Coye Vol 3 Ch. 9

Sorry for the slowness, I'm actually getting a ton of work done. I'm working on drafts for chapter 12+ and they're coming along very fast, between 12-14 I've written 12,000 words which will be refined and rewritten into easily twice that and then some. Not sure if I'm going to write all the rest of the drafts in a row yet but things are definitely coming along.

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Coye and Shayla were relieved to find that the woods were as quiet as could be on their way back to the rendezvous point. A casual stroll suited them both just fine after running all over the place chasing spiky weasels and escaping from unspeakable, eldritch abominations. Finding the way out went smoother than it usually did, and there were no more of Byng's sudden traps along the way, either.

Quietness was not always preferred, though. Not when it leaves a man to his thoughts.

As Coye traveled, his previous encounter came to mind time and again. He had brushed aside the event shortly after it had happened, but the more he distanced himself from it the worse it got. The aberration killed a Ghastcrawler, of all things, and it just as easily could’ve killed him, too.

And then there was the fact that he found the Aberration on the east side of the forest... what if it had run into Byng? She was faster than he was, so surely she could escape in such a situation, couldn’t she?

Shayla sensed his fears, even shared them to an extent. She was just as rattled by the experience, although she was more emotionally prepared to deal with it. Unlike Coye she’d never been strong, and she’d lived her life until now fleeing from any perceived threat no matter how small.

She had to say something to comfort him, even if it was a token effort at best.

“Come on, baby. Just a little bit more and we’ll make it out. Some fresh, non-evil-forest air will do you some good.” Shayla suggested in a soothing voice.

“Yeah, thanks. I’m just worried about Byng, that's all...”

“I feel you, so stop moping around and get to it! We’re almost home free! Besides, I bet you anything she’s right there waiting for you.”

“Gods, I hope so...” Coye sighed, looking off wearily into the distance.

“Oh? It sounds to me like someone misses their little girlfriend...” Shayla snickered, trying to calm him with a little bit of teasing.

“Something like that,” Coye deflected things and ignored Shayla’s japes long enough to focus on the road ahead. Perhaps the Gnarled Woods was in a forgiving mood today, perhaps not. Either way, they were grateful for the uneasy peace they shared on the way out.

When the two emerged from the dense tangle of vile foliage and towering trees, the first thing they saw in the fresh afternoon light was Byng.

Just as predicted, the Gengaggi had already finished the first round of the Zurgarrah. However, what surprised them was that it looked like Byng had only just arrived. She hadn't even sat down yet and was in the middle of stretching her back out. Her arms were behind her head as she thrust her small chest into the air and groaned with relief, a loud crack emanating from her spine. Her guard was down. Byng hadn't noticed Coye yet, so she wiped some sweat from her brow and plopped straight down on the grass.

"Aw, yeah... good job, Byng. You go, girl! You're gonna nab that little twink by the end of the day, for sure! Gahahaha!" She congratulated herself, then unfastened the Bag of Holding from her leather bandolier. Just as she was about to open it up and inspect her kills, she heard Coye step out of the thicket. Byng looked up and turned around to face him, surprised.

"Oh, hey," Byng started to speak but then stopped and put on her usual air of bravado. "I mean, uh... took you long enough, short-stuff!"

Catching her in a state of mild vulnerability was a new experience for Coye, and he had to admit that it was pretty cute.

Beyond that, though, Coye was awash with relief at the general sight of Byng. He didn’t even mind that she called him a twink just now, that was how happy he was to see her. If he was less awkward and more forward, he would’ve given into his impulse to run up to her and hug her right then and there.

She was safe, and he couldn’t stop himself from smiling.

Since she had no context over what Coye had just lived through, though, Byng just thought that he was being creepy. She laughed uncomfortably and looked around, scratching her curled, messy hair all while avoiding eye contact with the gawking femboy.

"Uh, Short-stuff? Are you doing good there, you weirdo?" She asked amid fake chuckles.

