Overload

Luca looks towards his friends that were hiking through the salt bed to get to him. He sighs to himself and tries to suppress his roiling emotions... He knew they were unjustified, and would be considered overbearing and controlling, but he just couldn't help himself.

"Lu!-" Sarr'ina shouts happily with moisture collecting around her eyes, but is cut off before she can say anything else.

"ARE YOU GUYS CRAZY!" Luca suddenly roars, getting to his feet despite his exhausted condition before pointing an accusatory finger at them, "ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL YOURSELVES!? DO YOU KNOW HOW DANGEROUS FIGHTING THAT THING IS!?"

"You need to calm down, Luca-" Gil'ga tries to mediate but quickly finds himself under verbal assault as well.

"CALM DOWN!? I AM CALM!! IT'S YOU LOT WHO ARE RUNNING TO YOUR DEATHS AGAINST A GIANT-FUCKING MONSTER!..." he cries, stomping on the Scorpions hard carapace to hammer his point home. Afterwards, he loses the strength in his legs and falls onto his butt again.

Sarr'ina and Gil'ga look to want to support him but he just holds a hand out, "Didn't I tell you? I would deal with the problem alone. I would solve our salt crises without any of you risking yourselves... And yet? You guys wandering off into untamed lands for what reason!? To help me?-" he asks, his question meaning to be rhetorical, but Sarr'ina shouts the answer anyway.

"We thought something had happened to you! Sarr'bal returns with a heavily poisoned animal and there is no sign of you for days? What do you expect us to do, Lu? Let you die out here alone?"

He growls, "I EXPECT you to trust in my abilities! We've been training together for years, and yet you still don't think I'm able to handle myself!? Then what's the fucking point of everything!!?" he shouts, unconsciously airing not only his frustrations on the current situation, but the whole one Luca had found himself in.

He'd been taken away in his sleep by some magical force, depositing him in some god-forsaken continent that lacked any and all technology that he'd previously relied on.

Everything he knew was either thousands of miles away, or in an entirely different world altogether! He didn't want to be here, but he had no choice in the matter...

And so all of his frustration culminated in this shouting match... The fact that the person he relied on the most, respected the most, loved the most. Considered his efforts and subsequent abilities, not enough... It hurt more than he'd like to admit.

That wasn't all however, The thing that really exacerbated the problem was the fact that Sarr'ina, Gil'ga, and even Sarr'bal were incredibly close to being eviscerated by the monstrous scorpion. If he hadn't by a stroke of luck disabled its tail, they all would've died here today.

He releases a long sigh and looks down at his bloody hands. "Do you understand what would have happened if I hadn't gotten lucky and dropped that log on it?" he whispers, the silence of the cavern allowing the group to hear him regardless.

"We were doomed, we know this Luca. Look, I tried to persuade Sarr'ina to leave, but after seeing that bloodstain outside? No chance." Gil'ga explains. Luca's eyes slowly widening at that information.

Sarr'ina looks at Luca, the dam finally bursting as tears start falling from her eyes, "I thought you were dead Lu! I..."

Luca's hand finds its way above the hole in his leather clothing where the stinger had previously hit him. Ah... So it was his fault this happened, again. First, she almost dies at the hands of the frog, then by the scorpion... Was he cursed to harm those around him?

He shakes his head and sucks in his frustration, sliding off of the scorpion's corpse and landing with a groan beside Sarr'ina. She pulls him into a hug and he reciprocates. "I-I'm sorry..." he admits. He regretted that he'd said that to them, even if he did feel it was somewhat true.

"I'm sorry too!" Sarr'ina cries, tightening her hold on him.

Gil'ga sighs as he watches the duo, looking down at Sarr'bal and muttering, "You want a hug too?"

The wolf glances up at him before turning away, apparently wanting to investigate the giant scorpion instead of standing there awkwardly with Gil'ga.

"Fine, be like that." Gil'ga pouts and bends down, taking a handful of salt and tasting a few granules. "Mmm! Amazing!" he mutters.

Luca and Sarr'ina continue to hold one another, whispering apologies in an endless loop. While this is happening, Sarr'bal licked up some of the fluids dripping from the giant scorpions corpse, immediately coughing and hacking it up onto the salt bed.

Gil'ga pats the wolf on the back and raises a brow at the vomit on the floor, "Never seen you spit anything out before Bal, must be poisonous..." he turns to the 'love-birds', "Hey, you two. I think we need to remove any salt-stained by this monsters blood. I think it might be deadly to eat, even Sarr'bal had to puke it up." he says, gesturing to the gross puddle.

Luca sighs, "Really?... Hmm, we'll gather the others and store the tainted salt elsewhere... I think I know what we should do with it." he says, a small smile appearing on his face as a plan slowly formulates.

Sarr'ina looks to Gil'ga, "I will take Lu back and tell father what has happened. Can you stay here and protect this place?" she asks.

Gil'ga shrugs and nods, "If you wish Sarr'ina." he says before looking up at the ceiling of the cavern, "If we want to start using this salt, we should block the holes that may allow rain through. Bring enough carpenters to make it so.

Sarr'ina nods and tries to lead Luca toward the entrance, but he shakes his head and walks up to the scorpions corpse first, grabbing the handle of the stone blade still lodged in its head and wrenching it out. "Alright... Let's go home, Ina." he says sweetly.