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The next day was cloudy and overcast when they woke up, with distant thunder rumbling out over the sea. Ruby watched the lightning flashing out there, lighting up the shadow-covered sea miles out while the tide came in faster and harder, washing up onto shore powerfully. The bigger crabs from before were in their tidal pools now, sheltering them a bit, and Ruby couldn't even see the smaller ones between the strong waves washing up onto the rocky coastline. Already, Ruby could taste the rain and salt coming off the ocean. Which was actually nice, in a way. Even if she knew to expect more cold rain and wind later on, whenever the storm finally hit.

But a storm meant snuggles, so…

Not that she needed an excuse for snuggles, she supposed.

She felt a hand bump against her forearm and turned as Neo joined her, standing at the top of the tiny hill that sheltered their old campsite from the coast. She pointed a finger at Ruby and then made a circle with a finger and a 'K' shape.

"I'm ok." Ruby smiled, turning to look at the huge body a few yards away and frowning. "Just… Not looking forward to the storm."

Neo gave her one of her longer looks, clearly not believing her - which was fair, since Ruby was… Half lying. But, after a second, she just shrugged, nodded, and turned to head back to what was left of their camp. After another lingering look for the big lizard, and one for the storm, Ruby turned and followed her.

"Come on." Ruby sighed, grabbing the edge of their little hut and tugging at the knots. "Let's get to work, and we'll eat meat while we walk."

Neo pouted and cocked her head, 'Why rush?'

"The… Storm?"

Neo nodded her understanding, but gestured at the camp, then each of them, and made a sort of 'Y' shape with her hand towards the ground. 'Why not stay through it?'

"No way to tell how long it'll last. And assuming last time turned out to be… Bad." Ruby shrugged, bobbing her head back towards the beach. And the titanic corpse. "Plus, rain and bad weather can make bodies… Fester, faster than normal. We go now, or we'll go tomorrow when it starts to get bad. And if the weather doesn't turn…"

Neo grimaced, shrugged and gave up, and Ruby frowned.

Quietly, she asked, "Do you… Want to stay? Wait it out? I-I'm not, you know… The boss here, or anything."

Neo blinked, almost like she was surprised. Then she snorted, laughed silently, and bounced over to press a kiss against Ruby's cheek. Which, in spite of… The everything else they'd done still made her blush and scrunch her shoulders up, embarrassed. Which only made Neo snicker silently as she bounced around to another corner of the shelter to start undoing the ties there the same way Ruby was. Ruby watched her for a moment, hands following Neo's fingers as she coaxed the makeshift ropes loose and gathered them up, until Neo flicked her a look, smirked, and made a… Familiar rolling motion with her fingers.

"Why are you such a-" Ruby flushed, pouting and yanking on a piece of rope while she grumbled. "Why are you such a bully?"

Neo only blew her a kiss and kept working, and Ruby rolled her eyes. Neo was a ridiculous flirt, and seemed to love torturing her like this, but…

It wasn't terrible or anything, she supposed.

Since the fronds and sticks could come from anywhere, they disassembled the panels entirely, taking the best bits of rope Ruby had made - which she could tell miffed Neo a bit - and using them to tie the large feathers up into a half dozen thick stacks that they strapped onto the sides and backs of the little wooden packs she and Neo had made. They were a bit large and unwieldy, but it was nothing the two of them couldn't handle. That dealt with, they filled their packs with a tiny handful of the shells they both liked to fiddle with, some teeth from the monster, and the last bits of the meat, coconuts and some berries they had left from their time there.

"So…" Ruby started as they made their way, walking along the jungle's edge with Ruby - the, for once, sturdiest person - shielding Neo from the worst of the wind. "Where'd you grow up?"

She turned to read Neo's answer, but she just pursed her lips and cocked her head, 'Why?'

"I-I just, you know…" Ruby shrugged, heat creeping up her neck, "If we're, you know, a thingy whatsit now, then- I guess I just wanna know more about you? I mean, since we're walking for a while."

Neo just frowned and turned, looking at the ground as they walked. Her brows were furrowed, and she looked… Not quite mad, but not super happy either.

Quietly, Ruby said, "I… Messed up, just now, didn't I?"

Neo shook her head and held up a hand, spinning it in a slow circle, 'No. Just a ong story.'

"We have almost literally nothing but time." Ruby chuckled, shrugging, "But if you don't want to talk about it, that's okay. I… Just wanna know about you, is all. I don't want you to be uncomfy."

After a few moments of quiet walking, Neo finally sighed and held up a hand, "So… My first name was Trivia. I grew up in Vale…"

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It was weird, talking about everything after so long. Even Roman had barely ever wanted to know anything about her past, although a lot of that was probably him not wanting to upset her. Which Ruby shared, but… She'd still asked, because she wanted to know her better. Here, on the island, nothing about her past should matter to anyone. Could matter to anyone, in fact. But Ruby listened - or, well, read - closely while she talked, as if she had something to get out of it.

