28 Kobold Hunt Day 1 (1/2)
”I'm sleepy.” Complained Yami as she shuffled her feet along the dirt road. The expedition left town around 6 hours prior. Although the expedition had just started moving again after stopping for lunch, Yami was sick of walking. Contrary her usual self, Yami was the most vocal member of their group of eight about how tired her feet were. ”My feet hurt. Carry me.” She held out her hands to Kalin. With her normal expressionless face, she locked eyes with him without blinking.
Kalin's response caused some of the other members of the group to be caught off guard, ”Even if you make that sad puppy face, Artemis said you have to walk by yourself.” None of the others noticed the slightest difference between her normal expression and her current one, but apparently Kalin could distinguish between the two. Well, it would be more accurate to say that Vin and Belinda caught off guard so, at least. Elric didn't seem to care, Iola's face was covered by her cloak, and Rain had a perpetual smile on her face.
Changing her attack pattern, Yami turned her lazy eyes toward her sister's, for she knew Artemis would crack faster than Kalin. ”Please, my feet will fall off.” Unfortunately for Yami, her younger sister wasn't going to budge on the matter.
”No, you agreed that you'd walk the entire way. Besides, we might not get another opportunity like this quest if we butcher it. Just be good the next few days and we'll take some time off from adventuring.”
Yami walked with her head down in depression. Not even ten meters later, her head popped up as if a bolt of inspiration was sent directly to her mind from heaven. ”I'm older,” she explained, ”so I make the rules?” Somehow, while trying to come off as authoritative, her statement bold transformed into a question by the time it was finished.
”Did you say something?” Artemis responded with a glare on her face.
Upon seeing her sister's facial expression, Yami did a quick cost-benefit analysis of the situation. If she tried to argue, she would waste energy and still be walking; if she pretended that she didn't say anything, she'd still be walking, but a little less tired; if she took another approach…
Hiding behind Kali, she said in her monotonous voice, ”Save me, Artemis is being mean.”
As Artemis complained to Kalin how 'dirty' Yami's move was, a smile filled the face of Vin. He found their antics humorous. Chuckling, he spoke softly to Belinda, ”Adorable, aren't they?” After she nodded in confirmation, he added, ”Bet our kids would be cuter though.”
Just as he was about to stroke her hair, Belinda deflected his hand the back of her own. ”Nice try, but the answer is still no.” Her face contained a smile that didn't quite match her eyes.
Chuckling in defeat, Vin continued walking with a smile on his face. This wasn't his first attempt to flirt with her, and it wasn't the first time his advances were shut down either. Full of hope, but little expectation, he seemed barely phased. Rubbing the back of his head he smiled, ”Damn, it looks like I got rejected again.”
Seeing him get rejected, a small smile crept on the lips of Elric. Although they both trusted each other with their lives, it doesn't mean they have to have the best relationship. Being the brooding satyr that he is, Elric didn't really like Vin's cheerful and jolly nature. It rubbed him the wrong way from time to time, especially how he always tried to get involved in everybody's personal affairs.
Kalin and Belinda both noticed the tiny smile creep to the corners of Elric's mouth. Seeing Belinda blush slightly at Elric's reaction made Kalin smile to himself. Smelling the pheromones that Belinda was secreting, it wasn't hard for his sex-demon-self to understand the situation between the three. Although, he did find Belinda's taste in men slightly surprising. Not to badmouth Elric, but even though he was the youngest in their party, he looked at least a decade older than the others.
The party continued down the dirty down-trodden road, as its members slowly getting more familiar with each other every step they took. As the white grain fields and rolling green fields moved by, the party continued to trudge along the dusty trail. By the time they were commanded to stop for the night, makeshift party had gotten friendlier and bonded with one another a bit. As the caravan had stopped at the edge of the forest for the night, the 5 different parties split into separate, but connected camps.
As the leader of their camp, Vin called everyone together. ”Alright, it's time to setup camp! Everyone should start by setting up their tents. Elric and I will go gather some firewood for tonight.” Making a mark in the dirt with his foot, he continued, ”We'll set the campfire up here. Set up your tents surrounding it. Although we aren't sleeping inside the forest, it doesn't mean we can't get attacked. Especially with the Kobold settlement only a couple hours away.” Gesturing for Elric to follow him he said, ”Come on, let's collect as much wood as possible before the other camps take all the close stuff.”
Although he didn't look happy about it, Elric followed Vin as the two of them entered the trees to grab as much wood as they could. As if to demonstrate their familiarity of such situations, Rain, Belinda, and Iola each picked a spot 3 to 4-ish meters from the fire ring to set up tents. Turning to the others, Kalin turned to Yami and Artemis and said, ”Let's set up out tent over here.” Pointing to an area close to where Iola was setting up her own tent. As he walked over to where she was, he asked to the cloaked woman, ”Do you mind if we set up our tent here?”
Iola turned to the lavender-haired demon that had just spoken to her. After a long pause that made Artemis feel uncomfortable, she nodded before continuing to set up her one-man tent. Pulling out their own from his bag, Kalin removed the tent and began the process of assembling it. With the help of the twins, he quickly finished assembling the tent. Seeing that they unsurprisingly finished first, he told the girls, ”You can set up your beds wherever you want. I'm going to go see if anyone else needs help.”