The otter god and a girls dagger

Roel frowns at the demon, she really didn’t seem like a big threat and he honestly doubted he would harm the little girl if she was. Putting his sword away once more he reached down and ruffled the girls hair, “It’s suppose to be sharp. How could I protect people with a dull sword?” Leans down on a knee to be level with the child, “Now where are you parents? We should get you back to them before you get into any trouble.”

---

Shaheen tightened his small paws on the girls shoulder and takes a deep breath of the stale earthy air. He could feel his essence in June, being as she was a resident of the town that still worshiped him he was not surprised at how easily the power he sent through her busted the blocked doorway nearly clear. “You have a rather strong arm human.” He chuckled at his joke and let go of her blouse to hop down and scurry through the now clear passage. Not giving the girl any chance to question him.

The little girl scoffed as she slapped the man's hand away. "Most klutzes just carry around a sword for looks anyways" She eyed him carefully as he slipped his sword into it's sheath and stared at him wide-eyed as he got down to her level. "My parents?" She gestured to herself "I'm a demon, do you really think we'd make good parents?" She puffed her chest out proudly and rested her hands on her fist "I'm lucky that I found Christianity"

(That last line was hard for me to write haha)

June flinched at the sudden shattering of rocks but turned her attention to the small otter that was now making his way through their newly created passage. She gave a polite laugh at his joke and inspected her arm. "Y-yeah" she muttered in response as she took off after him. She had practiced magic in her village but never was she capable of something like this. Healing spells were the only thing she had managed to master.

Little shit... Holding his annoyance back at the klutz comment Roel stands back up and tries to give the girl a patient smile. "Yes thank god for you, but I have my own god problems so get lost little demon." shoos her away with his hand.

---

Shaheen stayed alert for any sounds as he padded his way down the hallway. Honestly, his body really wasn't made for such lengthy walking. If only the hallway was a river. He let out a sigh as he took another tiny step but was shocked into letting out a small squeak when his foot didn't touch ground. Instead he tumble down a small flight of steps and made a loud PLOP when he hit the bottom.

Priscilla gave a satisfied smirk. Even though she claimed to be a christian she still found joy in irritating people. "Oh? What kind of problems" She flashed an innocent smile "Perhaps I can help?"

Arianna sighed audibly, she gripped Roel's arm for support as she leaned down towards the girl. "It's personal. Now get. on. your. way." She returned the innocent smile and placed her hands on the girls shoulders and turned her around. She gave her a small push away from them for emphasis. "We really don't have the time."

The little girl frowned and glanced over her shoulder at them. "Well I won't be gone for long!" She stuck her tongue out at them before disappearing quickly in a cloud of purple smoke.

-

June was following quickly behind him, luckily she noticed his descent to the second level in enough time that she was able to skid to a stop. She quickly moved down to her knees and peered over the edge searching for the small body "Shaheen?! Are you okay?

Roel watched Arianna deal with the girl then glanced down at her ankle, even though he hadn't been the one to injure her he felt bad. Without even noticing that he had moved, Roel gripped her upper elbow to support her then quickly panicked at having done so. He really didn't know how to deal with girls, in his academy there were only a couple but they weren’t really girl material, they acted just like the boys except they tended to yell more. Roel rubbed his ear at the memory of one particular girl who had taken it upon her self to 'teach' him everything she felt he didn’t know, even though he had told her countless times he didn’t need to know such useless things as manners and grammer. Just how to slice his enemy with his sword! Roel noticed he was drifting off and brought his attention back to Arianna, he looked away and felt his cheeks warm up at how foolish he probably looked, “W-well. Let’s go.”

---

It really sucked being alive, shaheen thought as he moved painfully up from the floor and looked up to the dark figure above him. "I just had a....tumble?"

