|
Aamori nodded her head slightly after he told her to go check on LaRae. Of course she wondered why he even cared, since he didn't like her to begin with but didn't bother saying a word about it. "Alright. I'll catch up." She said lightly and simply before turning to head towards LaRae and Nanashi.
Kyran glanced over at Celestine just as he had started again. He looked back at Hikari for a moment and smiled weakly. "Guess we're going." He said quietly before taking a few steps after Celestine. Nero watched as Celestine started off and then his eyes followed over to Aamori who was going the other way; Towards LaRae and Nanashi. He continued to stand there for a moment debating on whether he wanted to wait on Aamori or follow after the others. He sighed lightly and decided that Aamori and the other two shouldn't be long; So he'd follow after Celestine. LaRae nodded lightly. "...A little." She mumbled. She couldn't help the small smile that crept onto her face when he pressed his lips to her cheek. She glanced up at him when he stood up, her eyes then trailed down to his hands. She sat for a moment before reaching out and taking his hands to get to her feet. She wobbled slightly once she was back on her feet. "...Thank you..." She said quietly as she started to pull her hands back to her sides. Her ears twitched a little and she glanced over to see Aamori had come over; She turned her face away from her hoping that she hadn't seen her hunched over in pain. The last thing she wanted was to have to explain anything to Aamori. Aamori stood and looked at LaRae for a moment and only quirked a brow again when she'd turned her face away. She continued to stand there with her hands behind her back, her fingers laced together. "...Are you alright LaRae?" She asked quietly. "You looked like you were in pain." She added as she tilted her head to the side. |
Hikari looked at Kyran when spoke and nodded slightly, returning the half smile. She glanced toward Celestine again as he started off and then started to follow after Kyran. She sighed softly, glad that they were finally getting a move on. She really didn't want to get caught in the storm either, but by now it looked like they were probably going to get nice and wet pretty soon. "How far is it to...wherever we're going?" she asked simply.
Celestine glanced back quickly, "If we walk fast, two hours...if we fly, about half an hour..." he said simply before looking at the sky again. He sighed and started to hurry a little. He was waiting for Aamori and the other to catch up before he tried to get everyone to fly. His ears perked up when he heard a distant rumble and then he groaned. "Great..." "...You really hate water, don't you?" "No, I just hate being completely drenched." He said simply. He would not admit to them that it was impossible for him to fly when his wings got too wet. between all of the water in his hair, wings, and clothes, he was way too heavy to fly. Of course they would all probably figure that out soon enough if they hadn't pieced it together already. Nanashi looked over to Aamori when she came over to them and then glanced back to LaRae quickly. "...She's alright." He said softly as he gently put his arm around her. "....Right?" he asked quietly. His ears twitched slightly when he heard the thunder roll in the distance and he tensed slightly before forcing himself to relax. He sighed and then looked over to Aamori again. |
Kyran briefly looked from Hikari to Celestine when they were talking and then his eyes rested on the ground as he walked. He had a pretty good feeling that they'd end up flying the rest of the way there as soon as the others caught up. He didn't really have any gripes with rain or storms, but that was probably to be expected. He glanced up again when Hikari mentioned Celestine hating water. It was pretty obvious that Celestine couldn't fly if his wings were soaked, after all they were made of feathers.
Nero was following after Celestine and the other two, leaving a small distance between himself and them. While he was walking he constantly turned his head over his shoulder slightly to see if the others were coming yet. LaRae was relieved when Nanashi answered Aamori. She started to turn her head back when he put his arm around her and then she nodded her head lightly. "...Yes... I'm fine." She added quietly before glancing over to Aamori. Her eyes shifted to look at Nanashi when she felt him tense up for a moment. She'd heard the thunder in the distance but it hadn't phased her in the slightest. Aamori gave a slight nod when they both said she was alright. She started to turn a little towards the way the others had gone. "Well, we need to hurry and catch up to the others... Before it starts raining." She said lastly before turning around completely and starting off the way that Celestine had gone. |
Hikari nodded slightly and then glanced over to Kyran for a moment before glancing behind them. She sighed softly and then looked ahead again, obviously out of things to talk about. She could tell that Celestine really wanted to just make a run for it, but was forcing himself to stay back until the others caught up.
Celestine was trying to keep a steady pace, but he kept catching himself going faster as he walked. He glanced over his shoulder a few times, too and sighed before looking ahead again. He was listening for any sounds of someone coming after them , and starting to get a little antsy when he didn't hear them coming soon. At least they really hadn't gotten all that far yet...Aamori or someone could probably scream pretty loud and he's still be able to hear them. Nanashi nodded to Aamori again and then glanced down to LaRae. He knew she felt him tense up by the way that she looked at him. He just smiled weakly and then gave her back a gentle push forward as he started after Aamori quickly, wanting to catch up with the others. He was relieved to see that they weren't too far ahead of them, it really didn't take them that long to come into view. |
LaRae followed after Aamori when Nanashi pushed her gently. As they were quickly catching up to the others she'd tensed slightly the pain from the burning had dulled substantially but it left a strange tingling pain that hadn't quite gone away yet. She gave a soft sigh when she started to see the others and glanced briefly over to Nanashi before looking back in front of her. She couldn't help but wonder how many others had noticed her in pain. If Aamori had noticed, then surely someone else had too.
Nero glanced back again finally seeing the others. He was a bit relieved himself that they managed to catch up to them rather quickly. He turned his head back to the way they were walking and cleared his throat loudly to point out that the others had caught up. Aamori was glad to see that the others hadn't gotten that far away. Once she caught up to Nero, she slowed her pace slightly to catch her breath. She was walking practically in Nero's shadow and being much smaller then him it was hard to see her. She sighed softly and peeked her head around him for a moment before realizing that he'd stepped off to the side a little so that she could pass by him. She smiled faintly hurried ahead of him to get closer to the others; Since Nero had kept a slight distance between himself and the other three. Once she'd reached Kyran and Hikari she gave a small sigh. "...Was that fast enough Celestine?" Kyran glanced back when Nero cleared his throat and took notice to the others behind him. He turned his head back and before he knew it Aamori was behind him. He of course glanced back to her and smiled slightly thinking for her height she was pretty fast on her feet. |
Nanashi staid next to LaRae, keeping her close. He looked down to her when he caught her looking at him from the corner of his eye and smiled slightly before glancing ahead again and trying to stay with Aamori. it wasn't that hard to manage, and he soon found himself walking by Nero, though he made it a point to get a lot closer to Kyran since he wasn't too afraid that he'd try to strangle him.
