The instant you touch the portkey, you are swept away and deposited on a narrow mountain trail, secluded somewhere in Northern Scotland. A light wind whips around the boulders peeking through the pinewoods and thick, bushy grey-green undergrowth. The path is full of red needles and rich soil, which pads and quiets your footsteps as you stand to collect yourself. Take a moment to adjust to the sights and sounds of the forest; every now and then you hear a bird calling out to another, or spot a red squirrel leaping overhead. If you listen hard enough, you can even hear the far off sound of water crashing over the edge of small mountain. For all that your senses can tell you, the forest is quiet, peaceful, and utterly isolated.

Hope you brought warm clothing. The trail is long and the forest is a friend to no one in the middle of the night.

Landing with a thud, Emily let go of whoever's hand she was holding and righted herself in a swift motion, pocketing the letter opener. With a flick of her wrist, her wand shot into her hand, and she used the other to wipe the red needles from her legs.

After a quick evaluation of their surroundings, Emily, eyebrows raised, returned her glance to the group. "Gather yourselves, we've got some hiking to do first," she instructed, motioning with her head the way they would be going, up the path on an incline.

Once they were landed, Josh had a good look around running a hand though his dark brown hair. Forest...this was a forest. Despite all the things that made his mind busy, a small smile was formed on the young man's lips. He had been dealing with forests since he was a little boy. Forests were where he felt like at home. He had to admit that this made him relax quite a lot though he was still not sure if he was going to be able to focus on the task.

If only he could blurt it out.

When she spoke, he looked towards Emily and approached her. Hiking...that was no problem to him. Where did the people think he got his muscular form? Yes, he exercised but it was mostly being at outdoors the farm he was living in being at the edge of a forest like this. Okay...forest...comfortable. Maybe if he could share...the issue...he could be more comfortable and actually be able to focus on this task properly. Everyone gathering to get to hiking maybe no right instant to do that yet he could not just...keep it in.

He walked closer to their leader and leaned in towards her a bit. ''Emily?''

She was waiting for the lot of them to get their act together and proceed, planning on taking up the rear. In the meantime, she did admire their surroundings. She rather liked forests. Good for hiding and the like. Emily acknowledged Carter as he approached her, and pursed her lips thoughtfully as he addressed her.

"Yes?" she asked. Did he have a question now?

Blinking a bit, Josh stared at the head auror. The way she looked at him made him hesitate and reconsider if it was really a good time to mention what...he was going to mention. It absolutely was not, they were on the in the forest for field work but...there was a lot of buts to it. He had no idea how Emily would react to it yet Josh knew if he wanted to be able to focus on what they were going to today...he had to get it out of him. So he decided he would take the risk.

The young man stared down at the ground for a bit, took a deep breath then looked back at Emily. He did not know if the others were listening. He did not care. They could very well hear it and know it too.

''My girlfriend is pregnant.''

There....he said it. For a moment, it made him feel a bit uncomfortable. Evelyn was going to be angry but he could not very well keep it,

Emily was about to take a cautionary step back, because it looked as though Carter was going to barf. Did he get portkey-sickness?... she certainly hoped not. She didn't move though, instead she nodded silently, waiting for him to continue. And when he did...

Pregnant.

With child.

Pregnant.

Well that was, news, of the good variety...

"Congrats man," she offered with a grin, giving him a firm pat on the arm. Now, could they get on with it? It wasn't exactly the time or place for a party. "Best make sure you stay in one piece then."

Kennedy landed on both his feet and was thankful to Merlin for not letting him splat down on his face. Though, that has never happened, he once came close when he...yeah. Never again will he do that.

Portkey safe, kids. M'hm.

With a flick of his wrist his wand was in his hand. The YATI glanced around, taking in the forest. Could they go now? Was Joshua Carter sick or something? Kennedy fixed the collar of his jacket from under the strap of his bag as he waited. He was probably more excited about this than when his godfather announced he'd bought a sweet shop. But he was cool. Kennedy Escalante was cool...and waiting.

SPOILER!!: Em and Josh

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hera

Landing with a thud, Emily let go of whoever's hand she was holding and righted herself in a swift motion, pocketing the letter opener. With a flick of her wrist, her wand shot into her hand, and she used the other to wipe the red needles from her legs.

