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Inigo hated narrow areas with a burning passion. It just put him on edge: not being able to move around properly, the suffocating density that the air seems to gain, the dank smell... After a few days of being in the tight tunnels of this unground church sect or whatever they claimed to be, he started to get irritable jitters whenever lacked something to focus his attention on. What was the word for fear of enclosed spaces, again? Claustrophobia? Yeah, that's it. Claustrophobia was what Inigo had. Thank the Gods that Alarice put him up to an errand that would take him outside where he could drink in the fresh air and stretch properly. He was likely to go insane by now without a little fieldtrip like this.

Still, as much as Inigo hated these 'mole tunnels', as he called them, he knew that he and his companions had much more important things to worry about. Namely recovering their wounds and dealing with the Order of the Blades... So, in the interest of keeping everyone's eyes on the objective, Inigo fought his fears and stayed in the crowded dungeon of a church ward without complaint for as long was needed. He was strong. He was adaptable. He could deal with a few tight walls.

By now it had been a few days since Inigo had woken up bruised and bandaged in the sanctity of the underground sect, and the group was getting ready to mobilize. It seemed that right now, everyone was doing something in preparation: Alarice, Weisen and Sada were drawing the battle lines for the upcoming mission, Roland (when wasn't making out with Joshew or playing 'hide the sausage' with him) in order to "calm his nerves" was helping the church members with whatever little tasks they could think up for him. Alvis was... being Alvis. And Inigo, well, he had a bit of an important errand to run. But as for Joshew, Inigo wasn't quite sure what Joshew was up to... which was fine by him, because before he went off on his little journey, he had a word or two to speak to the blind scholar.

As Inigo inevitably made his way to Joshew's temporary quarters on his way to the exit, a certain something about the door caught his eye.

Oooh, the door's cracked open, let's see if I can get in there and sneak up on him, Inigo thought with a devious grin. Then, delicately and lightly as a feather, Inigo tip-toed to the door, barely squeezing his way between the ajar door and the doorway as he entered. It was a cramped, dank room without a proper wooden floor, just like his and Alarice's, but it wasn't exactly as if underground hideouts were known to beget luxury...

And then he spotted Josew. The human was dressed in his usual getup, a brown vest over a plain dress shirt and grey woolen pants, sitting on a desk adjacent to the bed on the far side of the room, muttering some complaint or the other about the sect not allowing a blind man to help out with chores to himself as he fiddled with what appeared to be one of Weisen's strange contraptions. It was probably just something Weisen gave Joshew to keep him occupied while he was stuck with nothing to do but wait. Inigo didn't pay it a second thought.

After a few glances, Inigo initiated his stealthy operation, and painstakingly took one soundless step after the other, closing the distance between himself and the preoccupied scholar. As silent as unseen as a shadow in the dark, he thought to himself as he slowly progressed across the cold stone floor, still no seeable concern to Joshew's person. But when Inigo was only a few feet away from him, thinking that he was successful in his little prank, he heard the scholar speak out suddenly, "That's close enough, Inigo."

Inigo tsked in disappointment as he relaxed his posture. "Damn, I was so sure I was going to make it to you without you noticing..." The flying-fox then threaded a claw between the back of his red hair, placing the other on his hip. "You mean to say that you actually heard me creeping in? I swear I wasn't making a sound."

Joshew let out a smug huff. "Actually I wasn't really sure if I heard anything or not, those were some pretty damn quiet footsteps. The reason I knew you were sneaking up on me was because I smelled you. Honestly, you smell of sex and sweat so strongly that anyone with half a nose should be able to tell when you're nearby..."

"Well, I suppose that theory matches up with the sex and exercise routine I just did..." the bat said with a rub of his red chin-hair, pensively as if he were pondering a heavy topic.

Joshew stood up from his seat and faced the debonair bat, arms crossed his lanky figure. It was hard to read his expression with his eyes behind a pair of black sunglasses, but Inigo got the general idea that Joshew wasn't particularly amused by his little quip or sneaking antics. "Okay, cut the crap. Why were you sneaking up on me?"

"Oh, don't be so serious about it. I just wanted to see if I could sneak up on you and scare you, that's all."

Joshew's response was spoken with an almost palpable bitterness. His mouth twitched angrily, just once. "Slit my throat, more like."

Hearing the sudden accusation, Ingio's head recoiled in surprise, and raised his claws up disarmingly. "Damn are you cynical! Sure, there's a certain something I wouldn't mind shoving down your throat, but it's nothing dangerous like a knife. Well, unless you have a particularly strong gag-reflex..."

"For the love of..." Joshew took a deep, calming breath as he kneeded his brows. "Did you come here just to solicit me for sex? Because I have a little thing called 'standards', and self-respect besides."

