Cleaning the Kitty Cat

If no-one is around, when a tree falls does it make a sound? Who knows. But, when Micaiah is around and a tree falls, she's certain to be audible.

"TIMBEEEEEEERRR."

The top half of a tree barreled down towards Yugiri's position, smacking into the water and splashing it all around. When the sawdust and dirt settled, Micaiah showed herself with a proud expression. Her massive sword rested on her shoulder, some splits of wood sticking to the blade. She hadn't noticed Yugiri settled by the puddle, as she was engrossed in her task of preparing the campsite.

The sun was already setting with the orange sky barely lit, further dimmed when passing through the forest canopy. Micaiah's eyes were quickly adapting to the low levels of visibility, but in the moment the black-coated Yugiri was still a tad difficult to see. Still oblivious to what just happened, Micaiah started speaking to herself aloud.

"I can't start the campfire with this wood though, right? I need to start it with some dry wood--this one's fresh off the block. Maybe I'll just ask someone else to start it."

"Hm?"

The sound was a bit drowned out by the thudding of the tree trunk, but the prepubescent boy's voice still came through, bitching as per usual.

Micaiah's eyes were drawn towards the direction of the fallen tree, and her eyes finally acclimated to see the small roden--cat, now damp and practically rolling its eyes.

"Ah, didn't see you there Yugiri, my bad. You okay?"

To be honest, the futile pawing was funny, and if it was another cat, it might've been cute.

"Well, at least you'll get a proper wash. Not to, like, bash you or anything, but it's good timing. We haven't had a chance to clean ourselves up all proper since the Atlantic. And, for us, it's not as bad, but for a cat who's mouth is maaaad dirty and self-grooms, you're probably way worse off than us."

"What! Get rid of you? I would never. A mascot maintains the party's moral, you know!"

Micaiah walked forward, and in contrast to her biting sarcasm, she still took the courtesy of pushing the trunk out of the way to a distance from the puddle. Mostly to position it better, though; she lifted her sword from her shoulder and began hacking at the wood, chopping it into usable pieces while continuing on with the conversation.

"I think you're a rode--an adorable little kitty, of course. Don't cat's clean themselves with their tongues? Or are you the black sheep amongst felines?"

Meanwhile, Micaiah chuckled to herself in her head at Yugiri's comment. Rather than a barbed tongue, hers was a bit silver, no? Actually, more like... uh... the silver equivalent of pyrite, or something like that. Of course, the girl didn't have it in her to let the cat view it as a victorious retort.

"Actually, I just farted--that's probably what you're smelling."

Totally coincidentally, of course, Micaiah's backside was turned towards Yugiri the whole time.

"Hey hey hey, I never said you were a rodent. I said you were a 'rode'. It's a species of feral cat known for their small stature and deep black coat indigenous to Demon World. Look it up sometime, tons of interesting things you can learn about foreign cultures--expand your horizons, dear kitty."

It was total bullshit. Not that Yugiri would have any way of knowing anything about the demon world fauna. When she started mentioning how different she was from the other cats, Micaiah had to exert some actual effort into keeping her cool.

"O-oh, yeah. You're a strong, independent, black cat who don't need to follow no trends. You do you, boo-boo."

Micaiah might've spoken sarcastically this whole time, but the one truth she said at face-value was the admission to flatulence. Micaiah had her own personal storage in her gourd, so she frequently maintained hygiene when using the restroom even on the go, but her meat-heavy diet still meant her gas was of the highest order of lethality. So much that, while Yugiri opened her mouth to speak her snark, the taste of their afternoon meal could've reached her tongue.

Meanwhile, the blonde defended herself, still hacking away at the tree trunk.

"Hey, I might only be gross because I'm working here, for the good of the party. I don't know if you'd be able to relate, but it takes sacrifices to be a contributing member of the team. Part of that sacrifice is getting myself a little dirty to get some hard labour done."