Novel Full Chapter 1909 A Long Surge
Chapter 1909: Chapter 1909 A Long Surge
— Long & Boney —
Long and Boney stood on top of a sand dune staring at the nearby oasis with Surge and Shoal glaring back at them. Neither was saying anything, and the two dogs were glaring just as hard as their owners. “Lovely weather we’re having,” said Long, trying to break the tension.
“WHAT?” yelled Shoal.
“Oh right…” mumbled Long before he glanced over at Boney. “What do you think buddy? Do we try and talk to them properly or do we just attack?”
Boney let out a bark before sliding down the dune on his butt. Long sighed seeing this but held up his weapons before visibly sheathing them and sliding down after Boney. Surge growled at the approach and Long decided to make it so that he was further off to the side, leaving them in a lopsided triangle with him and Boney at separate points and the other two together at the last one.
“Can you hear me now?” asked Long projecting his voice but not yelling.
“I can! What do you want?” asked Shoal.
“Well we were looking for water and more orbs,” returned Long. “I hadn’t expected to find someone else already here… though…” Long glanced at Boney who had his tongues sticking out and was making moon eyes at Surge. “I’m wondering if Bonesworth here wasn’t looking for something other than water when he led us this way,”
“So, what you want to team up now?” asked Shoal.
“That does seem like an acceptable plan,” agreed Long.
“Humph, and why do you think I’d need your help? I’ve been using this oasis as the base and cleared out plenty of orbs just looking around,” sneered Shoal.
Long took a step back at the sudden vitriol. “Um… what?”
“Are your ears suddenly not working? I’ve got no interest in working with you,” stated Shoal.
“Now hold on, where is this sudden hostility coming from,” said Long with a set of raised hands. “I don’t think I’ve had anything to do with you guys… like at all. We didn’t fight each other in previous rounds, I’ve never talked to you before and… yet your sort of looking at me like I had sexual relations with your mother.” Long sidestepped out of the way as a dagger flew through the spot he’d just been standing.
“Really?” asked Long.
“Your pissing me off,” stated Shoal.
“Right… and can we get to the WHY of it?” asked Long.
“You are a disgusting, honourless cur,” growled Shoal.
Long looked over at Boney. “You got any idea what she’s talking about buddy?” Boney shook both heads together. “No idea either?” Boney nodded. “Welp… that’s not ideal… you sure we can’t just attack them then?” Boney made a sad whining noise. “Really?”
This time it was Surge who barked, with a smug look on her doggy face and Long rolled his eyes when Boney perked back up at the sound. “Seems like our familiars get along pretty well. Are you sure you should be angry at me?”
Shoal clicked her tongue but didn’t say anything directly in response. Long, stared back, tapping his foot later as he waited for a response. Eventually, after a few minutes of staring Shoal cracked first. Mostly because she was getting sand in her eyes that forced her to look away. When she glanced back, Long hadn’t moved so she sighed and said, “Do you really not know?”
“I’m going to go with… no,” offered Long.
“You realise the way you and your team got familiars was disgusting right?” asked Shoal.
Long shrugged, “Eh… I don’t love how things went down but Boney is a great companion to have. A very good boy,” Boney wolfed in agreement. “If anything happened to him I’d make sure that the one responsible met a very, very gruesome demise and then… well I don’t know. He’s already family,”
“That…” Shoal glanced away for a second then back at Long. “That doesn’t change that the way you went about it was wrong. That’s like… like… complimenting the chef on how good the dish is after the waiter drops it on the floor. It’s been on the floor!”
Long shrugged, “Sometimes that sort of thing happens. If it still tastes good I don’t see the problem,”
“URGH!” screamed Shoal, who looked moments away from pulling her hair out. Surge glanced at Boney with a ’look at my crazy human’ look. Which somehow got conveyed perfectly because Boney nodded in solemn agreement.
“How can you be fine with that?” asked Shoal.
