Oasis

[Mahou-Shoujo]

Ratty's dreams would be... Odd, to say the least, a jumbled mess of recent events, strange colours and many memories, some of the strange other world that seemed intent on invading Ratty's mind with strange concepts and knowledge, and others that seemed more local, of the forest and it's contents, tiny villages and the ruins looking significantly less ruined... Finally the last set were mostly the same, images of the golem's room as it slowly faded into dust, crumbling away over what must have been centuries, those ones were tinged with feelings of loneliness and confusion...

Despite the odd dreams, Ratty's sleep was incredibly refreshing, Peal had been working behind the scenes to ensure it would be a perfect rest, as well as some other things... It was hard to place but Ratty felt... Different, a sort of subconscious tingle and an almost instinctual knowledge of the workings of the strange sleep power the cracked stone had used... Apparently Pearl had decided to store that knowledge in Ratty's brain, though with that knowledge... Maybe something could be done? Most of the other knowledge pearl jammed into Ratty's brain tended to be useful after all.

The other rats had all wandered off to eat or do other rat things, bar a few of the youngest ones that were still napping in a pile, outside the burrow Lizzy had napped under a pile of leaves, and was being cautiously investigated by several of the braver rodents as a possible source of food.

 

[Fyrra]

The dream world was consistent, if nothing else: confusing, difficult to make scales or tails of, but just a little bit telling. Screams carried with them a vivid memory, not just of the human man who'd been left to roast in a fire, but of a different encounter from the otherworld: screams, barked words, mention of devilry. The rodent's own hands in that part of the dream lacked fur, but all the same it could recall throwing... something at the other person. The words couldn't be made out, if they even sounded at all, but as suddenly as the roaring flame brought that memory to the surface, darkness brushed it aside and brought it back to the stone-creature's chamber, where time only brought decay, bewilderment, and emptiness,

The flame that had nearly consumed them was a haunting thing, but when the rodent awakened, it felt alone. Alone, and some amount of remorse for murdering the stone creature, who must have gone mad from being alone. Sure, there was also the human, but once the taste of that one's fingers had been washed out, the creature felt almost nothing of the human's death, so why should the giant stone person be any different?

The creature dragged itself to its feet, stretching off the morning fatigue before suddenly jolting upright at the realization that it overslept! With nary a thought given to its sudden knowledge of 'sleep,' the rat zoomed past the sleeping younglings and out to the surface, only to find that everyone had scattered off to do their own thing.

Defeated, it sat down near its reptilian friend and awaited her awakening.

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

Pearl seemed to approve of Ratty's remorse about what it did to the stone golem, which made sense since it was in fact an inanimate gemstone itself, but also decided to try and explain Ratty's feelings in the best way it could manage, by showing the burrow and the golem's room side by side, attempting to suggest that the bad feelings were because while the human had been a cruel invader, the golem had been trying to defend it's home even in such a maddened and decayed state, many animals including Ratty's own kind were liable to fight to protect their homes, especially if they believed there was something there to protect.

A couple of the rodents still in view watched their odd kin rush out of the burrow and join the bravest of the rats near Lizzy, it seemed they had more or less decided she wouldn't be very tasty, and was still breathing so might be dangerous if they attempted to eat her, which was a good thing, because if Lizzy did decide to fight them in self defence, her flames could prove disastrous, and not just to the rats, most of whom might be safe in the burrows.

It didn't take long for Lizzy to wake, she was quite cold after sleeping out in the open, and the prodding of the exploring rats didn't exactly help with staying asleep either.
With a quiet yawn the woman stretched out to recover from her curled up position and stood up, one hand rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she finally focused on Ratty.
"Oh! You came back!"
She seemed... Way too happy about that, and definitely surprised, that knowledge led to a whole new revelation, Ratty could now very easily discern the emotions of Lizzy now, and mostly understood all the words, Pearl had been busy messing around in it's brain again!
"Oh! Wow, are these your family?"
She questioned, looking around at the suddenly on guard rodents.

