The Killing Grounds (Peregrine x PavellumPendulum)

Ray nodded slightly, glancing down at the fire again as Shiori spoke. The little flame had managed to burn its way through the small sticks they'd provided, leaving a tiny mass of glowing embers at the bottom of their fire. It'd be a lot harder to smother the fire now, so Lareina grabbed a couple of the bigger sticks, carefully stacking them over the fire while trying not to burn her hand. She was fairly sure they'd need more heat before they'd be able to boil water. It certainly didn't feel warm enough if she compared it to the burner on her stove. More wood would help with that.

"So… try and figure out where we are?" Ray asked. It wasn't a bad plan. They didn't have any chance of getting out of this if they were just wandering in circles. However, the thought of running into something else, another village of monster insects, or who knew what the fuck else, made her stomach clench in fear. "Do you think it's… safe to wander around blindly like that?"

It wasn't as though Lareina had any other alternatives. She'd barely provided any suggestions in this time they'd been talking, let alone offering helpful information. However, having someone there to answer her questions, even if the answers were just guesses and theories, was somehow comforting.
 
The woman watched as Ray tended to the fire. It was comforting to finally be resting. The mood wasn't very light at all, but planning was never a bad idea. Though Shiori would give anything to just... Not have to worry about any of this, they had no such luxury. The prospect of leaving the forest and hopefully maybe finding civilization, one that wouldn't do them any harm at least, was tempting. "I don't really know. It's not like we have many options. I'm not really an expert in geography and even if I was, I guess it wouldn't mean anything if we, uh... Aren't on Earth." she shrugged, staring up at the blanket of trees branches above them, squinting, "I mean... That would be crazy, yeah, but I guess anything's possible right now."

Lowering her head back down to her arms, the girl rocked in her spot, continuing on, "Getting out of the forest should be top priority after taking care of our immediate survival needs, really. I don't know what else we could do if not that besides building a cottage and saying we live here now." She snorted, tone dry.

It was difficult, not knowing anything. She felt out of her element, nervous of her every move. Normally, she was quick sure of herself, but that was when everything made sense to her. She knew her place. She knew what the routine was and the role she was to play.

Here? She couldn't shake the feeling that she was just... Fodder for something bigger.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Peregrine
Aren't on Earth.

It was a thought that had been niggling at the back of Ray's head since the moment she'd appeared here, and been surrounded by giant monsters. Of course, there was no obvious evidence to support it. She wasn't the kind of person who would be able to tell where she was in the world based off the kind of plants that grew there. All she knew was that the sky was still blue, the plants were still green, and a single, warm sun still sent its rays down from on high. There was nothing to say this wasn't Earth. Nothing to say that, if she walked in one direction for long enough, she wouldn't be able to find a city and take a plane back home.

Nothing except giant monsters and suddenly appearing superpowers and magical teleportation that spirited her away at a moment's notice. And gut instinct. Gut instinct that said there was too much going on for it to be that simple.

"You're right," Ray agreed with a sigh. She rubbed her face in her hands, suddenly and oddly feeling like she was about to cry. "You're right, of course. It's not like… Not like we can do nothing. We don't know anything. Hell, we know less than fucking nothing. But we're gonna survive, and we're gonna figure it out."

Almost as quickly as it seemed like she'd been about to fall apart, Lareina pulled herself back together. She'd always been good at confronting challenges. She'd figured out how to wrangle her brothers, how to make a living for herself and support her family even when she'd been on the verge of failing out of high school. She didn't have to understand what was going on. That was the smart, college educated Shoiri's job. All she had to do was figure out how to keep them going.

And that was something she could do.

"But survival first. And right now, that means water." Her hand dropped back down to the thin sheet of metal she'd built the fire on, and some of it flowed back towards her fingers. There was still metal inside her body, but an instinctual part of her was unwilling to run the risk of emptying it. Perhaps it was the same instinct that had made it so hard for her to release the metal in the first place. Frowning to herself, Lareina did her best to ignore the instinct. She wouldn't be controlled by her own powers.

