"Road seems fine so far." I comment, idly bouncing my head from side to side. My eyes flick up, putting a glance on the human, and his lips lift up his brow.
"Yeah, as we said." Hrurim lets out, and my shoulders wiggle about, disturbing the peace of my gun.
"I'd be a fool to take a criminal at his word." I whistle and Hrurim groans away whatever I've put inside of him.
"Oh, get over yourself! It was just a scouting mission." the human clicks and my tongue pops out as I run a paw up my head and down my spines. Slipping a finger in-between them, I hook one and turn the hand up and out. A twiggy song reaching my ears because of it.
"Still, anything I should know about seeing as I'm still the one who generally takes point?" I ask, skipping ahead of the human and switching over to a backpedal. Hrurim's pace doesn't adjust in the slightest, but I'm still mindful of making sure I have some space between me and him. Don't want to fall over and be run over now, do I? Too beautiful for that, unlike him.
"Whatever's in your head right now, get rid of it," the human groans as he readjusts his position as our porter. I give him a slight smile and twist around, hopping up and along some fallen stone from the quakes. Someone's definitely been hard at work making sure the road is still useable.
"Only thoughts about our current destination. Nothing more, nothing less." I say, and the darkness of the underground does little to hide his rolling eyes. Maybe if he gets darker shadows under them? He might slip it past me, then.
"Well, stop thinking about it, then, Heiya. There's nothing to worry or concern yourself with. It's all fairly standard police stuff." Hrurim dismisses in surface speak with the wave of a blood-stuffed hand swollen with effort. A blink overtakes me and I shove a quick glare at him for letting the bug get involved.
"I love standard police stuff. I can be free of my bonds and walk away a free man." Nin lets out, the back of the wagon moving with his put on face of excitement.
"As if anyone wants a free bug." I scoff loud enough for him to hear, even if it's my native tongue. My gun shuffles and I wait for Hrurim to pass by me as I walk on the rocks. I hop on over to the wagon and mind our supplies, landing right on Nin. He groans his pain and I stare right into his human eyes. Our two little gems worth a fortune.
"No banging up the goods!" Hrurim complains and I look up towards Pops as he otherwise waits by what appears to be a junction. I mind Hrurim's words and withhold myself from giving Nin's shell any new cracks or chips.
"How are we going to be getting Nin here past the town's department?" I ask, dangling my legs over the front of the wagon.
"For starters, we make it clear to him that if he acts up, he's getting put down. His only way to live is to be as still as the most safely put, well looked after statue in the world." Hrurim says and I glance over my shoulder, noting the pile of cloth we have stuffed between some crates.
"Maybe pull a blanket over him, too. For good measure." I say, and Hrurim raises a hand, squeezing a gentle fist out of it.
"I could certainly do with one," he complains and I hop down, rushing ahead so I am clear of the wagon.
"There, I've made the load lighter." I tease, skipping away to the song of his exaggerated groans and moans. My smile wipes away as I get closer to Pops and I come up alongside him. He notices me and gives me a quick nuzzle on the cheek.
"It's going to take some time to sort out a buyer." Pops lets out and I nod, eyeing both ways the road seems to go from here. He knocks my arm, getting my attention back to him.
"Huh...? Oh, uh... Yeah." I completely mess up getting out, not entirely sure what he wants from me right now. Is he going to be leading this into something, or does he just feel the need to speak? No, that doesn't seem like Pops at all. His trouble with speaking surface speak is as much his incompetence at language as it is an extension of him.
"We'll have some time to do things." Pops goes, clearing up my messy thoughts with a firm-handed brush.
"Right." is all I can get to come out as I eye his hands fiddling with something.
"I thought, maybe you'd like to take a chance to enjoy yourself?" he offers and I stifle myself between uncertainty and shrugging an answer of some positivity. Not really sure what I would do, anyway. We're not here to enjoy ourselves. It's all part of the bigger job. Besides, there's no reason to assume that the earthquakes didn't destroy all the fun in the town. Not exactly walking into a resort here.
"I'll uh... See what I can do." I say and he nods a quick and slight one, looking away as he does so.
"Heiya." Pops goes, although he doesn't look back my way. I flinch a little, not sure if he's upset with me or something.
"Yes, Pops?" I answer, walking around slightly. Only I find a gaze that still avoids me.
"I'm sorry it's taking this long to get everything done," he says and my lips tighten themselves shut. I break the seal with an empty voice, leaving my mouth to linger open as I find my words.