 

[Fyrra]

Further lessons in empathy should probably have been beneath the rodent, given how developed the others' senses of such an emotion appeared to be: the other rats refused to leave this one to its coma two nights before, when its own grasp of complex emotions couldn't even parse why they didn't leave it for dead. Knowing the sturdiness of the stone creature, and that water broke falls, the rat was most likely overreacting to its own actions: chances are it was still alive and w... still sick, assuming the repitilian's magic hadn't destroyed it from within.

Perhaps the remorse and complex emotions were justified.

At least with Lizard waking from her slumber, the rodent could stop dwelling on the past and start plotting up either an adventure for the day, or rounding up everyone to take them to The Ruins. Either option would be a good way to spend their time, though one of the two would free up the creature's need to fret over whether everyone else survived by the end of the day. It watched from afar, amused with the more daring of the little ones' investigations, but that amusement turned to astonishment when it realized it understood the reptilian's words and emotions without the need for pictures: Pearl had been busy.

But of course the rodent would return to check up on its archaeologist friend! Why wouldn't it? It squeaked out something akin to a response, but without the ability to speak words, it would have to rely on the reptile's intellect to receive the message... though moments later, it picked up on the concept of insecurity, and quieted down to think of a more tactful way to express things to its friend. The creature didn't get very far before yet an innocent question turned its attention astray.

"Are these your family?"

That word. Family.

The rat blanked out, its stare drifting from the lizard to the open skies as it tried to come up with an answer, but something must have gone wrong with the pearl's translations and the old memories attaching meanings to terms. At once the mental image of the most affectionate rats in the burrow providing care and sharing food clashed with another mental image, this one of screaming, fury, adrenaline, and contempt: two incompatible ideas, a paradox. The creature didn't understand, couldn't understand; the only time it felt such strong emotions toward another was back in the ruins, only in this instance it ran deeper.

Turning to look at the other rats, the confused creature bared its teeth for but a moment... and fell onto its side, shaking its head: it seemed it found its answer, but the revelation took a lot out of the rodent. No, those rats were not family. But was this one sick?

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

The fact that Ratty hadn't been able to understand why it's kin had not left it for dead during it's coma, why they had been so visibly concerned about even the strangest of their kin was not normal for her race, or at least based on the actions of the other rats it wasn't, so it seemed that was something unique to Ratty, perhaps related to it's 'forbidden knowledge' and the mysterious other world concepts that Pearl kept pulling up from somewhere and jamming sometimes painfully into it's rapidly developing brain.
A topic for another time perhaps, preferably when all of Ratty's kin were safe within the ruins.

Ratty could almost swear that Pearl was radiating feelings of pride once it noticed the language improvements Pearl had made, of course, it lasted only a moment and Ratty couldn't really be sure that was what it was, especially as Ratty's mind was filled with the results of Lizzy's question, Pearl was of no use here, seeming completely confused, family was not a concept it understood, even if it knew the word, there was no logical meaning it could attack to it, so instead Pearl, in a rare move simply decided to use whatever idea Ratty came up, not even delving into the mess that was Ratty's 'other' memories.

Lizzy had not been expecting such a reaction, and had to wonder if perhaps the word family was a bad word for rats... Something she could definitely say few if anyone had ever had to think about before, or maybe whatever mechanism allowed Ratty to understood her speech was somehow at fault? Either way it's friend was no obviously in some sort of distress! Or well, at the very least not happy? So she resolved to do her best to help.
"Are you alright? I'm sorry for asking about that... I won't do it again, umm, do you want a hug? Do you like hugs?..."
The flustered lizard girl questioned, clearly somewhat stressed.

 

[Fyrra]

The idea of 'family' must have been lodged into the rodent's mind when it tried to learn everything it could about humans the day before, considering the reaction: to come up with such a clear definition and the distinct feeling that it was somehow bad in without previous knowledge left few other methods of reasoning it out, and when the rodent pulled itself to its feet it felt it had bigger priorities: it shared in Pearl's confusion, but decided to let it go, until the reptile rushed to its side.

There it was again: that feeling of others caring about it, that bewildered this one particular rat-like creature so. Another behavior that had no reason to confuse the little thing, considering most animals find a way to develop empathy for once another. That, however, gave way to the rat reminding itself that this lizard was its friend, and the other rats were its friend too, probably. It stood up on its hind legs, then reached back down to the ground with a front-leg, pressing down while looking at the reptilian in an expectant manner. Assuming she got the idea, the creature climbed up her arm to her shoulder, clawing against skin and scale, and gave her cheek a little bump with its nose. Then, it looked upon the other rodents from on high....

