Basuke

and the stronger slap on his back from mostima made demian keel a little, but mostima gave basuke a wave and landon a separate salute. “well! i’m done for today over here. if you two are headed out on the quest, stay safe, and play nice, okay? ciao~!”

“bye mostima!” basuke returned the farewell cheerily, just as demian righted himself, blinking tiredly. after checking over his shoulder for a moment, demian turned back to landon with a raised palm.

“ciao.”

“oh, demian, you’re leaving already?”

basuke’s question was answered by the man’s tug on his wrist, pulling the pair out of the shop. demian let out a sigh as they stepped out into daylight, but the man leaned back against the crusty wall outside just as demian let go of his friend. he rolled his head over to assess the state of the other. basuke looked somewhat irritated from the whirl of information thrown at him, and a little flushed, and tense.

up close, basuke could tell she had yellow eyes, pupils sharp like a cat’s, tiny fangs in her mouth and a large forehead. the woman shielded her words with a raised palm.

“hey! are you close enough to demian for him to be talking that way to you?”

“could be closer,” basuke said unironically.

demian quickly earned himself a jab to the ribs, to which he barely winced over. “mostima, he’s no one,” the man tried to reason. it made basuke feel a little insulted, and the woman raised her finger to his lips.

“ah– no. if you recognize him, and –” she looked back to basuke briefly, “ – gave him some advice, furthermore, he’s not just no one. he’s got to be your friend at this point!”

both mostima and basuke were beaming as they exchanged looks. was this woman a mind reader? the boy sure figured!

“a friend,” basuke repeated, joyous.

updating battle-ready inventory to also include the fruit juice (10). used two slots to hold fruit juice (5) each.

basuke thought he looked almost villainous with his fur coat exaggerating his silhouette, and that made demian cool.

“here’s your dye,” the man spoke gruffly, looking over the poor state of basuke’s present lodgings. the mixture was in a makeshift container – it looked homemade rather than bought. and the colour looked shoddier than the ones he swore he saw in the shops he’d visited.

basuke scooped it up excitedly anyway, holding it up like a prized possession. “i can’t believe it! so soon? man, you work fast.”

and demian shrugged, more interested now in the squeaking familiar approaching his feet. it looked almost pitiable with the way it wriggled, but demian said nothing on the state of his acquaintance’s affairs. then, he looked about the camp once more.

“... do you really just live like this?”

basuke looked back at him, shocked. “what, like the meme?”

it prompted demian to flinch, and start to turn around to walk away.

“you should find somewhere better to stay at. it’s dangerous out here. get a house or something.”

and basuke couldn’t tell what demian’s intent behind that message was, beyond jest and good will.

from the other day, it was just the two of them headed back to yogan village. and basuke had been making small talk. one of the things he noticed about demian was the fact that he had weird looking bedhead that made him look cool, unlike basuke’s poor excuse for a messy hair-do.

so he was asking earnestly about demian’s routine, given that he’d obviously done a dye job. and demian merely snorted at the question. “uh, you can dye your own hair in aincrad. you know that, right?”

basuke did not know that. he’d tugged at a few tufts on his head. “if i’d known sooner,” he admitted, “i’d have dyed it a different colour!”

demian did not look interested. but something in basuke wanted him to be a little interested. so he turned to his new acquaintance – “hey, what do you think would look good on me?”

the man assessed him briefly, partially annoyed.

“blond.”

“everyone, meet smiggle crocs v!”

when basuke finally decided to stop fawning over his pet, he turned around and showed the fake serpent to them. smiggle flexed its body with a writhe, and night looked over it more carefully, now that it was completely out of the ground. here, she thought the creature’s interpretation was completely inaccurate when basuke had drawn its shape into the ground, but it really did seem as though smiggle… was a bee without wings. the only difference was that it could look upwards at a semi 90 degree angle, so it had a bend part way through its body.

perhaps bistro shouldn’t get a look at that thing; she might want to consider what kind of loot such a species would drop if she got a chance to operate on it… or something.

basuke lowered the tsuchinoko in his hands closer to the ground, so that nyanko could get a better look at him.

except that in his pursuit, the worm began to tunnel under, sensing the feline threat. nyanko, after stopping by night’s foot, crouched, eyes darting around to locate the worm as necessary. and the player really hadn’t expected nyanko to be this enthusiastic about the familiar she was brought over to track down – so she kneeled to give him a few comforting pets, after which the kitten shook his head.

basuke, on the other hand, was on the opposite side of the pit playing whack-a-mole with the few times his familiar stuck his head out to examine the damage, to no avail.

“oh, look. he’s coming here soon,” she assumed, watching his friend jump around a couple of times before collapsing on the ground in frustration. at smiggle’s latest disappearance, he reappeared closer to the cat, his eyes upon the player in confusion, instead. it gave nyanko enough time to pounce on smiggle, blunt teeth pulling at its skin lightly, while it wriggled in protest, attempting to be freed.

different resource nodes were scattered across the edge of the depression, with some lining the center. and, between each of them was dirt, now covered with tiny black spots. something in the far distance started to catch basuke’s attention, however, the dirt shifting upon the ground in an odd manner.

he thought it was smiggle, and started to bolt towards it. it made sense, after all – the worm’s head was about the color of light soil (which, was still ugly, to him), and if he couldn’t make out what it was from that distance, the invasive creature had a strong likelihood to be his tiny friend.

“smiggle crocs v!”

tiny steps followed him, taking off in a gallop that almost matched his pace. meanwhile, he couldn’t hear night following him – but neither was he paying attention to that, after all. basuke got close enough to be able to identify the familiar round head and beady eyes of his companion, looking around in confusion, before it sank back into the hole it came from.

night turned to basuke just as nyanko started walking off again. she raised a palm. “after you, then.”