Celestine's ears twitched slightly when he heard Nero cough and he glanced back to see the others coming up behind them. He sighed and paused for a moment when Aamori spoke to him. "Yeah. Good job." he said in a slightly monotone voice, clearly a bit distracted. "...If you're not too tired, I hope you don't mind flying. If we get there before it rains, it's going to be just barely even flying. If we walk we're going to be soaked before we get there for sure." he told them, already opening his wings a little as if he intended to fly whether they came or not. Hikari glanced back as well when Nero cleared his throat and half smiled when she saw the other behind Nero. She looked at Celestine again to see if he'd noticed and then looked back again to see Aamori right behind them almost. She glanced back to Celestine again when he started talking and sighed softly at how impatient he was, though she guessed that it was with good reason. She started to unfold her own wings a little and nodded slightly before glancing over to Aamori, since she seemed to have the most trouble with flying. |
Aamori half smiled hearing him say 'good job'. Though that quickly faded when he brought up flying again. She really didn't want to fly again so soon, but for the sake of everyone else perhaps staying dry she'd go ahead and do it. She gave a small sigh and let her own wings fall from her back and open slightly. "...Well, lets get going."
Kyran had already let his wings unfold as soon as Celestine had started to ask Aamori if she was tired. He glanced back to Aamori having seen her open her wings, of course he was aware of how much trouble she had with flight so he stepped to the side a little and pushed her ahead of him so that he could keep an eye on her while they were flying. Now that he didn't have to worry about Nobu, should Aamori need help his hands were free. LaRae sighed softly hearing that Celestine wanted to fly again; Already. Then seeing everyone else start to let their wings open she sighed again. She really wasn't ready to have to use her wings again so soon and after the mark acted up on her back. She grumbled quietly to herself for a moment before finally starting to unfold her wings. Nero of course waited quietly while they decided how they were going to go about this. Either way it didn't bother him. He'd go either way regardless of the weather. When he noticed that everyone else was starting to unfold their wings he went ahead and did the same. |
Celestine could tell that Aamori wasn't too thrilled with the idea, and he gave her an almost apologetic look. "Sorry." he said quietly to her before he glanced back to LaRae, looking her over very thoroughly. She didn't appear to be in a lot of pain anymore. He sighed and turned back around. "Alright..." he looked up again, looking for a good break in the trees before he took a short run and leaped into the air, flapping his wings hard a few times before he got into the air. The wind was already picking up heavily over the trees and making it rather difficult to steer, but Celestine wasn't having much of a problem with that; he was used to it for the most part. Once above the trees everyone would be able to see the vast greenery that surrounded the area most of the way up the mountain. There were the occasional areas where the land gave way to rock cliffs in areas. The mountains was still ahead of them a little ways, but not too far. Finally he started to push himself toward the mountain side where there was a rather large rock wall. Near the top of that wall was a cave where he usually stayed, though it wasn't quite visible from this distance.
Nanashi unfolded his wings as well once the others did and sighed when he saw people taking off. The way the wind was blowing here, he doubted that this was going to be an easy flight. He glance to LaRae for a moment, trying to see how she was reacting. "Are you alright to fly?" He asked quietly when he saw her grumbling, "I can try to carry you if you need...." He said softly. Hikari sighed again and glanced to Kyran and Aamori for a moment before she realized that Celestine had already taken off. She followed his lead and made a running jump, flapping her wings hard to get in the air and above the trees. As soon as the trees were no longer blocking the full force of the wind, she nearly lost control and ended up flipping over in the air once and descending a little. "Whoa!!" she yelped when the wind blew her aside. It took her a moment to get herself fixed again and get after Celestine. She wasn't quite used to this strong of wind, so she had to concentrate a little harder on what she was doing. |
Aamori shook her head lightly when he said sorry. There wasn't much to be sorry for; After all flying was going to save time and hopefully keep everyone from getting wet. She sighed softly seeing Celestine, then Hikari take off. She stumbled forward a few steps to follow after them; It took her a few tries to actually get into the air and it only got worse when she had to try and scale the tree top. As soon as she managed to get to the top of the trees the force of the winds knocked her clean out of the air and she started falling straight for the trees.
Kyran followed immediatly after Aamori quite sure she'd have trouble flying. As soon as he started to clear the trees he noticed Aamori falling back down. He threw his arms out and moved towards her to snatch her before she hit the trees. Once he caught her he held onto her a little tight and continued to head up a little higher to follow after the others. The wind didn't phase him too badly he had pretty strong wings after all so he only wavered from side to side occasionally. He had a pretty good grip on Aamori, holding her with one arm under her knees and the other at her back he glanced down at her with a soft smile. "Are you alright?" Aamori nodded her head lightly and averted her eyes. She was embarrassed that she had fallen from the sky so easily from the burst of wind. Even more embarrassed that Kyran apparently knew something like that would happen and was close enough to catch her before she fell and hurt herself. She sighed softly and rested her head against his shoulder gently. "...Thank you..." LaRae glanced over to Nanashi and shook her head gently. "...I think I'll be alright to fly." She said quietly. "...I'm still getting a tingly sensation on my back, but I should be able to handle this. So long as the conditions don't worsen on the way." She sighed softly and headed after the others, taking a slight running start before jumping into the air and taking flight. Once she made it to the top of the trees the wind blew her aside easily enough but she adjusted quickly. She wasn't quite used to the force of these winds, but she was used to the wind being stronger when coming out from the protection of the trees. It took her a moment to straighten herself out but she'd continued to follow after the others. Nero stretched out his wings a little once everyone but Nanashi had taken off. He crossed his arms over his chest gently and started walking forward a little waiting until Nanashi took to the sky before he followed after. |
Celestine glanced back briefly to see how everyone was handling the wind. He'd missed Hikari's little roll, but his breath nearly caught when Aamori started to fall and he faltered for a moment as if he was about to flip over and go back but by then, Kyran had already caught her. He sighed and then looked away, continuing forward. Apparently the others were good at taking care of each other.
