Lance followed after Hopli- Jason, as he led the way through the cavern, the Fortis clutched in one massive hand. He was covered in dried blood from head to toe, but other than that he seemed almost… chipper? Perhaps that was not an apt description, but compared to how he usually is, Jason appeared relaxed, especially in the way he walked. He seemed to be taking everything in he saw, openly admiring his environment as they went.
Hoplite had never seemed to care about such things, but Jason… he was different. That didn't mean he wasn't in a rush however. They had been jogging along for a while now, Jason insisting that they return to Lithia as soon as possible. He still made it abundantly clear that saving Michael and Cat were top priorities.
Yet Lance was stumbling along after him, struggling to keep up with his long strides. This whole adventure had taken everything out of her, a grueling marathon with no breaks nor food. Her gut roared in protest with every step, and her throat ached for cool water. Lance knew that she couldn't push this forever, inevitably she would collapse from fatigue, but she would NOT allow Jason to carry her either.
Not when they were both naked. It was far too improper… yet the idea of running all the way back down to Lithia herself made her want to curl up and die. If they could stop back at that lake she'd met Heinlet at, she could at least quench her thirst and wash off all this filth she'd accumulated in the dungeon. She continued on like this for five more minutes until eventually, her body gave out, her legs becoming pillars of jelly. She fell face first onto the soft fungus, but thankfully it didn't feel too much different from falling onto a bed. She rolled over to her back, gasping for air as she stared at the glowing ceiling overhead.
"Lance!?" Jason called, rushing over to her.
"Don't look at me…" She heaved, hands moving to cover herself.
"Don't be ridiculous." Jason said, his face appearing over hers, "Do you really think this is the time to get hung up on that?"
"Not everyone is a hussy like you." She said between gasps for air, "Strutting about with your butt out for all to see."
Jason shook his head, "You're dehydrated. I remember there was an underground lake down here somewhere, I'm sure I can find it." He said, scooping her up from the ground.
She slapped weakly at his chest, but Jason ignored her protests as he ran. Lithia was probably cackling down in her little cave of debauchery, wiggling her little mummy-fingers while watching Lance turn beet-red. Lance would put that corpse in the dirt where it belonged one day, mark her words.
"Honestly." He said with a sigh as he ran, "It's just a body, I don't understand why people are so bothered by it being visible."
She frowned, "It's more complicated than that, alright?"
"How? It's already there, everyone knows it's there and what it generally looks like, being naked is nothing special." Jason told her, shaking his head.
"Nothing special to you, maybe. For normal folk, being nude in one another's company carries certain implications." She told him, averting her eyes. "It means that you are alright being vulnerable around that person and that… well…" She trailed off.
"I'm okay with you being vulnerable." He said, trying to sound comforting, "It's not a problem."
Lance shut her eyes, face scrunching up in annoyance. Becoming a person again had not made him any less frustrating.
"It isn't just vulnerability." She said flatly.
Jason paused, apparently considering what she meant. "Ah." He said after a moment, "You mean that naked people together usually reproduce. Don't worry, I wasn't planning on that."
She was going to kill him.
"Idiot." She grumbled, "Don't say such things so… so openly! And I wasn't planning on that either."
Jason frowned, "What do you mean by 'openly'?" He asked, "That's what you meant, there's no problem with saying it outright, dancing around the issue is a waste of time."
"You just have no tact." She glared.
"Negative. My tactical senses are as keen as ever." Jason replied flatly.
"That isn't what I meant, idiot." Lance grumbled again.
"You are in a state of agitation because your needs have not been met. As soon as you sate them you will return to a stable mindset." Jason told her matter of factly, "Once we get to the lake, you will drink, and we'll see if we can consume any of this fungus safely."
She opened her mouth to lash out again, but thought better of it. Jason was right, she was cranky because she was exhausted, hungry, and thirsty. Anyone that had gone through what she had would have been, but she was taking that all out on Hop- er, Jason. The things he had said were still frustrating though… He didn't think that her being naked was special? The thought made her feel strangely indignant. No other man but him had seen her like this and he was treating it as if it were nothing out of the ordinary?