The metal flowed into a low stand, four legs surrounding the fire, triangle welds supporting a mesh surface. The licking tongues of flame just barely managed to brush the diamond-shaped gaps in the metal. Forcibly concentrating, a pot began to form in her hands. Just like the sheet of metal under the fire and the stand itself, the pot was thin-sided. However, it was clearly stable-sided.

It wasn't until Ray relaxed her concentration that she suddenly realized there was a ringing in her ears. At some point during the creation of the pot, her face had gone white as a sheet. Her heartbeat pounded loudly in her chest, and a strange dizziness seized her mind. Trying to keep her breathing steady, Lareina sat down the pot carefully. She couldn't understand. She was certain there was still more metal inside her, albeit not much.

At that moment, she had completely forgotten that metal was an inherent part of the human body.

"Can you... go get the water? I think I'm... a bit tired."
 
Science meant testing things until you found the laws of the subject. Hypotheses upon hypotheses, testing over and over again until something proved to be true. And even then, it was only accepted as true until the next thing came around to prove it wrong. Life had made sense before. She'd learned the rules growing up, but here, where people had power, where teleportation apparently existed, where they could find no trace of civilization... Shiori was finding that she was going to have the learn the rules all over again except that this time, there was no manual. There were no previous studies. She was just here, in a dirty dress, with an exhausted companion.

Shiori carefully placed her hand on Ray's shoulder, squeezing it gently and briefly, before letting her arm drop as she closed her eyes for a minute. They had napped earlier, yes, but she was still tired. All the questions weighing on her mind did not help in the least. ... But Ray, after collecting herself, was fine.

The woman could not help but watch her with some type of admiration. Despite the exhaustion, despite the lack of a clear path, she continued on. Of course, they'd both have to do so, but perhaps it gave her some strength to remember that she was not alone. Shiori nodded, watching the other concentrate as the metal flowed out of them.

"Nice work!" she exclaimed, when the pot and rack were finished, but seeing Ray's expression, she stood up quickly, frowning. "Um... Okay, I'll go. Take deep breaths, okay?" she reassured her, worry filling her features, "I'll be right back."

She rushed back to the stream with the pot in hand, not wanting to leave the other woman alone for too long. Thankfully, it wasn't too far, so scooping up as much water as she could was the easy part. The hard part was getting it back to the other girl. She'd spilled some, of course, by the time she'd returned, not wanting Ray to keel over while she was gone, but the pot was still more than half-full at least. Carefully, she set it on the rack, before looking to the other girl once more.

"Do you feel sick? Maybe this was too much..." she mumbled, drawing her brows together.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Peregrine
Just as Shiori suggested, Ray took slow, deep breaths, trying to ignore the black halo that crowded around the edges of her vision. It was the feeling like when she stood up too fast after she lay down on a bench in the garage, resting in the brief downtime between one job and the next. Except this one was worse, because it didn't go away after she stabilized herself against a wall or a workbench for a couple of seconds.

Instead, she simply had to sit in that half-darkened world, listening to the ringing in her ears, wondering and waiting if she was going to faint, or puke, or get swallowed up by some monstrosity while she was incapable of paying attention to anything other than the pounding of her heart and the slowly building headache that was arising above her temples.

At some point, she didn't know exactly when, she'd drawn her knees up towards her chest, once more carefully resting her arms in the cradle of her head. It helped with the dizziness, and when she heard the sound of metal hitting metal and a brief slosh of water, she lifted her eyes to see that her vision had mostly returned to normal. However, the exhausting feeling that was somewhat reminiscent of being sick or drunk didn't fade in the least.

Maybe this was too much...

Shiori's words sent her mind spinning back to metal, and the burning, craving desire inside of her to reabsorb it. The temptation was almost too much to resist, and Lareina had to clench her teeth to keep herself from reabsorbing the metal stand over the fire, sending the pot of water spilling onto the fire they'd gone to such effort to build.

Was she addicted? Her aunt had tried meth once, and Lareina and her mother had both had to watch the woman spiral off into addiction, destroying her family in the process. Had metal somehow transformed into her drug? Was she going to spend the rest of her life constantly fighting the desire to put more and more metal into her system, until she eventually crushed herself with her own weight?

Even as the idea caused shivers to start crawling up her back, she knew that she didn't have any choice. In somewhere as dangerous and filled with the unknown as this, she had to do her best to keep herself in peak condition, whatever that meant for the long term.