Nanashi watched LaRae take off and then sighed softly. This wasn't going to be too easy, he could already tell. He took a running start and flapped his wings hard as he aimed to get above the trees. As soon as he was struck by the wind he shivered violently and blew sideways a big before he could make his wings move ans stop spazing out from the cold. The wind was extremely cold to Nanashi, though it obviously wasn't that bad for everyone else. His ability to stay warm usually depended on the temperature outside and anything below 70 started to make him a little chilly. Between the lack of sunlight, the elevation, and the strong wings, it was damn near freezing to him. His body was like a dragons in some ways, but it seemed to seriously lack their internal heating system. He forced himself to continue forward once he steadied himself and pushed forward, trying to ignore the shill that was consuming his limbs. Hikari just continued forward, keeping her eyes dead ahead on Celestine as she tried to keep herself from being knocked askew. There really weren't very strong winds in her territory most of the time, and when there were she never flew in them, so this was definitely an experience to her. |
Kyran glanced down at Aamori briefly when she spoke and offered a faint smile. He shifted his eyes back out to the direction that they were flying and sped up a little so that he was closer to Hikari. He looked over at her for a moment seeing how she was trying to concentrate he didn't say anything. He wasn't exactly used to the winds here, but he was used to some of the force that wind had. Considering Radha's land was completely flat there was no hiding from the wind when it came whipping across the land; One just tended to get used to it.
LaRae glanced back to look at Nanashi once she was steady. "...Are you alright?" She asked noticing that he looked like he was cold. She turned her eyes back to the way they were flying just to make sure she was still following everyone. The last thing she wanted was for the wind to knock her off course while she wasn't watching where she was going. She sighed softly wondering how much longer before they reached their destination. The mark on her back was still quite sore and using her wings in such strong winds was only making it worse. Nero had followed mere moments after Nanashi had gotten into the air, though when he came up from the trees he wasn't bothered by the wind. Considering his career, he had to have strong wings so the force of the wind barely moved him. He sighed softly and continued to follow after the others. Though he had paused for a moment taking notice that he was no longer feeling the presence of the one following them. Perhaps the storm had interfered with the others plans. Either way, at least they weren't being followed at the moment. |
Hikari side glanced at Kyran when he got beside her and started to drift to the side toward him a little when she did. She quickly looked straight ahead again and veered away from him a little bit to keep form getting tangled in his massive wings. Another sudden stronger gust caught her as she tried to get away from Kyran and caused her to go higher and roll in the air again. "Whooaa!!" She yelped as she rolled to the other side of Kyran she managed to flatter her self back out and get going in the right direction again, but she was a good fifteen feet away from everyone else now, and doing a poor job of fighting the wind to get closer to them again.
Nanashi looked over to LaRae when she spoke to him, barely able to make out her words for the wind. His jaw was clenched tightly to keep his teeth from chattering too badly. He just nodded 'yes' to answer her question and pressed forward, cringing when he saw Hikari go spiraling across the sky. He wavered quite a bit when the gust hit him, but was able to remain going straight. He looked over to LaRae quickly to make sure that she was alright, too. Celestine was hardly effected by the wind, even when it did get stronger. the only reason that he had as much trouble as he did was because he was so light. He was trying to be fast, even more so when he started to feel the rain. They were barely fifteen minutes into the flight when the rain started, though thankfully, it didn't start out as a complete cloud burst. |
Kyran looked over at Hikari when he noticed her starting to drift towards him. He smiled slightly and then watched as she tried to put a little distance between them. When the strong gust of wind came he wavered slightly but was able to keep himself straight, then he tightened his grip on Aamori absently. His eyes rather quickly shot over to where Hikari was when he heard her yelp. The wind was deffinatly playing havoc on her. He had wished that Aamori was able to fly herself because he would've gone to grab Hikari since she was having so much trouble getting close to them again. "Hikari, are you alright?" He asked loudly. If need be he'd figure out how to get over to her.
LaRae hadn't been paying attention when the stronger gust of wind came whipping by and she nearly lost her balance; The wind almost knocked her right out of the sky. She managed to snap her wings strong enough to regain her flight easily enough. It took her a moment to get back up where she was previously. She sighed softly and quietly cursed the wind for being so difficult with her and a couple of the others as it would seem. She happened to notice just how far out Hikari had gotten after hearing Kyran call out to her. She shook her head lightly, that had to have happened when the last gust of wind came past. Of course she wanted to help reel Hikari in but her wings were not strong enough for such a task, let alone she was light enough that the wind tossed her around too. Nero shook his head slightly when he saw how easily the wind tossed the two girls around. He however was more surprised at how far it had thrown Hikari from the group. The thought had crossed his mind to go and bring her back over since the wind wasn't bothering him but it was only a thought after all. He didn't want to go helping anyone of his own free will, it'd look bad for his image. |
Hikari was still struggling to get back to the others when she heard Kyran's question, mainly because the wind was blowing in her direction. "Fine!" she called back, though her voice was nearly lost in the wind. She struggled to get a little closer to them, but now the rain was giving her hell as well. "Oh geez..." She groaned as she flapped her wings harder. She was really wearing herself out trying to fight the wind. Hikari really didn't weigh much of anything at all, she was a very slender young woman, not to mention she wasn't quite used to all of this, so the wind was just having its way with her and tossing her around as much as it liked. Again as she tried to get closer to the others, but the wind blew her back again. Now that she was getting tired, that really wasn't taking a whole lot.
