Ah, Pinnacle Rocks. A relaxing, gorgeous location surrounded by moss covered trees, rushing water, lush, green grass, fog, and various cliffs and rocky spires. Grass crunched under boot, shoe, and paw as everyone stepped out of their respective tents. A pale blue rat, clad in lightweight, barely colored, baggy sleep clothes, an orange ribbon tied to her brown tail, groggily applied pressure to her lower back, sighing a sigh of relief as it gave a few sharp pops.
"Sleep well?" A small, tiny rather, black mage asked as he stood beside the tall Burmecian woman, her tail swishing softly. The tiny black mage, clad in an azure oversized sleep shirt, the lower hem of which is obscuring his bare feet, nervously fidgeted with the brim of his tawny, conical hat. The tall woman looked down at him, a soft smile on her sharp face as his gentle, nervous, glowing gold eyes locked with her own emerald irises.
"Not really." She replied as a man stepped out of a nearby tent, clad only in white long underwear, repeating an apology as he moved to lean up against a nearby tree. With the man now behind the tree, the sound of clanking iron could be heard. "I think I slept on a rock all night. Not to mention a certain Zidane Tribal was snoring so loudly last night that I got little sleep to begin with." A blonde boy, a bit slight of stature, with a long, slender, ashe blonde tail with a slightly tufted tip stepped out of a different nearby tent, shirtless and clad in only baggy, teal pants. He yawned, his tail lazily swaying behind him. He stretched as he looked at the tall Burmecian woman, his grey-blue eyes glinting a bit mischievously.
"I didn't snore." He retorted, a smirk on his face as he tied some of his ashe blonde hair into a ponytail.
"Then who did?" She replied, giving him a disgruntled look. "If it wasn't you, Zidane, then who? Steiner?" From behind a nearby tree, a peach skinned hand pops out from behind it, forefinger extended skyward.
"I sleep on my stomach so I don't snore and disturb Her Royal Highness!" The person to whom the hand belongs to said in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Oh, just can it, Rusty." Zidane groaned as he stepped towards the communal water jug. Carefully gripping the ladle, he tilted his head back and poured some cool, crisp water into his mouth, making sure to not let the metal ladle touch his lips. The sound of someone balking came from behind the tree. Zidane chuckled as he set the ladle back into the jug.
"Yo, Freya." He called out as he crouched down beside the former campfire, placing fresh tinder and wood on top of the stone surrounded pile of ash; with it being so foggy, starting a fire by hand would be a major pain, doable, but a pain. At least the tiny black mage could summon fire. "You want anything? I'm making breakfast for myself and wanted to see if you wanted any."
"I don't trust your ability to cook anything more than just burnt toast and sooty cheese-eggs." Freya said with a slight huff as she grabbed the water ladle and got a drink for herself. Zidane feigned being seriously offended, but only for a second.
"Well, excuuuse me, oh high and mighty dragoon. First off, we don't have rations like that, we've got salt pork, dried mushrooms, pickled limes, and hard tack." Zidane stated as he motioned for the small black mage to draw near, a distaste in his voice at the vinegar soaked pickled limes and tooth chipping hard tack. "I was just going to boil some river water and try to turn some of the hard tack into a kind of porridge. Maybe, if I wanna be a masochist, I'll add some of the lime flesh or salted pork. Vivi, would you please?" He gestured at the pile of wood before him, and leaned back a bit as Vivi, trying to be fancy, snapped his bare fingers just as he summoned fire. Fire leapt from his hands and onto the wood, setting it alight as a new camp fire. Zidane nodded a thank you.
"You, of all wretched people, need to eat those limes! I dare say you don't want scurvy." The figure from behind the tree called out.
"Oh, wow, somebody's got some smarts in that iron-capped skull of yours!" Zidane retorted, a mildly condescending tone to his voice. More balking from behind the tree. Freya gave him a smack upside the back of the head.
"At least try to be nice to Steiner." She hissed as Zidane rubbed the sore spot on the back of his head without comment.
"Y-you're welcome." Vivi stammered, having finally spoken up, mildly drawing attention away from Steiner as he moved to head back into his tent.
"You want some of my breakfast?" Zidane offered as he reached for the nearby ration crate.