After a quick evaluation of their surroundings, Emily, eyebrows raised, returned her glance to the group. "Gather yourselves, we've got some hiking to do first," she instructed, motioning with her head the way they would be going, up the path on an incline.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fira

Blinking a bit, Josh stared at the head auror. The way she looked at him made him hesitate and reconsider if it was really a good time to mention what...he was going to mention. It absolutely was not, they were on the in the forest for field work but...there was a lot of buts to it. He had no idea how Emily would react to it yet Josh knew if he wanted to be able to focus on what they were going to today...he had to get it out of him. So he decided he would take the risk.

The young man stared down at the ground for a bit, took a deep breath then looked back at Emily. He did not know if the others were listening. He did not care. They could very well hear it and know it too.

''My girlfriend is pregnant.''

There....he said it. For a moment, it made him feel a bit uncomfortable. Evelyn was going to be angry but he could not very well keep it,

The great outdoors was what awaited them, yet that was kind of a given by the talk that had developed back in the security office. Simon paused where he landed on one knee for a moment to get himself settled and take in the exact surroundings. The forest quiet and beautiful at the moment but he knew that could easily change.

Standing up, he dusted off the needles that had gathered on his pant leg and adjusted his satchel slung over his neck and shoulder before heading back into the think of the group. It was just then that Josh had blurted out his news and he was taken aback. Not entirely by surprise, he had known both Josh and Evelyn for a long time and knew their relationship...just as the way it just came out.

"Congrats Josh," he said extending his congratulations with a friendly smile. Simon grasped his shoulder as he got closer, giving a friendly smile. All the more reason for him to have his best friend's back this time around.

Evelyn would kill if Josh was hurt bad and pregnant Ev was no doubt worse.

Blahblahblah. They were lagging.

If the boys wanted a D&M it would have to wait. Or else it may impact on their... ability to perform effectively. Which wouldn't bode well for them. Mental note. No soppy personal stuff during work hours.

In an effort to get them moving on, Emily took the lead, walking briskly up the path well ahead of the group. If they had half a brain, they'd catch up...

Simon might have said something more but now was certainly not the time for out of office stuff. Plenty of time for that when they were commiserating whatever happened along the way in their training/team building experience. He let the hand slip from Josh's shoulder and followed the unspoken signal sent by Emily.

Time for them to move on.

And so he did, the auror walking forward from the original gathering space. "Let's go," he mused, the young man using a good pace to catch up with the head auror. Hopefully the rest would follow after them.

Leading his team in proper position, the shiftily disguised Herbologist kept his Disillusionment Charm on as he watched the Aurors walk down the path. Heh, this was going to be easier than he had originally thought, considering the Head Auror was walking....

Never mind. Looked like the one bloke was afraid of being alone on the path and needed to stick to the side of a Miss Emily Browne.

Once everyone was in position - or he assumed they were in position given how long they had been in hiding now - the man raised his wand and cast a silent Stupefy towards the young man (Simon) and immediately left the spot he had been in. No counter spells cast in his direction.

Runing through the woods, he figured now was as good a time as ever and removed the Disillusionment Charm on himself. They had to see how awesome their disguises were after all!

Now to wait for the rest of his team to provide the proper distractions. Heh.

IT WAS A NINJA! Or y'know, a pack of them. However you wanted to look at it but this Ninja here was kitted out. Awesome Tabi boots and awesome reinforced gloves too. As soon as he got the signal from their "evil" leader, Ninja #1 blew a handful of Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder at the one called Kennedy, engulfing the young man in darkness, that could not be broken by a simple lumos.

How'd you like them apples, YATI kid?

Though he got close, Simon stayed back off Emily's shoulder on the trail, knowing well enough not to crowd her out. They didn't need to bunch up as one just stay relatively together. Suddenly something caught his eye out of the corner of his vision as he kept alert and Simon turned to see a ray of scarlet head on. His training causing his wand arm to move with it just in time to raise a shield against the assault. However it had been so narrow an escape that he felt the full force of the stunner against his barrier bringing him up short.

So much for meerly hiking in the woods at the moment.

"Protego..." he cast quietly once more, strengthening his shield to recover, his gaze flitting around much like when he played beater looking out for the bludgers. It was then black smudges, signaling more movement, were seen. Simon tried to follow the players, his wand raised but not quick to shoot as he debated his next action while on guard. Too random a shot could backfire.

Vivi landed lightly (no really... she'd been practicing), and she straightened out her puffy coat before hurrying after Emily and the other older Aurors. She didn't want to be last, since that was generally the one to get eaten by the chimaera in old stories, but she didn't want to be too chummy with Emily in front of Aspen. Aspen was not impressed by such things.

