Chapter 6: Tour Guide

This one took much longer than I was expecting. Sorry about that. Also, I'm going to be uploading the revised chapter 1 once I finish it so keep your eyes open for that.

darkevix101: Yeah, I'm hoping to make Brandon do more subtle actions instead of just screaming that he has ptsd.

Unraged: For the foreseeable future. I may or may not end up making Gramps small Gramps depending on how my thoughts change.

…

Brandon awoke in darkness to the sound of Nia softly snoring with the soft glow of Dromarch's Core to indicate he was sleeping next to her. He heard the sound of talking coming from outside so he groggily stood up and deactivated the gauntlets that had been sitting on his hands the entire time, making them fold back up into the thick metal wristbands. He unclasped them and set them down on his bed before sliding open the door of the small house and stepping out. He squinted his eyes, fully expecting to be blasted by light but was pleasantly surprised when he emerged in a darker forest.

He glanced around to see that Rex had set up a small plastic table and a few chairs on Gramps' back and was sitting down and talking with Pyra.

"There he is!" Rex grinned as he stood up, "so Pyra, I'd like to officially introduce you to Brandon, my brother."

"Brother?" Pyra asked, an inquisitive tilt to her head seeing as there was no resemblance.

"Adoptive," Brandon said, "as in he adopted me. I had no choice in the matter," he chuckled.

"You're free to leave at any time," Rex said.

"When your reactions to my teasing is my sole source of entertainment. No chance."

Pyra giggled, "you two seem very close."

"That we are," Brandon said as he stretched out his stiff limbs. He glanced over to the side to see that Gramps was fast asleep. "So what's the plan now boss?"

"We're going to Elysium."

"Huh?"

"Pyra said that she's from there and she wants to go back."

"Mmh," Brandon grunted, "I was referring to what we are going to do now. As in right this moment."

"Oh," Rex scratched his head sheepishly, "I'm not too sure. Gramps said that his energy is completely spent so he's going to be asleep for a few days at least, though he said it would likely be closer to a week."

"And what were you planning on doing in the meantime?"

"I didn't think about that."

Brandon sighed, "of course you didn't. Okay, where are we exactly?"

"Gormott."

"Perfect then," Brandon said, "we'll use our resident Gormotti, when she wakes up, as a guide to the nearest town where we'll pick up some supplies. Hm… what time is it exactly?"

"I dunno, sometime late evening. You were out all of yesterday and most of today if you were wondering."

Brandon grimaced, "do we have any food left?"

"We have a few jarred things," Rex said, "some preserved fruit. I think that's about it though."

"It'll do."

"Alright," Rex yawned, "I'm going to go get some sleep, night."

"Sleep well," Brandon said. Rex nodded and slid the door shut behind him. Brandon then went over to their small storage crate and looked around inside. He pulled out a jar of some miscellaneous fruit and sat down at the table to start eating.

"You know you should clean your hands before eating," Pyra said.

Brandon blinked before laughing, "yeah, I guess you're right." He went back to the crate and looked around for some alcohol and used that to clean off his hands before wiping them down with a towel.

He sat back down and started eating slowly, though his self control gave out after a moment as his body realized how hungry he was and he started scarfing the food down.

"Can I ask you something?" Pyra asked, noticing that Brandon was starting to slow down.

"I mean you already have," he snorted in amusement when Pyra seemed taken aback, "go ahead. I'll answer to the best of my ability."

"You don't trust me."

Brandon paused, "we've known each other for all of a few minutes. Why is that even a question… also that's not much of a question."

"I suppose it's not." Pyra acknowledged.

He exhaled deeply, "well, to be frank, I don't," he shrugged, "I trust that you're not trying to kill us," he tapped the center of his chest where a Core Crystal would be resting if he were Rex, "there's enough proof of that."

"Then…?"

"Rex's dream for most of his life was reaching Elysium. Then suddenly you show up and give him a path to reach it. Life's rarely that convenient. I'm assuming you have some other motive for wanting to reach Elysium. Rex wants to save people, give them the opportunity to not fear that the Titans beneath them will sink to the bottom of the sea. That selflessness is one in a billion. I doubt your goals are the same as his. And also, I don't appreciate being dragged into whatever the hell is going on with those fuckers on that ship."

