V5 Incline 2: Nin

Reaching the top of the mountain, I wait for Baltanthan to go on in fully. I turn away from our little temporary home and offer one last glance at our destination mountain. My eyes bring my head up, and I huff a little bit of disbelief. We're not even at the top of this one, just at the highest point we could safely make a camp to get us off the valley floor.

I take one step in and I can already hear the loose stones rattle excitedly, "Another filling meal for us, my love?"

I lean around the pile, looking into Rose's wide-open eyes of pitch black. However, with a smile that wide, cheeks that flushed with excited blood. Hopping ears and a wagging tail. It's hard not to see her as anything but excited.

"One can but hope. I don't exactly taste what I kill before bringing it up." I answer, walking in fully so I can finally put all this flesh and shell down.

"We have a lot to work with, so I can't see it tasting awful. Well-developed meat is always a delight. And going by how rich it looks... I know we aren't going to have to boil it like that ryphurgok you brought us once," she says, touching the meat as her thoughts go off to one of my prior kills.

"Yeah, that thing was hard as rocks. A nightmare to chew." I remark, moving my jaw in mock pain compared to what everyone else had to deal with. All that time sorting the meat out, and we barely ate it because it was so absurdly tough. Good for some jerky, horrible as a main piece to a meal.

"So what is it?" Rose dares to ask as a brief spell of magic cleans her fingers of the barely present blood stain.

"I had this talk with Baltanthan and the answer is the same, I've no clue." I say, shrugging as I dump it onto a wide, flat rock.

"What did it look like?" Rose asks, slipping in from behind to smother me with my fixed-up cloak.

My claws move about, gesturing wordlessly at the meat and shell, "Uh... Four legs, roundish body. Clipper-like claws. Lots of shell."

My claws flex, trying to imitate the claws of the animal I killed. Though, I don't think we actually bothered getting any meat from the claws. Certainly a lot for any sadroobells that might be in the air, but we've got enough as is. Despite all of it, however, there's an innocent amusement to trying to imitate the animal, even if I butchered it quite painfully.

"Round body and clippers..." Rose repeats to herself, slipping away with her tail weaving between my clunky digits. I gently tug on it, making it snake away as she gives a gentle huff and a luscious smile.

"It was also very friendly before I attacked it, if that helps?" my actions remind me of, even if I'm not actually being playful at all.

"Was it? In that case, it might have been a bulcli." Rose realises, answering the original question as she gently weaves her tail so close into being a painful knot. She lets it go back behind her, its dainty coat of fuzzy fur picking up some colour in the shell-plate of cookable gore.

"A bulcli." I repeat to myself, the right god or goddess slipping my mind as far as prayer is concerned. However, I can certainly make a quick three tap on the palm to dear old Ancient Thunder himself.

"Yes, a bulcli. I myself haven't seen them much, but they are quite useful for dealing with trees, and they are herbivores. We tend to keep a herd of them at the Garden-Mont of the Ahnelges because of it. They're living lumberjacks."

"That thing preferred plants? Looked like it was a butcherer of smaller animals." I say, the irony catching in my throat as I look over the meaty contents.

"Yes, did you happen to bring one of its claws back?" Rose asks, peeking around to no avail.

"No, I am afraid not as they looked a little too... I want to say solid, like, more bone than meat." I answer, not being entirely honest as I just went for whatever looked nice and meaty. I haven't a clue about the animals of this land, and I'm not going to start pretending otherwise.

Rose laughs delicately, "They're actually quite soft and meaty on the inside. A bit like you in a way."

Her words turn to actions, and she slips in close, relieving me of my messy clothes. Hat and mask slip and fall, the cloak not too long after. She barely gets started on my bandages, and I can already feel that they're going to be a pain. An insufferable stickiness is filling the air because of them. And she does it with no regard to the mess she is bringing to herself or her own clothes.

Though... She seems to be quite knowing in that regard, steadily slipping out of her own barely there attire.

