ORIGIN

"Speech"

Eira looked at Kimen curiously as he yawned again, and she forced herself to swallow one, instead breathing in heavily through her nose. She looked around, her eyes flickering, but she doubted there'd be anywhere like that in here. She hadn't even felt anything soft yet except for Kimen. Come to think about it... Had she touched him? She assumed his fur was soft. she'd touched his gem and that was sharp.

Best to make sure.

Eira waddled forward and placed her rubbery paw on his face, patting it gently. She then retreated, seemingly satisfied with that find. "I think we're the only soft things in here." she elaborated, looking accusingly at, well... everything, really. The rusty metal, the hard stone, the demons in the walls... A little shiver passed over her involuntarily.

"Perhaps," she agreed halfheartedly. "Let's just see if we find anything."

Kimen nodded in agreement to Eira's words, he found it nice that they were agreeing on something, that they both needed to rest. He looked around, taking in all the rocks, rusted metal and the horrible, unnatural paintings smearing the walls. He decided that this was certainly not a comfortable place and that he wouldn't let them sleep here.

Bizarrely she touched his face with her webbed paw. It felt rubbery and strange but not unpleasant. Though it occurred to him that this was the very first time they had touched, apart from when he struggled to stand and she helped him. He wasn't opposed to the touch, he trusted her enough to allow it, it just confused him slightly.

"Yes, lets get moving then, we'll find something I'm sure of it!" He said with determination, hoping to find something soon.

"Speech"

Kimen put up with her touching his face. That was nice. As she lowered her paw back to the stony ground she let out a small giggle at the funny, confused look on his face.

Eira sighed softly before finally giving a small nod, avoiding eye contact as though she was ashamed that they were agreeing. But when she looked up there was a smile on her face. For once she wasn't obsessing over hunting down the demons or arguing and that was... surprising. Perhaps she admitted to herself that she needed a little rest too. But that was unlikely, seeing as how she'd disagreed before.

With a little bit of a jump to spur herself onward, Eira began to waddle ahead of Kimen, scanning the area around with bright eyes. Eventually she turned back to look at him, making sure he was caught up.

And then she noticed out of the corner of her eye, a little alcove in the cave wall like the one she'd hatched out in. There was a little bit of dried moss, but it wasn't anything spectacular. Still, with walls on all sides the demons wouldn't be able to get them in here. She turned back to Kimen, and pointed with her paw towards the alcove.

"Doesn't look that soft, but..."

It appeared that Eira had found them a place to rest, a small outcove that seemed safe enough. Not as soft as he had hoped for but it would do. He made his way towards the resting spot with tired legs, a little behind his companion. She was always looking back to ensure she hadn't left him behind and he appreciated that. He didn't know what he would do if he was ever left behind.

He reached the encampment and all that was left to do was climb in. "Up we go." He said with hope, remembering the difficulty of his last small climb.

Thankfully, history did not repeat itself as he climbed into the alcove with ease despite his tiredness. It was then that he realised that the alcove was rather small and that there was barely any space for his companion Eira. They would have to get rather snug if they were both to fit. He wanted to explain the situation to her, but he couldn't find the words. "Ummm."

"Speech"

Eira politely let Kimen go first ahead of her as he climbed up the small rise towards the ledge. If she'd had more of a grasp of the world and been in the mood to annoy, she might have said 'ladies first', but if Kimen fell then she would be the unsuspecting pillow. Well, to be a hero you needed to take some blows; and this was the right thing to do, she was sure of it.

He climbed up just fine and Eira was pleased with that. It was only a small ledge, and she was sure she could make it all in one go. Suddenly her mind was filled with childish thoughts of the glory that awaited her at the end.

She bunched up all her muscles, crouched down, and then went for it with a powerful flex.

She'd made it! Or her front half had at least. Her back claws scrabbled at the edge and with a few panicked breaths she managed to pull herself up. Deep breath... deep breath. She breathed for a while before she looked at the situation at hand. The alcove was pretty small. Immediately she understood. "Bagsy guard duty," she said, a determined look coming across her face. Perhaps it'd be up to Kimen to get her to settle down.

"Eiraaaa," He moaned in a half yawn, "you need rest just as much as I do." He was still troubled by what he needed to say, especially now that they were both in the tiny alcove and that it was rather cold.

"I know it's cold, and there's not much space but we'll be safe if we..." He paused, thinking of the right way to put it. "M-maybes if we slept close t-together, it wouldn't be so cold." He continued, his nerves clearly getting the better of him with this particular situation.

"Speech"

Eira hesitated, looked at her friend curled up all snug in the alcove, and then looked out at the tunnel. She plopped herself down with a sigh and didn't respond for a while. "What if I don't?" she challenged quietly. But it was colder up here. They weren't far from Monoceros, and a passing breeze toyed with her fur. "Hrrm...mmph." She seemed to be thinking, battling with her own stubborness. Indeed, the tiredness was starting to tug at her own eyelids, though she'd never admit it.

"Safety in numbers?" she eventually muttered, slightly ashamed for even considering it. Her hide had started to tremble. it was indeed cold out here. "...I'll be able to guard from down here,"she muttered, scurrying down and curling up next to Kimen on his soft side opposite the gem. It was warmer there. She lay there, head up, eyes wide open, and looked at Kimen for a moment as though making sure he was okay.

"See? Isn't that warmer. You don't need to guard. We'll wake up again soon enough. For now, we both need rest." He declared in tiredness. Even though he found it charming, her stubbornness was stopping him from sleeping and that was less than charming.
"So? Are we gonna sleep or what?" He continued, releasing a yawn towards the end as his eyes started to flicker. Seemingly on its own, his tail wrapped around Eira. He didn't know how it did that without his intent but he didn't bother trying to move it back. It was rather comforting, even in the coldness.

He couldn't wait any longer for Eira to respond to his question and before she could answer, Kimen drifted off into slumber.

"Speech"

Eira sighed once more out through her nose, out of tiredness this time more than anything else. "I wanna guard..." she muttered stubbornly, keeping her head raised so she could keep looking. "Yeah, okay."

you can sleep, I'll stay awake and guard...

Eira tensed up slightly as she felt more warmth about her. She looked down, fearing the worst- but it was only Kimen's tail, warm and fuzzy and soft. Eira cringed, but only because this made it harder to stay awake. She didn't understand why it did, but it did. It felt safe. It felt warm. It felt... friendly. New.

Eira tried to stay awake, to keep watching, keep waiting.

Eventually though, there was a muffled thud as her head plopped down onto the rock as she fell asleep still watching.

-Exit Eira-