How to Train Your Orkhai Ch. 06

"It's just been me for as long as I've been around, really," Tarai admitted with a little shrug. "When I was a kid I didn't even realise there was a difference between us....N-not until puberty came and the others grew so much quicker than me - m-more than me, too." The neko didn't miss how the orkhai's hand brushed against the girl's modest breasts for quite a while, seemingly without even registering it. Someone must've had a case of tit envy, Lanica figured...

Pressing her own heavy set forwards by definitely-not-planned accident, the neko smirked when such a simple act drew the half-elf's attention exactly as she expected. "Size isn't everything, Rai-Rai..." she cooed, watching the girl go almost as red as the flames' tongues.

"It does h-help, though..." Tarai bit her lip, and the catgirl could swear she saw her thighs shift subtly.

As fun as teasing was, however, Lanica's curiosity wasn't sated just yet. Not entirely. "Would you tell me one last thing?" The neko decided to at least give the half-orc the courtesy of waiting until she nodded. "I know this might be a painful question, but... were they all so accepting of you?" the beastkin asked, keenly aware of the prejudice her own kind received, especially when she was the odd neko out. "Some people can be rather... close-minded, I know."

Tarai looked away for a bit, biting her cheek in thought. "I..." she began, before reconsidering her words, "...No one who still wanders with our clan ever made me feel like I was anywhere but at home."

And that was it. The girl blatantly didn't want to elaborate, and the neko's fishing for information had been so fruitful she'd settle for just making a mental note instead. All in all, Tarai appeared to hide some insecurities beyond the way the slightest attention of her 'girlfriend' made her fumble in the cutest ways, and in due time the beastkin would no doubt get to the bottom of it all.

Deciding to let the impromptu interrogation go for now, Lanica puts on her warmest grin as she pokes Tarai's knee. "Thanks for trusting me, pretty thing. You know, for what it's worth... I think your parents raised someone really special, aight?"

Tarai opened her mouth as if to answer, but decided against it - emotions nearly overwhelmed her as she just barely managed to settle into a happy, silly blush. The neko's lips planting against hers for a short, tender moment, however, proved more than enough to make the orkhai melt.

When they parted, neither of them spoke for a while, one entirely without words and the other content to just sit in silence for a bit with nothing but a sultry little grin. When Tarai was the first to speak up after all, the sound came as a surprise to the neko. "...I-I'll introduce y-you to them next t-time we cross p-paths, I-I promse! My s-sister brought her b-boyfriend b-before and my p-parents...t-they said I-I should do that when t-the time comes, too!"

"Aw... I'd love that, 'kay?" the neko purred with obvious delight, brushing the lovesick wreck of an orkhai with a tenderness that wasn't entirely acted. If nothing else, meeting that many ogres ought to be interesting, she supposed.

A comfortable silence between them followed, only broken by the rain's furious pattering and the crackling of the flames. After everything that'd happened - the long, stressful search, the run, the massage, a delicious meal - the catgirl was just so... tired. With every passing moment her eyelids felt heavier, and before she knew it her body stretched to yawn. "I, em... I'm just about ready to turn in," Lanica rubbed her eyes, glancing over to see the orkhai look at her luggage with a frown. "'S something wrong...?"

"Well..." Tarai began when she hesitated for just a moment, "there's still the matter of the lockbox, r-right?"

...Fuck, how did she forget?! Her exhaustion vanishing for the moment, the neko leapt over to the luggage - and even choked back the little whimper from the soreness that punished her for it - to search for her tools and pick up the metal box. "Good shout, big girl," Lanica murmured as she inspected the lock closer before choosing the slender wrench and pick that'd fit the job best. "No time like the present, huh?"

Tarai didn't answer, but Lanica didn't care enough for one to wait regardless. Her pick danced in the lock with a practised ease, the little clicks all discerned by her sensitive ears. "You... do this a lot, don't you?" the orkhai spoke up at last, with a worried curiosity.

"You've got no idea how many thieves tried to lock away their ill-gotten gains from us, trust me," the neko shared, only twisting the truth a little bit. Okay, maybe quite a bit, but it wasn't a complete lie! "Was bound to get good at this at some point..."

"...But these people weren't thieves..." Tarai protested, and Lanica began to realise she had to do something to soothe that bleeding heart, quickly. "Dad always said stealing's poison, for the victim and the thief..."

"Way I see it, that guy tried to rob us," the beastkin reasoned, her hands working without pause. "He just told us to find this damn thing, didn't warn us about that tentacled creep the ship had been carrying, didn't offer us anything but a vague promise as payment and he didn't even bother improvising when we pulled through before getting all aggressive!" Hissing at the memories, Lanica looked over to the uneasy girl with a genuine fierceness in her eyes. "We didn't steal this box, we earned this box, understood?"

