Fate Weaver's convergence

V2 C97

"Heya boy, whose a good slime? You are! Yes, you are!"

I idly chipped the time away as we rode out via cart for the first leg of the trip. Lapsha was chirring as he always did whilst I spoiled the now dog-sized slime. His six tiny yellow eyes moved from direction to direction, pointing to the constant shift in his interest in the things we passed. The odd dear, a shepherd out with his herd, or the occasional megafauna that walked across the plateau.

"How ever did you manage to get such a creature to take to you like that?"

Avery asked, sitting in the back of the wagon. Her torso poked through the front of a tarp obscuring any recovery gear from view of would-be thieves. Just as well, her hulking body was hidden and provided a surprise for said thieves. That and I doubted her legs would thank her much for walking three days straight.

I moved to reply but stopped myself as a slight flush took me over while recalling the incident.

"Ah- well, Vaughn and I found him some time after we first played in the forest."

I looked down to Lapsha, coiled in my lap. I held what must have been his head in my hands for a moment, squeezing his cheeks slightly.

"It was an accident. I busted some door down in the old church and landed on him."

Avery's face seemed to hold a mix of disgust and humor as she listened.

"I managed to peel him off, and well, over time he returned and I've been training him ever since. He seems to like me enough."

Lapsha's face managed to squeeze to a degree that I half expected to hear a squeaky noise. Yet, I received nothing except a rather enthusiastic lick to my palms when he was released.

"Kiyomi, slimes are filthy. They're the bottom feeders of nature. Even fungal monsters are above them. They're not known for their intelligence Kiyomi, it just sees you as a food source. It'd be easier for you to just 'core' It now rather than grow more attached. "

Avery grimaced, her tanned complexion hiding any paleness that may have overtaken her.

"Look at this guy, could I really 'core' a slime this cute?"

I held him outward towards Avery, her upper body recoiling backward slightly as her front legs lifted her slightly. Lapsha simply charred as he always did, a momentary bird-like squeak escaping his misshapen mouth.

"Ugh, cute for a liquid shit, maybe."

Her expression was leaning heavily towards a deep cringe. Rolling my eyes in response, I pulled Lapsha back into my lap. The same red slime looked from Avery, then to me, then back to the woodline as we rode. It was odd, but I almost felt that insult more than Lapsha may have even been able to comprehend sound. I gave the snottiest, most stuck-up response I could manage.

"Hmph."

I turned my chin up, feigning some sort of absent sense of nobility in response to Avery's words. I'd looked away so only the gods would have known her actual response, but I couldn't only imagine her shoulders falling as she sighed audibly before changing the subject.

"So, on to why you joined us this time."

The cart creaked audibly as Avery shifted her multiple legs around.

"Aye, you've been one to avoid the job so far."

The driver spoke, queuing his thoughts.

"You said something about materials? You'll have to take off early in the morning at our current pace."