"Yeah, you<span style="font-style: italic">would</span>be glad none of our<span style="font-style: italic">bodies</span>got wasted," Mina agreed with The Cad.  "You<span style="font-style: italic">like</span>giving out your seed after all, don'tcha?"  The little blonde grinned.  She wasn't at all offended by his referring to them as "bodies;" she was just teasing, and knew very well that of all the men of the clan, he was probably the<span style="font-style: italic">one</span>that saw, and cared about, their minds as much as their figures.<br/><br/>"So do we," Onyx pointed out, smirking.  "And, yeah, glad we didn't lose anyone, yeah..." she sobered a bit.  Whatever worry might still have showed on his face, apparently neither she nor the other girls saw it... he'd concealed it well enough, it seemed.  "We were almost at the edge of the grasses, too.  Just a little ways to the forest... come on, everybody.  The day's not getting any longer."  She turned to face the direction they had been heading.  "Stick close, and stay on my line, okay?"<br/><br/>They resumed walking, and they fell silent again, even Ted, to avoid attracting any beasts.  The closer they got to the edge of the grasses, and thus to the forest, the greater the risks of meeting hungry critters.  They were hoping to catch some animals... the common, non-mutated creatures, like deer, pheasant, and various rodents.  Some rodents had mutated in terms of size, becoming larger, but had not developed the bipedal aspects of the humanoid beasts hunting women feared so much.  Those would provide good meat also, if necessary.<br/><br/>As Onyx had warned, they reached the edge of the grasslands within just a few minutes of walking.  The tall grasses seemed to shorten as they walked, until they were down to barely clearing their ankles; from there, the flat lands gave way to a sudden wall of dark forest.  Though there was quite a bit of space beneath the various trees such as oak, elm, maple, and ash, there was also quite a bit of undergrowth like ferns and moss.  Though there would be less dangerous plants within the trees, there would still remain plenty... and there would be all kinds of beasts as well.  The forest would be more dangerous than what they had faced so far...<br/><br/>Onyx stopped them at the edge of the forest, and she turned to face them all.  As usual, she was looking at Zeref as she spoke, but the question was directed at everyone: "Everybody ready?"<br/><br/>The Cad had not seen any sign of those eyes again as they'd walked, and he hadn't seen hair nor hide of their owner.  So far there was no reason for him to think he was being watched anymore... except for a gut feeling.  Still, mentioning it to everyone didn't seem like a good idea... they trusted him more than just about anyone else, but they hadn't seen those eyes at all, so...<br/><br/>His stomach was grumbling more and more.  He was going to have to eat something...<span style="font-style: italic">something</span>... soon... and there just might be a possibility of him slipping off alone under the cover of the trees.<br/><br/>"Ready," Mina declared first.  Others nodded or repeated the same word.  Ted nodded too, with a slight smirk in his case, holding his club up as though he wanted to find something to pulp with it.  Even Tia nodded, though she seemed to be watching The Cad with an unusual shrewdness in her eyes.  Had she realized something was bothering him?