Walking head of the two whom he’d helped rescue from the Narshe caves, thanks to the help of a few of what were probably the last of the Moogles, Locke was finally on the road to fulfilling his mission...
“Hey, can’t we stop and get something to eat first?” The petite redhead shouted. “I’m hungry!”
Locke's eyebrow twitched. And a long road it promised to be. The green-haired woman said barely a peep, and the redhead just wouldn’t shut up!
“Hello? Are you listening?” Lina spoke up again. “I’m getting hungry, and I’m pretty sure Terra is too!” The short sorceress added as she thumbed over at the taller girl.
Said taller girl remained mostly silent, though it was obvious she paid a lot of attention to the shorter girl. So that left Locke with the hyperactive one for conversation.
Lovely...
“Sorry girls,” Locke said. “But we can’t stop here...” he motioned to the area around him. “We’re out of Narshe’s frozen North, and it’s warming up. There will be more Fiends out, so we best step-up the pace!”
“Well, I can’t step-up the pace!” Lina shouted. “First off, my ankle still hurts from that fall, even with the help of that Tonic. And more importantly, I didn’t have dinner AND we never had breakfast! You just got us up and had us get going! I’M FAMISHED!”
Rolling his eyes, Locke sighed and turned around to face the irate redhead. “Look here, Missy-”
“Lina!” Lina repeated. “My name is Lina Inverse, you stupid thief.”
“TREASURE HUNTER!” Locke shouted. “Not a bandit, not a brigand, not a buccaneer and certainly NOT a thief! I’M A GOD-DAMN TREASURE HUNTER!!!”
Locke then winced as he saw Terra was cowering back away from him slightly. “Wait, I didn’t mean to scare-”
“Now look what you’ve done, you insensitive jerk!” Lina shouted, shaking a fist at him. “If it wasn't for the fact you’re Arvis’ friend, I wouldn’t have anything to do with you!”
Now Locke raised an eyebrow. “What about the fact I saved both of you from being hung as Imperial Spies?”
“Details, details...” Lina waved it off.
Terra for her part inched away from the two. She really liked Lina, but she was loud and scary when she got mad, which seemed to happen a lot around Locke, who didn’t seem as such a bad guy.
“Details?” Locke asked, his eye twitching. “You know, you DON’T have to come with us!” He shouted. “I was only sent to go and find her!” He pointed a finger over to Terra. “You, my dear, I saved as a favor to my good friend Arvis. So frankly, you’re not needed here! You can vamoose! Go onto greener pastures! Join the Empire for all I care! You aren’t a part of this!”
“Like nine hells I’m not!” Lina shouted as she went to stand over by Terra. “I was the one running around trying to save her. Hell, if it weren’t for me, poor Terra would have been caught earlier and probably dead now.” She frowned at Locke. “So I’ve invested a lot into this too. Wherever she goes, I GO!” Not to mention that Terra knew magic, and Lina was somewhat interested in learning more about this realm.
Locke sighed in frustration once again. “Look, will you stop giving me problems and-”
*GRRRRUUUUMBLE*! Went the rather loud noise of a growling stomach, disrupting Locke’s train of thought.
The treasure hunter slowly turned to Lina.
“Hey!” Lina shouted in indignation. “It wasn’t me!”
Slowly, Locke and Lina turned to look towards the green-tressed woman standing some ways away from them.
Terra blushed in embarrassment at the looks she was receiving. “... Sorry.” Truth was, the girl was very hungry, but she had kept quiet until now, trying to avoid starting another argument between these two.
Placing her hands on her hips, Lina look pointedly at Locke. “So what now, Mr. Treasure Hunter? You gonna let your ‘main focus’ starve to death?"
Sagging his shoulders, Locke sighed in defeat. Okay, at least Lina wasn’t calling him a thief. “Fine, fine. We’ll break for a small lunch...” he grumbled as he sat down where he was, taking off his backpack. He opened it up and reached in.
Lina clapped her hands together. “Hooray! So what’s on the menu?”
