"This is so stupid... I'm just as good as those other party members if they just let me in for a Milkar smack down." Chad kicks over a young sapling to emphasize his frustration.
From afar, Queen Sheran Sharm feels a sharp pain in her pinkie toe. Someone has defiled one of her ground off-springs. The surrounding parent trees tell her who it was and where they are. It was always that same blue haired Srambadian repeat offender.
She pardons herself from her table of her afternoon blackberry snacks with a cup of yellow edelweiss tea and steps out to her overgrown balcony. She takes a deep, calming breath of the forest that surrounds her, drinking in the scents of her Saddia Kingdom.
"IDIOT! I KNOW WHAT YOU DID, BOOWOLF CHOW. FIX THAT SAPLING BEFORE I KICK YOU OFF THE ISLAND AGAIN!" Sheran catches herself in a coughing fit after announcing her threat. With a sigh, she returns to her table to soothe her throat with her still warm brew.
Pandora recoils from the sudden volume outburst that is the queen of Saddia Kingdom. Chad was also startled, but disregards the warning and only mumbles insults towards the clan leader under his breath. Not bothering to reverse the damage he's done, Chad walks off further into the forest.
"Chad... Seriously?" Pandora treads towards the abused sapling and rests herself next to it on one knee. She carefully grabs the soft bark and eases it back to an upright position. Thankfully, the flexible wood was able to bend with Chad's kick, absorbing the force and prevented any severe breakage. She reinforces the sapling with another layer of fresh dirt over its roots and pats it down.
Dusting off the dirt from her gloves, Pandora looks back up to see where Chad has wandered off to. They had only one job to do right now and that was to wait outside Milkar's den until their leader is finished with their raid. 'Leave it to Chad to still able to be disobedient to the easiest order in the world' thought Pandora.
Just as she was about to set off to contain Chad from trouble somehow, a sudden scratch at her right shoulder prompts her to turn around. What she faces, the wolfish figure almost touching her nose, catches her far off guard. Pandora involuntary screams and raises her wrist trinket, humming with power and ready to defend Pandora.
"Yo 'Dora, calm down." Chad lifts the Boowish headwear up slightly so Pandora could recognize him. He doesn't let his grin fall, though she can't see it with his mask on, as Pandora's expression slowly turned from fear to anger.
"What is wrong with you?" Pandora runs her fingers though her hair in irritation. "Chad, where and why did you get that... Grotesque thing."
Chad takes off the animal skin and turns it upsidown to further inspect it. "I snagged it off one of the native locals. It's one of the only things on this island I can get away with." He curiously pokes at one of the sewn together eye holes.
"C-Chad, ew, don't!" Pandora grabs the prying hand and yanks away the carcass, flinging it to the forest floor.
Though annoyed at his loot being tossed, he didn't exactly wanted to hold onto it any longer either after looking at the insides more closely. This was another opportune chance to freak out Pandora, however. "Hey 'Dora, I think that thing had corbics at one point."
Pandora immediately removes the glove that touched the headgear in disgust and lets it fall into the grass. "Chad, you take your gloves off too- take everything off!"
Chad clicks his tongue and slips out of his left glove, followed by the right. He tosses them near his feet for convenience. He holds up both hands to Pandora to show her that he's listened to Pandora's first request. Now for the second part. Chad slides out the button on his collar and continues down to the second button.
Pandora realizes what Chad was doing. She spins around and rubs her temples. "Oh my gods, Chad..."
Chad stops trying to force out the stubborn second button. "What? This is exactly what ya said." Chad picks up his gloves from the floor and dusts them off before putting them back on.
"That not what I meant!" Pandora lets out a huff and opts to look for her own glove. She finds it near a patch of thistle where it's rolled off to. Cautiously grabbing the glove with her other protected hand, she places it in an empty bag on her belt she's never found a use for until now.
Chad couldn't help a smug grin at how serious Pandora was taking this. With nothing left to do, Chad drifts off on his own. He sets his left hand on an elbow and his right hand under his chin, pondering for ways to occupy himself. Before he could get far, a hand wraps itself on his shoulder and yanks him backwards.
