Frey: *mentions CPR*

Cuff: See Pee Are?

Frey: Cardiopulmonary resuscitation

Cuff: ...use real words please

Bobbi: Necromancy

p-pipeline?? I don't know what you meannnnnn by that.... hmph.... Nothing to pay attention to!

magesmeatymuses This is how they get you, Sai. It's why I chose Ishmael for my faceclaim... because she's CUTE...

This is the part where I reveal how dumb I really am because I had no idea Ishmael was a girl I thought they were a very pretty boy this whole time-

~

"You're quiet," Frey said since the sound of her footsteps and nothing else just about drove her nuts.

"I'm sorry," came Knell's immediate response. "What would you like to talk about?"

Frey shrugged. "Nothing, really. I'm just used to Cuff chatting my ear off."

"Ah."

And that's the end of that conversation. Frey frowned at the overgrown road in front of her. Not even the wind as it rustled through grasses and flowers helped. Bodhi cavorted a ways off, also silent. No playful mews or anything.

Athia had no goddamned right to be so fucking quiet.

"It's simply that you told me we were done talking and I'm trying to respect that," Knell said in a rush after they'd dealt with a pack of lymnocyon. Frey's feet stopped and she raised her left hand to look at the jewelry.

"Just about the plant." And Frey's romantic interests; no way in hell'd she bring that up again just in case Knell pounced on it. A beat of silence preceded a noise of comprehension from Knell.

"Ah. It seems I once again misunderstood your request, Frey. I'll try to do better in the future."

"Nah, it's cool. At least you're polite."

"Oh, well, thank you. I do try"

"Did you do that with Bobbi a lot?" Frey asked as she resumed her trek. "Misunderstandings and all that?"

"Not in particular," Knell said. "But she so rarely made requests of me."

"Not very demanding, huh?"

"Oh, no," Knell chuckled, "no, I simply took responsibility for the predicament I accidentally thrust upon her. I suppose in so doing I assumed a more... matronly role than is appropriate to take with a Tanta."

"Yeah, well, don't put me on some kind of pedestal or anything," Frey said, half grumble.

"I assure you, I'm not. There's simply a matter of propriety—"

"Look." Frey sighed. Not the tone she'd meant to take; too damn snappy. She tried again. "We're gonna be stuck together for awhile. I've got shit to do and I can't let you just fuck off to do who knows what in Athia, you know?"

"Of course, Frey. It's perfectly understandable." Sounded like Knell meant it, too.

"Right, so, I'm not cool with all that pomp and circumstance bullshit. Treat me like Bobbi. I'm just like her except I can move shit with my mind. Okay?"

"This is... highly unorthodox," Knell admitted. "I'm afraid it quite goes against my nature to treat a Tanta so casually. The most I can promise is that I will try, Frey."

"That's a big bird."

"Yes," Susurrus agreed, "and they vomit acid, so do be careful."

"Ew?"

Bobbi scanned the landscape around her, filled with crags and rocks and dirt and dust and the occasional scrub brush. Praenost sure met her expectations for a desert in that regard. The vultures that vomit acid were not on her list.

Then again neither were carnivorous zombie-goats or zombie-pumas or lizard people that were also zombies.

If she could go around the birds and not deal with acid puke, that'd be ideal. Not that she saw much of an option; the canyon in front of her had no branching paths. If she'd had Frey's magic instead of her own, she could scale the walls and try going around up top. She didn't, though. Her own magic mostly consisted of nebulous quartz rocks and only really seemed good for beaning zombies in the head.

Maybe if she scaled the walls the old fashioned way?

"We have company," Susurrus warned, and tugged her attention to the mouth of the canyon behind her. Fuckerdoodles.

"I didn't invite them," Bobbi quipped as she unsheathed her sword. Susurrus chuckled and picked out three of those zombie lizard people as they stalked up behind her. At least she's getting used to working with him in combat; sharing his attention and focus like that helped a ton.

A week ago she'd have waited for the lizardmen to come to her. Two weeks ago she'd have looked frantically for a way out. Today, she charged. Susurrus's bloodlust thrilled through her veins, peeled her lips from her teeth in a grin. He enjoyed the fight and neither of them minded that it bled into her psyche, too.

Besides, he'd taught her well.

She stepped aside as envenomed claws swiped for her face. The tip of her blade sliced upward, severed muscle and tendons to incapacitate that arm. Instinct blended with Susurrus's awareness; Bobbi jumped over a lashing tail and retaliated with a downward stab into her assailant's torso. A twist, a shove, her sword slid free and arced through the throat of the third Broken. Not that they breathed. Not that it mattered.

Susurrus lashed outwards, razored ribbons of gold wound through the air. One zombie fell into dust, the other two struggled to regain their feet. Bobbi leapt towards the nearest as Susurrus's gold coiled around her blade. He bit into the lizard's back and drank deep of its life essence, fed the invigorating surge of power back into Bobbi. That lizard dissolved as well, and Bobbi turned to face the final one.

Only to get puked on by a vulture.

It burned where it touched her skin. Even Susurrus cried out, though whether in pain or disgust Bobbi couldn't tell. Felt like both, beneath her own pain and disgust.