Happy Black Friday! Hmmm, it's Friday and this is the 13th chapter...sinister UwU.
Thank you for your support as always and enjoy.
For someone who lived in rural cities for his entire life, Evan had only been camping once. Just like last time, he ended up arising incredibly early with going back to sleep an impossibility. The only two differences was that he was in a desert wasteland instead of woods and he wasn't the first camper up. The honor of earliest riser went to Sideroca who was currently doing a calisthenics routine a little ways away from camp. Currently she was doing squats with a random boulder that seemed to be twice her size.
He had to admit, that was impressive. Since she didn't have her jacket on, he could see just how much work this girl put into her body. Toned, lean, muscles lined her arms with scar tissue, and the legs were similar. Somehow the legs still had a layer of smooth fat around them, but it was clear from her lifting many times her bodyweight that those legs could crush his skull into dust.
"The fuck am I thinking?" Evan asked himself. Immediately after he stopped his train of thought from going that direction. A heavy thud rumbled the air and ground around him.
"Good Morning, Evan," Sideroca greeted with the boulder now behind her. She then walked over to where a towel hung from the jeep and began wiping off her sweat. Her gaze went to the horizon for a moment before adding, "You're up early."
"Yeah, I'm an early riser by nature," he commented while giving some good stretches.
"Do you train in the morning?"
"If by train you mean, prepare myself for combat, no. Maybe I'll exercise, but not much beyond half to an hour of using exercise equipment."
"Have you ever thought of expanding your exercise regime?"
"Yes, I've thought of doing resistance as well, but I've never had or given myself the time to build muscle."
"If you ever want, you may ask me for assistance in training your body."
"Thank you for the offer, I'll keep it in mind," Evan thanked. Sideroca's tail briefly swung side to side once, and she smiled.
"No problem, I'm happy to help if you ever need it."
After that, a noise came from the direction of camp in the form of a familiar voice.
"My oh my~, what are you two doing up so early together?" Franka insinuated. Almost immediately after, two hands appeared on either side of her head and made a two-finger point and jammed them in both her fluffy ears.
"AAAAAAAAAH"
Franka's ungraceful scream woke the rest of the camp up rapidly, Saria and Vigna bursting from their tents with weapons in hand, and a surprised 'eep' was barely heard from the Blacksteel tent.
"Liskarm, what was that for?!"
"Stop harassing our coworkers, honestly. Must I say it every time?"
"You never seem to mind when you're getting teased," Franka smirked as she let that out, and Liskarm looked nervously away and coughed into her hand. She glared at her partner, but both were lifted up off the ground by the collars of their shirts.
"Would you two mind explaining why you woke the rest of us up at this hour?" Saria's voice harshly questioned with a great tinge of annoyance dripping from the words.
Evan felt bad for Jessica, she was sitting between the two like a bystander as they looked out either window. With the mischievous vulpo behind him and the punk rock sarkaz to his side, he felt the car ride was going to be long.
Suddenly, after turning his head back to its original position, Evan was met with an earbud being handed to him. The owner of the earbud looked at him expectantly. Internally shrugging, Evan took it and took the opportunity to see what Terra's rock music was like.
Surprisingly, just like his own world, which wasn't too surprising at this point. Vigna seemed to listen to more of an upbeat punk style or something of the like to his ear. No, he wasn't an expert on rock, but it was interesting to have an ear developed by having a couple musicians for parents. Granted both were classically trained, his mother's ear was not discriminatory compared to his father's.
After a while of silent riding, Franka asked him a question.
"So, where are you from?" Evan took some time to think about it, but the Vulpo didn't give him a chance to cover his trails. "You have a face like a Victorian or Leithanian, but you don't match the description of any common race living in those regions. Not to mention, your knowledge seems leaps and bounds above what the whole of Terra knows."
Evan turned to Liskarm for help, but the vouivre was fast asleep, leaning against the window. How much had this damn vulpo thought of?
"She is quite adorable when asleep, but pay attention to me please. You've struck my curiosity, and I wonder about Miss Saria, hmmm?"
