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And it was a really good day too…

The minute they returned to the museum, Est knew that something horrible was up. Did that kid from earlier come back and mess with the synth? Did somebody puke all over the floor? Wah. Well, whatever the case was, it seemed as if they took the wrong time to come back. “Maybe we should’ve stopped to eat at the deli for a bit,” The soldier whined under his breath before a very, [i]very[/i] familiar voice reached his ears… and made him quake in his boots. How could he not recognize Lieutenant Falkner’s voice!? Just the mere thought of her speaking to him was enough to rouse nightmares from the deepest recesses of his mind! 

As such, Est pretty much hid himself behind Japeth and Breeze, especially as the former read the crappy letter that the hooded figures sent. “Wow, talk about bad artistry,” He joked but then shut his mouth when the Lieutenant gave him a harsh glare. Meh, it was true anyway. He bet he could make better drawings than whoever drew this map… thing. And look at those figures! The horror! Their heads were far bigger than their bodies! Granted, he may not have considered that whoever drew the five hooded people was aiming for the “chibi” style, so Est thought it was horrible all the same. Surely the neck couldn’t support that much weight…?

But anyway!

“Wow, so we’re going to the Dark Side now, huh? I mean, yeah, we are! I’m going to get the USB back, of course! Ha ha,” Est gulped when Falkner, after hearing her underling’s cheerful tone of voice, immediately shot yet another withering glare at the poor soldier and his other comrades. Thankfully, one of the humans told them to lead away and he quickly did so. “Off to the ports then!” They were going to have some trouble finding a pilot who would readily fly them into the Dark Side, but whatever. Anyway, it seemed like it wasn’t these humans’ first time to go there… Interesting. He was sure Queen Delirium had her guests stay in the bright, sunshiny place.

Fastforward to when they landed.

“Fruitcake shiminee jim!” Est howled after Japeth, far more incensed than the other soldier about the [i]sacrilege[/i] done to the state-of-the-art aircraft machinery. “That’s it, Imma slap a ‘hooded figure’, whatever they call themselves!” He swung his fist in the air and shook it like an old man reprimanding a bunch of hooligans. Again, that spritely girl who suggested they get going earlier took the initiative to lead the group, though a few soldiers trailed behind her. They flipped on their flashlights as the sky grew darker and the trees got more gnarled and twisted, their dark boughs pinned to the ground as if their wizened branches were held down by some invisible fruit. Nobody seemed happy about the event, with Inadi really being a surly butt to some of the soldiers, so Est just kept quiet as he scouted ahead. He wasn’t going to talk unless spoken to, and didn’t really think he had anything to say to these humans who seemed to be more or less more invested with each other than their nobody companions.

As the humans bickered over bears and sweets and whatnot, Est sidled closer to Japhet and peered over the map. Agh, crappy drawing. It was better to refer to the other illustration. “I think we should turn left on that tree,” He chucked the end of his rifle towards a particularly large tree towards the end of the path they were trodding upon. You know, it really felt like something was watching them...