"...Huh?" Coye responded without a thought as Shayla sighed over his hopelessness. A moment passed, and he regained enough composure to snap out of his awkward trance. He continued to walk toward the young Gengaggi, saying, "S-Sorry, I’m just so happy to see you safe and sound...”

“We were just hunting Reaver Weasels. Why the heck wouldn’t I be safe?”

“So, you didn’t run into it...” Coye hung his head and exhaled a deep breath. “Good...”

'Hmph...' Shayla grumbled. Coye didn't get all emotional with her after the Aberration left, and was feeling a little jealous over his delayed reaction.

"Eh?" Byng's sharp ears perked up, and she tilted her head. "What are you going on about, short-stuff?"

'Wait'll she hears about this,' Shayla laughed to hide the pain, pushing its memory as far from her mind as she could.

Coye’s response was slow. He had to work up his courage to speak of the encounter, intrigued Byng even further. When he did speak up, it didn’t disappoint. "I ran into a monster I'd never seen before, and... um... it was dangerous. Really dangerous- even for me. It was from some other Realm, I think, and it was carrying around a dead Ghastcrawler like it was nothing... I had to lay low for a while in case it spotted me."

"Fuck, are you kidding me? That’s... that’s crazy. Never seen a Ghastcrawler before in person, but even I know those things are no good..." Byng's reaction was a confusing mix of emotions. She seemed worried for Coye’s well-being, but also offended on some level for whatever reason. “Are you doing ok?”

"Mostly. It was awful, but it all didn’t really register until I got done with the quest...”

"Adrenaline will do that to you,” Byng nodded. “What did this thing look like?"

"Uh..." Coye froze up at the idea of trying to describe the Aberration. He was terrible at talking in the first place, but putting that... thing into words? It seemed beyond his abilities, but he still gave it his best go. "Pulsing? Squirmy? Oh, and there were a lot of eyeballs. Like... a lot lot. It also left through a weird portal." He said.

Shayla wanted to make a quip over his description, but she held her tongue after considering how she doubted she'd be able to do the monster much justice, either.

“Damn...” Byng's grumpiness seemed to increase by several levels. Something about this bothered her greatly, but she remained quiet. She shut her eyes, took a deep breath, and shook her head.

“Well, you might as well take a load off for a bit,” Byng suggested as she patted the ground beside her. “Are you good to continue today, or do you think we should wait?”

“I think it’ll be alright. Whatever that thing was, it’s gone far, far away from here...” Coye shrugged and sat down a few feet away from Byng on the warm grass. Close enough that they were close, but far away enough that he wouldn't be triggered by her scent. "Anyway, have you been here for a while?" he asked, even though he knew she hadn't. Anything to keep the conversation going.

"Oh, me? Who knows?" Byng cackled and looked away evasively and scratched away at her hair. Because of her raised arm, Coye could pick up the smell of the scented oils that Suzette slathered on, but not much else.

Coye nodded and let her have that one, but he felt somewhat bold. That, or he wasn't thinking. Whatever the case, Coye outright said to her, "No wonder you finished up so fast. Makes sense with all the cheating you prepared ahead of time."

Byng was silent for a moment, and Coye began to dread. He thought that maybe what he'd just said had gone and pissed his friend off, despite him having every reason to be the irritated one in this circumstance. That wasn't the case, as she soon started to laugh and shrugged her shoulders.

"What, are you talking about all the roadblocks I put in your way? You're fine, you big baby! Gahaha! It looks like it barely even slowed you down, anyway."

'Wow. Completely and utterly shameless...' Shayla clicked her tongue. 'I respect that.'

"...Wait, you're not actually upset about any of that, are you?" Byng crooked her head like a confused cat.

Coye wasn't. He was learning a very important lesson today regarding Byng, and that was that context was key when examining her actions. She didn't set up all of the traps to actually hurt him. She did it because she was excited and wanted to win. It was weird, but it went a long way toward making the boy feel desired, and he couldn't help feeling somewhat flattered.

