"I'm so happy I was able to leave my pack behind." You sigh in relief.

Your grip stays tight on your staff as you trudge along. Since you were alone, you were more guarded than usual.

"Rose, can you look behind me just in case someone tries to catch me from behind?" you ask.

'Of course.'

You thank her as you keep walking, you look at the ground, trying to find broken off branches that had dried out and didn't get wet from the swampy water that drowned the land. The more you walked, the more you thought you'd never find any dry wood. As you walked along you began to hum to yourself, looking around at the dry parts of the ground.

"Who's there?" a voice calls out, causing you to stop humming.

You cease walking and listen for the voice once more.

"I know you're there." The voice speaks up.

You realise where the voice was coming from and slowly begin to walk towards where it had come from. You hold your staff in your hand tightly, prepared to attack if needed. You peak around a tree to see a head of honey blond hair sitting on a log. Beside him sat a small sack and a cleric's staff.

The stranger must have heard you as he had turned to look straight at you. You flinch back before stepping out from behind the tree.

"What do you want?" the stranger asks.

"Oh, I apologies," you frown, "my group is just looking for dry wood to start a fire."

The stranger just 'hmph's in response.

"Um, sorry if I'm being impolite," you begin, "but what are you doing out here alone with barely any supplies?"

The stranger pauses, "I went through a nearby village, but they don't allow magic and kicked me out."

"Oh, well, a few of us are starting a camp, you can come join us." You offer.

"Why would I do that?" he sassily replies.

"We have food, shelter and money." You try to convince him.

The stranger doesn't say anything in reply. Just as you were about to turn around and head back to the camp he gets to his feet.

"Fine, but if you try anything and I'll kick your asses." He grumbles.

"Uh huh, a cleric is going to kick the asses of two warlocks and a knight." You mock.

"Definitely." He stays stubborn.

"Alright then." You shrug.

Once he had grabbed his stuff and caught up to you, you both make your way back to the camp. There are a few minutes of silence before you decide to attempt a conversation.

"So, I'm (y/n)," you introduce yourself, "could I ask for your name?"

"Sollux." He replies hesitantly.

"Well Sollux, it's a pleasure to meet you." You hum.

"What's with the cat?" Sollux asks.

"Oh," you start, glancing at the white cat that was still perched on your shoulder, "this is Rose, my familiar."

Sollux just nods and it goes silent once more. After one fairly quiet walk, you both make it to the camp where the other two were beginning to start a fire.

"I'm back," you cheer, "and I brought a friend!"

The two lift their heads and glance over at you, a look of confusion on their faces. When they see the person beside you, they stand up, both reaching for their weapons.

"Don't even think about it you little shits." You command and they both pause.

"Where did you find that guy?" Eridan asks.

"He was stuck in the swamp with barely any supplies because the nearby village hates magic." You explain.

A look of understanding barely passes across Eridan's face before he goes back to the fire.

"Whatever, he can stay." He tells you.

"I wasn't really asking for permission, but great." You snicker.

That causes Eridan to look back up at you, glaring. You just giggle and lead Sollux over to sit on one of the logs that Karkat must have chopped down – with great difficulty – while you were gone.

"We'll be eating soon." You tell him.

He just nods in response.

'You do know this is a dumb idea, right?' Rose says.

You just shrug and grin at her in response. You had trusted shadier people in order to stay alive, plus a healer would be able to help the team in the long haul.

You hear am 'aha' come from Eridan, you look over at him to see that he had lit the fire.

"You do know I specialise in fire magic so I could have just lit it." You laugh.

You hear Eridan growl and snap his head to look at you. When he jumps to his feet you begin to run, as you could hear him coming for you. You still had your staff and Rose with you so it was harder to run. You're confused when Rose jumps onto a tree, but then you're tackled to the ground. You let out a grunt as you land on the surprisingly dry ground.

"Why didn't you say something earlier?!" Eridan shouts as he ruffles your hair roughly.