Drip-Fed Pt. 09

Reysha pressed Nudru, the man being as nervous as ever, onto the floor. Although she was still stark naked, the failed Scribe's eyes were unable to focus on the luscious curves. Instead, they were glued to the wrist and the dagger next to his head. Apexus bowed over the scene. "Did you want to see my women naked?" he asked and, for once, his tone was actually intended to sound threatening.

"No, no!" Nudru shouted and would have flailed around were it not for the knife and the general proximity of Reysha's fangs and claws. "I just looked for you because... I wanted to say my thanks and all that and I heard you laughing so I thought I would find you and I did but you were bathing so I decided to turn around and then you charged at me and I'm very sorry I didn't mean to peep, please believe me!"

Glancing over her shoulder, Reysha looked at Apexus, who stared at Nudru for a few more seconds and then nodded. That was believable enough, given the lightness of the situation. Getting off him, Reysha brushed some clumps of dirt off her weapon as she straightened up. Unashamed, she presented her nude body. She even stretched it a bit, brushing some of the wet hair out of her face. The motion was seductive entirely by the nature of her athletic body and luscious curves.

"You can go dress," Apexus stated.

"I'm fine the way I am," Reysha answered and wrapped an arm around him. "What, can't stand the idea of other men eye-fucking me?"

"Ocular organs doubling as sexual... Oh, it's a metaphor for ogling," Apexus started, then stopped himself when he got what she really meant. "I don't mind too much if you don't, no," he explained his position on the matter. Pulling at his own clothes, his words continued to elaborate, "I think you wear clothes too often anyway. I know that skin is squishy and all that, so armour makes enough sense, but in day to day life, you wear too much."

"Speaking right out of my soul," Reysha purred, tossing the dagger into the air and catching it effortlessly.

"The point is, if you want to show yourself off, I do not mind too much. It does irk me a bit, feel like I should be the only one to see you naked, but if it's just watching and no touching, I'm not terribly annoyed. However...," he looked at Nudru warningly. Having found his male instincts somewhere between the panic, he was now definitely checking out Reysha. "...I won't have anyone staring at you unwanted."

"Makes enough sense," Reysha smirked and put her arms around him. "Love ya," she stated, gave a quick peck on his neck, and then walked away. "I'll tell Aclysia to get dressed, if nothing else."

"Alright," Apexus nodded and then turned back to Nudru. "We understand each other, yes?"

"Absolutely, sir!" the former adventurer exclaimed. After several moments of silence passed, the mundane man cleared his throat. "I never saw you without your hood before. I, for some reason, thought you had blue skin."

"Must be your imagination," Apexus simply stated. The first time they had talked, the slime had incompletely coloured his skin because of the hurry, leaving parts of his face in their natural translucent state. It had served to spook the man a fair bit, but it had been a mistake regardless and Apexus didn't want him to remember that too intensely.

A few minutes passed and then the girls continued, now dressed and somewhat dried. Shifting their position from the underbrush over to a nice place to sit by the water, they settled and Aclysia raised her voice. "I must request you tell us why you sought us out again," the metal fairy inquired, "as far as we are concerned, our business should be concluded. Did you receive another threat this morning?"

"No... no, it seems they were true to their word," Nudru quickly dissuaded that fear. "It's just... well, I wanted to catch you before you left and say my thanks. What you did wasn't exactly normal, you know?"

"Leave?" Apexus asked and looked at his companions, who also exchanged glances with him and each other.

"Aren't you going to?" Nudru asked, heavily confused.

"No... no, I suppose we are," the slime slowly answered as he thought about it. None of them had mentioned the possibility yet, but, confronted with the question, that was the only logical path to take. Reysha had overcome her worst barrier, Apexus and Aclysia had settled with time. They had been stagnant far too long and now it was time to pack their bags and finally go out to prepare for the inevitable. "Yes," he said, more strongly. "Yes, we are."

The former Scribe gave them a long, daringly questioning stare. He still wasn't sure what to do with these three. On one hand, they were all uniquely powerful in their presence. Each on their own had something about them that made them stand out, visually and in their characteristics. Experiences and instincts that he could just feel were beyond what the average person had.

On the other, they seemed absolutely inexperienced. Like a bunch of children that weren't sure what to do with the winds of fate that carried them along like dried leaves. They were thoroughly unusual. 'I wonder if... with them...' Nudru thought, then shook his head. His adventuring days were definitely over and he did not have the stomach to face what they had to face.

Of course, he didn't know just how right he was about that.

"Look," he said, surprised himself at how firm his voice was. "I want to forget all of this ever happened, because I now know that the life I thought I wanted, wasn't for me. I want to honour my friend's memories by living the rest of my days remembering them and maybe, one day, my children will be able to approach what I screwed up with a bit more wisdom. Or maybe they will learn from me to not even try. Not the point." He cut himself off there to sort his thoughts and not ramble. "I know you will never come back here. The debt collectors, as raw people as they were, I believe they will leave me alone for the rest of my life. I will do my best to never think about the details of this week, only what I learned, and I will do my best to entirely forget you. Because that's the one thing you asked for..."

"...but?" Apexus asked. He had come to realize what that silence meant. It was one of the most obvious tells basically everyone seemed to share. Usually, people also locked the most important thing they wanted to get out behind that.

"...but there has to be something else I can offer you," Nudru came out and said it. "I don't know what your problem with the Adventurer's Guild is and I won't pry. All I know is that I think you are good people and... and that I want to help you in what little way I can. I will make you this offer and you're completely alright to refuse it... I would make you an Adventurer's Pass. You already have the copper sheets, I just need to do some Scribe magic and it's done." He saw the trio hesitate. "O-of course I know you could have been using fake names the entire time, s-so if you don't want me to, that's fine."

