brave_kreyu | OOM All Skate Skellig Dream Magic Weirdness -Part Seven

"I shall be sure that we have more than a few to spare," she assures him.

Breakfast is eaten and cleaned up after. "A light lunch today, I think. We have some fruit leftover, nuts, cheese, that ham." She's already shaped the dough that will rise for tonight's dinner. She's investigating a shelf. "Why DID I stockpile this much cheese? I'm sure I must have had a reason."

She shakes her head. "No matter, it will work quite well for tonight's dinner." She kisses him, softly. "Not sure how long it will take me to rummage, but you can poke at anything in here that you like, or take a nap."

"Cheese is good on most everything," he shrugs a shoulder. "Who is to say what your plan may have been, but we will find ways to enjoy it."

It also goes good with honey, which he is sure he will have a 'craving' for at some point, eventually.

Even with his fast-metabolism, she is also ensuring that he eats more than he is used to, so the idea of a light 'snacky' lunch is fine with him. He returns the kiss. "I am sure that I will be able to find something to entertain myself suitably until you return from your rummaging." A smirk. "I promise not to have too much fun without you."

In all reality - he will likely tidy up the bedroom, tend to the fire, and then curl up amid the blankets and silks in a 'nest' of his own making and fall asleep for a well-earned post-breakfast nap.

He's sound asleep when she comes back, so she commits the spell on the scroll she 'borrowed' to memory. It's simple, in principle, allow someone to pick up a language quite quickly if they hear it. Another trip to the capital tomorrow, perhaps, do a bit of shopping, let Skellig acquire the local language while they're there.

When he wakes again, she will have put THAT dress on again, in an attempt to get him used to it. She's also rigged a small container of sand and set it on the table with a writing brush sized stick for Skellig to practice writing with.

Without the benefit of natural light to wake his body clock, he is a bit groggy once he stirs from his nap - though he stirs easily enough once his 'ears' pick up on her heartbeat within the room.

Yawning, he stretches his limbs and wings and cracks an eye open - and realizes she's wearing the dress. To his credit, he does not immediately feel a rush to pounce on her - merely smiles gently.

"It stay light or do I need to repeat that spell?"

"It's gotten heavy again," she admits. "I thought you might want to, to practice writing. In the tongue of our village." She flushes. "So I set up a way for you to practice."

"That is a wonderful idea," he says, rising from the bed - stopping briefly to wrap a kilt around his waist (if she's dressed, it only seems fair that he should put on clothes as well) before he joins her at the table.

He allows his fingertips to graze the shoulder of the gown, and it should be enough to take the majority of the weight off again, before he sits beside her. Reaching for the stick that is to mimic the writing brush, he idly rolls it in his fingers.

(For so long, even such a basic and simple motion brought pain due to his arthritis, so the feeling is still...quite strange.)

"I know my hands were the first thing you healed when I arrived here in the desert," he says. "But whenever I am able to hold something without discomfort, a small part of my mind just...does not understand why I don't ache."

"Thank you, love."

There's a flicker of sadness when speaks about his mind not understanding why he doesn't ache, but she smiles softly. "I hope that will fade, with time." She reaches for his other hand, lifts it to kiss the knuckles gently.

"Most sounds are represented by a single character," she explains. She draws a shape in the sand. "That is the symbol for the 'ah' sound."

Skellig does know how to hold a pen or pencil - he was able to write, just not very well, Before. And he knows the traditional 'modern English' alphabet using Latin script lettering. But to learn a completely new system, new sounds, new characters...this is going to prove somewhat difficult.

Even with his added abilities that have aided him along their travels so far.

Using the stick in hand, he attempts to copy the shape alongside hers. Having his hands no longer shake helps, and tracing the image is easy enough.

They spend most of the day working on letters. She's so very proud of him, and she lets him know that! It's hard, very hard, learning a new language, a new writing system!

And so far as she can tell, he hasn't been fighting the urge to jump her bones all day, which is ALSO a good thing.

Dinner turns out to be something like a fondue, bits and pieces of bread, vegetables, and other odds and ends dipped into melted cheese. If they're careful, they can even feed bits of food to each other.

Fruit and honey for dessert, if they get that far.

Observation is one of his stronger talents - if not his strongest - so studying the subtle motions of her hand and fingers as she explains how each shape is formed, working to commit the sounds that each character represents, all of that is something he takes very seriously.

(It comes with the territory of spending hours, weeks, days observing - learning patterns, watching people come and go, finding the right moment to slip past unnoticed or make his move. It is the 'owl' part of his mind, mixed with a hint of the beast, survival instincts.)

But once they do decide to break for the evening and start preparing dinner - he is grateful, and more than a little tired mentally. It was smart of her, he thinks, to wear the dress as they worked on that exercise, because his mind is not thinking at all of sex at the moment. His priorities are wine, dinner, and then dessert.

