"J-joey?" Inv calls my name while I walk up to the mark. Getting a better look at it, it did bend the metal!
"Inv the next rock you spit out can you be a bit… more careful? I don't know how these shelters work and I don't want something broken behind one of these walls" I look back at Inv and ask him. I'm not sure how a shelter works but just to be safe I'd rather Inv not shooting a rock into the wall breaking something. This is one of the only few shelters that don't have shelter failures and I'd rather keep it that way.
"I-i sowy… i won du et agan…" Inv says back with a sad expression. Seeing his skin slightly turn bluer I start feeling a bit bad.
Walking back up to his side so I don't stand in the line of fire of Inv's next rock I say something to try and cheer him up.
"We um… don't want anything else entering the shelter with the entrance broken right?" I make up on the spot.
Saying this Inv's head turns towards me with shock.
"U-u wight! Ony we cen b en dis sheler! Noting els!" Inv says to me in a reinvigorated voice. Seeing his skin turn back to its normal blue I feel a bit glad that what I said actually made him feel better…
…
'Did he say 'only we' can be in the shelter?' I think to myself about what he just said. That's an interesting thing to say…
"Only we?" I can't help but ask back to him.
In response to what I said I see Inv's ears plop down. Inv's skin turns a light red with a bit of purple. Before thinking of anything else I see his pink ear stand out amongst his glowing skin. Seeing the pink ear again reminds me what happened right before I… accidentally fell asleep last cycle. At least he seems to be in a better mood compared to what happened when he looked in the mirror…
"U-uuhh y-ye?? W-we don hav tu onl mak te botof us ef u wan-
"No Inv, this shelter is only for the both of us. Nothing else" I stop Inv and say this to him. Of course I want nothing else in this shelter! He's mine and only mine!
…
'Fuck, am I crazy?'
"O-ok! Onl us!" Inv's ear perk back up with his entire body now shining pink.
Again, seeing the pink ear stand out amongst the ethereal pink skin I want to ask about what happened last cycle… but now's not the time for that.
"Now spit out that last rock so we can start looking for food. Then afterwards… you can have me all to yourself once we get back here~" I say to Inv. even I'm surprised by how bold I was at the end there! I can't believe I just said that!
"W-w-w-woaw?! O-ok!" Inv stutters back in vigor.
Then immediately starts to retch out the next rock…
Somewhat looking away I wait for him to spit out the next rock.
'I wonder if he took what I just said literally… I did just say he could 'have me'...' Thinking of the embarrassing thing I said, I clutch the warm egg bomb close to me.
Holding it for this long I feel like there's one thing Inv was wrong about. This thing isn't fragile at all. Maybe it's because I'm just too weak but the surface of the egg feels very solid…
"Ok Joey!!! I spet et ou!!" Hearing Inv say this i look back at him. Seeing another rock lying on the surface close to us it looks like he was able to spit it out much easier this time and not shoot it out like a bullet.
'Rock bullets… heh'
"Alright Inv, I bet you're hungry now?" I ask him now that his stomach pouch is empty.
"Y-ye… noaw i weally hungy…" Inv says in a sad voice while rubbing his stomach.
"Then let's get going! We already wasted enough time here!" I say this while raising the egg bomb to him attending to give it back to him.
"O-ok… r u sur u don wan te eg bom?" Inv asks me, tilting his head a little while looking at the egg bomb in my paws.
"No, Inv you know how to use these things far better than me. I… trust your judgement when to use these" I honestly tell him. The idea of having a one hit kill item in my paws sounds enticing but it's also a double-edged sword that can easily kill me too. He's definitely much more familiar with these things than I am.
Waiting for a moment holding out the egg bomb, Inv just looks back at me… why is he just staring? Before I can ask what he's doing though I see a new color I haven't seen on him before until now.
For just a second, I see a golden color flash across his skin. What the? This color was different compared to the yellow I've seen before… it was much more… golden in a way?
Blinking my eyes a couple times I now see his skin is back to its normal blue.
'Am I seeing things now?'
"Ok Joey… i wil protec u" while thinking about what just happened i hear Inv say this in a surprisingly… serious voice? Gently taking the egg bomb off my paws, I see him tuck it under one of his arms.
"A-alright" I stutter back, still a bit surprised seeing how serious Inv looks right now. Did what I just said really mean that much to him? All the colors I've seen before I could always tell what it was, but I have no idea what this color could mean…
…
I'd like to ask him what he's thinking right now but we need to go. Looking at the exit in the middle of the shelter I do one last thing before leaving.
"Give me one moment Inv" I look back at Inv and say to him. Giving me a small nod back I do something I haven't been able to do since the beginning of the last cycle.
Closing my eyes and raising a finger to my head the all too familiar screen pops into my vision. The main purpose of this is to look at how much time we have left.
Looking at the bottom left of the screen I get my answer.
'Of fucking course'
What I see is the worst-case scenario. It's the shortest time a cycle can be and we've already gone through about 20% of it!
Opening my eyes I immediately walk to the exit.
"Let's go Inv" I sternly say to Inv.
"Mhm" I hear Inv grunt behind me.
Headfirst I crawl down the pipe leading out of the shelter with Inv right behind me.
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A/N: oh boy... Time for Rain World survival...