Head hunting. [ALE-ALEJANDROOO~!] [M]

[Rhindeer]

Axieva had started to scowl when Rit told her she would have to wait, but at the mention of tongue-burning, she conceded and wiped the scowl from her face. That was another reason she hated cooked food, with the exception of sweets. It was always so hot! She liked her meat warm, sure, but she liked it body temperature.

She breathed in the sweet, cinnamon scents and her belly growled. She quickly looked away from it, because she needed something to distract herself before this became sweet torture.

She bent a leg and wrapped her arms around it, peering over at Rit. "You know much," she said at last, and decided to ask a question that had been on her mind for a bit now, but which she'd dared not ask. "Do you know...have you seen others of my people?"

[Aeytrious]

Rit shook his head in negative to Axieva's question. "Other than the large creature I killed upon arriving here, you are the first being I met. You have seen all the people I came into contact with in your world." Rit reclined into open air, kicking his feet up onto an ottoman that wasn't there. "I could though, at some point. I may make a point of it now that I've met you."

[Rhindeer]

Axieva's face fell with disappointment, ears drooping. She had been hoping that someone powerful as Rit would be able to give her some answers.

"I see," she said, and sighed. "There may be none for you to meet."

[Aeytrious]

        "I may not be using my mind reading abilities on you since I find it rude," Rit told his companion, "but I can see as plain as day the fear and loneliness in your expression." He stood and crossed the few steps it took to reach Axieva. He kneeled before her and looked into her eyes. "There is nothing I cannot do. Whatever gods you worship, I am more powerful. Whatever miracles you can imagine, I can out do. I could take you anywhere, or anywhen. If you'd like to revisit your younger self, we could. I could take you to the future. I can heal any wound or scar. I can remold the world in any way I wish. Having me as your friiend is like having a genie that can grant an unlimited number of wishes without any rules or restrictions. Want to be younger, I can do it, want to be male, I can do that too. I could take away the scars of your battles, though I know you wear them like a badge of honor. Finding your people, taking you to them," Rit smiled softly, "those would be simple things for me to do. As easy as granting you any other wish you had. I will not kill for you though Xieva," he shortened her name, hoping she wouldn't mind the affectionate term, "or commit any unprovoked harmful acts."
        "So what would you like me to do first," the soft hum sounded from the direction of the pie, "after you have as much of that pie as you can eat of course?" He stood and moved to the pie. A knife appeared in his hand, and he sliced into into eight perfectly even wedges. He served one onto a plate he pulled from the air with a pie server that knife turned into. He handed the plate to Axieva, and as it entered her hand a fork materialized on the edge of the dish.
        "Enjoy!"

[Rhindeer]

Axieva's mind reeled as she tried to absorb everything Rit just told her. He could heal her? Give her back her wings? Take her to her people? For a long moment, she didn't breathe as she stared back into his eyes with her remaining one, her heart racing in her chest. She could see her people again...

Goddess, how many years had it been now?

Far too many, and her heart ached at the thought. She had buried her loneliness deep down inside for a long time, but Rit brought it right back to the surface with those promises--and Axieva had seen enough of the wonders he'd accomplished to believe he could do it, and she had grown fond enough of him over their time together that she didn't even mind the shortening of her name.

The only ones who could get away with that were those she felt affectionate toward.

She was still gaping in awe when the timer went off, and she snapped out of her daze when Rit brought her a plate of pie.

Taking it from him, she set the fork aside (she wasn't sure what to do with it) and picked up a chunk with her fingers. "You could find my kind..." she said at last, still holding the piece of pie. "I could ask no more than that. That would be...that would be..." She struggled with finding the right words, but could find nothing--in Common, nor in her native tongue--that conveyed the sheer level of gratitude and awe she felt, and it was a little hard to speak through the sudden tightness in her chest.

"I could never repay that."