"I… I apologize for that. I didn't want to involve others in this conflict."

"But you have despite your intentions," Brandon frowned, "who are they anyways?"

"Malos is an old enemy of mine… though I thought he died years ago. His Blade is unfamiliar to me."

"And the other? Jin?"

"He was-" Pyra's voice cracked, "he was an ally. We were never close but I still considered him a friend, someone I could trust with my life."

"Clearly he's not the same man you knew," Brandon said.

"No," she agreed, "he's not."

Brandon glanced down, his eyes drawn to her Core Crystal, or rather, what was left of it. "I'm surprised you can survive like that." He said, deciding to change the topic.

She smiled faintly, recognizing the gesture for what it was, "it is not as uncommon as you would think. Many Blades in the past have lived on with damaged Core Crystals. Though those that are lucky enough, or I suppose unlucky enough, to survive are never really the same again and should their driver fall and they return to their Core, they will never be reawakened."

"But you're the Aegis, so I'm assuming there's more to it."

"I am. This is reversible, though if I do, Rex dies. Alternatively I could go through all the way and fully revive Rex and free him of his connection to me. I would survive for a few days but afterwards, I would fade into nothing."

"So you two are permanently bound."

"I suppose we are."

Brandon sighed in acceptance, though he still looked down at the Conduit shaped Core with disdain, "okay then. But I want you to promise something. Keep him safe. Letting him die was a clear failure on my part. Don't let him down like I did."

"I don't think he would blame you."

Brandon chuckled, "I don't blame myself either if that's what you're thinking. They were clearly out of our weight class. And I couldn't have stopped him from going. It may have seemed a little off being quite a large sum of money for a relatively simple job but it went through all the official channels and there was essentially no reason to say no."

"That's a logical way of looking at it."

"Yeah well. I like to think that I'm quite the logical person. If I blamed myself for everyone who's died in my vision, I'd probably have already gone insane."

"You…" Pyra seemed unsure of herself, "Rex told me you didn't have any memories of before, but I get the feeling that you aren't just talking about previous security jobs."

Brandon ran a hand through his hair with a laugh, "you're pretty perceptive huh? No, I'm not." He shook his head, "why am I telling you this…? Whatever. I'm not going to give you my entire sob story, not that I think you would believe it even if I did."

She smiled softly, "I think you would be surprised at what I would believe."

"Maybe, or maybe not, but I don't think you want to hear about years of war though, and I'd rather not talk about it either."

"I understand…" she trailed off, no doubt lost in her own memories.

Brandon crossed his arms with a sigh. Despite his words, his mind started drifting. Normally he could either drown himself in work or have a conversation with Rex, letting him forget all about it. This time though, he was alone with someone he knew for all of five minutes.

Brandon flinched when he heard a bang come from inside. His hand instinctively went for his empty holster though he immediately relaxed when he heard a string of swearing coming from the little metal structure.

Nia slid open the door with a thunderous look, rubbing her head to try to ease the pain of slamming her head into the metal ceiling. Dromarch padded out alongside her.

"Evening," Brandon greeted.

"You sleep in that thing?" Nia scowled.

"You get used to the low ceiling," Brandon waved a hand, "anyways, do you recognize where we are?"

Nia glanced around, "we're in the lower level forests of Gormott."

"Great. When Rex gets up tomorrow, I want you to show us to the nearest town so we can stock up on some supplies."

Nia frowned, "here's the problem with that proposal. The closest settlement is a city. Torigoth, which happens to be the capital city of Gormott. It'll be crawling with Ardanian soldiers policing the area and if even one recognizes me, we're done for. The next closest town is over a week of walking away."

"Recognize you?" Brandon said, "I've never seen you before on a wanted poster or ever heard your description. No witnesses, right?"

"Look," Nia snarled, "we've only raided Core Crystal transports going to and from the Praetorium before. We went in and out unnoticed most of the time. If you're going to talk about that, why don't we bring up what you said on the ship?"

"Touché," Brandon leaned back and crossed his arms, "but either way…"

"There were people who've clearly seen my face before and Mor Ardain doesn't mess around with criminals. Torna's a known name and the people at Argentum have probably already given descriptions."

