Nine Tales [BL]

3.7

"Mer is so so so dumb!" Renshu complained internally, stomping at the ice as he walked.

[Host, the AI hasn't done anything yet.]

"That's the point! We hold Feelers one time-one time!- and suddenly I'm getting the silent treatment? Well, fuck you!"

Rein Nett listened to the endless tirade, wondering if Host would notice if he blocked him out.

"Besides, I was right! Have a look at this place!" Renshu gestured around him. "Those stupid human beings would have died!"

The second one layer turned into a tunnel made from ice. The translucent walls stretched twenty feet high towards a dome ceiling that thankfully was lacking any icicles. Humans would have in no way survived the temperature the ice was emitting, so cold that fog curled around your knees so you couldn't see your toes.

"I hope his battery runs out, the stupid AI!" Renshu persisted to rant although it held less conviction as he trailed his hands on the glassy ice walls that would conveniently rip the pores and skin off of humans, watching in fascination the creatures that were frozen beyond it. Their shapes have been all insect-like, size as big as elephants and some even bigger, only staying dormant in the ice due to the the cool temperatures Mer and Renshu have been emitting.

"He should thank me! This ice-what did you called it?- oh, yeah, Glous Ice, would have melted with the human's temperature. Which I don't get because I mean, how the heck is it so sensitive to temperature? Look how thick this ice is!"

[Host, Glous Ice is durable under all conditions but heat. The Zerg used this to their advantage to make a trap within the second layer. Zerg temperatures are naturally on the low side and only temperatures reaching higher than 70 degrees will cause the ice to rapidly melt, releasing the dormant creatures it contains.]

"See?" Renshu said smugly out loud. "What did I tell you? If we brought those humans, they would have triggered the beauties here-" Renshu knocked his fist against the ice. "-and we would have been discovered."

Mer said nothing, making Renshu twitch. He hadn't said anything in hours since he ripped away from Renshu so fast he lost a few hairs. Renshu couldn't imagine the pain but Mer didn't show it as he raced ahead of Renshu.

"Well? A little, 'thanks for protecting the stupid humans' may be in order. Actually, I demand you say that." Renshu babbled, his tails twitching and curling tightly around his leg.

Mer continued walking ahead, silent.

"Stop ignoring me! I did it to get us here, to protect your stupid humans! Why are you so angry?!" Renshu shouted. All that progress that was made, gone. And for what? Some dumb Feelers? No way! It's not going down like this!

"Say something!" Renshu screamed, reaching out to seize his hand but paused and lowered it. 

Heat ran to Renshu's face and he rubbed his arm awkwardly.

"Mer so so stupid!" Renshu shouted to both Rein Nett and the hunk of metal.

Stupid, stupid stupid stupid!

As Renshu pouted, his eyes were drawn to his reflection at the movement. His mind quickly raced and his eyes trailed the ice until he got to Mer's mirrored image. The angle wasn't right, Mer blocking even his reflections face, so Renshu started walking this way and that until finally he could make out Mer's side profile in the reflection.

Renshu's eyes widened.

Mer's face was contorting, veins bulging as if he was struggling or combating something internally. His eyes shifted quick, flickering without seeing and his lips were pulled tightly inward, clamped down by his teeth as if he desired to bite them off.