FSE

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It had been a quiet day. The party passed uninturrupted in their travel, and despite one of the leaf-drakes getting huffy halfway into the day, the problem was quickly remedied by Pula picking a stone from her foot. Kin had fretted about her weight, but that had been a constant complaint for the past week, and even Illiana's polite sympathy had started to run dry. Maleti only agitated the matter, leading to Kin chasing her around the wagon armed with her least expensive feathered head-garment.

Bleachbone spent most of the sunlight hours absent, having taken off ahead of the party late the previous night. Mid-afternoon found her waiting for them, tousled and complacently grooming her bloodied paws in the middle of the trail. No one felt like asking her what she had eaten or mated with, and they continued on until the sun started to set.

Parpulahu, with help from Ker, was now busying himself untackling the leaf-drakes for the night. Illiana, Reiko and Kin had excused themselves somewhere out of sight. The rest of the party sat peacefully around a large crackling fire, exchanging small talk. Most were spitting fish, and some bravely cooked chunks of the cleanly butchered, but entirely unidentifiable meat brought back from Bleach's second hunting trip.

Parpulahu, after putting the tackle, briefly darted into the circle to retrieve his cat and his mystery meat. He stood outside of it momentarily, picking up bits of conversation, then went to sit by Bleachbone, parked at the very edge of the campsite by her own tiny fire. Bleachbone reluctantly lifted her head from her paws as they approached. He sat down beside her on her blanket, idly stroking the bone ridges set along her spine. The glowing embers of the campfire were still emitting some warmth, and Pula poked at them purposefully with his spit stick. The fire flared up, and Bleach rose up, padded a few steps away and laid back down with a doggish huff. Pula turned to look at her briefly, then stared back into the fire.

~Dorunera, I was wondering something.~ he began, popping a piece of meat into his cat's mouth.

~What?~

~Well, you...~

~I ain't joinin' your harem. Scraggly piss-poor piece of work you are. My boys'd make right good fun of me, they would.~ snorted Bleachbone, stretching her body out. Pula looked offended, his ears drooping comically. Stormwind, perched on his shoulder, mimed his expression. Bleach laughed, a harsh barking sound. She rose up, and as she padded over, it was not a feral wolf but an anthropomorph that settled by his side.

"Don't ye go wettin' yer eyes, boy." she said, tossing an arm over him and sqeezing affectionately. Stormwind, crushed by her arm, mewed pitifully and fled to the safety of the ground.

~I wasn't going to ask you to join. It's just, aside from U'kvich'dya, you're the best friend I have.~

"Wha'bout that there fox gal. Hayfler?"

~Haycinth. She will help me with my reading, but she thinks of me more like a child or pet.~

"Aye."

~So, I just wanted to ask...do you want to travel together for a long time?~

"Lahk how long?"

~Like...forever?~

"Nah." said Bleachbone, pulling her arm away from Pula. He looked hurt, but she simply rested her elbows on her legs and stared at the fire for a bit. Forvever, in the context of travel, was no longer a concrete concept for her. Parties were temporary arrangements. As it had been with the first groups she had traveled with, and as it had been with Mizisunaki Micker's group.

This group, Reiko's party was different. The group laughing by the larger campfire was a testament to that. Still, she couldn't help but believe that likely conclusion of this party was to go their separate ways. They would hit a job large enough for most of them to see themselves off. Get killed off in the way that adventurers tend to do. Wander home on their own, tired of feeling displaced. Bleach knew that at some point she would leave to find Fox.

~Wh-why? Aren't we friends?~ Pula's voice broke the silence and brought her out of her reverie.

"Aye."

~Then why can't we stay together?~

"Ah ent yer mum."

~Don't you like me?~

"Not tha' much. Yer a right terrible road coyote." she chuckled flicking his nose lightly. Pula batted her away, unable to keep a grin off of his face.

~You're a terrible person.~

"Aye."

~Don't you want to stay with anyone in this party?~

"Wha' does it matter? Ye can't be an adventurer fer'ever. We all got tay go our separate ways a' one point or the other, an' after that, Ah'll not see the lot 'o ye again."

~You mean you'll just go off one day and you won't miss any of us?~

"Aye." said Bleach, poking her tongue out at him. Pula reached out to grab at it, but was easily pounced on and nibbled around the ears until the two coyotes risked rolling into their own fire.

~You're awful. Absolutely awful. And all you care about is sex and money. You don't even have a heart!~

"Never said Ah did."

~I bet you've never even wanted to group up.~

"Never said Ah didn't."

~With who?~

"Ye'd best leave with that."

Parpulahu looked as if he was about to argue, but Bleachbone made a very deliberate yawn, showing off a row of clean, perfect, very sharp teeth, and with that, the conversation topic was over. Parpulahu looked away abashedly for a few moments before asking his next question.

~So, why are you sitting here all alone?~

"Chee's taken tay hittin' me with that there staff o' his a bit tay much fer mah likin'. Bastard pullin' his own stomach, aye?" said Bleachbone, reaching over to pat Pula on the head.

~Yes, a little.~ said Pula with a giggle. He threw his arms around her neck, and the two anthros were replaced by a long-eared tiger cub and a plated wolf, who rolled over on her side to give him and his cat room to snuggle into the few soft parts of her belly. ~You had me a bit worried when you were staring like that. It looked like you were thinking of something sad.~

Unseen to Pula, Bleachbone frowned.

~Don't be fooled, boy. I'm a simple beast. No room in my head for anything but the motto.~