Chapter 1644 Sleeping Bag Surfing?

--- Kat ---

"… so that’s the best idea we’ve come up with," explained Kat.

Brook and Church glanced at each other and shrugged. They obviously didn’t mind being in close proximity with each other. It didn’t exactly sound comfortable… but if that’s what it took they could accept it. Craunch was grinning, for some reason he seemed particularly amused by the idea. Strek seemed a but unsure and Sephy… "What! No, why would you think that’s an acceptable idea!"

"Who are you and what have you done with my best friend?" asked Strek.

"Huh?" murmured Sephy confused.

"Well normally you’d say something like ’I’m so ready to get up close and personal’ or ’It’ll be like an orgy but with more clothes’ or something else like that…" explained Strek.

"Yeah, that’s all well and good for a joke but I don’t want old man ass in my face. That or being pressed against the new couple! Sure dirty jokes are fun and all but I’m not looking to jump anyone personally. I just like making crass jokes," explained Sephy.

Strek shrugged, "Eh… if this is how it has to be I can live with it. I mean, I’m guessing we’ll be separated by cloth or something so it won’t be too bad,"

"I’m pretty sure we’ll still feel everything," complained Sephy. "I mean, if Kat’s still getting blown about by the wind then she can’t make the ball with us in it too big, so it’s gotta be tight and compact. Which means less layers, and less places for us to all get wrapped up,"

"Look, the ball part was somewhat a joke," said Kat. "Though now you’re bringing up issues my actual plan of putting you all in the tent and then carrying that seems less then ideal as well… so now I’m not too sure,"

"Well, before you get too invested, I gotta ask. Where are you planning to head? Cause it seems like fighting against the wind isn’t getting you far. So… are you going to head straight? Towards wherever the fancy bracelet is directing you? Just go with the wind as far as possible? Funny as your idea is, it can work and it’s the best we’ve got so far," laughed Craunch.

Kat frowned at the question and felt the pull on her arm. It was… call directly into the storm 0 degrees, the pull was probably around 75-80 degrees then? Kat allowed her arm to be pulled loosely so that the others could see the direction as well. "Not the best direction but not the worst either… but it’s definitely ’into’ the storm. Hmm…"

What do you think?

[I think we need to prioritise leaving the bubble. Back before we entered it wasn’t such a concern because all of the ones we’ve been in so far, even the glass bubble was ’fairer’ then this one. It was scary, and theoretically one misstep meant death… but we knew the rules there. We could still progress. Here we’re just trapped in some dinky little safe zone. Honestly. A SAFE ZONE. It’s like this Bubble KNOWS it’s bullshit.]

Right. Well, you didn’t say it but I’m getting the sense that you want me to just follow the sandstorm and let it carry me forward, or just avoid going against it at all? How do we know that’ll even get us out of here?

[We don’t I guess but Bower has implied that ’just go forward’ is usually a valid strategy for places like this. If we ’follow’ the storm we’ll either leave the bubble or run into something that can stop the storm like a cliff or something. From there, I trust that we, and by we I mean YOU will be strong enough to bash your way through. That way we can at least rest up. Plus, if we do find a wall and decide to just run along it we can use my shadow shields because we’ll have a safe place to rest whenever we need.]

Kat nodded, liking Lily’s idea more and more. "Right, Lily’s just explained to me her idea and the reasoning for it. What do you all think about…" Kat went on to repeat what Lily said in a slightly more concise matter while watching for reactions. In the end everyone seemed on-board… well except for…

Sephy frowned. "Look, I don’t hate the plan. In fact it sounds good… but it doesn’t really address my issues with the original idea,"

"Then you can be carried in a sleeping bag or something if our demonic overlady is willing," said Craunch dismissively. "It’s not going to be pretty for any of us but this place is shrinking and a decision does need to be reached eventually,"

"It IS shrinking?" asked Kat. "And yeah sure if you guys don’t mind someone being in a sleeping bag… though… I could probably carry three sleeping bags? Maybe four? One in each hand and one over each shoulder? Not sure if the sleeping bags in my ring are rated for this sort of weather but I can test that in the moment. Still… it’d be a much rougher ride if you guys picked more individual stuff… no back to the shrinking thing. You can confirm it Craunch?"

"Yup. It ain’t fast but I’d give it twelve hours before we’re a bit squished here and twenty four before it gives up completely, maybe a bit less. I can see us having a full day from the get-go but eh that’s just an estimate," answered Craunch.

"Brook and I can share a sleeping bag, if it comes to that," said Church with a shrug.

"Though honestly I think we’d rather a smooth ride. Like, I don’t mind an excuse to be close to Church but if I headbutt her because we’re getting jostled that’s going to be embarrassing… and someone does have to share so it’s probably going to be us," added Brook.

"Why would it be rough though?" asked Strek.

Kat gave a confused glance at Strek. "Well I’ll be running over sandy ground into the wind. Sandy ground that’s pretty constantly shifting. I can easily balance one package and even bend my arms to compensate for the jostling a good deal… but I can’t do the same for multiple ’packages’ while also staying upright in wind like this where I can’t use my wings properly. So… it’ll be a bit rough,"

"Right but why aren’t you just going to surf down? Even if you don’t have anything specific to the task, that shield you had out before would probably work. I mean, the sand is all blowing downhill from what I can see and the wind at your back will only help… that’s gotta be smooth right?"

Kat scratched at her chin as she considered the idea. "Hmmm… hmm… I don’t exactly have practice surfing and I’m surprised you know about it…"

"One of my favourite movies involves a surfing tournament," admitted Strek.

"… right well I’ve only gone surfing… maybe once? It’s really not something that comes up often and while my balance is pretty good part of that is my wings and tail. Though… if we’re going straight downwards and following the wind maybe my wings can be used. Alright I’m willing to give it a go. It’ll be smoother then running but if I trip over you’ll have to forgive me for the rough landing,"

Sephy sighed, "Fuck it, I can live with that risk if it gets me my own sleeping bag,"

Craunch grinned, "Sounds like a good time… I think I’d like to risk doing a bit of this surfing on my own actually. The sand isn’t pleasant but it is quite survivable for me. If I load up on some good clothing I should be fine and it’ll be one less person for you to carry,"

Kat sighed, "If you keep the rope around us both I’ll allow it,"

Craunch huffed, "Fine,"

"We’re both on board as well," announced Brook.

"Right in that case I’ll just quickly test the durability of these sleeping bags and maybe see if I have anything better then a tower shield for surfing… though I’m not sure how I’d judge that sort of thing. Craunch, how are you planning to practice?"

"Eh, I’ll just figure it out in the storm," said Craunch, waving the concern off.

Kat glared back, having expected that but decided not to say anything. It… it might be for the best to take the risk. She wasn’t sure how else they were going to go about this and Craunch was fairly tough so it likely wasn’t going to kill him. He’d proved as much by sticking his finger into the sand earlier.

Enjoy exclusive chapters from empire

Kat sighed and pulled out a sleeping bag. She still wasn’t sure this was the best way to go about it… but they were roughly person shaped and you could zip them up completely to keep the sand out. Holding one out into the storm Kat felt herself sliding along the sand but… the material did hold up under the barrage with just a few scuffs. "Alright… I think this can work…"