[sylvanSpider]

The explosion of senses that greeted Aren the last time he was out of the city – the smell of plants growing unfettered by human hands, the varying shades of green as they took over man-made structures to systematically break them down, the buzzing of insects – were all dulled by thundering rain and flashing lighting. Scarcely out of the city, the medical retrieval pair looked up unable to even see the tops of the trees. It was still midafternoon, but the sun was carefully hidden behind all-consuming clouds.

“Well. This is...something,” Taka muttered, shifting the pack on her shoulders.

“It'll be harder for city officials or Mav's men to find us,” Aren responded, desperate to find the sun behind the clouds.

“It'll be harder for us to detect runners,” Taka added, ever the logical voice in his ear.

“And for them to smell us. C'mon, let's get going. We don't have long before they begin their evening patrol. Using the map is going to be hard, do you remember what it said?”

“Yep, and I know the area fairly well anyway, the map was just a refresher. We're gonna head down this way. If we can skirt the alleys, avoid buildings, and avoid the routes, we'll make it and could theoretically be back by maybe midnight? We can't afford to stay the night out here if we don't want to come home to a corpse and a grieving brother,” again, Taka with her painful realism.

Aren sighed, then nodded, “Aight. Lead the way. You're better at this sort of thing than I am. I only been out of the city one other time since I was a kid.”

Taka did exactly what was asked of her and with the game plan drawn, the pair left the shelter of the city's walls. No time needed to pass before they both were completely soaked down to their bones and they knew that the day was going to be arduous, cold, and dangerous. Regardless, the pair pressed on and began their journey.

[[Okay, so from here, I'm trying to decide if they should run into any troubles or not. Should we include Mav troubles? If so, who should play him? Me or you?]]