Kind of a weak chapter to me, but it was due. Also gaming piece starts.


The whole day had been eating at the both of them, their patience had been filed until all that was left was a nail of patience they were forced to share, and it threatened to snap as the hot and humid air got to them. If they had been unable to see the house that sat atop one of the many hills that turned the plains into a choppy sea of green, they would have likely thrown the towel and laid in the shade of a tree. They would have both thought it was beautiful if it wasn't so damn tiring to climb and descend from a hundred and one useless mounds of dirt.

Nico could already feel the back of his neck starting to get chaffed by the lump that he had been lugging all day, he could already feel it stiffening from rigor and starting to turn into a block of wood. He just wanted the day to be over, eat a full pot, smoke a whole pack, bath a full hour, and then lay down for a night and half a day. That would be bliss, and too much to ask from their host. It didn't seem there was enough civilization to get half of what he wished for but hoping was free, so he would do it as often as he could.

When they arrived, they got a good look of where they would be staying for the time. A house with its lower half made of stone and mortar, and just as old as the ground they were standing on, it was coated with creepers and vines that crawled their way up to chest height and died when the wooden part started. The upper part was made of wood that was black as charcoal and midnight, with its hazy window panes that looked like they had seen more storms and hails than wet clothes.

"Well then, this is my home children and I hope you find it as cosy as I do. Of course, you don't have much in the way of choices, unless you wish to sleep outside,"

She spoke with some vim in her voice as she shouldered the ancient door and he wondered how long the pitted copper bands would last before letting the planks fall like stones. At least ,he hoped, they lasted until he left, he didn't fancy being asked to fix the monstrous thing. He stood on the entrance and eyed them both as Martina grumbled something that could have been an Italian curse their grandmother had taught them and Itse rested her rifle by the door and eased a revolver and a knife, he hadn't seen her carry them before, from their holster and sheath.

"Excuse me, do you have a workplace where I can skin this or a rack at least?"

She eyed him over and snorted.

"And what are you going to work with? Pray tell. Going to scratch it until the fur comes off?"

Without a pause she unsheathed her knife and with some flourish presented it to him, point first, and he looked at the live blade and then at her. Licking his lip and clearly uncomfortable as she shook it impatiently in front of him, he looked at his sister so that she could explain it with some tact and realized his mistake a second later.

"He won't take it, you need to offer it handle first,"

"What?"

"The knife. You need to offer it with the handle towards him or he won't take it,"

Itse looked between both of them and then at the blade in her hand.

"And why won't he take it this way?"

"An old belief. A knife given point first is a sign you hate him and want a fight, nobody pays attention to that kind of things anymore though. Other than him that is,"

She changed the way she was gripping the knife and Nico took it in a second before scampering like a rat caught stealing. The oaf had always been shy about his creeds but even then, he had always stood by them. It was the one thing she admired of him, his loyalty, he never erred from the way he believed things should be, a straight edge their great uncle had called him and she thought it fit him just right.

Itse didn't seem to mind his behaviour as much as most other people, but that could be chucked to her being used to people having a tick or a dozen in this mad world. She turned to her and spoke with a half-smile that grated at her, like she knew something and was going to hold it over her head the whole time.

"I am going to get something to snack on while we talk, do you want tea or coffee?"

She eyed her sour face for a second before adding.

"Maybe something stronger will do a better job,"

Martina could almost feel her mouth water at the mention of something with a kick, with all the bullshit she had had to deal with she was about ready to start chugging ethyl alcohol if that was all she had.

Just as she had managed to settle in a position in which the straw filling wasn't stabbing her ass, and she was no longer in danger of being shanked in the crack, Itse came out of the kitchen with two full trays. A black bottle and two glasses in her left hand and a bowl full to the brim with something in the other, looked like meat from where she was.

"Hope you enjoy this. The tastes may be a little strong but it's all I have to offer,"

"Thanks,"

Came the awkward reply as she realized that they were putting a weight on her, that helping them wasn't free to her. She relished on the taste of the salted meat and the drink all the same, after all, guilt was cheap in front of hunger.

"Now, what should we talk about?"

Itse eyed her, the tanned skin wrinkling as she smiled, she enjoyed making others uncomfortable she had realized.

"Let's skip where you come from, since it looks like we will go nowhere,"

She paused and stared at her widening eyes with laughter across her face.

"Did you really think you could lie to me? I didn't even need Haki to call that bluff, but it's no problem. After all provenance is nothing but a matter of chance, same with names,"

That last part, Martina realized, came with a venom and dripping with feelings that had turned bitter with age.

"So tell me, what did you use to do?"

Swallowing the handful of raw meat that she had been chewing on she answered while nursing her almost empty glass and staring at the bottle longingly. It was a delightful rum, made from coconuts and with a real soft feel to it.

"I was a surgeon before ending up here. Worked in a public hospital in a bad place, a mess where there were never enough supplies and the patients came with some kind of rot to top their wounds,"

She paused and drank half the glass she had filled back up, it was such a good drink and she was thinking about how to smuggle the bottle with her. Perhaps under her breasts, it was about time she found something they were good for.

"In other words, I used to stitch skin and nail bones. Made a mugger or two piss themselves from fright on my table too,"

"I am sure there is a good story behind that,"

Martina showed a smile, for the first time that day, and it felt good to let her frown recede, to forget a bit about how big the shithole she was in actually was. The rum also helped. Alcohol always helped, that was the one constant across the worlds.

