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[The Centipede]

"Mm-hmm."

Dixie lifted her head from Lucy's shoulder, then yawned, covering her mouth.
They stayed quiet for a few more seconds before Dixie commented. "Should I shower or not..."

[A5G_Reaper]

"There's no water." Lucy said, matter-off-factly. "But we do have food, local specialty. Result of yesterday's scuffle, in fact. It's roasting back there."

He vaguely gestured at the campfire's location behind them.

[The Centipede]

"Oh, so that's what that was." Dixie replied, then a pause, and a head-scratching.



"Welp, I'm gonna go somewhere for a sec. Don't wait up for me." The girl with rather wild bed hair spoke.

And she walked away deeper into the woods west with her bag, leaving her thin mattress behind should Lucy want to lie down a little more.

[wierd]

The morning air was crisp but pleasing.  Jack set more bottles under more vines, and did his "water collection" trick.

The odd-couple then went wandering placidly around the grove, idly rooting for, reaching up for, or otherwise plucking eating and sharing wild foods like a pair of seasoned professionals on a date.

A tender dryad saddle there, immature pine pollen cones there, with tender shoots and stems. Perhaps not the most calorie dense, but it was filling enough to prevent Mama from rushing the camp and taking whatever was cooking there and hoarding it all to herself.

Jack had been discretely tucking some of the bounty over his shoulder and into his rucksack as they went, collecting a motley assortment of mushrooms and wild greens.  Quickly exhausting what was was safe to collect (and struggling to convince mama to leave food behind for the other animals), they moved inward toward the clearing in a circular spiraling path around the glade.  One by one, the other travelers roused from bed, and started eating whatever was cooking at the campfire, before the pair finally ran out of path to trace, taking a detour to collect the bottles Jack had set, and moving on.

In the central clearing, he had found a few more fun things to snack on; A few tall and stately plants with a large yellow flower concealing succulent shoots and long edible taproots, young and tender grass root rhizomes, white clover and wood sorrels. This was a very good morning.

The old goat was tending the fire, and dispensing cooked legs from the gliders they had killed the day before. Apparently, some time in the night the old coot had cleaned and prepped them, and set them over the fire.  It must have been after he had gone back to bed, because he did not remember a spit being set up.  Giving the silver haired old bastard a sideways glace, he reached into his sack and extracted his small frying pan, and set it on the heated rock over which the spit was suspended.

"Got something planned?" the red-eyed old fart asked with a wry toothy smirk and a raised eyebrow.

Jack just smirked back, dug in his bag and started extracting the various tree shelf mushrooms he had collected, slicing them with his knife, and gently placing them into the warming pan.

"I hope you brought enough for everyone..." was the wry response from the old goat.  Jack could not help but feel like he was being subtly snide, or perhaps condescending, underneath a heavy dose of sincerity, given the small stature of the pan he was using.

Not once did he say a single thing to the other old man. He just motioned mama to join him, seated on the side opposite this "Lucy" fellow, while taking glider legs, splitting them, and handing them over to her as she eagerly crunched on them-- between reaching into his bag and removing the various plants and leaves he had collected, slowly assembling them into something that resembled vegetable skewers, a strange looking salad, and the now juicy mushroom bits and stalks cooking away in the skillet.

[wierd]

The elf-girl-- (LINEA. Her NAME is LINEA he reminded himself curtly) wandered up to the fire and wrinkled her nose at the cooking glider legs, and the rest of the available food.  Clearly the city-elf was not used to roughin' it.

How's yer missin' person's case a goin? he asked, trying to make conversation as she sat down.

[Slyph]

Waking up from her pitiful slumber, Linea felt a mild headache as she tried to get a better grasp of her surroundings. It was because of the lack of sleep, and she hadn't eaten anything last night. Such a condition makes her mood seems to be more grumpy than usual. 

"I honestly surprised I could even sleep last night."

She scrutinized the campfire and find some meat and vegetables. Yuck not vegetables! and that meat looked like something that tried to kill them yesterday. She looked around, trying to find the person despicable enough to serve them one of this kind of thing. She might hate those creatures, but her revenge was not morbid enough to make her eat the thing she sworn to kill.

Her option was limited indeed. She opened her bag and find her thermos and a part of her daily ration. The water inside was cold, as expected but that can be conveniently solved by dipping her enchanted arrow to boil the water. A small bag of tea, some sugar and done.

The amenities were far from luxury but at least she had something to ease her sour mood. It was not a coffee but whatever! And the garlic bread, although taste a bit stale was definitely a better option than eating razor killer meat, or vegetables.

Just set tha' one. Not done ye'. Try tha' one. he offered politely, guiding her hand to one further in toward the center of the fire. The 'erster roots need time ta cook.

"Oh... Thanks." she murmured, accepting his suggestion, as she sat down.

How's yer missin' person's case a goin? he asked, trying to make conversation.

It was the hermit. Offering her some strange skewered vegetable that might actually not too strange considering her personal dislikes for green veggies. She didn't outright refuse it, but her gesture clearly shows that she wouldn't be taking it any time soon.

His next question was the last thing she expected to hear early in the morning. She knew it was important, but couldn't it wait for her finished her brunch first?

"I don't know," she said reluctantly. "My only leads was your bear's smelling, and it brought us here to find another lead."
 

[invul_nerable]

"Did somebody said 'missing person'?" The ironclad slayer interjected. He was holding multiple crab-looking legs in both hands, probably trying to offer it to both the hobo and the elf.