"I think... it might have been." Ray agreed slowly. "Could I have the sword sheath back? I'll make it again later but... it'd help right now."
 
Ray wasn't looking well. The worry flooded Shiori's expression. The other girl was all she could hold onto, how could she not? They were a team now, a unit... The worst thing about it was that she wasn't sure what to do. Ray couldn't just suck back in all the metal from over the fire, since they needed it for the water. Plus, Shiori didn't even know how heat played into all of this. Would it hurt her to reabsorb hot metal? Would her body stabilize the temperature? Shiori placed her hand on Ray's shoulder, chewing on her bottom lip as she watched the girl shake.

Oh, but the sheath! The girl lit up, nodding immediately and grabbing the sheath from her side, drawing the sword and laying it down a bit further away from them. She held out the sheath for Ray carefully, speaking, "Good idea. Until I can spit out some more metal for you, maybe you can hold onto this. I can just hold the sword in my hand when we start walking again." Though she wasn't keen on using her fragile little arms to carry the sword the whole time, it was certainly a better idea than having Ray travel in this state.

She glanced over to the pot, impatiently waiting for the water to come to a boil. "Just rest up, okay? I'll let you know when the water is ready."
 
  • Sweet
Reactions: Peregrine
Lareina's hand trembled slightly as she reached out to take the sheath from Shiori, despite her attempt to suppress it. The metal started sinking into her skin before she could even properly grab it, like water vanishing into dry soil, and Ray had to keep herself from wincing even as a rush of relief coursed through her body, like a person dying of thirst swallowing a cup of water.

Trying not to let her thoughts show on her face, Lareina relaxed, allowing the sheath to vanish back inside of her. Her dizziness began to subside somewhat, while her vision began to brighten. It was clear that it would take a bit of time for her to fully recover, but she was recovering.

"Thanks," Ray said softly. "I'll be fine. And when we start moving again, I'll be taking back the pot and stand and shit. I'll make you another sheath then."

Lowering her head back into the cradle of her arms, Lareina took a slow, deep breath. "I'm sure I'll feel better soon. Let me know if you need anything."
 
The metal seemed to help. That was good, at least. The relief showed on Shiori's face without hesitation: she was never really one to hide her feelings. She sat quietly, switching between staring at Ray, then staring at the fire every once in a while. Thankfully, it didn't take too long for the bubbles to begin rising in the water as it heated up more and more. "Hmm..." the girl hummed aloud after a few moments, idly watching the pot, "It'll probably boil over in a minute or two. Uh... How am I supposed to pick it up?" She stared at the hot metal now, realizing that the whole pot was metal and thus far too hot to pick up and move away from the fire in order to cool down, "... I wish I could cough up some oven mitts, pfft."

Her body sang, watching the water. She knew she needed it to soothe the itch her throat, to be able to conjure up anything else from the pit of her stomach. It certainly wasn't a pleasant feeling, but running on empty did not make her feel particularly good, especially when she felt like she was being dead weight in the first place.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Peregrine
As Ray rested next to the warmth of the fire, her eyes closed, Ray continued to feel her body relaxing and recovering. Of course, without the walk or taking care of the fire, or the pressure of having to escape monsters, to keep her distracted, the feeling of the hunger and thirst burning inside her became all the more present. She didn't know exactly how long had passed since she'd been summoned to the world, but Ray hadn't had time to take her lunch break before she'd been whisked away to wherever this was. How many hours had it been since she'd last eaten?

By the time Shiori spoke, Ray was basically back to normal. She still felt vaguely nauseated, but that felt like it had more to do with hunger than dizziness, and her headache had almost completely gone away. However, as she looked at the water, a frown crossed her face.

"Shit," she muttered. "I didn't even think about that. Um. Fuck, can I even touch it?" She extended a hand towards the metal stand, before pulling her fingers back with a faint hiss before she'd even touched it. The faint pain radiating from her fingertips was enough for her to guess that trying to touch the metal right now would be a bad plan.