Arianna didn't think much of the pressure on her arm until she turned back to look at Roel and noticed the blush that had crept onto his cheeks. "Oh..yeah. Right." She couldn't help but to smile at his reaction. "I think I can walk a littl-" she was cut off by the sound of something falling. "Did you hear that?"
(I think they should have a late reaction to hearing shaheen fall. So that way they can finally find each other. Like it's just now happening for them? )

June frowned as she moved to sit on the edge of the ledge that the god had just fallen from. "Watch out" she warned as she scooted off the edge and landed on the lower level onto her feet with a quiet 'oof'. " she knelt down beside him "Did you break anything?" she questioned as she gingerly picked him up to look him over for any visible injuries.

(Yeah, cuz of how sound carries. It's legit.)
Roel looks at her then in the direction she's looking, "No, what was it." He lets go of Arianna but keeps his arm out for her to hold onto for support, keeping his other hand safely near the hilt of his sword. There seemed to be a lot of weirdos in the cave. "Let's go check it out. Though with our luck it'll be that looney demon girls parents."

---

Shaheen relaxed in her arms and began wiggling his toes then winced when he tried moving his tail. He tilted his head back and frowned down at the weird angle it seemed to be pointing. "Maybe my tail...should you snap it back? Isn't that how human's deal with these injuries?"

Arianna latched onto his arm. Careful not to bog him down too much with her weight. She did feel a little bad for having him carry her earlier, and she didn't want to rely on him too much. No one wanted to come off as clingy, but he was strong and Arianna couldn't deny that she liked the chance to feel his muscles. She laughed softly in response to his joke "Right? especially with how today is going."

---

June winced at the idea "I don't think anyone does that...?" she looked down at the injury and laid him back down carefully onto the gravel. "Just, try to relax a little." She slipped her dagger from the sheath "I think I can heal you." She reached over and scratched his head in an effort to comfort him "No snapping involved"

Roel gave her a small chuckle and lead the way towards the noise.

---

Shaheen pushed against her hand with his front paws, "Hey, hey! I'm not an animal. Just do your thing so we can go find that shitty swordsman.

---

Suddenly gets an irritated feeling and tightens his fist, "Strange. I suddenly feel like hitting something small. We should find the rodent."

Arianna shot a weird glance his way. "You two definitely have a weird connection."

---

June chuckled and nodded. She held the dagger over his tail and closed her eyes, concentrating on casting the spell. A dim light started at the point of the dagger, she mumbled the spell a little bit louder and as she did the light grew brighter. With a flash the light illuminated the temple. As the light finally dimmed June smiled. "There. Better?"

---

Arianna shielded her eyes from the flash of light then paused and smiled. "Well, I definitely know that's them now."

Shaheen blinked and sat up, feeling the pain leave his tail. He looked up at the girl curiously. Healing magic… Humans were growing more and more distant from gods, so to find one who could still use their powers without the gods assistants was very rare. She was even one who used his own power. He narrowed his eyes at her, it seemed rather convenient, he had been tricked before so such a thing seemed suspicions, “How can you do that?”

---

Lowers his arm from blocking the light and looks at her confused, “That was them? What the hell did they do?” Hurries more towards the light and squints when he’s sees their figures on the floor, “OI! Are ya’ll alright?”

June looked down at him and did her best to fake a cheery smile. "Everything I know I learned from my Grandma." She didn't necessarily want to hide the fact that she had a piece of the sought after statue, but it wasn't something that she could just give up. Especially to a bunch of people she had just met. She was one of the last healers of her village and without their god in his human form there wasn't much they could do on their own, atleast in terms of magic. She looked up quickly as she heard the swordsman's voice. "Roel, Ari!" She stood quickly and moved over to them, relived to have an out from her conversation with the trapped god. She instantly took notice of her friends carefulness to not put weight onto her swollen ankle. "Oh no, Ari, what happened?"

Ari let out a sigh of relief at seeing the pair. She glanced down at her ankle when asked about it and waved her hand. "Oh, it's just a sprain I think. We had a rough fall"

Roel felt a sudden relief at seeing June safe and unharmed, tho he didn't really remember being that worried about it. Shrugging it off he smiled at the girl, giving her his full attention, "it's been a fun side trip. How did you hold out without us?"

---

Shaheen frowns as he jumps up onto Roel's shoulder, "no concern for your dear lost partner I see."

