Azure beamed. He liked it. Enough to want to keep it, apparently, and if that wasn't a compliment, she didn't know what was!

"Sure!" she agreed, some of that cheerful enthusiasm showing through. "And thank you. For the uh-... eye, thing." She was awkward but warmly heartfelt in her words. It had been a nice thing to say, and really, it meant a lot to her to know someone liked her creative works.

"Just gimme a minute, okay? It's a complicated spell--I can do it, but it might take a couple tries," she warned. It took a great deal of focus, both concentrating on the dye and summoning the magic.

It took, the power shimmering out to fill the little specks of stars and all the violet void between. She stepped back, breathing out a sigh, and nodded. "There you go! It looks good on you," she added, and she meant it. Not just because it was her own work; it had a pretty cool effect. It looked to her like Sair's dark patches were now broken windows into a starlit void... or something. Not that she knew what a starlit void looked like.

"As for where I'm at-... Usually here, sometimes Monoceros. I wander but not too far," she added, with a shrug. "If you do drop something off I wouldn't be away long, maybe a day or two. And I'd know who it's from!" she added, with a little laugh.

@Sair

Sair

"Oh take your time! And thank you." He emphasized, turning to look at her directly with sincerity. He wanted to give her a chance to truly absorb the words, to accept that she had indeed done good work. Who would have had the eye to turn a rug, of all things, into a usable satchel? "I only have words to offer you, for the moment. You on the other hoof have given me much more, and much more beautiful things at that!" He thought it was redundant at this point to have thanked her so much, but it was true. He was thankful for her efforts and her energy, because she had given it willingly with no expectation of payment, and because her effort in turn saved him double. It would take him so much less work to do so much more, all because of a bag. It really was the little things.

He waited patiently, a statue not carved by but painted by Azure as he waited for her mark on him to become permanent. It was interesting, he thought, how such simple interactions with others could leave their mark on you for life. He had been blessed multiple times now by the kindness of strangers, and each one had left him with something, physical or otherwise, that he would not soon forget. How strange that one day every one of them would be gone, as would he, and as would any memory of anything he had uncovered in his life. He would have to do anything in his power to avoid that. Perhaps he would start keeping a written record of his own? Somehow...

"What was that about complicated? My mind barely got to walk, let alone run from me!" He laughed, pulled from his thoughts to see Azure once again. It was comforting to come back from his internal tangents to something other than dust and a silent wisp of magic. "Is it permanent, now? I don't have to worry about smudging it?" He remained still, wanting to be certain before potentially ruining Azure's hard work and his delightful new sparkle.

"Oh, good! Good. I'll bring something back from one of the farther caves, then. Maybe it'll inspire you to explore after all!" He was jittery at the idea, excited to hopefully repay Azure's kindness with something to inspire her work. Surely he could find something she hadn't seen before, given that she didn't travel much. Well, she didn't travel much anymore, according to their discussion. He was glad that she would be easy to find, both for his repayment and conversation. He would like to hear more from her some day, when she was open to story-telling and not so worn from her work. But for now, he was more than satisfied.

"Speaking." Thinking. Doing.
OOC:

We don't know how to accept we're just a product of a chance /
And less like gods but more like plants

@Azure

Azure started to pick the brush back up, then set it down to answer, nodding.

"Permanent, yeah. And, uh." She paused, hesitating as she sought the right way, once again, to phrase her thoughts. It was hard. She'd been spending too much time alone, or just here with Dip, and she knew it. "Don't worry about repayment, or it 'just' being words. It's enough to make something others enjoy, you know? Sort of-... To know it's out there. Just being-... well, enjoyed." She gave a little laugh.

The faint temptation was there. The dreadful desire to vomit up all that old trauma, to explain that after seeing so much dark shit, that it was just nice to create instead of to destroy. To make beauty, not ugliness. But Azure wasn't about to burden anybody else with that, and it wasn't his problem, really. Sair was enjoying himself, enjoying the art, and she'd ruin the very thing she was now treasuring if she said anything further. So a gentle shake of her head dismissed that faint but obvious pensiveness, and she peered at him.

"You could always promise to send me anybody else who wants a paintjob," she added, with a humorous tone. "As long as they're... y'know. Nice."

She then turned, picking up the brush and carrying it to a bit of water in the corner, dunking it in. Threads were gathered back up, stones nudged into place. "You're welcome to hang out? Uhh. I know you don't really fit, but..." Ahh, back to awkward, again. She'd have offered him a snack or something, but there wasn't much to eat there, at the moment, really. "I'd say we could go check out the ruins I was heading into together but I think that'd have to be another time," Azure admitted. "That magic wears you out quick!"

@Sair

Sair

"Well in that case, I am glad to be of service!" He dipped his head, kneeling deeply in a hopefully comical display to help ease the tension. "I will deliver precisely one sacrifice within the cycle!" He added on the declaration with a laugh of his own. Perhaps words were all you needed some days.

He walked with her, two steps behind, and she headed back home to tidy up. Her offer was a kind one, and one he would like to take her up on, but not today. "I would love to, Azure, but another time?" He offered back, suddenly more nervous than he'd felt before. It wasn't like the offer would expire, would it? He was still learning how to read others, but Azure had seemed genuine in how she spoke. "I'm sure you could use the rest, given how much concentration those spells seemed to take." He was also getting rather hungry, but that didn't seem a relevant thing to say. "I'm rather eager to test out this new bag, too, and I can only imagine what my pelt will look like under the lights of Polaris!"

It was nice to relax for a while, to just hang around and talk without digging around and trying to decipher things, but he was starting to get antsy. "I'll find you when I am back, though! Maybe we can explore those ruins together then?" He seemed hopeful, and he was. Two sets of eyes would simply be better at finding things, and he couldn't say that he wouldn't enjoy having some company in the silence of long-fallen buildings. He fit better in places without roofs, anyway.

"Speaking." Thinking. Doing.
OOC:

We don't know how to accept we're just a product of a chance /
And less like gods but more like plants

@Azure

"Sure; I'd like that," she agreed, easygoing, and her glance back was genuinely warm. There was that permanent distance she kept, of course; the faintest touch of aloofness, or maybe melancholy, but she meant her words. "And it was tiring, and I promise that's not an excuse to get rid of you or anything," she added with a laugh. She really did need a long sleep after all that. The dye spell, in particular, tended to exact a heavy toll.

"When you get back, let me know how it looked in Polaris, then. And if I'm not here, uhh, leave a piece of crystal by the door? Anything from around here, just so I know it was you," she added, nodding around at the quartz throughout the cave. "Then I can fly around and see if I spot you anywhere. Until then, take care, okay? It was nice meeting you."

She meant that, too. There weren't a lot of strangers she'd met who'd just been... nice. Just good, friendly, open people. It had, truth be told, been a pretty nice day.

@Sair

Sair

"Why would you ever want to be rid of me?" He joked, not quite leaving the doorway just yet.

"I will do just that, then, in both cases." He returned her warm look, although his was without the reservation. He had the luxury of youth, where he had yet to experience torment or loss. He had seen the result of destruction in the form of ruins, but he had not seen it truly, presently, personally, as it happened.
He would be glad for it, but people tended to realize much too late what they should have appreciated in the moment.

"It was a pleasure." He moved to back up, taking one last look around outside to make sure he would remember how to get back. "I'll come back in one piece, I can promise you that much!" Little did he know he would actually come back with different pieces, different parts, in the form of back feet better matching Azure's forelegs. Even so, he would come back.

"Speaking." Thinking. Doing.
OOC:

We don't know how to accept we're just a product of a chance /
And less like gods but more like plants

/exit