Nanashi kept his eyes on LaRae as she tried to get back to where she was again. He then glanced over to Hikari. He thought someone needed to go get her, but he really didn't think he could manage it. He'd probably just get blown away with her if he grabbed onto her; he was having quite a few technical difficulties himself. The rain was not helping his chill problem at all, in fact, it was making it ten times worse. The water was cold and with the wind it was like being hit with tiny little daggers to him. He was shivering so badly that flying to getting to be a real pain since all his wings wanted to do was lock up and press against his back like his arms were pressing against his chest. Celestine really wasn't paying attention to the others now, he was trying his damnest to get to the cave before he couldn't make it. He was flying even faster now and it seemed like the rain was getting even stronger. His wings were already starting to get a little heavy, but he was still pushing them forward. He changed one glance back to see what was going on behind him and saw that Hikari was practically blowing away. He was thinking of trying to get her, but just then, it finally happened. The clouds just burst and rain started to pour from the clouds in sheets. "Damn it!!" He griped as he flailed, trying to maintain his air. They were getting to close to the cave entrance, too...it was actually in view no more than two hundred yards away. Unfortunately it seemed that he wasn't going to make it that far. The heavy rain quickly soaked his hair, clothes, and wings, weighing him down considerably when paired with his weapon. All together with all of that water weight it seemed like he weight nearly three or four times what he usually did. He struggled violently for air, but he was already going down a bit and soon he was loosing altitude rapidly. His wings were so heavy they were practically useless by then and he just started dropping, though he seemed fairly prepared for a landing. Luckily, they were out of the area that was heavily treed and he was able to half glide most of the way to the base of the rock wall. |
Kyran had continued to glance over at Hikari only growing more and more worried about her considering the trouble she was having. Then when it started to pour rain he sighed heavily. It didn't take long for him to get soaked though glancing down at Aamori she didn't seem to mind it. He looked back up in time to see Celestine gliding down. Obviously he'd gotten too wet to keep himself airborne. He let out a heavy sigh and then noticed the cave in the mountain side. He hadn't noticed it before because he was focusing on Hikari and where Celestine was at. He continued past where Celestine had landed until he finally reached the cave and touched down lightly. He stumbled forward a couple steps because of the added weight from Aamori; Thankfully there was a ledge to land on. He took a couple steps inside out of the rain and set Aamori down before turning back to wait on the ledge to make sure the others made it safely.
Aamori shivered slightly once she was set down. She may have not minded the rain but she was indeed cold now. She glanced up at Kyran when he started to head back out into the rain. "...Are you going to leave him out there?" She asked quietly of course referring to Celestine. She had seen him go down after all; She couldn't help but be a little upset with herself. If she had been able to fly then perhaps Hikari wouldn't have been blown away from the rest and then someone could've helped Celestine. She sighed heavily and curled up a little pulling her knees close to her body and resting her head against her knees. Kyran paused and glanced back down at Aamori for a moment. "Don't worry about him." He said lightly before looking for the others, Hikari in particular. He wanted to make sure she was alright. LaRae glanced back again briefly after the rain burst forth from the clouds. She looked at Nanashi and sighed softly. Clearly the increased amount of rain was getting to him. She didn't mind the rain so much, it was making the mark on her back feel better. She then glanced over at Hikari, checking to see how she was. Of course she wanted to help but she knew she couldn't fight the wind and bring her back over. She then noticed that Kyran had started to up his pace a little. Her eyes shifted slightly seeing the cave that he was headed to. She then looked back to Nanashi. "...It isn't much further." She said lightly. "Only to that cave where Kyran landed." She then turned back and picked up her pace slightly to hurry to the cave. She needed to rest her wings, she felt like they'd give out on her at any moment. Once she reached the cave she touched down and stumbled forward right into Kyran. She folded up her wings quickly and looked up at Kyran. "...Sorry..." She said quietly before turning around and taking a few steps away from him to wait for Nanashi. Nero continued to keep an eye on Hikari, again shaking his head lightly at the trouble she was having. Only now he felt a little sorry for not helping her sooner. He turned his attention to where Celestine had gone for only a moment and then focused on where Kyran was headed. He spotted the cave and nodded his head slightly. He had been flying at a decent pace, but now he wanted to get into that cave, and with everyone intact. He sighed and pulled his wings a little closer to him for a moment before flapping them extremely hard, giving him a great amount of momentum; Then he shut his wings again a little and shot through the air and the wind like a dart until he reached Hikari where he snapped his wings open fully again which brought him to a stop. He reached out and took Hikari's wrist tightly in his hand and pulled her close to him for a moment. Then before she'd have a chance to protest he slipped a hand under her legs and put the other at her back; Forcing her to have to fold her wings. He then held her close, all while avoiding eye contact. "...Hold on..." He said quietly before continuing on the path towards the cave. He managed to make short work of it given the conditions and the extra weight. When he reached the cave he touched down on the ledge opposite of Kyran and folded up his wings behind him before letting Hikari down to her feet. Kyran watched from the ledge at how easily Nero made it through the wind and rain over to Hikari. It was probably a good thing that he didn't go after her, there was no way he could've done it that easily. He smiled softly when he saw that Nero had taken her in his arms; Oddly enough he felt she was in good hands. When Nero finally reached the cave and touched down he looked over at Hikari and smiled faintly. "I trust you're alright now?" He said quietly, though not expecting an answer. He then glanced over to Nero and nodded lightly. "Can you keep an eye on them? I'll be back in a minute." He then took a few steps before letting himself fall from the ledge; His wings spread easily as he took flight trying to get back to where Celestine was. It took him a few minutes to fight the wind and back track to Celestine. He over shot where Celestine was on purpose so that he could turn around and glide down in much the same fashion as he had. As soon as he touched down near Celestine he lifted his hand to wipe his drenched hair from his face and he flapped his wings a couple times before letting them fold up a little behind him. "...You alright?" He asked looking over at him. It was obvious that he wasn't alright, he was soaked as well and unable to fly but he wasn't going to come out right and say 'let me carry you.' |
Nanashi watched as Hikari was forced further away from the group, but he still didn't think he could get to her to help her any. He kept his eyes on her though until LaRae spoke and drew his attention to the cave. He sighed slightly and his teeth started to shatter as soon as he unclenched his jaw, so he clenched it again and continued forward, trying to speed up again. When he finally got to the cave he staggered horrible when he touched down and folded his wings. His entire body was trembling so badly that he could barely stand up straight. He just sat down quickly, almost collapsing to his knees and wrapped his arms around himself tightly, trying to conserve some kind of heat, though he was already freezing. If anyone touched his skin at the moment they may think they were touching ice at first. He didn't even bother to raise his head to look at LaRae, he just started trying to curl in on himself as much as was physically possible.