---

"Psh. Who would be worried about you? After all who would chase after a water rat?"

---

"Aye!" Jumps across to Junes shoulder, "I'm an otter dumbass. You should be smart enough to know that by now."

---

Roel felt even more annoyed at the animal when he jumped over to June. He quickly reached out and grabbed the fuzz ball and held him up by the neck, "otter-rat. Same thing. And aren't you getting too friendly. Don't go jumping on girls shoulders like that."

---

"What's that got to do with anything?" Smacks the fiery head in the nose with his tail, "your the one getting a girl injured."

---

Roel glares at the otter and put him down, not having a solid argument against that. "I didn't do that..."

June pouted slightly at their display "Shaheen, that's not nice." She moved over to Roel and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder and looked back towards Shaheen. "You especially should know just how easy it is to get hurt in here." She sighed and looked up towards the next level "You two find a way back up, I"m going to heal Ari"

"Yeah, she said get to work." Nudges shaheen with his shoe and starts heading in the direction of the broken stairs.

---

Jumps on his shoulders and watches June for a moment as they walk farther away. Looks at roel seriously, "Don't jump on girls shoulders? What's gotten into you? Already going soft. You know we don't have time for that kind of shit if you want to find that person."...or to get my true form back.

---

Glares down at the god, "I'm not going soft. And down fucking start lecturing me. That guy is my main priority right now. I won't get distracted so easily." Nothing would ever stop him from finding that man and ripping his throat out. Roel clinched his fist and felt the dull ache across his upper back that always followed any thoughts of him. He knew the wound was put there as a reminder, as of way of saying, 'come find me little Rue.'

---

Shaheen could feel the sudden dark aura that emitted from the man as his shoulder muscles tightened under his paws. He knew it would happen once he had brought that subject up but it didn't matter. Shaheen turned and looked in the direction of the white haired girl, she was going to be trouble for Roel but he new she was hiding something and he wasn't going to let her go without finding it out.

Arianna watched as the two of them walked away a moment before moving over to a rather solid rock and sitting down with her leg propped up so her friend could inspect it. "So what do you think of them?"

---

June followed and stopped to look at her friend who was looking wistfully at the red headed warrior. She shrugged in reply to her question. "They're definitely an interesting pair?"

---

"No, but what do you reallythink?" Arianna watched her friend as she cast the spell that would heal her ankle. "Especially about Roel?"

---

June paused to really think about her answer and sighed before speaking as she slid her dagger back into it's sheath. "Well..They've been nice, but I think it's better not to get too attached. Remember, that they're just passing through."

---

Arianna rolled her eyes at her friends practical reply "all the more reason to have fun while they're in town." She smiled and stood up, tapping her toe on the ground to test her the stability of her ankle. "Thanks juney"

Roel stood casually with one hand on his belt, pondering how they were going to make it back up to the top level. He pointed over to where parts of the stairs were still jutting out of the wall, leaving enough room where they could possibly climb up it, "What do you think ferret? Think we can make it?"
"We don't have much of a choice. Let's go get the girls." He could hear the otter sigh, such a weird sound coming from an animal.
Roel turned and made his way over to the girls, "Good news. we found a way to get the fuck out of this damn cave. But it could be a little dangerous."

"Ah! Awesome!" Arianna ran to Roel with a slight bounce in her step. "How dangerous are we talking though?" She eyed him suspiciously before flashing a playful smile. "Nothing we can't handle right?" She smiled and showed him her ankle "I'm feeling like I can do anything right now"

June sighed as she watched the two. She didn't really have any reason to be jealous. But she couldn't help this feeling. Arianna always made it her thing to flirt with the cutest boys in the village. Although June didn't really know if a relationship was what she wanted, any potential candidate was out ruled just by the basic rule that you can't date your best friend's ex. She forced a smile and moved over to scoop Shaheen up in her arms and headed towards their hopeful exit. "Is this what you two were talking about?"

Roel smiled at the girls energy, it just made him really want to tease her. "Verrry dangerous. We're gonna have to move across a wall about this thick" Indicates a really small amount between his index and thumb, "and if you make one wrong move." Makes the whistle of someone falling really far and splatting on the ground, "But, since your feeling so much better why don't you lead us." Holds his hand out in the direction of the stairs.

