His hands continued to run his hands through her hair. From time to time, he would take small strands of her hair and try to braid it, but he wasn't nearly as good as Rroy, Nieko, or Fritz when it came to these things.

He was pulled from his petting when he hard footsteps approaching. Scowl on his face, he leaned into Eleanor. "Fear not, boss lady, I will protect you." A quick, dry peck was planted on her nose before he returned her body to the grass.

Rising, he positioned himself behind a tree. This was the best spot to jump someone. Not to mention, it wasn't too far from the stream that had sandy banks.

Slowly, he twirled his hand and the sand began to snake his way. It was subtle and someone most would miss.

With the footsteps growing closer, he slammed his fist shut. The sand immediately shifted together to form a katana. Pressing it to his body, he awaited the perfect time to po--

"Eh?!" He fumbled backwards when Nixie's face got close enough to kiss him. As they were the same height, their lips were literally aligned with one another.

Blush growing on his face, he shuffled back before sheepishly ranking a hand through his red hair.

"Glad I hesitated," he mentioned. At the raising of brows, he revealed the sand-colored katana. "I was," his eyes jerked to Eleanor, "ready to defend her."

Slinging the katana through the belt around his hips, he turned to Eleanor. "I gave her some herbs and berries. She felt feverish." He pouted. "I think she over exerted herself. I should have stepped in sooner. Instead, I took the lazy approach." He grit his teeth. "When you told me she was the first, I thought that meant she had honed her attacks. Looks like she hasn't."

Taking a seat beside Eleanor, he put a hand back on the woman's brown hair. "She put up a good fight though. She did great. They were so distracted by her that it gave me a chance to take down the rest." He wasn't sure if the others knew about her powers so he purposely left out the details. "We then escaped. As we started climbing down the stairs, she got dizzy. Nearly fell off the ladder. I didn't let that happen though. I carried her down on my back and then held her in my arms until I got here."

There was a faint smile on his face. "She didn't have a chance to tell me the directions so I figured it was best to wait here. I hoped someone would come looking for us." He looked up to glance at Lydia and Reggie. Then to Nyx. "I'm glad you did." He knew it was likely her idea. She had that maternal feel to her.

Rolling his eyes away, he rubbed his arm while purposely avoiding Nyx's gaze.

"I, uh, also haven't been entirely truthful with you. That number I shared? That's my number but I was put through a ton of rigorous tests. As you know, men don't adapt well to the treatments. When they saw I hadn't died, they pushed for harsher testing. I," he bit his lip, "I got pretty good at controlling my powers."

For a moment he was quiet. "So please don't look down at me. Just because I'm one of the newer ones doesn't mean I don't know what I'm doing. As I implied to Nixie, I'm familiar with killing. I was a soldier. I had many missions that tested my resolution. I'm... I'm tougher than I look."

Rolling onto his toes, he glanced back down to Eleanor. Bending, he drew her small form back into his arms. "Well, we should probably think about getting her to that cave. Don't need her catching a cold."