Hope always prevails.

Erebus had just returned from a hunt for a yian kut-ku. It was starting to get back to the form it was in when zoh shia was first encountered, and it felt pretty good about itself. Wielding its scythe with one arm was tedious to say the least, and it got hit more than it would like to admit, but there was nothing it couldn't recover from after a good night's sleep.

It sighed and clambered off its seikret, and then flinched at the touch of a paw on its head, ruffling its hair.

"You did good out there, kiddo." Seek spoke and looked at Erebus with pride.

Erebus let the tension melt from its shoulders. "Thank you, I..." it took a while to muster up the ability to say "couldn't have done it without help."

Seek smiled warmly at his hunter, and climbed off of Thanatos. "Now go, go, get some rest."

Erebus didn't need to be told twice, it was dead tired. It shambled toward its tent. The interior of the tent was ridden with pinned bugs put up in frames, mingling with Alma's artifacts. Unlit candles and incense were scattered around. Thin purple fabric draped across the roof of the tent, and a small portrait of its family laid by its cot. It collapsed into the cot, the comfortable blankets and pillows, accompanied by a small plush Nata had gifted it, welcomed the tired hunter.

It looked at the portrait, at its parents, and at Lucas's burdened smile. Probably too long. It put the portrait face down and started the tedious process of taking off its armor. Yet another task it found newly arduous from its lack of a second hand. All the belts and buckles, and especially the corset it chose to don, while they looked great, often were a complete chore to put on and remove. And that clumsy spike now jutting from the end of the stump of its arm wasn't much use. After about 20 minutes, it had managed to remove most of the armor.

"Heyyyy, hunter!" Gemma's voice resonated from the outside of Erebus's tent, piercing through its ritual.

Erebus took a deep breath, gathering up all the politeness it could. "Hello, Gemma. What is it?"

"I heard about your win today, figured we'd celebrate!"

Erebus yawned, slipping its tights down its, thankfully human, legs. "I'd love to, really would. But it is late, and my mentor told me I should get to sleep, surely this can wait until tomorrow?" It reclined on its cot flamboyantly.

Gemma blazed into the tent, "It's only gonna be half as-" and upon seeing Erebus laying there in its briefs, which slipped out from beneath a very comfortable looking cotton shirt, averted her gaze. "Sorry."

Erebus threw the blankets over its legs with barely concealed irritation. "Do you always burst into people's tents while they're half naked?"

"I said sorry, geez! You don't have to come."

It sat up, careful to keep itself covered. "Oh, no, you've twisted my arm, pervert."

"PERVERT? I AM NOT A PERVERT."

"Please, Gemma, with the way you dress?"

Gemma stormed out of the tent.

"Thank you~" Erebus chided.

Erebus, after a couple moments, emerged from its tent, fully clothed in baggy, comfortable pants and a form fitting shirt with its initials sewn into the back of the collar. It found Gemma toiling away at some instrument, flustered and irritated. She wore a much more humble, practical outfit, pants that looked good for working in, and a tunic gratuitously cut to her chest and held with strings.

"Well, here I am. Decent, this time." Erebus teased.

"Hi." She droned, not breaking the rhythm of her hammering.

"Awwwwww, is someone embarassed?"

Gemma continued hammering silently.

"Does this mean we're delaying your little 'celebration?'"

Gemma sighed and set her tools and project aside. "Maybe it can be salvaged."

"That scrap or the evening?"

Gemma glared at the draconic hunter. "The evening, Erebus."

Erebus sighed and put its hands up in surrender. "Too far, alright. Where do you want to go?"

Gemma put her hand on her hip, still irritated. "You know that lagiacrus den?"

"The vacant one, i presume?"

"Mhm. It's got a nice view."

"That's a bit of a walk, and I don't know about you but I don't feel getting any more blisters today."

"I was thinking we'd take Thanatos." Gemma's demeanor started to relax.

"Fine by me, come along."

Erebus and Gemma got on Thanatos's back, Gemma very intentionally stayed as far from Erebus as she possibly could. A difficult task on seikretback. Erebus tapped the seikret's side, gently, tugged on its reins, and they set off.

After a couple minutes, Erebus piped up "That's odd."

Gemma, who had been looking at the trees, and water, and insects, and anything that wasn't Erebus, replied. "What's 'that?'"

"I imagined a pervert like you wouldn't be so- ow!" Gemma hit it right where she estimated its kidney to be, though, thankfully for Erebus, she was off target a bit.

"Not a pervert."