"At least we know that for any future encounters." I say, trying to keep my attention to myself.

"I don't think so," Rose tells, freeing one arm of its tight fit.

"Why?" I ask, flexing the limb as I make the uncomfortable acknowledgement of what it is. Osibindah carapace and meat underneath.

"Because we are so close to the mountain-state of the wind-people, and I for one, would like an actually presentable meal," she answers, giggling over her details as I frown. Whatever else I'm doing, too, it only makes her giggle even more, and she shivers with delight. A careful eye can even see the way her hair and goosebumps flutter in the disturbed wind.

"I thought you liked what I made for you?" I go, ignoring many examples.

"I do, my love, I do!... I just also want food from someone who can actually cook." she giggles even harder, a sly smile coming to her lips as she leans in close with such feline grace. Those plump lips of hers shaping up into a right pucker as its wet noises linger in the air. My shell warm with the lipsticked imprint.

A quiet laugh of my own follows suit, quickly becoming a bemused series of quick breaths. I turn around, letting her get back to proper work as more and more of me unwinds for all to see. More and more bug is on display. More and more osibindah that makes people like Baltanthan shiver in disgust.

"So at what point am I going to have to separate from you lot?" I ask, knowing we can't exactly skip over this topic. Rose flinches away, a coil of bandages in her hands. Her ears drop, and all the excitement leaves her. A very dour temperament is all that remains.

"Hopefully not until the very end..." she says bitterly, her focus going elsewhere and nowhere.

"But what is the end? When we first see that road that goes up the mountain clearly? When we see our first guard? Someone not in our group? Upon arriving at the mountain itself?" I ask again and again, scooting around so I can get her eyes to look at me. However...

She looks down at the grass, "I don't want to talk about this..."

"Rose, if we ignore this, then it will just be a repeat of Tryhpeltzweig." I point out, the many places I was shot suddenly becoming itchy. Not even a real itch, like a biological paranoia of what will happen again. This isn't a town in the valleys, this is a famous city. There will be no alleyways for me to slip away into.

"Only if you show your face!" she nearly screams, slipping in close as she holds me tight. The sound of my chittering making her uncomfortable for more reasons than it just being a reminder of the topic.

A heavy sigh blows out my mouth, disrupting her petal-shaped hair, "Rose, we have no idea how these security checks are going to go. For all we know, they are going to want us to strip completely so they can use some kind of machine I have no clue about to look inside of us!"

"That doesn't mean you have to leave! You can just go around these checkpoints and meet us back on the road!" she tries to argue, no sense of reason to her words with the kind of road we'll be dealing with.

"Rose, no. I am not going to put you three in danger just because you prefer to have me around." I tell her, firmly.

"Then I'll go with you, and those two can go up the road on their own!" she argues, forcing her way out of my grip as a deadpan manner takes over my face.

"You can't even put on thick, covering clothing without making an issue of it. You'd freeze to death!" I sigh, knowing full well my only option is to climb the mountain more literally than they do.

"At least I will die in your arms!" she shoots back with, sending me on a back-stepping real. I fall to the ground, a harsh blink to my eyes.

I stand up, arms shaking, "I am not going to be responsible for your death!"

She approaches, standing high up in challenge, "Then ensure I live!"

"You stupid woman!" is all I can come up with as I blow up into a large huff of pure frustration. Yet, despite my insult, it does not make her angry. She just comes even closer and hugs me tight.

"I know I am," she tries to say in as joyful a manner as possible. All in an attempt to get the tone of the conversation back to where it was. The way it was before.

Another sigh comes out my system, and I accept the only route we can take, "Right... So, moving on, have you and Einervaene been up to anything of interest?"

"I cleaned some of your stuff, we talked about clothes again... So not much. More of the same, really." Rose answers shakily, trying her best to move on.

"Alright, did you learn anything interesting?" I ask, knowing she's probably going to be all pestery about Einervaene's home and its many, many standards of dress and who knows how much else.