[Aeytrious]

        "I don't need payment," Rit told his friend, "Xieva, I'm more powerful than the gods that created this world. I want for nothing. The limits The Creator put on me, make it so I have to learn about a world first hand before I decide if it should be saved or destroyed. Yours will be saved, but I must find ways to balance it. There is much darkness here on your earth. Healing you, or taking you to your people, are things that would bring light, bring balance. They are my duty. Besides, I will do these things for you because I like making you happy. You're my first Peryton, I'm inclined to show you a bit of favoritism."
        He floated his own pie, that he had served while he talked to her, in the air beside him as he walked over to her. He reached up and gently removed the eye patch from Axieva's head then leaned in and kissed her face, just below the damaged socket. The flesh around it healed as the eye grew strong within, the vibrant color returning. He stood straight and smiled at his little peryton. Then he sat across from her and began to eat his pie.
        "I thought we could start small," he said around a mouth full of apple and crust. "This needs ice cream," and with those words a scoop of ice cream appeared on his pie. Another appeared along with a bowl that now floated in front of Axieva. He didn't wanna ruin her pie if she didn't like the vanilla bean ice cream that he enjoyed.

[Rhindeer]

It was a lot to take in, that Rit was so powerful. Of course Axieva had witnessed numerous miracles with him, everything from him coming back from the dead, to constructing that tower, to freezing time, so...goddess, so many things! But it had all been a lot to wrap her head around, and Axieva had blamed much of it on powerful magic, had hand-waved it and lived in stubborn denial. But there came a point where you could deny things no longer, and Axieva had finally reached that point.

She crested it when he removed her eye patch and kissed her. Before she could so much as give a surprised reaction or grab for her eye patch (for she was ugly without it, the eye gone and the flesh horrifically scarred), she felt the shift, felt everything...change. And then her vision blurred, and for a moment she was panicked before she realized her blind spot was gone, her vision wider.

Her breath caught in her throat and she reached up and felt at her eye and felt, beneath the eyelid, the fleshy roundness of an eye, and when she opened that eye and shut the other, she could still see! Her vision was blurred still, for it had been years since she'd had two eyes and her other eye had adjusted to compensate, but...

She had both eyes.

She had both eyes.

And the flesh around that eye was smooth.

She was still touching both eyes and opening one eye and shutting the other when Rit remarked that he'd start small.

Small!

She spun on him, the plate of pie she held forgotten. "Small? This is not small! I have an eye!"

And without thinking, she flung the plate aside and tackled Rit in a full-body hug, mindless of the pie and ice cream he held for himself.

[Aeytrious]

        Axieva's pie and ice cream floated down gently to land out of the way. Rit's teleported to the nearby table as he spread his arms in preparation of the tackle. Off his stool they flew, and he wrapped his arms around her to return the hug. He laughed at the joy she communicated through the embrace, and laced his fingers into her hair. Mortals were so easily pleased, and it was something he enjoyed very much. Her happiness was his happiness. He slid his hands across her back and modified her clothing so that when he returned her wings to her they would easily fit through. He didn't give them to her yet though. It was best that he give her tie to adjust to a new eye before he added wings to the mix.
        "Actually, you have two eyes," Rit said, still laughing. "Now when you finish your pie, perhaps you'd like to go flying with me? Your body will need to exercise your wings to get used to their return."

[Rhindeer]

"Wings? My wings, too? Oh, Daveshka, yes!" Even with her eye restored, it was difficult to wrap her mind around that. Losing her wings had been like losing her soul. She would gladly give her eye for them, or an arm--anything!--and the trauma of their loss (and everything else that had happened during that time, like the loss of her people) was something she had never been able to overcome, even though she acted like it didn't bother her.

She thanked the goddess that she'd never woken up sobbing around Rit.

With a delighted laugh, she hugged Rit tighter, squeezing him in an embrace hard enough to make ribs creak--well, on a mortal, at least.

"Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she said over and over, slipping into her native tongue on a few of those 'thank yous'. She grabbed his face so she could kiss both cheeks and his forehead, and then released him and rolled off of him, still beaming ear to ear--and baring all those sharp teeth in the process.

After all this, with her stomach doing flips of excitement, she wasn't so sure she could eat--but eating also meant wings, so she grabbed her pie from where it was floating and began to shovel it into her mouth, still seated on the ground. It was delicious, but nothing would ever taste so good as the promise Rit had made.

