NOVEL NEXT 364. Just Chatting
The man would not be so easily dissuaded. He stretched out his long legs and kept pace with Ike, and Ike had no option but to start talking. Every time he reached an end point—and he often found end points—the man would ask some question, and force him to keep talking. Eventually, Ike just kept his mouth shut and responded only by nodding or shaking his head. The man kept up the conversation on his own, without any need for Ike to respond, but he needled Ike constantly, refusing to let Ike simply end the conversation and leave the man to chat by himself. Wisp started giggling in his ear, which was absolutely infuriating, but there was no way to get her to shut up except through admitting she was there, and he did not want this Chatty Charles to know there was a hungry man-eating spider beast on his shoulder.
Honestly, he'd rather the man find out about Mag; apart from the bird's childish pompousness and propensity for stealing shiny things, he was a relatively reasonable beast. The kind that could be let into human towns, on the condition that he behaved human. Wisp, on the other hand, was a feral madman with a taste for man meat, and not in the metaphorical sense. It was fortunate that she was such a tiny animal, or else Ike had no idea how he'd bring her anywhere. True, she was basically unidentifiable from a human in her base form, but if they had that kind of treasure that revealed beasts that Rosamund had had, way back in his home city, then they'd pan it over Wisp to find her either vanished, or replaced with a giant spider; but if they scanned Ike with a beast form small spider Wisp on his shoulder, chances were they'd miss the spider. Or rather, he'd rather take that chance, as compared to trying to get Wisp to cooperate with city officials and pretend she wasn't a man-eater. He could already hear her trying to convince them that she mostly ate bad humans now. Mostly. Emphasis on the now.
Since they both had auras at about the same Rank, it wasn't impossible. Especially since Ike and Wisp both used aether, as long as no one looked closely, they'd merge together. Sure, someone might wonder why Ike's shoulder had a particularly condensed and intense aura, but he could just tell him that was his bag-carrying shoulder, or something. It's a skill. A shoulder-based skill. You wouldn't understand. He snorted to himself at the thought.
The chatty guy took his chuckle as encouragement, and pressed on with telling Ike everything about his most recent hunt. At some point in time, while Ike wasn't paying attention, he'd gone from asking Ike things to telling Ike things. Ike much preferred this version of the conversation, because it meant he wasn't even expected to do anything but nod and smile, which was great, since he'd been doing that for a while. He tuned in every now and again, but the guy was only talking about low-level hunts Ike could do in his sleep, so he didn't pay too much attention.
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At last, the chatty guy clapped Ike's shoulder. "I'm Som, by the way. Nice to meet you, …?"
"Ike."
"You've come a long way for a beast."
Ike turned slowly and gave Som a long look, confused more than anything. At last, he nodded, as Som's misunderstanding clicked in his head. "Right. I use aether. Humans can use all kinds of energy, you know that, right? There's a whole society of people who use lunam near my city. Got black eyes and everything."
"Is that so," Som said, with a smile that said he knew Ike was making excuses.
"Yeah, Ike," Wisp tittered in his ear, highly amused.
Ike sighed deeply. He put his head in his hands. I do not want to deal with this. He flared his aether just a little, giving Som a hint as to his strength. "Listen. I'm a true-blue human, no matter what bullshit your tiny little frog-in-the-bottom-of-a-well brain thinks I am, alright? Sorry your experiences are so limited that you've never encountered someone like me, but humans can process aether, and not only that, but it's a massive advantage, not that it has to be, since you're a fuckin' no one shithead who I could stomp in my sleep. You can try me, but, Rank 1 Som, I don't think you'll like the outcome."
"Get him," Wisp egged him on in his ear.
Som's eyes widened as Ike's aether flared, and he put his hands up and backed away at Ike's spiel. "Woah, woah there, big boy. No need to get all prickly. We're just having a conversation. Just having a conversation!"
"I don't think we are. You've been pissing me off for a while. Fuck off."
Som shook his head. His eyes darkened as he backed away. "You don't know who you've offended. I know what you are, and I'll see you in a dark alley, Ike."
"One, you don't know what I am, cuz I'm a fuckin' human and you're too much of a dipshit to get that through your head somehow. Two, fuckin—let's go right now. We don't have to wait for any dark alley. I'm ready to go… or are you scurrying off to call your daddy for help?" Ike pitched his voice up at the end, openly mocking Som.
"You have no idea who my father is."
"Can't wait to meet him." With a casual wave, Ike walked away.
"Wow, already making friends," Wisp murmured.
"Oh, shut up," Ike muttered back.
She cavorted on his shoulder, deliberately stepping hard enough that he could feel it. "I'm excited. He looked juicy."
"Hey. No eating people in the city."
"Aww."
Ike shook his head at her. Som thought Ike didn't know what he was dealing with? Som was the one who had no idea what he'd awakened. He was threatening to beat Ike, but risking getting eaten alive by a very hungry spider.
"Dumbass," he muttered under his breath, and walked into the city.