"Your group is named after the fallen Titan?"

"It was Jin's idea," Nia said defensively.

Brandon shrugged, "didn't mean anything by it. It's just an interesting choice." He shook his head, "anyways, even if they have a description of your face, it'll be a vague representation at best. You could probably fit into Rex's clothes and as long as Dromarch stays behind, we'll be fine."

"No, Dromarch stays with me."

Brandon rolled his eyes, "you don't-"

"Apologies for interrupting," Pyra said, "but what should I do?"

"Well you can't come with us. Your Core Crystal is too distinct. Actually, why don't you and Dromarch wait here with Gramps," he directed his attention towards Nia, "is that acceptable."

"No-"

"My lady means yes," Dromarch coughed.

"Dromarch!" Nia snapped.

He sighed, "my lady, I mean no disrespect but I believe this to be the best course of action. You need food and unless my ears were deceiving me, master Brandon seems to be out."

Nia grumbled.

Brandon sighed, "I know you were intending on ditching us when you got the opportunity."

Nia made to voice her complaints but Brandon held up a hand, "why else would you be so insistent on staying with Dromarch and not going to the city?"

"I…"

"Hit the nail on the head huh?" His voice softened, "I'm not going to turn you in. Gramps would tan my hide if I did that to the person who saved our lives. What I'm asking for is a favor. I've never been here before and I've only ever been in the ports of Torigoth and the city is quite large and I would like to not get lost. Once we're done there, you're free to leave. Of course if you really want, you're free to leave now too, but I would appreciate a guide."

"I… you really know how to twist my arm huh? Fine, we'll do it your way."

"Alright," Brandon smiled, "there we go. All that's left is for Rex to get up."

"Which I'm assuming is tomorrow morning."

"Yeah. Hm," he got up to rummage around in a chest for a board game, "down to play a few rounds?" He asked as he pulled out a Nopon chess set.

"Why not."

Brandon ran a hand through his hair as he processed yet another loss. "You're really good at this," he said in awe.

By this point, the sun was already starting to make its way back up. Pyra had passed out a few hours before, sleeping with her back pressed against Dromarch.

Nia shrugged, "apparently this is what people consider to be a higher class," she air quoted, "way to spend your free time. I believed what people said when I was younger so I played in my free time."

"Huh. I can't picture you wanting to be some kind of high society snob."

"There's a lot you don't know about me. Just like there's a lot I don't know about you," Nia said pointedly.

"That is by design," he said mysteriously, waving his hands in a sarcastic imitation of the people who say that unironically, "what I said before… I said on impulse without thinking. It would probably be best if you didn't pry."

"Then tell me this at least," Nia said, "were you talking about the Aegis war?"

"Yes," Brandon said. Nia made eye contact and narrowed her eyes and Brandon eventually wavered.

"I wasn't born yesterday," Nia said, "if you want to keep your secrets, you just have to say so. Don't insult me by lyin' to my face."

"Sorry… I'd rather not talk about it."

Nia huffed, "better."

Brandon gave a long nod. "Do you want to go again?"

"No, I think I'm done," a small smile dancing on the corners of her mouth, "it has nothing to do with the fact that you're learning my strategies."

Brandon laughed as he packed the set away, "fair enough. I suppose I wouldn't want to play against someone who's learning to beat me. Then again, I'd probably mix my strategies up a little if an opponent started learning my tactics."

"I'd rather win with mechanics," Nia said, "while you can mindgame your opponent, it's not as safe a bet."

"But mechanics rely on you being the superior player every time," Brandon raised an eyebrow, "unless you have extensive preparation time versus a specific opponent, if you're even on skill the player with better strategy and tactics will win."

"Yeah, but if you're the worse player and make a mechanical error, you'll just lose. A fact that I think we've proven with our games."

"Well, have you met someone who was better than you in terms of skill?"

"A few," she shrugged, "my sister was particularly apt at the game."

"A sister huh? What's she li-"

"She's dead," Nia interrupted before Brandon could finish asking the question.

"Oh." Brandon said lamely. He opened his mouth but shut it just as fast as he glanced away. An awkward air quickly surrounded the two.

