"So that's your aspect huh?"
He asked casually while scanning Gwin's feline features. Gwin pondered his question for a moment before smiling.
{I'm not telling you for free. You guys nearly killed me. I want something for that.}
If they wanted to move forward then Gwin needed something in return for all that he went through because of them. He wasn't going to let Umo weasel information out of him that easily after he had kept so many things from him!
"What do you want then? Information? A memory? Soul shards? I don't like owing people anything."
Gwin pondered for a moment before deciding.
{Soul shards work. In return I'll tell you a crazy story.}
"A story?"
{Yes about a guy named Gwin and his many adventures!}
'Finally! I'm going to brag and talk to other people! How long has it been since I've even spoken with another person?! It's been way too long!'
Umo looked at him with an unreadable expression before tossing him two soul shards he had been keeping somewhere in his armor. Grin caught them and looked at him with a sour expression.
'Don't tell me…this is all I'm getting? Wait, are these guys broke?'
As if reading his mind, Umo answered.
"Soul shards are the main and most valuable currency on the forgotten shore. That is more than enough for your troubles."
'So that's what this place is called…I really don't like his tone.'
They must have been able to tell how he felt somehow since an awkward silence followed.
'Well whatever. All I care about is interacting with other people right now.'
Umo and his cohort still seemed a bit tense but Gwin had just the thing for that! He cleared his throat, despite not being able to talk, and began recalling his many adventures since coming to the dream realm. Like a game of professional charades he acted out different scenes with incredibly animated expressions. He mixed some sign language in there so that at least Umo wouldn't get lost trying to understand his tale. Luckily that was never a problem. He told them of the obelisk and the squids inhabiting it as well as the very first time he killed one. Next was their exodus from the obelisk and the frightening abomination they met that night on the coral. Slowly but surely as they watched they became more relaxed and engrossed in his tale. After all, Gwin was quite good with people when he wanted to be. He used his aspect to act out his scenes better. To Gwin it didn't matter to him whether he hid his aspect or not because even if they knew what his aspect was capable of they wouldn't know what creature he would use or how he would use it. He was a bundle of tricks!
A couple of shocked gasps escaped their mouths as Gwin's arm erupted into several red tentacles while he recounted the deadly escape from the swarm of black locusts. He even transformed his face into a black locust's face in a dramatic reveal. By the time he had gotten to the story of how he had thought Lena had died and how he faced the [Perforated Hunter] on his own they were fully engrossed in the story.
"Oh no!"
The sleeper who wielded the bow squeaked out. She was a shorter girl with short brown hair tied in a bun.
"She died?"
The sleeper who wielded the halberd asked with the shock apparent on his face. He was of average height with pale skin and ginger hair.
Even Umo seemed to be captivated and eager to know what happened next. He did a dramatic reenactment of their fight while playing both the role of himself and the panther. He danced across the room with the [Militia's Steel] like a tragic protagonist before prowling around of all fours as the perforated hunter. He jumped onto the table with all fours and hissed at the cohort before doing a dramatic reenactment of his own death.
"Yes!"
The redhead exclaimed loudly only to be quickly shushed by his cohort. It was still midnight after all.
There were a couple of tears by the time he got to the point where he discovered Lena was still alive. His acting ability was incredible after all, he played the solemn scene perfectly! He got so into the story he attempted to lift the stone slab that was the table however after realizing how heavy it was he played it off with a dramatic flip of an invisible slab. After that he played through the rest of the story up to meeting Umo. He decided to have some fun with it and did his "best" impression of Umo where he depicted him as an overly serious grouch. He was still salty about only getting two soul shards for almost losing his leg.
He got a few chuckles from his audience and even Umo had a smirk on his handsome face. Finally the part where he so heroically sacrificed himself came up. He did his best impression of the fish demon and its lumbering body.
"Not a bad impression."
Umo said with a smirk.
"What happened next?"