"You're not going anywhere. The last thing you should be doing is trying to get us booted off the island." Pandora's grip lays firm on his arm.
Chad sends a dangerous glare and harshly pushes Pandora away, unsheathing his daggers. "Don't tell me what to do." The clear intent of violence makes Pandora hesitant to prevent him from running off again.
The brief moment of tension was broken by crack of thunder from the sky. Pandora looks up to the rapidly rolling dark clouds on their way over the forest.
Pandora holsd up her hands in a yield. "Chad... I'm sorry if I went out of line. I had no need or right to touch you. I'll be in front of the entrance of Saddia Kingdom if you need me." Pandora spares the 'don't get us booted off the island' part and instead hopes that Chad could tone down his mischievousness on his own.
Pandora turns on her heel and begins her walk to the entrance. She can't help but notice the absence of the wildlife that normally grazes about, predicting the rain faster then calculations could.
Chad sighs to himself and watches Pandora walk off. He really didn't need to snap at her like that, especially when she only wanted him to keep it between the ditches. He lifts his mask up, needing a bit more air. A few drops of rain trickle down on his mask, creating a hallow echo sound on every drop.
Looking to his side, he's reminded of the boowish mask he's borrowed without permission. He walks over to it and grabs it by the ear. With a peek under the headgear, he makes sure that the arachnee egg sac was well abandoned and there weren't any strays crawling about. Chad reels the headgear backwards and shifts his left leg forward. With a lunge, Chad throws the wolf head as far as he can into the forest. 'Maybe the original owner could find the scent of it, or something' thought Chad.
Chad steps off the grass and back onto the dirt and rock path leading into Saddia Kingdom. He starts his trek to meet Pandora at the entrance, holding out his hands into the increasing rain to wash off whatever could possibly on that wolf head.
Pandora seats at one of the birch wood benches on the platform the queen usually stands on. This particular bench has a built tabole leaf woven roof with a layer of a more silky fabric on top, though intended for protection from the shade for resting explorers, it can double as protection from the rain aswell.
Though the door that rarely closes, Pandora could see the deeper end of Saddia kingdom. The rain barely breaks though the higher trees, instead they flow down the branches and stream down the bark. It seemed like a good idea to camp inside instead, but Pandora doesn't have either her leader or Chad to accompany her in case of an encounter of the more ferocious mobs that lie likely more active inside.
Pandora takes a deep breath, the sound of the rain hitting the cloth becoming pleasing, putting her thoughts at ease. Just as her mind was about to drift to where Chad could be, she catches the sound of shoes stepping on the soggy grass. Looking to her right, she sees Chad walking towards the entrance, fingers in his pockets and mask high enough for Pandora to see his nose. As he comes closer, she notices how wet he was from walking so slowly in the drizzle.
Chad doesn't try to make eye contact. After wringing out his gloves, he takes a seat an arms length away from Pandora. Letting out a huff, Chad lowers his mask back down, crosses his legs and arms, and slouches, presumably going to sleep.
Pandora feels a bit of relief knowing that Chad is willingly staying in her sights. Now what was taking their leader so long?
Becoming a bit anxious waiting, she takes out her data journal to type up her thoughts of the day.
'Fought against another player (friendly challenge) at the Almanax temple. We accidentally joined and leader told us that we could sit out of it. Had to go home real quick to find my bolts for another data journal. This old one is starting to burn out.'
Pandora wipes off some the the water that splattered off the edges of the armrest of the bench from her electronic pad. She feels the scars of age on the frame of her device, a few scratches deeper then others. She scoots in closer to the middle to avoid any further potential damage before continuing to type.
'We took a boat to Saddia Kingdom, it was really fun. I got to show some folks my smaller inventions. Boss had to leave to take down a beast named "Milkar". Chad was really upset he couldn't go.'
Pandora takes a moment to ponder what to write down about her current situation. Humming to herself, she decides to finish writing the day later. A sneeze reaches to Pandora, the cold getting to her. She places her data journal aside and brings up her legs onto the bench. Wrapping her arms around them, she only now notices how chilly it's becoming in the light rain.