Hikari was starting to panic a little when she couldn't get back to the others. She had her eyes closed against the rain, flapping her wings as hard as she could, but she wasn't really getting anywhere. Nero nearly gave her a heart attack when he grabbed her wrist, and actually earned a quiet squeak from her. When he pulled her into his arms she tried to look up at him, though the sheets of water slapping her in the face made that nearly impossible. She was starting to get pretty chilly herself so when he told her to hold on, she did just that, latching onto him for dear life and snuggling against him slightly as she tried, and failed, to keep from shivering. When he touched down she finally opened her eyes and released him almost reluctantly so he could put her down again. Her hair and everything else was completely drenched and plastered to her. She quickly swept the water from her eyes and looked over to Kyran, nodding slightly. "Y-yeah..." she said tiredly. She felt her fore head and sighed when she realized that the gem was completely visible thanks to the rain. She tried to cover it, but with her hair this wet, it was practically impossible to hide at all, even covered you could see right though her pieced out bangs. Celestine ended up gliding all the way to the ground, stumbling a bit before finally falling on his face when he hit the ground. The added weight on his back made him terribly off-balance and the way that he landed merely weighed him down. It too him a moment to find the strength but he finally pushed himself up and crawled his his feet, still breathing heavily. He'd exhausted himself trying to stay in the air once his wings got wet. He sighed as he pushed his sopping bangs out of his face and wiped his eyes for all the good it did him. He was already starting to shiver. He was used to the winds around here, but being completely soaked and having the wind on his was really pretty cold considering how small he was (made to look even smaller now that his clothes were clinging to him and showing just how small he really is rather than hanging loosely around him). He was actually surprised when Kyran landed near him and asked if he was alright. He nodded slightly since he wasn't hurt. "Th...the c-cave is....r-right up there." He told him since he was wondering if he hadn't seen it on the way. Then again, he didn't see Aamori anywhere. He looked back toward the rock wall a good 50 feet again and mentally groaned. That was going to be hell to climb, and he was already tired. He glanced back to Kyran again and sighed softly, "Go get out of the rain... I'll be up in a few minutes..." He said dully. He would not flat out ask Kyran to help him up there. He was sure he could see that he couldn't fly anymore, but he wasn't about to ask. If Kyran offered he'd think about accepting, but it wouldn't be his idea. |
LaRae moved over closer to Nanashi once he'd touched down, though she was surprised to see him on the ground so quickly and curling too. She knelt down next to him and gently reached over to brush her hand to his cheek. She almost immediately pulled her hand back surprised at how cold he was. Feeling his cold skin sent a shiver down her spine. She brought her hand back and started to rub both of her hands together making them warmer. "...You're so cold..." She said quietly. The cold rain and winds hadn't bothered her too badly though that was mostly because of the heat she'd felt just before the rain set in. Otherwise she'd be over come with chills by now. She was actually kind of thankful her mark had acted up. She continued to rub her hands together, even when she moved so that she was now knelt down directly in front of Nanashi. She smiled softly and took her hands and quickly pressed them to either side of his face. It wasn't much but she hoped the friction from rubbing her hands together quickly would produce some warmth for him.
Aamori continued to sit on the ground of the cave watching as the others started to touch down. She sighed softly still waiting to see Celestine; From where she was sitting she hadn't noticed that Kyran was gone. She then rested her head back against her knees. Nero stepped inside the cave out of the rain once he'd set Hikari down and took quite a few steps inside away from everyone else. He didn't say a word to any of them, and acted as if he'd done nothing at all to help Hikari. Once he was out of the way he proceeded to lift his hands and try to flatten out his hair. The wind and rain had played with his hair and it was a mess. Though once he straightened it all out again it looked exactly the way it had before they started out. It was probably a bonus for him that his hair always looked wet. He sighed heavily taking note to how drenched his clothes were. He knew it could be bad health wise to stay in wet clothes, unfortunately he wasn't exactly in a place where he could strip down. Otherwise he might have already. He took a moment though and removed his shirt and tossed it down on the ground below him. At least he could get out of some of his clothes. He then sat down and started removing his boots and socks then set them off to the side as well which left him with nothing more then his black and gray camouflage pants. Kyran sighed softly hearing what Celestine said. Go figure he'd not come right out and ask for help. He then shook his head lightly. "I'm not getting out of the rain without you." He said quietly before his tail uncurled behind him. He'd thought about how heavy Celestine would be bogged down with all that water weight on top of his weapon, he'd have to make use of his tail too to make sure he didn't drop him. Luckily for him his tail was pretty strong, if Celestine had been dry he might have been able to move the boy with nothing more then that. He sighed again and didn't say a word before letting his wings stretch out again. He took a couple steps closer to Celestine, stood behind him and then his tail gently crept over and wrapped around the boys waist then tightened slightly. Of course Kyran didn't want to embarrass the kid by carrying him as he did Aamori so he slipped his arms under Celestine's shoulders and positioned his arms so that once he was in the air Celestine's shoulders would rest right at his bent elbows. He did this all fast enough hoping to not hear a word of gripe from Celestine. Now, it took a few hard thrusts of his wings before he could get himself off the ground from a stand still position but he managed. He was thankful he didn't have to go too far like this. He might have ended up dropping the kid if the distance was any greater. He looked down at Celestine for a moment once he was in the air, he would've told him to hold on or not move too much, but he was pretty sure that much was obvious. He hurried as fast as he could up the mountain to the cave. At least there was one good thing, with as heavy as they were together the wind wasn't going to just blow them around like toys. He didn't move quiet as fast as before but he managed to get to the ledge yet again with a little bit of a struggle. He made sure to set Celestine down before his wings nearly gave out on him. He fell to one knee and his wings looked like putty as they dropped down behind him. He huffed heavily as he then glanced up to Celestine. "...Y-you're going to be a-alright now... r-right?" |
Nanashi glanced up slowly when LaRae touched his cheek and then jerked her hand back. He just nodded weakly when she mentioned how cold he was and started to open his mouth to respond, though all he managed to get out was a lot of chattering teeth. He closed his eyes again, still trying to get warm. Most people would look at him and think he was exaggerating, but he really was kind of freezing. When LaRae knelt down and put her hands to his face he leaned his cheek into her palm. For once, he really didn't seem to think too much about what he was doing because he just leaned into her, trying to press himself against her a bit to try to keep warm. He wouldn't have done anything like that normally, but he was too cold to resist doing what instinct told him to do. He just closed his eyes and tried to rest against her, though he still couldn't stop his body from shaking.