And jumped down.

More of its weird hand motions followed: a wide circle, a hugging motion, a mimicry of bipedal walking, and then a digging motion. Today we are bringing everyone (home/underground), it tried to communicate: more weird behavior for the other rats to be watching, but then again, what about this couldn't be peculiar?

At least the brave portion of the warren was already present. That just left the nestlings, and everyone else.

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

Lizzy found herself breathing a sigh of relief as Ratty got back up, clearly she wasn't injured, physically at least, and not in such severe mental stress as to be in imminent danger, so she didn't need to worry as much about what was, embarrassing her only friend, then again, she knew some older mages talked to animals sometimes... So clearly it couldn't be THAT bad right? Though those mages also had other friends as well so...
Shaking her head to clear it of those useless thoughts she instead spent a moment trying to decipher Ratty's odd movements, fortunately it wasn't too difficult to get the gist and she lowered her arm for the rat to climb up, fortunately Lizzy was fairly strong, both from nature and having to carry so much stuff for others all the time, so the rodent of unusual size didn't hurt her in doing so, her arms were mostly scaled too so the claws were no trouble either.

The skin covered patches of her face lit up in a quiet blush once Ratty gave her what was obviously a sign of affection or at least concern, she wasn't embarrassed though, just oddly happy, not many people showed her affection since her adoptive father had passed of old age and various illnesses, even fewer hadn't done so as a means to an end, then again Ratty COULD technically be doing so but... She didn't really care to be honest, not like she had anything better to do or elsewhere to go, and she kinda wanted to see what this strangely intelligent rat and it's kind got up to!

Lizzy was fortunately able to understand most of Ratty's movements, mostly because she already knew the plan and had that to work from, they would be moving the whole group of Ratty's kin to the ruins, something she was definitely willing to help with! Whether it was protecting the cute critters from predators, or even carrying some of the older or younger ones.

The other rats present meanwhile not only understood... But had an unexpected reaction, they seemed to be... In Awe? They were very clearly looking up to Ratty as if they were some sort of conquering hero! It would likely be confusing at first until it dawned with perhaps a little help from Pearl.
Ratty had just ordered a large, two legged predator around, climbed up their arm and then gotten down without pain or protest... To the gathered braves, it looked as if Ratty had conquered and tamed a deadly beast in just a day! Perhaps it could be a troublesome belief but... It could also make it far easier to convince the whole group to follow along to the ruins.

 

[Fyrra]

It felt strange, climbing up the arm of a biped, but from on high the rat couldn't ignore the warmth in its strange friend's expression. That she had no trouble singling out this specific rat from a group of many said much of her attention to detail, either in recognizing scent or fur patterns, or perhaps the reptilian had already figured out that the majority of rodents present were a little more dense. If the creature could smile upon realizing its friend could pick it from a group, it would. Even so, it was still but a dumb rodent that barely acknowledged the awe or reverence being given: comforting someone in distress was only natural, but even if the warren had witnessed what had gone on in the ruins, this rodent would still be uncomfortable showing off its feats.

But, if anything persuaded the others to follow, why waste the opportunity?

The creature stood up and squeaked at the nearest of its kind, before getting back on all fours and searching the surrounding area for the rest of the foraging groups. It would take some time to gather everyone, but they had the rest of the day. Hopefully it would be enough time.

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

Lizzy of course had no trouble identifying her friend, it was not only obviously smarter than it's kin, but moved differently, sort of in a refined way, as if someone had taken the rat's normal movement and sort of optimised it, other than that was the important fact that Ratty was way more comfortable around Lizzy than the other rats were.

It didn't take overly long to gather all the rats together, one benefit of living in one location so long was almost all of the inhabitants knew all the good places to find food, so as a result knew more or less where all the foragers would be throughout the day, there was some confusion at first but the rats who had witnessed Ratty's 'control' over a two legged predator quickly explained the situation, surprisingly the elderly rats were the easiest to convince once everything was explained, more and more predators and competing foragers had been moving into the area recently, no doubt as a result of some happening in other parts of the forest, and a new, safe home without other creatures was sorely needed, and once the elders were on board it was a done deal, few of Ratty's kind would refuse to listen to the oldest and wisest among them.

