Welcome to Gaia! ::

To say the landscape here was different than what he was used to would have been the most obvious comment he could have made, so he kept it to himself. It was a nice place to visit, with its rocks and sunsets and sail scales, but he missed the trees back home. They made hiding infinitely easier and created interesting shapes in every direction he looked, which helped to stave off boredom. Not that Sauti was boring. He was just starting to realize that Tale and Jauhar weren't either.

Serr heard Eziya creeping around for a little while before she touched him, and he was quick to fold his hands over hers, smiling even though she couldn't see it. She might not have been trying to sneak, but acting casual was a good way to divert attention and use it to your advantage. She knew more than she thought.

"I do want," he chuckled. Serr sat a little straighter and tapped a rhythmless beat on her sun-darkened arms. "We'll need a little, flat rock. About this big." He held up his fingers at a distance of about two thumbnails apart.

He turned, fully intending to help her find the rock he had requested, but she sped off with such determination that he simply followed. When she handed him her choice, he held it up in his right hand and drew his left over it, making it disappear. Then he reached for her pointed ear and retrieved it once again, offering the rock back to her.

"Perfect." It was a touch small for him, but it would be just right for Eziya.

Serr laughed, a brief, throaty hiss that was as good as a guffaw from him. He had only been testing the rock, not trying to be cool, but he really enjoyed it when Eziya praised his skills, at least when he noticed she was doing so. He was of the opinion that she was the smartest person alive, so when she thought he was good at something, it suffused him with warmth. He touched the back of her arm as he felt a flush rise in his cheeks, and he hoped he moved again before she noticed.

"Come on." He led her back to the larger rock he had been sitting on earlier and folded his legs under him, taking a seat once more.

"Okay." Where to begin. "This is going to take a lot of practice." He held out his hand, pressing his opposite thumb into a spot about a third of the way up his palm. "You're going to have to get real friendly with this." Realizing just how dumb that sounded, Serr grinned, thankfully avoiding any embarrassing noises this time.

He nodded, speaking nearly as quietly as she had. "You put the rock there, flat against that spot. You've got to hold it with some muscles you don't normally use." Or maybe she did. Maybe those were the muscles she used while wrapping bandages. "You don't use those, do you?"

Serr took the rock from her for a second and demonstrated, showing her the back of his hand as well. It looked natural, like he wasn't holding anything at all. "If you get good enough, you can do all sorts of things while you're holding it and no one will know."

"It could be for passing stuff, I guess." He'd never considered that. Even though he had worked with others before, they hadn't ever had to plan out what they were going to do or execute any elaborate hand-offs. "You could be all fancy with it. Shake somebody's hand and give them something you took. We could try that. I used to grab small things—rings, pendants, candies, you know—and just keep doing what I was doing while I was still holding them. Whoever I grabbed them from wouldn't think I was doing anything wrong because I wasn't acting weird. More recently though, I use this." He ran his fingers over the sash at his waist, an article of clothing she was already familiar with considering he'd worn some variation of it since they'd met. "I don't think I've ever showed you, but it's got pockets inside. That's where I drop stuff for later."

"Like I said, all it really takes is time. Once your hands get sneaky, they can open bags, cut purse strings, all kinds of stuff. Thief magic." He poked at the pouch on his leg with a smile. "You can practice on me whenever you'd like."

Serr tilted his head, his compulsion to speak sluggish to recharge after he said so much all at once. Potions were an interesting thought. He'd have to see if they weighed down the fabric too much before he made a final decision. He watched Eziya rummage around, excitement pouring off of her, and then she stopped abruptly, tucking it all away again. He wondered what would happen if she let her impulses stay out one day. He kissed her cheek.

"Mmhm. I could always use safe practice and it will teach you to recognize what it feels like to be robbed." He didn't mention that he had held her at knifepoint once. Blades were mostly for self defense these days and he didn't like to remember. "I'll practice when you least expect it."

Serr made sure he had returned her flat rock, then said, "Do you want to teach me bandages?"

When she tapped at his scars, Serr recalled that meeting as well, and his resulting smile would have persisted for longer if she hadn't asked him to injure her.

"If you really want?" He unsheathed one of his daggers. "Here. I'll just do a little nick." He looked over the exposed bits of her arms and legs, continuing to hesitate. "Where would you like it?" Serr almost asked if she was sure... again... but he'd given her as many chances as he could to back out without coddling her, and she was completely capable of making her own choices. Still...

"I don't want to hurt you."