"N-no thank you, I don't feel too well eating so soon after I wake up." Vivi shyly replied, staring at his feet. Sharply, a hand patted him between the shoulder blades, startling him into looking up at the hand's owner. It was Zidane, giving him a sympathetic look as he held a pair of hard tack pieces in his right hand. Freya, taking advantage of the open ration box, grabbed a piece of hard tack, snapped it in two, and wedged a piece of the insanely salty salt pork inbetween, making a disgusting breakfast sandwich. Both. Zidane and Vivi gave Freya looks of disgust, but otherwise said nothing.
"Alrighty. Let me know if you do." He stated as he placed the two pieces of hard tack on a nearby rock. Quickly, he popped up from his seat and reached for the pot, only for his attention to shift as the sound of rustling wool cloth could be heard. From a nearby tent, its patchwork exterior standing out from the surroundings, a maiden, clad in a (mildly) fancy, white nightgown, stepped tiredly out, her long, dark brown hair in rather messy rivulets, indicating a less than optimal sleep last night. Boy, despite that, she sure was gorgeous... "G-good morning, Dagger!" He called out, stammering a hair as he caught himself getting too distracted by her beauty that he almost dropped the cast iron pot on his bare feet. He smiled a toothy grin at her, now gripping the pot's handle a bit firmer. Before Dagger had time to look over at her shorter, ashe blonde companion, the sound of clanking came out from behind the nearby tree; it's Steiner. Quickly, he ran, stepping between her and Zidane. She looked over just in time to see Steiner, red-faced and hunched over a bit, to her left.
"Princess Garnet!" He said in a relieved and excited tone. "Would you like me to make you some breakfast? I could go hunt for something, I-"
"No need, but I deeply appreciate the offer." She replied softly, pausing to yawn. "I think, given the weather right now, something warm for breakfast would be nice, so I'm going to ask if Zidane'll share." A grunt came from over where Zidane was resided, having just sat down and now busy sifting through the ration box. The excitement he got from the idea of being able to do something for Garnet, thus insuring she's close by, had made his tail wag furiously, but, to insure he wasn't creating a dirt cloud behind him with his tail, he had to sit on it. His tail tip still tried to wag, though.
"I would love to make you breakfast!" He told her as she tiredly nodded, adjusting the bundle of orange clothes that he just now noticed she was carrying.
"Thank you." She replied. " While you're busy with that, I'm going to go take a bath. Just so you all know where I "went kapoof" to." And with that, she stepped into the fog. Zidane was now at an impasse. Either sneakily follow her, maybe get a chance to see her shirtless for once, or stay and cook breakfast for both himself and her. His stomach voiced its opinion with a noticeable growl before his brain came to any conclusion. After sifting through the ration box enough, his bare fingers grazed the lip of a paper sack, just what he was looking for. Carefully, he pulled the small sack out if the ration box, revealing a poorly drawn mushroom on it. The sack's contents, upon examination, are of the common puffball mushroom, presliced, alongside some small straw mushrooms and woodear mushrooms, with all of them being dry. It was Vivi's idea to grab the bag, and, according to him, a good mushroom can make even just straight boiled bog water palatable. The sack was delicately placed by the two pieces of hard tack Zidane had selected earlier.
As he stood, reaching for the pot handle, he scanned his surroundings, planning how to best slip past the tents with the pot, which is likely to swing with each step. Sure enough, as he began to walk past Freya's tent, the pot swayed, tugging at his arms as he did so. It wasn't too heavy to carry, but due to the uncomfortable handle, it had a tendency to sway, the uncomfortable handle digging into his pale, bare hands. Once he approached the river he was looking for, he leaned down and gently used the pot to scoop up a half potful of water. Carefully, he stood back up, paying particular attention towards the water within the pot, making sure to not spill any. Slowly, he slipped by Vivi's tent, internally wincing as some of the water sloshed out and wet it. Just a few more steps, and, with a sigh of relief, he placed the pot on the fire. As he waited for it to boil, his tail swishing softly behind him, he sat, taking his Mage Mashers out of his tent just prior. With one blade in his hand, he grabbed an old rag from the ration box and dipped it lightly into the now simmering pot of water, careful not to burn his fingers.
Delicately, the rag was slid along the blade, cleaning it thoroughly, before moving onto the other one. Satisfied that the Mage Mashers were clean, he set one on a flat stone, then placed the hard tack on top, then the other blade, and wrapped it up in the cloth. Steadying his hand, he slipped one of his gloves over it, and, with a mighty swing, brought his fist down upon the fabric-hard tack-Mage Masher sandwich. A resounding crunch from between the blades drew everyone's attention for a bit, but as they watched Zidane dump the now pulverized hard tack into the pot, returned to whatever they were doing. Next, he swiped a spoon from the ration pot, smiling a bit as he watched the water begin to thicken as the hard tack crumbs swelled. Grabbing the mushroom sack with his gloved right hand, he carefully shook some of the mushrooms into the pot, just enough to add flavor, texture, and color. Then, all that was left, was to wait and stir every so often to avoid burning. Slowly, but surely, this strange, mushroomy porridge began to look more and more edible as the hard tack and dried mushrooms absorbed more moisture.
