《Project Burnout》Chapter 34: Chattering Mess
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“I should’ve mentioned, here,” Tomobi got a handkerchief and helped the VitaNav as they tried to clean themselves.
“No no, you said it was for my throat. Should’ve guessed it was hot,” the VitaNav hacked as he wiped himself, though once they got a hold of what was happening their eyes widened.
“YOU!” he grabbed Tomobi, immediately catching Seeno’s attention, who let out a sharp snarl.
“Oh shit sorry,” The VitaNav let go.
“I just need to check, did you get the snake pieces?” He looked about and saw Rookie and Kiorif by the remains of a snake, letting out a sigh of relief.
“Oh thank goodness. Wait, did I introduce myself?” The VitaNav looked over to Tomobi, who awkwardly looked away.
“Great, now I set myself up as an asshole. Okay, let’s try this again. So, hi. My name is Leonardo. But friends sometimes call me Leo. Or people who don’t want to say Leonardo. Even me too when it gets too long. Right so Leo can be fine if you don’t want to call me Leonardo, what about you my good sir,” the now-named VitaNav offered his hand on Tomobi.
“U-ahem, well I am Tomobi. It’s nice to meet you,” Leonardo shook Tomobi’s hand aggressively, leading to Seeno now eyeing this newcomer aggressively. Though it wasn’t alone, with Kiorif still trying to read this weirdo.
“Well of course it was nice to meet me. You saved me from that bloody basilisk, amazing work,”
“But all I did was carry you,” Tomobi downplayed what he did
“Away from death, not everybody would have the confidence to do that,” This caught Tomobi off guard, remembering how he responded differently to his first encounter with dangerous beasts.
“Not downplaying you guys,” Leonardo turned over to the rest of the group, giving Kiorif a chance to step in.
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“That is fine, though I have some questions,”
“Sure, ask away. What harm could it do?” Leonardo shrugged happily, though once Kiorif pulled out the whispering grey orb from his pocket his smile fell.
“Care to explain what this does?” Before the group could question Kiorif on how he got it, Leonardo went to draw from his belt, but a quick reaction from Rookie and a hiss from Seeno told him the outcome.
“That is mine, and I would like it back,” Leonardo rested his hand, but his body seemed tense.
“Answer the question,” Kiorif still held it in his hands, though even Rookie seemed unimpressed.
“Kiorif come on,” Rookie went over and tried to snatch the gift out of Kiorif’s hand.
“He isn’t causing problems,”
“Well he should have no problems answering the question then,” Leonardo twitched and clenched his hands about as he puffed his cheeks, but he gave in with a sign.
“Fine, it’s my gift. No-”
“I know it is a gift, now what does the gift do?” Kiorif still pressed his questions.
“Noises,” Leonardo just blurted out with a childish look.
“It makes loud noises, and cause I’m not stupid enough to through a temper tantrum while using it, it will be fine for me to have it back. Mainly cause you three scare the shit out of me to do anything,” Leonardo pointed to the soldiers and Seeno as he held his hand out.
“Like I’m genuinely scared of miss scales over there, just wow, those are some large chompers, So my gift back, pretty please. Why am I even asking?” Kiorif still gave a pause before doing anything, but a little nudge from Rookie eventually let Leonardo get his gift back.
“See I ain’t so bad, now my second request. Can you give me the snake parts, I wanna see what I could use,” Kiorif was to continue his questions, but Rookie dragged the remains of the snake for Leonardo
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“I mean it was heavy, what would you even want with it?”
“Well, we will find out if it has something interesting. Say VitaNav, the one who was nice to me and gave me hot tea, didn’t take my gift out of nowhere. What was your name again, right Tomobi,” Leonardo wrapped his hands around Tomobi’s, getting really close to his face.
“How would you feel as to help me with my brilliant works of art?”
“Um,” Tomobi was unsure about Leonardo’s sporadic personality. When looking over to Rookie, she gave him a wide smile and two thumbs in support.
“Sure I gu-”
“Excellent, follow me,” Leonardo tried dragging the snake along with his bag, but as he puffed his cheeks as he struggled he let out a deep breath and lay on the ground.
“Oh this is tough,” Leonardo paused and took a couple of breaths.
“Hang on, don’t push yourself. Seeno,” Tomobi stopped Leonardo from his second attempt of dragging the corpse and went to Seeno.
“Um Seeno can you help with this,” Seeno reluctantly rose to help, but with a quick flinch, Seeno stopped and rested again. At this Tomobi noticed a lash running across one of Seeno's forearms.
“How did I not notice this,”
“You didn’t pay attention,” Kiorif shot.
“Cause we told you to help Leonardo, I mean it was fine,” Rookie interrupted immediately trying to downplay the wound, though shooting a dirty look at Kiorif. Though at this Leonardo’s eyes actually widened.
“Wounds? Is that what I’m hearing?” Leonardo stopped what he was doing and began to tunnel through his bags.
“Hang on, I’ve got something for it. I FOUND IT,” with an excited hackle as he tried to get out of his bags he pulled out a new small orb, this time gleaming with green as faint red and blue thin swirls danced about.
“Now does anybody have lunch for me and mr toothy?”
“Why what are you gonna do?” Rookie curiosity grew as Tomobi immediately went to make a last-minute lunch for them.
“Well miss, have you seen this before?” attempting to be dramatic, Leonardo got close to Rookie and held the item for her to see.
“Oh yeah I saw this with the docs at Fresh-Root,” Rookie’s eyes gleamed.
“So you know what this does?” Leonardo’s eyes glowed larger.
“Not really, no,” Rookie deflated for a moment before puffing up again with wide eyes.
“Wait, is this like some sort of magic bandaid,” this left Leonardo confused.
“What, no. This is a gift, not magic, science, not magic okay. I mean it’s like a bandaid, but better,” Leonardo held it pridefully, with Tomobi making a sandwich.
“Perfect, now stand back and prepare to be amazed by my grace,” Leonardo walked over to Seeno, who became tense as he got closer.
“Now, now, cranky snappy. I’m gonna get you all patched,” and when he put the gift in his arm, he shocked everyone as he slapped Seeno's wound.
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