A thunder clap causes Chad to stir. He slowly lolls himself from grogginess and looks to his side where Pandora is. He quickly takes interest in the lightly glowing tablet lying beside her.
"'Dora, what's that?" Chad couldn't help himself but to extend his hand to the screen. The screen turns brighter upon the touch. He drags the device closer to himself, seeing the letters on the screen.
Pandora swiftly plants her own ungloved hand on top of the tablet, a bit of her hand cover Chad's fingertips.
"That is my private journal and I would appreciate it if you don't go through it." Pandora lifts the tablet and slides Chad's hand off of it.
Discontented, Chad moves himself closer to Pandora, looking for an opportune moment to snatch the device from her.
"Chad you're not looking in my journal!" Pandora protectively holds the tablet to herself. She swivels around to face Chad and places her feet in front of her, ready to kick if needed.
Chad has a rare moment of reconsideration. He backs down and returns to his original place on the bench, letting out an annoyed grunt.
Pandora relaxes at his retreat. A beeping from her screen calls for her attention. 'Batteries under 25%' the screen notifies.
"What's it doing?" Chad asks.
Pandora sighs. The batteries ran down too fast to consider it just poor power management. "It's running out of power. Probably for the last time too."
Chad lays an arm over the bench. "Not even you can fix it?"
Pandora taps her way to her cloud system, uploading all the new data to be stored away. "I made this thing when I was still new at putting things together. I could fix it, but it's honestly better to just replace everything at this point." She scoots the tablet away from her. Now that it's transferring, there isn't much else to do with it other then recycling the materials. Or let Chad mess with it. Chad didn't wait as long as Pandora thought to make his way back to the tablet.
"Just don't break it. I need to use it as reference for my new tablet." Pandora stretches her jacket to cover as much as possible from the incoming chill.
As far as Chad is concerned, Pandora just gave him full permission to fully inspect the tablet. Moving over right next to Pandora, he takes the tablet in his left hand and presses the first button on the side he sees. The screen flashes 'Sync 48%'. Chad toys around with the device some more, trying to peer into Pandora's writing.
"'Dora, how do I read all your secrets?" Chad scratches at the frame but decides against trying to pick it apart
Pandora laughs at how straightforward Chad asked her. "You can't anymore. Once it's done transferring everything to my cloud, it's life is done." She rubs her arms for warmth.
Chad takes one last look at the screen before handing it back to Pandora, a bit annoyed that she would give it to him locked. He takes notice of the huddling position she's in. He takes off his left glove and raises his hand up to Pandora's cheek, checking her temperature. Pandora doesn't try to move away, but lets out a whine out of uncomfortableness.
"'Dora I didn't think you would get this cold." Chad scoots back a bit for some space to move his arms. "Hang on." He unbuttons his shirt and removes his shoulder guards.
"What are you doing?" Pandora sneezes in the opposite direction and into the rain.
Chad removes his other glove. "Being concerned with the welfare of others, as hard as it is to believe." Chad holds out the thin cloth, partially wishing that he walked a bit faster here so it wouldn't be soggy.
Pandora turns around to see Chad again. Under the shirt was a thin looking dusky blue vest. The Sram smoothly wraps the light jacket over Pandora, taking the collar and buttoning it together.
Though the heat of the jacket from the original owner will wear off, Pandora greatly appreciates the support.
"Thank you, Chad." Her teeth were starting to chatter. "But aren't y-you cold?" She leans a bit closer to Chad, hoping to get a bit more warmth, and lays her head on the wood.
"Geez," - Chad shifts right next to Pandora again, their knees touching now - "I didn't think ya had such an adverse effect to a bit of downy weather. I'm from Srambad, their weather goes from Chillberg cold to Sidimote Moor hot. Ya get used to extreme climates, being born in it and all. I'll be fine." Chad looks back to Pandora, who is now drifting off to sleep.
He sighs and looks out into the rain, leaning on one arm on the bench now. Its become moderately rainy, the clouds still light grey and moving over the kingdom. He considers dozing off himself until he feels a weight shifting to his shoulder. He looks down to Pandora making herself comfortable on his arm. Unexpected, but he doesn't mind it. Chad lays his head on top of Pandora's, ready to nap away the time.