Unintended

14

There was a puzzled aura which surrounded Nureka, a quick glance at her expression signalled to Kotallo that she was in thought over something. She walked along not wholly paying attention to the path before them, yet still seemed utterly able to avoid and dodge out of the way of any and all obstacles that may be beneath, or in front of her. No small cluster of pebbles, or jutting out logs, or even foliage stretching into the path to try and enjoy traces of sunlight from out and away of the overhanging boughs of the trees, managed to catch her off guard.

Twiddling her thumbs while her hands rested against her stomach was an action which was catching the sunlight every so often, the threads in her skin would shimmer and shine just a little bit more from the rays of light. It seemed whatever thought she was lost in, she was coming out of; inhaling slowly, her eyes blinked languidly before flicking sidelong at Kotallo. Though he was back to surveying the tree line around them, he felt the shift beside him which caused him to look back her way.

"I think Erend may have had the run of the base to himself." Nureka still sounded thoughtful.

"What makes you think that?" Kotallo asked in return, he was curious as to how she came to this decision. But also, surely this wasn't all she was lost in thought about? Was it a bad thing if Erend had the base to himself? Although in thinking over that, Kotallo did share a room with the Oseram...his cubicle wasn't the cleanest, it seemed with this in mind and his eyes slowly widening had Nureka nodding with a tight smile on her face. "Surely, he wouldn't have ruined the base?" Kotallo looked away from the path ahead to her, he shifted his hold on the straps in his hand and watched as Nureka seemed to think over whether his question was rhetorical or not.

"Face it, Aloy is off getting Demeter, we don't know when she will be back. We went off on out to Memorial Grove, what's stopping Varl and Zo from visiting Plainsong? They tend to visit there often," Nureka explained, it wasn't that these visits had set routines, and Kotallo hadn't been present to see them off on their travels, whereas she had, so had Erend. She scratched her cheek in thought, though this caused her to wince and frown, even inhale sharply. How could she forget the small cut on her cheek? "Did I just open it back up?" Nureka turned her face, even from the corner of her eyes she saw Kotallo shake his head.

"Regardless if no one else is present, surely everything will be as it was?" Kotallo merely asked, he couldn't imagine them returning and the place was destroyed. But then again, mess might be a different matter.

It was like Nureka could read his thoughts; the blank look she sent his way just showed how little she believed this to be true. Shaking her head, she shrugged and waved a hand nonchalantly in the air. "Maybe he's gone off exploring?"

Kotallo frowned at that thought, Erend didn't seem as interested in the world outside the base as Nureka did. Varl had seemingly found himself more than at home, found a place within the world around him and had just seamlessly adapted. Zo was from here, along with Kotallo, but it was a curious thing to think whether both of them would adapt and be like Varl and Nureka were with these lands, if they were placed elsewhere. Aloy was here, there and everywhere so for her to find a place to just sit, breathe and rest would be a miracle, the base must be a very welcome miracle at that. But after everything, would she stay out here in the West?

Likewise, would the new comrades that had come to be here; it wasn't like there wasn't Oseram present, Erend would probably go to Vegas, or another settlement and settle there unless he was needed. Varl and Zo were near inseparable so the thought of Varl going back to the Nora minus the Utaru was a hard one to picture. Unless Zo would go with him, in some ways it would only be right to see where Varl had called home, his people, his mother and the rest of the clan. Nureka had made it clear she couldn't go home, would returning home come with the threat of death? Honestly, Kotallo wasn't sure, banishment for life could be as good as a death sentence. So, it was relatively safe to say, unless she wished to travel back to the Sundom for something, or visit the Nora, that would be as far as she went; Ban-Ur was perhaps a no go, maybe.