Except… Well, what she could be getting out of it made Neo's stomach churn anxiously, just a bit.

But, finally, Neo shrugged and finished her story, holding up an illusory sign, "That's all there is, really. After they died, I just… Worked with Roman. Until he died."

"I'm sorry." Neo flicked the other woman a look, and found Ruby's face… Soft. Soft and sad, somehow. Almost like she was grieving, angry, and trying to keep a straight face in spite of it all. Quietly, she went on, "About what you went through and… Everything."

Neo blinked, surprised, but…

Nodded and signed a curt, 'Yeah. Thanks.'

"Thanks for telling me." Ruby smiled and Neo's chest tightened a bit in that weird way it had been doing. Pursing her lips, she nodded and let Ruby take a tiny bit of a lead as they walked. Nothing more than a few inches, of course, but…

Enough to let Neo think without Ruby staring at her.

She'd never had this in her whole life… Roman had loved her, sure, but that hadn't been romantic. He'd made damn sure everyone understood that he was not a man playing for any team, much less one that would bat for someone he had power over. 'Super not healthy', he'd said when she thought about taking a Red Axe girl up on her offer for dinner. And now, Ruby just… Wanted to know stuff about her, just to know it, and it was weird.

And it made her think back, to how easily she'd given up her scythe - and even before this, she knew how precious that thing was to her - to save Neo…

What was she supposed to even do about all of that? That she hadn't done, at least…

"Hey…" She blinked and looked up as Ruby came to a stop, watching her worriedly with her lips quirked down in a frown and her eyes narrowed just a bit. "Are you okay? You seem… I dunno, quiet?"

'I'm mute.' She signed, waving a hand at herself and drawing a slash over her throat.

"I mean, yeah." Ruby shrugged, "But that doesn't make you quiet. Just means hearing you out is a bit more of a challenge, is all. So what's up?"

After a second, Neo raised one of her signs to ask, 'Why do you care about all that stuff?'

"I thought I already told you…?"

'Because we're a 'thingy whatsit' now.' She rolled her eyes, spinning the sign with the gesture, 'But still. None of that stuff matters.'

"I don't wanna know it because it's gonna do something." Ruby snorted, shaking her head, "I wanna know it because I wanna know more about you. I'm, ya know… Interested."

That was more or less what she'd said before, too, but… Neo didn't quite get it, honestly. But it made her smile a bit, anyway. Just knowing someone was genuinely interested. Roman had been the only one to ever care. It'd been so long before anyone cared about her like that, and so since anyone had.

Not since Roman died…

"Neo…?" She looked up and Ruby was closer, now, holding out a hand to touch her but… Waiting, for Neo to let her. Neo didn't like people randomly touching her when she was thinking, and Ruby had figured that out and respected it.

Well… Shit.

She stepped in and Ruby squeaked as Neo wrapped her arms around her and hugged her. Ruby stiffened, surprised, but Neo felt her return the hug after a second and smiled into her chest. Then, when the moment stretched on too long, she turned and nipped at the top of her chest, right under her collar-bone where Neo knew she started to get sensitive.

"Ack!" Ruby squawked, vanishing in a shower of petals and reappearing a few feet away while Neo laughed. "Hey! I-I was being, like, super serious! Why are you being a bully now?"

'It's how I show affection.' She said by way of another one of her signs, turning and heading on with a silent chuckle. Waving for Ruby to follow, she added, 'Come on. You still have to find us a good camp.'

"I mean," Ruby sighed, "you could pick one, you know…"

Neo tapped a few fingers from her hand, palm open towards the ground, against her chin and brushed them away with a shake of her head. Then she gestured at Ruby, tapped her head and pointed at herself with a shake of her head, 'Bad idea. You learned this stuff, I didn't.'

"You just wanna make me do everything." Ruby accused her, smirking thinly and raising her eyebrows. Neo responded with by gesturing between them and making a ring with one hand, then moving a finger towards it and Ruby flushed scarlet. "Y-Y-You don't have to b-bribe me, you… Meanie!"

'Is it really a bribe if I get something off of it, too?'

"You mean out of it…?

'Come on.' Neo's sign read, 'You're not that bad at it.'

Ruby blinked, processing what she'd said, then scowled, ducked her head and said, "W-Why do you have to pick on me? It's not like I know what I'm doing half the time…"

Neo just smiled and bounced back a step, leaning against Ruby's side while they walked. It was a bit awkward with their packs, and the wrapped feathers, but Ruby didn't seem to mind and wrapped an arm around her. She even pressed a kissed to the top of her head, which Neo took to mean Ruby knew she was only teasing her a bit.

Quietly, they continued on.

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With the sound of the rain pattering across the jungle behind them, and growing closer with every second, Ruby looked up at the… Well, it was pretty much a wall, she supposed, that rose up in front of them. But it wasn't made of stone or dirt, or even logs or something like that.

Instead, it was made of roots, like she'd seen on her way down when they'd fallen.

