"I don't know but I've gotten that reaction a lot. And always about something different! You'd think maintaining four rifles, six pistols, and two shotguns in perfect condition would be a show of technical excellence, not an indication that I'm a savage. Or maybe gunpowder is supposed to be savage? ...You really meant what you were saying earlier, huh? Something about clothes and indicating sexual availability? I didn't exactly understand the whole thing."

"That explanation was about one-third snark, but yes. If I'm not otherwise occupied? Sexually speaking, anyone can do anything they like to me at any time. Can you believe some men can't imagine a greater pinnacle than that in a female lover? That their ideal is a woman who simply relaxes and lets them do as they like? That's my baseline. I sell my skill, and my willingness to give people the experiences they can't get from any kind of implicitly or explicitly mutual arrangement."

"But I said 'team-bonding' on purpose, here. I'm not angling for a sale."

"I mean, no offense or anything, but that seems... Slutty? In my village, no way someone could do that for long. I suppose if you don't mind and you're on potions..."

"'Slut' is just one of many words people use to hide from their own questions and from their fear of what the answers to those questions might be," Ame pontificates. She can tell that Bys was just asking an honest question, so her tone is light. "If people call you a slut, take pride in it, because what they're really saying is that you're better than they are in a way they can't understand. Unless you actually are a reckless moron, I suppose, but let's not cloud the message here," Ame adds with a laugh.

"Um... I don't think that actually makes sense. I'm not sure what you're saying. Fear of their own questions? It doesn't have to be fair to be - a rule, the way things are done. And everyone has different ideas on the way things ought to be done, but I don't think having some things be shameful and scandalous is bad, necessarily? Maybe they should just be different things. It's hard to imagine society working without any kind of shame or standards, so there have to be some, and there have to be consequences for breaking them."

Ame shrugs.

"If a thing doesn't have bad natural consequences, I think making up and inflicting artificial consequences does nothing but hurt people, but a lot of people do ignore the sort of natural consequences that aren't both immediate and obvious, so maybe artificial consequences are a necessary evil. Sometimes."

Ame glances inside the wagon at Bys.

"But right now," Ame says kindly, "it sounds kind of like you're trying to talk yourself out of having something you want, for no good reason."

"...Well, maybe. I do think having - a code, and rules, and people being able to have stable expectations - is important. But there's nothing in my personal code that prevents me from kissing you. Just this wagon in the way." She smiles.

"Yep. When we make camp," Ame promises.

"Reliable expectations are important, you're right about that. I think the best way to keep expectations reliable is to be frugal in applying them while going out of one's way to use precise language. That's what works for me, but then I'm not doing what most people are doing with their lives."

"Precise language is not necessarily unconfusing. Ah- Later, maybe."

Bys settles in to clean her guns. If Ame keeps hanging around she will ramble about them, though.

Ame can listen to Bys ramble about guns for a while, and watch the terrain roll by.

After that while, Ame climbs back onto the roof of the wagon to shake the strain out of her fingertips from clinging there for so long. What can she see from up here? (Can she see Alectai?)

She can see a long train of wagons, two or three fitting onto the road at once but dozens extending up and down the path, some bigger than others. She can see sparse grasslands dotted with the occasional barren field or mud pit or bit of scrub bushes. It's not the prettiest terrain. She can see the stone-paved road extending out in front of them, straight as an arrow. Fal waves at her where she's standing on another wagon roof a bit down the line. She seems completely undisturbed even when it goes over bumps. Maybe the biggest and most garishly orange one has Alectai in it?

Ame replies to Fal's wave with a wave of her own.

Yeah, if she had to guess which wagon Alectai is in, it would be that one. The question is, how to get a look inside it without giving anyone any sign that she's even interested. Alectai himself seems like the kind of man who knows how to think with his dick without betraying any of his other goals; she knows better than to fuck with that type.

Maybe Elizabeth would help. Ame looks over the head of the wagon train. Can she see Elizabeth from here?

On the other hand, what even is Ame's stake in whatever Alectai is transporting? So what if the Waltmanns are having opinions about her, they're not important enough that she has to dig into their business to protect herself.

She wants to, though.

Elizabeth is walking along close to the front with the three melee guys and some caravan regulars, drawing some kind of diagram in the air with light and making expansive gestures. Tactics, presumably.

Ame brings her Healing Slime up to join her on the roof of the wagon, and then settles in to watch the surroundings.

She also watches Alectai's wagon, watching for who is around it, who comes and goes. Maybe she can identify someone else who would be likely to invite her, unprompted, into that wagon.

Few people come and go into the wagon itself, but people run up to it and handi or receive things through a window so wide it's almost more of a store counter, or talk to Alectai through it, receiving instructions before running off again. The wagon is fairly enormous - it might actually have two floors in there, and is certainly wider and taller than an 18-wheeler back on Earth, if not as long. How just six overbuilt wheels can support it is a mystery to which the answer is probably 'magic'. There are a couple of high windows along the sides and at the back, so she might be able to peek in one of those in the dark?

Peeking in the windows after dark is... risky. Possibly more risky than just walking brazenly into that wagon in broad daylight. Neither option is off the table, though.

For now, she will just keep watch (and keep watching).

After a while K'nak collects Fal and then they both come over to Ameron's perch. 

"Ho! I think we should practice fighting with each other a bit, as much as we can without an enemy, and since we'll want to relax when the caravan stops now is as good a time as later. Do you know where miss Abyssia is?"

Ame points straight down. "Inside."

Oh, this is definitely not going to actually accomplish anything but: "Up here? No, too small. You think Alectai would let us spar on the roof of his wagon?"

"I quite doubt it! I was thinking of jogging ahead, sparring a bit, and then catching up again. Or just demonstrating moves and discussing ideas as we walk, like miss Elizabeth is doing with misters Gene, Erwin, and Otis."

Ame laughs off her previous suggestion and agrees. She climbs back down to the window to ask Bys if she wants to participate.

"I'll join in if you keep me fresh every few minutes. I'm not lazy, I swear, it's just... Fischers are bad with cardio... Oh gods I sound like I'm a hypocrite making excuses for myself."

"It's fine. I'm happy to keep you refreshed."

Abyssia will join them, then.

K'nak starts off the conversation. "I am the least mobile member of our group and still fairly mobile - I've seen Abyssia sprint and it's impressive, Fal is wickedly fast, and Ameron deserves the description of 'DEX fighter'. Highly mobile tactics are harder to perform than shieldwall type tactics, especially with little group cohesion. For that reason, I suggest we simply get familiar with what everyone can do and determine general roles for each of us should combat break out, and learn how not to get in each others' way rather than try to learn specific formations. Perhaps practice shouting quick and pertinent commands and information to each other?"

"Yeah," Ame agrees. "Of those things, learning not to get in each others way seems the most important? We're not just mobile, I get the impression that all four of us are surprising in at least a few ways. Like if I suddenly stop dodging and get run through, I probably did that on purpose and no one needs to panic. But if I get knocked unconscious, then I am in serious trouble and probably need to be saved."

Fal says, "Yeah, well, if I get run through heal me. Some of my arrows are poisoned, cursed, or, like, explode with magic. So watch out for that and don't try to collect them for me."

"I can unload all my shots quickly and then have to spend a while reloading, or space them out and try to snipe weak spots. I keep a holdout gun that I only use as a last resort and I really shouldn't be involved in melee with anything."

"And I, unfortunately, fall into the Berserker stereotype and can become slightly... Unreasonable, in the heat of battle. It may be best to avoid approaching me in such a state." K'nak sounds embarassed by this.