"No, if anything, I'm... um... I'm impressed with how much thought you put into things."

"Oh, hell yeah. Praise me more, short-stuff! Me likey." She blushed but played up her reaction significantly, giving him a flirty smile. "For real, though. I've had this whole thing planned out for ages now! I can't afford to squander this opportunity to make you dance to the wail of my juzgallor, can I?"

Coye predictably stared back at Byng and blinked with empty eyes.

“Ah, yeah. A juzgallor is an Orc instrument-”

He cut her off and nodded. "When you say weird-sounding words, I've already started to assume it's an Orc thing."

"Gahaha... yeah, uh, that's prolly for the best..." Byng laughed awkwardly. "Anyway, how does that Karnallian saying of yours go? All's fair in war and love?"

"It's 'in love and war,' but..." Coye tilted his head at her, feeling a flush fill his face. "Which one is the Zurgarrah?"

'I thought that would be obvious by now, baby...' Shayla sighed.

"Can't it be both?" Byng responded with a series of snickering laughs, looking at the blushing boy as he slowly smiled back at her.

"I guess so..." he replied, then asked, "So, this means you won the first round, then?"

"And don't you forget it!" Byng said, puffing her meager chest out dramatically. "Though if not for my devious strategies, it looked like you might've pulled ahead... you showed up only a minute or two after I did..." she finally admitted.

"Really?"

"Yeah, I..." Byng started to speak, but her mouth hung open, and once she really thought about what she was going to say, a rare event occurred. She decided that maybe this wasn't a topic to casually blurt out, for once. "Well, getting all those traps set up took more energy from me than I thought..." she said, delivering only half the truth.

It's not like she wanted to tell her date about how shortly after taking off she had to spend a half-hour in the bushes dealing with the aftereffects of three cups of coffee and a heavy breakfast.

Coye crossed his arms at Byng's hypocrisy. "So... you're telling me that you barely slept, yet you insisted that we didn't start until I was at peak performance?"

"Gah-" Byng recoiled with comedic intensity, not used to the boy calling her out on her bullshit, or in this case, her coffeeshit. "I slept! Really! Do you really think I'd risk losing like that? C'mon, man!"

'I don't think we're getting the full story out of her...' Shayla raised an eyebrow. 'Why not give Byng some of your stamina potions, though? That'd top her off.' She suggested.

Coye thought that was a good idea, and he pulled from his belt a bright green liquid contained in a glass bottle. He offered it to Byng, saying, "Here. This'll give you some energy back... whether you slept or not, it'll put us back on the same level."

Byng gave the bottle a cursory look and reached out to take it, only to yank her hand back after giving it some extended thought. The last thing she needed right now was anything that might upset her stomach, and she'd had plenty of experiences that taught her the dangers of downing suspicious green liquids in the past.

"It doesn't look like it goes down that easy..." Byng commented, giving the bottle the evil eye.

"It's, um... not the best tasting, yeah. So?"

"Don't suppose you got any health potions on you, do you, short-stuff? I wouldn't mind a quick sip of that good shi... er, stuff... beforehand, y'know?"

"Oh," Coye didn't follow, but he wouldn't turn Byng down over a simple request like that. He paused when he actually started to reach for the bottle, though. "Um... I only have a few left, and I already opened both of them..."

"So?"

"So... um... my lips already touched them..."

Byng stared at him for an extended period of time, only to snort real loud and lose her composure. "Are you fucking kidding me, you lame-ass virgin?"

Coye lit up bright red, saying, "I-I'm not-"

"Then don't act like one and fork it over, gahaha!"

'Just do it before you end up saying something even lamer,' Shayla advised with a sigh.

