Delving Deeper [COMPLETED: Gao, Ekik, Sin, Claria]

[LuckyBlackCat]

Moving closer so Gao could read more easily by her light, Claria watched the gleam reawaken in red eyes. "Not sure I'd attribute any kind of parental affection to a poaching scenario," she murmured, although she couldn't deny that strange undertone of fondness in the writing. Adorable... She'd disagreed, to say the least, when Gao had described the Froxlings so, but was he not the only one who thought that?

"It doesn't bite."

Evidently he wasn't.

Claria fixed a blank stare on Sin, who casually continued looting even while aware of his sharp-fanged passenger. Was he that overconfident? "It doesn't bite... yet," she warned. "You can't be too careful around wild animals. Especially monsters." Instincts on high alert, she studied the Frox for any sign of hostility. Yet it simply perched, quite contented as if about to nap right there on Sin's head. As if it felt safe. Although it went against every reflex, Claria willed her muscles to unclench, shifting her feet out of battle-ready stance. For the time being, the creature, demonic minion that it was, remained as calm and languid as the pet frogs she'd kept during her childhood. If she acted like it was bound to attack at any moment, she could give off potential threat signals and drive it to do just that in a self-fulfilling prophecy.

"...He's going to end up keeping the lil' guy, aint he?"

"It looks that way, as disastrously ill-advised as that would be," Claria grumbled. She doubted there'd be any talking Sin out of this, logistics be damned. "For one, the little guy's going to be a big guy some day... a very big guy indeed."

Gao lowered the journal, concern creasing thick eyebrows. Not about the Frox, but about the limited success of the search for loot. Still beating himself up over the team's misfortunes, it seemed. "And-... what did you uncover for yourself?"

Claria gestured to the book in his hands. "Not much in the way of tangible treasures, I'll admit, but I took a look through those notes. Any information related to the Depths counts for something."

She turned her gaze to Ekik at his side, sitting down next to him and stretching out her injured leg, recalling the tidbit of conversation she'd overheard. "You study the Depths, did you say? They also happen to be my area of research." Usually in a more official manner, but she left out that detail. Her eyes glimmered with awe as she beheld the towering fungi, the delicate curls of plants, the feathery fronds of the woodlands once again. "Fascinating, aren't they? I see why some people theorise them to have once been an ocean - much of this flora has similarities to eelgrasses, and some is structured more like wrack than like true plants, among other parallels. As for the ruins and machines, you've got to wonder about their history. There's so much we have yet to learn."

Not even this complete shipwreck of an expedition lessened her enthusiasm any. She, Gao and Ekik had that much in common. "So if we cross paths again here some day, I'd be glad to assist you."

It struck her how utterly the group dynamic had changed in a short span of time. The initial distrust driving rifts between them had thawed into a sense of camaraderie - for the most part, anyway. Getting along with someone as arrogant, hardheaded, and downright sketchy as Sin wasn't going to happen any time soon. Still, he'd at least cooperated with them.

As for the newfound companionship between the others? If anything positive had come of this catastrophic mission, it was this.

[Rex Draco]

Once he was satisfied that the Frox hatchling wasn't a face eating monster that would ruin his day he continued to scour the field for viable weapons that were not various lengths of katana. Webbed feet trudged through the tousled bodies and wayward debris of the former base. His dark eyes drifted along, climbing over the red uniforms and peering through crates of bananas, tipping over barrels of curiously unidentified fluids. Eventually Sin sheathed his blades and shifted the scabbards across his hips to one side. Adjusting his cloak the russet-scaled Zora stood among the mangled chaos and destruction that befell the Yiga. Nothing among them was worth observing or claiming for his own. They seemed obsessed with these blades, but he couldn't fathom the depth of history behind them and instead viewed them as inconsequential in his search for the perfect weapon.

It was said the ancestor that taught all preceding kin the art of Ke Húm was said to use a blade so light that it was like wielding a feather. It was the length of a man's arm with a vivid hue that rivaled the gleam of a blue rupee. Its hilt was carved from the claret stones of Death Mountain and tassels spun from the gold silk of a Skulltula. The blade was said to have been lost in a great battle against the King of Bokoblin, consumed by the mouth of molten lava that walked on land.

"What is the difference?" Between a monster an animal.

He had never taken a moment to think on the matter, but he was sure both creatures were awful to contend with in a deep, dark, dark, dangerous dungeon such as this one. With nothing to be found he resigned himself to quitting the boring task and turned to the conversation. Were they all scholars? He wasn't surprised that it was the case. Who else but treasure hunters dared to delve so deep into the depths? He pulled his hood over his head, the Frox flattening against his skull, closing its bright, bugged out eyes as it was quite moist under there.

He didn't think he would attack the three were he to meet them again. They were surprisingly not well armed. The sword hunter breathed out through the gills on his neck before rolling his shoulders. "If we meet on the road again, I will endeavour to remember your names."   

[El]

Despite all their misfortunes... there was a silver lining. Gao never thought of himself as much of an optimist - just a stubborn fool - but as he listened to Ekik speak, openly, an ease settling into his wounded posture, the smile on the Sheikah's face warmed deeper. A fellow scholar through and through. He'd saved their hides multiple times, and now he confessed to be something of a kindred spirit. What else could that be, but a silver lining to this whole ordeal?