Ada asked excitedly. Gwin bowed his head low in solemn silence before breaking out into a fake run with a stupidly scared look on his face. Usually he would have hated to be laughed at but this time was different. They were laughing with him, not at him. That alone kept him from feeling ashamed. He masterfully performed a game of charades up until his descent into the crevice. After that the story took a scarier turn as he made use of the darkness and light to tell a scary story. He prowled around silently while using Vlad's wings and face. Just telling this story was putting some strain on his essence but the look on their faces as he silently emerged from the darkness just in front of their faces was worth it.
Next came the climax of the story!
He masterfully acted out how horrifying the chase with Vlad had been and the infernal fight that came after. Umo's cohort didn't even seem to mind that he literally started a small fire in their base. Their attention was fully focused on the story. The flames cast his shadow on the walls as if they were inside the same tunnel Gwin had fought Vlad in and not a stone cabin on the surface. After acting out Vlad's death and scratching his name onto the table he acted out him escaping the caves below and emerging into the world above.
They watched his act with baited breath and only after he had emerged from the imaginary tunnel did they breathe. Gwin had been acting for a long time at this point and did not feel like acting out the rest since it was not particularly interesting so he simply ended it there.
"What happened next?"
The ginger asked excitedly. Gwin just pointed to the ground to motion "this". The pale morning sun began creeping in through the doorway reminding all of them that this story had been quite the lengthy one. At some point they had pulled the chairs from the table and arranged them in a row on one side of the table like an audience with the table as the stage. Umo leaned back in his chair with an amused smile.
"That was quite a story, Gwin. You sure have experienced quite a lot since your winter solstice. It is a stroke of luck that you are still alive. Don't you think so, Ada, Cole, Sarah? What about you Norn, and Ray?"
He asked while looking at his cohort. Gwin was finally able to put some names to faces. He already knew Ada but the rest were new. Cole was the ginger who wielded a halberd. Sarah was the smaller girl with the bow and Norn and Ray were the guy with the spear and the tan guy who went to wake Umo when Gwin arrived.
"Yeah that was pretty good! Better than the stories you tell us Cole."
Ray said with a confident smirk.
"What's wrong with my stories?"
Cole asked indignantly.
"They're boring."
"They always end the same."
"The childhood friend always loses in the end."
"You just talk too much."
His cohort answered in rapid succession. Cole opened his mouth to respond but eventually decided to sulk on his own.
'Wait…do these guys think I made all of this up? What the hell!'
{This really happened you know}
Gwin signed to Umo who was watching his friends bicker with a faint smile. Umo snapped to his hands as they moved.
"I believe you, we are just joking around."
Ada chimed in, having guessed what Gwin said.
"Yeah I believe you, especially after seeing you turn into that bat thing. My ears are still ringing from that. But seriously, being able to copy any creature you kill is an insane power."
Gwin couldn't argue with that so he just smugly ran his fingers through his hair.
"Thank you for that. There's not much in the way of entertainment outside of the bright castle."
Umo said a hint of warmth in his topaz eyes.
"Yeah, thanks. Things have been so dreadful recently."
Ray said while stretching.
Gwin was prone to agree to him. The world around them was dreadful and hopeless. However the only time he seemed to be at peace was in the midst of dire conflict. Now that he thought about it, when had he become such a junky for new forms of violence? He used to avoid conflict as if it were an unholy titan, when had that changed? Maybe in the darkness of the sewers? Well it didn't really matter either way.
They conversed for a while longer and Gwin got to know them all a bit more. It was honestly the happiest he had been since coming to this god awful place. All of his companions so far have not been very talkative. Lena was a rude legacy, Umo had not opened up to him at all when they first met, and Toothpaste quite literally couldn't talk just like him. Ironically enough it was probably Toothpaste he spoke to the longest if he had really spent over a month and a half in that impenetrable darkness. A wide and feral smile split his face.
'This is great!'