Ruby looked down to a curled up Yossarian, his entire body almost squashed up in his worn coat. She looked at the cloudy sky, wet fog flowing around her ankles, licking them wet. A few chirps and buzz's in the background, causing her to consistently be on edge.
She rubbed at her exhausted eye, her mind begging her for a quick nap to ease her body for the coming day, the bruises in her face still aching. She brought her eyes back to the smugly napping Yossarian.
"Yeah that's enough sleep for you," She stated aloud, rocking his curled body back and forth. Her actions coming to no avail, she consider kicking him in the gut before deciding she needed him to be in good shape.
Her mind settled with slapping him on the face. She started with a few light taps before Yossarian unconsciously told her to 'fuck off' whilst asleep. Slightly angry, She then proceeded to stand up, raise her hand and push with all her strength and the force of gravity by falling on her knees, to send a deafening slap into his slightly hairy cheek.
Yossarian woke up startled, his eyes dancing around, half-awake in confusion and shock, a fresh red hand mark still evident on his. Ruby found this to be amusing and moved to the freshly lit fireplace.
"Wake up its morning and we don't have time to lose," she informed him, in a flat tone. Yossarian looked at her for a moment, rubbing his sore cheek.
"Did you slap me?" He asked, his voice a mixture of a high pitch confusion and the deepness of a morning voice. Ruby matched his look for a moment, her emotionless expression not sending him any messages before looking back to the fire.
Yossarian, still confused and rubbing his cheek, made his way to the fire to join her. Georgia watched the two from her sleeping spot, trying not to laugh. She started unpacking her backpack pulling out her rations of food.
"So, mister Perthro, what's your plan?" Ruby asked, cooking the dried and salted meat. Yossarian looked at her for a moment before looking into the foggy forest around them.
"Before I say anything, let's review our current situation. We are currently in a position where we can't safely investigate because an invincible man is haunting these woods. A problem we can't exactly fix without putting ourselves in unnecessary danger. We also cannot go back to the del matiss village.."
"It's 'des Martyrs'," Ruby corrected.
"Right, well we cannot exactly go back without granting further suspicion. So we're in a bottleneck in the investigation." Yossarian wrapped up
"That's all correct but how exactly does that help us," Ruby commented, flipping meat in the fire.
"It's standard alchemist protocol. When one is stuck, it's best to revise before moving forward, taking care to look at each individual aspect, helps add a new perspective to the situation. Also, I would like to find another way forward besides my current idea." Yossarian admitted, his forehead furrowed, eyes narrowing.
"Because what I'm currently thinking is to contact the local deities for assistance," Yossarian sighed.
"Absolutely not!" Ruby shouted, standing up, her face in a scowl. Yossarian was taken back by her sudden outburst. He knew he might find some rejection by her, due to her being a member of the party, but not to this degree.
"And why not?" Georgia inquired, her sudden inclusion causing them both to stare at her. Ruby sighed, sitting back down, controlling herself.
"It's not party regulation, that's all. They're not to be trusted! They use and manipulate us, mortals, just as a source of entertainment or force us into submission. That's why it's strict protocol not to engage with those not aligned with the party and Chairman Pan," Ruby stated, rubbing her hands together, avoiding eye contact.
"Right," Yossarian commented, staring at her in new intrigue. "But unless you have another idea, we cannot exactly proceed in this investigation, that you asked my help for."
Ruby continued to fidget with her hands, pressing her eyes shut before opening them again. "Can you trust them?"
"Nope, but we don't have another choice here. They're our only chance in finding out some solution or clue. We could try sneaking our way around, look aimlessly for clues or head directly to this old village but I can't keep fending off that man." Yossarian told her, in a serious voice.
Ruby was quiet for a moment, before silently uttering a response.
"Speak up!" Yossarian ordered.
"Fine, if we have to, then fine. But if they trick us or do something then that's on you!" Ruby grunted, walking away from them.
Georgia looked at Yossarian, concern in her eye's. "So is this a part of witchcraft?"
Yossarian sighed before responding, "In a way. It's similar to meditation where it's technically its own thing, but witches do heavily utilise offerings and prayers to older beings for assistance and requests. It's not a complete step back into the craft, yet it's close enough that it troubles me. But we don't have another choice. Your father requested me to do this, and now that I'm slowly learning about the situation, I cannot just willingly give up either."
The two were silent for a moment, before Georgia got up, looking towards the flowing river next to them. "So how is this going to work?"
Yossarian stood up and went next to her, watching the river. "There are two options. The local lake deity, Deter or Sompthuis, the local forest deity. Both of their domains cover enough ground that they can offer serious help with information and if we're lucky protection."
"And how do you contact them?" Georgia asked, eyeing Yossarian.
"We have to make an offering, that should garner their attention, considering the locals don't communicate with them anymore. Plus Nymphs and Potamoi's, beings of a higher divinity, tend to love interesting cases like this, something to entertain them during their dull immortality."
"Okay, but what exactly do we have to offer them? We're not exactly possessing grand items or anything." Georgia questioned, looking over to her bag.
"Oh but we have the most classic offering of them all, food."