So one of you guys were a little lost on how Sera actually looks. I'd thought I was clear enough about that, but just to be perfectly straightforward without story stuff complicating it, Sera does look mostly human. He's got slitted blue eyes and multicolored hair and fangs, but otherwise he at least appears human. I'm sorry if some of you had a completely different image of him, but he's not, like, a humanoid lizard person. Did anyone else imagine him like that? I hope this clears things up. Sorry if it's been confusing. Ah, but the reader who was confused was wondering what other people imagined him as, and I'm curious, too, so if anyone had a different image of Sera in their heads, I'd be interested if you left a comment saying what you thought he looked like. It could help me be clearer in the future, and also I think it'd just be fun to know. But anyway, you guys are here for the story, so let's be on with it, shall we?
Hot and dry. That's all there seems to be to the air here. That's all there seems to be to anything here. As we walk through the town, Alluka walks with her skirt bunched in her hands, and Naii drapes the red cloth over her head and around her neck, while Killua removes his shirt to reveal one without sleeves. I lament the lack of moisture in the air, but otherwise the heat restores my energy a bit. The way it makes the air in the distance waver reminds me of water.
The buildings in this town are all the same color as the pale ground, so despite the colored hangings on their walls that look like a sad substitute for plantlife, it kind of feels like there isn't actually anything here at all. Even the colors the people wear, and they wear a lot, meaning both colors and clothes, are visibly dull in comparison to the clothes I wear, which I originally thought were kinda muted.
Every now and again, we stop by a human sitting on the side of the street. Some of them look like the rest, some of them look like they were dragged through a thicket of thorns. Some of them propose an item in exchange for money. All of them have skin about the same color as Naii. When Killua asks them about the situation with, as he puts it, mutants, some of them are eager to spill, but one who sits on the stairs of a back entrance asks to be paid.
"How do I know you have information I can't get from someone else for free?" Killua retorts. Even so, he waits instead of moving on. His contrariness isn't really anything new, and I'm neither in a rush to do anything nor inclined to speak to Killua at the moment, so I face the sun and bask. A twinge of hunger sparks in my stomach.
The man in faded orange shrugs like he doesn't care. "It's up to you if you wanna pay. Makes no difference to me to keep my know to myself. You have a ball burning in the sun tryin' to find what you want."
"And what is it I want?"
"If you ain't just a couple kids your nanny's takin' out to play, I 'magine you want the real know of our little crusade 'gainst the mutant beasts. More'an just the folktales an' excitement."
"Why should I trust you to know that kind of stuff?"
"HaaAAH what does it matter?" I gripe. The hunger in my stomach is slowly worsening. "If he doesn't give the information you want, just take the money back by force! Better yet, just use force to make him spill!"
"Temperamental," the man clicks his tongue with an arrogant grin. "Might as well kill me, then, lest I share your little secret, mutant."
I turn to look at him and blink. "What did you just call me?"
He averts his eyes, smile still on his face. Killua suddenly holds out a few slips to the man.
"Is this enough?"
Perfectly casual, the man takes the slips and breezes through them. He slips them into a fold in his clothes before saying, "Glad to do business. If you please, tell me what you've learned so far, so I don't gotta waste both of our time with the bits you 'ready know."
"A little over half a year ago a band of highly intelligent unknown creatures appeared at a stop of the main trading route through the desert, and started attacking traders. So far attempts to drive them out have been unsuccessful," Killua recaps. "The people here refer to them as either mutants or demons."
"That is why you're blessed to find me. Most people here can only ramble 'bout the Fhov, but I've seen the mutants with my own two eyes." He turns those eyes of his on me. "That's why I know that sometimes they can look darn near human. Not many know they've got one that's lookin' like a young girl not much older than you seem to be. Pluck 'er feathers clean off, and I doubt you'd see a difference, though the others couldn't pass as human no matter how they try. Gruesome beasties, they are."
He never shifts his gaze the whole time he speaks, as if he lumps me in with the creatures he's describing. The dash of arrogance on his face begins to spin my hunger into anger.
"What part of me," I sneer, "looks like a gruesome beastie to you?"
Alluka stomps in front of me and props her hands exaggeratedly on her hips. "Don't talk about him like that!"
The man laughs. "No harm, no harm, I speak of the mutants plaguing us. I just took a guess based on your eyes and the pit of my gut, but I care too much 'bout living to raise a spear. I'm a guide, merely a guide, one who needs a little pay now that there are less people goin' out in the land of the devil."
"How many did you see?" Killua asks, ignoring my agitation.
In response, the man holds up three fingers. "Along with the lil bird, a rodent the size of a hound, and a beastly half-furred, half-bare, six legged boar with tusks I've seen gouge through a man. It ain't surprising folks who've never left town consider them Fhov. On a gaze, they 'pear like curses incarnate," he muses.
"What can you tell us about the eradication attempts so far? What have people tried? How do the mutants fight?"
"They fight like a snake hidin' in a break in a rock, ambushers, though, I've heard they've used bait 'fore. Heard a man say they used a 'napped girl to lure 'em in, but I'd put my wager it was the bird one dressed to trick 'em. As for efforts, there ain't much to do. The mutants have a mysterious power that makes guns as good as pebbles. Folks've suggested fire, but there ain't 'nough of anything to burn here, and the last thing they want is to harm the oasis the mutants have taken. Water's a precious thing."
"So they don't leave their base?"
"Smart 'nough to know as long as they've got our oasis, we'll come to them. There's been a real drought in trade that won't clear up 'til folks can stop there safely 'gain."