Hikari looked around as she entered the cave and shook herself off a little. She was a little surprised to see the way Nanashi was acting; she could see him shivering from all the way across the cave. After a moment she glanced back toward Nero as he started to take his shirt off and shook her head. "...Thank you, Nero." she said softly, though just loud enough from him to hear all the way back there. She finally grabbed his hair and tried to ring the water out of it before tossing it behind her again. Right now she was really glad that she had a leather pack so her things couldn't get wet. Celestine was ready to head for the wall and start climbing until he heard Kyran speak again. "...I'm com--" he started though he gasped when Kyran suddenly went to pick him up. He was about to tell him that he was too heavy right now, but he was already in the air. He froze once Kyran had him up in the air and he latched onto his arms for dear life as he closed his eyes. When they touched down Celestine let go instantly and took a step back as Kyran collapsed to one knee. He looked at him a little sympathetically and nodded. "....Yes." he said quietly. "...Thank you." He was at least glad that he actually didn't have to scale that wall. If he had he probably would have literally passed out as soon as he got up here. He finally put a hand lightly on Kyran's shoulder and then nodded toward the cave door. He would have offered his hand, but Kyran was so much taller than him that would be about useless. "Come on...get out of the rain." He said quietly as he started back tot he cave entrance. He stepped through the water that was cascading down in front of the entrance an sighed as he shook himself off a little. He pulled his hair around to the front and made a nice puddle as he tied to ring it out. Behind him, both of his wings were literally pouring water, and there was no way that he could ring those out any. He sighed and opened his wings a little, trying to shake them out, thought hat motions only caused him to lose his balance and stagger a little. He sighed and folded them again figuring it was safer to just wait the five or six hours it would take them to air dry in this weather. He glanced over to Aamori and shook his head. "So...enough water for you now?" he asked in a half joking tone. |
LaRae was a little surprised to see him trying to get closer to her, after all he'd never really done that before. She sighed softly a small smile creeping onto her face. She gently pulled her hands away from his face and moved slightly so that she was leaning forward. She reached over and gently wrapped her arms around him trying to pull him close to her in hopes of warming him a little. She'd ignored the shaking for the most part, she was mostly concerned with trying to get his body temperature back to, or as close to what it was.
Nero lifted his head slightly when heard Hikari utter her thanks. He focused briefly on the gem on her forehead, he hadn't noticed it before. He merely quirked a brow slightly and went back to sitting quietly by himself. He scooted back a little so that he could rest his back against the wall of the cave. He sighed lightly and crossed his arms over his chest and started to relax. Kyran lifted his head for a moment to look at Celestine when he placed his hand on his shoulder, then spoke. He merely nodded and forced his wings to fold up at his back before he staggered to his feet. Carrying the extra weight really tuckered him out. He passed through the water as Celestine had though he didn't stop walking. He was tired enough that if he stopped he'd be down for awhile and he wanted to be somewhere a little out of the way. He managed to get a few feet in, a little past LaRae and Nanashi and not nearly as far back as Nero before he finally just flopped on the ground. Of course he wasn't thinking and as soon as he hit the stone floor both Mati and Ajara smacked into his legs and stabbed him right above his knees. He didn't notice at first just because he was tired and cold but as soon as he looked down and saw the small puddle of watered down blood he lifted his hand and smacked his forehead. He then sighed heavily and reached down with both hands, wrapping one around each of the handles and then pulling them out quickly. He then tossed the blades off to the side a little and grumbled. It'd been far too long since he had to remember the blades were attached to him so of course he forgot. The pain hadn't quite set in yet, he was a lot colder then he looked. Every article of clothing he was wearing was nearly skin tight and soaked so the cold was being pressed to his body. He ignored what he'd just done to himself and proceeded to follow the lead Nero had taken by lifting his hands to his vest and starting to unbutton it so it could be removed. Aamori lifted her head for a moment when she heard Celestine's voice. She'd embarrass herself terribly but her face lit up when she registered that he had made it. Her eyes followed Kyran for a moment as he walked past but the looked back up at Celestine and smiled softly. "...Don't joke... I'd be tempted to go lay out there if it wasn't so cold." She said with a small chuckle. She happened to notice just how soaked he was, including the shape of his wings. "...You know... I can try and dry those for you..." She said quietly, of course meaning his wings. She was a water dragon after all, who said one couldn't teach themselves to be like a sponge? She moved her hands away from her legs and set them down in her lap as she stretched her legs out in front of her. She wasn't quite as cold as she was earlier, either that or she'd ignored it now that Celestine was back. |
Nanashi was relieved when LaRae didn't seem to mind him getting closer to her and just nuzzled his head into the crook of her neck and closed his eyes, still trying to keep his teeth from chattering. He felt a little better now, but he was still freezing, and it was going to take more than a couple of minutes of clinging to LaRae to warm him up. "...Th-th-th-thanks." he stammered through chattering teeth. He tried to relax a little, which helped his body stop shivering quite so badly, but he still couldn't stop completely. He wasn't paying much attention to what Nero and Kyran were doing, but even still, he wasn't about to take his shirt off; not in front of everyone.