---

Shaheen began to tell June to stop treating him like a pet but decided not to. It was rather warm in the girls arms, but of course that wasn't why he was gonna stay, no he needed to keep a close eye on the girl. "Yes. If we climb up that part of the wall then we should be fine. As long as no more of the wall breaks of course." Peaks back at the two that had obviously not noticed they were being left behind. "Hurry your ass up stupid swordsman!"

"Ooh~" Arianna listened to him carefully as he described the treachery before them. She gasped and giggled at the splatter noise before placing her hands on her hips and standing proudly. "It's nothing I can't handle!" She turned to see June and Shaheen almost towards the exit, she laughed and ran to catch up to them "Hey, you guys aren't wasting any time."

---

June glanced back at the pair "Of course. I don't want to be back here once the temple finally decides to collapse."

Follows Arianna over to the pair and moves first to the steps. "I'm going first to test the bricks out. You two follow close behind and be careful. There isn't a lot I can do if one of you fall." Gives them a serious face, he really didn't want one of their deaths on his hands. He leaned back against the wall and started making his way, sideways, up the steps, trying to avoid looking down into the dark hole that have lead 100s of feet down for all he knew. "Come on, lets test out that leg of yours." Stops a couple steps up and holds his hand down for Arianna, decided she would probably need the most help since she was just injured.

---

Shaheen watch the two of them then smirked up to June with his whiskery face, "Your the lucky one being paired with a God such as myself." Puffs his chest out in a manly way while lying in her grip.

Arianna watched his steps carefully and took his hand before catiously moving onto the platform. She did her best to stay flush against the wall as she moved along it, but she did make one mistake, looking down. "Mm, I don't think I can go any further." She pressed herself closer against the wall and squeezed her eyes shut. "Nope."

---

June looked down at Shaheen and did her best to stifle her giggle. "I am very lucky." She smiled. She nodded towards her friend who had stopped moving "But it looks like maybe you should have been paired with her instead"

Roel grips her hand tighter, "I won't let you fall. Look at me." Pulls gently on her hand to get her attention up to him, "Just keep watching me, don't look down. i'll guide you."

---

"She's in capable hands." Watches the two struggling with the steps then looks up at June, "That man really has amazing luck. I doubt even a fall down that hole could kill him." Narrows his eyes at her questioningly, "Have you ever heard of humans being able to channel gods powers?"

Arianna hesitantly turned her head towards the man who was attempting to guide her. She peeked her eyes open and looked up at him. She nodded at his instruction, her grip on his hand tightened as she finally ventured on the more stable of platforms. She released his hand only wrap her arms around him, tightly in a hug"I got too cocky!" she muttered against his chest, slightly embarrassed at how she was boasting only moments before.

---

June stared down at the otter and shrugged her shoulders slightly. She thought she had escaped his prying questions. "My grandmother has mentioned it in passing." Her grandmother was very knowledgeable about human-god relations, but even certain things had precise circumstances in which they could be done. A vessel could be used if a god so wished, but with the aid of a sacred artifact the power would be multiplied.

Roel was surprised by the unexpected attack and stumbled towards the platform edge, he gripped Arianna around the waist protectively while he steadied them both, "Whoa~." He chuckled, trying to hide the nervous dip in his voice, "We aren’t completely safe yet." Looking up he was happy to note that the rest of the journey wouldn't have to be followed with them pressed against the walls since the last few feet were tick slabs sticking from the wall. They would however have to jump the distance between the rocks. He reached back and tugged Arianna's hands apart, freeing his neck, "Let me go first." He prepared himself mentally, praying that the stones were still sealed to the wall, before taking a deep breath and jumping the distance, landing securely on the upper step. Letting his held breath out he turned to the girl, "Alright your turn."

---

"Your grandmother does seem very wise when it comes to us gods and our teachings." Shaheen studied her for a moment longer then nodded off to the other two. "Come on. It's our turn."