Kabbu, Of The North!

Ah! That is something that the Knight could answer. They perk up a little as the subject is something that they could easily give a reply. 

“ Sword… No horns… “

Hollow gives a small gesture to their sword. With the size of the weapon it looked like it should of been held with both hands. They raise the handle of their sword to point to their horns, more so the area that has a large crack running along it. 

“ Do not… Want to further… Hurt horns “

Right, Kabbu probably should’ve expected that answer. That crack in their mask looked like it ran deep.

“Right...well, I mostly use my horn, though I wouldn’t be opposed to learning how to use a blade.” Kabbu explained, before picking up a rock. Might as well show off what he could do.

Throwing the rock into the air, Kabbu waited until it came back down before slashing down with, well, his head.

It wasn’t often that Hollow would wander out of the town of Dirtmouth these days. They were neither inclined nor allowed in some cases to go due to their injured state. However, this time they had a feeling something was off and they were following the peculiar sensation of wrongness. It was when they heard a scream of just pure agony that they immediately picked up their pace and headed  towards the sound. 

It wasn’t long until they saw a rather bright green beetle, the details exceedingly blurry given their poor sight however it was obvious he was the one that had screamed just given his posture. They approach a bit more slowly and hunches over a bit to appear not quite as tall as they normally were since most bugs were intimidated by their height at first. Once they were close enough they give a trill from their Void to both greet the other and alert him to their presence. It was good none of the more violent feral bugs had found this beetle first. 

Holding up their singular hand they began to sign, hoping this beetle could understand the signs, “do you require assistance? You appear to be injured.”

Kabbu meanwhile was much less sure of his decision to wander deeper into the caves. Sure he lacked any method of flight, but still, moving in his current condition probably wasn’t the best decision. He was aggravating whatever injury he had and there was no guarantee he’d find any awakened bugs to help him.

Eventually, however, Kabbu’s decision to seek aid would be rewarded. He stopped moving as soon as Hollow came into view. Sure the vessel wasn’t like any bug the beetle had seen before, but their height wasn’t too alarming. Stratos was quite massive as well, and much more burly. He’d look up at the other, face twisted in pain. He was trying to remain composed but he was clearly barely holding himself together.

Kabbu glanced down at their hand, trying to make sense of the symbols they were making.

“Assistance...injured...If you’re asking if I need assistance...yes, very much so.” He remarked before promptly falling to his hands and knees, letting out another shout of pain.

Given Kabbu’s profession, it wasn’t too out of the question for him to be tasked with exploring random caves. It seemed unassuming...at least until the ground gave out from under him. He couldn’t tell how long exactly he fell for, but when he hit the ground he couldn’t stop himself from screaming out in pain.

He wasn’t sure if he was lucky or not he landed on his stomach. Sure none of his limbs were broken, and his wings were spared, but good grief he was in agony. He laid there, wallowing in his broken state for a few moments before bracing himself on the ground, groaning out loudly as he forced himself to stand, stumbling back once he was on his feet before he looked down.

His shell was covered with a spiderweb of cracks, but nothing was missing. There were no holes, though given how much pain he was in there was probably some internal damage. Seeing no signs of other bugs, Kabbu would limp forward, fighting through the pain.

There were stranger things then what your normal was. Hell, even people in places like earth, just needed to travel a few hours from their current habitat to be in a new place. With different plants, animals, languages, foods, even societal structures. Those poor things would have to sit there racked with the realization that everything was strange and you didn’t know where you were. 

But at least you’d be able to identify everything around you as inherently your species, or something familiar. 

Kabbu was looking at a strange person, surrounded by a different sky then he was use to. And to say the least he was handling it EXTREMELY WELL– GOOD FOR HIM.

Starting with names that was nice. “… aye doon’t know whoot any o’ t’ose werds mean– boot yer very lucky t’at aye doon’t moind tresspassers t’at mooch.” He sounded like an agent or a soldier of some kind. And typically, you don’t want mysterious soldiers on your land. That was just asking for trouble. She didn’t know if he was a friendly or a unit to some tyrannical evil megalomaniac.

“Ye, alone in a foight got turned around? okaaay? So do ye have any idea how tae get beck? Whoot do ye woont meh tae do tae help?” There wasn’t much for her to go off of. At least not enough for her to risk her own safety.

“Well...truth be told ‘getting turned around’ was just the most logical explanation I can think of.” The beetle would admit, looking a little dejected at the fact. Maybe the fact he was in such a strange new place was why he wasn’t freaking out as much as he would’ve been around Honey. Any form of company was welcome in a new place. And still, he was an explorer. So provided he managed to find a way back home he’d have quite the report to give to Elizant II.

Her confusion was expected, but still...didn’t do much to improve the situation. Kabbu had to think for a bit as to how she could help. Given his lack of knowledge about the area it wasn’t likely he could just give someone a message and get it back to the kingdom.

“I assume you just mean Vi and Leif, otherwise we’ll be here all day.”

“Vi is remarkably determined, becoming an explorer at such a young age. Yes she was part of my team, but truth be told if she was incapable of defending herself I probably would’ve, as politely as I could, suggested she leave and train some more.”

“You’re bored? Heh, and here you struck me as the type who would be happy once everything calmed down and we could go back to simply focusing on our duties as explorers,” Zasp replied with a chuckle. “If you want an adrenaline rush, though, I’d be more than happy to spar with you. One on one, so the fight’s fair.” Come to think of it, Kabbu had seemed fine with his moth teammate using ice magic… Maybe it wouldn’t hurt if he went all out himself? But then again, he’d kept it a secret for so long… It could be risky.

Kabbu visibly jolted as Zasp noted how he seemed bored with peace. “I’m probably over-simplifying. I just feel my skills aren’t really being put to the test, and nothing has really come close to the sort of, excitement the quest for the sapling had, y’know?” The beetle mused, before nodding at the offer of a sparring match.

Truth be told, Kabbu wasn’t too bothered hearing of Mothiva’s issue, but he’d never say it out loud. Her treachery during the quest for the sapling was nigh unforgivable to him, but he had much less of an issue with Zasp. He was simply her teammate.