"Okay. Fuck. Plan B?" This time, she carefully coated her skin in a new layer of metal, extending her now-protected fingers towards the pot. A few sharp, nail like protuberances emerged from her fingers, seeming almost eagerly drawn towards the metal structure. As soon as the metal touched the stand, she was able to feel both the stand and the pot falling back under her control.

In fear of what would happen if she accidentally absorbed such hot metal under some stupid reflex, she pulled back her hand almost immediately. However, this time, her withdrawal seemed far more controlled than reflexive.

Reaching out her hand one last time, Lareina's fingers once again welded to the pot. With a smooth but quick motion, Ray lifted her hand, carrying the pot along with her, before setting it on the ground next to the fire with a small clatter of metal against metal.

The pot was now far enough away from the fire that it'd be able to cool quicker. However, with the water in front of her and undeniably drinkable, Ray was finding it all but impossible to be patient. Even though she knew the water would scald her, let alone the pot, she still didn't want to wait any longer. Her eyes unconsciously turned to Shiori. "Should I… try sticking it in the creek to cool it down faster?" she asked. It wasn't a great plan, even she knew that, but right then she couldn't think of anything better.
 
It seemed like Ray hadn't thought of it either. Well... This wasn't something unfixable, right? The only worry was that the other girl would absorb all the hot metal and hurt herself (Shiori assumed it would hurt her, since it was hot enough to boil water....) so they just had to be careful, right? She hoped so, nodding quickly and watching the other mutter quietly, "Um, I don't think you can without absorbing it, right?" She wasn't sure how well Ray could resist metal, if she could at all. It seemed like every bit that came close to her seemed to seep right into her skin, whether she willed it to or not.

Thankfully, she managed to get it off, making Shiori smile in relief. Cooling off the water now was the name of the game. It would take a while, considering the hot pot, but they could probably drink it while it was still warm in a few minutes... The question made Shiori puff up her cheeks in thought. "Uh... You could try. As long as you hold it steady to make sure it doesn't tip over... But I'm just worried that water will come up the sides and mix with what we've already boiled. It'd make the last few minutes pointless."

She stepped closer to the creek, gesturing in it's direction, "You think you can do it?"
 
"I can do it," Ray replied instantly, practically instinctually, before another thought seemed to cross her mind. A trace of hesitation flashed across her face. She'd always been bold. Back at the shop where she'd worked, she'd often undertaken challenges that were beyond her, simply to prove she could do it. Most of the time, her bluffs had paid off.

Most of the time.

But this wasn't the shop, and there was more at stake here than her pride. Even if she had 80% confidence that she'd be able to cool off the water, was she really willing to gamble on that 20% for just a couple minutes of time? When the alternative was having to boil an entire other pot of water?

Thus, Ray hesitated.

"I can probably do it," Lareina corrected herself with a tinge of embarrassment. What would the boys at the shop say if they saw her now, withdrawing from a challenge? "But… I might fuck it up. Should we… just wait?"
 
That hesitance was already too much for her. Though Shiori didn't really consider herself to be an anxious person, in this situation, she most definitely did not want to risk too much, not when the whole task had been so tedious in the first place. The japanese girl frowned, chewing on her lower lip, then finally sighed, shaking her head, as if she'd been doing mental gymnastics to figure out what the best course of action was. "... Let's wait." she finally replied, "You're right. We shouldn't risk it. It sucks, but staying here too long to boil some more water doesn't sound like it would be a good idea. Staying on the move is probably our best bet since the fire put out smoke and we don't know if anyone... or anything's seen it."

She scratched the back of her head, still frowning, trying to decide whether her input was good enough or not, but she knew that focusing on it for too long would eventually drive her crazy. She just needed some of this water inside her so that she could be of use again, damn it...
 
"Yeah," Lareina mumbled in reply, the word more a grunt than anything. "Okay."

Ray couldn't help but swallow dryly as she looked at the pot. She'd worked long hours in the heat before, so she wasn't unfamiliar with the feeling of thirst. However, having water in front of her, but being unable to drink it, was far more painful than she'd expected. It was bad enough when she'd found the stream, wanting nothing more than to just plunge her entire head into the water, but Ray knew full well that even clean looking water could easily make modern people sick. That knowledge had kept her from action, knowing that neither she nor Shiori could afford that right now.

