Lionhearts ||Skephalo||

17

Skeppy pauses, kneeling down and gesturing in front of them silently, urgently. Tubbo narrows his eyes, and his expression brightens as he locks onto the rabbits grazing in the grass a ways from them.
Skeppy nods, and Tubbo carefully takes aim with his sling, as Skeppy nocks an arrow.

They aim for different rabbits, Skeppy's killed quickly by an arrow to the lung, and Tubbo's left dazed and stunned, possibly unconscious. They approach their kills, Tubbo slitting the throat of his with an apologetic wince. Skeppy knows he doesn't enjoy killing the animals, but he has to get used it, after all.

Skeppy doesn't want him to be pitted against a human and have the same hesitation that only knocked the rabbit unconscious. If it's a choice between becoming a killer and dying, he would always choose the former, as some people would.

"Nice shot," he praises him softly, and Tubbo smiles. They carry them back, and Skeppy gets to work, showing Tubbo how to skin them; Tubbo seems a bit ill and squeamish at the thought of it and excuses himself, though Fundy waits by eagerly, snapping up scraps.
He considered keeping the hides to tan, but decides it wouldn't be very convenient to try doing so on the road. And he's uncertain of where they'll end up once they reach the city, so it's better to not have a bloody pack of pelts with him.

Besides...

He glances at Tubbo, sprawled in the grass, a small orange glowing orb in his hands. He stares at it with a soft look, and Skeppy can hear a faint whisper from it.
He's sure Tubbo doesn't want to carry around a bunch of skins. He finishes up, and sets the meat over the fire to cook, content to just roast it and eat it like that. It wasn't particularly good, but it was food, and that's what counted.

"Don't you stick your little snout in the flames to get our food," he warns Fundy, "You'll get your share eventually."

His words are met with a whine as the fox stares at him with his large eyes, begging. Skeppy tears his gaze away and plunks down next to Tubbo.

"What ya got there?" His playful remark is met with Tubbo flinching and stuttering out a hasty explanation,

"Uh- just something I made, a marble...thing. Yeah!" It flickers brighter, like a dim spark, and the whisper grows louder.

"Tubbo? Is that Skeppy?" Tommy's voice filters through the orb. Skeppy stares at it in surprise, and puts two and two together, arriving at four perfectly.

"Yeah, it's me. Tubbo, is this what you two were huddled over yesterday? Some kind of communication device?" He asks, as he examines the orb in Tubbo's hand. It's nothing special, dark silver with the orange glow emanating from a starburst of amber running over the surface.

Tubbo replies, his tone somewhat embarrassed,

"Yeah, it is. It's- just a scrying orb. It has its own magic so he can use it, so- communication!"

Tommy says brightly,

"A right stupid idea honestly, but he made it work somehow. Credit where it's due, I can see you two and nothing is off except you bein' BRIGHT ORANGE." Tubbo mimes punching the orb, and explains a bit more as he sees Skeppy's perplexed expression,

"Phil- Philza, the other guy we're looking for- taught me how to do this, it's really simple magic. Yesterday I just- I knew in some way that something was going to go wrong, and I made these in case Tommy and I got separated. Once you two started goin' at each other's throats, we decided to split up so we could redirect you two in case he decided to forgive you. Plus we cover more area like this! More chances to find Phil and Will."

Skeppy winces in painful memory of the harsh way Sapnap had reacted to learning Skeppy was possibly on Dream's side. He's forcing himself to belief it was just Sapnap lashing out through anger and grief without thinking it over, but some part of him fears it was a genuine hatred that he had evoked with his mistakes regarding George's savior.
He spaces out, considering best and worst situations that could happen; and yet somehow he sees no remotely good situation that involved killing the End prince. After all, in a way...whatever good could come of condemning his friend to a life without the soulmate he's surely attached to by now?