[Kodai]

Kami hadn't expected Enric to comment on him talking to himself (or at least comment out loud), and turned to look at the squirrel. He didn't make a reply, but as soon as he turned his head, the smell of the cooked fish hit his nostrils. Despite being a small fish, it really did smell good... And it wasn't as if Kami had eaten a meal right before finding himself here on this mountain. As he turned away (for he was sure that Enric would get irritated if he found Kami watching him eat), a low growl escaped his stomach. Ugh, maybe he'd have to try catching a fish sooner than he'd hoped to. Leaning back on the grass, hands folded behind his head, the boy tried to ignore the hunger that was creeping up on him. That was difficult to do for long, however, and he was beginning to grow bored with simply staring at the ceiling (pretty as it was), so after a few minutes Kami sat up and shuffled over to the side of the lake. Instead of simply staring into the depths and watching the fish, he dipped his fingers into the water and wiggled them idly. Some of the fish did swim closer to where the boy sat, but they all remained well out of his reach, and he made no attempt to grab them.

[Jaykobell]

For his meal, Enric just ignored Kami entirely. He wasn't interested in ruining his meal, so he ignored that he had another mouth to feed. Of course, he wouldn't fish for Kami, so the boy would need to fish for himself. He was a big boy, right? He just had to find a way to hunt for fish. Although, with that mentality, Enric would be darned if Kami hunted any fish at all.

As the squirrel nibbled his fish, he watched, from the corners of his eyes, Kami shuffling on the grass. He heard the kid's stomach rumble with hunger, and Enric's tail shuddered. Really, now? Now, it was to see if Kami would actually try to hunt for food. He watched quietly as the kid shuffled around and stared at the ceiling, until he eventually made his way to the lake. Enric was still nibbling his fish, although rather slowly. If it looked like he was eating, Kami wouldn't bother him, right? And meanwhile, he could simply observe the kid's movements. Enric did just that, and he couldn't help but to roll his eyes when he noticed Kami wiggling his fingers. Was that how he planned on catching a meal? Pointless...

[Kodai]

Kami knew he didn't have the ability to catch a fish with only his bare hands, and he believed it would be too difficult to hit one with his spiritual weapon (he had never shot at something small underwater, and didn't know how to account for refraction). That only left him with one choice, and while he wasn't happy with needing to kill a small, defenseless creature, he did realize that it could be a very long time before he was found and that he would need to eat something at some point. Sighing, Kami continued to wiggle his fingers in the water, but his face betrayed the turbulence playing in his mind at the moment. It was odd, though... if Enric paid any attention to it, he would be able to feel a sort of darkness pressing at the edges of his mind. The air around Kami even seemed to ripple with some sort of invisible force.
Whatever was going on appeared to affect the fish as well, as they began to swim in agitated patterns, either in continuous circles or highly erratic dashes. Their behavior grew gradually more and more chaotic, until at last one of them leapt clean out of the water. As Kami reached out to try to catch it (which he failed to do, the fish landing on the grass a few inches beyond him), the darkness at Enric's mind abruptly faded, and the rest of the fish scattered into deeper water. The stranded fish, though gasping for air, remained relatively still as Kami stared at it with a mixture of pity and quiet resignation. Suddenly, Kami's gaze grew extraordinarily cold and emotionless, and the fish quit moving altogether. Another more audible sigh escaped the boy as he turned to Enric.
"Can Isss... borrow your firess....?"

[Jaykobell]

After a while, Enric rolled his eyes and just continued eating his fish. He was almost done, too, sadly, and he was still hungry for more. Since his fire was still burning, he figured he would probably just catch another fish and roast a second meal. As long as the fire burned, Enric could use it and have a few fish.

As he was nibbling, he suddenly started feeling something creeping into his mind. That dark pressure on his mind was enough to make the squirrel stop nibbling. His tail rippled quickly as he stayed still. He had never felt like this before; what was going on? At no point during the feeling did he connect it to Kami; only when he heard a fish jumping out of the water did he turn around to check on what was going on. He saw the fish in the air, out of the water and landing on the grass of the small clearing. While it wasn't struggling very much, the fish was undoubtedly still alive. The strange dark pressing on his mind had also disappeared, and as he looked up at Kami, he noticed that uncanny expression in his eyes. He had to admit it was almost frightening, how that kid had just made the idiom, "If looks could kill" actually become true. That fish had died just then.

Enric was staring at that dead fish, and only when Kami spoke to him did he come back to his senses. "What in the freaking world was that crap?" For a gullible, naive kid, that was some scary crap right there. Maybe that was a yes to the fire, then?