It turned out that even Claria was more inclined that way than Gao had assumed too, her approach accompanied by a ramble all too similar in its bewitched hue. As she looked upon their otherworldly environment with eyes glimmering in awe, he followed suit, enjoying a moment of shared contemplation - and fantasising appreciation.

"You're really made of something else, Claria." Gao muttered with a clipped - gurgling - laugh. "After all of that, you're still open to working together again eh." It made him wonder just what else the Zora had gone through in her life (down here especially) if even this hadn't scared her off. A concerning thought: though his smile was still bright nonetheless.

Sin returned then, with the Kingdom's most charming half-promise of familiarity. Gao couldn't help it - he guffawed. Head back, chest swelling, a BOOM of laughter rattling where it shouldn't and causing every aching tendon to swell and shudder.

"I am deeply flattered, mate." The Lurelin lad managed through a wheeze, once he collected himself enough to wipe a bloodstained tear from the corner of his eye. "Though, genuinely, I'm sorry to see you didn't find anything of note in that heap either."

What a sorry lot they were really. Another laugh tickled in his throbbing gut.

After a good handful more of minutes to catch enough breath for the trip, Gao heaved himself up onto his feet. He swayed, gritted his teeth, but grinned through it all: that he was even still alive and capable of walking was a blessing. They'd need to make a trip back to their camp at the Lightroot before tracing their steps all the way to the landing site. As such, the Sheikah was careful throughout the trek, keeping a steady measure of his various thresholds and remaining energy at a pace that might've been frustrating for his companions, but was nonetheless steady and sure. He wouldn't have rejected any aid though - were it offered. Gao knew well when pride became an impediment, rather than of any assistance.

Nonetheless time blurred and the scenery trudged past. Resources were bundled back together. Tracks were carefully buried. And in a surreal haze they reached the thankfully untouched balloon. It did need to be reinflated, but in the now comforting silence of the Depths, Gao found the endeavour oddly meditative rather than fraught with paranoid nerves - like it had been once upon a time.

"And you're sure-SURE you don't want to come with us?" The Sheikah reiterated for Farosh knows how many times by this point, tightening the last knot of rope around the balloon's nest in a firm jerk. Despite the sharp flare in his shoulder, the man was too busy to pay it heed - instead frowning at the Rito they were leaving behind. Gao might've been in a rough state, but he was barely much better. To leave him down here, alone, felt-... wrong.

Ekik wasn't having any of it though, no matter how much the Sheikah fretted and scowled and endeavoured to convince him otherwise. Eventually Gao had to admit defeat, wheezing out a sigh oddly coloured by admiration that somehow - despite everything - Ekik really did sound like he'd be totally fine. That he wasn't lying about being OK, in time.

"Well suit yourself then," Gao grumbled. With heave-ho he crawled like a wounded wolf into the nest, readjusting all the luggage in a final check. A soft click later and the lantern which fuelled the balloon's heat began to flare into a larger flame. Up up and away they began to drift, a weightlessness carrying the trio quartet away from this most peculiar dream of a few days. "If I come back one day and find you dead, I'll kill you again!" He growled, half in jest, half very seriously, leaning upon the fence of the nest to watch those big round eyes of Ekik's fade into spore-riddled obscurity.

"And-..." Gao paused, biting his tongue. But whatever went through his mind - whatever doubt or trouble irked him - it all melted away under a wide and soft smile. Trust and understanding. Despite how his liquor-red eyes gleamed with knowing, his expression was one of genuine friendship. "...I'll make sure to keep some bananas on me."

Up the balloon drifted towards the light, leaving an odd tension tight in Gao's chest. A squeezing emptiness. It was a slow but steady ascent, and with each metre climbed the fresh bite of Highland snow teased their nostrils. Fresh air. They could feel the chilled breeze tickle their scalps, and in time could even see motes of melting snow.

Claria was happy to discuss future expeditions, and though at first Gao rambled on about all sorts of ideas - some much more practical than others - it quickly became evident that he was too distracted to treat the subject with the severity it required. The little froxling still nested atop Sin's head - looking more cosy than ever - soon stole Gao's attention entirely. Before long he'd all but forgotten about any future plans and instead set about schooling Sin on the appropriate way to look after his new child. They all learned a lot, during that ascent, as the Sheikah scoured the Yiga notes and reiterated and condensed the most vital information. He nagged, lectured, insisted on getting the appropriate responses from Sin to ensure all had been absorbed. But... whether Gao was content with the Desert Zora having passed the crashcourse exam or not, the world about them grew bright.

Even in the midst of a snowstorm, deep in the thick of night, how bright the Surface was. How much easier it was to breathe. Gao's words trailed off and for one long, lingering moment, he looked away from the bloodied and soot-stained papers to instead admire the cresting horizon. Even atop the bubbling Gloom, it eased something in his heart and soul that he hadn't realised had been aching this whole time.

He knew, one day, he'd plunge back into the Depths again. But for now Gao would enjoy every pained beauty of the present, the silliest grin upon his face as he steered the balloon in time to land at Gerudo Canyon Stable.

- FIN -