Breaking the Sky (M)

[Lion]

"I hope so too," he said, glancing his shoulder and even offered the witch-woman looking thing a small smile.  It didn't last when he peered up on that task of climbing even more hills and cliffs.  He looked up at the way before him and estimated a flat landing at the top.  Climbing would take forever.

And he would burn more energy that he couldn't afford to waste.  He paused and turned to Xala.  "Get on my back.  I have an idea," he said and waited for her to do so.  "This will be a lot faster.  If you fall off, remember that was your fault and not mine."

[Draconian]

"We're not sure how it would be your fault if we lost our grip," She started, eyeing him as a whole. His idea seemed like a bad one - even though she didn't know it. The extra weight would throw him off at least but... What was living if you didn't take risks.

Without ceremony Xala hopped onto Castor's back, wrapping her legs around his torso and her arms around his neck. She wasn't as light as a feather and she was almost waiting for the grunts and groans and the 'nevermind, get off.' "We're ready when you are."

[Lion]

"Good.  Now gold on, Splatterbrain," Castor mumbled as he crouched low on the ground.  He waited, taking a few deep breaths, and pushing his energy into his legs.  The gauntlets granted him strength beyond that of his upper body.  His entire form was capable of great feats, and this way, no matter how strong, was certainly faster than climbing.

Castor gave a few bounces in his legs before he leapt up with everything he had and bounded a hundred feet into the air and then some, reaching the lip of the landing he'd been eyeing earlier.  He landed with a hard roll, dirt scraping all over his skin and landed hard on Xala.

[Draconian]

"What the fuck!" Xala called, her grip tightening around his throat and torso and she was very aware when he moved to land on her. A loud grunt, her arms tightened around his neck and her legs tightened even further and she gasped for breath. Her head hurt, she couldn't breath. Giving one sharp pull with her arms she let her arms flop and she wiggled away from him to get onto her hands and knees to pant.

If she had been human that probably would have crushed her. As it was she just had her breath knocked out of her, "You did that on purpose." The words were strained and she gave choking gasps before she took a shaky breath and closed her eyes for a moment. Xala sat back on her knees and continued to breath deeply, staring at the ground.  A few more breaths and she gave him an amused once over, taking in the image of him instead of the guy that throws trees "We sure hope you don't fuck like you land." And then she stood up and began to look around, curious as to where they were to go next.

[Lion]

Castor shot here a glare.  "I did not," he said defensively.  "It's faster.  And I just had a bad landing.  You're a little weighty.  Never the less, that is not the only hill to scale.  And I'm not waiting at the bottom."

He huffed again and bent his knees to jump after dusting himself off.  The scrapes would knit on their own.  And unless Xala didn't want to climb up by herself, she better get on.

[Draconian]

A little weighty. "Well duh, we're not some waif." A roll of her eyes and she gave a quiet groan and hopped onto his back. There would be bruises on her back that she would worry about later. It was after she wrapped herself around his back that she paused to really think about what she was doing.

The gauntlets weren't coming off, she could tell that much.

Was this fun?

Not really, this Castor guy was a dick.

It was new though. Something she hadn't done before. Something for her to experience as... Herself. Instead of something that was familiar in some way to one part of her and strange to another.

Xala tucked her head next to Castor's, practically pushing her face against the side of his head and got ready to be landed on.

[Lion]

Castor braced himself for a rough landing once he launched himself into the air a second time.  No, he decided he wouldn't land on her this time, not that he had much control over that.   He reached the second hill with a grunt, managing to pull himself up on the legde and crawling in his hands and knees until he dropped into a seating position.

He turned to try to look at Xals. "You're choking me," he coughed.

[Draconian]

Xala decided she didn't enjoy pseudoflying. It was a weird sensation and she supposed the jumping didn't help. Squeezing her eyes shut and tucking herself closer to his back she gave a grunt when they landed and was still clinging to his back when they landed and he took a seat. Her arms moved from his neck and she flopped back, her legs still around his torso before she moved those away.

"Apologies." Xala rolled away, pressing a hand to her back and patting the ache from it. "Are we done yet? Is it nap time?"

[Lion]

"Forget it, no trouble," he said with a nod.  "I think we take a few moment's rest.  My legs feel like noodles.  It might be a good time to get some food too...since I ate all of yourse.  Maybe there are some goats or other critters running around."

[Draconian]

There was no way this man wasn't mentally ill. When they'd met he'd torn the earth apart simply to keep her away, now he's being civil and nice (sort of.) Xala rolled away from him after pulling her legs from around him and standing up, giving her limbs a wiggle to make sure everything was fine.

There was a surprised gasp when she stood up fully, wincing and moving down to her knees.  "You're lucky we're not human." A slightly pained gasp before she stood up and stretched again, "You landing on us would have crushed us otherwise." Another groan and she looked around, giving the area a look. Castor got an unamused look when he mentioned eating all her food like she didn't already know that.

"Do you know how to hunt?" Judging by how hungry he'd been, she would guess that no, he didn't know how to hunt something with his fists.

[Lion]

Castor had survived on his own longer than he'd known this woman.  He gave her an unimpressed look and rolled his eyes.  "You hunt.  You bring back the food," he said, and stood, pointing toward the trees.  "Find something other than berries. Put your claws and teeth to good use."

[Draconian]

Simply she rose an eyebrow, pushed her dark red hair behind her ear and just stared at him. The silver scales on her cheeks went to her ear ears and they glinted in the sunlight. Her arms crossed over her chest and she was about to argue with him when she realized he was right. In a manner of speaking.