[Kodai]

"Uhh-m... Isss... Isss just a fishss, so... isss easy to manipulatess its willss..." Kami began somewhat reluctantly. It was easy to see from his expression that he was not proud of what he had done. "Iss... just took awayss its will to livess... Iss thought maybess... isss better for it to be dyingss this way... and... isss the only way Iss can catch it anywayss..." He picked up the unmoving fish gingerly and brought it over to Enric's fire before realizing that he couldn't simply just roast it and eat it as Enric had done. After all, the fish still had all its bones and scales and innards intact. Thinking, Kami supposed that he could try removing the scales himself, but there was no way he would be able to get to the insides of the fish without any sort of cutting edge. Maybe Enric would possibly do it for him, if he offered the squirrel a share of the fish. It was worth a shot, at any rate.
"E-Enric... if Iss offered you whatever sharess of this fish you'd likess... wouldss you be willingss to get the insidess and boness out for me...? Iss doesn't have a knifess or anythingss of the sort, so Iss can't do itss myself..." As he spoke, Kami began to scrape the scales off with his fingers, spattering the grass with the little translucent bits of material.

[Jaykobell]

When Kami explained the power, Enric couldn't even believe him. That was the very same kid who was pro-friendship and who was totally giddy and happy-go-lucky. Enric didn't need to have known Kami for years to get just a glimpse of his personality. He did notice Kami didn't even really want to share the information. He spoke in small sentences and just his expression was enough to tell the squirrel the kid wouldn't do it again unless he really had to. He didn't know what to think. He couldn't believe the event had actually happened, but he also thought it was ridiculous how Kami was so disheartened because he had killed a fish. It was just a fish. The world was overflowing with enough animals to spare one or two.

He gave Kami a look when the kid asked if Enric would cut his fish and take out the innards for him. He even wanted to share the fish if Enric helped out with it? At first, the squirrel couldn't even understand why he would even help Kami; but when he thought about it again, he had to admit he had grown to respect the kid just a little bit after seeing the kind of power he could summon. Swallowing the last bit of his fish, Enric got up and headed off towards his little rock-den. He squeezed inside it and came back shortly afterwards with a big leaf folder in his paws. He brought the leaf over and settled it on the grass before snatching the fish from Kami's hands. "Hope you don't get disgusted easily, then," he commented as he used his claws to cut the fish open. The leaf acted as a small protector from the grass, and it was flat, which allowed Enric to manipulate the fish better. "You know, you're kinda okay, if you can use some scary power like that," the squirrel commented as he opened the fish, looking up to stare at Kami. "That's a kind of power I'd like to have. I'd actually think something crazy like becoming a human's partner if they had a power like that." He had to admit he wasn't one of the hunter Spiders. Well, for the most part. He remained a danger to one and all, by human standards, but when humans saw a Spider wasn't corrupt, they tried to leave them alive; taken they weren't aggressive or dangerous.

But, eh, what kind of train of through was that? Enric shook his head and scoffed mockingly before going back to the fish. In just a few minutes — if that much — the squirrel would be done picking the fish apart. Maybe Kami didn't like using that power, but it sure had stumped Enric pretty good, if it made him keep his tongue under control.

[Kodai]

Luckily for Enric, the boy wasn't visibly disturbed by the act of gutting the fish. His focus mostly seemed to be on what he had just done, anyway, though Enric's speech began to cut through Kami's gloominess and revive the talkative side of him. After Enric had finished speaking (the squirrel had nothing else to comment on? Remarkable!), Kami started up. "Why... Why wouldss you want that sortss of powerss? Why isss you impressed? Isss... nothingss to be proudss of, to be able to killss small creaturess so easilyss. Iss would sayss that at least isss a better way to killss, that there'ss no painss, but Iss don't even knowss if that'ss truess... Mental pain isss just as realss..." He fell silent for a few moments, his eyes distant as he thought. Then Kami came back to reality and addressed Enric's last statement. "What doess you meanss, 'becoming a human'ss partner'? Like... travelingss around with someoness?" The idea of a human partner, to Kami, meant something like the relationship his mother had had with the dragon Kaibutsu, and taking into account what little he knew of Enric's personality, he guessed that a person would need to impress the squirrel greatly for him to even consider doing something like that. Enric did seem to have been taken aback by Kami's power... At least Kami had gained a modicum of respect from the Spider out of all this.
Once Enric was done with at least one of the sides of the fish, Kami carefully took it into his fingers and held it over the tiny fire. This fish was too large to simply spear on a stick, but it was still small enough that Kami probably wasn't going to alleviate his hunger very much with it. For Enric, though, it was probably akin to a small feast.

[Jaykobell]

Gutting the fish was a simple task for Enric. While he ate the innards himself, it was a bit like an "intrinsic" thing to him: he just "knew" how to do it properly. He was a bit rough to the fish, granted, but he was certainly getting the job done quickly enough.

