Yuki dragged the damn water skin up the fissure again. It hit a snag, and she pulled harder. She lost control of the container, and it struck her in the face.
“The things I do to keep my pet happy.”
This wasn’t the second or third time Jenny puppy-eyed Yuki into chores. No, the first time, Jenny just drank the whole thing. It was astonishing. Where had all that water gone? The second Jenny just dumped the entire water skin on her head and hair, and the same with the third. For the fourth, the woman spilled it all over pieces of fabric she took from her bag. The gall of that woman.
With one last pull and another grumble, Yuki left the small passage. She looked for the taskmaster. She let the water skin drop, mouth open in surprise.
Jenny still sat near the fissure, but the blonde had removed the armor and shirt. With the damp fabric, she wiped her body. Yes, Jenny was beautiful, and given another occasion, Yuki wouldn’t mind watching. The mess of a scar on the woman’s back was what got Yuki’s attention. It started on Jenny’s right shoulder blade and sneaked down her back and sides like those creepy anime infections or corruption.
“Ah, thank you, Biscuit,” Jenny said. She picked up the water skin, took another small sip, and put it inside the bag. “I’ll be done in a moment.”
Yuki tore her eyes away from the scar and noticed other things. Jenny had nasty bruises on her stomach, chest, and arms, consequences of the training. Yuki could have healed all that, but that would use too much magic and leave them defenseless in case anything else attacked. That’s another thing she’d need to apologize for later.
Jenny placed one of the red fruits in front of Yuki. “Here, what do you think?”
Yuki looked at the fruit. Rounder and redder than an apple, but the skin looked and felt like mango. She sniffed it: sharp, tangy, and sweet. She licked it, then nibbled carefully. Red-mushy fruit flesh and sweetly sharp. It was like eating sugary lemon-flavored gelatin. What was this place and contradictory tastes? She looked at the logs, even willing it to go verbose again. No poison or resistance check or anything that might say it had any adverse effect. It was just too strong of a flavor, at least for Yuki.
“Should be safe to eat,” Yuki said and pushed the fruit toward the blonde.
Jenny looked at the rabbit skeptically. “You don’t like it?”
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Yuki nodded, “You can eat it! I even stamped the Yuki’s nibble of approval!” She pushed the fruit closer.
Jenny picked up the fruit. “Are you saying I should eat it?”
“Tastes tangy and sweet, but too strong for me, I’ll keep to the leaves.” Yuki agreed. She was proud of the conversation, even if she had no idea what Jenny said. It was a conversation nonetheless.
Yuki skipped out, leaving the partially undressed woman to her own devices. She couldn’t stay there to ogle Jenny in a moment of vulnerability. It wasn’t her fault she had already gotten a good eyeful. She couldn’t have known.
Watching Jenny train gave Yuki some ideas. Should she train as well? She didn’t have hands to wield weapons and couldn’t think of anything a rabbit could use. No, that was a lie; she could think of several things. A headpiece with a small needle she could use to poison people. Or, copying her siblings, a horned rabbit-themed helmet with a metal spike. She just had no chance of finding anything here, or anywhere for that matter. If she wanted to fight as a rabbit, she probably would need to custom-make things. But that was silly. It was like those players who pick glass-cannon characters and tried to build a tank. It just wouldn’t work. Yuki was too frail to stay close to any enemy.
That one time she tried to use magic in the burrow came back to her. She did the motions, built the spell, and thought about all the details but didn’t finish the casting. Maybe she could do something similar here? Practice the motions, analyze the spell effects, think of the intricacies of magic, and how to manipulate and apply it.
It might work. Yuki wouldn’t know until she tried.
Yuki looked again in Jenny’s direction. Her strength was magic; she needed magic points to use magic. “The things I do for my pet.” She grumbled, then moved towards the berries. Binge eating wasn’t ever one of her obsessions, but she’d do it for Jenny.
----------------------------------------
Jenny finished wiping herself, wrung, and hung the cloth to dry on one of the nearby branches. She hadn’t intended to clean herself, but it was just too funny watching Biscuit grumble her way into getting more water. She’d pay that later with some ear massages. She’d make them extra long sessions. Jenny picked the fruit again and took a tentative bite.
Sweet, sour, and pungent.
Jenny scowled, tongue out, breathing through the mouth. She knew now why Biscuit hadn’t eaten. The flavor was strong enough to give her pause. She took another bite and pretended it was something else. She couldn’t live on berries alone; and in the worst case, she could eat leaves like Biscuit had done. It didn’t sound tasty, but it was an option. She munched on the thing and ignored how it was bloody red.
Memories of the previous hours came back, the bolt piercing the man’s flesh and the screams.
Jenny shook her head. She’d confront that later like her mother taught her, just not right now. Maybe she could teach the rabbit the language to distract herself. Biscuit was as intelligent as a human, but their languages differed. She could help with that. Jenny got up, dressed again. Biscuit was nowhere in sight. She shook her head, picked the bag, the spear, and a few more fruits, then set out to find her mischievous pet.