Nico swiped his face on his forearm and cleared the sweat from his eyes, doing his best not to touch his face with his dirty hands. Seated on the rotting trunk of a tree he looked at the fur draped over the rope, he had cut it at the elbow and it still managed to just barely touch ground from that far up. Everything in this place seemed to be overgrown. Even the damn flies were a size or two bigger than they had any right to be, it was to the point that he had thought they were wasps at first, almost running away from them in pure fright.

The thought made him a little mad as he slapped a chiefly fat bug against the trunk he was sitting on, wincing as he felt the wet of filth in his hand. He walked up to the bucket he had filled from the stream nearby and washed his hands off, blood and fur turned the water murky and showed him but a tainted reflection of himself. And for a second he saw himself bruised and broken, as he should be.

He couldn't stop now, he needed to work a bit more, tire some more, so that when he rested he fainted and dreamt of nothing. He simply wanted to avoid thinking as he spread the clothe he had been given to carry the meat, he just wanted everything to go back to how it was as he took the length of sharp steel and started cutting.

The work was done faster than he thought possible as he used his Haki to make sure not to need to sharpen the blade if he hit a bone or two, thing is he hadn't realized the bone was there when he did. He had taken a couple shavings off from the parts near the joints instead.

Nico tied up the ends of the clothe where the pieces of the tiger had been laid haphazardly and lifted them up with one arm, kept the whole sack away from him and his clothes not wanting to get blood on his only possessions. Kicking the bucket over he let the filthy water drain before taking it with him to the river, he couldn't just let the grime settle on his arms there was still cooking to be done after this.

He wondered how to cut up the meat, there was a lot of it in the ribs and more in the rump, they were going to be eating ass it seemed. An amused snort escaped him just as he reached the creek that flowed down the knoll that sat behind the hut. Letting everything rest against the trunk of a tree that was just a couple steps away he walked into the shallow stream and let himself chill in the water.

Sitting there he could feel the cold cutting all the way into his marrow, which was welcomed given the blazing heat that kept buffeting the place despite the sun already starting to set. But what he didn't expect was that something would hit him in the back, not hit him, it wasn't strong enough to be called that but he still felt something bumping against him.

Turning around he saw a ball of fur pressed against him by the weak current, he picked it up with his thumb and index and took it out of the stream. After all he didn't fancy bathing with a dead animal. As he moved it away it started to tremble, its chest rumbling low and loud enough to let him feel the vibration through his arm.

Curious he brought the little mess in front of his face to look at it, only for a swift swipe to come at his cheek and doing nothing as an instinctual layer of Haki protects him from the vicious attack. Realizing it failed in its ambush the cat settles to draw itself into a ball and hiss at him, and he wonders annoyedly if it realizes that he is helping it.

Pulling it away from his face he looks at it as a series of rare pragmatic thoughts war inside him.

Is it worth keeping it? Will it be too much trouble? Is it fit as pet or pot?

In the end he settled with feeding it something and taking it with him, even if it attacked him it was tired and probably frightened by him. Nothing to do with how relaxing it was to knead its fur. With the new addition already asleep after eating a couple slices of meat he started his return, surely they were wondering where was their meal.

When he drew closer to the cabin he could already hear the beginnings of a ruckus, the sound of someone slapping wood travelled all the way to him. Screams and laughs came later and he started to put more strength on his stride, worried about Martina making a mess.

He opened the door hastily, only to be pulled by the collar by his sister who was in a stupor as she tried to sing as loudly as she could.

"We like to get the trial over with quickly. Because it's the sentence that's really the fun!"

Prying her fingers away from him he looked around and took in the two black bottles on the floor, Itse's drooping eyebrows, and finally to the bottle Martina was still hugging as she danced and shouted. Pinching the bridge of his nose he let out a huff as irritation crawled its way up his throat, extending one hand in front of Martina he gestured for her to surrender the bottle. But all she did was give him a high five and fist bump his fingers.

"Sis, give me the bottle,"

"Sure, sure. Here you can have it,"

Plucking it out of the air by the neck he gave it a shake and realized that it made no sound, making his frown etch itself deeper into his face. This was no time to be drinking, much less in such excess.

"It's empty,"

"Of course it is. Why would I give you one that isn't?"

He was sure a vessel burst open somewhere in his head at that quip.

"Because you have drunk enough,"

Her whole face pinched when the words were out, as if there was an insult hidden somewhere that she wasn't catching. Before she could get an answer in Itse butted in.

"It's entirely my fault. I shouldn't have brought out more after the fourth one,"

"Four? I only count three,"

When he turned around Martina was holding another bottle like it was a child long lost, and his frustration wanted to rip it away and fling it. But he didn't, partly because he hated taking things away so rudely and partly because he would wake up the kitten. With nothing to do he surrendered to the situation and simply asked Itse where he should leave the meat.

The both of them went to the back of the house and left Martina to her own devices, she unlocked a latch on the floor and a winter wind swept at their feet.

"Throw it in there, it will be fresh for tomorrow. I don't think I have the stomach to eat after all this anyway,"

Depositing the sack and closing the latch he walked back to the living room and found his sister passed out on the couch, the bottle having rolled up to the rest of its siblings. He drew himself near her and hear her whisper.

" 'm sorry,"

His throat clenched a bit and he patted her head, the kitten having woken up jumped on top of her and settled in a little mound on her chest. It was fine, they would be fine, he would make sure of it.

Martina dreamt of home and work. Of a loving family and sour lovers, of coconut rum and happy pirates.

Congratulations [Ranger] Class levelled up.

[Ranger] level 1.

Congratulations new Skill acquired.

[Easy Gait] learnt.

She groaned as the letters flashed in her head and ignored them and their call.