While doing this, he kept the conversation with Kami going. The kid's answer was enough to prove Enric right: the kid was a happy-go-lucky little boy, who thought his power was "awful." It was ironic; that kind of power would be like a blessing in the eyes of countless Spiders, including Enric. "Nothing to be proud of?" the squirrel echoed, interrupting his gutting to stare up at Kami, almost in disbelief. "The world is rotten. That kind of power can protect you in more ways than one. Even if you can only kill small animals, anyone could develop that power into something even greater!" He finished gutting the fish, just thinking about Kami's questions while doing it. If Enric had that kind of power... if only! Then he wouldn't have to hide in this stupid cave. He could go out, he could actually not be afraid of being killed if he stepped outside... "You don't understand how it is to be trapped here when it's not your element. If I had a power even just similar to yours... I wouldn't have to hide here like a caged mouse anymore." Even though he could survive just fine here, the fact remained he couldn't go outside. This area was labeled "not threatening," so the odds of being found by humans was next to impossible. They didn't check this area for Spiders, unlike dense forests and large moorlands.

When Kami picked the fish up to heat it over the fire, Enric did the same, but for the entrails. Hey, this was good stuff right there; he couldn't let all that go to waste. As the fish and its entrails cooked, Enric thought of a proper answer to Kami's question about human partners. "Dunno. All I've heard is that some Spiders find their 'soulmates' in a human, and they 'bound' together to become a team. Not soulmate in the sense of lovers, but in the sense of partners in... whatever. The human can borrow the Spider's powers, then." Which, to Enric, just looked like abuse. Dude, get your own powers if you don't want to die out there. It was as simple as that.

[Kodai]

Kami kept his eyes on the fish, but he listened to what Enric was saying. So the Spider was impressed with this power because it could be used as an extremely potent defense... At least he wasn't impressed with it for its destructive capabilities. ...Well, he wasn't saying he was, anyway. From what Kami understood, Enric felt like he was stuck here because his powers weren't strong enough. Sure, he had forced a Bruma to run away, but that was just a wild animal with only teeth and claws to attack with. Humans had a whole variety of weapons to choose from, and if they were specifically hunting Spiders...
The boy flipped his fish so that the other side could cook, thinking about what Enric said about bonding. So it was a bit like the way Hunters bonded to people, in a sense. After giving up something important, the person would become the Hunter's partner. Kami wasn't sure if the person gained any special powers from the Hunter, but he knew that a deep bond was forged between the two. "Partnerss... Iss seess. And your powerss isss ice... What else can you doss? Iss seen you shoot icicles and makess a wall..." Maybe talking about Enric's own powers would make him realize what he was capable of? This Spider seemed to prefer being able to do things on his own, so perhaps if Kami found a way to encourage Enric to hone his natural abilities to the point where he had power on a level with his own...

[Jaykobell]

[ Enric can speak the way he should now. 8U! So I'd propose turning the filter off, or else you'll see [censored]s everywhere. xD; ]

With the fish gutted and nothing to really distract himself, Enric settled for talking with Kami. The squirrel sat down, indian-style, and crossed his arms, as he stared at Kami. That same expression of anger was plastered on his face, and it made the squirrel look like your typical grumpy uncle. Still, the power Kami showed earlier had been enough to keep Enric's snarky comments under control. That power... he didn't want to fall victim to that power.

Enric raised an eyebrow when Kami asked about his powers. "My powers?" The squirrel frowned, stumped at this particular question. The squirrel grumbled before looking away. "... I don't know..." he replied angrily, but quietly, with a hint of shame in his voice. "Every Spider has a certain... potential, or something. My main element is ice." He paused. "Whatever my powers are, they're worthless. That's why I'm trapped in this shithole." If his powers were powerful enough, maybe he could actually go out there and find his own place, his own little piece of heaven in a lush, green forest... but he couldn't. It was as simple, and as ridiculous as that: he couldn't.

[Kodai]

That had backfired. It seemed that Enric didn't really know what he was capable of, and regardless of what his potential was, the Spider felt that his power was useless. "Iss dun thinkss isss useless," Kami replied quietly. "You savedss me withss it, after allss..." He was certain that his words wouldn't change Enric's mind, though, and so he tried to think of a new approach. Enric really was in awe of Kami's power, and he really didn't seem to like living here... Pulling his fish from the fire, Kami held it in his hands, putting off eating for a bit longer in order to speak.
"Enric... You dun likess it here, an' you dun thinkss you can leavess this place by yourselfss... What wouldss you thinkss if Iss suggested leavingss this mountain togetherss? After the stormss, of course, but you couldss help me navigatess the mountain an' Iss could helpss you if anything happenss that... that requiress my powerss. You dun havess to 'bind' to me or anythingss – we'd just be helping each otherss to get away from heress."

