“Where is it? Come on! Where oh where is-OH…hehehehhe~! There you are!” Emily grinned as pulled out a book titled, ‘Dungeons and the Gods that Broke them.’ “Just bought the book when I was looking for that reality iron! Look! It’s even made with leather and this is the edition made by Thomas Syer!” She cheered before throwing herself onto the couch, only to nd on a yellow tail.

  “Hey! Emily, we talked about this! I’m not a living seat cushion!” Steph cried before shifting her tail and coiling her tail over Emily’s p like a seatbelt.

  “Oops. I didn’t mean to…” Emily said, pausing to lower the book below her eyes, just barely. “I, uh-didn’t break anything?” She asked as she started to examine her tail, regrettably pulling a hand away from her new treasure to slide fingers over smooth scales. This time it seemed, she didn’t damage Steph’s shiny sunny yellow sca-well they were still dull. Emily patted the scales, not too long now. She had already prepared oil, a rge humidifier, a big pokey rock and her field notebook. Soon. Soon.

  Steph stared at her with narrowed eyes. “You’re drooling again….” When Emily didn’t look up, Steph sighed before tapping Emily’s pokeable cheeks. “Em-ah-lee~, now’s not the time to pn another study.” She called which finally pulled her attention to Steph’s eyes.

  “Hehe~. I was making sure I have everything ready.” She admitted with a shy smile.

  Steph shook her head, smirking more to herself. “Don’t worry, I keep my audio recorder in my bag. You’ll have that when your time comes.” She said, which got Emily to happily bounce in her seat.

  “Thank you!” Was all she said before she started to happily hum to herself the song a smith sung when hammering a sword. And then she opened her book and took a deep sniff. “Roasted acorn jabbers…” She quickly wrote into her dungeon report notebook that sat on a small table next to her. “That salty pine like smell is proof that he wrote this one!” She said as her smile tried its best to go past her eyes.

  “Because he grew up near a whole breathing forest right?” Steph asked.

  “Yeah, there’s a lot of Ents and Trents there. His parents said he was always reading under one of the biggest Trents there.” She hugged the book tightly. “The kind of things the Trent said to him, it just keeps me up at night~!” She cheered like a horror fan getting an amazingly good sequel.

  Steph rolled her eyes. “Emily, you know Trents don’t show themselves to anyone but their bonded. Besides, he’s never written anything about meeting one before, not even something of a whisper.” She argued her osmosis of knowledge thanks to her cute friend.

  “Of course he has!” Emily quickly opened her jewel and even faster, scanned for a passage. “Here! Look at this small paragraph.” She inched closer and tapped a section.

  ‘On a Thursday was the day the loud god was said to have entered what is now known as the Crater falls. There was once a dungeon there, one that even cold winds might’ve feared to enter. The thunderer called on the wild sound that engorged the dungeon. Sound that many ears heard, engraving itself into heart, wood and metal.

  The skies cried and the wilds shrieked. All that saw and felt could tell when the horrid dungeon that spread the miasma was destroyed. Though what exactly said miasma was, it was only known to inflect a panicked rage in all those that entered.’

  “See?” Emily quickly pointed at metal and wilds as proof of her cim but Steph only gave a confused look.

  “Not really-” She held up a finger before Emily could cut in. “But, it might not be impossible for him to gotten this info from a bonded. Maybe even heard one whisper?” She suggested.

  Emily just looked at her like she just talked about racoons and then the air in one sentence. “Huh?”

  Steph’s tail shifted, coiling around the confused girl in a warm hug. “I mean, he had to have a good source because old records mention a terrible madness in the surrounding towns.” She expined.

  Emily smiled at that before quickly zooming to her notebook, filling out a few paragraphs. Steph couldn’t help but notice a new side note.

  ‘Possible connection to madness and miasma to consider due to my capable muse.’

  Steph raised a brow at that but all she did was coil her tail around the knowledge hungry girl. Emily on the other hand didn’t seem aware as she happily hummed to herself while her right hand began to blur across the pages.

  “Come on! Your mom said you shouldn’t go that fast.” Steph reminded her. “Remember what she said about Spangler?” She locked her fingers into crooked positions.

  Emily looked at her with narrowed eyes. “My hands aren't going to burn into ashes or my fingers fly off my knuckles. I’d have to be going way too fast to even generate that kind of friction which is both humanly and magically impossi-.........” She tapped her chin with her pen. “Unless I incorporate highly attuned wind magic to both cushion and super vibrate….” She turned the page and started writing. “But how would I manage to survive anything past mach one? Even the regenerative nature of a succubus wouldn’t outst that…hmmm. The force alone would probably harm my surroundings, dislocate my shoulder and splinter my antebrachium into a mush like an open blender.” She turned her note book and showed Steph, in it were several mathematical equations coupled with runic standard and a few other types.

  She pointed at a number. “I’d be crazy to try living with self generated g-forces for even a few seconds! Although it could make for a good harmful spell if applied to an opponent at the proper moment.” She quickly added that to her note book.

  Steph had gred at her long enough that Emily stopped and put her note book down. “Sorry.” Emily said as she lowered her head.

  “It’s fine. I know you were trying to say you wouldn’t over do it. But maybe don’t make a spell like that?” Steph asked as her tail slowly wrapped around Emily’s wrist.

  Emily started to nod quickly but paused. “I might not have to make one. If I checked the library, I’m sure there’s a record somewhere. If only I could go into the depths……..” Her face scrunched up like she bit into a sour berry.

  “Just don’t, the st thing I want is my partner turning herself into some self draining mana beast.” Steph expined with pinched brows.

  Emily slowly rubbed the tail wrapped around her wrist. “I promised you I would never act like that kind of a thunder head………… then I wouldn’t get to learn more about you, see you grow longer and bigger. Can’t miss your third molt either, I’d never get to share my research with you and iron out any bugs in my magic!” Emily quickly scooped up more of Steph’s tail, hugging it tightly like it was her baby bnket. This had the added effect of dragging Steph closer to herself.

  Steph sat up and hugged Emily. They held each other tightly for a few moments, just feeling each other’s bodies. Enjoying the heat and-

  “Can we live like this?” Emily suddenly asked as she pressed herself into Steph, cradling her arm cast.

  “I wouldn’t mind. You’re really warm.”