“Hope you don’t mind beef jerky and tack biscuits...” Locke answered. It was one of the few things he could carry that didn’t spoil easily.
Lina raised her eyebrow. Somehow, the meagerness to the meal didn’t surprise her. “That’ll do,” she said as she took the large piece of dried meat and a hard biscuit. She motioned for Terra to come over to her.
Terra blinked and looked at Lina in confusion. “Weren’t you hungry?”
“You’re hungrier. First round goes to you,” Lina said as she motioned for the other girl to take said biscuit and dried meat slab.
Terra hesitantly looked at the food. “Only if you take half of it. It’s your food.”
“Oh, he’s got more...” she looked over at Locke. “Right?”
“Dnn’t gnow wut yer tlkn’ bought,” Locke said through his piece of jerky. Lina noticed his backpack was now quite empty of food-stuffs.
“HEY!” Lina shouted. “Haven’t you ever heard of ladies first!?”
Swallowing his mouthful of jerky, Locke looked pointedly at Lina. “Who’s a lady?”
Gritting her teeth, Lina saw red for a moment, but realized the futility of it... turning to Terra, she gripped the large piece of meat tightly with both hands and broke it neatly in half. “Here,” she said, offering Terra the other half of the dried meat.
“Thank you,” Terra said with a smile at the girl.
Lina couldn’t help herself, and smiled back as Terra took the other half. Then, with her smile on her face, Lina was about to take a bite into her bit of jerky...
“SQUEEEE!!!”
When all of a sudden, from out of the ground popped a trio of... cabbages?
And then from within those cabbages, came...
...
Bunnies?
“Shit! LEAFERS!” Locke shouted. While the Leafers were the weakest of all known Fiends, if you got enough of them in one place, they could be a hassle!
“What’s wrong?” Lina asked, genuinely confused. “They’re just little-”
*CHOMP*!
Lina blinked her eyes. She looked towards her hand to see only the BAREST piece of jerky. Looking back down, she saw the Leafer, wide-mouthed, and chomping down on her food.
Lina just stared numbly as the trio of lapine-vegetation gathered around the large piece and munched into her meal. “My... food...” the redhead said slowly, in disbelief. “That was... my... food...” Lina started to shake.
Terra looked at the redhead and took a couple of steps back.
Her eyes flashing red, Lina raised her hands quickly. “Origin of all power, Glittering, burning red flame!” She then made a motion with her arms. A slight arcing of fire appearing for the briefest moment before making a small rod. “FLARE ARROW!!!”
Lina then let go with her right arm, letting go of the bolt of fire, which separated into three different bolts...
*FWHOOM*!
“Crap!” Locke coughed out, raised his hand as the smoke and dirt which just shot out from every which way from the impact. How the hell did that little girl do this!?
Terra stared at her friend in wide-eyed wonder.
When it was over, there stood Lina, laughing in victory over the three charred husks that had been the fanged cabbage-rabbits. “And now, for LUNCH!” Lina shouted as she stabbed into one with her spear. Lifting it off from the ground, Lina brought it to her lips and took a rather loud crunchy bite out of it.
Locke just gawked at Lina. “You’re EATING the Leafer!?”
“Well yeah,” Lina said around a full mouth. “Roasted nicely. Not any extra flavor, but no different from eating rabbit.”
“But, they’re not...” Locke sighed as the girl continued eating the deceased Fiend.
Terra hesitantly approached Lina and looked down at what the other two. “Are they good?”
Swallowing a rather large bite, Lina nodded her head. “Yeah! It’s a little on the burnt side, and could use some spice... but when you’re hungry...” Lina said no more as she took ANOTHER large bite out of the Leafer, making sure to go for the guts. The guts were the BEST part!
Terra nodded and reached down to take a fiend and started eating as well. At first she made a face at the taste, but it was still food.
“...Nuts... they’re both nuts...” Locke said as he stared at the two women eating fried Fiend.
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(Posted Tue, 25 Jul 2006 00:09)
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