Xala probably could hunt better than this hunk of muscle and iron. "We'll be back in a bit, Cas." Pushing her coat back she took her dagger from her belt, gave him a little wave and stalked off into the trees. Half of her was expecting him to be gone by the time she got back. He hadn't bathed though so, following his scent wouldn't be difficult.

Sure enough, a bit was about a half hour and she returned with two rabbits. They wouldn't be the most nutritious meal but it would fill their bellies. So, she tossed the dead rabbits at Castor, "We killed them, you cook them."

[Lion]

Castor had been sitting legs criss-cross on the ground, just getting his bearings when Xala reappeared.  As smug and as weird looking as ever.  He stared up at her and then the rabbits.  He wondered if maybe he ought to have caught the meal instead.  At least then she could go about the task of skinning it around their little crushed skulls and he wouldn't make a complete mess.

But if they were going to eat, they were going to get messy anyway.

He worked quickly and silently.  Fingers worked deftly at removing the skins and separating the meat from the bones.  With that done, cooking the meat wasn't any large task.  It wasn't fancy but it would work.

"How did you catch them?" he asked idly, not moving his eyes away from the fire he'd made from the sparks of his gauntlets.

[Draconian]

Xala took a seat across from Castor and watched him, sitting cross legged with her head in her hand. Bored now, she watched as he worked, taking notice of how easily the gauntlets moved with his hand. Questions itched to be asked but this fellow seemed to go crazy when things involved his hands so, she stayed quiet.

"With our eyes." Xala said quietly, eyes flicking from the fire to his face to the rabbits. "We are intimidating and the rabbit goes still in fear, and then we kill it." Shrugging like it was no big thing - which it wasn't. Giving her lips a lick she eyed caster over the fire. "Do you just... Slam your fist on the things you eat?" A grin and she turned her attention to the ground, drawing intricate designs with the tip of her finger.

[Lion]

"Not if I want to eat mush all the time," he said laughter genuine.  "I prefer to eat in taverns or inns, but that isn't really available at the moment."   He turned the rabbit over on his hands and tossed her a piece when it was cooked enough.  There were no spices to augment the flavor, but beggars couldn't be fancy. Castor cooked the rest of the pieces evenly, though his piece was a little charred.

"What do you do Xala?" he asked "I mean for a living."

[Draconian]

With an apitite Xala ate the rabbit. There was no effort to eat like a lady and her sharp teeth tore meat and before long she was wetting her hands and wiping them off on her pants. Castor got a quick glance at his question and she went quite for a moment. "We find interesting things people may like and sell them." She paused, giving his gauntlets a look. "Did they change you? More than just physically, we mean."

[Lion]

Castor examned his hands, now filthy with blood again and he shrugged.  "I don't know," he answered honestly.  "I get real bad nightmares, nightmares I never had before I put them on.  Maybe that counts.  I feel more desperate I guess.  I just want them off.  Maybe even destroyed.  They'd do nobody any good good."

He at a little more delicately than Xala, if only to savor the food while the opportunity remained.  It was tasty enough, and he wasn't about to complain.  Not about that anyway.  "So the man lived?  The one that told you about the Gate?"

[Draconian]

Quietly she listened, surprised he would tell her these things when he'd been so violent earlier. Her back still ached and she shuffled over on her back to lay down, looking sideways at him from the ground. His question about the man made her eyes snap open from their closed state and she just stared at him, confused.

Still laying down, her hands behind her head, propping her up, she frowned slightly. "We guess so. He was talking. Was that you who did the beating or..." She nodded towards his gloves like they were a different being entirely.

[Lion]

He gave her a short quick laugh.  "No need to skirt around it.  Yes, I did it," he said and held put his hands as if to examine them.  "I guess they're as much apart of me as I am to them."

He was content to eat now in silence and ripped the meat from the bones with his teeth, and even sucked the juices from the bones.  "So what are you?  I remember something about two people in you.  Or you were barking about something."

[Draconian]

No need to skirt around. Sure there was, Xala didn't want him bringing down the whole mountain. When he held out his hands to examine them she leaned in a little to look at them too. There was no way those weren't cursed. Nightmares being a good indicator. Also them being literally his arms. Slowly she moved closer, taking shuffling movements to sit beside him to look at his hands.

The question took her aback and her pupils inflated from little slits to large discs. Her heart began to beat quickly and she quickly looked away, frowning deeply. Her hands moved to her chest and she pressed her palm to the space below her collar bone. "We're ... " She paused, giving him a long look before letting her head duck down, "Broken." Another steady breath, an attempt to calm herself.  "We're sisters. We were sisters."

There was a distinct effort not to look down at herself, instead she focused on Castors lips. Just staring. "We were twins, and twins of what we are, are broken." She pressed a hand to her cheek, to brush along the silver scales. The closet she'll ever get to being fully what she is. "Xana was dying. So Tala saved her. Now... They're..." Xala made a face, stared out ahead and her pupils contracted again. The word, such a simple word for anyone else was like poison in her mouth, "me."

The face she made when she'd spoken the last word was almost comical, but she look disgusted and stood up quickly. "We were supposed to seperate when Xana healed." She threw her arms out and let them drop back to her sides, "We can't. We're stuck. They're both gone and it's our... My... fault." Xala stared at the ground for a moment, giving Castor a look, giving his gauntlets a look.

"If we can help, we would like to separate you from those. We can relate."