Judging by the conflicted expression, her words certainly roused something in the half-elf, but it wasn't until the girl crawled over to sit next to her that she'd come through to her. "Is... a-are people always this quick with... this?" Tarai pointed towards the neko's hands, whose cocky little smirk returned.

"Nope~!" Lanica boasted, before a loud tick emerged from the box. "Et voila - and because I'm so nice, I'll let you do the honours..."

"O-oh, okay!" the orkhai gasped when the catgirl's slender hands passed her the engraved lockbox, which seemed so delicate and little in the half-orc's hands. Whatever reservations Tarai had didn't make her any less curious to see what was even inside the box, judging by the little jitter in her fingers as they brushed over the metal.

Leaning against the clumsy girl for a better look, the catgirl's slitted eyes were fixed on the opening, the paper-thin line of darkness that grew and lightened as Tarai lifted the lid and revealed a cushioned interior protecting the treasure in the middle...

"...Is that a... bottle?" Tarai asked in bemusement, gasping as the neko's hand darted in like lightning to pick it up for a closer look.

"A tiny bottle, even," Lanica noted with a frown, rather disappointed by how comfortably it fit in the palm of a single hand. Twisting the crystal bottle in the fire's light, the vessel's opacity only just barely showed hints of the liquid inside. "How much is this, anyway...?" she mused out loud, trying to gauge the weight and realising that just a few large coins would already weigh more.

"Can't be much more than a mouthful, if that," the girl at her side suggested, and Lanica felt inclined to agree. Maybe two swallows if she was being generous? "What even is it? It must be special considering how much they wanted to find it..."

Inspecting the bottle's surface, the only clue the squinting catgirl could find were some symbols carved into its side, subtle and precise. "Dreams of Morrow," she read aloud, before sighing. "That's not particularly helpful, is it?"

"Maybe it's a rare medicine?" Tarai fired a guess.

"You could be right, or," Lanica looked at her with a smirk, "we're dealing with some drugs that'll make us dream nice." And then, as that smile turned into a conspiring grin and she dangled the bottle in front of Tarai's face, "Wanna experiment?"

In truth, the neko would never even consider taking it if the stuff might turn out to be a drug, but this still made for a good opportunity to learn more about Tarai. Who knew what kind of vices some girl raised by ogres would hide? "I, I-I..." the orkhai stammered, her unease shining through every every little move and sound she made. "N-no, I-I don't w-want-"

A slender finger on her lips cut her protests short. "Good. That was a test, and I'm happy to say you've passed!" Lanica purred, only just managing not to laugh when she saw the sheer relief that washed over the girl. "Either way, it's not like we can decide what to do with it until we know what this muck even is. And I bet you can guess the next step, hmm?" the neko asked.

"...Find someone who can tell us...?" Tarai tried shyly, gasping when the catgirl's soft lips pressed against her chin as a reward. Making the half-elf blush was just way too fun!

"Got it in one!" Lanica snickered. "I'd been planning for us to head to Aversol anyway, and there's gotta be an expert for this sorta stuff there."

Worry stained the tall girl's face for a moment. "Those salvagers might still be around, you know," she pointed out - the beastkin was meaning to bring it up, but oh well. "Maybe we should avoid the roads for a while? J-just for a day or two?"

"Seems smart," the neko nodded. "As long as we keep moving, anyway. I... might need some pointers on what berries are safe to eat before I poison the two of us, though." Playful as the uneasiness in her voice was, Lanica's concerns weren't made up, however, considering she couldn't remember ever spending an entire day away from signs of civilization even as rudimental as roads. "But something tells me you'd be nicely in your element, wouldn'tcha?"

There it was again - that happy glimmer of pride. "Y-yeah, I'll show you that n-nature can be plenty comfortable!" she beamed, clearly excited by the prospect of showing off her skills again.

And honestly? If it made things easier for Lanica, the girl could show off all day. "And if she disappoints I'm sure a bit of punishment can even turn it into something of a win..."

A sharp yawn stretched her yawn before the neko even realised how exhausted she felt, her tiredness not wanting to be ignored any longer. "I think..." another yawn sent a shudder down her spine and fluffy tail, "that it's time to sleep. We'll decide where to go tomorrow, m'kay?"

"Sleep well, La-la..." the orkhai whispered with a short hug, before looking for their bedrolls.

"...La-la, huh?" the neko shook her head as she settled in for the night. She was way too tired to protest it.

She could hear Tarai tend to the flames while her eyes grew heavier and her mind began to drift, away from the shores of consciousness to sleep's gentle waves. There was a lot left to plan, but...

That could all wait until tomorrow.