Polemos had to catch quite a bit of fish in order to satisfy Rose as he was not expecting her to be such a glutton, and was even more surprised when he noticed that she preferred the taste of roasted fish over raw. After spending about what seemed like an extra 30-35 minutes to make and eat breakfast Polemos started his daily routine of stretching and then headed off for his run.
Polemos looked over at Rose and noticed she was just laying and sunbathing in the hot sand and being lazy.
"Hey Rose, want to join me for a run and get some exercise? It'll help with your digestion….maybe? Crap I don't even know if that works for beasts or not." Polemos was starting to question himself in the end as he started to rub the back of his head and shake his head.
Rose only lifted her head and tilted it to the side as she really couldn't understand what Polemos was saying but made a hissing noise to acknowledge him. Then lay her head back on the comfortable sand.
"Hissssss."
"Well at least you responded I think. I wonder if I look crazy talking to a beast like they are a normal person. I mean hell so many did in my first life and no one thought they were weird….yes they did I mean we called certain people 'crazy cat ladies' for Pete's sake." Polemos shook his head again as he headed out for his run and shouted towards Rose.
"I'll be back soon just continue to rest and I'll clean up camp and then will go to that lizard nest!"
Polemos turned around and went on his run.
When his figure was no longer able to be seen, Rose lifted herself off the sand and then burrowed into the sand and followed, after Polemos underground.
When Polemos came back to the camp he noticed that Rose was gone until he saw her pop out of the ground.
"Did you burrow yourself into the ground and follow after me? No I should have at least heard you when you first went into the ground but I didn't. Or were you just digging in the sand?" Polemos had his hand on his chin as he tried to figure out what Rose was doing but had no idea that she was following after him the entire time.
Polemos then decided to completely forget about the whole thing and started his clean up of the camp and then headed to the lizard nest.
When everything was all packed and ready to go Polemos looked up at Rose and asked if she was also ready to go and have some fun.
"Alright you all ready to go Rose because I am. This is a one in a lifetime chance for me as I don't know when this could happen again. You'll get to meet two of my 'friends' when they arrive at the nest." Polemos had a devilish smile on his face when he thought about the two other followers of Alyan but had no emotion in his purple eyes as he looked at Rose.
Rose still just looked at Polemos with her head tilted but again responded with a hiss that sounded like acknowledgement.
"Hisss."
"Well at least we are both excited huh, hey I know you can't really understand me but, do you think I could sit on your head as we head to the nest….wait let's not do that, I'll just run over as I don't think that'll work." Polemos smiled as he asked Rose if he was able to sit on her head but thought better of it as she wouldn't be able to understand when he pointed out a direction right.
Rose was just looking at Polemos as she seemed to have no idea of what he was saying but just wiggled side to side and continued to look and watch Polemos.
Polemos giggled as he saw what Rose was doing as he took out the notebook that had the location of the lizard's nest and started to head in its direction as this was the second other reason he was heading out to temper himself.
Then Polemos grabbed his military bag and then started to run to the nest.
When Rose saw that Polemos was running to the nest instead of sitting atop her head she hissed slightly as it sounded like she was confused. Rose then ran behind Polemos and then used her forceps to lift and place Polemos atop her head and then headed in the direction of the nest.
Polemos's eyes went wide and screamed a little, then turned a little red from embarrassment, when Rose lifted him off the ground and placed him upon her head as she headed toward the nest like she's been there before.
"Well that was quite the jump scare now wasn't it Rose, wow let's please not do that again I don't need to have a heart attack at this age." Polemos then laid forward on Rose's head as he started to tell Rose about his life from when he was in the orphanage to where he was currently.
Polemos was able to get all the way through his story until the moment he clawed his way out of the sand when he noticed that they reached the lizard's nest a lot faster than he thought.
"Wow we made it here in about what, maybe 20-25 minutes it felt like. Gods I really need a watch or something that tells the damn time this is annoying. Well Rose I'll be able to tell you the rest of the story if you want later tonight. But first we need to find a spot to camp or post up, do you have a spot since it looks like you've been here before?" Polemos asked Rose and was surprised when she headed to what looked like a huge spire made of rocks as this looked like Rose was planning on taking over this monster nest.
"Wow, nice place Rose this should be perfect, no this is perfect." Polemos was grinning from ear to ear with a toothy smile, as his eyes formed into crescents.
Polemos even patted Rose's head almost like a reflex.
When Polemos patted Rose's head she flinched very slightly as she had no idea what Polemos was doing atop her head but when she felt the warmth from his hand she hissed a very happy hiss.
"Hisssssssss, hissss, hisss."
"Oh did you like that sorry I kinda did that reflexively, I didn't know if you would like that. Well I guess I can do it again."
Polemos continued to pat Rose's head until she was hissing in glee. When they were able to make it to Rose's giant rock spire formation she easily climbed the spire and headed into the hole that was near the top of the spire. The hole was huge as it would be able to easily fit both Polemos and Rose with room to spare.
"This'll make a great spot to camp. Hell this is even close to a few other monster nests also from what I was able to gather from the notebook. Rose, this is the best you deserve a hug!!" While Polemos was still atop of Rose's head he laid back down and gave her a tight hug as much as he was able to.
Rose's brain stalled for a second as she just fell on the ground as she had no idea how to respond but knew that whatever Polemos was doing felt very warm and made her feel comfortable. As she made what sounded like a very happy and content hiss.
"Ssssssssssssssss."
After Polemos was done giving Rose her hug atop her head he jumped off and rolled when he hit the ground to soften the impact and started to set up some of the camp supplies minus the tent as well, they were in a big ass cave. Polemos set up his desk, took out the iron chest that held Ellios's ashes, and took out his bed. When everything was set up Polemos smiled and went over to the still very happy Rose and patted her head again.
"Alright camp is all set up so how about we have a little competition to see who can kill the most lizards. But try not to kill them all off as we need them for those 'friends' of mine, they should at least make it here by maybe tomorrow or late tomorrow afternoon at the latest?"
Polemos was looking out across the hole of Rose's cave at the sky as he was formulating a plan for those two but, to Polemos the idea of them slowly being tortured in battle as he played with their lives as they did his was the best way to show his friendship.
Polemos then walked towards the cave entrance as he looked out across the massive desert with clear eyes, he smiled and opened his arms wide as if embracing the massive golden desert.
'This will be my new home and no one will take it from me, no matter who they are.' Polemos felt his heart race and face burn in excitement as he looked forward towards his future experiences.