Feeling the pressure, Coye bit his lower lip and handed Byng a vial of healing potion. It was the one he used just a bit ago, still fresh with his lip mark. Byng uncorked it, but it wasn't like she could just let things go without fucking with him a little bit. She extended her tongue, which surprised Coye and Shayla since it was longer than a human's. Byng then licked all over the top of the bottle like a dog, watching with pure joy as Coye's red cheeks boiled hotter and hotter.

"Mn, so gooood- awwww, yeah! Your indirect kisses are so lewd, short-stuff!" Byng cried, peppering in exaggerated moans one after the other.

"W-What?! Byng, stop!" He called out, blushing harder than ever.

Shayla started laughing so hard she had to physically seal her mouth behind her little hands, or else she would've tipped Byng off to her existence.

On the other hand, Coye felt a massive pang of humiliation that washed over every part of him, from his bright, red ears to the tip of his toes. "Ok, ok! I get it! I'm lame, whatever! Can you p-please stop?!" He begged.

His desperate plea was enough to win Byng's mercy, and she retracted her tongue and drank a small sip. After a disproportionately more enormous burp, she corked and tossed the bottle back.

"Ahhh... much better," she sighed, the last vestiges of her tummy troubles fading away. Health potions weren't actually an anti-diarrhetic, but Byng was on the mend anyhow, and it eased the remaining pain enough that it might as well have fixed her up. "Now, the other one, please?"

Coye refused to look at Byng as he gave her the thankfully unopened stamina potion. She took a drink and found out it was effective as it was nasty. Perk and vigor rushed through her, to the point where Byng started to physically vibrate for a few seconds as if hit by lightning.

"Fuuuuuuck," Byng said in a breathy tone, then shook her head to calm herself down. "Good stuff. Real good. Catch!" She tossed it back, and Coye caught it before wiping it down with his tunic and taking a sip for himself as Byng and Shayla both rolled their eyes. He was even more careful about abusing stamina potions than with health potions, so only a few drops passed through his lips.

Now that they were both back at the top of their game, Byng crossed her arms and started thinking aloud as she scratched her chin. "Man... now that I think about it, you really must've busted your ass to finish as fast as you did. Almost makes me feel a little crappy about using traps now. You totally would've gotten back before I did if not for that..."

“Not to mention that monster, or whatever it was...” Coye hung his head. “That slowed me down for a good while, too.”

“Yeah...” Byng’s grumpiness became apparent once again as he pointed that out, before she pushed it out of her mind. “You got the fifteen weasels at least, right?" She asked.

"And a few more. I caught a bunch of them in a trap at the end." Coye nodded, taking out the loaner Bag of Holding.

'You're welcome,' Shayla snarked.

"Niiiice. Let's go ahead and count 'em!"

Together, Byng and Coye opened up their respective satchels, and one by one, they emptied the contents into two different rows. The difference between which was which was evident even at a glance.

All of Coye's dead weasels were a mess, plain and simple. His carcasses were missing heads, they had mangled bodies and broken bones, and there was even a dead raven mixed in for some reason unknown to Byng.

As for the Gengaggi's, each kill was flawless by comparison. They all met the same end; a single clean shot to the head by one of her arrows. This didn't come as a surprise, but seeing the two rows side-by-side was embarrassing for Coye.

There was a single outlier, though. One of Byng's kills wasn't like the rest. One had mutilated genitals, which Coye didn't even bother asking about. The answer might've been preferable to remain ignorant of.

Byng found great amusement in Coye's carcasses, asking, "Whoa there, how in the heck did you kill half of these fuckers? Are you smuggling a sledgehammer in your belt, or what?"

"The trap that I caught them in was a little... unconventional, and it caused a lot of damage..." Coye shrugged.

'Again, you're welcome,' Shayla repeated, now with an even snarkier edge to her voice.

"You can say that again, gahaha! Welp, at least you got enough." Byng nodded after counting them up, then started to bag her kills up once again, prompting Coye to do the same. "We'll process 'em later at my camp, and you can collect all your kill trophies then."

