Incline 3: Heiya

"So I know full well the rumours about where osibindah come from... But..." Hrurim struggles to understand as he idly stares down at our financial saviour. I huff at the human and walk closer to the turned one. Getting the nails of my paws on the eyes of the 'sib, I push in and pry.

Despite the best efforts of the 'sib, I manage to expose the treasure that will load our pockets. Hrurim looks over me and into the eye of the osibindah, who looks right back. The pair give each other an idle wave and Hrurim's attention shifts to me. He frowns and a noise escapes him.

"Best strap a plate of steel on its head, then." he scoffs and I huff in agreement. Will only take a single ice cream scoop to deprive us of most of our value. Some bugs can speak, anyway, a fancier talking one ain't probably worth much. Well, not as much as it could be worth.

"His head," the bug corrects, and I jab it. Hrurim's eyes open wide, a slight smirk on his face as he reaches into one of his pockets. It shuffles about, his fingers no doubt throwing around all kinds of lint and scraps.

"Got a name, Bug?" Hrurim asks as he pulls out a tailor-made and clasps it in his lips. Though the lighter is nowhere to be seen. His fingers go through a few more of his many pockets and still come out with nothing. Hrurim kneels close to the 'sib, the cigarette entering his fingers and dangling before it.

"Nin." Nin answers. Ah, right, that's his name. Amusing, I remember the details of our encounters, but the name was escaping me. Well, not like I remember much about any of our other transactions, either!

"You happen to smoke, Nin? You... You look like you're going to need one!" Hrurim struggles to get out in one take as empty laughter blows his mouth wide open. I roll my eyes as my smirk rises and Nin's eyes focus on Hrurim's fingers. What a taunting prospect that must be given what he lost, however it is he lost it.

"... No." Nin eventually answers, his focus turning inwards. Hrurim finally brings out the lighter and shrugs. He lights the smoky stick and takes in a good, long breath. He breathes. A flash of pale bluish light!

"No! Elsewhere!" Paps snaps with powerful swings, battering the human away. I blink at the burns now on Nin's carapace and frown at his fragility. I certainly remember something far more powerful, even with my prodding of his current vulnerability. 

"We gat ta be caaareful." I mutter in understanding as Hrurim's good mood in lost in the continued assault. The human retreats and retreats, Pops not backing down in the slightest. 

"Fine..." he grumbles, breathing the creature comfort down to a stub. A hiss escapes him as it reaches his fingers. He flicks it away into the dark, giving it a short-lived, orange dot eye.

"I never expected the word of mouth about how smoking kills to be like this." Nin lets out with surprisingly calm humour. I blink at him, remembering a very different kind of person. Circumstances aside, I would have thought a near death experience would make him more on guard? Guess not.

"Heiya, we had rope survive the earthquakes?" Pops asks in our native tongue and I shift to it mentally. I take a quick moment to reorient myself. Gods and goddesses, am I glad that Nin is not someone who needs to hear me speak. 

"Yeah." I answer and nod, and he pats my shoulder. Taking the hint for what it is, I head to the wagon and rummage about the mess we made. With his lack of magic, Nin won't be able to escape even a rudimentary cage. However, we lack that for the moment. 

Grabbing some frayed rope, I knock over a can of food and my mouth gapes a bit. I look back at our bug as my stomach lets me feel a dull ache. If he's gone from being as powerful as he was to what he is now, his body is going to be desperate for whatever it can get. Can Sudden Induction happen twice...?

While Pops, me and Hrurim are no witches ourselves. Nothing impressive at all in regards to magic. Even a crumb of our food or a drop of water far from the dead giant should be enough to keep Nin alive. Mmm, this is difficult... Never had to keep blanks alive in all of our deals with the Acadamites.

With a *certain* exception, the deals were always simple cases of loading them up into capture-sacks. Then, we'd stuff them into those tubes given to us by Suhurlodst itself. The process was just that, not much else, unless some wildlife got cocky. Like that certain incident.

"Eh, he survived Sudden Induction once. Back when he had less reason to, too!" I mutter with growing energy as I coil the rope around my arm. Tightening the circumference, I get going and metal rattles. I hop down and look back at the wagon, a shiver going across me.

Just had to go about thinking about that camping trip. Pops still does things like that, too... Gods and goddesses above. It's a wonder I've grown up at all these past few decades. Not a hwardlet anymore... Old man.

Returning to Nin, I undo the rope and toss it down, knocking him over in the process. Nin groans and creaks his head up to me. The magic-touched fibres of the rope are a tiny bit more than an inconvenience for him. I make sure he can see my smirk, even if he cannot grasp my motivations for doing so. Mine and Pops' business being cruel is one thing, me delighting for a moment in it is another thing.

"Still going about things like always?" Nin asks, his mood still undisturbed and I lean away, a perturbed brow rising. Must've knocked his head real bad in the drop that drew me to his location. Or, perhaps he has sand stuck in his tiny hole ears?

"Wherever Paps needs me." I answer, not paying his hisses and sharp clicks of the bug things much mind. I give the rope an extra couple of tugs and stop as I spy a crack growing along some of his shell. My tongue clicks and I almost mope about not being able to get my own back. Knowing he's feeling it is one thing, feeling like I myself am actually making him feel it is another thing. 