"I feel as if I did decent, for my first day," he says as he pours each of them a cup of wine to drink as she stirs at the cheese.

"You did VERY well," Kreyu tells him, pleased as punch. "And since I'm sure your mind is very tired, a bit of honey with dessert, to help your energy."

"I found the spell Elihu mentioned. I was thinking of using it on you tomorrow, then we can go into the city again and you'll learn by listening, just MUCH faster than you would naturally."

Edited 2024-07-05 00:55 (UTC)

"I am quite tired," he admits - though she will be able to see the way he perks up slightly when she mentions honey with dessert, a faint smirk not quite reaching his eyes, but it is there. "My energy will definitely need help."

He nods at the mention of the spell.

"I will take any advantage I could gain." He pauses. "This may sound...ignorant, but is it the city where we will go to help the slaves, also? Or is that a different city?"

"It will be the same city, yes," Kreyu replies as she starts setting out the various bits to dip into the cheese. "Anyone seeking sanctuary goes to the capital."

She sighs. "We used to let anyone and everyone come in, wherever they liked to, but that caused some problems. Ionikan spies, saboteurs and assassins killed some people, caused a lot of trouble. I'm sure we aren't catching all of them with the process we have now, but it's reduced the problems."

Once everything is set out, he allows her to choose first before he follows. (He figures they will both eat a bit on their own, then work on 'ensuring' the other has eaten well enough by helping.)

"What is the process now?" He asks, after a few moments of eating, while wrestling a bit of bread and cheese to cooperate. "You do not have to go into great detail, I would just like to know before we go on that day."

"Someone seeking sanctuary pleads their case before a judge in the Small Court," she explains as she dips a slice of ham into the cheese. "The judge will have heard their reasons before, in private, either from the person directly or an advocate on their behalf. The public plea is more of a chance for anyone else who might have information to speak, which is where my interference will come in."

She grins. "After all, I have information proving that they AREN'T planted agents of Ionika."

"I think you are understating your knowledge of the situation," he muses playfully. "I will be interested to watch how it plays out, if I am able."

After all, he is not sure how 'public' this all will be, judges and courts and advocates. (For as much as he scraped by in the past, his experiences with the legal system have been few and far between, thankfully.)

"I will not spoil myself for the surprise of your arrival," he adds, teasing a bit. "I must play the part, of course."

"You should be able to walk right in," she explains. "I'll need to use a spell to conceal myself until the right time, but so long as you're quiet, no one should pay you any mind."

She blushes. "And once I'm visible I'm likely to occupy everyone's attention for quite some time."

He swipes another bit of ham and bread through the cheese, then offers it to her carefully.

"Especially in that dress," he comments, giving her a once-over appreciatively. "I have done much better today, with distraction. The sight of you in it still causes me to contemplate the ways I'd like to worship you but I have...managed to stay calm."

Kreyu takes the offered bite, making a noise of appreciation at both the taste and the gesture. Her lips don't brush his fingers on PURPOSE, but brush his fingers they do.

"I'm glad," she tells him once she's finished chewing. "I thought the distraction and mental effort might help keep things calm." She chuckles. "It seems very inconvenient, one's body responding like that. I don't know how men manage."

"It is not an issue I have ever truly faced before," he admits. "No one has ever caused such a vibrant...response...to my system, as you have seemed to do so."

Skellig smirks.

"It is much more difficult in the clothing of this landscape. There is much less...room to hide."

"I am sorry to be causing you such difficulties," she admits. "But I can't help also being a bit....pleased that I cause such a response in you."

"Ah, I suppose that would make a great deal of difference," she admits. "I have yet to go very far north, where the weather is cooler and people wear far more clothing."

"It is not a problem," he says firmly - he does not want her to think that HIS inability to control his cock's response to the mere sight of her is in any way HER fault. "We are simply a couple in the youngest throes of love and desire...it is to be expected that the sight of you would excite me."

He laughs under his breath, reaches for a bite of ham for himself. "I will just have to adapt and make it less...obvious."

She smiles softly. "We will manage."

She offers him a tidbit of cooked vegetable dipped in cheese, careful not to get anything on either of their clothes.

"Will definitely need to take this dress off after dinner," she remarks. "It's comfortable enough, but hardly suitable for lounging curled up with my husband."

Skellig also does not outright try to press his lips against her fingers, but he is trying to avoid a mess, and if that means he needs to lick off an errant drip of cheese...so be it.

"I know you have much more comfortable things to lounge in," he points out. "If you feel attire is needed at all."

He glances to the bed.

"I did tidy it up a bit...but then nested in it again after I'd finished."

Her heart thumps just a little faster when he licks off an errant drip of cheese.

She glances at the bed. "It looks fair enough to me, although...." she ponders. "I think the sky will be clear tonight. We could take some pillows and blankets up higher on the volcano, curl up together and watch the stars?"

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