"I can't turn in the quest if you don't let me take them from yours, too, you know..."

"Yeah, yeah..." Byng groaned. "They're all yours, short-stuff. We took the quest in your name, so it's not like I can wiggle out of this one."

Coye was relieved that Byng didn't intend to make a big deal over this and that there would be no disputes. Typically, he tended to prefer his work to be paid. After putting away the last of his kills, he asked, "So... how did you finish up so fast?"

"Well, it helped that there wasn't a sexy green chick with a nice ass putting loads of traps in my way," Byng smirked, being so cheeky about it that he couldn't even bring himself to be mad.

"I'll bet..." he sighed.

"Jokes aside, the trick was in this little lady right here!" Byng held up the one disfigured kill and pointed at its mutilated genitals. Coye noticed that this one was killed via an arrow to the head like all of her other Reaver Weasels upon closer inspection. That meant the mutilation came after its death.

It took him a few seconds to figure out the ramifications of this, but when he did, Coye opened his eyes wide and said, "Oh, that's really smart. I should've thought of that..."

Shayla was quite out of her depth as these two talked shop. Just as she was about to question why in the hell cutting up a weasel's junk was such a good idea, Byng went ahead and answered things for her. "Yeah, you'd be surprised how fast these horny little fuckers come running if you open up a female's pheromone gland and sprinkle it all over the place, gahaha! I was practically swimming in weasels!"

'Damn, she's good...' Shayla admired, knowing there was no way she would've come up with that strategy.

Coye finished putting away his weasels and then rejoined Byng on the ground, opening up a pouch full of trail mix to nibble on. It wasn't time for lunch, but the hunger of the woods was there in the back of his gut, and he wanted to quell it just a little in the downtime between rounds.

He let out a small sigh as he downed the last handful, causing Byng to reach out and pat his shoulder. "Don't be so sour about it, short-stuff! You're more of a warrior kinda guy, and I'm a huntress. We think differently, and that's that!"

Coye felt reassured at that and smiled back. "Guess so. Either way, nice work on winning the round."

Byng grew quiet, and she nodded her head blankly. "Yeah... about that..." she said, growing more distant as something began to worry her. She was silent for another few moments before letting out a groan and slumping her shoulders. "So, that thing you ran into... how long did you say it held you up for?"

Shayla tilted her head, picking up a bunch of conflicted emotions from the girl all of a sudden. Maybe things weren't so cut and dry after all? It seemed like Coye might have a chance to salvage the round if he properly exploited the circumstance...

"Um, I didn't, actually. Things were weird. It moved really slow, and it took my attention away from everything else. I have no idea how long I actually spent looking at it..."

A deeper scowl grew on Byng's face as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "So, what. Like... ten... fifteen, twenty minutes, or...?"

"No idea. It felt even longer than that... why do you ask?"

"Cause I would've lost if you didn't have that encounter..." Byng grumbled, her grumpiness on full display. "And that pisses me off!"

'There it is, baby! Weakness! Exploit that shit!' Shayla encouraged rather unhelpfully.

Coye ignored the devil on his shoulder and instead asked honestly. "But the fact is you won, just like you wanted. Isn't that enough?"

"No!" Byng exclaimed, punching the ground like a toddler. "Traps are one thing, and so was tricking you into having a poor start. Those were both part of the game, part of the Zurgarrah! But a third party you couldn't ignore? That's something else entirely, and... agh, it hates me to say it, but..."

"But?" Coye cocked his head

"I think we should call the first round a draw..." Byng crossed her arms and exhaled sharply through her nose. "It's just not sitting right with me, damn it!"

Shayla grabbed Coye by the hair. She knew that he would question Byng's attempt at conceding, so she preempted him by saying, 'I know you're a goody-two-shoes and all that, but remember that all's fair in love and war! Don't ruin this and accept her offer!'

It was no use, though. Coye couldn't hold his tongue.

