New lifestyles. ...any issues? [Mature]

[WolfEnchantress]

"Will they be hard to find?" She asked. She sunk up to her chin, wincing a bit as the steaming water touched her. She didn't know how long it had been since she had a hot bath, it was always freezing cold. She'd gotten used to it, but now it would be hard to go back. She vaguely wondered what time it was, how long they had been here, but shrugged, not particularly caring.

"I can help you find stuff to replace it, if you tell me what to look for." She thought a moment. "I wonder what would have happened if I hadn't come across you on the way to the town." It only took a second of thought before she laughed. "You saved my life enough times, I think I'd be dead." Now she was kind of rambling - she often did this kind of thing with Sarora, talking about what would have happened if another event didn't.

[Omio]

Len shrugged. "Just another in-town sort of thing, and they're all things I can do without. And it's best not to think of what would've ensued if something didn't happen to be, because then it's looking back, and trying to change one thing; though it is a great way to pass time..." And he laid, still floating in the surface on the water. He floated closer to Saira without intending upon it. Not that he'd notice. His face was towards the roof. His gear was lighter than flesh, so it still helped him float on water, despite being soaked. "...And this tunic's starting to feel rather annoying. I'm tempted to take the whole blasted thing off; but you'd probably be pretty quick to object, so I won't..."

((Uh-oh. Add mature tag?))

[WolfEnchantress]

Saira sighed, closing her eyes. It was nice to relax finally, after climbing and flying and hacking through woods and savage animals

She raised an eyebrow. "You seem to be quick to assume that I'll object," She said, and shrugged. "Go ahead, I don't mind." She thought about this for a second, then turned a light shade of pink. "After all, it would give it a head- start to drying," She added lamely, though she grinned. "As it is, they're going to take forever to dry." They might have to sleep in damp clothing, unless a quick drying method could be found or they started drying early. Like now. She blinked, not quite sure what to think.

{{If you think it needs it.. }}

[Omio]

(( Consider it added. >] ))

Len blinked in complete surprise, also sinking, too. She was right in all aspects. He wan't slow in getting toe top part off, but he'd have to surface before getting the bottom half off. He needed air to breathe, after all. He could converse at the same time, too.

"You agreeing... ...actually took me far off guard. Though you do make sense, too. You should take yourself up on my advice too; lest you feel too timid for doing so. Sure, it's eye candy, but it's just that, unless you wish to take it further..." And with that, Len left that suggestion there, the bottom half of his cloak a struggle to get off, but managable after some time.

[WolfEnchantress]

Saira hesitated a second before complying. Slowly. It was a rather difficult task, honestly; being in water made it that much more difficult to maneuver. She wrung out the clothing and lay them flat on a sloping section of rock across the cavern, which would do little good since the water was humid, but it was better than nothing.

Sarora, outside the cave, cut all connection with the two and took to the air, chuckling to herself. Saira frowned, but let it go - she wasn't sure she wanted Sarora knowing what she was thinking at the moment. Well, not so much one thought as a thousand of them all at once. She returned to her previous location, which was close to Len. Very close to Len.

"Further...Like how?" She said, very quietly, almost not able to speak. Her stomach seemed to be in her throat.

[Omio]

(( Modding, as of HDTV's request. ))

Len blinked, before recalling the fact of Saira's origins. Of course she would have absolutely no clue. How innocent... He then blushed some. "I can easily demonstrate, as long as you can trust your feelings, and act upon them." And Len came right beside Saira, letting them feel each other's closeness, heat, and emotion, if she could feel that was well. It all really depended.

[WolfEnchantress]

Saira blinked.
"I...I can," She said, looking at Len as he moved closer to her. She felt the emotion between them, their closeness, and reached out to take Len's hand.

**

Sarora flew over the volcano, lazily watching the passing scenery as she had been for quite a while. She'd blocked both Len and Saira from her mind, for obvious reasons, and was happy to be able to fly and stretch her wings, free to fly as she chose and not have to worry about riders.

Not that having riders was a big deal, but sometimes just flying was relaxing. She rumbled with amusement at the memory of Len during the first decent and landing. She'd have to remember not to do that next time - Saira had definitely not been pleased with that. Which surprised her, finding out how much her little human cared for the other. She was happy for her, really, and didn't see anything wrong with the two being together. When they had tried the mind-link with each other, she had no doubt that Len could be trusted.

Her thoughts cut short when she spotted a herd of some of hoofed mammal with spiraling, curved antlers grazing in the field. She banked sharply, circling. Mistake. Once she was upwind of them, each and every one of them bolted. With a surprisingly human eye-roll that she'd picked up from Saira she flew after a group of four that had stuck together.

((better?)

[Omio]

(( Much, thanks. ))

Len smiled. "...And that was maybe a sliver out of the whole frame of how much I love you." It was more an admission to himself than to Saira, but Saira still needed to hear that. It was sincere. He could finally express himself fully, without fear of Saira rejecting him.

Len also admitted to himself, after fifteen seconds, that they had to move on. "We should get ourselves ready to go, though. I'm sure if Sarora hasn't caught anything by now, she's still trying. We can set up camp and everything for the night too, while we should still have a couple hours of light... I'm not certain on the hours left, but you get my point, right?"