It would be easier if Legend was there, because no one objected with being chummy with HIM. Plus he was bigger than her and would be an excellent body to hide behind in a fire fight.

Speaking of which... Vivi watched as Simon fended off a spell, and some sort of man-in-black blew powder stuff at Kennedy and and and... "Um, Em? This forest has a ninja infestation. Permission to fumigate?"

The jet of red light took her by surprise, though she couldn't help but smirk. And so the games begin...

Ducking it in the nick of time, she proceeded to throw up her shield, checking on the outcome of the ninja attack. Simon prevailed. Lucky for him.
It was about time to see what this lot was capable of, so when she heard Genevieve's call, Emily couldn't help but laugh... on the inside... not on the outside.
"Get on it," she called back, wasting time asking questions wasn't the best idea. By all means, they didn't need to wait for her signal on this one. There was plenty of time for redemption, though, so all was not lost.

Emily made a show of sending off jets of red in the offenders directions.

First, he saw the jet of red light from the corner of his eye. Kennedy was ready. He turned toward it, but it was headed for Simon. N'aww. Welp. He'd get his chance, he thought.

Just like that, he did.

All of the sudden he was engulfed in darkness. His first reaction was his classical: Gaaah! He realized, though, in it wasn't just any kind of darkness. The lights hadn't just been turned off in the forest. Him and his partner in crime have used this kind of powder before. On holidays, on Peyton, on Rosie and Cornelius. Unsuspected victims, you know. But this was different. He was expected to act. To move efficiently and not freak out. 'Cause he wasn't freaking out. Nope.

He gripped his wand, the seconds felt like hours. Lumos wouldn't work. He got that. So he went with Plan B. "Tergeo!" That should suck all that powder up.

Wait, did Genevieve say ninjas?

This Ninja totally was in his element. War games were awesome no? Just him? He shot a smokescreen spell towards that hesitating little blonde, and followed that up with a couple of silent stinging hexes and a body bind, hidden by the smoke. You snooze you lose, bud.

He was already elsewhere and disillusioned once more.

And that dude, the one with the knocked up girlfriend, now had his shoelaces tied together.

Genevieve's weakness wasn't in spell-casting or reflexes. It was in always taking the quip. One of these days, she'd get hexed because she just had to stop to say something sassy before getting her spell off. As it was, she already had her wand up as Emily responded, and Genevieve pivoted on her heel to take in the forest around them.

Ninjas didn't belong in the forest. Forest ninjas were fair game. If Genevieve got a chance to jump one, she'd absolutely take it.

Before she even had a chance to react, she was surrounded by a thick cloud of smoke. It made it nearly impossible to take a step forward or backward for fear of tripping on an exposed root, but it also meant that she could no longer block incoming spells. Spells she was SURE would be coming. Genevieve did the only thing she could think to do under the circumstances. She dropped to her belly and rolled away from the smoke.

Simon was both inwardly amused and informed by the comment heard coming from the YATI. A rational of the scene from the group behind him. Yes...Ninjas made sense, at least in describing the cover-up and swift movement. All just to keep them on their toes as the spells they sent went off.

Even though he hadn't been waiting for it, he took the head auror's words as cue and began his offense, sending of first one spell and then another. The young man doing his best to try and aim for the area slightly in front of the ninja smudges so they would perhaps run into them inadvertadly. Simon then opted to move few paces not in a straight line, not wanting to be a stationary target, sending off more spells within his arch of view at the offending directions, sure to keep them away from Emily the one person in front of him.

‘How to Know You’ve Made a Mistake’ a book by Persephone Walters. Chapter One: you find yourself dressed in a ninja costume in the middle of a forest attacking aurors. The ninja darted behind a tree, much more uncomfortable being in the line of spells than her fellow BAMFs, it seemed. The rather talented dude sending spells at her employees needed to be taken DOWN.

...Or up.

Yes, you were after getting an anti-gravity charm sent your way. HA.

ooc: go ahead and pick one of these things to happen to your charrie. Feel free to have them escape quickly or not, but its no fun if they magically(lol) manage to avoid everything right? Especially since its a surprise attack Of course you can choose not to play at all.... up to you of course.

Given the smokescreen and the darkness and the anti-gravity mist in the mix playing havoc with the environment, it was the perfect opportunity to throw up some more unexpected obstacles. This ninja had all that on lock, working with his ninja team and all that.