"I did, actually! Did you know that in her homeland, large pieces of clothing or decoration on the shoulders are strictly forbidden unless you are an on-duty thorn?" she goes, her words certainly setting off the imagination even with how much context it lacks.

"I am not from her homeland, so no, but very interesting." I go, not even sure how to describe my assuming mind.

"Yeah, apparently, the reason is due to the fact their petal-thorns, hopli... Something sounding like that. They wear their shields on their lesser arm, right at the joint. So, in order to make them stand out more, no one is allowed to wear clothes that might make them look like one," she explains, my mental image shifting to something more typically workplace.

"Not sure why you'd wear a shield on your arm if you weren't a soldier, anyway." I say, growing a small smile, as it is a silly thing to wear a shield.

"I said something similar. And she said it had to do with how the Lightning Mountain holding their continent together, yeah. It lets off so much of its namesake that the people need to wear protective outfits." she explains, leaving me with a wide-mouthed 'ah' of understanding.

"How anybody wants to live in a place like that is interesting..." I mutter, trying to think of what a lightning-plagued land would look like. The glory of the Anvil-Peak is one thing, but I imagine any proper land would be very burnt. Black with charcoal and dead people and animals.

"And as I got curious about the kimono, she made for me. I asked how clothing like that came about in her homeland as it doesn't seem to be anything like what you would expect. And, apparently, that style of clothing developed in response to the lightning-peoples just getting tired of wearing thick, armour-like clothing all the time." she explains, shrugging as if it's no big deal.

"That is interesting..." I let out quietly as I lean back a little, trying to get a better view of Einervaene as she tends to some other things.

"Is there anything you can tell me about the clothes of your people, my love?" Rose asks, her hand slipping up to snatch my attention back towards her.

"Not much different from what everyone here seems to have. Sure, some styles vary, but as a whole, the differences are rather superficial and meaningless." I say, not much of a fashion person to really say. All I can really tell is that nothing is spectacularly different over here. Even the gods were quite tame, really.

"So a very boring history?" Rose pouts over, her image of me as some great warrior of a grand land not exactly going anywhere.

"I guess it is." I laugh out as we finally get the last of the bandages off. My claw flicks free of the messy cloth wrapping, and she takes it into her hands.

"So, do you have any plans to take me to your home? It must be a very impressive mountain-state if it produced someone as strong as you," Rose goes, her question awkward and not something I really want to touch on.

"I am not from a mountain-state, I am not a 'wind-person' as you like to put it. I have told you this before." I repeat, avoiding the question altogether, as she won't be coming, anyway. What she feels for me is not what I feel for her. Shameful as it is to admit, even mentally, I'm somewhat using her.

"And I have called you out on this lie before." she says, smile wide and beaming.

"I'm not lying!" I tell her, plenty of light-hearted frustration throwing itself up into the air as I start to move away. She lingers, her hands trailing down my body as it all comes together.

"Your back is looking a lot better," Rose comments, bending over in a rather pointless display of seduction. Though it's not entirely for naught, all my clothes are in her arms now. What of hers she took off, too.

"Is it? Give it a feel," I say to her, barely reacting as her fingers rub with intentional slowness, "I guess it is."

"Now you just need to remember not to let a ryphurgok peck at you so much." she chirps, giving my healing backplates the tender kiss they need.

"Try not to lay in the middle of a road as they stampede, then?" I joke back, a wide smile on both of our faces as what was a terrifying memory for her is seen as nothing of the sort. It's all an excuse to be closer to me, to hold me and be with me.

"But then how would I be saved by my precious love?" she asks, shrugging so delicately as she manages to get her bra-covered breasts into view. She shakes them about, leaving my eyes wandering elsewhere.

"Urtuoi-kischu, where's Baltanthan?" Einervaene demands to know, stomping up to us with what seems to be out of nowhere bother.

