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Hey, what the hell. You were feeling punny today.
You gave a little whistle to get the bug's attention. "Taylor, I want you t' listen to that name from now on, 'lright?"
Taylor, in turn, gave you a blank stare... before nudging your rib and returning to sleep in your lap. Clearly, his prized position was capturing most of his attention.
"Taylor?" Steele rose a brow. "I'd have thought something more medical or proper would be fitting. Personally, I would have gone with something like Edwin."
You chuckled at that. "Sounds like a pretty formal name for a bug. You've gotta give 'em simple names, Steele, like Mary. Keep 'em easy t' say in a pinch and easy to understand."
Steele shook his head, though the small grin on his face gave away his true feelings on the matter. "That's what nicknames are for, Buchanan. See? Indie, Indie!"
Steele called out for his mole, who'd apparently been spending the time digging for worms, with no luck. "...he'll learn the importance of a nickname, in time, as you will."
The stocky man got to his feet and looked to the sun. "Now then... it's nearly noon. Better we set out now and beat the heat than languish here for another few hours, yes?"
Part of you actually didn't mind this, but the other part could see the amount of sweat on Steele's cheek and decided it'd probably be better to head out just for his sake.
The two of you started towards the exit of town, finally leaving in a new direction, without a single look backwards... briefly lamenting the lack of easy travel as you set out on foot once more.
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Hours of relative peace passed by without issue.
You and Steele stumbled through sparse forests, dry bushes, and quiet plains for some time. The Sacramento River seemed farther and farther away from the well-trodden paths you now followed, their course becoming more and more obvious as the river's became fainter and fainter...
The variety of creatures kept you going, at least. Mary was more than happy to accompany you, defending you from any wayward angry rat or especially peckish bird, with the abundance of relatively normal animals being a welcome reprieve from the constant life-threatening dangers of the north.
Normal bugs could be seen crawling across leaves, standard birds spread across the sky...
That's not to say that there weren't <span class="mu-i">any</span> neofauna around these parts, of course. The starlings from earlier seemed especially prevalent for reasons that you couldn't quite gather. But they seemed... more peaceful than they had been up north. Less agitated, at least by you.