Lariel rolled her eyes as she shrugged off her green jerkin. "Tief-ling," she overanunciated. "Basically, a person of demonic descent. A friend of mine told me that to be considered a tiefling, you have to be at least three times removed from the demo that sired your ancestor," she explained while wringing out the rainwater that soaked into the article of clothing. For such a quick shower, there sure was a hell lot of rain! The currently female "monster" snorted as she picked out the choicest kindling, and began to prepare the fire.
"Heh, and they call me a 'demon'," she muttered darkly, grabbing two chunks of flint and steel, and flipped them over in her hands to find the best spot to produce sparks. Lariel leveled a glare at Ranma as she put the damp jerkin on an outlying tree branch.
"At least I don't have a death warrant out for me," she replied snidely, ignoring Ranma's growl. "And don't even ask how I'm related to demons and all." She walked over to where Ranma was striking the stones together, trying to light the fire. "Need help?"
The weresmilodon snorted as the twigs she was lighting finally caught, and was beginning to smolder. "Nah, I'm fine," she replied, putting small bits of tree bark near the flaming twigs so that they would light. "Whaddya gonna do now?" she looking over at her companion.
Lariel shrugged as she tossed a few wood chips of her own into the young flames. "Doesn't matter, though I'll probably go on some other money making scheme again," she replied off handedly. "Of course, they either don't work out, or they do, and I get butted out of the deal because the others don't like me." THis, she said with a darker and angrier tone.
Ranma blinked. "Why didja say that ya needed the money more than everyone did?" Lariel looked at the werecat for a few moments, then back at the fire.
"Need to know basis; you don't need to know," was her response. After looking at her for a few moments, Ranma added larger chunks of wood to the fire, and walked over to his pack. After rummaging around for a bit, he returned with a metal pot and a canteen. "Gotta warm me up some water," she muttered.
Still staring at the fire, Lariel asked, "So what's with that 'curse' of yours, Ranma?"
At this, Ranma growled darkly. "My old man's fault; he decided ta drag me to this trainin' area that was cursed. Damn man didn't even pay attention, and he got us cursed," she replied. "Water changes me: cold to girl, an' warm to boy." After this explaination, Ranma just knew what was coming next.
"So which are you?" the tiefling asked, prompting a sigh from Ranma. They always asked that.
"I'm a guy, dammit," Ranma responded wearily, loping back into the woods to find some sticks to prop the pot on. A few minutes later, she returned with some large sticks, to find that Lariel had pulled some dried meat out of her own pack.
As the red furred beast pounded the thick sticks to each side of the fire, Lariel studied her, noting the tired movements of the girl. Though the were was nearly more than three feet taller than her and most definitely outclassed her in terms of weight, and was obviously stressed and lethargic, she could tell that Ranma was extremely dexterious. 'That explains why... he was hopping around like a hyperactive halfling,' the archer noted wryly. Not to mention that the girl was really attractive, not that she would admit that to anyone, nu-uh.
Ranma sat down next to Lariel after she finished pouring part of the contents of the canteen, and was surprised at Lariel offering her some of the meat. Not one to turn down a meal, however, she quickly grabbed it and began ripping it apart, ignoring the overly spiced taste. The tiefling just shook her head in amusement, and continued eating.
Quiet hung around for a while, lounging around the campfire, before Ranma's voice ushered it out. "Ya also said that ya were-"
"Elvish," the archer interuptted, before sighing. "You really have no clue, do you?" Beside her, Ranma twitched with annoyance.
"Hey, I've only been here for two months! They don't have halfcats or elvish or whatever back home!" she argued, causing Lariel's eyebrow to rise in interest.
"Wait, you're from Earth?" she asked, quite surprised. Quickly, she stuffed the surprise. "Well, it's not 'elvish', rather 'elves' that they call them. Basically, elves are long-eared snobbish bastards that like to act like they're better than everyone else, because they live for a few centuries longer than all the other people," she explained with much bitterness. At Ranma's questioning look, she continued, "I've only met two full blooded elves that I actually liked. All the other ones are..." she looked like she was searching for a word, then just grew frustrated and clammed up.
"Heh, I've known some people that acted kinda like that," Ranma responded after a short interlude of silence, "but they were wackos, anyways."
Lariel gave a brief chuckle. "Well, elves don't have the excuse of insanity. And they always try to pin things on me, because who I am." Ranma grinned mirthlessly.
"Same here. Course, I wasn't no 'boogyman' or whateva back then, but back home everybody blamed everything on me, like it was my fault," she added. Lariel looked over at her companion and chuckled.
"Wow, we're kind of similar, aren't we?" she asked, to which Ranma replied with a nod. A few moments passed before Lariel looked at the pot that was hanging over the fire. "How hot does the water need to be?"
THe weresmilodon leaned over the pot, then removed it from the fire. "This good," she muttered as she dumped the water on her, avoiding splashing the water on the campfire. Ranma closed her eyes as she felt the tingling that accompanied her changes.
When he open his eyes, he saw Lariel peering at him intently. "You know, that's actually pretty interesting," she muttered. His eyes narrowed.
"Ain't very interesting when you get called a pervert 'cause of it," he countered, ignoring the questioning look on Lariel's face.
Together, they watched the burning wood as it crackled. After tossing a few branches onto it, the elven tiefling turned to the weresmilodon. "Hey, you know how to change, right?"
Ranma gave her a puzzeled glance. "Yeah, with water." Lariel rolled her eyes.
"I mean as a werecat. You know, from human to hybrid to animal, right?"
The black furred cat's eyes widened. "I can do that?" he asked, wondering why he never found out about this before.
The archer fixed him with a incredulous stare, then sighed. "I guess not. The thing is, you could just hide out, if you knew how to change back to human form."
"Well, can ya teach me?" Ranma asked while leaning forward, obviously intrigued. He then winced as he was whacked in the head.
"Of course not! I'm not a were, you know!" Lariel shouted, clearly annoyed. "I have a... friend, who's a werepanther. I might be able to talk her into teaching you. Of course, there is the itty-bitty problem of you being the 'devourer of souls' and all, but..." she trailed off, noticing the stoic look on Ranma's face.
Ranma didn't say anything for a while. "... Ok, what's in it for ya?" he asked. Lariel stared at him for a while, then shook her head as she stood up.
"Not much, really. Don't have an actual reason to turn you in, and you're a decent fellow," she remarked, walking over to where she hung her shirt. She grabbed the shirt, then after checking to see if it was dry, put it on. "Just think of it as a 'thank you for not ripping me to shreds after I fired some entangle imbued arrows at you' gift," she deadpanned. She walked back over to the werecat, then stuck her hand out again. "Deal?"
Again, Ranma considered her hand for a while, then accepted it. "All right."
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(Posted Sun, 25 Jul 2004 05:43)
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