The pot of water, however, was different. The water had long since stopped steaming, the bubbles gone, and all in all, it looked perfectly drinkable. But Ray knew the problem wasn't the water itself, but the pot. There was no denying that the metal of the pot would have had to get as hot as the boiling water, and without any sort of insulation it would surely scald her if she touched it. Nor could she simply plunge her hand into the water and try and scoop some out.

Patience, she schooled herself. Just… give it a couple of minutes.

At that moment, somehow the wait seemed even more trying than when she'd been standing on the edge of the arena, surrounded by monsters, waiting for her turn to fight for the death. At least then, the fear had kept her distracted, the burning desire to live keeping her focused. Ray extended her hand again, the tips of her fingers lingering about a centimeter away from the pot. She'd touched hot things before, working with engines made that almost inevitable, and she was just waiting, waiting for the pot to get cool enough.

The seconds seemed to eke by like sludge before Lareina felt the tingling on her fingertips from the heat begin to fade. She brushed her fingers against the pot, feeling nothing. A longer touch sent a brief stab of pain through her skin, but not enough to discourage the stubborn, thirsty woman. Hesitantly, she grabbed the handle of the pot, fighting the instinct to re-absorb the metal, which would send their precious water scattering across the soil.

"It's still hot," she muttered. "But fuck it." Grabbing the handle more firmly, and ignoring the complaints from her palm, she lifted up the pot and carefully took a sip of the water, before quickly lowering the pot and setting it back down, shaking her hand through the air to cool her fingers. Air hissed through her lips in a similar attempt to cool her tongue. At that moment, she'd swear that no water had ever tasted so sweet.
 
She could tell that Ray wasn't particularly sold on waiting.

But wait they did. What else was there to do? Taking too many risks would be their downfall here, no doubt and Shiori did not want to waste too much time here. Even if that meant doing the equivalent of watching paint dry. Now, she'd admit that she'd never watched paint dry before, but now that she'd waited far too long just for a drink of water, she was certain that watching paint dry was on the same level as watching water cool. They waited in silence, staring at this pot as if it was the only thing in the world that mattered... But it seemed that Ray's patience ran thin after touching it a few times.

Shiori frowned, watching the other stare, as if she could see the cogs turning in the other girl's brain. Before she could even say anything to discourage her, the other was already lifting up the pot to her lips. Shiori's mouth hung open briefly, before she finally spoke, "Shit, are you okay?" Obviously, it was still too hot to hold, but she could admit that she was a bit jealous that the other had already gotten a sip.

Her throat longed for the contents of the pot, but she knew that her pain tolerance was too low to be hasty. "Jeez, you're crazy, Ray." she mumbled, though she was smiling slightly, amazed by the other's stubbornness, "Was it good?"
 
  • Love
Reactions: Peregrine
"Ahhh," Ray complained, the noise some mixture of sigh and groan. Her hand was still shaking through the air, but she stopped a second later, probing at her skin. She'd burned herself more times than she could count, but the distinct, numbing sensation that should have permeated through her skin if she'd solidly scorched herself was notably absent. It appeared she hadn't managed to burn her hand, although her tongue wasn't quite so lucky.

"It was good," she mumbled back, her gaze already turning back to the water. "Like sipping at tea, except the mug's on fire." Then she giggled, the noise an almost involuntary burst. That one little sip certainly hadn't been enough to truly quench her thirst, but it somehow managed to make the entire situation seem more optimistic. They'd been able to escape, get water. They'd be fine.

Ray's gaze turned back to the metal structure that was over the fire. Now that it was removed of its burden of the pot, she wondered if she'd be able to reshape it and make something else out of it. Something like a cup. Metal cups weren't the best for hot water, but if she could create some sort of insulating ring with an air gap in the middle, maybe Shiori would be able to hold it long enough to get a good drink?

It was only then, as she was thinking about shaping metal, that another thought occurred to the woman. She could have made herself a glove. As long as the metal was touching her, she was able to move it like fluid. Why hadn't she coated her hand with metal before grabbing the pot?

