Dragons, Dystopians, and Denial

Jerica was right. The day was long and hard and she hated each moment of it. She slowly recovered a bit of her energy as Elias kept forcing water on her, but still felt so weak. She could push through it if she had to, but she sure didn't want to. And having Evan's slow but choppy stride hurt her side again and again and again wasn't doing anything to brighten her mood.

Elias, meanwhile, was now killing her with conversation and random factoids. Something about her sudden vulnerability seemed to switch a light on him, and if she'd felt better then she might have been offended at his sudden boldness. But, as it was, she felt too bad to care. And instead just passively listened to his rambling.

"Did you know squirrels on Earth are basically extinct?" he said as they continued to ride along and a squirrel skittered past them on an overhead branch. "I say basically because they all mutated into weird monster variants. Some have teeth like a shark, others walk and howl like a wolf. But they all seem to always lose their nuts for some reason. Guess mother nature never solved that instinct."

"I see why you don't eat Earth-animals," Jerica deadpanned. She wouldn't eat one of the Beasts here, either.

That's not because of weird squirrels," he said matter-of-factly. "That's because animals are conscious creatures, like us."

"Alright," she said tiredly, annoyed that he'd taken her joke seriously.

"Although..." he started slowly. "I did eat meat once. Accidentally. It was too late to do anything about it since I didn't realize it until days later."

"Horrifying," she said flatly.

"I was in the southern districts and there were a lot of foods I didn't recognize. We were fed something called... something with an e... I don't remember, but apparently there was chicken in it." He paused. "Don't tell anyone this, but I thought it was kind of good. I wouldn't eat it again, though."

"Your secret's safe with me," she snorted. He was acting like he was some outlaw for eating a chicken, go figure. She wondered if real crime existed on Earth. She couldn't resist a dig. "Safer than your chicken, anyway."

He seemed too lost in thought to even soak in her joke. "In case you're wondering, my favorite food is potato curry. I'm not even really sure what curry is, though. Seems like a melting pot of random spices with potatoes, but it's pretty good, if I can get my hands on it."

Jerica hesitated a moment, trying to think of a comparable meal. Her mind felt like it was hitting a wall, though. "Lutalya has spicy food."

She wasn't actually sure if that was an appropriate response or not.

"Oh, spicy food," he hummed. "I don't eat potato curry often, but it's often unspiced just because chilis are rationed. It'd be nice to eat another spicy meal. It's been a while."

"We'll probably cut through the edge of Lutalya on our way to the coast." If we make it that far. She decided to keep that part to herself.

Elias nodded in thought. "I guess it'll be our reward if no one kills us by then," he said in an attempt of a joke. He glanced at her, seemingly to gauge her reaction.

Her lips quirked up into a little smirk. "Here's hoping."

He lifted an imaginary glass up in the air, then smirked and looked forward again as they rode along. Minutes ticked by that turned into hours, and he kept dousing her with more random facts.

It seemed like there was some switch in him that had flipped on. It was like he went from not speaking at all to never shutting up. She was beginning to wonder if he was normally like this, or if he put on an act just to keep her entertained. She also wondered if the switch could be flipped off... but, then, she wasn't sure she wanted it to be, either. It was almost endearing. In an annoying kind of way.