"He should be by the entrance, why?" I go, looking around as I cannot see him at all and completely lost track of him a hot while ago.

"He's been practising his magic again on our tools!" the lightning-user exasperates, her hands going up into the air with a shimmering coat of voltage spikes.

"Try not to murder him, then," is all I have to say as I shrug at the idea. Just another day of the other male in our group ruining our tools.

We've never really had an issue with it as we've been able to stock up on a decent amount of supplies. These three are more than able to go up to the merchants we've come across. I like to keep my distance, but they can go in just fine. In fact, it was one such settlement we've come across that led us to this lovely camping spot and today's and tomorrow's dinner.

"That is fine, I'll just make him unable to walk!" Einervaene says, her hands rubbing together as the static charge builds. She claps, a wheeze of thunder coming with it.

"You better not!" I call out, hoping her annoyances are largely amped up for the sake of venting. Crude humour.

Though, I have to admit, I'm quite surprised to see this side of her. She's normally so refined and well-kept, even in all the other stressful situations we've been in. Yet, apparently, all those days and nights and so on of being on her own have made her aggressively frugal. No money or resources are just wasted, and even with Brewbrt's help, the budget is still hers.

We have much to spare, and yet, she's scared of the potential future where we might lack food, tools or goods of any kind.

I hope at some point soon, we or I alone will be able to get her to realise that she's not on limited funds anymore. Of course, we're still on a budget, just not as tight as she might be historically used to. Gods above, it's almost as bad as our first meal together as a group of four. Her face went so red with fear and rage and she wouldn't stop arguing anything and everything. Especially with Baltanthan over how much we could eat that night.

She was only willing to relent when we all eased up on how much we were eating. It's part of why I even make a point of hunting so much right now. Otherwise, we'd still be eating small portions of canned goods and the like. Thankfully, thankfully...

Still, despite all the problems everyone is causing me, I've seen more and more sides to the lot of them. Especially Einervaene, surprisingly. Even Baltanthan has managed to grow on me a little despite how much I want to slap him sometimes. He's a grump and consistently moody, but, seeing him perk up over a mere mention of that academy and city is something else.

Rose will never get along with him, that's for sure. Half the time I'm pretty sure it's Rose that's responsible for his mood. Literal night and day with the way she talks to me and him. Always making those damn comparisons would tick at anyone's patience no matter how much they have. I really need to try and get her to treat him more like the way she treats Einervaene.

I mean, sure, I get why and what sort of life she's lived up until this point. I understand where she's coming from and get it in a very... Off-putting way. I experienced it all back when she was still calling herself 'Ivy-Mother,' after all. But even then, I wish she would at least try and get along with him. I can't help but think it only contributes to the foul mood of his and... Well, I'm terrified of the idea this foulness will just make him sell us out.

'I don't like you,' say so many people looking for an excuse to be nasty and horrible and petulant and so much more.

Sure, he has this debt to me because I've got him this far, technically. But not everyone prides themselves on their principles, too many, actually. Hopefully, I'm just being paranoid and pessimistic about him. I've already died once, and I was way too lucky the first time about it.

Still, given what has happened to me and with what I have become. I can't help but linger on thoughts of doom and pain. It's a grim mindset I want to be rid of and I've made it more than clear. But, my life at the moment is nothing but one big mess that I'm struggling to keep in its simplest of terms.

It's a mess that wants me to stay in the muck until I can't be asked to try and get out anymore. My time with Rose and the other two, however, has made it very clear to me that I need others to help. Not even just these three, as far back as the mountain with Vapooliar, Vadei and even Heiya and her damn father... I need so much help to stay out of the muck.

I need to keep them all by my side for as long as possible and get as far as I can with all of them. A mindset I rejected back in Tobaballe because it was so mutually understood. Actually... Because I did not want to worry about the pain of having to lose someone because we couldn't help each other get out of the muck. Speaking and thinking of muck, however.

It's bath time.