Do You Blame Yourself?

[Chapter 24] - Endless Possibilities

Pinto held his head up high, trying to see how far they all were from the edge of the ice. "Anything yet?" Peso asked, looking up at his brother.
"No, just snow. You think it goes on forever?" Pinto asked.
"Well, maybe not forever, but definitely a long way."
"It looks like it goes on forever,"
Kwazii perked up just a bit. "You know what else goes on forever? My d-"
"Absolutely not," Shellington stated, cutting him off. "There is a child present!"
"I was gonna say my dummy thick ass but go off I guess..." Kwazii muttered, looking away.
"That doesn't sound any better!"

"I think I see it!" Pinto exclaimed, pointing ahead.
"See what?"
"The edge of the ice!" That's what he thought, but when the snow continued after the gap that Pinto thought was the edge, confusion arose. "But there's more snow..." he added.
"What do you mean?" Barnacles asked, looking up just a bit.
"There's the edge," Pinto said, pointing to the gap in the ground, "and there's more snow." Glances were passed around the group.
"Ice chasm?" Peso questioned. Yet, they persisted.
"It doesn't really look that long," Kwazii muttered, looking to the left a tad bit.
"What are you suggesting?" Barnacles asked, also looking in the same direction.
"I'm saying we could go around it," he stated.
"That's probably the easiest thing to do."
"Aye. Don't want to end up down there in weather like this." Kwazii leaned towards the gap, trying to get a better look at how deep it was.
"Kwazii, if you fall you'll bring the rest of us with you," Peso said, leaning away from the chasm trying to tug him away.
"Calm down, matey. I'm not trying to kill us all," he said, holding his hands up.
"I know you aren't trying to, but you might."
"For crying out loud, please chill out."

Peso whipped his head around. "That's easy to do here," he said through gritted teeth.
"You don't say!" Kwazii shouted, chuckling. Peso turned around, but he was also laughing.

"Are you really laughing at what he said?" Barnacles asked Peso.
"Well, sort of."
"Okay then..." Peso looked over and raised an eyebrow.
"Are you jealous or something?" he asked.
Barnacles glanced down at him, still walking ahead. "Not at all. You two have just been really touchy-feely lately."
"I'm sorry, what?!" Peso asked, flailing his arms around.
"Ooh..." Pinto said from atop of the captain's head. Peso's glance went from Barnacles to his brother.
"It's not like that. He's been opening up to me recently, and things have been going from there," he said.
"That sounds nice," Barnacles replied. As they all neared the edge of the chasm, the ground slowly got more and more slippery.
"What if one of us just falls," Kwazii said.
"Don't jinx it," Dashi stated.
"I'm not trying to, I'm genuinely curious," he added.
"We'd die," Tweak said, "literally."
"I know that, but what would we do in that situation?"
"We'd die."

Kwazii turned around. "Be optimistic please, matey," he said.
"I'm being realistic about that, Kwaz," she replied. Kwazii froze, realizing that Tweak did have a point, but as he turned around, Kwazii slowly started to slide forward. "I'm sliding... Yay!" he said sarcastically.
"You're what?" Shellington asked, turning in his direction.
"I'm sliding..." Kwazii repeated.
"It's almost like you're ice skating!" Pinto exclaimed.
"Almost like that!" he added, nearing the corner of the chasm.

"This ice chasm looks like it hasn't been here long... It looks brand new, in fact," Shellington said, examining the corner of the crack in the ice. Kwazii stood on his toes, stopping himself from sliding any further.
"Is that bad?" he asked, glancing in Shellington's direction.
"Well, in some cases yes, but it shouldn't be a problem."
Kwazii shuffled away from the edge. "Not taking that risk," he said.
"You? Not taking that risk?" Tweak questioned.
"I'm not looking to die today," he answered.

~

Peso shook the snow out of his hood as they reentered the Octopod. "There's still snow in my jacket," he muttered, unzipping it and taking it off. As the jacket fell to the floor, so did about ten or so snowballs.
"Pfft-"
Peso turned around just to see Kwazii, hand over his mouth with Pinto at his side, the two of them trying not to laugh.
"You two haven't been together for a day and you're already playing pranks on me," he said.
"Why are you putting the blame on us?" Kwazii asked. Peso froze, hand in mid-air.