Evan glanced over to Saria and noticed her gaze shift back to the road for a brief second.
"Don't worry, whatever secrets you have, they're safe with us. That, I can assure you, I never tell a man's secrets after all~".
Defeated, Evan sighed and looked up, gathering some sliver of courage to wash the pressure away. Franka had him cornered, even he admitted to this. If she could stop teasing him, he could be more level headed.
"I come from another world, one without Originium or strange animalistic features on humans. Got teleported here without warning, car and all I had with me at the time. It's incredibly ordinary compared to this world with a magic McGuffin rock with cancer as a side-effect."
The car jolted briefly, waking up Liskarm, and his gaze looked to a wide-eyed Saria who swiftly refocused her attention and continued driving as normal.
"Ooh, how fascinating. It certainly explains why you don't need originium to generate energy. Say, what are weapons like where you come from then? They must be very fascinating."
"Quite ordinary, and probably underpowered. Melee weapons are all but useless, and most warfare is conducted with firearms and artillery."
Something changed in the atmosphere when he said that. Franka blinked several times, mouth slightly agape, and even Liskarm seemed in awe of what he said. He didn't think it would be a surprise since Liskarm and Jessica literally had pistols strapped to their waists, but that didn't seem to be the case.
"Oh for the love of-, what unusual thing did I say this time?"
"Everything," Liskarm chimed in. "Firearms on Terra are incredibly rare. Only the Sankta in Laterano get access, and Blacksteel sidearms are a trade secret. Every other form of ranged attack uses crossbows, bows, or other similar forms. Artillery is more common, but it is very dangerous and risky due to the highly volatile originium used in ammunition production. Larger artillery is reserved for nomadic city defense or destroying large creatures. By no means are firearms or artillery normal or ordinary to us."
"Well then, I didn't know since you and Jessica carry pistols. You say they use originium as well? Wouldn't that be dangerous? How do you propel it?"
"Normally, I would never explain trade secrets to someone outside the company, but it sounds like you could improve upon the weapons or make them yourself. I'll make an exception," Liskarm permitted before pulling out her gun and releasing the magazine. She handed a bullet to Evan and he immediately noticed small, circuit-like, etchings of black and red on the bullet. The butt didn't seem to have an opening or a striking object oddly.
"The bullets are essentially a disposable arts staff, propelled using originium arts. This is accomplished by etching the bullet with originium. The gun is mostly a mechanism to control direction and reload the bullet. Artillery devices are similar, but the ammunition carries more volatile originium on top of being loaded with explosives."
"And let me guess, the explosives are made of originium…" Evan said while staring at the object.
"Yes."
In that moment, he realized something. Oripathy was common because people didn't seem to care, accidents caused by so much as treating an everyday appliance wrong could lead to someone being infected. It was nuts how much of this dangerous material was adapted for everyday use when it was basically a mega carcinogen.
"No wonder oripathy is such a problem, one little accident with just about any item that uses power, and boom, you have rock cancer. Not to be rude, but you people really need to consider safety and alternatives more, this is madness."
"Yet," Saria interrupted briefly. Once silence was met with it, she continued. "It remains the only energy source we know. I do understand now why Wernhoff was so concerned with it, he came from your world, didn't he."
"Well, well, the father of modern chemistry comes from another world," Franka chimed. "Who would have thought? I always thought he was some brilliant nutjob who avoided originium like the plague."
"He was indeed brilliant no matter how you put it," Saria commented, returning her focus to the road and her own thoughts.
At twilight the group arrived at their target city. Upon entering it, Evan's eyes were bombarded with an assortment of colors and lights. Ads galor hounded his vision, and the businesses using them were quite varied. After that, the light was replaced with a more gentler one as the car moved its way to the upperclass portions of the city with dimmer more ambient lights which signified things like cafes and hotels over pubs and brand merchandise stores.
One of the hotels, Saria drove right up to, parking the car outside where one of the hotel staff was ready to meet them. Saria and he exchanged pleasantries and she instructed him to show the rest of them their rooms. Afterwards, the team leader got back into the Jeep and drove it off to find a parking space.