Nia let Brandon stew for a moment before she shrugged a shoulder, "don't worry about it, it was a long time ago. I already went through the five stages of grief and all that. If you want to know more about her… well, where do I start? She was older than me by a few years. She had a fiery personality," Nia held up a finger, "and before you say anythin', yeah, she's had a massive influence on me. Obviously. She was never afraid to speak her mind, which got her into trouble more than a few times. She did want to be a lady though. She spent a lot of time studyin' and practicin'. She could be very subtle with her sarcasm as well and she regularly got away with insultin' people to their face since they would never realize it."

Brandon snorted, "so you're like the lite version?"

"If you want to put it that way, sure. I guess that kind of works."

"Hm. I guess that would make me the pre-alpha version of Rex huh?" He grinned.

"And how's that?"

"He doesn't do what I do."

"Hm. Wouldn't that make you opposites?"

"Well, a pre-alpha version is supposed to be one that works out all the bugs and glitches so a future version works better."

"Good point." Nia sighed, "though I'm not sure you two are that different. Both of you seem bloody reckless from what I've seen."

Brandon shrugged, not denying Nia's claim. "And speak of the devil," Brandon grinned as the metal door of their little shack slid open to reveal Rex who was blearily rubbing his eyes and yawning.

"I see you're up," Rex said to Nia.

"Yeah. No thanks to this idiot though," Nia gestured in front of her to Brandon.

"Hey, I saved you," Brandon complained.

"If that's what you call saving," Nia rolled her eyes, "you didn't need to knock me out."

"I beg to differ," Brandon said, an offended tone to his voice, "you had two options to choose from there: fight or flight. You chose to freeze, and that meant death."

"You don't know that."

"Maybe I didn't. Whatever. What's in the past can't be changed," Brandon shrugged, "anyways, Rex, we're heading to Torigoth. Get your stuff and let's go. Dromarch and Pyra are staying behind."

"What? But-"

"We can't just roam around as Drivers and Blades. Too risky. How many Blades do you think walk around with a t-shaped, emerald green, Core Crystal? And with half of it missing, the Ardanian military would probably be having words," he gestured to Nia, "not to mention that we're apparently harboring a terrorist and Dromarch is a pretty distinctive Blade."

"A terrorist?"

"Yeah. Nia? Care to explain?"

Nia huffed, "we're called Torna."

Rex blinked. "Is that it?" He asked.

"What else do you expect me to say?" Nia snarked, "we attacked Core Crystal shipments. That's it."

"Alright," Brandon held up a hand, "don't antagonize Rex if you're pissed at me."

"I'm not…" Nia sighed, "sorry. I'm just frustrated right now. I'm not really sure what to do."

"I get it. Rex go grab your stuff," he held out a hand to Nia after Rex ducked back into the little shack, "then how about this for the immediate future? A trade offer if you will. We receive a guide for us to get to and through Torigoth, then I'll try to get you a pardon."

"You?" Nia looked at his hand skeptically.

"I'm not some nobody. If I pressure the chairman, he'll have to lean his own political weight onto the governments who want you behind bars."

"And how are you able to put pressure onto the chairman exactly?" Nia asked skeptically.

"Well first off, he doesn't want to lose access to my technology. It's part of my contract to make gear for security so if I leave, he loses out on future stuff I may make. Also, when I do leave, my gear is rendered useless since I'm the only one who really knows how to maintain and repair it. The moment any of the machinery breaks, it's done."

"And the chairman won't risk usin' stuff that's completely different to regular gear if he can't replace it. Hm," she took his hand and shook, "maybe you aren't as much of an idiot as I thought."

Brandon just snorted, deciding that it wasn't worth sniping a response back.

"Think fast!" Rex called, tossing Brandon's backpack towards him. Brandon barely reacted in time, his head instinctively flinching back but his arm flicked up in time to catch it. His eyes widened as Rex tossed a few more items at him and he scrambled to catch them. Rex grinned as he handed a spare pistol to Brandon.

"I regret ever doing that to you," Brandon said as he shouldered his bag, holstered his gun, and slipped on his vambraces as well as his salvager's anchor.

"So you're admitting that you're a bad influence."

"You're the one who decided to adopt said bad influence," Brandon retorted as Rex slung a brown drawstring bag over his shoulders, "what comes around, goes around."

