Winter 1, 519AV
continued from here
continued from here
"I have many bones. Little meat." The bat replied, well aware that any animal like her would want something thick with muscle and fat. Ines licked the remnants of the grilled pineapple off of her fingers, showing off her own fangs. They were different than Nya's - rather than piercing and tearing, her fangs were like knives, razor-sharp for precision slicing and scraping.
"I am Ines." The bat's Myrian accent still coated her Common, something she had noticed starkly the more she met people. "You name?" She asked, before feeling the sudden heat of anger emanating from her companion. She followed her gaze, eyes landed on Indigo in a vision of dual disrespect.
"You do not like the other? Why?" Indigo reminded Ines of home, but the good, nostalgic bits, like campfires and storytelling. "I have no trouble with her. Maybe Caiyha is enough." Ines presented her arm and the jungle that came with it. She didn't blink at the feral, feisty kelvic's snack. Non-kelvics had a tendency to lie or pretend, and now the bat wasn't sure if Indigo had just been pretending to be nice to her when she didn't mean it. She thought that the gift of Bala's Bowl proved otherwise, but she also trusted the eyes of a predator.
"Ashta? My fault. I smell like them." She reeked like the Ashta on most days, but she didn't consider it a bad smell. It was an earthy smell that mingled with all of the other scents of the mill. Sun-bleached, salty, woody and dusty. She studied the other woman's face at her weather comment. Ines never quite got the hang of understanding the weather, at least no more than the taste of the storm before it landed. Or that this half of the year was much wetter than the other half. The bat sat up in her chair, pulling a leg up and wrapping her arm around it.
"I like no fire over big fire." She replied to the invitation, giggling. Her laugh was much higher pitched than the other woman's. The witch had no interest in ruining anyone's things, though. Not yet anyway.
When Nya left abruptly, so did the bat. Ines had a much easier time dodging people with her smaller size, skipping past Kamilla and the strangers who had shown up and immediately started drinking. She didn't meet a whole lot of other kelvics - this one wasn't getting away that easily.
She found the kelvic by the kitchen. She was much faster than the tiny bat, but you could see far down the beach, and the kitchen was not far.
Ines had no idea what to talk about, either. She didn't think she was very interesting, but maybe it would be easier now that they were away from the crowd. "You want see cool place?" She blurted out, disregarding her earlier lessons from Randal in favor of traveling there in her animal form. If this Kelvic had lived in the jungle for so long as she looked, she'd have no trouble, either. "I bring you there."
The vampire bat had been dying to show someone else Bala's Bowl. Without Adeliz to share it with, and Indigo being inconsistent, she hadn't yet traveled back. But she dreamed of it, and of the home she could make of it, and she suspected that anyone who could spend seasons alone in the jungle would appreciate it the same way she did. She waited until Nya finished eating and if she would agree. If she did, she would make her way to the treeline, half-naked and ready to shift as soon as they made it inside enough that the canopy would hide any blinding sunlight.
wc: 616