"I don't suppose you have any more time for target practice?" Nin asks, a smile to his bug mouth and the details escape me.

"Huh?" I go, looking to my musket and then at his stationary fingers. He's not grabbing for it... Oh!

"When we were in the hive, you were teaching me and Vadei to-" he starts to explain, the details coming back to me enough to cut him short.

"Shaat the Aaacaaadaaamite fireaaarms, yaaah." I finish, not remembering those guns all too fondly. Paps took me shopping last year in regards to firearms, but I never chose anything new. I kept to my musket and all its lovely killing power sexiness. Point seven-oh total potential for death. My favourite.

Besides... Paps forgets the most important thing about a gun. It's not the killing power, rate of fire, range, reliability or even the ease of its parts being found in markets. Legal or otherwise. The most important thing is keeping my paws occupied on the long, boring road trips we have to always take on jobs! 

A modular piece certainly helps that. I don't care if it's tedious to look after or fiddly or fancy in some areas. It's better than staring at rocks of the underground and the mountains on the surface. It's no damn wonder that even the simplest of hwardgon cities and towns are so colourful and flashy. Anything to break up the monotony of the wild, wild grey everywhere.

"Guess thaaat's samething far yau ta da." I say, my thoughts becoming vaguely open.

"Do what?" the bug asks back and I meet his eyes with a pair stressed with memories of boredom.

"Staaare aaat racks aaall daaay." I snicker, getting up and pulling on the rope. It reaches its full length and Nin slides after me, his shell otherwise holding up on the smooth road. I look around for Hrurim, hoping for either his height or upper body strength to handle our delicate package. I hop on top of Nin and peek up onto my tippy toes.

"Get down from there before you hurt yourself." Hrurim scoffs as he comes walking into view from whatever waste of time had him occupied.

"Do's me a favour, yeah?" I ask of him and he shakes his head, knowing the hollow nature of favours with me. His look of wisdom meets my innocent smile, and he gestures me to move. I hop away from Nin with a heft of effort and gently run a short spell. My eyes come around just as Hrurim heaves the larger-than-him osibindah onto the wagon.

"No hard feelings, Nin," Hrurim explains, patting the bug on his head.

"He dasen't speaaak far the rest af us!" I call out, knowing me and Paps very much don't feel the same way at all. Actually... Where? 

I find Paps a notable distance the way we came. 

Leaving my gun by the wagon, I head over to him and skid to a halt as he turns. My old man's stern gaze leaves me shaking, a chilly breeze somehow coming from it. It slips past the slim gaps of my skin-tight kit and I feel space grow. Only Paps has an eye that strong he can defy clothing and physics.

"Something on your mind or is there...?" I am unsure to ask, my eyes glancing about the tunnel further and then back to him.

"The first," he answers, paws settling quite firm on his hips. His gear stretches and whines, the shuffling of his feet only making it all louder.

"We... We should get going, Pops. Don't want to be late, do we?" I say and a paw moves to grab my wrist. He tugs me close and puts an arm on my furthest shoulder, letting my head rest on his.

"It'll all come to an end, soon. My sweet little thing, your father's mistakes will finally be dealt with," he coos, and while the meaning of his words is ominous, I still find a relaxing sentiment in them.

"I know you are you and that is precisely why I am worried, Pops." I tell him, sniffing the trace amounts of fresh surface air disturbing the stale underground. Honestly, if we somehow ever get the money, maybe we should open one of those wind tunnel places? We could make a bank-killing fortune selling the decadent luxury of a breath of fresh air. The underground might be where we hwardgon belong, but the surface really has something special with the sky and all.

"Worry not. Worry only a little if you cannot. I will keep you safe... Like I always have," he tells me, shifting around so he can pull me into a proper hug.

"Pops..." I whine, embarrassed even by the mere thought Hrurim might be spying a glance. I tug and tug, unable to escape the strength of his fatherly love. He chuckles softly, sneaking in a rare occurrence. A wobbly smile comes to my lips as the imprint of his kiss burns my forehead in such a good way.

He breaks the hug, leaving me an addict for familial affection, "The wagon is otherwise secure?"

"Ye-Yeah. He's got no magic in his system right now, beyond what he may passively absorb. The rope will keep him still for now. We can always change it to proper chains when we get the chance." I explain as my nose sniffles in desperation for something, anything. Pops smiles and cups my cheek, letting me sink into the nostalgia of a long time ago. I may have grown these past few years, but he always makes me feel small.

"I'm sure I can get a cage together, somehow. A rope alone is too little to stop him from running if he's able." Pops concerns himself with, letting me go somewhat satisfied compared to before.

"I'm a good enough shot. I'll knock his knees right out." I joke, smiling with confidence and a puffed chest of slim womanly design. He nods, reaffirming that pride.

"And I'll dock your pay for years for each shot you hit," he chuckles, directing me back to the wagon as a sulk belittles my expression with a frown and more. How else am I supposed to stop Nin from running-!?

"That's just cruel!" I snap back, knowing he's putting me between a world of rocks and the hardest of places. Do I sap my pride and miss for the sake of pay, or keep it at the expense of spending money? Bah... Pops!