But the villagers just nodded at the egg in appraisal, and then gestured to - wait. Why were there so many mountains in this town? Huffing out a short breath, Puella shielded her eyes from the sunlight and looked up at the top. She certainly couldn't see any eggs there...but she didn't doubt that they existed. "Too tired to go climbing again?" she challenged TK, raising and lowering her eyebrows at him in rapid succession. As sore as her legs were beginning to get, she'd never turn down an opportunity to put in some quality hours hiking.
She'd have asked him to race to the top but it seemed like he had a lot more of a sense of self-preservation than she did. Well, it didn't really matter: there were a lot of things on this mountain, but they seemed to ignore the approach of the two students. Otherwise the terrain actually seemed easier than the previous mountain: or maybe that was just her experience talking. "I wonder why they don't ask people with wings to do this," she mused aloud.
They were nearly to the top when they were overtaken by a pair of zombie stags. Fortunately the minipets ignored them: their antlers were locked in combat, but, well. What did it matter to Puella and TK? If they were being ignored, they were safer. And so were the eggs that they were gonna retrieve. She moved upwards past them as quietly as she could regardless, though. The fauna here looked bigger than the other mountain, and she found, observing it, that she hadn't missed it at all. Let her go back to velociraptors and lobsters, she thought. Though at least she hadn't seen giant snakes...yet?
"Do you think the eggs might be hidden?" she asked, as they reached the top and she still had yet to glimpse one. "I'm kind of...oh!" Even as she'd been speaking a hulking baby wyvern waddled its way past her...toward some eggs nestled in foliage. It then bent to attempt to bite the eggs, but Puella hurried over to grab one before it could do that. She hadn't known wyverns were cannibalistic!
OOC
Character Name:puella whose journal i still haven't set up whoops Faction: Demon student c: Appearance: spidergirl, spidergiiiirl Miasma meter 0
It was nice to know that the villagers were satisfied with both of the eggs they had brought back from the mountain, but now they were asking them to retrieve eggs from another mountain. At least he assumed so when they gestured toward a second mountain, and this one appeared even taller than the last. TK couldn’t stop himself from deadpanning at the sight. Eyes closed, he breathed through his nose and rubbed his temples before reluctantly heading toward the mountain’s base. “As an undead, I cannot say I know what physical exhaustion feels like.” Or maybe he did. Perhaps the skull pin gave him that ability, who knows?
“Perhaps they are busy doing other tasks that require wings,” he offered. Or maybe they had too few. Maybe the students were just a convenient supply of labor to retrieve eggs. “Hard to say. Since this is a different mountain, it would have a completely different group of wyverns that may behave differently.”
Puella reached out for an egg but was caught by a baby wyvern. TK, meanwhile, had to swat away a tiny minipet before he managed to gently roll one of the eggs into his arms. “Alright, are you ready?”
OOC
Character Name:TK Faction: Undead Student Appearance: A tall, skinny skeleton boil with glowing gold eyes. Miasma meter 0
"Mmhmm!" Puella nodded, pulling the egg into her arms and readying herself for the journey downward. Secretly she hoped the ride out of the village didn't involve these mountains - she didn't mind scaling it herself, or with TK, but on a bus? She wasn't sure these creatures would ignore them so well. She waited for the baby wyvern to make a strategic retreat before beginning the slow descent.
Wait...the path they'd taken up here was blocked, and the alternative was...Puella winced, glancing. "Well, I guess it's good that you don't remember what physical exhaustion feels like! I think we're going to have to go down the cliff side," she winced. At least this was fun...for her...kind of. Right? But even Puella had to admit that it was a lot less fun when she was toting precious cargo.
The teeny little crab thing that had been scrabbling at TK's legs as he reached for the egg came to try to push her down the cliffside. She winked at it, though. Even with only one free arm, Puella was harder to dislodge than that!