[Aeytrious]

        "Slow down," Rit told her, "try the ice cream, it's cold and sweet." He pointed to the bowl that floated nearby, a spoon sticking up from the cold vanilla dessert. Released now from Axieva's embrace, Rit sat and ate his ice cream. He smoothed away all Axieva's old aches and pains, smoothing her skin of its scars. In such a rush to finish her pie, she would likely not even realize that she had been healed of all the evidence of her hunts and fights. Sure, she would likely have new scars in a day or two, but she would get to enjoy healthy young skin along with her new eye and wings. She would truly be whole again. While he was repairing the trail of scars that laced her body, he had a little fun, shifting the color of her hair and eyes. She couldn't see that it was happening, and she'd feel no change, and when he settled her back to her original hues, he decided he liked her best that way.
        "I can do more than just restore you. I can improve upon you as well." With the notion of a thought he changed her as she sat eating. The way her muscles were made changed ever so slightly, but with great results. She would now be twice as strong, but without the increase in mass, she would not lose her speed. In fact, it would likely be greater. To compensate for more powerful muscles he strengthened her bones, once again not changing the density or their weight. He changed the way the cells aligned, really the way the atoms bonded. They were stronger than steel now. Increased strength and speed would require better circulation, better oxygen distribution. So of course Rit strengthened her heart as he did her other muscles, and improved the way her lungs worked. All her biological processes were improved along with it. She would get more from the things she ate, and her body would produce less waste. In turn she'd need less food, drink, and sleep. She would never get sick, or contract any disease. She'd age at a slower rate living close to twice the age of her kind. Her already amazing hearing and sense smell he only improved slightly, but her eyes he made drastically better. A creature with wings should be able to see the details of things far below, and so he gave her eye sight that would rival an eagle. He was tempted to give her gills, but he thought that might be overstepping.
        Most of these changes, unlike the smoothing of her skin and playing with the color of her hair, she could feel happen. Especially since he improved her cognitive reflexes. Stronger of body, with a brain to match, she was now the strongest, fastest, and most intelligent of her kind. Soon he'd give her back her wings, and they'd fly together. Any of the changes he made to her he could take away if she did not want them. Any that she kept would breed true. All her children would be as powerful as she. The nearly extinct race of Perytons would be able to rebuild with the improvements he'd made to her. Perhaps with the added brain power some might choose a less tribal life. Civilized human eaters couldn't be the worst thing to ever happen, could it? No matter. Her kind were not evil, and that was reason enough for the improvements to Axieva to be allowed.
        "I can give you the ability to breathe under water too if you like. I just didn't wanna make that sort of decision without your consent." He really thought she could use some gils. Perytons that could breathe under water sounded like a great idea.

[Rhindeer]

Axieva swallowed her bite of pie and reined herself in as best as she could, grabbing for the bowl as Rit suggested but forgoing the spoon. That she picked up and set aside before she took an experimental lick of the ice cream--and blinked in surprise, because it was good, and it wasn't long before both ice cream and pie began to disappear.

She wasn't aware of Rit's little adjustments and manipulations, so lost in her own thoughts and meal. But somewhere along the way, she realized she could see better when her blurred vision sharpened, and hear better when she started picking up sounds she hadn't noticed before. She paused in the process of taking a bite of pie and stared down at the chunk she held, head tilting, eyes narrowing, as though seeing it for the first time. Then she finished the bite and looked up at Rit, who looked clearer to her eyes than she'd ever seen him before; she could make out details she hadn't known were there, make out individual strands in his hair.

And then Rit spoke, saying something about making her breathe underwater, and it all clicked. He had been changing her.

"What did you do to me?" she asked, but there was no anger or accusation in her voice--only wonder. "What you did, I like it--but underwater, no, not necessary. I do not swim much."

[Aeytrious]

        Rit grinned inwardly at the inflection in her voice. Axieva was apparently not fond of water she could not stand in. Her hooves likely a part of the cause. Without feet that could push her through the water, she had not experienced the joys and freedom of swimming. It was much like flying, only through water. She might be convinced if she could enjoy it, but changing her hooves would take away from the core of what she was. A deer. So Rit decided not to press the issue.
        "Your children will be better and stronger than the others of your kind. Just as I have made you. I believe that you will have no difficulty finding and keeping a mate. Once we return you to your people that is."

