Breaking the Sky (M)

[Lion]

"Because you're not at all weirded out by a stranger's hand on your thigh?"  He didn't exactly have a problem with it, but well maybe that's what bothered him. At least she didn't ask him to massage her leg.

[Draconian]

"We've had sex with people we've known shorter than you," a smirk and she let go of his hand, still laying on the grass. "If you're uncomfortable, we apologize." A deep breath and she blew it out slowly, "we'll be fine in a few minutes."

[Lion]

At that Castor smirked and he actually laughed.  He washed his hands in the water and washed them over his hair and head and face.  "Aw man, what have I gotten myself into? And with such pleasant company in tow," he said, scoffing to himself.  "You're, uh, not that bad I guess.  Just weird." And he grinned at her.

[Draconian]

The laugh was pleasant and she found herself smiling in return, moving to sit up with a grunt and looking down at the wound. It was still angry and red, but the blood was silver like it should be and she simply pressed her ungloved hand over it for a moment. The venom that had gotten into her system was making her feel warm and shaky, but luckily most of it had been... Expelled. "You're only saying we're pleasant because we're not wearing pants and because we taste bad to spiders." She teased, an eyebrow tweaking up and a small smile on her face.

The wound being open would prove to be a problem.

Xala looked towards her boots and pants and moved to her hands and knees to crawl to them, grabbing her pants first and just frowning at them. Giving a tsk she removed her coat and then pulled off her shirt, setting her clothing in a pile before moving to the pond. It wasn't big enough to swim in, but she wasn't about to get her clothing more wet than it needed to be when they weren't going to be in the sun for long.

"We should use the water while we can. The spiders probably smelled us and you." Could spiders smell? Who cared. She didn't go into the water, just knelt in front of the pond with no care of being naked. The scales at her cheeks wrapped back around her neck and trailed down her spine, the wound at her thigh was also now sporting some scales around the edges. Her large eyes just stared at him, tilting her head and giving him a curious look, "Last chance to be somewhat clean and refreshed before we go back into a dark smothering cave. We'll wait for you to use it  - if you want - before we do."

[Lion]

Castor sat back on his haunches, not at all pretending not to look at Xala undressing because, well, she was so damn odd.  Her scales in particular were someone fascinating.  And he wondered if her blood wouldn't just kill the spider that bit her outright.  He was thankful that the gauntlets for once actually provided something useful to him.

"Why would we have to wait?" he said, not quite understanding.  It was really no skin off his nose if she wanted to bathe.  "You do as you please."  He stood then and quickly undressed, keeping his clothes elevated from the ground, on a boulder and he dove into the pond.

[Draconian]

Politely Xala turned her gaze away when Castor removed his clothes. She did look to his clothing on the rock, while her own there thrown on the ground. Clear personality difference right there. The splash of water had her jerk out of her thoughts and she just frowned at him before standing and walking into the pond. The water was cool and she gave a content sigh after wading to her knees. A deep breath and she waded in farther and while soothing on the wound, it stung and she squeezed her eyes shut.

And then she just sat down.

And then back up, her messy red hair plastered to her neck and face before she stood up again, the water to her hips. "Do those weigh you down?" A pointed look to his gauntlets, "We can't swim, but we imagine those don't help you do it, either." Xala turned her attention to her own hands, giving them a few flexes. "Does it feel like your hands are asleep? Sometimes we sleep funny on our shoulder and our whole arm is sort of... Floppy and we can't feel it for a while."

[Lion]

Castor had waded out a ways away, enough to be about waist deep in the water.  He wasn't modest, but nor did he feel any particular need to wave anything around.  He didn't have time for that kind of nonsense.  There were things to do.  He glanced off at her, watching her a little from the corner of his eyes.  Admittedly, she was a nice looking distraction.

Those scales certainly were fascinating to look at.

"I don't feel anything most of the time.  But when I do feel, it hurts.  Like a vice grinding into my skin.  Maybe it's a burning kind of numbness.  I'm not really sure how to describe it," he said gently, examining his gauntlets.  "You should rub it out."

He gestured to her arms.  "When it falls asleep.  Rub it out. Do it real quick and you'll feel the blood flowing again."  He gave a small smile and pointed to his.  "When a shoulder would stiffen up in the mines, you pop it out and give it a good shake, then it's back to work again.  If you're back went out, well, good luck getting out.  Let alone back to work."

[Draconian]

A sympathetic look towards his hands and she turned to just watch him. Usually she just flopped the sleeping arm around until it got that awful tingling feeling and then all was fine. There was some interesting information about him though. A mine? She looked at him, giving him more of a calculated once over. A look an opponent would give you before picking a fight. Taking in his good features.

And noticing him trying to sneak peeks.

Xala smiled, "We'll remember if we sleep on our arm again." She moved closer, pushing her hair from her face and over one shoulder. "You seem interested." She didn't say about what, of course it was her scales, but making him feel awkward for a bit would be fun. "Would you like to look closer?"  And she moved closer... and slowly turned around, presenting her back, the scales blended seamlessly with her skin, giving an odd sparkle in the sunlight. "They're harder than your skin, far more useful. When we heal, we make scales first and then those shed and we have ..." She looked at her arm, "Just skin."

[Lion]

Castor was focusing on cleaning himself, or trying to what with massive metal gauntlets on his hands.  And tried his damnedest to mind his own business.  Because really, as weird as Xala was, or as interesting, he was accustomed to bathing alone.  It wasn't the being naked with her that bothered him.  He was okay with being naked and bathing, as long as it wasn't together.  As long as the awareness of one another was kept to a minimum.