“Well, living underground things can get rather dusty and really I think it depends on what kind of food it is…” explained Long.
“You fucking moron that’s not what I’m talking about! And even if I was… I grew up living with WOLVES and I still know not to eat food off the fucking ground!” growled Shoal.
“Oh… um…” Long glanced over to Boney who quickly looked a way as if to say ’I don’t know this idiot’. Long scratched the side of his face. “Sorry I guess?”
“I’m going to stab you now,” said Shoal as she pulled out her weapon. Moments before she was about to leap at him Surge hopped over and lightly bit into her armour to keep her in place. When Shoal tried to free herself by wiggling her leg, Surge tugged hard, causing Shoal to fall to the ground. Surge then promptly sat on the girl keeping her in place.
“Something tells me that stabbing isn’t going to be happening,” said Long.
“Surge you traitor!” hissed Shoal. Surge bopped Shoal on the head with her paw and growled slightly. “Don’t you patronise me!” Surge bopped her on the head again. “You want me to stab you instead?” Surge just grabbed the blade in her teeth and pulled it away. “Oh real funny,”
“Um… thanks Surge?” offered Long. “I think?” Surge gave a smug look. “Still not sure what she’s angry about though.” Surge gave Long a deadpan look. “Still doesn’t explain anything.”
Shoal sighed into the sand. “Was I really not explaining this well? Or is he just an idiot?” Surge tapped a paw on the sand twice. “Urgh… is that why you’re trying to keep me from attacking him,” three paw taps. “That’s not helpful.”
While this was going on Boney was slowly making his way back over towards Long. When he did make it there, Boney took the chance to drop down over Long’s feet. Long taking this as a sign to sit down, just let himself fall backwards and Boney moved to cover his legs so head pats could be acquired. Long was very happy with this state of affairs and mostly forgot about Shoal and her complaints as he lavished Boney with affection.
“I see…” mumbled Shoal. “Those two are just like that huh?” Surge nodded. “Is this one of those ’idiots can’t get sick’ kind of moments?” Surge nodded again. “I still don’t like it. Even if Long…” Shoal visibly struggled to get the words out… something Long had no way of seeing over Boney’s bulk. “…Long didn’t do anything wrong personally he was hanging around with other people who did,”
Surge tapped the ground three times. “Hey! What they did WAS wrong,” Surge tapped the ground three times. “Wait… are you trying to say that YOU don’t care?” Surge tapped the ground once. “What? Why not? It’s horrible,”
Surge moved off Shoal so that they could look each other in the eyes. Surge looked at her partner and sighed. “I… I just… I can’t see how you can say something like that. It shouldn’t be different!” Surge continued to look at Shoal. “What so just because they’re not wolves you don’t care?” Surge shrugged but nodded. “That… I don’t know I can agree with that.” Surge shrugged again. Ultimately, for as ’human’ as she was. A familiar nearly since birth, from a group of monster wolves that had been raised specifically for intelligence…
She was a wolf. The idea that some monsters were forced into familiar bonds after having their minds shattered really didn’t matter to her. Even if she could understand that Shoal hated the idea… it still didn’t matter to Surge. They weren’t pack. They weren’t wolves and Long didn’t even do it. He got on exceptionally well with his familiar who clearly still had their mind… even if they were both idiots.
“Ok fine. I won’t attack him… but I still don’t want to work with the guy,” mumbled Shoal. Surge gave Shoal a disappointed look. “We don’t need his help!”
Surge gave Shoal a clear look. ’He’s an idiot but he’s a strong idiot. Both of them are’.
“No! I refuse. Just because he spent a bunch of money on gear doesn’t mean he has real skill. He’s a bad person and I don’t want to work with him!” whined Shoal.
While Shoal and Surge were having an emotional moment… Long and Boney were just enjoying each other’s company. Even where they were, a few metres away from the oasis the air was so much nicer. The desert winds didn’t seem so bad and if they got too hot there was water just there. It was great. Shoal would sort out her own issues eventually.