OOC
Character Name:puella whose journal i still haven't set up whoops Faction: Demon student c: Appearance: spidergirl, spidergiiiirl Miasma meter 0
He nodded. “Good.” TK stood back, waiting for Puella to begin walking first so he could trail behind her. At least there was a path for them to follow down the mountain, but a part of him also wondered they hadn’t used it on the climb up. In fact, why hadn’t they done that for the previous mountain as well. If his hands weren’t occupied, he would have rubbed his temples.
A click of the tongue when it turned out the path had become blocked. “I suppose it cannot be helped,” he answered reluctantly. Descending the mountain was going to be more difficult now, but if it had to be done then it had to be done. The crab that Puella had swatted away returned to snap at TK’s legs. Undeterred, he quickly, mercilessly kicked it away and watched it disappear into the air before continuing down the mountain.
OOC
Character Name:TK Faction: Undead Student Appearance: A tall, skinny skeleton boil with glowing gold eyes. Miasma meter 0
The good thing about the cliffs was that they ended in swathes of forest. Puella darted ahead of TK the moment she was able to spring free. He'd be just fine from here! She peered cheerfully at the trees all around her, but her earlier inattention meant she wasn't primed to notice the beast creeping in behind her: a large, hundred-foot snake. She shrieked again when she finally did, but it was too late: a stroke of its powerful tail pushed the egg out of Puella's arms, and then it flattened the egg for good measure.
Oh, there went a ton of work! She pouted, and turned back to TK: "Watch out!" she called. "Th-the snakes here are even bigger than the ones on the other mountain!"
She hurried to find a clearing to wait for him.
OOC
Character Name:puella whose journal i still haven't set up whoops Faction: Demon student c: Appearance: spidergirl, spidergiiiirl Miasma meter 0
As a canopy top peeked into view, Puella sped ahead of him to dart into the forest. Perhaps she preferred this kind of terrain? TK had to admit he liked forests over mountains, but both environments had their own appealing points. Unfortunately, it wasn’t long until he heard his partner shriek and he picked up the pace to catch up to her.
He came just in time to see the snake slither away, leaving behind wyvern guts and pieces of the egg shell. There were no words for TK to say as he examined its unfortunate remains. “I see. I will be careful, then,” he answered finally and ambled past Puella.
It wasn’t long before they encountered another baby wyvern, and without pausing TK continued to move forward before it squawked and scurried out of the tall skeleton’s way.
OOC
Character Name:TK Faction: Undead Student Appearance: A tall, skinny skeleton boil with glowing gold eyes. Miasma meter 0
Was that disappointment in TK's voice? s**t, Puella thought - there went her chance to be impressive!
Well, all told, she'd been pretty impressive when they were fishing, what with maneuvering that huge spider around. Still, though, she stuck her chin up and bobbed after TK, eyes widening at the baby wyvern just wandering past them. TK didn't even pay it any attention, though, just swatting it away like it was nothing more than a reptilian fly with wings. And spikes. Although she supposed they were baby spikes, right now. Still! Puella wanted to be that impressive someday.
Although maybe it would be better to be sneakily surprising with her skills. Then no one would see her coming, and she'd be able to get away from any situation both quickly and gracefully! That was the true ideal, Puella thought, and she snuck a glance at TK to see what he thought. Oh - wait, she hadn't been speaking. Whoops! She let out a whoop of glee as they approached the base camp again. This was recognizeable territory!
Only...there was something in their way.
OOC
Character Name:puella whose journal i still haven't set up whoops Faction: Demon student c: Appearance: spidergirl, spidergiiiirl Miasma meter 0
Senpai was not impressed, Puella. Senpai does not respect brashness.
The rest of the descent was spent in comfortable silence—comfortable at least for TK. Much to his delight, TK found that they encountered little trouble. As the village began to return into view, his pleased hum was drowned out by the ghoul’s shriek of glee.
Except there was something in their way. Something very large. He came to a slow halt and somehow grew even paler than usual when he realized it was a sand whale.
He quickly sped to the side and ran back into the village. Haha nope.
OOC
Character Name:TK Faction: Undead Student Appearance: A tall, skinny skeleton boil with glowing gold eyes. Miasma meter 0