She huffed at the thought, frustrated that she was paying mind to such a thing. He couldn't have at least tried to sneak a glance? Was she ugly? This was ludicrous, she should be glad that he wasn't trying to do such a thing! She continued to mull and grumble at these thoughts the whole trip until finally, they reached the lake. Heinlet was nowhere to be seen, likely having left long ago.
Jason nodded to himself before descending the valley, approaching the lake with Lance in his arms. He then set her down right on the shoreline, turning from her to stare at the darkness in the center of the lake.
"I'm going to scout, we need to be sure that nothing is in the water that can attack us, wait until I'm done. The water should be safe to drink, given the stable ecosystem, but I still need to make sure." He then knelt down, dipping his finger into the water as a narrow tube emerged from the tip.
He'd done that same thing back in the Faewood, testing the river water for contaminants.
After a moment, he nodded, "It should be safe, I'm diving in, keep this by your side just in case." He said, leaving the Fortis beside her, "I'll be back, drink some water."
Lance could barely give a grunt of acknowledgement as she began sipping greedily at the water, it rushing down her throat in a cold torrent. The dry ache washed away as she drank her fill, gasping when she finally got the time to breathe. She didn't even notice Jason returning from the bowels of the lake, not until he was standing right before her, the dried blood having completely been washed away.
"It's clear-"
"Please don't look directly at me." Lance pleaded, "You don't seem to understand, but being like this is embarrassing for me."
"I'm not offended." He told her, their eyes meeting.
As before, Jason's emotional state was far more stable than it ever had been, a stark contrast to the state she'd found him in before now. It had been a whirlwind of terror, hatred, anger, along with just about every other emotion she could pick out among the tides of his madness. Now though, the dominant emotion she could see was peace. The relief of seeing him this way made her forget her state of dress for the moment, and she stood, not breaking eye-contact with him all the while.
Then she remembered herself, knees magnetizing together before her hands moved to cover herself… oh what was the point? He'd seen it all already, hiding it now wouldn't make him unsee it, and they still had a long way to go until she got her clothes back. What was she going to do, tell him to look away every time he so much as glanced at her? Continue to leave her hands on covering duty? Slowly but surely, she uncovered herself, standing upright before him, the skin of her face practically melting from the heat of her embarrassment.
Lithia was going to die for putting her through all this.
"Are you alright?" Jason asked, eyes showing concern.
"I'm quite alright." She lied, feeling anything but, "The lake is clear, yes?"
"Affirmative." Jason nodded, "There are a few bottom feeders but other than that, no predatory creatures."
"Oh good, now if you'll excuse me-" She told him, quickly moving past him to wade into the water.
"But you already drank." Jason told her, grabbing her arm, "If you drink too much you'll get sick."
Lance shrugged out of his grasp, "I'm going to bathe!" She exclaimed, "Water has other uses besides drinking you know!?"
Jason paused before turning away, "Affirmative, I'll find out if this fungus is edible."
"Wait a moment," Lance told him, "I've learned that the floor fungus might not be safe, but the mushroom caps may be fine to eat raw."
"You've tested this?" Jason asked, head tilting down to the nearest mushroom cluster.
"Well no, but I encountered a dwarf here, he told me that the caps might be safe for non-dwarves to eat."
Jason paused, "Was his name Heinlet?"
"Yes, you know him?" Lance asked, surprised.
"He helped my initial escape, told me where to punch a hole in the wall." Jason nodded, "I thought he would have been dead by now."
Lance shook her head, "Not quite, if we run into him what should we do?"
"...Leave him alone." Jason said, "I already extracted useful intel from him, and I'm guessing that you have as well." He paused, "He's been through enough."
Lance blinked in shock. Was Hoplite- damn it all, was Jason really showing empathy for Heinlet? It wasn't like him at all, he was usually so cold and calculating. The old Hoplite would have tried to juice the dwarf for all he was worth… but perhaps not? It was hard to say, this was all new territory for her. She had understood Hoplite, at least a bit, but Jason? He was an enigma.