(( Don't like one way? We'll do the other! ;p ))

[WolfEnchantress]

Saira raised an eyebrow, a half-smile on her face.
"I suppose I should say something witty," She said, "But I can't think of anything. So we're just going to settle with I love you too, but more than I can express in words."

She sighed at the next part. "I suppose you're right, we can't stay here forever, and you still need to get those stones, which we've established are not found in this cave.

She gathered her clothes, reaching into the tunnel to grab her cloak and draping it around her shoulders before climbing out of the hot water and into the colder cavern tunnels. She wrung out her clothes as well as she could, and waited for Len before following the marks on the wall to the opening in the cliff face. Sarora was curled up on the far edge of the clearing and glanced over.
There is a deer right inside the edge of the woods if either of you are , She said to them.
Thank you, Saira said to Sarora, then to Len"You're going to have to start a fire, though. You'd think I'd be a master, but you're faster than me."

{{Sorry for the random disappearance - the school play was on so I wasn't even home till about ten each night the past week, and not at all this weekend till now}}

[Omio]

Len followed Saira nearly bit-for-bit in actions, dressing and whatnot at close to the same times as Saira did. He heard Sarora no problem. Thanks, Sarora. I'll leave Saira to hunt, this time. She wants me to make sire. I've got Firedust to make it a cinch. And then Len jumped from the cliff face - a total of about twenty feet falling - and rolled, seemingly intact. "I'd offer to catch ya, Saira, but my arms aren't quite that strong. I'll pitch camp, though." And for the record, in this region, Saira would be the better expert. Also, later on, expect her to be tired out. Making Keystones is a taxing process, mentally and physically. Especially if you are adept at charging them, like I suspect Saira to be...

[WolfEnchantress]

Saira scaled down the cliff face faster than she'd climbed up, practically sliding down the slope. A deer in the field wasn't going to stay long hearing them rustling around. She was surprised it was still there even now with Sarora laying there. She drew her dagger and crept into the edge of the clearing.

Once she saw the buck, she crouched, impressed. It was massive, and the antlers could even be used to carve things -they weren't cracked or chipped that she could see, which was hard to come by.

She stepped foreword, silent as if she wasn't even there, and the moment she got close enough threw the knife. It hit exactly where she wanted it to, severing the vein in the neck. She walked over to where it had fallen and dodged thrashing hooves to put it out of its misery, then grabbed the antlers and dragged it backward into the camp, dropping it right inside the treeline.

It wasn't long before there was strips of meat over the fire. She sat down on her knees.

What is it that you think she will be so adept at it? Sarora asked after a moment, idly scraping zig-zag patterns into the dirt with a claw.

[Omio]

Call it a hunch, if you will - I'm not sure what it is exactly that's telling me that, but I get the feeling of that. Don't ask me for the details - I don't know them. Len smiled once Saira came back. "Welcome back." And he helped to clean and slice things up, as well as prepare kabobs. "Once we're done with food here, I'll show you how to make keystones. It'll say how in the books, but it's better shown than read. Expect to be asleep pretty quick after you make a few, though. It has a tendency to tucker people out." Especially if you don't take things in small steps. Not that you need to here, really.

[WolfEnchantress]

Saira nodded.
"all right. But I don't know if I'll even be any good at it," She said skeptically. She moved her toes closer to the fire and, after a little bit, took one of the kabobs from the fire, cutting it open to check if it was done, which it was. She handed one to Len and bit in to her own, inspecting the one stone she'd found. Up on the ridge, in the caves, stones like this weren't uncommon, and she somewhat felt bad that they couldn't retrieve them. Well, if they were careful enough, they could, but she knew Sarora wouldn't let them go without Len knowing they were forbidden upon penalty of death, and then Len wouldn't want to go either, so she stopped thinking of it. There would be other places to get them.

"So, if it's not hard to make these, why don't more people do it?" She asked. "You'd think some people, at least the greedy ones, would try to market them or something."

[Omio]

Len shook his head. "No, only the one that makes the keystone can use those keystones. You can't use my keystones. If you could, I'd offer them quite readily." ...I hear that where they come from is a good source of stones like these, but they're forbidden, so even if I wanted to, those two wouldn't want to go, because they'd be ostrasized and maybe killed. ...Pride. How disgusting it is... He finished his kabob, and put another one on, letting it roast on the fire.

He took the stone from Saira. "The method's simple, the end result's pretty exhausting. You just have to feel yourself flowing through it, and then into it. It's best to hold it either in your palm, between two fingers, or between finger and thumb." And he held it between his index and middle fingers. He closed his eyes, feeling his energy flow through the stone, pruifying it. Then he envisioned his energy going into the stone, and the energy packed itself in. Too much. Len barely had time to snap himself out of giving the stone energy, as his senses dimmed and dulled. He could barely tell he was falling towards Saira.

[WolfEnchantress]

"Oh. Well, I suppose that makes sense, doesn't it?" She answered to the explanation. "Other people shouldn't be able to use others' energy. that would be kind of like an invasion of privacy."

Saira watched the process as Len held the stone and concentrated on it, presumably sending energy into it. She shifted to sitting cross-legged. When he swayed, she grabbed his arms in alarm, keeping him upright.

"Len, stop," She said, and took the stone from him, just in case he was still sending it energy, though she wasn't quite sure what had happened. Had something gone wrong?

"Len, look at me," She said. "What happened? Are you all right?"