“oh, okay!”

and night carried a hesitance with her that basuke wasn’t exactly picking up. still, she followed, as basuke tailed nyanko; the cat started to move in hops and bounds as basuke got closer, and he made sure to keep up the pace. only once did he stumble, halting the search party as they stopped, concerned – basuke’s foot had been caught by another hole in the ground. a good sign in the search for smiggle crocs v, and an even better find for the pursuer, for there was another material, a piece of gold ore, beside it!

“it’s my lucky day,” basuke declared, only for night to pat him on the shoulder.

“you still have your worm (?) to find.”

“oh, right.” but he shrugged and held up the loot for examination. “i can still appreciate this though. hey, wait, how did you say that?”

“what?”

“the parentheses…”

“eh?! nyanko?!”

all of that gathered composure that night had managed to restore from her wake was lost the moment she spotted her summon up ahead of her. now it was basuke’s turn to be confused, as he leaned down and collected the materials he’d seen before, almost without question. his friend darted over to the small kitten, picking it up with two hands, and brushing its fur while it meowed at her, just as lost as he was. all the while, night seemed to be scolding it – or getting anxious herself.

“what are you doing out here…? i didn’t leave the door open, did i? but the home should’ve had an auto-lock function… how did you even find me out here? what if you got lost, nyanko?”

the kitten just stared at her, before tilting its head. it trilled, softly, as basuke approached the pair, and night turned to him with the feline looking his way, too.

“... do you know what kind of species it is…?”

that was night’s final attempt at trying to decipher basuke’s explanation. and to her surprise, the boy’s face lit up, almost excited at the answer… if he could find it. he stammered, looking away, and closed his eyes. a poor sign, but so long as he tried hard enough, surely something would come through.

“tsuchi…” he began, exasperated after another bout of silence. “tsuchi-something? the granny said it was something like an earth child, but i don’t really know much about it. i mean…” basuke raised his hands with open palms faced towards night. “i don’t think i’ve seen it ever in real life, if you were to ask me that.”

“we could try working with that.” and night quickly keyed in a query to a bistro who never seemed to be asleep, only to be returned with a single response, and a protest afterwards.

bistro: tsuchinoko
bistro: im crashing. dont text me any more

he’d nearly tripped on a rock and another hole that was hidden behind it, alongside a different shining material, but this one a leaf.

“oh, sorry there,” basuke directed towards the blip on the map, before focusing his attention towards the dirt on the ground. he set the tip of his blade to the earth, and traced out a crude imagery of smiggle from memory. “as i said, a small plump worm. he has stripes like a tiger, or a bee, and he’s in ugly brown and normal brown.”

“what colour is ugly brown again?”

basuke paused, considering for another moment. “like the colour of cooking oil.”

night frowned, scrunched up her face for a second, before relaxing her expression. “okay.”

“and then he also has a diamond-shaped mouth with fangs… and beady black eyes.”

basuke continued his work, and stepped back when he was done. night seemed hypnotized by the image he’d drawn, and the boy took it as a sign of an accurate depiction of his familiar, so he grinned.

“so smiggle usually makes these holes around the base of our campsite. like, around where there usually is a small fire or something,” basuke continued. “and i think now he’s making more of them? in a wider area?”

night blinked, humming tiredly, missing a beat before she replied. “okay.” 

“night, do you know anything about worms in this game? why do they keep doing that?”

basuke had to wait for a little more, as the woman hummed again, more aggressively this time. as though the noise would aid her in considering her answer better. the boy watched his friend scratch at her scalp, purse her lips, before saying, “a different type of worm. don’t worms like to dig into the dirt?”

“i mean, maybe.” the boy shrugged. he did consider this long ago, but he never understood why crocs would have left his side so persistently and consistently. besides, even if he could accept his worm’s behaviour, he wasn’t so certain about being able to keep his friend, especially not after its absence today.

what does one do when they lose track of their worm?!

well, basuke wasn’t sure. in fact, his first instinct was to, similarly, dig out the tunnel that his familiar had made prior, and follow smiggle to wherever his destination would be. unfortunately, he wasn’t exactly equipped to perform such an excavation, and the hole that crocs made was too tiny to perform any followthrough upon it, without risking the chance of having the tunnel obstructed and losing track of the only clue he had in the first place. so the player was stumped – completely.

he considered echo-locating down the small tunnel, but he wasn’t sure how to do so, nor if it was even a possible, viable idea in the first place. the best plan he went with, however, while waiting for night, was to walk around the campsite in search for clues of his familiar. it was only upon the discovery of a second tunnel entrance, alongside a single gemstone material beside it (???) that night had finally showed up, as he requested.

okay, to be completely honest, he wasn't sure how or why sometimes after he woke, smiggle crocs v was missing from their bedtime cuddles. 

the first time it happened, he nearly tore apart his tent when camping out on the first floor. but now, he knew better – whatever his little worm creature familiar was doing, basuke knew he could count on finding smiggle out in the dirt, tail pointed to the sky, burrowing through soil. it used to be a handful of small pits, but on days when he found himself sleeping in, basuke was sure to be greeted with an entire campsite filled with a multitude of them. the boy counted himself lucky he didn't have trypophobia, if he even knew the proper word for it.

on this day, however, he'd woken up fairly early in comparison to his previous schedule. and smiggle was missing, as expected, to his dismay. the only difference was that, in leaving his tent, he found out that his tiny pal in aincrad had only dug a single hole in the ground.

in fear of losing his friend, he decided it best to call for help.