--- Kat ---
Kat wasn't surprised when the other shoe finally dropped. The specifics did surprise her a bit, but perhaps they shouldn't have. Hunter simply collapsed in place in the middle of dealing with a worm pit. Kat was right next to the lamia and managed to catch her before she hit the ground.
Despite dropping the flames around them seemed to still be under Hunter's control which was good... and at least a bit weird. "Are you going to be ok?"
Kat got no response. A little confused Kat shifted Hunter to be more comfortable in her hands before she realised that Hunter couldn't reply because she couldn't speak. *Wait. Shit. She's out of demonic energy and her body has decided to stop moving while it recovers... but she's also still controlling the fire that's already out? What does that mean?* "Dammit Hunter.
I'm trying really hard not to be annoyed with you at the moment. You can't move, so you can't tell me what I need to do here...
"I mean, do I run backwards up the tunnel? It was cleared out but these are worms and I expect they can move through dirt just fine if they have to... but certainly not faster then me. So do I run to give you time to recover? Or would that be an issue because you've got all this fire here? If I moved you would the fire burn out of control? Why are you still burning things now that you can't move?
Am I meant to carry you will I fight?
"Look... I don't want to be annoyed, and I'm not angry... but Hunter you're more than twice my age and KNEW this was going to be a problem. I've been try really hard to help you out here but now we're in a position where you can't even tell me anything to help fix the issue... while literally carrying you.
I'm not exactly pleased that the only reason I'm even able to help you this much is because you can't stop me carrying you around.
"And, I get that I'm somewhat just ranting to the air because I need to complain a bit, but I do want to assure you that it's also because I need some sort of a sign of what to do here... or maybe just for you to say something once you can move again? Look I'll take either..." Kat trailed off as she noticed that the fire was starting sputter and die down.
Worse, a bunch of corpse worms in assorted corpses were starting to move towards her.
The mole's claws dug into her ankle somewhat. The cut was only shallow but the damned thing was still moving even down two arms and a head. Kat wasn't planning to stick around to fight it though. Instead she kept moving, simply running out of its range. The medium sized mole-thing reacted swiftly, bringing its claws down towards her head.
Kat was read for it and simply danced off to the side letting the claws impact the ground uselessly. While it was recovering she slipped between it and the wall and was faced with the final mole. Before it started its attack, Kat's tail lashed out and sliced off a claw from the mole. It had tried to attack her in the back after she'd run passed but Kat was ready for that much.
The bigger mole was going to be a problem... so Kat decided to accept a bit of risk. She spat some demonic fire from her mouth and the mole was filled with screams as the fire spread and the mole started to freeze in place. The mole's arms flailed and it looked like they were trying to rip themselves from the mole to escape her flames.
Kat didn't let it worry her as she charged forward, angling herself so that any hits would be taken on her arm instead of damaging Hunter as she passed.
The wild flailing slammed into Kat with their full force... and it wasn't enough. Blood, gore and worms exploded everywhere... and Kat realised that might be a problem. Kat quickly covered herself and Hunter in demonic fire, the blood freezing and flaking off while the worms popped for some reason. "Sorry Hunter, I didn't expect it to cover us both like that..." mumbled Kat as she kept sprinting.
The moles were, if not dealt with, certainly weak enough to be no issue should they keep chasing after her. The best part? The large one was still blocking the way so the larger corpses that had been charging at her would either have to give up or claw their way through the moles first. It was a great roadblock... Kat could only hope that it hadn't messed with Hunter too badly.
Looking down at Hunter didn't reveal much. She was clearly still immobile but her eyes were shaking a tad. Kat... didn't know what that meant at all.
*Dammit. I really AM sorry Hunter but I only had so much time to plan all that out and you're definitely panicking in there. Why couldn't you have just accepted the help when I offered earlier? It would've been significantly less traumatising for you I'm sure of it. What do I even do once she starts moving again? Do I need to find a place that she feels safe?
Should I duck into one of those now clear worm pits so that we've got a defensible position?
Or is that just inviting more moles to come for us. We didn't see them before... but is that because they could tell Hunter had the floor covered? Was it just bad luck that she collapsed once we were deep enough for us to notice? It's so hard to tell... and it's even harder to know what's right.
I don't want to run too far because Hunter IS going to insist we go back and finish things... but perhaps I should insist that waits for another day? Sigh...*