[Rhindeer]

Axieva flashed Rit a grin then, teeth bared, and puffed up with pride. Stronger than the others, he said? And he would give her her wings back? And goddess, to find her people again, to pick up her life after all that happened, all she had lost--her mate, her family...

She hadn't ever thought that a family could be possible. Not after everything. She had given up on that dream long ago.

She still had her doubts.

With a light laugh, she shook her head. "On that matter, we shall see," she said, still grinning. "If any are left who can handle me."

[Aeytrious]

        "Well, it doesn't really seem you're enjoying that treat much," Rit said, noting the speed at which Axieva ate. "Perhaps we should save treats for celebrating your new wings." He stood, and his own pie and ice cream vanished, as if it had never been there. All the cleaning that needed to be done, was just, done. Only Axieva's dishes remained, in her hands, since she had been eating. He didn't want to be rude.

[Rhindeer]

"What?" Axieva's ears shot up and her eyes--eyes!--went wide. She glanced down at her dessert, then at Rit's as he magicked his away, and she pulled both bowl and plate closer and hunched over them, as though shielding them. "No! I am still eating!"

And, as though afraid he was going to take her treats away, too, she proceeded to shovel the rest of her pie into her mouth, practically stuffing her cheeks with it. Thankfully, there wasn't much left. That left the ice cream, which was mostly liquid at this point, and once she'd swallowed down the pie, she proceeded to drink her ice cream.

Or, well, as much as she could manage. She still left behind half of it--not for lack of liking it, but just because she was stuffed.

And because halfway through, she managed to give herself a brain freeze from drinking the cold liquid too fast.

Setting her dishes aside, she curled up and clutched her forehead. "Ohhh, that is good, but why does it hurt?!"

[Aeytrious]

        "Rub your warm thumb against the roof of your mouth," Rit told her, "that should help. You put too much cold in your mouth at once and triggered an increase in blood flow to the brain resulting in pain from pressure. Heat will help the anterior cerebral artery constrict faster, stemming the flow of blood and reduce the pressure." He didn't even consider that Axieva wouldn't know what he was talking about, at least he had remembered to include the remedy in his explanation.
        Rit lifted his legs up and sat cross legged in the air. He drifted lazily toward his companion, then toward the exit. "Come on out when you're ready to fly."

[Rhindeer]

"The...the what?" Axieva stared at Rit blankly. He had lost her shortly after the part about sticking her thumb in her mouth, and now it just sounded like he was speaking a different language. Which was entirely possible! She was fluent in the Common tongue nowadays, but some words and phrases still escaped her or didn't quite translate in her mind, and there were still plenty of words she didn't know.

She just didn't expect him to string so many together in a single sentence!

Rising to her feet, she pressed her thumb against the roof of her mouth and started after him. Already it was feeling better. "I did not understand most of that," she said, removing her thumb with a light pop. "But this helped."

[Aeytrious]

        "I'm sorry," Rit said, floating out the exit, "I forget myself sometimes. Most of the things I mentioned have yet to be discovered here on this world." He stopped a few feet out and stood, planting his feet firmly on the ground. A ray of sunlight fell through the trees striking his face. He moved branches aside with a thought and the beam widened, taking him in entirely. The warmth of a sun always pleased him. He opened his eyes and face Axieva as she came out.
        "Would you like to feel them grow," he asked her, "it will not be painful, I assure you. Or would you prefer them to just be there as if they were never gone?"

[Rhindeer]

Axieva didn't even have to think about that one.

"Like they were never gone," she said at once as she came up beside him, blinking in the light. It was still so...gods. She could see properly again! See better than before! She stared up at the trees above, marveling that she could count the leaves, make out birds hidden among the branches. It was...beautiful.

"Like they always were," she continued, still staring up into the trees, distracted as she followed the path of a squirrel. "Pain, I don't care about. I would take any pain for this."

[Aeytrious]

        Axieva didn't seem to go in much for the theatrics, so Rit didn't bother. One moment Axieva had no wings, the next she did. Easy modifications to the furs she wore, made it so she wouldn't have to struggle to remove them. Her newly replaced appendages were just as tough as she was, and powerful. She'd be able to fly higher, faster, and for longer periods, than she could with her old wings. Rit took a moment to look her over, and felt warmth at the sight of her beautiful wings.
        "Would you like to try them out now?"