"Like that's a good excuse," Rex said as he jumped off of Gramp's back and stumbled when he hit the ground. "You should be more responsible around an impressionable child."

"Eh, not like Gramps would have let me do anything actually damaging," Brandon followed, though unlike Rex, he tossed his bag down onto a shrub first before jumping. He rolled when he hit the ground and retrieved his bag.

Nia hit the ground on all fours almost like a cat. Brandon had to physically restrain himself from laughing.

Nia did notice the expression on his face and just shook her head. "Well then, follow me. Torigoth is this way."

"Do you have any water?" Rex asked, a few hours into their trek. By this point, he was clearly tired, not really built for long hikes.

"Uh, there'll be a few streams up ahead. Cold and fast movin' if I recall."

"You know your stuff," Brandon said, impressed.

"I used to come out here with my sister. I know this place as well as Torigoth."

"Did you also visit Torigoth regularly?"

"I guess, yeah. Whenever my father had business here."

"Business huh? What kind?"

"I don't remember to be honest."

"Well, can't you…" Brandon trailed off as he glanced at her face. "Ah."

Nia shrugged helplessly. "Not like you did anythin'." She let out a bitter laugh, "I can't even hold a grudge against anything because it was disease that took them both."

Brandon remained silent. It was clear she still blamed herself, despite the fact that she must have been young and unable to do anything. Though maybe that was why she felt responsible, a sort of survivors guilt that he'd seen in plenty of soldiers.

He did want to say something, to at least alleviate some mental stress, but he couldn't. Not when he had zero psychological or therapeutic training.

"Here we are," Nia stopped.

Rex nodded gratefully before he knelt down to fill his bottle.

Brandon swung his bag around so that he was wearing it on his front, and fished around until he found what he was looking for.

"Rex."

"Yeah?"

"Catch," Brandon tossed the little package in a slow underhand throw to Rex.

Rex caught it reflexively with a single hand without even turning around. He brought it up to his face to read before he blinked with a little head shake.

Brandon stared with similar confusion on his face. "Is that… from being the Aegis' Driver?" He asked with his head turned so he was almost asking Nia.

"Huh? Uh, I guess so. Bein' a Driver does increase stuff like that but not to that extent. I don't exactly go around reactin' to things I can't even see."

Rex looked down at his hands in a disbelieving manner. He eventually shook off the feeling before opening the little box of water purification tablets and dropped one into his now full bottle.

"How much further are we from the city?" Rex asked.

Nia glanced around, "well… I'd say about a day more of walking. That gives us two options. Either we can continue until this evenin' then reach Torigoth early afternoon. Or we can set up camp now and continue on tomorrow, though if we do that, it'll take us most of tomorrow and we'll probably have to spend the night at an inn."

"Hm. I vote for the second option," Brandon said.

"What? But there's still plenty of time left in the day."

"Yeah, but if you remember, I stayed up all night with Nia here."

"Actually," Nia chimed in, "I can keep going."

"You… right. Driver," he sighed, "fuck it. I guess I'm popping some caffeine pills." He dug around in his backpack for the caffeine. Brandon chuckled at the look Nia gave him. "Rex and I always keep a stock of camping supplies at the ready. Sometimes salvage can come from on a Titan in stuff like lakes. Gramps doesn't really like coming out of the Cloud Sea so we've spent a good amount of time camping out on smaller Titans."

"But not on Gormott?" Nia asked, "it's a pretty popular location for people who want to go on a campin' holiday."

"Nah. We never bothered looking for anything on the mainland Titans. They're mostly picked clean of salvage and we're not after natural resources. The governments of Alrest wouldn't let us even if we wanted to. Especially not now."

"Typical," Nia shrugged.

"Eh, war notwithstanding, Alrest is running low on resources. I doubt the governments would allow their land to be all used for commercial use."

"Not like Gormott has much of a government," Nia mumbled.

"I suppose the Ardanian Empire has made sure of that."

"Yeah…"

Brandon raised an eyebrow but decided not to say anything, "alright, we good to get moving then as voted on by the shorties?"

"Shorties?" Both Rex and Nia shouted at the same time.

Brandon only laughed as the two hurtled verbal abuse at him as the trio set off.

