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Odd, yet unimportant. You had higher priorities to attend to.
You gently pet the bug in your lap and slowly moved him up onto your shoulder, the little insect grabbing hold with feelers strong enough to attach but not sharp enough to sting, before turning to Steele. "Feels like it's been over 'n hour. I'm goin'a go look for Florian. Are you comin' with?"
Steele got to his feet and grinned. It was a mellower grin than his last, but a Steele grin nonetheless. "You aren't the only one looking for a lost friend. Of course I'll come with."
He shook your hand fiercely, sparing his free arm to adjust the position of your trunk on his back, before taking the lead and heading out of town.
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The two of you began by skimming the outskirts. Back and forth between the dirt path, the surrounding bushes, the odd tangent by the river. Nothing.
Then, you moved further and further away. Bit by bit you inched away from Red Bluff, the moon climbing ever-higher into the sky, peaking for a moment before beginning its descent. Nothing.
It got to a point where you began to chill. You found yourself shaking for no clear reason, your eyesight beginning to blur as your body began to remember how tired it was.
Thomas J. Steele seemed almost unfazed by this, somehow. His eyes looked no baggier than usual, his posture as jolly as ever and his demeanor almost as joyous... "Buchanan, you have to come see this."
You blindly followed his words, crouching down beside him as the two of you... stared at the bottom of a bush.
"Doesn't this look familiar?" Steele scrounged around for something before pulling up... a leaf?
It looked like the leaf of a brussel sprout.
...wait, no...
You blinked yourself awake. As soon as you recognized it, you thrust yourself into the bush ahead of you and began looking. You didn't have to search for long.
Out in this grassy plain, riddled with dead grass and bloodied attire, the moon shone down upon your small grassy friend, his bud wilting, his body covered in burns...
...and facing a floating tree stump with vigor.
Your bug friend shouted a sharp trill of fear-- one that Florian seemed to completely ignore. He was completely invested in the fight-- so much so that he hadn't even noticed your approach.
And the stump...
You couldn't bear to look at it any longer. Whatever he was facing... it was sinister. Something about it wasn't <span class="mu-i">right</span>.