"You should get clean." Jason told her before he knelt down to pluck the glowing mushrooms from the shore, "I'll give these a taste test."
She watched as Jason brought one of the caps up to his face, golden eyes inspecting it curiously before he gave it a sniff. He then took a small bite from the mushroom, eyes going wide before he openly wore revulsion on his face, shaking his head for an instant before he swallowed the piece. Lance began to clean herself as Jason stared hard at the mushroom, standing before he turned his head to her.
"It's edible." He nodded.
Lance frowned as the cool water rolled over her shoulders, only her head visible above the lake's surface. "You didn't seem to approve of the taste." Lance pointed out.
Jason hesitated, "No, it is delicious." He told her with a straight face, "You need to eat it."
Lance stared, had he just lied to her to get her to eat? She saw his face twist up clear as day after taking that bite.
"How does it taste then?" She asked, approaching him from the water.
"...Like raw eggs on wet dirt." He told her after a moment.
Lance's face scrunched up, "You think that's delicious?"
Jason hesitated, "Sure."
Lance sighed, "Just hand me one please." She said, emerging from the water fully.
By the Pillars it felt so refreshing to be clean again, the exhaustion still penetrated down to her very bones, but at least the filth from the past few days was gone now. She took the mushroom from Jason, taking a bite with barely a second thought. She chewed on in gingerly, indeed it tasted like what Jason had described. It wasn't pleasant, but she'd eaten worse than this in her time. She then took another bite, and that's when she noticed that Jason was goggling at her.
"What?" She asked between chews.
"I didn't think you'd be so enthusiastic about eating that." He told her honestly.
"I've had worse, Watchers explore the entire Faewood, you must remember that includes half the continent of the Faelands, we cannot always return to the Bastion to eat. The forest provides, but the food given did not always taste sweet, let's just say that." Lance told him, "So suck it up and eat."
Hoplite shook his head, "I am in stable condition, help yourself."
"I don't suppose you could summon fire to cook this?" She asked after another mouthful.
"I can't, and even if I could, we have nothing to cook it on." Jason told her, "I'll see about stealing some cooking ware from the dwarves after we return, along with some blankets for you."
"Jason, are you sure?" Lance asked, concern in her tone, "I don't know what happened to you, but something in there had put you in that horrid state… I don't want that happening to you again."
"It won't." He told her firmly, "I'll be fine, really."
"Well, if you're sure. What happened to you anyhow? When you went into the city I mean." Lance asked him, drawing closer as she continued to munch on the still-glowing mushroom.
"It's a little fuzzy… but I got into a fight, I remember that much. A dwarf named Wurmdring… and I lost." Jason told her, free hand balling into a fist, his face hardening, "He's why I couldn't get your things back."
Lance almost couldn't believe what she heard. Hoplite, or rather Jason, had lost a fight? She could scarcely believe that such a thing was possible. How terrifying was this Wurmdring if he could defeat a man who snapped a Pillar-Born in half?
"You got away though." Lance pointed out, "It's nothing to be ashamed of."
"Most of what happened is a blur… but to get away with my life, I got pushed to that point. You remember back when I ate that rabbit? Wurmdring pushed me past that threshold, that was the only way I survived." Jason told her, running a hand down his face, suddenly looking ill.
Lance suppressed the urge to take a step back, she couldn't let Jason believe she thought him a monster, not when he was still in such a delicate state of mind.
"...You ate him?" She asked after a moment.
Jason shrugged, "I can't remember exactly, he wrapped me up in some hot whips made of plasma… then things went blank. Next thing I knew, the whole room was covered in blood, Wurmdring was right across from me, but everything else was dead, torn apart like an animal had gotten a hold of them. There's only so many things that could have happened Lance… I lost control of myself."
"You did what you needed to do to survive your fight with the vampire and his lackeys." Lance reasoned, suppressing a shudder.