It wasn't exactly the names that caused them to think about this. All three of them had Classes that were rather memorable. If, which the trio did not know, there would even be a Class on Apexus' sheet. "Could you...?" Reysha asked and made a gesture as if she was holding her ears close.

"Oh, yes, c-c-c-cer-t-t..." all of the mental strength he had mustered was drained now and he just did as asked, burying his fingers in his earholes until he could only hear his own blood moving.

"I'm going to stab you into your stupid fucking face," Reysha said at normal conversation levels and observed no reaction. "Alright, he really can't hear us. There is no way he wouldn't have at least gotten pale."

"Affirmative," Aclysia agreed and then got into the topic. "Should we take the offer? It will only give him more to remember us by."

Apexus swayed his head left to right, "He already has names and appearances... I don't think this would add anything else to what could already give us away."

"More importantly, it's the only thing that could give us any idea what he even is," Reysha chimed in and gestured at Apexus. "Because we still don't have any fucking clue. He says he just started existing."

"Is true, I did," the slime answered and showed a tiny gap between thumb and index finger. "I used to be a simple drop, now I am a complex organism. I evolved like... nothing else..."

"None of your usual Apexus-isms?" Reysha wanted to know.

"Apexus-isms?"

"It's what I call your very odd metaphors."

"Oh... I'm flattered?"

"Basic as it is, the magic the Scribe's use to analyse things channels the very core of the Omniverse. It is undiluted knowledge, untouched even by the gods," Aclysia mumbled, partially into her raised hand. "If there is anything that could give the most basic clue what you are, it would be this." She looked up. "I reckon we should take his offer. We have little more to lose than we did already."

"Yeah, I agree," Reysha nodded.

"Alright then," Apexus went along and gestured for Nudru to put the fingers out of his ears. "We accept the offer."

The Scribe was happy. It wasn't a big thing, but it was something he could do for them. Quickly, the copper plates were handed over and one by one, they went through the little ritual. All Nudru needed was his Scribe feather and a few drops of their blood.

This was why they started with Reysha. The redhead pricked her thumb with the tip of her dagger and little bit later, she got her card back. "Level 13, Noir Rogue," she reported. "No big changes here."

Nudru swallowed the question of what 'Noir' meant. That wasn't his job here. Instead, he moved onto Aclysia. He was more than a bit surprised when she, upon cutting herself, bled a reddish gold liquid that seemed much thinner than normal blood. One drop alone fell and the wound closed. "I cannot spend more than that, my body is not designed to bleed," she explained simply. As long as she had magic, she would heal herself. Only completely exhausting her supply, like had happened all the way back when Apexus and her had only lived in the wilderness around the mountain, would force her body into a state where her soul left it. Even that was doubtful, given her current binding to this vessel by the will of her father and her wish. Given that it was complete, a 'death' for her was unlikely to be absolute.

Reysha had a point when she called her immortal.

After completing the ritual, the Scribe only got more confused. "Level 10, Guardian Angel," the metal fairy read her own description.

Again, Nudru knew better to ask questions. Even when Apexus warned, "Keep your hand from the liquid after it leaves my body," only for the skin of his finger to thin, he was quiet. Three drops fell on the copper plate. Nudru concentrated his magic into the feather and etched into the plate what his wrist knew to do. What then was written there finally caused his silence to break.

"Omniverse Slime Chimera?" he asked. That it was a Class that needed 3 words was odd enough. What those three words entailed only confused him more.

"Would you like to see?" Apexus asked and tilted his head. They had lain themselves bare already, there was nothing left to hide. Slowly, very slowly, Nudru nodded. Taking off the mask, the slime let his skin become the usual translucent colouration.

"What are you?" the Scribe whispered, staring at the blank skull and all attached to it.

"Omniverse Slime Chimera," Apexus answered, the words passing his unmoving lips in perfect clarity. He took the copper sheet. "Says so right here. It's as clear as the charred remains of wood prove a forest fire." He looked a bit closer. "Level 12." His ear flicked. "I guess this at least proves that I am part of the Omniverse?"

"Affirmative -- not that there was any doubt about that," Aclysia sighed a little bit. "This answers very little about your origin. It's just telling us that you're not a Parasyte and describes what you are. We know as much now as we did before."

"Still nice to have it in black and white thought," Reysha stated.

"Is that the proper metaphor?" Apexus asked.

"Yup."

"Weird one."

"They almost all are."

Seeing that exchange, whatever horror Nudru felt faded quickly and he put away his feather. What he just learned was simply beyond what he wanted to get involved with. It underlined his decision to forever forego adventuring. 'Not even with them,' he decided. 'A real adventurer would probably feel curious at this revelation I... just want to go home and sleep for three days.' He smiled, happily, "Then this is the end for me and you, isn't it?" he asked.

"If you want to leave now, then yes," Apexus said. "You will forget us."

"To the best of my ability," the Scribe promised in a joking tone. "I can only thank you for everything," he said while getting up. "Thank you for helping where you could, even if you had no reason to. Goodbye."

"Goodbye," Apexus echoed.

"Have a happy life, Nudru," Aclysia bowed her head.

"Don't get in anymore fucking trouble, we won't come back here," Reysha smirked.

Nudru just laughed, it was a dry and a little lonely sound. He knew she was right. They would never come back and he would likely never leave. He walked away, away from the trio, away from the pond, and over to the safe harbour of civilization. One time, he looked over his shoulder, to see those three talking a bit more.

That was the last time Nudru saw them.