"Well… that's certainly a view."

The trio had stopped at the top of a cliff with a view over massive plains and a speck of a city in their view, a reddish glow cast over the entire area with the sun setting in the background, making for a stunning sight.

"The Garanti plains," Nia said, sounding a little smug, "that over in the distance is Torigoth."

"I'm assuming that's a few hours walk?"

"Yes, Torigoth is the largest city on Gormott after all. The fact that it is so small only shows how far away we are."

"Well then. I guess this is as good a spot as any to set up camp," Brandon said as he unslung his backpack with a groan. "Rex!" he cried in faux weakness, "could you get the firewood? I'm just so tired."

Rex gave him a stink eye, "you know I was going to do it without your sad attempt at a guilt trip."

"And I would have done it if we had stopped a few hours ago. But alas, I was outvoted."

"Is he always this dramatic?" Nia asked, pointedly towards Rex as if there wasn't a whiny nineteen year old in front of her.

"Depends on his mood. If he's annoyed he'll act like he's angry. If he's genuinely angry, he'll become a passive aggressive bitch."

"Language," Brandon yelled.

Nia shook her head in mock disappointment, "what a hypocrite."

"I know right?" Rex shrugged, "also when he's feeling lazy, he'll complain dramatically."

"What? I do not!" Brandon complained.

"Point in case."

"I hate you."

Rex laughed, "I think I'll go get that firewood now." He trotted off.

"You two," Nia snorted, "you could go around as a comedy act and make a killin'."

"Hah! Sure," Brandon leaned against a tree, "unfortunately no salvager would find it funnier than just hanging out with their friends and it's considered crass humor to anyone else."

"Shame."

Brandon shrugged, "eh, entertainment's not where I would want to work in anyways. I've always wanted to make something. Heh, maybe get a unit of measurement or phenomenon named after me. That is the ultimate goal of a scientist after all."

"Is it?"

"Yeah, it's because that means you've discovered a new fundamental principle of the universe. It's one of the biggest accomplishments possible in the field."

"As if you actually want fame," Rex said as he came back and dropped several pieces of wood to the ground with a clatter.

"It's not really fame. It's more doing something memorable. Making my mark on the world you know? Or at least that's what I used to want."

"A memory?" Rex asked hopefully.

"No. A lingering urge as a scientist and engineer." Another half truth. He was going to start losing track of them at this point.

"Man, I do want to know what you did before you went to sleep."

"Eh. I'm not sure you would want to know at this point. Clearly something went wrong if my specialty is making weapons." The war was what went wrong of course. He wanted to explore the universe, not burn the planet he lived on.

"Clearly," Nia echoed.

Brandon winced. She probably still remembered what he spewed out on the ship in an emotional outburst. He doubted she understood half of it but what she probably did understand was weapons and death. What was also clear was that his story didn't quite line up with what he had ranted about.

"Anyways," he deflected, his voice weak, "you have the matches?"

"Huh?" Rex looked back and forth then shrugged, "yeah. We should probably set the sticks up properly first though."

"Right." Brandon sat down to arrange the wood into a kind of small fire pit.

Rex knelt down onto a knee beside him to construct a circle of rocks around and set up some kindling. He struck a match and got a fire going within a few seconds. A little bit later, they had a roaring flame dancing up.

"You know," Rex said, "that could have been easier with Py-"

"No. You are not using a Blade as a living lighter," Brandon chastised, "nor are you going to get me to feel guilty for making Pyra and Dromarch stay behind."

"Drat," Rex muttered.

"Dude, we've been walking for almost a day now. Even if you did, I refuse to turn around and destroy my legs even further."

"Shouldn't you be more fit to be in security?"

"Do I have to remind you that I was able to easily outpace you on any kinds of expeditions? I didn't just get juiced up one day because I decided to touch a weird sword."

"We were looking for something valuable. That looked pretty valuable to me so I decided to collect it."

Brandon rolled his eyes, "I'm not saying that you should have realized you would have resonated. I'm saying you didn't think twice about touching a sword in a room that had traps leading up to it. For all you knew it could have been a fake that exploded the second you touched it."

Rex flushed, "I wasn't thinking-"

"That much is obvious," Brandon snorted.