"I know a lot of things about searching missing people. When did this happen?" He asked.

[wierd]

Jack looked at the idiot.  Then back at Linea.

Should I tell 'im, or jus' ask mama to git started? he asked nonchalantly.

[A5G_Reaper]

"Do take a look at the bodies, see if you can identify anything. Though I believe they're part of the previous mercenary group."

Lucy nonchalantly interjected, sipping from his metal flask. It seemed cold enough to condense droplets on the surface.

"Speaking of, what should we do about those? Burying them somewhere nearby is an option, doubt their friends would want to come back to retrieve them."

[wierd]

I would sugges' burnin' 'em. jack responded flatly.  Quarantine would prevent unwitting scavengers from digging up the still meaty bits, and ingesting them.

[Remuri]

Laemmle has finally rose up from her bed roll, still half awake, has a bed hairs on her and wandering her head from her surrounding. Wiping her eyes and yawn, regaining her fully consciousness. Smelling something good nearby her.

"Eh? What are those smells. Something good." She said.

[Slyph]

"Did somebody said 'missing person'?" The ironclad slayer interjected. He was holding multiple crab-looking legs in both hands, probably trying to offer it to both the hobo and the elf.

"I know a lot of things about searching missing people. When did this happen?" He asked.

"A month ago." answered Linea in monotone, not expecting a concrete solution from the ironclad maniac but she she answered anyway.

"Do take a look at the bodies, see if you can identify anything. Though I believe they're part of the previous mercenary group."

Lucy nonchalantly interjected, sipping from his metal flask. It seemed cold enough to condense droplets on the surface.

"Speaking of, what should we do about those? Burying them somewhere nearby is an option, doubt their friends would want to come back to retrieve them."

Linea approached the corpses the old man mentioned and reluctantly examine the carcasses one by one. She couldn't tell if they are women or men, the bodies were too disfigured, headless and as if the trees were growing inside them, eating their flesh and bone, kinda reminded her to the old granny's stories of people who eat guava and its seeds.

She had a strong reading of magical energy coming from what supposed to be the part of their spine. there were no tags on them. Obviously. But she had a strong hunch that these bodies did not belong to the team she was looking for. Let's see what the Hermit and his bear had to say about this.

"How's your bear, Mr Jack? Are they matched with the smell?"

[A5G_Reaper]

"There was a few personal effects on one of them. Small pouch containing rock salt and wolf fang, worn around the neck. Who got it yesterday?"

Lucy quipped from the side.

[wierd]

Lemme see the bag again, an' we'll see.

Linea shifted her weight to dig for the leather bag, then returned it back to Jack. He nodded, then rubbed Mama, who seemed to be expecting another glider leg, rather a leather bag.  She looked at him curiously, and he looked into her eyes.

She was pure confusion, with a fading sense of delight.  She clearly was enjoying the cooked glider legs, and had no idea what he wanted her to do with the inedible object.

He had dreaded having to tell her about the creatures they had killed the day before; He didn't want her to be afraid of other humans any more than she already was, as he knew she felt the other travelers were all inscrutably insane aside from him. He really didn't have a choice now, if he wanted to get her help.

"apology", "More food (later)(I promise)" combined with "bad nature-things (are/were humans)"

Mama's perception of her human not being insane took a hit, but he continued after shaking his head.

"She (beside me) looking (for missing friends)" and "Thing (of missing friend)" with a sense of urgency, transitioned to "Smell (this thing) (and bodies) (please)" blended with pleading.

Mama responded with confusion and curiosity "why not (smell it yourself?)"


That was an altogether too common reaction when asking a wild creature to smell something out for you. It was like asking a person to help you find something painted bright red with glitter on it, with a magical glow. They will ask you why you cant just find something like that yourself.  Nevermind, that the answer is because you are functionally blind.

He breathed a sigh, and tried to explain how human noses were just plain terrible, and could only detect the strongest of smells.

The expected incredulity washed through him, followed by sympathy and pity-- but she agreed to go check.  ... If there was more food.

He agreed, and let her sniff the pouch.


Mama waddled over to the corpses and sniffed on them, first very timidly, then intently. She looked back at Jack a few times during investigation, seeking support.  She had doubted his claims about there being "human-smell" inside, but after a closer sniff, she no longer doubted his sanity.  Now she wanted to know how he knew, without a good nose.  He told her that his nose is bad, but his eye is VERY GOOD. She found that very amusing, remarking how it must be terrible to have lost one, if he needed them that much. It was the only bit of humor in her though.  She found the idea that the tree-thing was once a human, (like hers), terrifying.  It meant that her human was very much in danger here, and he needed to be safe.  She wanted to leave very intently.

He pressured her, and she answered.  Not the one who owned the bag.

He looked away from her as he started to get up, to go join her, as he spoke. Not the one yer a' lookin' fer.  He stretched and leaned on his stick.  I'll ask mama to keep a nose out fer 'em, but these poor bastards ain't yer missin' persons.

He grabbed a handful of the remaining glider legs, and hobbled off toward mama, after handing the leather bag back to Linea.

I hope ye find 'em. he said, as he hobbled away from the fire and further up the clearing, to meet up with the bear.

[invul_nerable]

"There was a few personal effects on one of them. Small pouch containing rock salt and wolf fang, worn around the neck. Who got it yesterday?"

Lucy quipped from the side.

The ironclad slayer who was applying something crystalized in his crab-like food suddenly stops. "Youf mein dis?" He muffled. "I tofk sum fwum d wierdo" he pointed at Dr. Doak