The sound of footsteps approaching him drew him out of the daze he was in. How long had he been stirring the pot? He couldn't tell, but the pot's contents were starting to smell fragrent, anyhow. Glancing over his shoulder, he smiled at who he saw: Garnet, hair lightly damp, taking a seat beside him. She smiled in return and, while Steiner gave the two a worried look from behind.
<She's with that street urchin...!> Steiner thought to himself, internally fretting about how Zidane would treat her. He watched with bated breath as Zidane's tail mildly curled in the direction of Garnet. It didn't touch her, but it was within inches of her ass. Freya, seeing the scene unfold, how Zidane was trying hard to hide how much he liked being with Garnet as he served her a bowl of the "porridge", making sure to give her some of the mushroom bits, and how Garnet, most likely unbeknownst to herself, seemed pleased to be in Zidane's presence, to how Steiner seemed to be having an internal conniption on how the two teens interacted on amicable terms. With a strict goal in mind, a plan, if you will, she strode towards Steiner. Though she had only been fully dressed for about thirty minutes, with her original plan to not do laundry today, she wouldn't mind having to change out of her then soiled dragoon gear if it meant getting Steiner to leave them alone.
"Hey." She spoke, startling the worrisome knight and making him more aware of his current surroundings. "You. Me. Sparring. How's 'bout it?"
"I... I need to-" Before he could finish, she grabbed him by the arm, her spear in her free hand, and dragged him away from camp. His protests, though polite, were occasionally cut off by Freya insisting that Garnet needs companions her age and that Steiner should lay off a bit.
"You're a bit suffocating, you know." She said as she dragged him further into he fog, her voice getting fainter the farther from camp they got. "I bet Dagger has little to no friends, and she could probably use a new one, anyhow. Besides, Zidane's not that bad. He's just not that good at socializing around newly met women. I should know, it-" She was out of earshot now, and so was Steiner. The only sound in the fog thick air was of spoons scraping wooden bowls as the two teens ate.
"You sure this is just hard tack and mushrooms?" Dagger asked, still in disbelief at what she was tasting.
"Yeppo." Zidane replied, a hand in front of his semi-full mouth as he did so. He swallowed. "Two pieces of hard tack and about a dozen sizeable mushroom pieces in straight river water."
"Well, it tastes better than the sum of its parts, that's for sure."
"Th-thank you." Zidane stammered nervously as he rubbed the back of his head with his dominant hand; compliments from women are a new thing to him, kinda, so he was unsure about how to really respond. "I just thought my "Emergency Gruel" was just that, decent emergency food."
"I'd say it's better than decent. I'd say it's good." A smile curled at the edge of both their lips at what Dagger said. Just as she put the last bite she had in her mouth, she nearly spat it out as something soft grazed her ass and right hip. Zidane quickly looked at her as she coughed, ready to jump to her aid as soon as possible.
"Are you ok?" He asked her, worried. Dagger, though, as she took a drink from the communal water jug, glanced over to see that it was his tail that touched her. As soon as she noticed, he flicked it over to his left and away from her. "Sorry..." He mumbled as he shoveled the last of his gruel into his mouth before collecting dirty dishes. Before Dagger could say anything, naught even a comment on the matter, he got up and left to clean said dishes, his tail oddly and uncharacteristically still as he walked.
The two didn't really interact that much for the rest of the morning, instead taking the time to explore on their own. Zidane, though, was more interesting in climbing trees than actually exploring the land.
"Man, I almost made her choke..." Zidane mumbled sorrowfully, still embarrassed by what transpired at breakfast. He sighed as he began to scale a nearby tree. "Boy, do I feel awful. Why do I feel so lonely right now?" He mused as he situated himself on top of a thick branch, his lithe frame easily supported. As he scanned his surroundings, he froze, for the sound of gentle humming could be heard. Quickly, Zidane, despite being eight feet in the air, tried to conceal himself on the branch by getting as flat against it as possible. Slowly, but surely, the humming drew near. With baited breath, he waited for any sign of the voice's owner. To his pleasant surprise, it was just Dagger. "Bingo." He hummed to himself as he wrapped his tail around a nearby, more flexible branch, the crushed moss staining his tail a bit green.
