Michael could hear voices talking as conciousness came back to him slowly and as it did, so did a sharp pain in his chest. As he got up to a sitting position, he looked at himself and mud was covering him all over.

"Well that was awful..." He coughed as he rubbed his hand over his sternum, feeling his heart beat way harder than usually.

While getting his bearings he began looking at Azhul and Gharna, who were staring at him with intense expressions, before finally relaxing. As the two large sows began talking, Michael began staggering up to his feet, which prompted Gharna to pause and give him a hand.

"Thank you." He said with a nod, although Gharna couldn't understand him without the amulet, she nodded back guessing what the simple nod meant.

Taking a moment to go through his belongings and and to pull out to the stone and bone pendant, Michael put it on.

"I don't know how you managed it, but I am thankful you fished me out of the water, I am really starting to rack up some debts with you." He said then stepping to the river side, getting some water to wash off the mud caked in his hair and covering part of his body. He felt weak, his forehead was burning and as he washed away mud he began noticing the rash marks all over him.

"Eh- not necessarily, we all made mistakes... and the unique situation makes it... difficult to judge? Usually when something is meek, it is usually weak or if something is strong, it is either aggresive or able to fend off something agressive. You-... you uhm... turn expectations on their head?" Gharna added with a confused oink at the end.

"Trust me, we don't understand how you survived either. By all accounts you should have died." Azhul said exasperated at the inexplicable existence of this furless man. She had just returned from grabbing back the Halberd she stabbed into the ground before her rescue of the unconcious human, still findling nervously. 'Gods, i hope he actually managed to survive this and is not going to die later in the middle of the night.' She thought trying to get her mind off of the events that unfolded not long ago.

"WHAT?! Why?" The young man asked as he suddenly turned only to then see between him and Azhul, sat Woh on a rock, which made him freeze in place eyes fixated on it. "G-gharna... Azhul... don't move. That is the thingy that made me freeze up."

"That thingy is Woh, my friend with whom I speak when I need some poison and who has the tendency to forget she is poisonous." Azhul said with a huff, while Woh smiled wide while seated on the rock.

"Hiiiii! I didn't mean to almost kill you, but I am happy I didn't!" The ampihibian pink humanoid then stood up and was about to offer a hand forward for a greeting, before she stopped herself. "Whoops! R-right- sorry..." She said with an awkward laugh.

"Oh- uhm... I'm Michael. I am sorry for walking in... or.. uhm... swimming in on you, while you were... washing? Moisturizing? Wait... why would you need to wash if you live in water?" He looked confused towards Woh.

"F-fair question. And the answer is embarrasing..." Woh croaked as he upper side of the head turned a more reddish pink. "While I was chasing lunch I leapt and slipped off of a rock slick with dew into a..." She seemed to hesitate as her eyes just stared down at her hands which were fidgeting. "I- fell into a dung pile... and even if you clean it off the smell sticks... so I was using a sorts of plants to try and make myself smell like anything but a dung pile." She said as she let out an embarrased squeak.

Azhul, Gharna and Michael all flinched at the mention of a dung pile and imagining what it would be like to fall in one, which got at least the human and Gharna to shiver a bit.

"Then- when you walked in on me, I thought you were some weird beast thing waiting to eat me and when you ran away I was confused why and I thought... it might have been because I still smelled, so I got a bit... upset?"

Michael took a moment to think on this before he let out a chuckle. "Wait you were upset thinking a beast wouldn't eat you, because you smelled?"

Woh kind of realizing how silly it was covered her two big yellow eyes. "W-well when you say it like that it does sound... silly. I just... I was having a bad day..."

"I can understand that, it's fine, I haven't been feeling too well lately either and I have made my fair share of mistakes." The young man said with a small smile, as an idea struck him. He began going through his backpack and he pulled out a pair of black gloves. "I know you are poisonous, but I feel bad if I wouldn't greet a new friend or at least acquaintance, which I seem to make usually when they try to kill me, although it is not like I didn't give them reason, for the most part." Michael said with a small laugh as he began putting the gloves on and then extended a hand towards Woh.

The tiny pink frog like Woh looked a bit unsure at the hand and back to Michael. "It's fine, your poison won't pass through them. I hope... water doesn't pass through them so I hope poison won't..." He said clearly a bit nervous but still keeping his hand forward and low to the ground.

"Are you sure you want to test this out now? You are still... not looking good... you surviving wasn't anything short of a miracle from the Brood Mother herself. So I am uncertain if your magic gloves will work as you want them to." Gharna added with with clear nervousness in her tone.

"I- you might be right, but once I pass the poison from my system I do wish to try and see if they work." Michael said as he looked at Woh with a smile. 'If I was poisonous I wouldn't want to admit it to myself either... if anyone knows how to lie to themselves just to not feel shit about feeling lonely, I do. So maybe...' The young man thought looking at Woh with a small smile, which she reciprocated with a wide one back.

After this exchange was finished, Michael went on to properly wash up, which was when he noticed more visible effects of the poison in his system over his body. 'Well if it doesn't go away in four hours, I guess I am gonna ask a doctor... oh... a druid? Shaman? Sigh... I will have someone who can help take a look at this.' He thought to himself as he then got out of the water and changed in one of the few spare sets of clothes he had on him, washing the previously used ones and letting them to dry.