The lobby of the hotel was breathtaking to look at, a long glass panel with water flowing down into a fountain pool which had a skylight above, a waiting area with cushy velvet and silk furniture, and off to the right of the entrance was a high end bar and restaurant which had exquisite crystalline glassware up for display along with selections of vintage wine.
If he could whistle, he would have let one out for how fancy this whole place was.
"If you would please follow me, I will show you to your rooms."
The rooms of the group were located on the fifth floor, so a short elevator ride and a walk saw them to the suite. Yes, they were all sharing a huge suite with a full supply of household amenities and multiple bedrooms. There was also a huge balcony area overlooking what portion of the city they could see. Various exotic plants decorated the area and there was even a bar near the kitchen area.
"Everything has already been paid for by Rhine Lab and Columbian Auto, if you wish to order room service or visit the restaurant, you may use your room cards to identify yourselves as VIPs. If there are no more questions, I hope you enjoy your stay."
After the door shut, everyone looked at each other, somewhat stunned at what had just been said.
"I am so glad I volunteered for this mission," Vigna squealed like a schoolgirl. "Originally I was just going to do some shopping since the Procurement Department's been pretty unreliable acquiring good stuff, but this is waaay better than some branch department!"
"You're still our local guide, don't forget that," Liskarm added.
"Oh let the little one have fun," Franka chided, earning a quick and hard glance from Vigna. "I say we go have supper at the restaurant, it is paid for after all."
"Hell yes!" Vigna shouted.
"To your right!" Grani shouted as a stray bounty hunter began charging. The person warned merely winded up a strike and spun around, not only cutting the hunter clean in half, but sending him a good hundred or so meters away. At that sight, Grani winced and stated the obvious, "Oooh, that's not pretty…"
"Boss is down, retreat!"
"Fuck!"
"She's really that powerful?!"
"That's Skadi you dumbass, haven't you heard the tales?!"
The bounty hunters routed like mole crabs, retreating down their path they most certainly boobytrapped along the way.
"Weaklings," Skadi muttered, swinging her massive sword over her shoulder effortlessly. She then turned to Grani. "Are you injured?"
"Nothing beyond that treasure box, so yeah, doing fine. That clears up this area for now. I say we've earned a drink."
Skadi hummed in a way Grani now understood as her being uncertain. The Abyssal Hunter was rather antisocial, but somehow Grani had the feeling she longed for company. The other night, she had caught Skadi singing her sorrowful song outside the inn, and she had just sat there and listened. If what Skadi said was true, the poor girl must have a hard time. Grani smiled brightly and grabbed Skadi's hand, leading the stoic colossus-hunting force of nature to flinch uneasily.
"Come on, let's go!"
While Grani led her away, Skadi felt her chest tighten up. She grabbed at her heart, feeling something surge that she had long forgotten. The edges of her lips tensed, and she felt herself smile lightly for the first time in years.
Upon arrival at the inn, Grani had Skadi seated and she asked the owner for two pints of ale. When she saw Grani holding out one of the pints with the window behind her giving the appearance of a saint, Skadi didn't understand what she was supposed to feel. She looked pensively at the mug and gently took it. Well, as gently as her massive strength could afford. In that moment, she reminded herself what happened to everyone else she held close.
"Hey, I want to say, thank you so much for helping me clean up Dewville, cheers," Grani softly celebrated, clinking her mug against Skadi's as the Abyssal Hunter was considering whether or not to drink.
"You shouldn't be thanking me. Look at what happened to you."
Grani frowned and leaned forward, nearly placing her petite figure on the whole table.
"You're still going on about that? No, I will thank you. You helped far more and have more than made up for the trouble you caused. You've stuck by my side and helped me drive the bounty hunters out of this region. I think the proper words are thank you, not I forgive you because I'm way, way, waaaaaay, past that point."
She couldn't tell if it was a trick of the evening light, but she could have sworn Skadi's face became a little less pale and more red as she looked down and away. Grani giggled and pulled her mug to her lips.
Skadi followed, pulling her mug and taking a generous sip of the liquid within her mug.
