"Ha! The demons wish they were fast enough to catch me!" Entirely failing to read the room, the half-orc Gregorius laughed, and then began shadow-boxing in the direction he assumed the demons were.
My knees gave out as I started to hyperventilate and I would have eaten dirt, but Hannah caught me in her strong arms. And then I melted for entirely different reasons.
A bunch of complicated emotions passed across the angel-blood's face before she settled on zealous determination. "But we're not going to let that happen, are we?" Her fierce gaze swept across her companions, challenging them to step up to Her Holy Mission that she had just volunteered for. That's my girl! She was always my favorite. The corner of my mind that likes to wander off briefly pondered if she's gay or not.
The others shifted uncomfortably, unwilling to meet Hannah's eyes, but Bethul'Dyr immediately stepped forward. The edges of their cloak billowed dramatically; I always thought that was a stupid magic item, but actually seeing it in real life made me really want one. Assuming this actually was real life, it may have passed the pinch test, but I still wasn't convinced.
"We would see this one saved." Everyone was shocked at their declaration. Gabriella gave her wizard an incredulous look like 'who are you, and what have you done with my nihilistic shadow creature?'
"Fuck it, I'm game!" I squealed with surprise as Gregorius scooped me up onto his shoulders. "Let's kick some demon ass!"
"T-thanks." I nervously giggled while trying to keep my balance on top of the half-orc. "So.. there's a way to help me?"
Cassandra, the devil-blooded sorcerer in the group, slowly nodded her head. "There.. might be some way." She rubbed her chin in thought; her blank stare a thousand miles away. "I could reach out to my father, and see if he has any tomes on cleansing demonic curses." She gestured and Gregorius set me back down on my still wobbly knees.
"There's also the Infinite Library at Arcadia." I offered my own two cents into the 'saving my cute ass' pot.
Gabriella's eyes narrowed and her hand twitched on the hilt of her sheathed sword. "I thought you were new to Illith Aranor? How do you know we're less than a hundred miles from Arcadia?"
"T-the uh.. the gods Above whispered to me about vast fields of red grass and the Great Sky City of Arcadia..?" I nervously stammered and fiddled with the lace on my bodice.
Gabriella clearly wasn't buying my bullshit, but she finally threw up her hands in defeat. "Fine. Fine, we'll find some way to save your dumb ass." She turned and glared at Cassandra, "There, are you happy now? I finally got you a useless puppy." I breathed a sigh of relief, but her withering gaze immediately swung back around and speared me again. "So tell us girl, can you do anything other than stumble into demon traps?"
I bristled a bit indignantly. "I'm handy with a cooking pot and I can find my way around a bow."
Gabriella huffed at that and I couldn't blame her. She was one of the best archers on Illith Aranor and I.. occasionally made it out to the gun range to shoot my compound bow at stationary targets.
"Put her to work. See if she can actually do anything useful. We'll gather supplies today, get some rest, and then set out for Vaqyn at tomorrow's first light. Since we wasted last night." Gabriella looked pointedly at me and marched off.
"She doesn't like me very much." I shuffled my weight from foot to foot and my tail drooped.
Hannah patted my shoulder. "I wouldn't take it personally. She grows on you over time. Kinda like a fungus." She winked at me and then took my hand. "Come on, you can help me with breakfast."
I blushed and quickly followed behind her to the wagon. She dug out cooking utensils and bags of food; stacking them up in my arms until I started to tip over.
"Not.. that.. strong!" I squeaked out as I fell backwards.
"Oh shit, sorry!" Hannah's hand shot out, grabbing a fistful of my bodice and.. of me. She steadied me and I stood frozen; my cheeks burning bright red.
"We s-should probably get started." I looked down at her hand.
Hannah shook her head and yanked her hand out of my blouse. "Yeah, let's go!"
I followed her back to the campfire and gratefully set all the supplies down. I started sorting through them and making a mental list. We had potatoes, oranges, oats, dried venison, as well as some other odds and ends and a decent supply of dried spices.
I grabbed the sharpest knife and the flattest surface that I could find and started slicing the potatoes and venison as thin as I could manage.
"Hey, go find some blackberries and uh," I automatically dropped into chef mode and searched my memory for what would grow wild in the Akari Highlands, "parsnips or mushrooms if you can find those too."
"Yes ma'am. I'll get right on it." I looked up and blushed when Hannah grinned at me, saluted, and marched off to forage for my ingredients.
I made a blackberry compote to go with seared venison strips and scalloped potatoes. Or at least as close as I could manage with the limited supplies.
"Here, taste this," I held out a piece of venison to Hannah. She did exactly as I asked, leaned close and instead of taking it from me, her mouth opened and those soft, pink lips brushed against my fingers as she nibbled the venison. And then moaned as she tasted it. I think I blacked out for a few seconds.
"By all the gods Above and Below! You were definitely underselling your talents."
I nodded numbly, my tail wagging at her sounds of enjoyment. Which made her giggle. And that made me giggle. We were both giggling uncontrollably and on our way to suffocation.
"What are you two idiots doing?" Cassandra had somehow snuck up on us. Hannah and I both jumped and blushed furiously as if we had been caught doing something wrong.