Rex cleared his throat. "I was going to say that I wasn't thinking about traps at that moment."

"Were you distracted by the hot girl in front of you?" Brandon taunted.

"Who? Nia?" Rex feigned ignorance, not rising to the bait, "I would have thought that was you given how your eyes were glued… down."

"Wha-" Nia surged forward angrily but Brandon shook his head with a laugh, causing her to pause.

"If memory serves, we were walking alongside each other. You wouldn't even have been able to see my face, much less where I was looking."

Nia leaned back onto a tree with an eyeroll.

"You're not denying it."

"Then I'm denying it now," Brandon chuckled, "you can't win here."

"Tch." Rex sighed, "alright. I'm assuming you want me to set up something to cook right?"

"If you could get on that, that would be great." He grunted as he pushed himself up, "hey, why don't you come with me, Nia?"

She shrugged as she stood up to follow, "may as well."

"Alrighty then. Lead the way."

"So that's why you want me to come with you."

"What? Did you think I was afraid of the dark?" He laughed, "I think I'm more afraid of getting lost. These woods are like a maze."

"So you're afraid of the dark then?" Nia asked.

"Hm," he shrugged, "not sure how to describe it. It's just that feeling that most people get in the dark like something's behind you."

"I'm… not sure most people feel that."

"Rex says he feels it."

"Rex is also a child."

He held up a finger, "a mature child."

"A mature child who geeks out over a boat?" Nia crossed her arms.

"Fair," he grinned, "though also to be fair, I would like to point out that I geeked out over the ship the first time I saw it as well. And I was a few years older than Rex is now."

"Though also to be fair," she raised an eyebrow, "you're an engineer and he's not."

"That's tru-"

Nia held up a hand, silencing Brandon. She crouched down with her cat-like ears flicking back and forth. She slowly drew a knife from her collection that was sitting on her belt. She flipped the knife around to hold it by the blade and raised it over her shoulder.

Brandon found himself studying the knife. He could tell that it was expensive and very high quality based on the build. Yet, unlike most expensive knives, it had no decoration of any kind. If he hadn't spent so much time around weapons, he likely wouldn't even have noticed.

Nia threw it expertly, the knife twirling through the air to stick directly into the bunnit she had been targeting, killing the animal instantly.

"Well then?" Nia gestured, "there's our dinner."

"I could have just shot it if you had pointed it out."

"And scared off everything else within a ten kilometer radius. Not to mention you probably would have torn the poor thing in two. We'd be eating chunks of meat mixed with dirt." She regarded him with a bemused expression, "you've never been out hunting before, have you?"

"Uh… It was Rex doing most of that work," he admitted, "I was the one who usually set up camp."

"Figures. You know how to skin and gut it then right?"

"Yeah."

"There's hope for you yet," she patted his shoulder as she went to retrieve her knife.

"Thanks… wait. Hey!"

Brandon leaned back and let out a burp. It was actually Rex who regarded him in disdain while Nia appeared unbothered as she continued eating almost daintily.

She was a walking collection of contradictions, Brandon mused to himself. A lot like himself in that regard. She seemed to be both rich and poor, well mannered and yet unafraid to use crude language, knowledgeable in seemingly unrelated topics.

Seems they were both concealing something from the other. Well, no need to dwell on it since they wouldn't be traveling together for much longer.

Brandon unstrapped his anchor and started fiddling with it. Salvager anchors were meant to be used underwater and usually required maintenance if used on land given the stress put on the motors. Rex scooted over to him to look over the device as well. While Brandon occasionally ran checks and inspections, Rex spent more time working on actually maintaining salvager gear, so his insight would be helpful.

Nia watched on in what could be considered vague interest.

Brandon sighed in frustration, "well, that's annoying."

"Is there no way to repair it?" Rex asked.

"Not unless you can somehow magically," he wiggled his fingers sarcastically, "put the cylinder in the winch back together. I'm going to have to buy a completely new one. I could technically borrow a metalshop for an hour and make one myself but that would probably be more expensive."

"But the mass produced stuff is bad," Rex argued, "even if it is cheaper."

"It's a chunk of metal with smaller bits coming out of the side acting as the axle. Not like machining one myself would be much better."

"Yeah, but you can use higher quality metal."

