[hr][center][color=808B96][color=00BFFF][h2][b]T a f f y[/b][/h2][/color]Southeastern Mir [b]-[/b] The Fall[/color][/center]
[hr]
Taffy rolled her eyes, and was grateful that Max and Xell had managed to prevent an incident.  [i]At least they did something right,[/i] she thought.  She wasn't as concerned about the kid igniting again, as much as that this nonsense with the fire extinguisher was agitating the poor guy, who was already injured and possibly lost far from home.  He had barely started to reach for the ration bar when she saw his fur bristle and his focus shift toward the extinguisher and the catgirl who wielded it.  But while the kid could react to danger, he did seem a little off-focus still, and Taffy suspected low blood sugar was behind it.

"Hey," she said, softly, but firmly enough to get the otter boy's attention again, and then waggled the ration stick before she unwrapped the tip of it and held it back out to him again.  "Five hundred calories.  Don't use them all up in one place."

He started to reach out for it, then took a whiff of the gritty-looking bar, which had been tailored to the sensitive noses of most Novans.  The otter boy took the bar and looked somewhat less surly as he took an experimental bite of the soft bar, then muttered what Taffy [i]thought[/i] was a "Thanks" before he started eating the bar in large but measured bites.

Max had turned back from the nekomi and raised an eyebrow at the label of the ration stick.  "Tuna with bacon flavor?" he asked Taffy incredulously.  "Seriously?"

Taffy shrugged back at him, a full shrug that used her hands as she raised them up to either side, palms up.  "It was on sale," was all she offered.  [i]Going to the most expensive medical institute on the planet is kind of hard on my allowance,[/i] she wanted to say, but she bit back further comment because she didn't want to sound pitiable.  And she didn't want to give any idea of her family's status or wealth beyond what she had already done by mentioning that she was a medical student at Colosse, which was bad enough to say in mixed company if you wanted to keep your wallet.

The dimming light reminded her that they were on a time budget, as dusk fell over the forest.  "All right," she spoke up as she took a few steps toward the path she had come to reach the crash site before.  She raised her voice enough that she hoped everyone could hear her, and as she turned around and swept across the group with her eyes, she could see she had gotten their attention.  "Let's get moving.  My uncle's place isn't too far away from the Merecc side of the Fall, and we can get shelter and food there.  I know of some other places along the way we can stop at if we have to, but I'm not sure how safe any of them will be at this time of night."

Then she turned, and began to lead the way through the forest.  At first she didn't hear anything besides the beginnings of the repetitive chirpings of night insects that started their chorus in the deepening dusk, but then she heard the sounds of footsteps following behind her.  She had been worried that the others might have given her more argument or tried to go in another direction, but a quick glance back showed the group following her, for now at least.

[i]Now if we can just get to my uncle's hideaway, then at least we can get a good night's sleep,[/i] she thought, wishing that she hadn't already spent nearly a whole day hiking out in the Fall before coming across the crash.  She wasn't very worn down - she was tougher than that - but she certainly felt more tired after dealing with this crowd of strangers that she was now parading toward her uncle's estate in the wilderness.  And she was hoping that she wasn't making a big mistake.