"But... you won..." he said, stopping himself short of adding in 'fair and square.' "You even cheated to make sure you would. Why would you change your mind like this?"

"You don't get it, do you?" Byng grumbled and sat up, leaning closer to him with a fierce expression. She poked him in the chest with her sharp, clawed finger and growled at him, "You're my prey. If I can't catch you with my own power, then I don't want you! Gah! And to think that this was supposed to be my big day, too...!"

'This girl over here is going full mask-off...' Shayla laughed.

"Byng, I don't know how I feel about this..." Coye frowned and scratched his head. They both knew the risks of having their contest out in the Gnarled Woods. Interruptions were to be expected- nothing ever went to plan inside their depths. No matter what would've happened, the fact remained that he lost.

Byng wouldn't hear of his refusal, though.

"And? I was the one who challenged you to the Zurgarrah, so what I say goes! If I say the first round's a draw, then that's what the fuck it is! Got it? Huh? Do ya?!" Byng was working herself up into an exaggerated pout, huffing and puffing this way and that.

Coye had never seen this side of Byng before and didn't know she could be so childish with her emotions. It was an interesting facet of her personality that Coye might not have ever experienced if he didn't ask her out today. For whatever reason, doing the Zurgarrah her way was more important than doing it the right way.

He wanted Byng to be happy, so the choice here was obvious.

The boy nodded his head and conceded, "Alright, Byng. If that's really what you want, then I have no objections as long as you're sure..."

Still pouting, Byng turned away and sighed. "Yes, I'm sure... so don't go making me repeat it! Gah! Do you think I'm happy about this? Nuh-uh! I worked my ass off setting all those traps to sabotage you the old-fashioned way just like my Dazhak taught me to, only for some... some... squiggly, wiggly, multidimensional FARGARKH just to pop in and fuck everything up! It's so humiliating!!"

Frustrated, Byng fell back against the grass and pulled at her hair, slamming her feet into the ground over and over again. Coye knew it was inappropriate and maybe a little rude of him to think so, but he found her tantrum pretty cute.

'An easy way to win some points would be sucking up to her right about now, baby. She's upset. Compliment her on something!' Shayla pulled through with some relatively solid advice, and Coye took it to heart.

"Don't be so upset, Byng. You, um... you did a really good job with all of your traps. I couldn't believe how much ground you covered, and they slowed me down a ton."

Byng was quiet until she lifted her head. "Really, short-stuff?"

"Yup," he nodded and gave the girl a cute smile. "I was really impressed."

It took a few seconds, but Byng soon lightened up. After getting praise from the boy she liked, she couldn't stay mad even if she tried. She sat up, brandishing one of her toothy grins like nothing had ever happened.

"Well, you should be!" She said, sticking her chest out in pride. "I'd have been pissed if they didn't slow you down at all, gahaha!"

'Heh, too easy...' Shayla smirked at another job well done.

"Yeah, and I was amazed at how fast your takeoff was at the start! I don't think I could keep up with you, even if I was using Quick Step..."

"Oh, stop, you...!" Byng smiled even wider, her cheeks growing red as she started twirling one of her messy curls. "But don't, actually. Keep going! My poor, fragile ego needs this, gahaha!"

Coye went on with a few more comments, praising Byng's tactics and skills, all Shayla observed. It made her a little uppity, but it was humorous enough for the Pixie to let it go. 'This is probably the weirdest flirting you've done yet, you know...' Shayla rolled her eyes.

Once Byng's mood was fully recovered, Coye moved on ahead to discuss the rest of the Zurgarrah. "Is making this round a draw going to disrupt the structure of the other rounds?" He asked.

"Maybe, who knows? We can just have a tie-breaker tomorrow if we both win a round! Speaking of, have you had enough of a break? I dunno about you, but I think I'm ready to move on to round two!"

"Same," Coye nodded, prompting Byng to pull out the second of the three quest fliers she brought with her.

