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 Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 8:43 pm
 It was a gloomy day, the clouds covering almost every inch of blue sky. There was the sense that at any moments the skies would just rip apart and heavy rain would crash like a waterfall over the fields. This threat of rain wasn’t enough, though, to keep the flame-danced Temeo indoors. Now that he had grown he was more eager than ever get outside and run around with his much longer legs.
He felt freer now that he was considered an adult. Avast didn’t have to constantly follow him around anymore and he wasn’t always being told to stop what he was doing like he had been when he was younger. It. Was. Great.
Moving over the grass, the damp blades tickling his paws, Art patrolled the area with his eyes, scanning from anything or anyone that might entertain him. He grinned when his sharp blue eyes came to rest on a familiar black and green frame. Stealthily he sunk against the grass, tip-toeing closer from behind the female. Then, once he got into range, he pushed forward on his paws, making a mighty leap at her. He landed on her with a bark of a laugh, harmless embers shooting everywhere like fireworks.
“Hello Bellatrix!” He howled in delight, “you’ve gotten big! It’s been a while sinceI last saw you, how are you doing?”
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Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 9:13 pm
The sky seemed to match her mood as grey clouds rolled over what was once blue and clear. She sat down and closed her eyes, perking her ears toward the sky to listen to the thunder rolling inside the darkest edges of the brewing storm. As enwrapped in the natural symphony as she was, she did not hear the approaching menace behind her, until the blaze of youthful energy and adult weight was on top of her, his voice and the crackle of his gentle fire drowning everything else out.
Growling wildly, the black and green Temeo kicked and barked uselessly, unable to free herself from him, “I was doing well until you broke my BACK. Get off me, you giant oaf of an idiot!”
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Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 8:51 am
“Oh, you’re not hurt!” laughed Art, though he got off her anyway. Rolling from her back, he got beside her, on his back. Turning his head, he was able to see her face finally- it had changed too. It was much more… lady-like. Still hardened with that classic, characteristic scowl of hers but now it didn’t look so much like so was just smelling something unpleasant. It suited her. She was pretty. Of course, his first thought was how much prettier she would look if he could get her to smile.
The entire time they had known each other he hadn’t managed such a thing.
“That’s a nice way to greet someone you haven’t seen in so long!” he laughed, rolling back onto his feet and moving himself in front of her. He sat before her, just so she might look him over. If he saw new good in her, why wouldn’t she have a similar reaction to his adult frame? “Come on! You know you’re happy to see me. What are you doing out here all by yourself?”
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Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 9:04 am
“You leap on someone unsuspecting, and I’m the one that’s not greeting people correctly? I’ll have to take a better look at the etiquette handbook,” she growled, flexing her shoulders. She spread her wings wide, just to be sure they were still capable of such a thing, not noticing as she whapped him in the face. Or at least pretending not to notice.
She arched an eyebrow as he moved to sit in front of her, much preferring this position to the one he had been taking up while lying on his back. Not bothering with being subtle, as her personality held little room for such insignificant courtesies, she looked him over critically. He was much more an adult now than she remembered him, and his powerful form took her back a little. He was not altogether unpleasant to the eye, his grey fur and fiery hair giving him a strong, almost dangerous appearance.
Too bad she knew him well enough to understand how idiotically friendly he was.
“It’s nice to see another Wild, I guess. There are none others at the ship, so I don’t like to spend much time there. I’m just out here… exploring.”
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Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 9:18 am
Art shook his head when his face was suddenly met with wing, huffing through his nostrils. An odd sensation, but not one that had caused him pain. It was actually pretty funny, and he chuckled. “Nice,” he hummed lightly, saying nothing more on the matter. Already it was both forgiven and forgotten.
Watching Bellatrix watch him was, admittedly, a little strange. He wondered what each new expression meant for him. Was she disgusted by how he had grown? Maybe she liked him better when he was a kit. The male still felt like being that size had suited him more than this new, larger form.
No going back.
“I see. So you’re still against normal Temeo, even though you’ve spent so much time with them?” He chuckled, “that’s so like you- so stubborn! That’s okay. I guess it doesn’t really harm me, right? I’m a wild, so it’s okay.” Art rarely looked at the big picture in a problem, though probably just because he didn’t want to and not because he wasn’t capable of it. Why bring a cloud over a happy reunion with something like specie-ist thoughts?
“You explore sitting down?” he asked with a baffled frown, “probably don’t get much done then! Let’s go explore together. I haven’t been around here since the last time we looked around with those normal Temeo and Avast.”
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Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 9:27 am
“Well, no,” Bellatrix said, suddenly baffled, “I don’t sit down all the time. I was just… listening to the clouds. You caught me musing, which isn’t fair.” She didn’t know why she felt compelled to argue this point with him, considering it was not important to anything at all. Perhaps she didn’t want him to think she wasn’t as adventurous as she claimed, or that she was in any way boring. Frowning, she shook her head, folding her wing against her lithe frame.
“I guess it couldn’t hurt,” she said, a bit too quickly for her tastes, “to look around a bit. We didn’t get much actually exploring in, anyway, with Avast being so careful of us. Might be a bit more fun now, don’t you think? We’ve come a ways since then.” Nodding approvingly, at both the idea and some private thought, she stood and tilted her head at him.
“Any ideas, blaze?”
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Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 9:35 am
Surprised she had actually agreed to go looking around with him, the fire Temeo sat silent for a few second, simply processing this strange, almost unheard of situation. No complaints. No conditions. What was he supposed to do with his persuasive speech now?
Art continued to smile, getting up once he was out of his daze and looking around. “Not sure,” he replied eyes scanning the area, “we could always head back to that cave we went to before to see if we can find a new area to look around. You’re right, I remember we didn’t get much adventuring done the last time we came around here either.”