"Like? I'm not spending on something as stupid as a titanium or tungsten winch. That sounds like a horrible investment."

"Why? You've had to repair your anchor a few times before. Why not just splurge a little to make sure it doesn't happen again?"

"If I recall, those other times it broke were direct results of me having to pull your ass out of danger," Brandon shook his head.

"Then think of it as a very long term investment." Rex patted Brandon's shoulder.

Brandon sighed, "this would be easier to justify spending on if we didn't share finances."

"I'm using that money for a good cause."

"When did I say sending money home was bad?" Brandon irritatedly ran a hand through his hair, "I'm saying that your charitable actions have consequences on our end. Specifically, us living paycheck to paycheck."

"Don't you have some extra saved up?"

"Alright alright, I guess I can splurge a little. I can't believe that the first time I'm spending a large chunk of money is going to be on a frickin chunk of metal."

"Your equipment is expensive," Rex pointed out.

"Yeah, because they take a lot of parts. Still less expensive than a literal block of titanium."

Brandon huffed an annoyed breath out. Stronger metal honestly wasn't that expensive on Earth. Unfortunately, metal was rare on Alrest, the major source of it coming from salvage. This was only exacerbated by the cold war brewing between Uraya and Mor Ardain. Of course, there were cheaper metals like basic pig iron which he used for more throwaway objects like gauss spikes.

There were small natural deposits of metal scattered across the Titans but those were few and far between.

"Also," Brandon said, "my equipment is paid for by the trade guild since that's necessary equipment for a security employee. This anchor is not part of that."

"You know you don't have to wear it around everywhere," Rex said.

"And throw away a present you gave me?" He ruffled Rex's hair who flailed his arms as he tried to escape, "nah. It's served me well so far and It'll probably serve me well in the future."

"Alright then," Rex yawned, "you should probably get some sleep first. I'll take the first watch."

"Awfully generous of you," Brandon grinned, "well then, I'll take advantage of your kindness and get some rest." He settled down next to the fire and with the built up exhaustion, quickly fell asleep.

…

I wanted to write more about them actually traversing Gormott but this chapter was getting kind of long and I wanted it done. I may or may not split it into 2 chapters in the future.

Chess tends to be the kind of thing I would stereotypically think is the only acceptable form of free time for a noble aside from "fancy" stuff like the opera or something. I think it adds some more character to Nia and gives them a chance to debate their personal ideologies over a friendly game. While the base game gives us plenty about Nia, it's mostly personality and backstory. Doesn't say much about hobbies or favorites. This is one of the few things I could think of her doing outside of sitting next to her sister. It's also one of the few things they could have done together since her sister was bedridden.

Of course, I don't play chess nearly as much as I play Starcraft, which are completely different games. What I was writing about more applies to Starcraft. There are tricky players that eschew mechanics and skill for mind games and unconventional strategies to trick their opponents. Then there are others who ignore strategy and brute force overpower their opponents because they outskill them. OF course most players use a mixture of both but there are a few who go to the more extreme ends.

An example of this that was played relatively recently during the world championship is the matchup between Has and Dream (starcraft 2 Dream, not minecraft Dream). Has is well known as a cheeser who played wild and weird strategies that destroy opponents in the early game. He took advantage of his reputation to fake out Dream into over preparing defenses while he just boosted his economy to the max and just flooded Dream with units. Dream held for a little because he did have a good defensive setup but just didn't have the economy to keep on producing units like Has and eventually fell. Has did end up losing the series 1-2 since Dream is better mechanically and improved his scouting patterns for the next 2 games but that also means that Dream was able to understand how his opponent likes to play in order to send his scouts to the right locations to see exactly what he's up against.

Everyone's got their own tendencies. If I were to play, even completely changing army compositions, you would still recognize my play because I would be defensive and focusing on disrupting my opponent's economy. Players will also tend to have ways they take engagements and how their mechanics work. Of course you could take advantage of that like how Has did and mindgamed Dream before the match even started.

Aaaand now I want to write in a scene of Brandon playing a RTS. Well, it's not like video games don't exist in the Xenoblade universe. I'd just have to figure something out. That way I can write an entire chapter on that without dedicating an essay in the Author's notes next time.