The question on where to drop the elemental was solved after a bit of a mess. The original idea was to toss him in a cell where the cannibals kept the fight pits’ death fodder, but that seemed like a hellish way to chance on Kole’s hard-won capture getting killed or eaten by a random hungry cannibal. Vale had joked about keeping the beastie in xyr inquisitor quarters, which Meteor had decided was stupidier than using the fight pits’ cells. Which, yeah, Vale considered that fair.

So Kane ended up in a lava tube off the Doctor’s Caves. Metal bars and all, just like the fight pits’ cells, but at least he wouldn’t be mistaken for expendable death fodder.

Vale supposed this meant Kane would have to deal with Xanti’s weed thoughts, but, eh, maybe the guy would benefit from being neighbors with a smart cannibal? Vale thought it odd that Kane still hadn’t figured out what he was negotiating with, either. Hadn’t he met anyone of their kind before? Antisocials were rare, Vale knew, but Vale’s mom (Ninazu) had been a psychopath, and xe’d ended up in the Descendants of the Departed because xe was looking for an antisocial romance option and figured cannibals would be a great place to hang around and wait for one to appear.

But all of that was Vale Weirdness. Even Vale could see that.

The raven flew through the cave system. Xyr feet clutched small bag of rattling trinkets.

Admittedly, Vale hadn’t immediately set down for the talk xe’d promised Kane. Xe’d sent an NPC to deliver a boiled coconut crab, sure, but xe had to figure out the right approach. Therefore, xe consulted Xanti, because, well, Meteor thought this was a waste of time. But, just maybe, Xanti had a point about quoting the Tao Te Ching: To give no trust is to get no trust. This was romancing a psychopath on expert mode! As if the trust handshake wasn’t already complicated enough! Vale cackled to xemself at the absurdity of this nonsense.

The raven landed on the bars on Kane’s cell. Xe wasn’t inside, but, well, maybe the beastie’d feel better if there were metal bars between him and the gore shapeshifter?

With xyr beak, Vale tapped on the metal bar. Then looked to Kane and cawed, “Nevermore!”

Vale cackled. “Of course! I’m a shapeshifter, why else do I live as a corvid? Love that poem.” A click of xyr tongue. There was a bit more too it than that—what with the gore on every form that wasn’t a bird—but that wasn’t shit that even Xanti knew, so, fuck it. Keep it simple.

With a flutter of wings, Vale adjusted xyr grip. Xe was perched on the lowermost bar, so when xe dropped the bag of trinkets, it fell on the stone floor inside the cell. The drawstring bag half-opened, but the contents looked like random shiny shit. More like what a non-talking raven would hoard in a nest than Vale.

“So, here’s the deal.” Vale tilted xyr head to the right. “If you’re honest with me, I’ll be honest with you. We take turns asking one or two questions.” Vale’s three eyes narrowed skeptically; xe was tempted to add further rules like I’ll eat one of your ears if you lie to me, but that would assume a lack of trust, right? The whole point of this deal was to establish trust, because trust was necessary for the beastie to help fix the island’s ecosystem.

And, obviously, necessary if Vale had a hope of completing the real reason xe was trying so hard. Why would Kane be a cannibal boyfriend if he couldn’t trust Vale?

“If I ask a question you don’t want to answer, then you don’t have to answer. Promise. No punishment. Already said no torture, eh?”

“Reasonable, eh?” Vale cackled. “So, first question. How long have you been an elemental?”

Vale nodded. Since birth, eh? That meant a high likelihood of mastery and years of practice. But, more importantly, Kanmaru was playing the game.

“Cannibal central is complicated.” Vale laughed. Shook xyr head. “Short version? A long time ago, apparently, some insane guy set up a cult to worship two dieties on this island: Requiem of Creation and Vayu of Destruction. Requiem controls the reincarnation cycle. Vayu destroys souls unworthy of rejoining the cycle. Cannibalism is a ritualistic way to ensure the dead pass on to a more favorable reincarnation.”

“I mentioned I’m the inquisitor. I speak for Requiem. Supposedly. I like the rituals and the creativity. If Requiem exists, the deity apparently approves of me, since I survived the volcanic eruption. Haha!”

Vale tapped a claw on the metal. Xyr three eyes narrowed slightly. “You talk like a psychopath. You have the adrenaline response of a psychopath. But you don’t recognize when others of your kind are in front of you.” Vale tilted xyr head to the right. “Am I the first psychopath—besides yourself—you’ve encountered?”

Vale waited for the silence to give way to an answer. But the silence was itself an answer. As for the answer itself? Indeed, others were boring as all hell. Especially the prosocials. That’s why Vale was in a cannibalism cult! The three eyed raven nodded.

When Kane asked his question, Vale answered immediately. “Torturing you wouldn’t accomplish any of my goals.”

Then Vale thought over the next question. “What is your goal in life?” Vale’s three eyes narrowed. “And, if you don’t mind, how did you arrive at your goal?”

“Huh.” Vale’s three eyes blinked thrice in rapid succession. Xe fluffed xyr feathers, and was glad xe’d thought to ask that question. Unexpected. But useful. The raven tapped xyr claws on the metal bar.

“Here’s free information then.” If Vale’s beak could grin, xe would be grinning, but the smirk nonetheless saturated xyr voice. “Meteor is a psychopath. Xanti is a psychopath. Your goal is not incompatible with any of ours.”

“My main goal is fucking around and finding out. Life’s boring if you’re not living, you know.” Vale cackled. “But my goals for you? Obviously, I benefit if the island’s ecosystem is repaired. And that goal assists in Meteor’s goals, so if I can collaborate with you on fixing the island? My allies prosper.”

“Second goal for you….” Then Vale bobbed xyr head side to side. Xe could decline to answer, but… where was the fun in that. “Meteor and Xanti are incompatible romantically with me. But you?” Vale lifted xyr beak and laughed. “We might be romantically compatible. And I am fucking tired of not dating a fellow psychopath! But I’d rather be single than date a non-psychopath, fuck those idiots.”

Then Vale shrugged and, with xyr beak, pulled out an amethyst geode and tossed it into the cell. Then xe cackled. “Free question. You like that rock, hahaha?”