Once everyone was finally gathered and had eaten a little to keep their stomachs full as they moved, the group began to move towards the ruins, it was quite a procession, with the youngest rats in the centre of the group, with the largest on the outside, most predators would be scared off by the sheer numbers they had, and Lizzy just further deterred them, as well as carrying several of the very old or very young.
Ratty would have the occasional annoying task of having to get rats back on task when they wandered off to look at something they spotted, or eat some random plant they saw.

 

[Fyrra]

Perhaps the rodent didn't give its kin enough credit: to show difficulty in determining whether or not the bipedal reptile was food fit with the creature's earlier dismissal of its own kind, but what they lacked in sense they made up for in adaptability and organization. All it took was a simple 'found better shelter' squeak or three, and a little demonstration of communication with the reptilian, and the bulkiest of the bunch were ready to listen and pass a message along. The young rodent couldn't believe it, but then again, the elders must have been a touch desperate to gather everyone so quickly without seeing this place for themselves. All this one caught onto was mention of predators settling closer to the nesting grounds: it sounded familiar for some reason, but the creature couldn't fathom why.

Onward the plague of rats marched, with one in particular stuck towards the rear, nudging stragglers and wanderers back into formation when something caught their attention, and changing the group's direction when necessary: a bothersome-yet-vital task, but as far as this one was concerned, the elders and the scouts did most of the work getting everyone moving in the first place. That just left the busywork, and keeping an eye out for any predator wild enough to swoop down upon the horde.

Upon reaching the ruins, the creature ran ahead to point out many of the little entrances that were too small for its reptilian friend, and began showing them inside... but didn't stay down long enough to leave its friend feeling lonely. Just a few minutes in, and then back up to escort Lizzy to the main entrance. From there, any that stayed with them for the longer tour would be introduced to the grove of herbs, the stairway, and the baths. They could figure the rest out, probably.

That just left the rodent staring at its bipedal friend, contemplating what to do with her. It had completed its task, and her assistance had been vital in keeping predators away. Soon, it would be time to repay her for the trouble.

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

Despite the attention deficit that many of Ratty's kind seemed to suffer from, and to be honest Ratty had as well before Pearl had messed with it's brain, the whole group managed to make it to the ruins, a few predators had gone close to try and pick off a straggler or two, but between the surprisingly alert elder rats giving out warnings, and Lizzy brandishing fire, they didn't stick around long.
Lizzy's fire was another thing that seemed to shock and impress the rats, in their experience fire was a deadly, terrifying, uncontrollable thing that came from nowhere and left when it felt it was done, so seeing someone simply create and destroy it so quickly was a new experience.

The whole group seemed to approve of their new home, eagerly following Ratty into it's depths, whereupon many of them immediately sought out prime sleeping spots, or began tentatively tasting the various edible plants that grew so well there, there were still many who seemed to have an adventurous spirit and followed Ratty around as they gave a brief tour, the elders especially seemed to enjoy the baths.
Once Ratty had finished showing them around, they either joined their kin in relaxing or ran around to explore more, satisfying some deep primal instinct to explore places.

Lizzy had no small amount of relief once they had arrived at the ruins, for one thing she was tired again, but more importantly, she had been worried something might happen to her friend's extended family and friends! Sure she had been able to summon up fire to ward off hunters, but there was no way she could effectively use it without starting a forest fire or gods forbid, hurting some of the ones she was trying to protect!
However, she now had a whole new problem... With the rats relocated, and her former allies likely long gone from the forest, what was there to do? She didn't really have anything waiting back for her in civilisation, and surely Ratty wouldn't need her for anything else... So now she was kind of stuck on what to do.
This lack of direction showed through as quite obvious anxiety, which Ratty, for some reason that was probably Pearl's fault, was oddly familiar with.

