about his survival even if she was happy.]

You realize that you are not made for lone projects, right?

[Video]

[neverfeltthatway]

Well... I didn't exactly ask the dragon to attack me.

[bottomless_pit]

[ the only problem with that plan was how to spin it so that the other cities didn't believe they were all crazy doomsayers, but Hei ignores that for the more curious (and pressing) matter at hand, answering in the only manner available to him, with thought alone. ]

Why are they flying to the other cities? Did someone anger them?

[ this was Dolorosa however. Hei was starting to think that people didn't need to an excuse to fly off the handle. They just seemed to have a knack for it. ]

[neverfeltthatway]

From what I've heard, the dragons try to get past all the time. That's not unusual behavior - what's unusual is that they're working together, and so were able to actually get past us.

[bottomless_pit]

[ ah... what an interesting new development they had on their hands then, especially considering how difficult these dragons appeared to be to stop. He gave credit where credit was due after all: Armin held his own even if he did come away battered and bruised. ]

If it's unheard of, do you know if anyone in this world has the power to organize such creatures? They could be trying to stop us from finding the queen.

[ and working the problem from either end was always more advantageous then blinding chasing after a shadow. Isn't that what these barons and gryphon riders that Hei has learned of have been doing these past eight years? Either the queen went into hiding fearing for her life or someone has her hidden against her will.

If the latter, chaos was likely their aim. ]

[tealeafs]

[ Oh god, Armin. Armin, what are you doing. Is every guy she knows out to make her worry or something like that since they sure seem to be good at that, and she holds her breath for a moment when she can see him fight like that, desperately hoping he'll be safe - if only she was still there with Hijikata, maybe she could've helped, done something--

Okay, screw everything else, first making sure he's alright. ]

Are you hurt? [ Not like she can do much from this distance, but maybe she can recognize the signs of something is really wrong with him.. maybe. Something about her thought sounds almost panicked. ]

[neverfeltthatway]

A little... [He sounds distracted, but that could just be because DRAGONS and because everybody tries to talk to you at once after a post like this.]

[tealeafs]

[ Yeah, she can notice that much from the distracted tone, so her own gets a little more forceful than usually - not that it's hard, considering she's usually pretty passive. ] Armin-san, you have to take a moment to yourself.

[ Are you ready to see just why exactly Chizuru is Hijikata's girl.. well, you're about to experience it, not much of a choice in it here. With the worry making her heart feel like it's pounding in her throat, she's about ready to dig in her heels about this. She's used to it, really. ]

I know everyone is probably asking things, but it won't be any good if you pass out halfway through answering them. Does anything feel strange about your head? [ That didn't look like it was a great fall, after all. ]

[hakodate]

[Well, fuck.

Chalk one up to bad timing; he could've let Eren know, if this had happened a little sooner or the matter with Souji had come up a little later -]

I just split ways with him, so I can't help you there.

You okay, kid?

[neverfeltthatway]

I'll live. [It's an evasion. He doesn't want to say - he hates being a burden, not being able to stand on his own, and he doesn't want Hijikata to worry. But at the same time, he won't lie to him.]

Do you know who else is with him?

[hakodate]

[Hijikata's quite used to evasions - also used to delivering them himself, after all. So he's not going to press, because "okay enough to answer intelligibly" means "okay enough to have this conversation after we figure out oh shit dragons."]

Adachi and Lowell were with the Flamegard group. I'm not sure if they were heading into the Ash Wastes with him or not, though.