Inigo felt his lips curling upward. He always loved it when someone's first reaction to the thought of having sex with him was one of repulsion or discomfort: made the conquest of actually bedding them all the more fun. Or, if they proved to be a complete cold-turkey prude like Faula was, it provided endless opportunities to tease them. "Believe it or not, that's not actually what I came here for, but if you're offering..."

"I'm not."

Inigo laughed light heartedly at Joshew's concise response. "Well that's your loss. But without being able to see how sexy I am, and how seductively I move my body, I guess I can't blame you for having such a poor opinion of my proficiency in bed..." Inigo wasn't sure if he was being theatric or just honest. He found himself in situations like this so many times... "I guess I'll just never understand by somebody wouldn't want to romp with somebody with such strong arms like me, oh, and not to mention my ass, which is firmer than a leather ball. Oh and there's also my adorable little tail..."

The irritation on Joshew's face deepened as Inigo continued his boasting until the blind human finally interrupted the bat when he was mid-sentence about his the 'not-so-little friend that lived in his pants', "Okay already, I get the idea! You think you're hot shit. So if it'll get you to stop your incessant bragging, then show me what you look like," Joshew said with an irritated inflection as he extended his hand outward, reluctantly beckoning the prideful flying fox to come closer for a feel.

"Why certainly monsieur," Inigo said gracefully, bowing out of reflex. He deftly stripped off his shirt, carelessly throwing it onto the ground. He then walked over to Joshew, gently grabbed the human's wrist and directed the hand straight to his abdominals.

Letting go of his grip on Joshew's hand, Inigo could clearly see the human's mouth open and brow raise in awe as he felt Inigo's abdominals and then chest then arms, patting and rubbing Inigo's body parts as if they were made of some impossibly impressive substance. The bat smirked at that. At one point in time, the sensation of fingers running through his fur might have tickled him uncomfortably, but he got used to it a long, long time ago. "Holy shit, you're ripped..." Joshew muttered in amazement, only bothering to 'get of look' of the bat's muzzle after the initial surprise off feeling his muscles had worn off. Joshew was gentler and more meticulous with his examination of the muzzle, making sure to feel every bend and curve of the bat's muzzle as he processed the sensations of his fingers into a mental image. He was careful not to smudge the glasses.

It wasn't long before Inigo grew bored of the less sexual examination of his body and tried to change the course of the 'interrogation'. "Glad to see that you're enjoying the view. But if you think you've enjoyed what you saw so far, wait till you see what I've got packing down here..." Inigo said as he once more grabbed Joshew's hand and directed it down slowly to his increasingly aroused groin.

The moment his hand reached the tent in Inigo's pants, Joshew jittered in surprise. "Okay stop: I've felt enough!" Joshew exclaimed, shaking off Inigo's grip of his hand and taking a few staggered steps backwards. Inigo had successfully flustered the taciturn scholar, and with that his smirk grew more conceited and smug. Inny 1, Joshew 0.

"What's the matter Joshew? You don't want to pet my 'garden snake'?"

"N-No!" the human said with a flustered stutter, taking a step back before trying to regain his composure. At this point Joshew's face was red as a tomato, his blush part indignation, part embarrassment at his own arousal. "You might have noticed that I'm with Roland now... and I'm not going to do anything that might jeopardize our relationship. Though I'm sure somebody who sleeps around as much as you do wouldn't understand something like that."

"No I wouldn't. You monogamists and your silly rules... When will you learn that sex is just a simple commodity?" Inigo said airily with a casual drug of his shoulders. There was a hint of disappointment lying in the bat's voice.

Joshew shook his head in disapproval and huffed out in dissapointment. Clearly he wasn't willing to delve into that can of worms. "Just... get to the point, Inigo. What is it that you want from me?"

"Ah yes the point..." Inigo said in a suggestive coo. Joshew just stared blankly at him though, unamused, and Inigo's grin died down resultantly. Whatever, it wasn't a very good joke anyway... "Okay, seriously though, Alarice and Sada want me to go on a bit of ah... 'reagent run' if you will." Inigo made a quotation gesture with both claws, only to remember that he was in the company of a blind man. He slowly lowered his claws. "Sooo... I was wondering, since you know, you're a Fire Scholar and everything, that if maybe there was a certain chemical or two I could get for you to maybe... build a portable explosion? You know, in case we need scary people to go away? Or to make scary places... less scary? And less big? Oh and less functional too."

"You want me to compose explosives for you?"

His deadpan response was evidence enough that Joshew wasn't one to beat around the bush. There was a slightly shy inflection to Inigo when he spoke up. "Yeah, that's basically what I was getting at."