 

[Fyrra]

Moving as a group certainly made things easier: multiple predators were fended off without the need for throwing stones: an effective solution on its own, but not one without consequences. Even if the spirited rodent bolstered the response effort, it would eventually run out of stamina for fending off birds of prey, or land-stalkers. Perhaps the same could be said of its reptilian friend's fire, but she didn't appear to be as drained as she was the day before. The rodent could only express relief that nothing followed them into the ruins: to see more of the new home marred by uncontrolled flame would waste all their efforts, and put them right back where they started: in search of food and a new shelter.

There needn't be an extended tour beyond the gardens, park, baths, and nesting grounds: the main halls were vast on their own, and what the lower level lacked in emergency exits (like a fox burrow) it made up for in its defenses. Anything dangerous lie either beyond the impassable, damaged corridors, or somewhere inside the pit, where.... a particularly adventurous rat might explore, and potentially meet their demise at the stone sentinel's hands? The rodent felt everyone should be okay without supervision, as they shared information well enough to overcome problems on their own, but it posed a query to the magic pearl: should they venture into the crevice to at least confirm that no danger lurked below?

The creature sat down near its reptilian friend, trying to read her emotional state, if nothing else. Something was bothering her, and it wouldn't do to have her uncomfortable. Yet she seemed... lost? At odds with herself? Listless? Directionless? In mere moments, an idea sparked into the rodent, and it walked up to her and pressed a hand up to her leg, attempting a pat for comfort. The rat understood not having direction, but it had lived its entire life that way, perhaps even more than one life! Lacking direction wasn't a problem in itself, because there was always something to do, and usually more than enough hands already doing it, whatever it was. So, without the need to forage for food, drink, or shelter, the best things to do were either to help someone, or lay around and rest, or go scouting about. It was strange that the reptilian had not learned this basic life skill. Something in the human lands must have had something to do with the reptile's anxiety.

From what the rodent understood of people, there could be a number of things bothering its friend. Her cloth-hides were in tatters, if not scorched beyond usability. She could be worried about her former companions that the rodent had attacked. Her own nest might no longer be around? The rat's ears flickered while it reached up, before jumping up at the lizard's chest and climbing up to her shoulders. Another press against her face followed before it jumped back down and stared back up at her. It needed some way to communicate that she was welcome to live here among them, but the words seemed a touch complex for finger-pointing and gestures. Plus, the idea didn't sit well with the rodent either.

There was another location the pearl had pointed out to the rodent days ago: the village itself. The thought of entering with a bipedal companion was much less scary than going toe to toe with the sentinel, and while it wasn't sure if the pearl still needed what was there, it couldn't hurt to have a look around. Signalling for the reptilian to follow, the rodent wandered off to the site of the inferno, stopping when it found the remains of the slain human. It pointed to the creature, then stood up on both legs, circling about to point out the ruins. It could be easy to misinterpret the question, but- Do you know where its home is?

Upon receiving an answer, the rodent started tugging at the deceased human, trying to pull it toward the stairs. Taking the remains outside to decompose was certainly an option, but dropping it into the pit to be eaten by whatever fish lived in the waters down there required less effort.

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

Fortunately even the most adventurous of the rats were unlikely to adventure down into a dark pit with no obvious way up or down, especially if it looked like there was no obvious source of food or entertainment, of course there WAS still the ever present danger that something might make it's way up, if there were more of that stone sentinel, the collapsed areas would no doubt be trivial to bypass or clear, and most of the rats likely wouldn't be as effective at dealing with them as Ratty and Lizzy were.
The question seemed to stump Pearl for a short while, judging from the minutes it took to answer, well either that or it was just still sleepy after tackling the strange sleepy stone from the ruins.
The answer came in a series of images, the first, a crude image of Ratty being squished by a sentinel, the second, one of Ratty doing exercises and eating more rocks, and the third of Ratty knocking the sentinel over, clearly Pearl was implying that Ratty should get stronger before taking such a risk, and oddly, seemed to assume that Ratty associated eating rocks with strength.

By then Lizzy had chosen a somewhat warm spot where the sun filtered through to sit down and rest, she wasn't totally exhausted but had just been walking for a long time, if her boots were not so comfortable she might have had some nasty blisters.
As such it was fairly easy for Ratty to be almost face to face with the lizard woman.
She seemed to actually be somewhat comforted by Ratty's actions, or at least reassured to some extent, Ratty was somewhat correct in her guess, though rather than there being something back in civilisation making Lizzy anxious, it was more the lack of anything waiting back in civilisation, no home, no friends, no job as the guild had almost certainly written her off at this point.