"I know that. Don't misunderstand, I don't feel guilty for the dwarves I neutralized… I feel sick that I lost control, sick that I allowed myself to become a monster- It doesn't sit right with me." He told her with a frown, "I'm sick that I met someone I couldn't beat, I haven't felt that way since I encountered an Admech back in my dimension."
"Admech?" She asked.
"It's a long story. I'll share it with you another time. Are you ready to go?" Hoplite asked, turning fully toward her again.
She scarfed down the rest of her mushroom quickly, "Gather up a few more of those, we don't know when we'll get to eat next and-"
Lance froze as she heard something buzzing in the distance. It was a loud noise, nearly deafening, but she'd heard it before, dozens of times… just on a smaller scale. Lance turned to face the source of the sound, her knees turning to jelly as she saw what she'd hoped to never see. A gigantic wasp flew toward them from atop the waterfall, its two massive eyes locking onto them as saliva dripped from its mandibled mouth. A deep growl emanated from the monster, like a muzzled bear with froth-mouth, just barely audible beneath the buzzing of its wings. It was larger than a bear, with blurring wings as long as Jason was tall.
She scrambled away wildly with a shriek, running straight into Jason. With barely a thought, she scrambled behind him, clinging onto him desperately as she screamed for him to kill it a dozen times over. He raised the Fortis, then pulled the trigger, the round punching through the carapace and sending it crashing into the lake. A massive splash at least a tree high exploded up from the water, the wasps carcass not surfacing afterward.
Jason then turned to see Lance clinging to him, shaking with open terror. His eyes showed an equal amount of concern and confusion.
"I haven't seen you act like this since Tuji… are you scared of wasps?" He asked.
Lance couldn't get out the words, still trembling at having seen such an abomination.
"It's dead now." He told her with a nod, "Wait here, I'm going to go drag it to the surface, it might be edible-"
"N-not a chance in all the h-hells will I eat anything from a giant w-wasp corpse." Lance managed.
"Alright fine. I will go and see if I can bring it to the shore-" Jason started, taking a step toward the lake.
Lance clung to him tighter, pressing against him, "Don't leave me alone!"
Jason sighed, shaking his head, "Fine then. Stop squeezing me, it's unprofessional."
"Nothing about any of this has ever been professional!" Lance chided, "From when you freed me to now, it's all been a naked circus act! Let's just leave!"
Jason grumbled something beneath his breath before clutching the Fortis in his teeth. He then scooped her up in his arms again, promptly darting off in the direction of this cavern's exit. As they went, Lance noticed that more creatures were making themselves known. Purring maggots of all shapes and sizes crawled along the fungal floor, chewing the fungus with soft mandibles. They looked just like Heinlet described, pale white flesh, with accordion-like folds and no limbs, aside from its size it looked like it couldn't hurt a fly.
Then there were what must have been the molemen, small humanoid pink-skinned creatures with long noses, tendrily moustaches stretching out from either side. Their pig like nostrils sniffed at the air, their long clawed fingers picking through the fungus as their noses snuffed. Giant bats the size of dogs also made themselves known, casting dark shadows down from the ceiling as they flew. It seemed this was the time the cavern became active, hopefully they would get out of here before another growling wasp appeared.
Her heart may explode if she saw another one anytime within the next fifty years. It was a long while before Jason finally found the mouth of the cave, dashing through it quickly and leaving that cursed fungal death-trap behind. She'd almost forgotten how freezing the spiralling tunnel was in comparison to the muggy warmth of the fungal cave, the only thing keeping her from shaking like a leaf being Jason's high body-heat.
As they descended, Lance found herself all too aware of his hands on her, one splayed across her back while the other supported her legs, holding up the backs of her knees. The crook of his arm was like a warm scarf around the back of her neck, almost completely shutting out the cold. Though it was hard to even notice the drop in temperature with how embarrassed she felt. Certainly she must have looked as red as a tomato, but again Jason did nothing but keep his eyes forward as he ran.
Didn't he realize where his hands were? Damn him. The thought had no real weight to it, all she could focus on was how warm he felt, that, and the realization that he was the only man she felt safe doing this with…