Erebus rubbed the now sore spot on its back. "Rude. If I did that to you," Erebus decided not to continue, and took a deep breath. "As you are, you're probably going to fall on your face. I suggest holding on to something."

"What? Your waist, smartass?"

"That, or getting covered in mud. Pick your poison."

Gemma groaned, and half-heartedly wrapped her arms around Erebus's waist.

A long, slightly uncomfortable ride later, Erebus and Gemma arrived at the entrance to the lagiacrus's den.

"Here's good." Gemma spoke. Erebus dutifully halted Thanatos and sent him away to a nearby camp, after Gemma had grabbed a small bag from the seikret and slung it over her arm.

The smithy meandered to the worldspine which spiraled around the entrance to the den. She traced her hand along it, as Erebus followed her.

A waterfall poured in front of them, a natural hiding spot for the lagiacrus's former den. Erebus bowed extravagantly.

"Ladies first, your highness." Erebus's sarcastic title cut through Gemma's admiring of the spiraling construct.

"Shouldn't you check if there's a new owner in there?" Gemma nodded her head toward the waterfall.

"Ugh, fine. But let the record show I'm supposed to be off work right now."

Erebus, after a moment's hesitation and slipping off its shoes, walked through the waterfall, trying hard not to let the pressure bear down on it. When it passed through the waterfall, it let its shoulders sink and took a deep breath. It walked forward, the sprawling cave inviting admiration and awe. The worldspine danced around the cave, water poured from it and pooled in the lake at the center. It peered over the edge of the lake, and found no monsters, just a deep expanse.

Erebus took another readying breath and brushed its wet hair back with its hand. "No monsters, you can come in!"

The smithy walked through the waterfall, seemingly having taken her hair down before doing so, as it fell in tendrils down her neck and chest. It's shiny pale golden color was severely dulled on account of her being drenched. She shook her head in an attempt to rid herself of the water, which did, predictably, very little.

"You know, no amount of water can cleanse you, right, pervert?"

Gemma laughed, "I don't have to share my vodka with you, ya know?" As she mocked Erebus, she produced a sealed bottle of, presumably, vodka.

Erebus had only tasted what it knew to be the finest vodka when it was too young to lawfully drink. Its family rarely let the law get in the way of their wants, anyway. "You never mentioned we'd be drinking, I might have gotten up more eagerly had you."

Gemma walked toward the hunter. "Didn't take you to be a drinker." She thrust the bottle towards its chest. "Got this in Azuz, the guy who sold it to me said it was strong enough to fuel the Everforge. He was joking... I think."

"Didn't take you for one either." Erebus took the bottle and found it corked. "Do you have an opener?"

"Nnnnope." Gemma made a popping noise with her lips on the last syllable.

"Or cups in that bag?"

"Nnnnope." She made a similar popping noise.

"And you have seen how I have to drink from bottles now, right?" It made a point to seperate the lower pieces of its jaw as it spoke.

"Aaaayup." Another popping noise.

"And you don't have a problem with that?"

Gemma grabbed the bottle against Erebus's chest. "Do you wanna play twenty questions, or do you wanna drink?"

Erebus silently clutched the bottle back, and reached behind its back with its left arm. It quickly remembered it had no hand with which to grasp its knife, sighed, sounding very vexed, and bit into the cork with the left side of its mouth. It pulled its head up, extracting the cork, and wrapping its tongue around it. It plucked the cork from between its teeth and spat it out.

Erebus lifted the bottle to its nose and sniffed, immediately recoiling and coughing.

"Oh dear lord."

Gemma laughed.

"If this is auric oil or something I'll kill you and blame it on a- I don't know, an arkveld!"

"Yeah, yeah sure you will! Drink, already!"

Erebus lifted the bottle and wrapped its tongue around it. The moment the vodka reached its mouth, a strong burning feeling ripped down its throat. It unraveled its tongue and turned its head to the side, made some awful gleeking, choking sound, before spitting out the unholy substance. It shoved the bottle towards Gemma, spilling a bit on her clothes, not that they were getting any dryer anytime soon.

Gemma laughed louder and took the bottle.

"It is oil, isn't it?!" Erebus yelled.

"It's not oil! Relax!" Her voice and laughter echoed off the cave walls. She lifted the bottle to her lips unflinchingly and took a swig. She threw her head back and covered her mouth. She had to really focus to keep the vodka down. "Damn!"

"Uhuh, see why I thought it was oil?!" Erebus expressed uncharacteristically loudly.

She just laughed some more, and it started to feel infectious.

Erebus chuckled under its breath.