Starting with a whoooole lot of gnarled and damp tree roots bursting out of the ground and grabbing at auror and YATI ankles and any other body parts that were close to the ground. The tree roots were damp enough that any fire wouldn't take hold, so whoever got caught up in those would have to use their brains and try another method to get free.

While those were popping up, the ninja easily flicked out a couple silent Obliviate spells, not too strong mind you, just enough to make anyone hit by them temporarily forget everything that had happened since they'd got out of bed this morning.

That'd be a nasty way to 'wake up.'

He was feeling like he was back to being a little boy again playing cops and robbers in his backyard. So it was a good thing that his awesome disguise was covering his face or else the young aurors would have seen him grinning like an idiot.

Disillusioned once again, he made his way towards the Head Auror, avoiding the random spells being thrown every which direction with a few tumbles and dives. Once he was relatively close to her, he sent a silent Petrificus Totalus her direction and then all of his now visible 6'1" muscular build snatched her up in his arms. He pivoted slighting before

*POP*

He was gone, along with the Head Auror.

Oh, and to his employees here doing a awesome job being super shifty ninjas? Yeah, they should all expect small bumps in their salaries this month. Yep yep!

OOC: Hera can post a reaction to being kidnapped if she wants. Otherwise assume she is goooooooooooooooone :3

Emily had managed to side step and dive out of the path of most of the curses and spells that were exchanged, without much difficulty. Opting to move to the shelter of the trees to secure a better vantage point, Emily observed the lay of the field.. er, forest. From here she wouldn't have to worry about getting caught in the crossfire.

Her lot were holding their own for the most part which was pleasing to see, and she'd caught glimpses of movement and managed to focus on a few of the 'ninjas'. The one she had been tracking with her gaze had disappeared, and just as Emily raised her wand to disillusion herself, she felt a hard and cold sensation in her side, rendering her body stiff and solid.

Furthermore, she was taken into the arms of the assailant and.... POP!

Okay. It was still smokey and Kennedy did not like his sight being hindered. Come on! He was blind. Well...not really. He had his contacts in today (thank goodness he didn't opt his glasses instead), but still. The YATI breathed in. Not complaining, Escalante. No stupid excuses! His father's voice reverberated in his head.

Just as he was about to move - because he had a plan, Kennedy always has a plan - something wrapped around his ankle. It was so unexpected, so he didn't even think of pulling away, he just fell forward. Thanks to his fathers training, mid-fall Kennedy managed to land on his palms, like in a half crouch. He pushed himself up quickly and sent a severing charm at the root. Then he sprinted to a tree, lunged himself up, took hold of a branch, did a flip and landed on pretty thick branch in a crouch. He could see the commotion below.

Kennedy Escalante was not hiding. Oh no. He was itching to go back down, but he wanted to get a glimpse of what he was dealing with first and the BAM. Green eyes scanned the floor and--

"Stupefy!" He tried shooting at the invisible force that hoisted Emily and then POP! She was gone. "Great," he muttered. They lost their Head Auror.

Kennedy so declared war on these ninjas now. He studied the battle ground and noticed some shifty moves here and there. He wondered if those were the ninjas. He could tell apart his co-workers' heads. Genevieve was blonde, Simon and Joshua dark haired. Here goes nothing. He sent a spell at a "moving force". "Stupefy!" Eat red sparks, dude.

Apparently his shield wasn't going to work for all the spells. For the anti-gravity jinx sent his way found its target, taking the auror up off the ground and away from the slinking roots. His grip on his wand had tightened instinctively so he kept possession as he found himself floating and off his feet. Keeping calm in the situation, Simon debated the best spell to counter it, finally casting a quiet finite and bracing for impact with the land beneath him.

He managed to half twist in the air, landing on his hands, stomach and side of his leg. Okay so lion not a cat. His thigh would likely feel that tomorrow. The auror looked up as he moved to get up to his knees only to see Emily disappear making their little adventure get a little more interesting. She hadn't done it on her own so someone had obviously done something and seeing as their was no one around her they had been under the cover of spells.

"Homenum revelio!" he cast, aiming in the area the head auror had been standing moments before. Simon himself continued the way up but only to a crouch, moving off the path and heading for some cover. Looking around to take stock of the rest of his team, he shot the revealing charm a couple more times in different directions, hoping to catch somebody hiding. Catching sight of another bought of movement through the trees, he shot an "Stupefy!" at the moving target, narrowly side-stepping a gripping root.