One more day passed. After chatting for a bit, Kat and Lily split up to do their own thing. Lily continued practicing with her paper magic and by the end of the day her circle was looking a lot more solid. Kat on the other hand dug one large hole and then connected all of the poison, and poison by products, together in that one deep hole. Kat made sure it was easily three times the size of the gunk she needed to add. Once it had all flowed down into it, she got some dirt and made it extra compact and mashed it all together until it was a bit more than a snug fit for half of the hole. Then she slammed that into the wall and made a second one, closing it off from the gunk... mostly.
Once that was done Kat just piled on the dirt. If the dirt wall she made held, or she just managed to get enough dirt down before it cracked to keep it all down there, Kat managed to cover the entire thing without any liquids leaking up to the top. Kat had also made sure to dig the hole pretty far away from the river, so that was hopefully not going to be a worry. Kat was a little surprised she hadn’t hit the aquifer, but it seemed to be very deep down so it was fine. She then used the remaining dirt from her hole digging efforts to fill in all the other holes and then just spread it around randomly, trusting nature to sort the rest out.
Once that was done, Kat moved Yang and Xiang out of their holes and did another simply lean-to. Xiang was placed under it... and Yang was placed on a bed of leaves off to the side. That was the subject of some minor debate as to if Yang would appreciate the extra sunlight or not. The poison seemed to be out... so they took the risk. It was one that would pay off too...
Because the next morning when Kat was cooking up some more bear, the last one had been... gritty and not great but at least edible. This time Kat had mashed it all up into a mince then found a stone that she threw into the fire to let hit and used it as a makeshift grill to make bear patties. It was a test run, but the smell seemed to be an improvement. The bear wasn’t too bad either. It was certainly better to cook while that horrid smell had been covered up. There was still a hint of it, if you breathed in a bit too deeply, but Kat was proud of her efforts.
Just as the sun was peaking over the horizon and the first bit of sizzle was happening on the makeshift grill, Yang wrenched herself up into a seating position. Eyes still closed. Kat glanced over at the cultivator wearily and watched her for a few moments. Robotically, Yang stood up and stretched her arms out while facing the direction of the rising sun. Then a frown crossed her face. Kat wasn’t quite sure what she expected once Yang frowned. Perhaps opening her eyes, or starting another rant. Maybe just screaming? Passing out wasn’t off the table...
None of those things are what happened. Instead, Yang ripped off her clothes in one extra swift motion, abusing her cultivator strength to make sure they were very much gone from her body and left in tatters. Kat just stared slack jawed at the sight, glancing over at Lily to see her reaction... but her girlfriend was sleeping through it. *Right... well... out of respect for the sleeping and the whatever-the-fuck Yang counts as... WHAT THE FUCK YANG! I mean... surely you could have just taken off your clothes normally if they were such a hassle? Was the spectacle really necessary?*
Kat warily glanced at Yang out of the corner of her eye for a few moments. Not really wanted to get a face full of Yang in all her ‘glory’. It might not have been entirely inappropriate, it certainly didn’t DO anything for Kat sexually, so despite having a girlfriend... it probably wasn’t an issue. Didn’t mean it was something Kat wanted to see either though, and getting caught staring would just be bad all around.
.....
So Kat just went back to her grill and watched it cook. When she tried to flip the first one, it was stuck to the rock. She couldn’t help but slap her forehead. Of course it’s like this. Now I need to go get more bear fat. One trip for what Kat was 90% sure was bear fat later and Kat was attempting her second patty. Hopefully this would be more successful. There was plenty of space on the rock still, even if you ignored the area occupied by the stuck and quickly burning piece.
Just as Kat was flipping her second attempt, suddenly Yang flashed brightly. Kat reflexively raised her arm to block the light even if she didn’t need to anymore as a demon. Yang had apparently turned herself into a light bulb. It was weird though... Kat could see Yang pulling in the sunlight at a ridiculous rate, it was actually warping the shadows nearby. What made it doubly odd is that while Yang was glowing, sort of... she was also taking in all that light so it made her really weird to look at. She was an odd mixture of bright and dark patches that seemed to swim around her body.
Kat just turned her attention back to the grill after about twenty seconds. Didn’t want to burn this one after all. A few minutes later, while Kat was celebrating her heat resistance in the face of not having any tongs, Yang stumbled forward and the movement caught Kat’s eye, just as she though it was over for Yang, the girl managed to catch herself and return to standing. Then with a quick shake of her head Yang’s eyes gained focus and they spotted Kat, who had turned back to the cooking once it was clear she was fine.
Yang marched up to Kat and stood right in front of her, across the fire pit. “Hello Kat, I see you are cooking food. What exactly happened over the past few days? I feel much better now, yet I see no one else is up and about. Did the salt not work for Xiang?” Yang paused, and looked at Kat’s gaze which remained locked on the burgers. “Why are you not looking at me when I’m speaking?!” hissed Yang.
“I can look if you want but I doubt you really want me to right now,” said Kat calmly, still not looking up.
“I hardly need you to tell me what my wants are. Now look at me properly so we can have a conversation,” insisted Yang firmly.
Kat sighed and raised her eyes, right to Yang’s crotch which was very much head level. Deciding that wasn’t going to fly, Kat strained her neck to meet Yang’s eyes, “Is this better Yang?”
“Yes indeed. Now, despite it being a little chilly, this is a nice place. Could you explain what happened while I was out?” said Yang, rather obliviously.
Kat sighed again. Guess I’ll just rip that first bandage off. “Yang, it’s chilly because we’re next to cold water coming up underground, there is a nice breeze at this time, and you’re naked,” said Kat. Yang felt like she’d just been knocked on the back of the head.
Best
Kat could see Yang’s eyes change as the gears in her head continued to turn and make sense of what Kat was saying. Horror dawned in them as she glanced down to see, she was in fact, naked. “WHAT! WHY DIDN’T YOU PUT ANY CLOTHES ON ME!”
Kat sighed, “Yang, the clothes that were on you are over there,” Kat pointed off towards the tattered remains of Yang’s clothes that were now blowing away, “For some reason, you, in your half-conscious state, ripped them clean off. So I will not be taking flak for this,”
Yang’s mouth opened and closed a few times before she sprinted off behind the trees. Presumably to put some more clothes on. Kat decided the meat was probably cooked enough, slid it over to one of the smaller rocks she’d cleaned for use as a plate and started to take bites from it, not bothering to wait for it to cool down. *Hmm. Tastes a bit better then before... much nicer texture... probably cooked a lot more evenly as well. Needs salt definitely... but I really can’t look at salt the same way at the moment so I’ll make do without until a can properly quarantine that memory. Hmm... I’d give it a solid edible/10. Much better then yesterday.*
Yang came stomping over and glared at Kat. “What?” asked Kat in ‘confusion’ was she took another bite of the patty. “Did you want one?” The glare only intensified.