Fate Weaver's convergence

C46 Paper plans and Building Blocks 5

"Seriously, what kind of meat is this anyway?"

Beryl, Vaughn, and I were sitting around the small fire pit outside the temple. Lunch was mostly finished. All we had left were some strips of dried beef that we were currently each chewing on.

"It's a kind of cow. Mother Cressida said something about a 'By-son'? Not sure if I'm saying that right, though. She bought the meat from a merchant the other-"

Beryl struggled to take another bite as the meat was tough.

"-day."

Oh? Do bison exist in this world?... I shouldn't be surprised, but I haven't seen any yet.

Finishing her sentence, Beryl returned to chewing, clearly content. Taking a bite from my own, I didn't struggle initially, but the meat also tore inconsistently due to my strength and tooth structure. Vaughn, however, had nothing to complain of. Looking to him, Vaughn was busy enjoying the smokey, peppered flavor of the meat. Strangely, while it was dried, it maintained a texture on its interior quite similar to a steak. With his human teeth, Vaughn was probably enjoying the meat to its fullest.

"It is- "

I swallowed a portion before continuing.

"- super good, though. Just look at Vaughn; he's smiling like an idiot."

I motioned to Vaughn, who appeared lost for a moment before realizing Beryl and I was both looking at him. By the time he realized, he'd stopped chewing and looked to each of us before slowly resuming.

"Snnrrrk- Hahaha-"

Beryl fell into a fit of laughter from the response.

From there, the afternoon went smoothly, but for some reason, something felt off. The nausea subsided, so I was sure it wasn't the issue. Something felt off, as if in the background, something wasn't allowing me to truly relax like yesterday or the day before. It was like a suffocating presence.

"For real, Vaughn, your face was like this!"

Beryl was now caught up teasing Vaughn over how he'd been eating his food; the faces he'd made were giving plenty of material.

What is this feeling? For real? I'm eating... I don't feel sick anymore... but-

"Seriously, I don't get what's so funny! Kiyomi, back me up?"

Vaughn tried prodding at me for aid against the normally mellow serpent.

"I don't know, Vaughn? Was that one cloud a bird or a frog?"

I asked, raising a brow as I tried my best to veer from my thoughts. For a moment, Vaughn was speechless. Unfortunately, now that they remembered that argument, Vaughn and Beryl were snickering at me instead of each other.

Great, I brought that back on myself.

Rolling my eyes, I took another bite of the dried beef and stood.

"I'm gonna grab some fresh air in the tower; want to join?"

"In a minute, in a minute. We'll be up."

Beryl waved her hand at me as she wiped a small bit of drool from her lip.

"Suit yourselves."

Shrugging, I walked back towards the stairwell. Throwing the last bit of the dried Bison into my mouth and chewing it as I went.

Air... need some fresh air.

I was enjoying the time together but just wanted to think some things over. I'd been in someone else's presence nearly every waking moment for the last couple of days; it wouldn't hurt to take one for myself. Passing through the doorway to the stairwell, I pulled a scrap of paper from my pocket. Looking down at it, It was a rough sketch that Vaughn had made. It was what he thought the city would look like after all the new housing was complete.