He turned to her with a jump.  "Huh!?  What!?"  Did she just offer her skin to him!?  "No!  I -"  He stared at her for a time, trying to turn back and continue scrubbing his hands through his hair.  "No.  No..."  He paused again and looked at her back.  "Well, okay."  And took the cold steel of his hands and ran them along her spine.

"Wait, this...isn't really working."  And he didn't know how he could effectively see how they felt like without the use of his fingertips.  He tried an elbow, but that was too pointy.  So instead he hesitantly leaned in and pressed his cheek to her shoulder blades.  "Whoa.  This is...so weird."

[Draconian]

Jumpy.

The tree chucker was jumpy. Maybe he was shy? Xala smirked, looking over her shoulder and before she knew it he wasn't so jumpy and she had a cool hand along her spine. It made her shiver, she wasn't expecting him to touch her. The shiver went away and she started to chuckle at the elbow, and flat out laughed when he planted his face on her back. "We guess you'll get a really good look that close, don't lick them, we've been told they taste like metal." Not that she was speaking from experience or anything.

"Do you have any nicknames? Your name is too long." She looked over her shoulder at him, content to let him rub his face along the scales on her back for as long as he saw fit... No matter how weird it was.

[Lion]

As weird as it felt, it also felt kind of nice.  Oh, and of course she had to mention how they tasted.  And he really couldn't help his curiosity.  His tongue flicked on he spine and he got an odd metallic taste as described.  "They're right," he said and continued to run his face along her back.  He was up to her shoulder and just let his chest lay against her back.

"Castor is short enough," he said.  "Before you were content to say 'Iron Fisty Guy'"

[Draconian]

The tongue on her back made her jerk and she just stared wide eyed over her shoulder. Was this guy kidding? This guy wasn't kidding. You didn't lick strangers. Well, apparently he did. Xala's cheeks grew warm and she just stood there, not quite believing how content this guy seemed plastered to her back. He was either very lonely or... Extremely lonely.

At least he hadn't tried to beat the shit out of her after she flashed him. That was nice of him.  "Well, we'll let all future lovers know to not lick the scales for sure." she shook her head, entertained and then grinned. "But Castor is your name. Iron Fisty Guy was when you didn't have a name, and now that we know your name, we think you should be..." She tilted her head, moving a hand up to tap at her lips, turning around completely so he got a faceful of breasts instead of back scales.

"Cassie."  Xala nodded and rested a hand on top of his head, "The best names end in vowels."

[Lion]

Castor stood straight, more surprised at her choice of nickname than the breasts pillowing against his face.  He frowned, clearly in dismay.  "I like Castor better.  It's my name, and I don't call you something silly like Tanaxa or something," he said, mocking her two names that were one now.  "It's short and easy to remember.  Why a nickname anyway?  We're temporary companions.  There's no need."

[Draconian]

Grinning now, she put her hands on her hips and just looked up at him. "Temporary companions! You wound us! You've licked our back. That means we're friends, Castor." Xala fell back into the water with her arms out but instead of floating.... She just sunk. Eventually her head and shoulders popped up out of the water and she looked at him. "Can you swim?"

[Lion]

[He licked her back.  Clearly they're soulmates now]

Castor scowled at her, but he didn't punch her.  This was progress.  And progress was good, right?

"Yes, I can swim.  And I don't see how that's relevant.  We're not friends.  We're just traveling together, okay?  That's the gist."  And with that he gave an indignant sniff and splashed her a little. 

[Draconian]

[I think that's if he licks her cheek scales. Back scales are friend scales, so he's safe!]

Denial was a heady drug and Castor had many heaping spoonfuls of it. Xala had decided their friendship after he threw a tree at her, now she just had another silly excuse. The splash of water hit her full in the face and she stood up quickly, staring at him in shock. How childish! A wicked grin pulled across her lips, "We're in water! We've never learned how to swim, so we were just curious if you have!" And the 'you' was emphasized by the larger splash her hand slapped out of the pond towards Castor.

[Lion]

Castor spat out the water from between his cheeks.  "Yeah?  Well, here are the basics!"  He launched a poweful wave at her and proceeded with the lesson.

"There's the breaststroke!  And the BACKstroke!  And sidestroke!  And treading WATER!  And trying not to Drown!"  And with each word he splashed bigger and bigger waves at her until he snatched her by the shoulders and dunked her down for a few seconds!

"Upon coming back up!" he said, releasing her, "Its always imperative to take a deep breath!"

[Draconian]

Each splash had her backing up, her hands in front of her face to keep the water from it. Just telling her things wasn't helping and she was glaring towards him. The hands at her shoulders were a surprise and too late, she gasped that surprised and received a mouthful of water. While she did try to shoot up instantly, the few seconds had her trying to cough out the water under the surface which just resulting more in her chest. Panic set in, her fingers flexed. Trying to grab anything.

When he released her, she didn't bob out of the water. Xala stayed down, the scales on her cheeks glittering in the sunlight that filtered through the water down to her relaxed looking face.

[Lion]

Castor smirked at first before panic began to set in.  "Tanaxa! Get up!" He pushed her gently at first and then pulled her torso out of the water and shook her. "Hey!"

[Draconian]

Xala's body moved appropriately for being shaken. Still, her head fell back and her limbs were limp. Water did not agree with her more oxygen breathy parts.