Lizzy actually took a moment to hug Ratty as they jumped up onto her, before letting out a deep breath and letting them go, seemingly having at least temporarily recovered, and in no small part thanks to the reassurances of her friend.
Lizzy was becoming somewhat familiar with interpreting Ratty's attempts to communicate and seemed to mostly understand.
"His home?... He never mentioned where it was... But I think he lost it anyway..."
She informed Ratty, before moving to help move the corpse, wrinkling her nose in obvious disgust at the day old burned corpse, it was not a pleasant smell to put it lightly, though one thing had become strangely clear as they travelled the burned halls, despite the thorough burning they had received, the plants were already returning, growing far faster than was normal, it was likely more of that 'magic' stuff that Ratty seemed to keep encountering recently...

 

[Fyrra]

It shouldn't make sense, but for some reason it did: a rodent can't get squished by a stone if it feeds on stone and becomes hard and sturdy. The concept of you are what you eat had eluded the creature up until this adventure began, and now it took on a meaning most literal. Perhaps that thought was what kept it from trying to eat the incredibly durable human. Or the smell. The scorched corpse certainly wasn't doing itself any favors with the smell, but at least the knowledge that it had no home meant there could be no guilt for dropping it into the abyss.

The rat shuddered at the thought of fish gaining the human's strength somehow after consuming the corpse bit by bit. In any case, with the body gone, the creature returned to the sunlit spot with its reptilian friend. That the plants in the burned room were already growing back defied expectations, but it provided the rodent with assurance that there was certainly more to discover in these halls, behind the collapsed rubble and into the depths: the magic that circulated the air this deep underground, and provided nutrients and rapid growth needed a source of energy to draw from, and that energy source could be eaten.... but shouldn't?

Right. That was part of the home. Plus, the pearl's wisdom suggested that this place was safe enough for now, but the remaining floors should be tackled after growing stronger and eating rocks.

While the warren busied itself with getting accustomed to their new home, the restless one among them sat down and tried looking around for something to mark on, only to find nothing that would suit its needs. A map would be useful, or some sort of foldable material, or even just one of those black rocks that left its mark on all it touched. Eventually the rodent gave up and started gathering rocks, trying to piece together a model for relative locations: small stones for other ruins like this one that the pearl might know of, or other points of interest, and larger ones for human settlements.

Once done, the rat turned to face its companion again, tapping at its forehead with a paw, and continuing once again with its signed-linguistic maneuvers. - Think more ruins here, people there. Want see people, try understand <?????>. Want explore ruins too. Think pit too dangerous. Big Stone scary. Thoughts? Does <Scales> need anything? Rest? Food? Tool?

Just imagine: a rat putting together a miniature expedition. If it didn't get killed skulking through a village, some guild would probably pay good money to study the curiosity.

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

Pearl didn't correct Ratty's misconceptions about gaining strength from eating this, it's own knowledge was honestly too limited to communicate such a correction, never mind think of doing so in the first place, knowledge was definitely something they both needed more of, and maybe an expanded brain, though Pearl was currently pushing Ratty's brain to it's limit at it's current size, Ratty needed to get bigger somehow, or their biology drastically in a way Pearl simply didn't have the power to do, enhancing and slightly altering? Sure, but big changes would need help... Or more rocks, rocks seemed good for acquiring new abilities.

Pearl did it's best to translate the foggy, broken, apparently outdated memories of the region into something Ratty could plot out onto the crude map, Pearl seemed to know of at least two other ruins, one looking like a half collapsed very large building that Ratty may or may not recognise as a castle, and a very tall tower that was oddly intact.
In addition to that were two very small villages, one closer to the edge of the forest, while another was deeper in, of course it was anyone's guess if either of them were still there.
Finally there was also a very large lake dotted with small islands that Pearl seemed to remember for no particular reason, likely it just stuck with them randomly due to how different it was.

