Lost In Translation

Chapter 5 - Attempt 2: Guys, Er, Go to Hell

Gianna slowed her pace a bit and peered down at Wriggle, and was well aware of the way the kid flinched when she saw Gianna get a little closer. "Hey, Wriggle . . ." Gianna started slowly, "uhhh, are you daijoubu? Where's Mystia?"

"Hm." Wriggle merely shoved her hands into her pockets rather aggressively. If Wriggle's looks could kill, Gianna would've been that siren in the lake.

Gianna nodded and looked back up to the rest of the group, understanding the message of I'm angy, no talky very clearly. "Good to know. Good to kno- AH!" Gianna found herself, once again, on the ground after tripping over something. This time, however, it was with a twig snaring her foot and her knee landing on some wonderfully angled pebble. "Arrgh, fuck! Ow..."

Daiyousei fluttered above Gianna and pulled her up from the ground. Gianna gave a smile and was about to give thanks for the 17th time in the past hour, but her smile turned into pale shock when Daiyousei spoke.

"Fuck?" Was the first word to come out of her mouth, Cirno soon repeating.

"Haha! Iu no wa tanoshii! Fuck, fuck!"

"Nooo, don't say that!" Gianna swatted the fairies in vain desperation as they continued to cuss like it was a game. "That's not a good word for you to repeat!"

As usual with telling kids not to do something, along with not being able to properly tell them off, her attempts were useless. All three of themㅡ Cirno, Daiyousei, and Rumiaㅡ continued to chorus together and sing "fuck" over and over again.

"Ne, Gianna." Gianna turned around to Wriggle, who was practically oozing smug energy from just the haughty sneer she gave. "Fucking ningen."

Somehow, Wriggle figured out what it meant.

"Guys, no! That's not daijoubu, please- a-aaACHOO!"

So, yeah. Gianna's definitely had better days.

. . .

In what felt like an eternity as the sun started to slowly rise to its peak, they were still walking through the forest. The autumn scenery seemed to blend together into something tiring to look at, even with how pretty all the colors were at first.

At some point Mystia came flapping about behind them, finally catching up. She gave Gianna a light smack on the back with her wings and said something, which confused Gianna for a second until she remembered that birds typically don't do so well with wet feathers.

Mystia's arrival seemed to brighten Wriggle's mood a smidge, which was something. Light chatter settled itself within the group once again. Gianna just nodded along to the rhythm of their banter and hoped they reached their destination soon.

At some point, Cirno stopped in regular Cirno fashion and announced their arrival to a new area. Gianna was mildly surprised at the sight. A plethora of ponds facing a mountain's steep cliffside and steam rising from themㅡ hot springs. And all natural looking, from the lack of housing around the area.

Gianna smiled and involuntarily nodded to the sight of the wild hot springs. "Wow." She's been to a sauna once as a teenager, but it was a cheap one at a city waterpark. These look like the kind that people paid big money to experience at five star hotels . . . in Finland. "These look beautiful-" A light breeze whipped through Gianna, making her shiver and remember her current predicament: cold, somewhat bruised, and wet.

Well, since she was already wet, what was the harm in another dive? Particularly in something nice and warm this time.

"Ah, whatever!" Gianna shrugged and broke into a sprint for the hot springs.