"Nice!" As she unfolded the paper, Byng looked at the illustration and became noticeably irritable. "So, short-stuff. Have you ever hunted a Woodtreader before?" Byng asked, an unfathomable amount of venom put behind the monster's name.

"No. I don't think I've ever even heard of them before, either."

'Crap...' A bead of sweat poured down Shayla's brow. 'I think I know what she's talking about... boy, do I hope I'm wrong... otherwise, this is gonna be one hell of a doozy.'

Well, if that wasn't foreboding.

Coye gulped at the less-than-encouraging comments from his partner, and then Byng passed him the poster so he could see the creature in closer detail. He blinked at it and squinted his eyes. All he saw was a large bird with long, stilt-like legs, a large, fluffy tail, and nonexistent wings.

'Yup, just like I was worried about. Yay, hooray, more fucking birds...' Shayla groaned.

Coye examined the paper closer, noticing its C-rank designation and 1,800G price. Curiously, there was a distinction that the reward was only claimable if the creature's entire carcass was brought in. Even stranger, there was no advice for subjugating the monster written anywhere to be seen.

"Ok..." Coye said, raising an eyebrow. "Are these things dangerous, or what?"

"Nah," Byng spat. "They're completely harmless. I know, I know, hear me out. You're wondering about the rank, yeah? It's because of how hard they are to catch, not how dangerous they are. They're supposed to taste really, REALLY good, but..."

"But?"

Like a sudden storm, Byng's frustration manifested once more, and she thrust her fist into the grass below. "It's not like I would know! Those damned, flightless fucks...! I've gone after Woodtreaders so many times, but I still haven't caught one yet! Gah!"

Coye smiled at Byng's comedic outburst, but a realization dampened that mood significantly. He understood that if someone as fast as Byng couldn't catch one of these Woodtreaders, then he might not have any chance at all.

"So, are we splitting up again?" He asked, trying not to think about his prospects. "Not sure I trust you after the last round, so..."

Byng snapped out of her bitterness and shook her head. "Glad you brought that up. Nope, round two is different! We're gonna stick together, track one down, and make a contest out of who can bring it down first. How does that sound to you?"

"I think I'd prefer that," Coye confessed.

'Whew, same. I was not looking forward to heading off on our own again- not after what we saw. Although, since Byng is coming along, that means I'm going to be stuck up here for another few hours... crap...' Shayla bemoaned being unable to stretch her wings, lamenting her lot in life.

Hopping up off the ground, Byng pumped her fists into the air and let out a crude grunt. "Hell yeah! Let's do this! Today is the fucking day... I know it! Today, I'm finally gonna kill a Woodtreader, and then I'll get to see the look on your face when I do it, short-stuff!"

Coye wondered just how all of Byng's previous Woodtreader hunts had gone that made her so pumped up at the thought of killing one. The way she talked about them made it sound like she had a personal vendetta against this race of mysterious, forest-dwelling avians.

Even so, Coye wasn't about to let Byng's big talk go unchallenged. He didn't even need Shayla to remind him to keep up with the trash talk. He spoke up for himself, saying, "Good luck with that, but... I still don't plan on losing. I'm gonna be the one to take down the Woodtreader, Byng."

Byng blinked at him in surprise and then hopped up and offered Coye her hand with a big, toothy grin. "You wish, gahaha! But I gotta say, I love your spirit! Winning wouldn't mean a thing to me if you didn't put your best foot forward, so c'mon already!"

Coye smiled and took the hand, allowing her to pull him to his feet as the two shared an unexpected, tender moment together. Whether it was the spirit of competition, the sexual tension still lingering between them, or something more, Coye and Byng stood there for a moment in silence.

'Gods, can we just skip to the part where you two fuck already...?' Shayla tapped her fist repeatedly on top of Coye's noggin, breaking him out of his awkward stare down.

Byng laughed it off, so Coye did too, and they set off into the forest together to catch themselves a Woodtreader. Round one had been a bust, but this time, things would be different.