Groaning to herself, Ray lightly hit herself on the forehead with a closed fist, the gesture apparently mostly unconscious. "I'm a fucking moron," she scolded herself, before removing her hand and wiggling it slightly. Metal flowed out from under her skin, coating her palm and fingertips in a relatively thick layer. This time, when she grabbed the handle of the pot again, there was no pain, only a faint sense of heat that was slowly growing stronger. It was obvious that her makeshift 'glove' wouldn't work forever, but it was more than enough for the woman to lift up the pot, blow slightly on the water, and take a longer drink.

Letting out a relieved sigh, Lareina lowered the pot again, a smile on her face as she turned to look at Shiori. "Do you want me to see if I can make a cup for you?" she asked. "Or something like a glove?"
 
The woman smiled fondly, watching the other giggle, before catching herself and tearing her gaze away. Okay, she didn't want to be weird about it. Ray was most definitely attractive, but she could not tell if it was because she was the only other human she could interact with it here, or if it was actually genuine. Regardless, staring intently at that smile of hers probably wasn't the best idea right now. "I've drank a lot of hot stuff before since my parents are into piping hot tea, but I don't think I've ever burnt my mouth too badly. You're real brave, ha." Shiori mused, watching the other be sent deep into her own thoughts.

It took a little bit before the other woman let her in on what was going on in that head of hers, but it certainly made her laugh. Riiiight. Of course, there had been other solutions, but being so desperate to drink had taken over the whole situation. "Christ, I can't believe I didn't think of that." she laughed, shaking her head, watching as the other took another drink.

"Sure, sure. I would appreciate it. Hopefully, once I drink a lil, I'll be able to give you some more stuff to work with." Soothing her throat was another concern, but top priority was being of use. The whole idea of having to rely on Ray for everything really did weigh on her, so her thirst for something to use her powers with was only amplified.
 
Focused as she was on the water, metal, and cup-building, Ray didn't notice Shiori staring. Even if she had, there was no telling if the woman would have attributed any significance to it. Since she spent almost every day surrounded by working-class men, Lareina had long since learned to disregard behavior that might verge on sexual harassment, let alone an overlong glance.

Metal flowed around the woman's hand, quickly forming into the same, long rod that she'd used to move the pot from the fire. However, this time, rather than reaching for the pot, it extended to the metal rack over the fire. This time, when the metal around her hand made contact with the other structure, she didn't resist the instinct to bring it back under her control. The carefully woven table dissolved into a puddle of liquid iron, before flowing through the air in thin waves. The effort was a rather uncertain attempt on Ray's part to try and cool the metal, making it easier for Shiori to hold when she finally made the cup.

There was a wrinkle forming on Ray's brow as she concentrated. It was taking more effort than she'd expected for her to keep from reabsorbing the metal. Only the rather desperate fear that the hot metal would somehow cook her from the inside gave her the willpower to resist. Breathing slowly from her mouth, Ray began to gather the metal once more, forming it into a deep bowl shape. Ray had certainly never made an insulated metal cup before, but she knew the general premise. One layer of hardened metal on the inside, with an air gap between it and an outer layer of metal. It would still get warm, but not so hot that it was impossible to touch. Especially not quickly.

Continuing to concentrate, Ray stretched out the bowl shape, before folding the top edge over itself, curling it back down and around towards the bottom of the bowl. Only when the metal had reconnected at the bottom, forming the double layer, did Ray stretch the whole thing out, transforming it from an oddly shaped bowl into an actual cup.

The cup clattered to the ground when Ray released it with a gasp, but there was a small smile of pride on her face. She'd felt it with the table before, but Ray was quite proud of her ability to shape and make use of the metal, even though the ability was only a few hours old to her. Somehow, the entire process felt familiar. As long as she was able to form a concrete image in her head of how she wanted the metal to move, the metal moved, like an obedient little puppy.

As a matter of fact, the hardest part of it all was keeping the metal outside her body. Also like a puppy, Lareina was certain that even a small lapse of attention in her part would send it scurrying back to her, undoing all her hard work.

Still breathing somewhat heavily, Ray picked up the cup and passed it to Shiori, before using a metal-coated hand to lift up the pot and pour out well over half of the boiled water into the container. "Drink up," Ray urged, smiling happily at the other woman.
 