Dagger was blissfully unaware of what went on above her, instead taking time to inspect a blossom that was by her feet. The delicate flower, a white rain lily, had some dew from within. The dew had a strange reflection, leaving her perplexed.
"What am I looking at...?" Dagger mused as she tried to identify what she was looking at. Meanwhile, just above her, Zidane had a plan he intended on executing. Now standing on the thicker branch, his tail firmly wrapped around the more elastic one, he slowly leaned forward, letting gravity pull him down. Just then, Dagger spotted a face in the dew. A familiar, blondie-blue eyed face.
"Ooh, a fair maiden of Pinnacle Rocks!" Zidane called out, startling her enough to look up. Dagger instinctively shrieked just as Zidane was completely upside down, his face only a foot from hers. Before she could do much more than shriek in shock, he reached out and grabbed her by the shoulders, his palms on the tops of her shoulders. Using the strength of his tail, as well as the tree branch's natural position and flex, to pull them both up rather swiftly.
"Zidane!" She called out as the branch returned to its original position.
"'Tis I." Zidane replied, pride in his chest and a smirk on his lips. As the two were pulled up onto the bigger branch, he carefully wrapped his arms around her waist, which was much more secure than gripping her by the tops of her shoulders. Once all momentum left them, Zidane guided Dagger to sit with him on the branch, so that her back was in front of his chest. His legs dangled off the sides of the branch, his tail wrapped tightly around it for support, as Dagger squirmed for freedom. One squirm too many and the duo almost lost balance. "Woah. Hang on and quit squirming, please, or it will be "Twas I"."
"O-ok, but what in the blazes made you perform a stunt like... That?!" Dagger questioned a bit harshly as Zidane tried to pull her closer. Of course, she wouldn't budge on her own.
"I dunno." He replied as he went to rub her upper arms instead; hey, at least she wasn't rejecting his touch. "I guess..." It was clear to her that he was avoiding the topic, as if embarrassed by the truth. From below, a shocked and worried Steiner could be seen, having been drawn by her earlier screams.
"Princess?! Princess Garnet?!" He called out, not thinking to look up, before dashing off in some random direction yelling. "I'll save you, Your Royal Highness!" As Steiner disappeared into the fog, Dagger sighed a sigh of relief and leaned back, glad to be rid ofcthe overbearing, protective oaf, at least just for a bit. Upon leaning back, she flushed garnet at the realization that Zidane was still behind her; had she gotten used to his bare arms draped over her shoulders that quickly?
"Heh, glad the Tin Man isn't here to stop ya?" Zidane asked as he gently held her close, a soft, single note hum escaping his lips. Feeling the warmth of Dagger against him felt nice; he'd wrap his tail around her if it wasn't being used to keep them from falling off the branch.
"I guess you could say that..." Dagger softly replied as she peered over her right shoulder to look at him. Is that a bit of blush on the cheekbones? "Sorry to break the flow of conversation, but may I ask what's got you so affectionate today? You haven't answered yet."
"Hmmm..." He mused as he rested his chin on her right shoulder. "I... I genuinely don't truly know... Maybe it's because I strangely feel... Lonely?" Dagger nodded at his reply, which seemed sincere. "You aren't immediately rejecting my touch, which is a plus."
"Yeah..." Dagger sighed, loneliness soaking her tone ever so slightly, unlike Zidane, who hid it remarkably well. "I'm just feeling homesick and lonely, tis all... But, you're the first to see me as a regular person, not some royal on a pedestal. Not to mention... I just want something quiet, comforting, perhaps, to break up the chaos that's gone on so far." She leaned further back against him, sighing again as he closed his eyes. "I just want someone to not judge me for being a princess, is all... You know what, why am I telling you this? You'll tease me about this, I'm sure."
"No I won't." Zidane briefly opened his left eye as he spoke. "I told you I feel lonely. I don't look lonely, and that's because I don't want to look lonely. I confided in you, as did you." Silence gripped the duo, but before with spoke again, she curled up to her right, and closed her eyes, still against him. Gently, his right hand went to stroke her hair, earning a pleased hum from her. With his left hand, he drew a dagger from his pocket, and carefully etched "Zidane & Garnet" into the branch, before he sheathed the dagger and fell asleep, curled around her.