It was bitter, but not unpleasant.
Vigna expanded the entrance into her mouth again and gave a large 'om' as she wrapped her lips around as much of the massive burger she could. She closed her eyes and squealed with joy, the happy noise muffled by the sound of the large sandwich currently occupying her mouth.
"My god that was adorable," Evan thought to himself. Suddenly, he had the feeling he was being looked at and saw Saria looking at him with her stern poker face. He raised his eyebrow and she turned her gaze away.
Saria herself was having a rather expensive looking steak alongside a pint of beer, which clashed with some of the image he had of the proper and mildly spoken former Defense Head of Rhine Lab. Of course, Sideroca's was similar in terms that it had a high protein and calorie count. Blacksteel was at another table entirely, and Evan was consuming a rather complex dish the chef had prepared. He had a bad feeling about that in particular, what was Rhine Lab trying to accomplish? Sure, his food was tasty, but it left a metaphorical sour taste in his mouth.
"Hey, Saria," Evan called her attention. The large vouivre obliged his call and he continued. "Should I be worried about Rhine Lab? Does any of this seem suspicious to you?"
"Maybe, it wouldn't be unlike them to try and butter up someone they want for themselves. It's a pretty classic strategy among the other department heads. On the other hand, they also tend to enjoy sharing splendor with their business partners. Again, a strategy only to gain favor. I doubt you need to worry if you're seeing through something as obvious as this."
A nearby thump was heard and the source started giggling madly as her face turned redder than anything touched by beets from the copious amount of booze. Liskarm took another chug to prove her point to Franka, and the amount of shot glasses collected at the table was something impressive indeed.
"That, is why you never challenge Vouivres to a drinking contest," Saria commented as Franka went from laughing to hiccuping to nearly vomiting in a randomly decided order. It was quite a sight to behold. Meanwhile, Liskarm didn't seem even the least bit inebriated.
"So your abilities to tank booze depends on your race in this world does it?" Evan casually asked while taking a sip of his own wine. It was one tasty merlot, that was certain.
"If I remember correctly, wasn't the order from best to least best Vouivres, Oni, Minosians, Sarkaz, and Archosaurs?"
"I think us Sarkaz should be ranked higher on that list. Where did you hear that?" Vigna asked Sideroca with pieces of burger flying out as her speech tried to muscle past the large burger.
"The study was scientific, I don't think you can disprove it."
"Liskaaaarm carry meee~" Franka whined. "Take me in your big strong arms and carry me to bed, pleeaaase."
"Watch what you're saying! It's shameful. I'm not carrying you back, you're clearly strong enough to get back to the room yourself."
"Fine, I'll ask Evan," Franka pouted. "Evan, be a gentleman and lead this poor defenseless maiden back to her room."
"Fine, I'll help you, but I am not carrying you."
Once she admitted defeat, a shit-eating grin plastered itself onto Franka's face as she used Liskarm's shoulder and leaned in incredibly close to her partner's ear to sensually say, "Thank you~"
"If you try to take advantage of this situation any further I will drop you and sit back down."
Franka's only response was to giggle happily as her fluffy tail swooshed side to side.
I might as well say it, if it wasn't obvious enough this Franka is Bi, so Liskarm is indeed in her strike zone. Is Liskarm Bi though? Well, as I'm writing her she is straight, but so is spaghetti until it's wet. Franka might be making sure that spaghett is hella wet.
I honestly love the dynamic of Skadi and Grani as friends, it's so adorable and sweet. Skadi needs some love. Anyways, the Rhine Lab arc is really just an incredibly minor thing, no kidnapping or dead people...yet. Vigna's motivations will play a part in Evan getting a looking glass into how the Infected are treated. That's all.
I made Thanksgiving Dinner with my Dad yesterday. First time my mom wasn't here. I butchered the mashed potatoes, but absolutely nailed the Pumpkin Pie. I need to stop experimenting on my favorite dish lol. I enjoyed my thanksgiving and I hope you all enjoyed yours. Now, to the mall REEEEEEEE!