Hikari looked up when Kyran came into the cave and smiled slightly as she watched him wander into the cave. When he sat down she took a step toward him, though she grew a little concerned when he suddenly pulled the blades off and tossed them to the side. She hurried over to him and knelt down without a word, looking at the small puddle of the ground and then to his leg. She gently placed her hand on his knee and leaned forward a little, trying to inspect the damage that he'd done to his leg when he stabbed it while he tried to get out of his shirt. "You alright, Kyran?" she asked softly, glancing back to his face again. Celestine shook his head slightly when she said that she'd go lay in it if it wasn't so cold. "Be my guest." he said, motioning toward the door, "You probably get used to the temperature after a while." He blinked when she said that she could try to dry out his wings. "Oh...well..." he glanced back to them for a moment and then sighed softly. What could it hurt? He walked over to her and sat down on his knees in front of her with his back facing her. "You can try." He said simply. They were really drenched and the feathers were all clumping together now. He just sighed softly and placed his hands in his lap as he waited. "...Just don't waste too much energy." |
LaRae continued to hold onto him. She merely nodded her head lightly when he managed to say thanks. "...It's the least I can do." She said quietly. She gently rested her head against his and shut her eyes. She smiled faintly when she noticed that his shaking had subsided a little. She was still surprised at how cold he had gotten, not to mention that it didn't take long for him to frozen to the touch.
Kyran had finished unbuttoning his vest and was leaning forward trying to get his wings through the reinforced slits in the back when he saw Hikari come over. He'd just managed to pull his other wing out and toss the vest over on top of the blades. He glanced up at her quite tired still and smiled weakly. "...Yeah..." He paused as he started to pull his shirt out from his pants and lift it up over his head; Then fight his wings out of the shirt too. Once it was off he tossed it aside as well and looked at Hikari again. "...It's nothing. Just a slice." He said quietly as he let his back fall against the wall of the cave. It really wasn't anything to be too alarmed about, the blades were quite sharp so all it did was slice into his leg right above his knee. It hadn't even gone in too deep, so it should heal itself fine and leave little to no trace that it'd ever happened. His pants on the other hand now had a nice slice through them as well. He sighed heavily and let his head fall back against the wall as well. Aamori sat up on her knees and inched closer to him. She held her hands out for a moment and looked at them. She'd only remembered trying something like this once before when she was little. It was quite a humorous story she thought. When she was little, all dressed up in a gorgeous pale blue dress she was supposed to be going out somewhere with her parents; Rather then listen like she was supposed to she went outside to play with the other children, long story short she ended up covered in muddy water. She knew she'd be scolded for ruining her dress, and somehow after sitting on the ground thinking about it long enough she'd managed to literally suck all of the muddy water from her dress with her hands and leave it in nothing but a puddle on the ground. She'd from that day never used tried the ability again, so it wasn't perfected and by no means did she know exactly what she was doing. Though, she'd never go announcing that since Celestine had so easily offered to let her try and help. She sighed lightly after taking a deep breath. She turned her hands back towards his wings, palms laying flat; Close enough that she was nearly touching them. She sat there for a moment trying to remember how she did it before; Then she thought to try doing an ability that she'd already perfected backwards. It wouldn't use much of any energy at all since she'd be absorbing the water. Her hands produced a very faint aura around them which extended around his wings too. Her hands had started to form what looked like black wholes, though they were blue. Then after a few moments the aura around his wings had started to pull some of the water from his wings and travel back into the black holes in the palms of her hands. One could actually see the water the moving from his wings into her hands if they were watching. She sighed softly when she felt the cold water hit her hands; It'd take a little while to gather most of the water from his wings but she didn't mind sitting long enough to do it. She had surprised herself a little, she hadn't expected to be able to do this. It was just a thought after all, to reverse the ability she used to wash face off earlier. That task was merely to produce the water, so if the water was already there taking it away should be easy. She smiled weakly and continued to focus on what she was doing. |
Nanashi smiled weakly when he felt her lean her head against his. He finally pried his arms away from his chest and wrapped them around LaRae. He thought for a second about taking his coat off, but the material on it was so thin by now that it wouldn't take long to dry anyway. He opened his eyes for a moment to glance around and saw everyone with the usual person and Nero off to himself. He really wished they could get a fore going somehow, but he knew anything outside would be soaked by now. He sighed and closed his eyes just before loud crack of thunder suddenly erupted outside and echoed through the cave, causing him to jump and burrow his face into LaRae's neck and curl up a little more in her arms. His ears laid back and he started shaking more again how that he'd tensed back up. He couldn't help it; he absolutely hated thunder...especially that kind.
Hikari nodded slightly and she sighed, leaning against the wall beside him, "Be careful with those blades." she said with a soft smile. He startled slightly when the loud clap of thunder rang through the cave and looked outside, only now realized that it was doing a lot more than jut pouring water outside. the entrance to the cave was literally covered by just one big sheet of water, and it was lightning beyond it. "Wow...he wasn't kidding, this is bad..." Celestine just sat quietly as Aamori worked with his wings, occasionally trying to glance back to see how it was going. He couldn't really tell what she was doing back there, but he could feel the weight being lifted off of his back. He saw a bright flash of lightning through the entrance of the cave so when the thunder rolled though, he wasn't startled by it, though he did cover his ears just before hand as if he knew it was going to be painfully loud. That was the only thing about staying in a cave this high up, the thunder echoed inside it and it was really nerve wracking...at least to him. |
LaRae had just started to relax when Nanashi wrapped his arms around her. She smiled softly and nuzzled against him slightly. Her eyes shot open when the thunder rolled and echoed through the cave. She was startled, though she wasn't sure if it was because of the thunder itself or the fact that Nanashi seemed to have practically jumped out of his skin. She gave a soft sigh and relaxed a bit again before slightly tightening her grip on him. It was pretty obvious that he didn't care too much for thunder; Unfortunately there wasn't anything she could do to make it stop.
