OOM All Skate Skellig Dream Magic Weirdness -Part Seven

[brave_kreyu]

It turns out that 'guarding the lair' involves more than just staying in one place. Kreyu has a goal today of scouting outside their borders, looking for possible trouble.

Given that Skellig can't speak the local language, yet, they're not trying to pass as locals. Skellig is just wearing a kilt as they stalk through the forest.

The wilderness is truly wild here, only barely touched by humans. Beasts of all kinds live in these woods, wolves, deer, boars, birds, rabbits, and more.

Comments

[27_53]

Skellig flexes his arms (and wings) slightly when she mentions that he will likely be digging ditches - he is not concerned of it.

"I know that not everyone was on their own," he corrects himself. "I suspect that there was some aid available, to those who were in need. But not to the extent that I have seen it here."

He offers a hint of a smile.

"It is...refreshing to see. Life is precious, precarious," he echoes her, with another nod. "People get a better chance if they are willing to extend a hand to another."

[brave_kreyu]

"Yes," Kreyu agrees, smiling. She fusses with a flatbread that is browning too quickly.

"Dragons, we don't work well together. Except broodmates, most of the time."

Her smile turns wry. "We're very rare, of course, but on top of that we tend to fight with one another, steal from one another. Our hunger for karma is never entirely sated, after all."

[27_53]

"Are there any...active threats to this hoard, your Lair? Or are you and your brothers known to be strong enough to not mess with, generally?"

There is a hint of genuine concern in his voice - mostly because he knows that he would be practically useless if another DRAGON attempted to barge into this territory and would seek to battle with Kreyu.

He would try to fight, of course, but it would likely...end badly.

[brave_kreyu]

"Heka has attacked us before, many times, but he's dead at the moment. There are dragons who might try to steal from us, if they thought they could get away with it. That's why we try and have at least one of us in this area all the time."

"We should be safe enough, at least until Heka is flesh again."

[27_53]

Skellig knows she mentioned that Heka should not be able to outright tell that it was them who raided his hoard, since such a long time will pass before he becomes flesh again. But the threat is still there, and he will hold it in the back of his mind.

"Sound logic," he says.

His attention shifts to the flatbread, which is stubbornly threatening to singe at one edge again. He signals at it with his eyes, which she picks up on to keep it from burning.

[brave_kreyu]

"Must not have gotten the coals quite right," she mutters. That one, the less perfect specimen, will be hers.

"And done, though we should let these cool a few minutes so we don't burn our mouths. Would you like some cheese?"

There's melon left too, and wine. It's a very...domestic morning.

[27_53]

Domestic can be and is very much appreciated, especially after the night previous - Skellig personally is still very much in 'recovery' mode from their escapades.

"Cheese would be good with it, I think." He hops up, moving to where he believes it is kept, finds it (and the wine) after minimal searching and returns with it to the table. "Although it would be fine as it is also, I have never had a bad meal cooked by your hand."

[brave_kreyu]

Kreyu blushes at his comment about her cooking. "Thank you. I'm glad you missed the utter disasters that marked my first forays into cooking. I had to bury more than one pot, meals got burned so badly."

"I'm thinking about rummaging through Elihu's stash here at the Lair, he mentioned something about a new spell to help with learning languages. Won't help with the written portion, but might help you be able to understand the spoken."

[27_53]

"I would appreciate being able to understand better, even if it was only partially."

Not-so-secretly, Skellig finds it cute when she blushes, especially over the 'little' things such as normal comments as this one. "I am certain that once I am set free to attempt to prepare some meals, we may need to...have a reserve of pots on standby."

[brave_kreyu]

"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."

[27_53]

"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.

[brave_kreyu]

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.

[27_53]

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?"

[brave_kreyu]

"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."

[27_53]

"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."

[brave_kreyu]

"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."

[27_53]

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.

[brave_kreyu]

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.

[27_53]

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.

[brave_kreyu]

"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."

[27_53]

"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?"

[brave_kreyu]

"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."

[27_53]

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."

[brave_kreyu]

"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."

[27_53]

"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."