“This is not a tent,” Ryu said, scowling up at the sweeping canvas ceiling above.

“Yes it is. Kind of,” Bonny insisted. “Do you like it, though?” She was sitting on a high-backed leather chair, a porcelain cup held lightly in her hand. Now, Ryu was not a man for assumptions, but well… Bonny was a thief. It didn’t exactly take a scientist to figure out where the rich decor had come from.

“It’s nice.” Ryu, it seemed, was also not a man to question such a thing.

“Then take a seat. Stay a while,” she said, sweeping an arm towards the sofa and chairs around her. The “tent” was the size of a house, and curtains divided it into sectional rooms. Right now, they were in the “lounge.”

He sat with a sigh. “Do you really set this up everyday? I mean it must take-”

“Why did it have to be that chair,” Bonny muttered, interrupting him.

He leaned forward, twisting around to look at the chair he sat on. It was a nice thing, save for the gaudy gold threads sewn into it. “Huh?”

“Nothing… It’s just that you’re filthy, and I really like that chair. Suppose it’ll have to be burned now,” she said. She waved him back down into the seat. “It’s fine, I guess.”

He nodded sagely. Right. The Foster siblings were particular about cleanliness. They’d been orphans once upon a time, and he was sure it had something to do with that. Not that he’d ask. “Alright then,” he said.

“So,” she said, leaning forward, “what does the great adventurer think about our meager party?”

“It’s well enough, I guess.”

She stroked her chin. “Some real experts here. Might even give you a run for your money, one might say.”

“If it only took power, I’d think someone would have found the Gate long ago,” he said flatly.

“That was properly pessimistic of you.”

“I do aim to impress,” Ryu said. She smiled. He smiled back. That was the thing with Bonny. Around her, his wit seemed to be a little less dull, as if the lead weight tied around his tongue had grown a tiny bit lighter.

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She lifted a finely groomed eyebrow at him. “You’ll be sleeping in a separate bed tonight, I hope you know.”

“So it’s that way, is it?” he asked, still smiling. It was hard not to with her, he’d found.

“No, I just don’t happen to be a fan of fleas. Or the smell of carcasses. Or mud. You know, a bath might help actually,” she said, stroking her chin. “Yes, a bath is just what you need. Come along.” She stood, sitting her teacup down on a table.

“Is this a joint bath?” he asked. He wasn’t a lecher. Not him.

“No.”

---

Later, Ryu found himself in a grand, four-poster bed. Alone. It was not his lack of companionship he was concerned with, however. It was the comfort. Ryu was not a masochist, nor was he overly concerned with his appearance. Comfort, in and of itself, did not disturb him. It was just the things comfort brought with it, namely complacency. He was in a constant race against the demons that plagued him, and to stop was to let them win. Still, as his head sank into the soft pillow, he decided that maybe he could slow down. Just this once.

The world had other ideas, as it so often did.

Ryu woke up to the sounds of combat. At first, he thought it was a nightmare, the type that replayed his brutal memories with a vivid clarity. But the sounds continued after he awoke. Loudened, even. Not only did he hear the strike of metal on flesh, it was close. This was not the simple clash of a guardsman against a wandering monster. This was an attack on the camp.

He stumbled out of the tent half-dressed, gazing past the nearby campfire with a flat look.

“Whoa, whoa. Calm down there, killer. Just doing some… sparring,” a rat-like fellow said to him, standing up from his seat at the campfire. In front of it, two adventurers lowered blunted metal weapons.

Ryu gripped the hatchets in his hands tighter. Fools. They deserved to die, to be torn-

No. He ground his teeth together hard enough to make his jaw ache. Stupidity was everywhere. Punishing a fool for being foolish was like being mad at the wind for blowing. Not only was it pointless, it was downright arrogant to expect a fool to act any different for his account.

It just shocked him to witness such ignorance in the expedition, though it shouldn’t have. It didn’t take a smart or good person to be a good fighter. Far from it. It was often the strongest who went unchallenged in their stupidity, after all.

Ryu shook his head and put away his hatchets. “A little late for all that, ain’t it?” he asked the man.

The man shook his shaggy brown hair. “Not really. You see, one has to become accustomed to fighting in the dark,” he said.

Ryu grunted. As if he didn’t know. “Wouldn’t be here if you didn’t know-”

He was cut off by an angry woman pushing past him. “I know you dumbasses did not wake me up for this stupidity,” Bonny said. She glared at the rat man, her fuzzy hair askew from sleep.

The man’s beady eyes flickered between Ryu and Bonny. “Fine, fine. Come on, boys. We’ll practice somewhere else. Aren’t against the stray good deed now, are we?” he asked with a smile.

“Not us,” one of his friends said. The rest chirped in their agreement. Bonny marched back off into her tent. Ryu followed after a moment, his eyes resting on the backs of the men. He couldn’t change their foolishness, but he could prepare for it.

“The nerve of fools,” Bonny muttered, forming a Qi crystal and placing it in a lantern. A warm light spread across the main room of her tent like an old lover.

“Pity the fool, for he has to live with himself,” Ryu said. He was pretty sure he’d remembered that from an old saying, but oh well. Old sayings stuck around for a reason.

“Going all wise on me, now?” Bonny asked, throwing herself into a comfortable-looking chair.

“Something like that. Not going back to bed?”

“No,” she said, “Once I’m up, I’m up. I’m lucky to have slept as long as I did, honestly.”

He nodded. He was much the same, sadly. “Gonna be a boring night, then,” he said with a sigh, sinking into a random chair.

“Well… There is something to do,” Bonny said. She had a glint in her eye, one he was very familiar with.

It turned out to be a good night, indeed.