Lizzy... Did not understand a lot of what Ratty was saying, at least at first, and had to spend a short while trying to piece things together before formulating a response.
"You want to go somewhere?... Umm... Well there was one village we passed through on the way here... There might be others? M..me? Well... I guess I could use a few things... Most of my things burned in the fire, umm, things like my uhh... Hide?"
She gestured to her clothes, trying to explain in simple terms.
"I'm sure a village would have things interesting to you too... Umm, are there things rats like? Oh! Maybe we could get you a cape? Maybe then we could make people think you're my familiar... Umm, if you want that is... It might make people less likely to try and hurt you".
That word, Familiar, it seemed important, Pearl seemed to think so too, and used it's usual slide show communication, first showing humans chasing a rat... But then a rat walking next to a scaled person with fire in their hands with no trouble, implying that somehow familiars were more accepted, and apparently had something to do with magic.

 

[Fyrra]

Castle. Tower. Lake. Island. These words held no meaning a few days ago, but the picture they painted could at least be understood. The rodent hadn't known of any lakes, but the presence of a large body of water felt reassuring, somehow. It must have been connected to the river that fed these long forgotten halls. Pearl's knowledge provided its host with enough things to explore to keep it busy for days, with or without the reptilian's assistance, and beyond that, there was a great big unknown to look into. What more could one ask for?

The creature didn't understand Lizzy's need for things, but it would be hard pressed to believe her bag wasn't useful. Perhaps she would be able to find more useful things? It dismissed the notion of decorating itself with a cape at first, until the magic pearl seeded the idea that it would somehow make villages less dangerous. At that point the rat agreed that this would be the best destination: the lizard needed to replace her belongings, and perhaps she could find something that would help them. She was the people expert between them, after all.

It didn't stop the rat from signing back its own thoughts: Don't worry about <Rat>. <Scales> has helped much. Had rough day. Want rest in <????> - The creature couldn't find a way to convey the term 'village' other than frantically waving its arms around. Knowing words and conveying them to another were two very different challenges.

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

There would undoubtedly be far more locations of interest in the forest and surrounding areas, the region was a truly massive and mostly unexplored place, and Ratty had overall seen a very tiny part of it before the last few days, since there was no real reason for it's kind to even want to explore further than where they could easily reach without undue exhaustion, after all, a tired rat was an easy meal for most creatures, especially if said rat wandered too far from the relative safety of numbers and burrows, in fact, if Lizzy hadn't decided to dive so deep into that river and swallow Pearl, it's likely the rats would stay there until at least a few more generations had passed, assuming nothing forced a move.

Pearl did it's best to explain the concept of 'things' going off of it's random and uncatalogued information, presenting Ratty with an image of many objects, such as food clothing, shiny rocks and even a shiny stick, labelling the whole lot as 'things'.
It wasn't sure if it was at all helpful, but hopefully Ratty would understand it was more of a category, like food, family or plants than a specific definable object.

Though as usual it seemed to take a while for Lizzy to parse what Ratty was trying to tell her, she eventually seemed to get the gist of things and shook her head.
"I'll be alright... I've rested here, and the moss and plants on the ground are more comfortable than many other sleeping spots I have had, I will be ready to accompany you to a village when you want to go there".
She seemed at least partially to be putting on a brave face, but mostly just wanted to help, it was almost a desperate feeling, a NEED to be useful to this one friend of hers, she wasn't stupid enough to burn herself out by pushing on too much, but liked to think she knew her limits fairly well at this point in life.

Now there was one big choice to make, Pearl had specifically marked out TWO villages on Ratty's mental map, plus it was almost certain that Lizzy knew at least one or two villages in the area, since most races generally seemed to know where their own kind lived, so now Ratty would need to decide which one was worth visiting, the one deeper in the forest, the one further out, the even more distant one that Lizzy had apparently passed through at some point when she was with her old group, though that one might have some questions as to the whereabouts of her old 'friends' especially if the two survivors had reached there and spread the word of what happened...