Only now, she could see that they were packed so tightly that nothing could squeeze through. The main roots were twice as thick as Ruby herself was, and wound around each other like the ropes she and Neo had been making and using. Smaller roots wound around the clusters and between other ones, holding roots together more or less and following some down, into the soil where the roots splayed out through the soil like tree roots would. Also like them, smaller ones shot off intermittently, adding to the confusing mess and twining together into more lines and rows of wood. Little stems with sometimes dozens and sometimes hundreds of palm-sized, multi-colored leaves sprouted off of it all the way up and down, as far as she could see and up for a hundred or more feet along the root-wall.

It was almost…

"Kinda pretty." She murmured, flicking Neo a look when the woman turned to her. Shrugging, she asked, "Isn't it?"

Neo just shrugged and paced forward, looking for a good branch to grab. As soon as she touched it, though, it… Withered away, almost like it was rotting, and turned into dust that blew away while they watched, blinking.

"Okay…" Ruby hummed, flicking the root wall a look and pacing over to touch one of the roots. It was impossibly smooth, for wood and, when she looked closer, she realized that was because the wood was smoothing out as her hand got close. "Weird… It's like it knows we're reaching for it, and it doesn't want us to… What, climb?"

Neo just shrugged, frowned, and shrugged off her pack. Grabbing on to some, she tried to pull herself up in spite of it - and immediately slipped, like it was wet even though the rain hadn't caught them yet. Ruby flashed over to her and caught her as she fell, turning and kneeling to take the momentum while Neo curled up in her arms.

"You okay, Neo?" She looked down at the wide-eyed woman who blinked and nodded, and… "Are you blushing?"

The woman scowled and wriggled until Ruby let her go. Straightening her clothes, she sighed and turned back to her, manifesting a sign, 'So if we can't climb, then what?'

"Nothing…?" Neo's eyes narrowed and Ruby stood, shouldering off her pack and rolling her stiff shoulders. "I mean… For now, we just set up closer to the ocean, get by, and explore when we can. There has to be something, right?"

Neo drew a question mark in the air and frowned, 'Does there?'

"I… Have to hope." She sighed, looking up as thunder rumbled around them. Quietly, she said, "Come on, let's set up somewhere."

They found a spot down nearer the beach, on top of a hill with a steep slope on one side held up by several clusters of palm trees, their own roots as gnarled as the wall they kept on one side. The dirt had eroded away around some of them, forming a gnarled wall on their other side, facing the beach, where they tied feathers to block the wind. They got to work quickly after that, tying together more panels to layer around the outside of the five clusters of palm trees that the roots belonged to, using them as anchors for the wall and tying feathers on the outsides for wind protection.

The trees circled around most of the open ground they'd found, and they found enough sticks to make taller panels that they set up and braced with long sticks, tying them together and anchoring them with heavy rocks and feathers on the inside and out, their stems pressed into the ground and roped binding them through the palm-panels. The resulting shelter was a semicircle with its opening towards the root-wall, so that they could walk out along its side either heading towards the tree or towards the water, and a simple panel and feather-thatch roof with a hole in the middle. And, with a shallow river that wound through the roots a few dozen yards up towards the tree, they had fresh water, too.

"There." She grunted, stacking the last few rocks around the long tree-limbs in the middle, spanning up and out to each of the edges of the roof, where they angled down to meet the walls. Standing, she smiled, "All done."

Neo snapped her fingers and Ruby turned to where she was sitting at the back, opposite the wide opening where they could see the log wall. Their bed was wider than before, but thinner, too. Just a pile of palms they'd gathered and the last feathers pressed against the wall, to keep in a bit more warmth. They'd wanted it thicker, but…

Well, they'd used most of what they'd gathered for the walls - and short of stripping the trees close enough to get to in time bare and killing them, they would just have to make do.

"Good work." She smiled, kneeling by the support structure she'd just finished and grabbing the last of their meat. Kicking off her boots, she padded over to join Neo and offered her some, sighing. "It'll do, I hope… Especially if the rain-" The sudden drumming of heavy rain on the thin roof cut her off, and Ruby sighed, "Doesn't hit us too hard…"

Neo snorted silently and bumped her shoulder, and Ruby turned as she reached up to touch her cheek. She was shorter, so Ruby had gotten used to the gesture and leaned down for the kiss.

It was short, but affectionate, and Neo turned to lean against Ruby's side as she withdrew.

Smiling, Ruby sighed, "Yeah. Let's just relax and enjoy the rain as best we can. No fire, but… We can just snuggle up, right?"

Neo just nodded, turning to give her a smirk and raising a sign, 'Yeah. We know how to keep warm.'

Ruby just stammered a nervous laugh.

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SSGT Splatter :

Since I update this so infrequently, I'll just explain - though it's MILD world building spoilers, so skip if you don't wanna know.

..Alrighty then.

The Island made them feel frisky as part of its magic. It did it to ALL the animals, which is why the bigger crabs were nesting, why the herbivores and raptors were hedging, and why the Carno had young.