"It's not so bad, tastes like... berries, almost? But spicy berries." Gemma took another swig, and managed to swallow without difficulty. "Yeah, it kinda tastes like berries."

"That's probably flavoring to make it slightly tolerable." Erebus quipped, reaching out for a proper drink.

Gemma moved towards it and then dashed past the hunter, to a rock, and sat with her hand on her lap as if she was some kind of lady. "Come on, enjoy it properly, get off your feet."

"Fine, fine." Erebus sauntered over to the rock and sat down next to Gemma, who'd been waving the bottle over her head tantalizingly. It tried to grab the bottle, but Gemma snatched it away.

"Oh no, you're not wasting any more of this."

"So I'm just supposed to sit here and enjoy watching you drink?"

"I never said that. Open up that weird, maw thing."

Erebus opened its jaws, and allowed its tongue to loll out. Then raised its eyebrows in a "Do you have a plan here?" gesture.

Gemma lifted the bottle to Erebus's maw. "Now wrap."

It closed its eyes, sighed, then wrapped its tongue around the neck of the bottle, its face took on a pinker shade.

Gemma tilted the bottle, and Erebus felt a familiar burning sensation. It wanted to spit it out again, but before it could move an inch, Gemma grabbed its bottom jaw and held its face in place. She then took the bottle away from Erebus, who was looking increasingly flustered, and spoke. "Now swallow."

Erebus tried to stifle that burning, and allowed the vodka to pass down its throat. It took a biting breath. "May I be released, now?"

"You may." Gemma said in her best haughty and entitled voice. The bottle clinked as she set it down beside them.

Erebus's mind raced with thoughts, and it felt very, very warm, for a number of reasons. It didn't like the flavor, necessarily. But it felt like it would probably get accustomed to it soon.

"Hey, hunter, look up." Gemma cut through its train of consciousness.

Erebus looked up through the hole in the cave and gasped. A brilliant blue moon beamed down on the pair. Sparse stars could be seen from just how bright it shined. It felt foolish for not looking up before this point. "Is this why you took me out here tonight? Why it couldn't wait?"

"Yeah. It's nice, isn't it?" Gemma said.

"It's lovely. And calm."

Gemma nodded. "Mhm." She swayed about while sitting, seemingly with something on her mind. She took another swig and sucked in air through her teeth, then exhaled. "I'm sorry for barging in on you while you were changing, that was so rude and I-"

"Relax. Water under the bridge."

Gemma took a breath. "Right. Water under the bridge."

A still, silent moment passed.

"Hey, Erie."

"Yes?"

"You've been swimming in that water before, right?"

"I have."

"Was it nice?"

"I was fighting for my life at the time, so... yes, it was great, just dandy."

Gemma laughed, boisterous and loud. "Right, yeah."

Another silent moment passed.

Gemma then began unbuttoning her pants.

"Trying to make us even, are you?"

"No!" She laughed. "I want to go swimming!"

"And you're abandoning your pants because...?"

"They're stiff, and they would suuuuuck for swimming."

"Makes enough sense to a drunk woman."

She laughed again, her words beginning to slur. "I'm not drunk!"

It scoffed. "Sure you aren't."

"Gonna join me or judge me, buzzkill?"

Erebus considered her offer. She'd very likely drown without someone to accompany her, and it didn't particularly want her to die.

"Know what? Sure."

"Whooooooooo! So you can have fun!"

Erebus laughed. "I guess I can."

It removed its shirt, for similar logic to Gemma. The fabric would cling to it and make swimming unpleasant. It breathed out, its scaly, obsidian skin rippling as it was exposed to the cold air.

Gemma sat up and started walking towards the water. Erebus followed. She timidly stuck her toes in, and Erebus dived. After a moment, it surfaced and shook its hair.

"Showoff." Gemma scoffed. She plunged into the water, expecting it to be freezing. She was happily surprised to find it only cool, refreshing, even. She surfaced, her hair sprawling around her.

"You doing ok?" Erebus asked.

"Yeah, fine, why do you ask?"

"Just a bit worried. You're not as strong as me."

Gemma then plunged beneath the water, and swam up to Erebus.

Erebus got extremely confused, as she just stayed there, floating at about midriff level. When she finally surfaced, it asked "What were you doing?"

"Looking at your abs." She said without skipping a beat. "I'd say it's a safe bet."

Erebus felt its face getting flushed again, and decided to avoid its embarrassment by dipping beneath the surface.

It swam down to admire the bioluminescent algae which blossomed a ways down. To its surprise, Gemma was able to follow it.

The two spent a moment admiring the algae, before Gemma gently grabbed some of it.