"One last thing. Can you point us in the direction of the oasis?"
"Ain't hard to find. Just walk on that way," the man extends his hand to gesture around the corner of the building and juts his thumb around it, "and follow the road out of town. The only thing it goes to is the oasis. You kids have fun."
"Thanks for the info." Killua turns on his heel and leads us using the directions the man gave.
Despite being terrorized by ants, the humans of this town mill around doing their business, apparently under no stress to keep noise to a minimum. The ants never leave the oasis, and the humans seem to be plenty happy here, yet the humans go and throw themselves at their predators all on their own. Honestly, it's more than naive; it's downright stupid. Makes me wonder how someone like Killua can come from their numbers.
Instead of heading straight out of town, though, we stop at a building with a sign that looks like it's just randomly scribbled on. Inside Killua asks for two rooms, so I assume this will be where we're sleeping. I know this routine by now. I'm just glad it seems this place doesn't have air conditioning.
When he's done talking to the man behind the large table, we head back farther into the building. Instead of doors, this place has decorated cloths hanging over the doorways, fancier versions of what the people in Chwara had. Killua stops at one and turns around to face us. He stands with his hands casually in his pockets, but his straight back and sharp eyes convey he means business.
"Naii, you and I will go scout out the oasis to try to get an understanding of the ants' nest. In the meantime, wait for us here, Alluka, and Sera," he turns his eye on me, "...for now, wait here with her. Play cards, or better yet, have Alluka teach you some basics of Nen. You know enough to teach him at least a little, don't you?"
Lips in a determined pout, Alluka nods sharply.
Killua's demeanor eases up with a small smile. "Good." The smile fades when he turns back to me. I shift my weight back a bit and avert my eyes, irritated. "Stay in the room and try not to cause any trouble. And in an emergency…" I look back at him when he hesitates to find him searching my face, and for some reason the pressure under my cheeks builds. "...protect Alluka."
I don't say anything, too distracted by the unease on his face. He quickly cleans it up, though, and says to Naii,
"Come on." She obediently moves to follow, and when Killua passes me, he rests his knuckles lightly on my bare shoulder, and lightly adds, "I'm counting on you."
The warmth lingers momentarily as he disappears down the hallway. I narrow my eyes. What exactly does he mean, protect Alluka? I glance at the girl to find her also staring down the hallway at where the two disappeared. Once again, her aura feels a little off.
I take it in for a second, then go ahead and wonder, "Why do you always get so upset when he leaves?"
She snaps back into awareness. Her smile melts any note of disturbance from her face, and most of it from her aura. "It's fine, I just have to get stronger!" She raises her hands in excited fists. Then she twirls to face the intricately patterned cloth to our room. "Let's practice Nen! I don't know nearly as much as Brother, but I can still help you with the basics!"
I sigh, which ends with a low growl, and follow her into the room. The notion of such a weak thing getting stronger is about as ridiculous as the behavior of the humans in this town, but what's more exasperating is that she ignored my question.
Do I really care, though? Not really.
But you know, I'm getting reeeaaallly fed up with all these humans and their nonsensical emotions. When they're not cowering in fear or absolutely in awe of me, they just insist on making things so complicated. There has to be a way of looking at them that'd uncomplicate things. Humans are just as much animals as I am.
"Why don't you actually say what's bothering you? Maybe you could, I dunno, fix it!"
Alluka stops in the middle of the room, her back to me. I roll my neck, popping the bones, gaze boring into her back. Just say it already! Just say something that'll make you humans more comprehensible!
"No." Her voice is soft when it comes out, and I immediately detect the lie. "It's fine. Brother has to do a lot of dangerous things. I'm not very strong yet, so I'd just get in the way." She spins to face me, and the smile on her face for some reason sprouts a seed of disgust in me. "Sorry you had to stay with me this time. I'm sure you'd rather be out working with Brother." She clasps her hands together. "But since you're here, let's do some training together! It'll be fun!"
...I said make it comprehensible! Not make this already untangleable mess in me worse!
"So you're saying…" I run a hand through my hair, and try to sort out in the simplest terms what she said. I finish my analysis with a huff "...You don't wanna be left behind, right? Even though you'd intentionally be putting yourself in danger, you wanna be out where Killua is."
Finally, the wrong-feeling smile fades. "Mmhm, but more than just be with Brother, I want to be able to help out. Right now, Brother always has to take care of me, but he needs to worry about himself, too! I can't always be a burden to him. So I have to get strong enough that he doesn't have to look after me, so then I can help him without him worrying about me the same way he works with Gon!"
Her reasoning's all a pain, but when she brings up the frog, I snap.
"We're going, then."
"Eh?" She tilts her head.
"I said we're going." I move behind her and begin to push. As she staggers forward, she gawks at me over her shoulder.
"W-Where?"
"You said you wanna go, not going makes you upset, so we'll just go! Who cares about being helpful? If he wants to worry about you, that's his own problem! He worries too much! Ugh, you siblings make me sick!"
"But won't I get in the way?"
"Whose way? We're following behind, not tripping over their heels."
A few seconds later, Alluka cracks a smile. This time it's not disturbing.
Sera, I think Killua told you not to cause any trouble. Then again, since when does he listen? Meanwhile I've sorted out the progression in this arch in the downtime between this chapter and the last one, and I'm psyched! It'll probably be longer than the Chwara arch. Hopefully I'll be back again soon to share some more with you guys, and we can really get this ball rolling. See you guys then!