 

[Fyrra]

For all of Pearl's efforts to explain things that the reptilian friend might want, its host ignored most of it for favor of a more simplistic answer: it didn't take much to understand that rats and people were different from one another, and had separate needs. The clothes of iron, or even just the cloth clothes, were evidence enough of that, but the details were best left to the person in question. People used tools, and those tools made them more creative, adaptive, and dangerous: things the odd duo would need to be, before exploring any strange towers, castles, or lakes. That meant making time for the rodent's new friend. A village would be their first stop.

But, it couldn't be the hidden village or the one on the outskirts, yet. Much time had passed since the time of the pearl's memories, and those villages might not still be around, or in the case of the one hidden deep within the jungle, they must have been hidden for a reason. It would be better not to chance the unknown, but the alternative was a much longer walk, to the place the reptile had ventured from: not the easiest choice after their trek today, but it seemed the correct one. Somewhere out there were two stray people who'd witnessed the ruins and lived to tell the tale. If the rodent wanted to make sure the new nesting grounds were safe from intrusion, it would need to finish them off.

....probably.

Or at least, make sure they'd no intention of returning? The details could be worked out later. In the meantime, the rat conveyed an interest in seeing the village its friend knew about, before walking back to the nesting grounds' exit and letting her lead the way.

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

Lizzy hadn't expected for her friend to want to visit the village she knew of, it would mean at least a couple days away from the nest unless they travelled at night, mostly as they had already burned a decent amount of day hours, still though, she did need to stock up... And maybe even find out what happened to her other companions, they were less mean than their boss, and she felt they could have been friends in a better situation, though she had noted their utter lack of directional sense, or ability to read maps, so she had some doubt they would make it to the village if it even occurred to them, alas, the most likely outcome was that they were laying dead somewhere, hidden by plant life or devoured by animals, if she found them Lizzy had decided she would at least give a proper burial, of however much of them she found.

"Umm... Alright, we probably won't get there until nightfall, or even need to camp out and continue in the morning though... But about halfway there the forest thinks out notably, with few good locations for setting up camp".
She warned, though nonetheless would lead the way after insuring her damaged robes were holding together and not dropping her things all over the place, she would need the coin she carried to be able to afford anything after all.
As it seemed the trip was going to take a long time, Lizzy decided to attempt some small talk, at least partially to calm her own nerves, she hadn't been to a majority human town by herself in quite a while, and this one in particular seemed full of rather frightening looking men and women, who all seemed to carry arms!
"So... I must admit to some confusion, are all of your kind so intelligent? Or just you? It's just that the other seemed somewhat... Simpler? Than you apparently are".

 

[Fyrra]

Apparently the thought never crossed the rat's mind, that the Edric and Gora archaeologists were so woefully inept at finding their way about they'd end up lost on their own. Chances are they'd find one of the other villages before the pair could get to them, but alas, chances are the rodent wouldn't be able to finish them off just yet, if the duo missed them. Still, it wanted to see the village the reptile had ventured from before exploring one of the two its magical pearl pointed out, just because the pearl's memories presented a variable the rat couldn't be prepared for.

So onward the two journeyed into the thicket, with the rat stopping to sign things when asked, or to nibble on plants. It traveled light, being... a weird, monstrous vermin. But that's probably what made it a curious conversation partner. Moving its hands about and clawing at the earth with its toes, it tried to explain what it knew to the lizard companion, seeing that she was so willing to trust it. - <Rat> smarter than they appear. Good organize, good messenger. No focus, focus hard for <young>. Too much trust, also very caring. <Rat> feed hungry <Rat>. No starve.

For some reason, the rodent didn't want to admit its kin lacked wits? Or at the very least, it was reminding itself that its own assumptions that the other rats were dull creatures were proven false after herding everyone into the new nesting grounds. There was also some confusion in observing the reptile's malnourished state, but it wasn't sure how to approach that subject beyond what it had only just signed to her. A thought crossed the rodent's mind, particularly one about the pearl... but in the end, it decided not to mention the pearl's presence to the reptile. Or at least its sentience?

The signings continued.

<Rat> eat <Stone>, learn what <Stone> knows. <Magic>, but not <Fire>. Other <Rat> don't eat <Stone>, do not understand. Dangerous to <Rats>. <Big Stone> upset at <Rat> for eating <Stone>, want <squish>. <Big Stone> sad, sick. Lonely? <Scales> look lonely too.