The vibes in Centaurus were off, this particular cycle.

But it would not keep them from cottage-core lesbian stew-making. No matter how facetious the pretense for this activity maybe was. Look, its not like Luna didn't like Rena. The time limit just made things a little strained, a little more shallow than they'd like. Relationships (platonic or romantic) are things to be fostered!

But, despite the rush to get things done, she did appreciate her fellow worm's matter-of-factness and efficiency. Like Vestyge, but without the grumbling - so Vestyge if he was better.

Okay. First thing's first. Where the hell are we getting a pot to put the stew in. "SO. How about I look for stuff to cook the stew with, and you look for things to put in? I have no idea where to get the tools necessary, to be quite honest."

@Rena tag after literally forever

The journey to Centaurus had been one surprise after another, though Rena tried to take it in stride. First was the part where they descended into what looked like a giant worm's mouth in the desert. She'd tensed and wanted to protest, but Luna clearly knew where she was going, so she swallowed her uneasiness and followed. And now... how was it possible that an entire room like this, so different from the desert that was Hydra, could be hidden here?

She tried not to be distracted by the fascinating terrain all around, or by the scene projected onto the ceiling. She kept her eyes firmly at ground level. Where the most useful things were likely to be. They were on a mission here: to make stew. "Okay," she agreed to Luna's suggestion, and started scanning the area for possible stew-ingredient candidates.

Entering from Hydra was... an experience.

From dry heat to bitterly cold damp: a thick fog rolled toward them, obscuring the terrain but visibility wasn't needed to hear the roar and crash of ocean breakers.

...If they knew what that sound was, anyway.

There was snow crunching underfoot, and ice smashing out offshore. The spit of snow-covered land they found themselves standing on tapered off quickly, and was surrounded by roiling, freezing seas. A slow, ominous roll of thunder punctuated it all from the clouds above.

If there were ingredients for stew to be found, here, it might be limited to aquatic plants and fish. Fish stew was probably good, though, right? ...Assuming they had some way to navigate the surf and seas.

@Rena and @Luna - Centaurus has been rerolled! Enjoy?

Rena wasn't too sure how exactly she should go about hunting across this kind of terrain. The snow was familiar, yes, but the water... wasn't. She could swim about as well as Mother's gemless brood could, which if the floating bodies by the Black City were anything to go by was not well at all.

Look at her. Her feet are made of knives. That's not hydrodynamic at all.

However. Rena did not like to disappoint. She liked to be capable. And Luna believed her capable of finding something, so she'd—figure something out. Rarely did she encounter problems that couldn't be solved with enough brute force at one's disposal. So Rena marched forward to where the snow turned to ice above the water, and in a sudden spate of violence, drove a vicious set of pincers right into the ice. She'd do this as many times as it took to succeed in making a hole she could fish or hunt or pull or kill something out of.

A sudden, frigid gale blew right through Luna as soon as she set about foraging. Centaurus was less than a ideal location, it turns out, but she'd been lead to believe otherwise by the rumours that drifted her way - that's why this contract was so important, she supposed. She would not shrink away from a challenge.

Obstacle one: Everything of interest was underwater.

She was smart enough to know that swimming was a terrible idea. If she didn't drown first, she'd freeze minutes later. Luna was already pushing the thickness of her coat to its limits.

So instead, she paced the beaches, looking for anything that might've washed up in the violent churn of the black ocean.

The ice didn't go out far, and it was dangerous: thinned in places... but that did make it easier to smash.

The surf hissed, rising up through the hole and receding again with every wave. No fish were visible; if only fishing were so easy. One would likely need bait, patience and a great deal of time, though the potential for BIG fish in such a broad, cold place was good.

The shoreline was rocky; Luna would find much of it pebbles rather than sand beneath the snow. But the only things that had washed up were little twists of indigo and black seaweed (maybe edible..? One would need to test it) and bits of driftwood and other debris.

@Luna @Rena

Rena stared into the grey-black depths. What should she do next? If she simply waited for something to show up, it could be forever before they caught anything. That wouldn't reflect very well on her. She hesitated, then made the decision. One small fractal offshoot of one of her legs was carefully lowered into the water, and made to wriggle around as if it were just a smaller, more harmless worm. Meanwhile, Rena hovered at the ready, the larger branches of her forelimbs poised to strike and the rest of her limbs digging into the snow and ice, bracing herself for any sudden force exerted on the lure lest she be dragged down with it.

More intriguing than the scraps of seaweed that had stuck to the beach, was the driftwood left behind by the tide. From where had it come? They could see no trees nearby.

But even better, wood was flammable! With a bit of grit, and a sharp rock of some kind, they could start a fire going and properly cook whatever they caught. Despite howling, vicious, frigid wind, Luna and Rena were making it. Like a team. Like.... Partners.

Like............. Lovers....

Perhaps Luna could push her luck a little. Could she perhaps, obtain, a pot-shaped-object from the generous tide? We shall see.

Time passed, as time has a tendency to do.

A nibble here and there on the generously-offered limb was soon replaced by aching cold, the frostbite a very real threat to Rena's limb. But if they kept at it, or maybe intelligently rotated limbs out, they would eventually get lucky: a nibble that turned to a full bite, one that would need a good, solid yank to pull onto land. If they managed? A big fish! Like a carp, sort of, but purple, with a starshot scatter of bright blue-white scales along the sides that glowed and flashed. Unfortunately it also had somewhat sharp teeth, the sort that would scrape unpleasantly if not outright puncture. One huge eye sat atop its forehead; spiky ray fins flailed. An incautious pull would see it flop back into the water, but if Rena were careful, it was more than enough for a meal. A small one.

As for bowl-shaped objects, there was nothing so immediately convenient. There was snow and ice, that in a temporary manner could be shaped so. Maybe if mud were packed into a snow bowl, it would dry... eventually. But this cave was cold and wet. There was a little bit of driftwood, albeit not much; maybe a curved piece could be shaped, with the right tools?

@Luna @Rena

At first, Rena would keep the same limb offshoot dangling in the water even as cold turned to discomfort and then slow, aching pain. It was odd to experience pain from cold, and the novelty of the experience kept her there until its bitter ache became too much and instinct demanded she switch it out. She started switching to different offshoots before it got to that point again, after.

Finally she felt a bite which promised something more than a fleeting tickle or a minnow that wouldn't be fit to pick her teeth. She waited until she felt its teeth firmly grasp her chitin, and then she yanked back, pulling the fish onto the ice. It flopped there violently, threatening to slip back into the depths, until a set of vicious glassy pincers slammed through its body, pinning it there just behind the head until it stopped struggling.

Golden eyes caught Luna's fluffy brown form off in the distance, and the worm took off on its dark bat-wings with fish in tow to meet her. It was quite a sight, 13-foot long worm sailing through the air horizontally directly at them. Rena landed with a thump in the snow and held out the fish for Luna to examine. "I caught this."

@Luna