He couldn’t remember any adventuring getting done, come to that.
"Let's go!" he hooted.
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Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 1:12 pm
“I’m sure it won’t be hard to find new ground, considering we barely saw the inside of it.”
Bellatrix stood, her bushy tails whipping through the air behind her. She bounded a few step to be rid of the energy that was building in her limbs, flexing her wings wide and flapping them once to gain some height in the endeavor. Her paws lighted on the soft, grassy ground, the black clouds rumbling as if in reaction up above. Looking back at Art, her expressive features arched in an almost challenging way, she took the lead.
“I remember the way. I hope we’re not too big to fit now,” she thought about it, then shook her head, her voice attesting the vanity of her speech, “well, my wings might get in the way, but I’m certainly not too large for anything. But if you get stuck somewhere, I’m just going to leave you.”
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Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 1:18 pm
Art chuckled, following her quickly. He didn’t dare run ahead of her, though the urge was there. Let her lead. Show her he wasn’t a jerk like most other men. Maybe that would get her to like him. Or… maybe she liked jerks? Since she was kind of one…
No. Shouldn’t think of her in such a way.
“You’re wings take up a lot of room! Even though you’re a perfect size, you could still get stuck. And if I get stuck I’ll make so much noise I’ll bring the cavern down around you too,” he teased lightly.
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Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 1:29 pm
“You bring that cavern down and I’ll be sure you’re never found in the rubble. My wings will shield me, if anything. Your useless fire won’t help.”
She replied without looking back at him, keeping her face toward her goal, so that he did not see the small smile his pointless teasing created. For some reason, he had never been entirely irritating to her, even when they were young. Now he was almost a welcomed companion, though she had not felt herself needing one before he had arrived. It was as if he brought the need with him, yet she doubted he would take it away with him once they parted.
“Here we are. Looks like we can still get in here.” She indicated the familiar outcropping of rocks, the entrance wide enough for the two Wilds to enter side by side if they wanted to.
Not that she did.
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Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 1:35 pm
“How can your thin leather wings protect you from falling rocks? Come on! That’s silly. And my fire is not useless! It burns when I want it to, I’ll have you know.” Which wasn’t true at all. He had no control over his fire, but it wasn’t a bad thing. The flames had never been anything more than decoration for him.
He liked that. It meant never accidentally hurting someone.
Looking at the entrance, he laughed. “Well I’m large, but I’m not that large,” he hummed, moving to the entrance, “I would say ladies first, but I don’t want something to happen. Maybe bats will fly out into your face if you disturb them first!” With that, he moved inside the cave, lowering his tails and heading inside.
He was a Temeo candle in the darkness.
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Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 1:44 pm
“Please, like you would ever use your tails to burn anything. You’ll either take out your own eye or cry over a bug you accidentally scorched.”
Bellatrix followed him, glad he didn’t ask her to go first. It would have felt like being on parade for him, as he was now for her. She watched the way his muscles moved, taking in the specifics of his gait while doing her best not to look directly into his tails. In the sudden darkness they would leave her with inverted shadows chasing across her eyes, which she did not have the patience for.
Her sharp eyes were well attuned to dark places, as she often spent time exploring them on her own, though this cave she had never convinced herself to return to. Thinking about it, it seemed she had been waiting to return to it with Art.
But that didn’t make sense.
“No bats,” she pointed out sarcastically. The path was narrowing, but she imagined it would open up into a cavern before long.
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Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 1:52 pm
Art grunted “I wouldn’t do either! How can I take an eye out with the fire on my tails?!”
“No, I guess not,” he said once they were inside the cave, moving his tails around his body so they could light the path before them, instead of the one behind. Didn’t make much sense to light the areas they had already been. “Look at how useful my fire is! We’ll be able to see things now. Maybe there’s some cool stuff in here to look at, and we’d have missed it otherwise.” He grinned at her, shifting his tail to make sure she would be able to see it.
He then moved on, walking beside Bella for as long as possible. When the path narrowed enough he worried walking together might get them both stuck. “You go in front now,” he said, “I went last time.” It was hard to keep his tails from dancing in his excitement.
He was exploring a cave with the girl he had been crushing on since they were both just out of the bottle. Hell, possibly even while they were both in their bottles.
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Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 2:00 pm
“Oh yes, very useful. Just be careful. Now that I’ve said it, I really am concerned you’re somehow going to lose an eye. I can’t describe the specifics, but there’s no doubt in my mind that you’re capable of it,” she almost lost herself in the short tirade, his grin catch her off guard. Snorting at him and looking away indignantly, she flicked her tail uselessly in the dark.
Her irritation mounted when he told her to move ahead, her eyes flicking to the narrowing space, then back at her companion, “you have the sun spots attached to your butt: you go first. I won’t be able to see much. My eyes are good in the dark, don’t get me wrong, but not pitch black, and not after staring into light for a while.” She huffed, sitting down defiantly.
“Besides, I don’t know what’s at the end of that tunnel. If it’s got sharp teeth or claws, I’d rather you find it first.”
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Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 2:12 pm
“Fine then!” Art laughed, moving ahead of her to get through the narrow passage. He knew he would have to go. Even before telling her to head in he had known. Still, it was fun to play with her. She didn’t seem to take anything too personally, even though she always seemed angry. It was just a general angry. Not a ‘I hate you’ kind of angry.
He hoped.
Moving through the passage proved an easy task, and soon enough he emerge into a larger area of the cave. It looked like a large den, though he couldn’t see signs that something was living in there. But then again, he didn’t know what to look for with that.
“Come on through!” he called back to Bella, “there’s nothing here with sharp teeth or claws, sorry to disappoint.”
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