[Jaykobell]

Enric scoffed when Kami complimented him. Because he'd chased a while Bruma away meant nothing to the squirrel. That Bruma was a regular animal; it wasn't something potentially life-threatening — maybe to Kami, but not to him. If it had been a Spider, maybe Enric would've gained some confidence, but it hadn't turned out that way.

As if that wasn't enough, Kami went on on another tangent, and the comment made the squirrel jump on his feet. "Going out?!" he shrieked with both anger and fear. "Are you out of your fucking mind? That's like asking a fish to jump into a shark's mouth!" What was that kid thinking? There was a reason why Enric stuck to this area within the mountain. It had food, water, warmth, and it was safe from pretty much everything. Going outside — with or without a storm — was like exposing yourself to enemy fire. "Just how strong is your power?" He couldn't deny Kami's power could potentially help him get somewhere, but just how power was it? Had the kid developed that power at all? "If you don't like using it, then I won't believe you if you say it can will anything to die. There's bound to be Spiders on this mountain and I couldn't fight them off and you probably couldn't, either."

After explaining his decision, Enric turned around and back down, again in indian-style and with his arms crossed. His huge tail flicked once before he spoke again. "Leave once the storm is over, and just leave me alone. I don't need anyone's help."
It felt like Enric's lack of confidence was the issue; it wasn't so much as he "couldn't leave" so much as he just "didn't want to."

[Kodai]

Oh well... it had been worth a shot. Enric did have a point, though: Kami hadn't really trained this side of his power because he didn't like to use it, and he couldn't just will anything to die. That power could only work on smaller animals that didn't really have much will of their own in the first place... However, Kami did have other abilities, ones that he was much more competent with. Maybe he wouldn't be able to take out a powerful Spider on his own... but they couldn't know for sure without seeing him actually fight one. "Iss... has fought powerful beingss before," he murmured quietly, more to himself than anything. "Isss was with Kaamil, yuss, but... if there isss being something so powerfulss as that on this mountainss, then surely nothingss would be living heress..."
He sighed, unable to think of a way to prove himself to Enric. Besides, it seemed the Spider really wasn't interested in his help. "...Iss will leavess when the storm passess, then..." With that, he began to eat his fish slices, eating slowly and looking pensive as he chewed.

[Jaykobell]

Enric narrowed his eyes when Kami just assumed a Spider was like any other creature or animal. They were terrifying, if you didn't know about them or if you had never seen them before. Enric knew all that; being a Spider himself, he'd seen other Spiders and had interacted with other Spiders before. Kami, however, was just assuming that they were a pushover, or something. "Well, when you leave that mountain, you'll see for yourself," the squirrel commented with dark eyes. "You're just a human, you can't sense them. You think I'd leave knowing that there's at least one out there that's out to get snacks for breakfast? You don't know what they can do. Every Spider attacks differently to begin with."

There was a pause. As Kami continued to eat his fish, the two could probably hear a pin fall on the ground, with the two of them being silent. Only the waterfall was speaking in the back, far from them, roaring down into the small lake from a huge mouth at the top of this hidden mountain cave. Maybe if Kami looked up there and thought about it for a while, maybe he'd wonder... Just where did that waterfall come from? How could a waterfall be running through a mountain? Wouldn't it freeze from outside...?

[ LOOK WHO'S BEING NAUGHTY AND POSTING AT (BEFORE) WORK. c: And actually, that's a good question. 8| Where is that waterfall coming from? I hadn't even thought about it until... this very morning. ]

[Kodai]

If Kami had been able to read Enric's thoughts, he would have been mildly annoyed at Enric's assumptions of his own assumptions. That wasn't what he was thinking at all. But then, what reason did Enric have to think otherwise? Why wouldn't he assume that Kami didn't think Spiders were a threat from the way the boy was saying he could (possibly) take them on? The squirrel didn't know Kami's past, after all...
Kami said nothing, not wishing to further irritate the Spider. Instead he finished eating his fish and stared up at the large waterfall thundering down. It was a little weird – you often imagined waterfalls concealing the entrance to caves, not inside of them – but it wasn't implausible. After all, lots of rivers had their origins on mountains, so it wasn't hard for him to imagine that this waterfall was part of a river or series of rivers fed from melting snow that flowed around or even inside the mountain. No, what concerned him more was where the lake emptied out. Surely, if the lake didn't drain out somewhere, this entire cavern would be flooded, right? So where did the water go? "...Enric?" he began carefully, still trying his best to avoid the squirrel's wrath. "Where doess the water drainss out from the lakess? Obviouslyss it has to go somewheress or this wouldss all be underwaterss right nowss..."

((o Bo You silly. And I never really thought of that, either. But I don't think the water would freeze (on the outside) if it was moving fast enough, or at least it wouldn't freeze completely.))