"It was never going to be a quick job, Pops." I remind him, already fully aware of the circumstances of what going underground means to us. But, I guess it's easy to forget that the conversation we had after torching Hrurim's old place of employment is years old now.
"It's been long enough for you to finish growing into a proper woman, now." Pops tells me and I mind my chest and the rest of my body. It's certainly something I'm aware of, but it's not something I notice in particular until I am exposed to a picture or painting of the past. Not that I've had my picture taken in a long time.
Oh...
"How... How about we find a photographer while we're in town?" I suggest and he turns back my way, an arching brow stretching out one eye. A blush builds up under my fur and I look around, away and down. He puts a finger under my chin, and tickles my vision into being level with his again.
I meet his smile with one of my own and he moves his paw away, putting it into a pocket. He brings out one of the few things he always keeps on his person that isn't an essential piece of gear. He flips it open, revealing the crumpled edges of a time long gone, and he spreads his touch over it. The image goes back into hiding before I can get a look at it.
A pop escapes my mouth and I start to chew the inside of my cheek, my fingers fiddling with whatever they can get. Me finding some time for myself is something I can always do. But, despite how long I spend around Pops, we don't really do anything all that... Family-like. It's always work, work and work. From one to the other, banging about all the while between.
"I would like that, my little Princess." he tells me, his old nickname for me burning my face up worse than any fire I've even been near. He makes it worse by cupping the cheek I am biting, teasing it with a little caress that spooks my jaw.
"Ah..." I let out, having bit my tongue.
"Stupid girl," he goes, turning the squeeze into a couple of gentle taps. His attention goes elsewhere as I bunch my cheeks together with an affectionate glare. I follow his head towards Hrurim and I start to wonder what the human and former one are talking about.
"So, news travels fast. Does it travel fast even in these circumstances?" I ask, getting back into the professional feel of our lives. Pops nods and gives me a quick pat on the shoulder.
"Yes. We have some leeway to work with here, so I can certainly work something out of it." Pops explains and I nod a bit, my head turning away towards some echoes. I guess some people other than us are also heading into town. If there's enough, we might be able to make them work for us. Free of pay, of course.
"How much time can we really expect, though? An earthquake is one thing. But, something that big up top on the surface is going to be drowning the tablets and busybodies." I point out, and Pops' eyes settle into a firm stare. Only his thoughts really fearing the look he currently has.
"Enough at best, close to enough at worse." Pops answers in the way the question can only really be answered. Still, something to talk about is something to talk about. Even if it is only going to end up cut short.
"We can probably make better on our time if we switch to a motor vehicle." I suggest, getting under Pops' skin with that usual question. He hates anything with an engine. I've never quite figured out why. But I have my assumptions. So many of them.
"Mmm, yes," he surprisingly agrees, leaving my eyes white wide and my tensest grip lax.
"R-Really...?" I ask, making sure my ears aren't bleeding or gunked up with dust or stone dribbles.
"A car is probably our best bet right now. Leaving all this labour to Hrurim will only exhaust him." Pops explains, his mind no doubt a mess of professionalism, circumstance and whatever the usual issues are. It's an enigma, no doubt about that. Hearing him say that, though, it makes me wonder.
All he ever does is make wonder so many different things and it's as exhausting as it is joyful. I guess I should try and focus on the joys of what is to come out of this, though. We can finally get around to doing one of those things every father owes his daughter. Her first car.
A smirk comes to my face as I recall some of the old films we used to watch before Gamtambo came along. Pops didn't like us watching anything that got too forceful on the screen. He always wanted to keep it as clean of this life as possible. So I got to enjoy all the simple pleasures of life, like a girl going on her dates and more.
There's a lot to enjoy about my circumstances right now, even if I do resent living a life like this from time-to-time. I remember a beat about these films and their plots. That want to stand out and be a little more than everyone else around. And Pops here has that edge right here. Not only will this hwardlette be getting her first car, we're going to be doing it our way!
Wrapped up elbows striking the glass, a quick screwdriver into the steering wheel's casing. Bit of fiddling with the components, maybe a bit of elbow grease if it's a magic-powered device and we'll go off. No giggling as we watch someone embarrass themselves over some nonsense. No, we'll be giggling our backs clear of points and pricks as we vanish around the corner in a new set of wheels.
We're a bit limited in our options, though. The earthquakes have utterly battered the roads and we have no clue as to how long this carries on for. Worst to come or the worst is behind us, we cannot say. Much as I really want to be able to.
"Come on, let's give Hrurim some time to rest." Pops goes, yanking me out of my thoughts in time with his paw grabbing mine.