218 Vol. 4 pt. 21 Patch 4.0: Ferrets and Dogs (1/2)
Fenrir and Cassiel meet back up with Tabitha on The Shoebill's deck.
Oleander and Corwin are there as well.
”You know, Olly, I don't think I've seen you play a game this much since back in the day,” Fenrir says.
”Hey, Fenny, and yeah. If I'm not studying, I'm playing this now,” Oleander explains. ”It means more time to spend with Cor!” He nuzzles up against Corwin's side, getting a few headpats in return which reminds Fenrir of what he was just doing with Cassiel in reality.
Cassiel looks up at him, knowing what he's thinking, and narrows her eyes at him.
”You going to change your hair here, too?” Fenrir asks her.
”Ooh! Cass Cass changed her hair? What's it like now?” Oleander asks with excited eyes.
Fenrir looks at Cassiel to see if she'll answer it herself.
”It's… shorter now,” Cassiel answers.
”And super fluffy,” Fenrir adds on.
Cassiel elbows him in the side, but with hardly a fourth of the force she used to use.
”Hmm. I can't really imagine Cass Cass having fluffy hair,” Oleander says. ”You should totally change your hair here, too!”
”We'll see,” Cassiel replies. ”I – I don't think my real hair would match my style here. It's more…”
”Girly,” Fenrir says and gets elbowed again.
”And I don't really look like that here.”
”Did somebody say style?” Azalabulia says, striking a cool pose to show off her own style.
”Oi, didn't I tell ya to stop that? You're goin' to be single forever if you keep actin' so lame,” Tabitha calls Azalabulia out.
Azalabulia slouches her shoulders and says, ”S-sorry.”
Fenrir has only seen Azalabulia and Tabitha interact a few times ever since the former joined the crew, but Tabitha dominated each one of those interactions. Azalabulia just always loses her ability to act cool and confident around Tabitha.
”Pl-please don't hit me with your hammer again,” Azalabulia says with watery eyes.
Now Fenrir knows why Azalabulia is so submissive toward Tabitha.
”Stop overreactin'. That was an accident anyways,” Tabitha says, rubbing her forehead.
”Hey, Aza,” Oleander says, ”what can of style do you think would fit Cass Cass other than this whole holy thing?”
Azalabulia shies away from Tabitha and looks Cassiel over. ”A fallen angel!” Azalabulia says.
”You've got to go cuter and girlier since her new hair is like that, I guess.”
”H-hey, I never said that,” Cassiel says.
”A girly fallen angel!” Azalabulia tries.
”Still not cute enough,” Oleander says.
”I think she'd look cute as a dog girl,” Fenrir says and gets yet another elbow hitting his side, but this time with more force.
Azalabulia's eyes go wide. ”Yes! A – a hellhound! She could dye her hair red and black, cut it short, wear chains, black armor, and have a hellhound's ears and tail!” she suggests.
”I can't see Cass Cass like that at all,” Oleander says.
”Please,” Fenrir says, looking at Cassiel with puppy eyes. ”Become a hellhound girl.”
”No,” Cassiel says.
”You can talk about all of that some other time,” Tabitha says, walking up into the center of the group. ”This is more important. Me and Red figured out what we're goin' to need, and the sooner we get started, the better.”
Tabitha goes over everything that her and Rao discussed and planned.
One heck of a shopping list is the result.
They're going to have to chop down no insignificant number of trees for all the wood they need, will have to make dozens of trips from the mountain down the river to the city's future site, and then there are all the miscellaneous materials required.
They may not need that many different materials, but they need an absolute ton of the materials that they do need.
”Here,” Tabitha says, coming up from below deck.
She sets various tools onto the deck. They are makeshift pickaxes and axes.
”I made these earlier. They'll be enough to cut through some of these trees and to mine some stone, and I can upgrade them as we go. That should probably be one of your first jobs: go chop down some of them steel oaks. Probably goin' to take a couple of axes just to get through one tree, but I can make an even better axe with that wood, and then cutting down the rest won't be so hard,” Tabitha explains.
Azalabulia says, ”I will burn down the forests with my dark—”