Strengths, Smarts, and Subconsciousness

A weapon? Out here? What, was she supposed to stick fight and throw rocks at these creatures?

Evaline knew that if she was really in trouble, she'd be okay. But she didn't want to make this any more harder than it needed to be.

Ignoring Jerica's demands to fight, she instead started to climb up the most climbable-looking tree, quickly pulling herself up from the lowest branch and reaching for the next.

She could hear the snarls and howling of the creatures below her. Wolves, maybe... something canine and likely carnivorous.

"We can't fight them!" she yelled back to Jerica after reaching the second branch. "Reach high ground instead."

Jerica was vaguely annoyed that Eve completely ignored her — but was somewhat relieved, too. She didn’t want to have to deal with trying to protect her if she couldn’t fight back. But, she still wasn’t sure what was approaching. For all she knew it might be a beast that was able to climb a tree. And she felt better about her chances on the ground than trying to balance in a tree.

She looked around.

There were a lot of beady eyes approaching.

Maybe the tree wasn’t such a bad idea after all. She wished she had her armor... or her sword... or at the very least, pants. But no. She was standing in her under clothes with a spear trying to see what wanted to kill her now.

She backed towards the tree Eve had climbed, eyes sharp and focused on the nearest of the creatures. One darter forward. Jerica twisted and turned her spear into a club in an instant. It was a large wolf-like creature. She hit its neck as hard as she could. It whimpered and collapsed. She turned and quickly hauled herself up to the first branch. She reacted for the next one — but another wolf launched itself in the air, huge enough it was coming straight at her.

She turned her spear and braced herself, driving the tip through the wolf’s snarling mouth and into the back of its throat. It whined loudly and collapsed. She yanked the spear free — barely in time — eyes snapping upright. There were dozens now, all through the camp.

“Fuck!” She grabbed the branch above her and hauled herself up, awkwardly managing to pull her spear up with her. She went up two more branches then watched the wolves far below. “...fuck.”

By this time, Evaline was only one branch above Jerica. She wanted to get up higher, but she didn't think she'd be able to climb that high since it was far-reaching. She peered down and watched the wolves snarl below them with a tired expression.

"Well," she said blankly, far too annoyed and tired to properly react. "Hope you had a good sleep."

Jerica looked at her for a long moment. That was what her response was? That. Not “what the fuck?” not “that was close” not “glad you didn’t get mauled” not “thanks for keeping them at bay so I could climb the tree and get to safety first”

No.

Hope you had a good sleep. As if it was /her/ fault that Eve had asked for the first watch. Or that the wolves showed up.

“Yeah. I’m having a /wonderful/ night,” she said sarcastically, looking at the blood on the top of her spear then down at the dead wolf. At least they’d have food for tomorrow. She sighed as she saw the other wolves already gnawing on the carcass. Or not.

It was hard to read Jerica exactly since it was dark and she was also looking down, but Evaline still didn't have the patience to deal with their current situation yet and images continued the sarcasm.

"I see that," she said. "No greater feeling than waking up to a pack of wolves."

Jerica kept watching the wolves, waiting with dreadful anticipation to see if they could climb trees. Since apparently laws of nature didn’t exist here. Surely Eve was joking. Jerica smirked a bit, still looking down at the wolves. “Truly.”

Evaline watched in silence as the animals kept circling around them, noting how Jerica seemed to kill one already when she was on the ground. She was quick on her feet and good with adapting to find a weapon.

"I'm not sure when they'll leave," she thought out loud, already embracing the idea that she'd have to -- somehow -- sleep on the tree without falling off.

"Probably not until dawn." Jerica sighed at the thought. She finally turned so she could look up at Eve, turning so that she was straddling the branch with her legs hanging down over it. "But I don't think they can climb. And I can fend them off if one gets lucky."

At least that was something she had going for her. Good at killing. Her singular virtue.

"You're welcome to get some sleep, if you think you can manage it without falling," she said after a moment, shrugging. She also wasn't sure she'd be able to get to her in time and fend off all the wolves in time, but she didn't need to share that part of it. "Won't feel fantastic if you fall from this height."

"Thanks," Evaline said sarcastically, and then adjusted her position so she would be lying down. It was more like resting her back along the bark of the tree while her legs were straight, though. It was wildly uncomfortable, but she was grateful that she was already wearing her clothes and shoes so the rough texture didn't rub against her skin.

"How did you even manage to sleep like this?" she murmured, barely loud enough for Jerica to hear.

"Helps if you lay on your stomach -- balance is easier." Jerica smirked crookedly, though she looked down and realized there were still distinct bark-shaped marks on her still-bare abdomen. She envied the fact that Eve had her clothes on already. "Comes with practice."

She didn't share why it was that she had so much practice. Instead, she stared at her clothes. The branch was low -- plenty low enough for the wolves to reach. But if she was quick...

So, Jerica was a wilderness woman. That didn't surprised Evaline. If anything, it made a lot of sense. There were still other things she didn't know, but Jerica was the least of her worries right now.

She fought back a groan when she said she could lay on her stomach to sleep instead. That sounded just as uncomfortable. Maybe if she waited, the wolves will go away and she could sleep normally...

"You sleep in a lot of trees, then?" she asked dryly.

Jerica was silent for a long moment, contemplating not answering her at all. But, then, why shouldn't she? Surely, Eve was probably starting to get curious about why Jerica was so good at fighting. And, half-truths seemed like they'd be easiest to sprinkle throughout their unwilling partnership than being confronted with loaded questions all at once.

"It's safest when you're traveling alone for a mission," she answered softly. "I once had a pair of soldiers walk directly under my tree and not even notice me. Not to mention the beasts."

Evaline raised a brow in the darkness, thinking of the implication of Jerica's response.

"So, you're a soldier," she said. It was supposed to be a question, but it came out sounding more like a statement.

She should have left off the second half of her answer.

She bit back a sigh, contemplating the question. "Something like that."

It wasn't really like that at all, though. Her soldiers got to work in shifts. The evenings free to wander around the barracks and do what they wanted. She was in a constant battle with Biryn, from the moment she woke up to the moment she went to bed -- and, frequently, the battle even stretched into her sleeping hours too.

"It's complicated."

If she didn't learn that Jerica was literally from another world, Evaline might have been much more wary of her. But she wasn't from Earth, so did it even matter? Did she even care?

"So, what, you're half a soldier?" she continued to prod.