"Well since have been here a while, how about we do some fishing, having Heezil bird meat over and over can be quite dull on one's tongue after a bit." Azhul said with a bit of excitement at the prospect of seeing Michael hunt for fish.

"That could be good, I am sure others back home would agree." Gharna added approvingly. "I will start looking for a stick, I got my hunting knife with me so I can carve."

"Fishing? Oh! I have went a few months ago with my father fishing, spent some fun hours there." Michael said excitedly as he got up and began looking for a decently sized branch as well.

"You fish for fun?" Woh asked as she hopped along as well. "Whenever I watch Azhul fish, it seems like such a chore."

"Not at all. I find it quite, relaxing. My dad and I used to always make our own rods when getting there, although we would buy fishing line, because it was better than anything we could make by hand ourselves. Hmm... I might still have some spare on me." The human said as he found a 6 foot branch, not many knots on it, which made him seem pleased.

Gharna and Azhul looked wierdly at one another, with Woh joining in, the trio then staring at Michael in confusion. "W-wait... what is a fishing line and why are you calling a wood spear as fishing rod?" Azhul interjected a bit stuttering.

"A spear? Oh-... oh... Oh. No, no. We do it... differently. We did use to do it like that... a longer time ago, but... uhm... you'll see. Also Gharna, after you are done with your spear, may I borrow the knife, please?"

"Sure. At this point I am quite curious as to what you are intending to make." The sow said excitedly as she began to sharpen one end of her stick.

"Well until ye two are done, I might as well get to it. I am still soaked so no point in waiting, Azhul said, getting off only her boots and with her halberd she began going into the water, getting ready to start spear fishing.

While waiting for Gharna to finish her wooden spear, Michael began going through his rucksack and eventually he found out what he was looking for, a paper clip. Using his hands and his old house keys he then began bending and twirling the thin metal into a hook, making sure to use as much of it as possible to make it decently solid. The young man then took his roll of fishing wire and began tying the improvised hook to it. Once Gharna was done with her spear she gave Michael the hunting knife she had, a nicely made one, the blade slightly dulled in places, but good enough. With that tool ready, cleaning the 6 feet long wooden branch of knots was easy and after gauging how much wire was needed roughly based on the water's depth, Michael tied the wire to the lenght of the rod from near the base to the tip end of it.

"Alright. This is about as good as it is going to get, with the water being decently clear I should be able to see the fish approaching."

Gharna looked confused as the wooden stick with the wire and hook hanging from it. "Why would fish willingly bite the hook at the end of your stick?" The sow asked as she was also getting ready to enter the water, leaving her boots behind.

"They wouldn't. That is why, we will trick them." Michael said with a chuckle as he stood up. He took his empty water bottle from his backpack and after filling it with river water, he began making his way to a near by shaded try.

"Pfft. I understand tricking something intelligent, but how will you trick a fish?" Gharna asked confused.

Without answering Michael began splashing water on the dirt around the tree's base and afterwards he began lightly stopping about and he kept doing this for a short while.

++++

Gharna simply stared at this sight, with Woh sitting by her.

"Do you think it is some sort of ritual?" Woh asked staring at Michael quite entranced by the whole stomping dance.

"I... do not know. It seems like it. ... He is not from here so this is rather new." Gharna whispered back as she kept watching.

"I gathered as much. His face is weird and honestly I am surprised he isn't poisonous since he is nearly as pink as me." Woh added with a giggle.

"Huh... didn't consider that. I am glad he isn't though, he is already plenty dangerous, making him poisonous would just make him more deadly." Gharna added as she pondered upon the moment she decided to try and get air into his chest. 'That would have been bad if he was poisonous.' She thought thankful to the Brood Mother she didn't kiss something lethal.

Michael then stopped and waited, eventually kneeling down and seemingly plucking something from the dirt. After a bit of time of he got a handful of what looked like brown and green insects, that appear as a combination of earthworms and botfly maggots. Getting a good dozen or so was not too hard and he approached Woh and Gharna while holding them.

As the human got closer Woh's yellow eyes widened with delight and she began hopping in place. "You got food?! How did you get them? Vurs are a pain to get, how did you get so many? Can I have some?! Can I? Can I?!" She began excitedly croaking like a kid who was just shown their favourite desert.

"So that's what they're called. Sure, I have gotten plenty of them." Michael said with a smile, as he plucked a green and brown one from his hand and then handed the fat worm like insects to Woh, making sure to not touch her directly.

Immediately the little pink amphoran opened her mouth and just nommed the two worms, slightly bloating her guller and cheeks, she hummed little ribbits as she just seemed to be drunk on the joy of eating these apparent delights.

The sight made both Gharna and Michael laugh a bit, as the sow then looked at him curious. "How did you manage to summon Vurs with your ritual? Not that they are anything rare, but they do not surface often."

"Its nothing magic. I figured if there are things in this world I recognise as similar to my own, then it means certain facts from home could be applied here. For example, where I am from, we have something called worms, which surface when rain happens, but they can also be lured to surface with a bit of water and making it seem like water is hitting the ground."

"Huh. Clever." Gharna said with a snort of surprise. 'I wonder what other cunning little facts he know, that we could make use of? This might help soften Urla after we tell her of his home. If we can make this mutually beneficial, things might go along smoothly.' The sow thought to herself.

Michael with Gharna and Woh, who is munching the Vurs satisfied, would then join Azhul at the river side proper, going on to fish and see which way of doing it proves to be more efficient.