Joshew sighed in deep exasperation, and though Inigo didn't know for certain, he was pretty sure tha Joshew was rolling his eyes. "Why should I build explosives for you? You seem to be by the far the least responsible person in our merry band of misfits."

"How could you not trust me? I'm so lovable and adorable."

"No you're NOT!" Joshew roared in sudden anger, taking a few angry breaths before he continued, "You and that crazy woman are anything but trustworthy. She's a compulsive liar and black market dealer of God knows what, and you're her attack hound who does anything she tells you to do! Not to mention I witnessed her kill somebody like she were swatting a goddamn fly! I can't consciously put explosives in the hands of people who probably kill others for a living!"

Inigo's face darkened. Oh, he was used to being insulted to his face, being called dirt or trash or worse, but he would be damned before he let anyone get away with insulting Alarice. Inigo's words weren't spoken with indignation as Joshew's were, but they were equally as intense and passionate. "First, don't ever insult Alarice or you might actually find me slitting your throat." It was an empty threat but it gave Joshew reason to take a step back, nervous.

"Second, well, let me spell this out for you, rock-head." The insult didn't quite bare the same insult it did in the tribal tongue, but the sudden anger with which Inigo spoke was enough to give power to the word, and Joshew to shrink back further. "I don't give a wet donkey shit about what you think about me or what you think I do for a living, because right now all I care about is safely getting Alarice out of this Order of the Blades mess. Regardless, even if we don't get all chummy with each other, we're going to have to learn how to work with each other. Alarice already told me that one of their members slipped away with a good look of you scholars' faces, so that means the Order of the Blades is just a problem for Alarice, Weisen and me, no, it's a problem for all of us because the want to kill all of us. So unless we fight back, we are royally fucked." There was a brief pause. "And not in the good kind of way..."

Joshew nervously cleared his throat, and regained his composer. "So what you're basically saying here is that-"

"- that we're stuck with each other, killers and innocent scholars alike, so until we're clear of elite mercenaries that want our heads on pikes, we might as well start trusting each other," Inigo stated with a firm conviction.

Joshew let out another quick laugh, though it was a bit more humored and a bit less sardonic this time. "So you thought the best way to build trust with me is to sneak up on me? My, you've certainly though this through."

Inigo took this as a sign that Joshew was willing to cooperate with him, which set him at ease; he hated having to act the tough guy. "Okay so maybe I don't have the world's best foresight, but it seemed like a pretty fun idea at the time." As he spoke, the air in the room began to lighten as well, the animosity from before fading away.

A faint grin cracked on Joshew's lips; he was evidently amused by the levity with which Inigo spoke. The spiteful atmosphere was entirely was gone when Joshew next spoke up, but his tone had a degree of seriousness to it nonetheless. "You know Inigo, I'm starting to wonder if you're really as simple as you tend to act."

Oh, you have no idea...

"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. But if me being simple helps you trust me, then I'm simpler than a garden salad."

"Well your similes are simple enough..." Joshew spoke humorously, his grin still evident. And then for a brief moment, the blind man looked worried, contemplative, as if two sides of his conscious were struggling against each other. He eventually sighed and put his hands in his pockets, speaking hardly above a mutter when he spoke, "Er, sorry about what I said. I guess what I said was a bit unduly harsh..."

"No, I'm sorry too, threatening you like that definitely wasn't called for." Inigo admitted with a quick shake of his head. He then extended his claw, similarly to how Joshew had extended his hand to him earlier.

"Friends?" Inigo asked earnestly, only then his claw partially withdrew uncertainly as the bat's brow suddenly furrowed in contemplation, "Ah, wait, might be a bit too early to call us friends, huh? How's about... Tolerable acquaintances slash partners in crime?" He said with his hand extended once more, forgetting entirely that Joshew was blind and probably had no idea that he was requesting a handshake.

Joshew stepped forward and successfully clasped Inigo's claw, giving it a firm shake. "Friends," he said.

Inigo smiled; Even without eyes, the human was quite aware of his surroundings, Inigo had to give him that. But of course, there was still the question of...

"So anyway, about the uh... explosives..." Inigo said uncertainly, trying to softly bring the topic back up.

Admittedly, Inigo's segueway was a bit awkward, but Joshew seemed to have taken in well enough. The human brought his hand to his beard, and began stroking it ponderously. "Hmm... Well, I suppose I could make you a bomb or two if it's going to help us deal with the Order... Yeah, should be safe enough."

Inigo caught the mischievous undercurrent when Joshew spoke his last little phrase. He wasn't sure what to make of it, but at any rate, he was glad to have a new friend.