He held up his hands as if to surrender. "Hey, hey... Male I may be, but I don't like getting this dirty any more than you do. Besides. The males-like-dirt thing is a lie. Have you ever seen a speck of crud on Rufus' white suits? Or seen Tseng's uniform mucky? Not unless he's knee deep in it, like us." He stuck his tongue out childishly at her, but sloughed along ahead, keeping Cissnei near him at all times. Who knew if anything would attack them out here?

"We'll find a nice stream, then, and you can rinse the dirt off. It's not a shower and laundry service, but it'll do till we can get back to civilization, right?" He didn't mention that he'd like it, too.