Erebus turned its head quizzically as Gemma slowly moved her hand towards Erebus's head.

She placed some algae on its head, and patted it. It looked up at the algae drifting around its head, and to Gemma, and to the algae again. Then it grabbed her hand and dragged her up to the surface again, trying to keep from laughing.

When it got to the surface, the pair were laughing and wheezing. "What was that for?" Erebus asked.

"I thought it'd look good on you in the water," she giggled, "But now your hair just looks green."

"Well that is the color of algae?!" It exclaimed, unable to contain its joy.

"It actually looked pretty in the water, ok?!"

The two spent what felt like no time at all swimming around without a care, before electing to get out.

"Well that was nice. Good suggestion." Erebus proclaimed.

"Uhuh! Really needed to relax. And I'm just glad we didn't have to deal with any monsters."

"Shhhhhh, don't jinx it."

Gemma made her way to the rock on which the vodka sat.

"Going to put your pants back on?"

She considered for a moment, as Erebus approached her.

By the time the shian hunter had sat by her, she decided.

"Nah."

"Suppose I'll keep my shirt off, for solidarity."

"Riiight. Solidarity and stuff." She giggled, looking up and down at Erebus.

She offered the bottle to it, to which it opened its mouth and extended its tongue.

It quickly retracted it, "Sorry, I can drink just fine on my own."

"It's ok, come here." Gemma said, sweetly.

Erebus leaned its head down, and opened its mouth. Gemma grabbed its jaw, gently. And, as before, it curled its tongue around the bottle. This time, it had the courage to look up at Gemma as it did. And she had this smile which looked so confident, so sure. A smile that said "I'm exactly where I want to be."

Erebus closed its eyes as Gemma poured the vodka into its mouth. The drink stung, and it winced, but Gemma's words cut the pain. "There you go, Erie, just a little bit more."

Once she had poured to her hearts content, she slowly took the bottle away, to which Erebus slid its tongue back in its mouth. "You can swallow, now."

Erebus whimpered, but did as instructed. It's face was blistering red, and Gemma was still holding it. It opened its eyes.

"Does it seem warm in here to you?" It asked, as it felt the warmth of the alcohol spreading through its body.

"It does to me, but I bet that has something to do with the smoke coming out of your mouth."

"Smoke?"

"Mhm." Gemma nodded, as if this was completely normal.

Erebus gently lifted its head, and Gemma released her just as gentle vice.

Erebus looked down at its reflection, and saw what she meant.

Ribbons of smoke ebbed from within Erebus's maw. It tilted its head left and right, confused. The smoke stopped quickly.

"May I have the bottle, Gem?"

"Gem?"

Erebus shook its head. "Gemma. I meant to say Gemma."

Gemma offered the bottle to Erebus. "Uhuh, sure." She said brazenly.

Erebus took a drink, which felt a bit sweeter than the last, and quickly looked down at its reflection. Sure enough, there again was smoke.

It stood, and wobbled. "Ground feels slippery... er..."

Gemma laughed. "Lightweight."

Erebus turned from her, huffing. Then took a drink, but did not swallow. Instead, it shaped its lips as best it could and blew.

Crimson fire sprung forth from Erebus's maw, which both of them reacted to with absolute elation.

"Holy shit!" Gemma exclaimed.

Erebus laughed maniacally, smoke dancing off of its lips.

Gemma stood up, equally as unsteadily as Erebus."That's amazing!"

"I guess it's pretty-"

Gemma hugged Erebus, catching it by surprise. It had been weeks at least since it had gotten a hug. And this one didn't even feel like it was out of pity. Erebus returned the hug, awkwardly as it could with one occupied hand.

Gemma's hands were callused, and she was stronger than she seemed. And due to their differences in height, Erebus had its head nestled under her chin.

After a couple minutes in which Gemma had sunken into Erebus, she broke away, grabbing it by the shoulders. "I know a little trick myself, wanna see it?"

Erebus looked confused and then resigned. "Sure."

Gemma snatched the bottle out of Erebus's hand and spun. She stilled herself after a couple unintentional spins, which Erebus found very amusing.

"That's the trick?"

"Shut up and be patient, Erie!"

Erebus then watched in horror as Gemma finished off half of the bottle in a couple seconds. She covered her mouth, and after a couple more seconds, threw her hands up in celebration.

Erebus stood stunned for a moment. "Well, that was impressive."

"Thank you. See what patience gets you?"

Gemma set the bottle back down on the rock, then sat down next to it, in the water.

"Hey, Erie?"

"Yes?"

