Poppy stood, unhooking her parachute from her back, and she looked up at Francis. She stared for a moment, and then a smile threatened to overtake her face. "You doing alright there?" she asked, laughing quietly.
He shrugged away the parachute, and swiftly swung down onto the ground. "Just fine. Unfortunate happenings. Hopefully you managed to grab your items?" He spoke smoothly, like none of that had just happened.
"Of course," she said, lifting her pack. "Although... the pilot probably didn't make it out." She looked up at the sky, where the smoke was already clearing. "Poor guy," she said softly.
"Good to see you're overcome with compassion," she said raising an eyebrow. She slid her pack on, and gesturing to the darkening sky. "I don't mind walking," she said, "but we should probably think of setting up camp soon. I don't think we should be moving in the dark."
"I suppose you're right, but it is imperative we depart early in the morning." He brushed off his clothes, frowning.
"Hmm," she said, stepping forward into the forest. The sunlight filtered through the pine leaves, creating strange patterns on the floor, and the snow was less dense here. It reminded her of her childhood, and she took a deep breath while staring around her. "Come on," she said, turning to look back at him. "Let's look around."
Poppy entered a clearing, and paused. Five trees sat in a circle like fashion, and a sunspot right in the middle of them. "Is this alright?" she asked, turning to him.
She took off her pack and started searching in it for a tent pod. "It should just be... ah. Right." She pulled out a black rectangular prism, about the size of a loaf of bread. Varying buttons lay on the side, and she typed her password into it, and tossed it into the middle of the circle. It sat for a moment, and them it began to expand and unfold. At the end, a tent, perhaps nine feet by nine feet, unfolded completely, and it stood, a grey point against the white snow and the pine trees.
Poppy placed her stuff inside the tent, and put out her bed roll. Then, she set to work and getting a fire pit going. She cleared away the snow and the pine leave and dug a shallow bowl into the ground. She looked around, her hands holding up her head as she thought. She eventually found several grapefruit size rocks, and she lined the fire pit with them to prevent the fire from spreading to places it was unwanted.
After a moment, he came back with an armful of sticks. He unceremoniously dropped them onto the pit, before using one of his concealed weapons to spit out a flame.
"Lovely," Poppy said, cheerful again. It didn't take much to bring her back up to a good mood, it seemed. She turned to Francis, dusting off her hands as she talked. "So, how long will it take to get to the Caedis at this point?" she asked him.
"A few hours at best. That helicopter was one of the fastest in the units." He guessed, doing math in his head.
"Ugh," she said. She reached into her pack and pulled out a dehydrated dinner. She scooped up some snow, and melted it over the fire in a small metal bowl. "Are you hungry? I picked some of these up from home before I left. I have.." She squinted at the various labels. "Chicken Tikki Masala, Fettichini Alfredo, and...." She frowned. "Cream of Mushroom soup."
"You don't seem like fan of those. Besides, I ate before we left, and I brought some of my own." He shuffled through his bag a moment, then closed it after finding what he was looking for.