Kyran wasn't phased in the slightest by the roll of thunder; It was actually rather comforting to him, regardless of how loud it was. He seemed to relax a bit more now after hearing it and he glanced over at Hikari. "...Don't worry. I won't let that happen again.." He said quietly as he shifted his eyes towards the caves entrance. "...I think it's nice..." He paused. "...It's been awhile since I've heard such a storm." He added lastly as he turned his head back and shut his eyes gently. Aamori had been concentrating so hard on what she was doing that when the thunder clapped she was startled so badly that she fell backwards. She'd rolled back right off of her legs and hit the ground; Causing the concentrated aura that was flowing from his wings to her hands to disperse and the water in transit to her hands to splash down hitting her and the ground. She nearly choked on her own breath when she finally started to sit back up. She set her hands behind her to hold herself up and sighed heavily. She hadn't expected that to be so loud. She looked over to Celestine and focused on his wings for a moment before sitting up right on her knees again, completely unphased by the water she'd been dosed with. "...Sorry, I only got about half way done..." She said quietly rather embarrassed with herself for being thrown off so easily by thunder. "...I can continue if you'd like." Nero was easily on the verge of falling asleep and startled easily when the thunder's echo rolled through the cave. He'd jumped slightly and shook his head realizing it was nothing more then the weather. He sighed heavily and shifted so that he was laying down on his side like he usually did with his head propped up in his hand. |
Nanashi didn't bother to raise his head out of LaRae's shoulder after he burrowed into it. He just hugged her more tightly and tried to think of something else besides the raging store outside. He was probably going to cringe every time it thundered, especially like that. He closed his eyes again and nuzzled against her a little more.
Hikari rubbed her ears slightly and looked over to Kyran again. She smiled and laughed softly, "Of course you would feel right at home." she said playfully. She sighed and leaned her head over on his shoulder, closing her eyes. She half wanted to get closer to him since she was still petty chilly herself, but she kept a bit of distance between the rest of them and just let her head touch him. She was a little jealous that he was able to get out of some of his wet clothes. She wanted to change, but she didn't have anything to change into or anywhere away from the boys to do it. Celestine looked back to Aamori when she fell over and blinked before turning around. He tilted his head slightly she said that she was only half done. He sighed softly and shook his head when she said that she could continue. "No...that's good enough. Thanks." he told her as he started to stand up. He looked around the cave, seeing Nanashi curled up with LaRae. He could see that he was shaking pretty bad and assumed that he must be cold. How that he thought about it, he was still trembling a little himself, but he wasn't about to do like the other guys had and take off his shirt. After a moment he started toward the back of the cave, well past Nero. The light didn't venture all the way to the back of the cave from the entrance, so the cave was really a lot bigger than it looked, especially if you judged by the size of the entrance. The ceiling was very high, one could probably nearly take flight further back. There were several crevices back there where he had random things stashed. He was sure the others thought this was just some random cave, but actually, this was more or less where he lived. He had plenty of wood stashed back there and actually had a place in the center of the larger area for a fire. He went to grab some of the wood and pit it in a pile and then picked up a couple of pieces of flint from the floor by the fire circle. It didn't take him long to have a fire going. It was pretty apparent that he was used to doing things like this in the dark since he was able to do it so quickly. Once the fire was lit in the back it was easier to see that the cave was a bit bigger than it first appeared and also that it was apparently inhabited since now one could see the large stack of dry wood and what looked like a sad excuse for a bed that was placed on a sort of nook on the rocks. The bed pretty much consisted of a piece of cloth spread over a lot of dried grass and leaves. Celestine just sighed and went to sit in front of the fire, holding his hands out to try to warm them. |
LaRae was still holding onto Nanashi and not paying attention to anything else really that was going on around them. Though the occasional rumble of thunder would grab her attention but then she'd just shut her eyes again and start to relax. She hadn't even noticed Celestine head past them; Otherwise she might have payed attention to what he was doing.
Aamori just sat there for a moment with her hands rested in her lap when he declined her offer to finish drying his wings. She nodded slightly. "...Alright." She watched for only a moment while Celestine started off towards the back of the cave, into the dark. She sighed softly and turned her head to look outside, well, as outside as she could look given the large sheet of water that distorted the view. She finally stood up and shook herself a little; She was still soaked for the most part. She started to head back the way Celestine had gone but stopped, shook her head lightly and turned back around and walked over to the sheet of water. She extended her hand and let the water run over it for a moment. So far this was only the second largest amount of water she'd seen since they started this trip. She sighed softly and then moved over to the side of the entrance where maybe she wouldn't be so easily noticed and then moved right into the down pour of the sheet of water. She smiled faintly and then sat down crossing her legs so that she could put her feet on her knees in a meditative like state. Though she merely rested her hands in her lap and shut her eyes gently just relaxing letting the water fall on her. It was incredibly relaxing, even if it was freezing cold water. Kyran opened his eyes again and glanced down at Hikari when she spoke and then smiled softly when she rested her head against his shoulder. His attention was snagged when he noticed Celestine walk by and head off into the darkness. He didn't think anything more of it until he noticed the fire start up a little after. He quirked a brow slightly before realizing that Celestine must have come here often. He hadn't thought he actually lived here everyday; Or at least he was hoping that wasn't the case. He nudged Hikari softly with his shoulder, knowing she must be cold. "Hey..." He paused. "...Why don't you go sit by the fire?" Nero only cracked his eye open a little when he heard someone coming closer to him. He focused on Celestine for a moment and then shut his eye again. He started to relax again but found himself opening his eyes again when it suddenly got a little brighter in the cave. Of course he then lifted his other hand to cover his eyes a little. Sudden light really bothered his eyes. He gave a soft sigh seeing the fire that Celestine had started and then he shut his eyes again and went on laying there by himself. |
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