"Come here!" Her invitation seemed relaxed, but enthusiastic.

Erebus doubted her for a moment. The way she looked over at the water, her hair spilling over her, and the way she sat, there was no poise, or control, or desire to do so. It went to her, standing before the smithy.

"Siiiiittt." She slurred.

Erebus sat down next to her, and looked over the water. The moon reflected off of the deep expanse. It saw a few fish swimming aimlessly within the water. Two, in particular, caught its eye.

A fish followed another, then retreated, at which point the other fish began to follow, before retreating itself. This cycle continued, which Erebus observed, completely entranced.

And then it felt a weight on its shoulder. Gemma had laid her head on Erebus, her hair fell over its back and chest. It usually hated the way that wet hair felt against its skin, a not insignificant reason why it had cut its hair so short. But at the moment it felt very pleasant, as if Gemma was embracing it in some way.

"You're kind of like a fish." Gemma said.

"What?" Erebus let out something between a scoff and a laugh.

"You swim really good." Gemma took her hand and put it to Erebus's heart. "Aaand you got scales." She turned her face into Erebus's shoulder and laughed.

"I guess you have a point."

"And you're pretty, not like fish pretty, just pretty."

"I'm a lot of things, but I'm not really pretty anymore."

"Puhlease! I mean, we've already established this." She ran her hand down to its abdomen, where its scales blended into its skin. "And your hair's nice. And your scales shine in this really nice way under lights."

"Alright, alright. What do you want?" It moved away from Gemma, dislodging her head from its shoulder. She made a sad "aawwwwww" sound. It saw now that she had removed the string keeping her shirt semi-modest, and looked away.

"I guess I don't really 'want' anything right now. I'm, pretty content, actually. Weird."

"Sure you aren't about to send me out to slaughter countless harpios so you can make some outfit for me?"

Gemma laughed carelessly. "No... Not that. On second thought, I do want something."

"Oh, let me guess! Gravios plates? Novacrystals? A couple beast gems-"

Gemma silently put her hand on Erebus's. The hunter found itself unable to speak.

Gemma put her other hand on Erebus's cheek, and leaned in. "Do you think you'd want to-"

Erebus kissed her. Without even really thinking about it. It was less something it willed its body to do, and moreso something it failed to supress. It pulled away. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be."

She kissed the hunter, and Erebus moved its arm to the back of her head. It had forgotten that it was the one supporting them, however. And the two fell on to the stony floor with a splash.

Gemma had landed on top of Erebus, and managed to hold its head before it hit against the floor. "Oh gosh are you OK?" Gemma looked more flustered and happy than worried.

"If it weren't for you I'd probably have a concussion, thanks."

"You can thank me later, Erie."

Erebus had only ever kissed one person before. And had the misfortune of that someone being a boy when it was young. It's no coincidence it swore off the company of men that day.

For the next several minutes, Erebus felt completely lost, but Gemma's moans continued to quiet the hunter's concerns.

When they broke away, a line of saliva connected the two. Gemma laughed excitedly, panting. "That tongue is, fun."

Erebus was looking up at her, the moon framing her like a halo. "I'm glad someone appreciates it." Its breathing sounded incredibly weighted.

The hunter and the smithy spent a couple of moments staring into the other's eyes. Gemma found the steady gleaming of Erebus's left eye very comforting. Erebus was trying its best to be polite and not look down at Gemma's chest.

Gemma took her hand and traced it down the shian, tube-like structures which rose from the surface of Erebus's chest. Taking her time to truly make sure she knew what it felt like. Then, she moved down from its chest, to its midriff, and hooked her finger under the string that held Erebus's pants. She pulled, and they began to come loose.

Erebus grabbed her wrist. "Gem..."

She tilted her head to the side.

"This isn't a good idea, not right now."

Gemma scrambled, sitting up and moving off the hunter. "Right, yeah! Bad, bad idea! Don't know what came over me."

Erebus tried to console her, but didn't know exactly what to say. "That was very nice. Thank you."

Gemma nodded. "Mhm." She looked horribly embarrassed, and its words did little to quell that.

It was an awkward, mostly silent process to redress and gather up their things.

They crossed through the waterfall, back to reality and all its burdens.

When the two got back on Thanatos, Gemma once again distanced herself from Erebus. Erebus did not give the seikret sign to start.

"What are we waiting for?" Gemma asked, defeated.

"You to grab on to something. I'd rather you not fall off."

"Grab on to what?"

"My waist. What else, Gem?"

Gemma, after a moment's hesitation, hugged Erebus's waist.