Ghost Sorbet!

Indigo chuckles and watches as he climbs into the back seat. "Alright then. I'm also counting on you to be my eyes and take care of anyone that gets too close." They roll up their sleeves. The different tattoos underneath their clothes are now visible sleeves instead. "Let's get this shit started." With ease, they hop right into the driver's side and pull up to the starting line.

"Alright. Let's do this--we've got a race to win. Don't worry about me, I've got my armor. I can fall off a horse, so this shouldn't be a problem."

There's an art to falling, after all!

"As long as you get to the finish line, that's what matters, right? So keep going, even if I'm knocked off."

"I can't really recount every single thing I've found in the past year, you know." She was long lived, but she definitely couldn't recall every little thing she'd said or done. "But if you want to come by my place sometime I can show you some of the things I've collected." The subject of money caught her ear, though.

("Though she'd probably give me some if I asked... she's like that.")

Those same arms folded across his chest, and he looks pensively at the ground.

"No, you're right. The rest of the money I came in here with, I should really pocket and keep for essentials. I know I need a job, and there are plenty of people hiring, but..."

...He makes a 'hm' of displeasure.

"All the jobs are really boring. At least when I was with that caravan, I got to travel. The thought of sitting behind a desk and writing papers or something all day makes my leg bounce."

Then again I can't really complain... I can't freeload either.

if this city was a dungeon (or dungeon adjacent), it would be his duty to investigate it.

he never could shake that sense of duty.

"But even with hag covens, there's a very specific number of hags that can be in there. Too little of them, and it's chaos without the magic to back up their spells. But too many hags in a coven mean they all vie for power, and end up thinning their numbers anyway until there's a balance again. So if everything is still functioning enough for a society to thrive here, maybe they are like hags and checking each other all the time so no one person disrupts the ecosystem of this island."

Much to think about...

"I think people who have been here a while implied revival is possible, but I don't know how often that happens. So I'd rather rely on my friends' magic than whatever's in place here."

...He seems to break that chain of thought, though, and turn to Mithrun wholly.

"...Did you arrive here without your team? Be careful if you're going to explore on your own; I don't want anything bad to happen to you."

"...Spirale isn't exactly that kind of dangerous. Most fare well enough without their arsenal..." Wait.

News to him! He circles around the stranger in question... So she's not human after all?

"If you can't eat, what do you do to live? Are you made of mana? Or maybe you're a really elaborate construct? Could you tell me who are?"

...Right. Didn't she ask him a question?

"You use a pot to cook with, but not those big clay urns. It's usually made of metal; you put it over a heat source to cook food. But sometimes people do use clay pots for cooking too, they're great at distributing heat. There are a lot of different shapes, too--I'm looking for a big shallow one. I guess you wouldn't know that if you don't eat, though."

after everything, Mithrun would recognize him anywhere. Laios Touden. the one he had once vowed to kill. the one he had tried to kill. the one he had then bargained with, conceded to. and the one he had then shared the largest meal of his life with. if only he could tell whether this was a blessing or curse.

"The hole at the center of the city. It's reminiscent of something that would belong in our world."

While the urge to explore certainly gnawed at his mind, there was something else, too. He may not have that duty here and now, but of anyone, Laios and Mithrun knew how dangerous dungeons were. If it was a dungeon, it would need monitoring. These weren't his people, but they were people nonetheless.

...How different it is. How different he used to think.

"...Do you think this whole place is a dungeon? All these weird areas that don't make a lot of sense put together, the way things can change. There's no one lord, but a bunch of them."

she regards him with a quirk of her brow, lounging across a thick branch.

It looks like he's trying to hoist himself up into her tree, mumbling something about getting out of shape...

"I was going to cook them in these big leaves I found over on that smaller island. The one with the volcano? I saw the locals doing it and wanted to try it." ... "So, want in? I figured maybe you'd be getting kind of hot in this weather anyway, so going in the water might help."

" Yeah... Ok."

Eiden can't say it works up his confidence to hear the guy's cooked it all by himself but it's hard to say no to eyes like that (in less positive sense).

Eiden lifts the toothpick, giving another look at the larva, now much closer. Finally, he closes his eyes and opens his mouth.

" ...here goes nothing! "ä

He goes quick into the chewing, still eyes closed until...

" ...oh whow... it doeshn't thasth thoo bah! "

Oops manners, manners... Eiden properly swallows the whole thing.

"Yeah, see? There are all sorts of delicious things around us that a lot of people ignore because it looks weird. But they're actually good."

He munches on another grub himself.

She recomposed herself. She hadn't even known Laios was here and her more or less led the conversation this way after they exchanged greetings. But this was another good chance, right? To show off!

Maybe you, shouldn't be so casual about death, Laios?

"Whoa, you really did spend months there with all this new stuff? That's our Marcille! Is it because it's a lot fancier than the dungeons, so you don't throw as many tantrums?"

What's more infuriating is that he didn't mean that as an insult whatsoever...