Ray melding metal in her hands never failed to mesmerize her. Shiori watched with interest as the other focused, letting the metal move on it's own. Something about it was so surreal, despite it becoming their new normal. Shiori could only wonder what she looked like, coughing up glass and steel. ... Really, it was a lot less elegant-looking than the other woman's metal manipulation abilities, she bet. Vomiting solid materials probably wasn't a good look on her. Regardless, she supposed it was better than being in this situation without any new abilities at all. She felt like a deadweight as is, so as soon as she got something in her stomach to turn into metal, she would gladly become Ray's ammo supply.

The japanese woman clapped excitedly as the cup fell to the ground, doing a little dance in place with her upper body. Her greedy throat begged for a sip of water, but she just had to let her gaze soak into that cute grin of Ray's before continuing. God, that proud smile felt good to see.

With a nod, Shiori took the cup, uttering a word of thanks and quickly emptying the contents into her mouth. The water was still quite hot, but not bad enough to stop her as she chugged. The relief that passed through her was well worth the slight discomfort due to temperature, and she only dropped the arm as soon as the last drop was gone, using the back of her free hand to wipe at her mouth with a wide grin, "That... Was so good," she exclaimed, tone almost dreamy, "I don't remember water ever tasting that good."
 
  • Like
Reactions: Peregrine
Ray couldn't help but unconsciously swallow herself as Shiori drank, her eyes locking onto the tiny bead of moisture that formed at the corners of the other woman's mouth. Although she'd gotten the first sip, recklessly stolen from the over-hot pot at risk of burning her hands, it truly had been little more than a sip, barely enough to even wet her throat. Now, a couple minutes later, all it had really done was remind her of exactly how thirsty she was.

However, her instincts as an older sister had made sure that she saw Shiori cared for first. It was only after the other woman let out a satisfied exclamation that Lareina finally looked away, her eyes turning towards the pot. "I'm glad," she said, a smile spreading across her face. "My turn."

She carefully lifted the pot to her own lips. Whether it had cooled somewhat in the time she'd been crafting the cup for Shiori, or she'd simply grown used to the heat, the metal rim of the pot no longer stung her lips and tongue the way it had when she'd first grabbed it. Ray blew on the liquid for just a second, before carefully tipping the pot further back, gulping at the water in an attempt to keep it from spilling over the edge and running down her face.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Lareina lowered the pot, a layer of water still covering the base. "Do you want the rest?" she asked, proffering the pot to the other woman. "We should probably boil another one while we've got the fire and the creek right here, to carry with us."
 
Though her stomach still prodded at the back of her mind for food, she was definitely pleased with the satisfaction of feeling something filling that empty space. Her throat sang her praises and somehow, the relief of feeling that she could now spit up something new was... Weird. It wasn't as if she'd had these powers long, but being deprived of them had really felt like a weight she couldn't shake. Content, she watched as Ray took her turn, opting to drink straight from the pot again. The japanese woman winced slightly in anticipation, nervous that the pot would still prove to be too hot for the other, but thankfully, she didn't detect any adverse reaction. Ray seemed fine and that was great! Their small victory warmed her heart.

When the remains of the water were offered to her, she contemplated resisting, since Ray was the one doing all the heavy lifting... Buuuut, seeing as the woman was already offering, she assumed it wouldn't do her any harm to accept it. (It was a bit of selfishness on her part, but she wasn't going to think about that-)

Happily, she took the pot, nodding excitedly, like a kid receiving a new toy, lifting her arms to drink from the warm pot, only to freeze when she heard a crack in the leaves.

Bewildered, Shiori lowered the pot, eyes wide as her gaze darted through the trees. Their surroundings had been silent for the past while, save for a rustle from the breeze or the water in the stream. The crackle of noise had been different. Something different, something moving-

Before she could even react, something shot past her, almost scraping her cheek. The object sped past her skin so quickly and so closely that she'd felt the air move. The scream that she would've let out died in her throat as she turned her head, to get a look at the projectile. A shard of ice was now embedded in the trunk of a tree a few feet away. "R-Ray..." she stammered, dropping the pot and getting up as fast as she could.

They needed cover. Now.
 
  • Nice Execution!
Reactions: Peregrine
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back