Haven grinned, "Yeah!! I stopped nesting and found this to be super comfy. As long as there's a ceiling to hang from, I have somewhere to sleep!"

She winced as Electrum missed, raising a wing to block any stray droplets. She poked her head up and cooed sympathetically, dropping down to fly over and nuzzle his shoulder.

"It's okay! Don't worry- you might be stiff is all, if you've been sleeping for a month or so," she said, and looked around, "There's water all over, and fish all over! You have a bajillion opportunities to get back into the swing of things."

She pointed over at a pool with a clawed finger, "Try that one!"

@Electrum

Electrum

Electrum is rumbling low in his chest, still irritated an embarrassed - not to mention that his chest does this weird fluttery things at Haven's concern, What even is that feeling anyway?

But, he does snort the leftover water from his nose and look appraisingly at Haven, and ponder her newfound sleeping arrangements. Something in him kind of... deflates? Feels almost damp? Not entirely how to describe it, he barely even processes it before asking, "So does that mean we need to... split up then?" Electrum tries to keep his voice light, more curious, but it nearly cracks when he mentions splitting up. "Ah, one second - let me try that pool then."

He makes his way over, moving from tree to tree before balancing himself on one near the water's surface, wrapping his tail a number of times around the trunk and slowly lowering his body proper until the surface of the water would ripple if he were to breathe in too deep.

Noticing this, he leverages slightly back and does just that, pulling air into his lungs and imploring his magic to work as he feels his ever present static charge build and faintly arc off him and crackle over the water and his scales, popping and bringing a soft smell of ozone to his nose before a single, particularly shiny fish convulses just under the surface, and he strikes out with his jaws snapping shut around the thing's tail - rising up with a single small fish wiggling about clenched in his teeth, the star-like Orion's Scale fish somewhat soothing his bruised ego.


@Haven

Haven cocked her head, "Split up? Why?"

They'd just gotten back together... why would they split up again? She moved forward as Electrum caught his fist and snuggled up against his side, gripping his arm tightly with a hand.

"I don't want to split up," she mumbled, "It felt so weird being alone. It was so quiet and I could always hear my heart in my ears... I wanted to hear yours, not mine."

Haven nosed him gently and sniffed, "Don't leave again. I'm- I'm sorry I'm needy. I just... I can't be alone again."

The dragon turned away, ashamed, both at her own neediness and the fact that she dampened Electrum's achievement with her own stupid feelings. Feelings that didn't matter as much as Electrum did.

@Electrum

Electrum

When Haven starts to head over, he quickly snuffs his magic so she doesn't get hurt and he sits up, turning his whole head to face her as she leans against him. He lifts his chin so that he can tuck her head under his chin for the short time she's against him, and he blinks a bit in confusion while the fish wiggles just a bit more. Quite an adorable scene, if he wasn't a giant blue lizard... thing.

"Haven, I-" Electrum nearly drops the fish, so he lifts a forelimb up and grabs it out of his mouth, so he can speak clearly to her. "I was thinking we might have to split up cause you and I can't sleep together anymore? I won't leave, but I also cannot sleep on the ceiling..." The bit about his heartbeat makes his heart kind of skip a beat. Being wanted is nice, he decides, and he leans a bit against Haven to get her attention as she turns away. "But hey. We can address that later, yeah? Lets see what we can find around here, and see what I missed while sleeping."

With that, he lifts his forelimb again and takes a bite of the fish, crinkling his nose as he kind of gets a bone stuck between his fangs.

@Haven

Haven shuffled and snuggled up against Electrum again, moving so he could reach the fish, "Like this. Snuggled together like we used to."

She waited patiently for Electrum to finish his fish before speaking again, "We... need a nest. Like somewhere nice to sleep and to go home to. Not that cave in Pisces- it was a little too cold for me. We could check out the new caves when they're opened, apparently there is- or was? A battle against a massive golem in Polaris, and it's snowing there! Real snow!"

She perked up and looked at Electrum in excitement, "But we could stay here in Cetus for now! It's damp and warm, and there's a lot of places for us to nest! Not a lot of things hang out in trees anyway, not here at least."

@Electrum

Electrum

"Wouldn't sleeping like this hurt you now, though?" he mutters through a mouth of fish, and he shoves the rest into his maw before continuing, "I don't want you uncomfortable. A nest does sound good- we can make one here, yeah. I mean, the water is a bit... dank, but I can travel instead of just laying around. I've done more than enough of that, right?" Maybe making that kind of joke so soon isn't... good, but eh. He'll try!

Electrum moves slightly, and resumes his leaning perch over the water, before asking Haven to "Take a few steps back, I don't want to shock you when I do this."

Another sub-par discharge of electricity later, another lunge into the water and he surfaces with another fish- this one white and creepy and... Eugh. Slimy.

Fish or nasty fish, he levers himself back up to sitting again, and looks out into the Tunnel, or at least as far as he can see before he sighs lightly. "What's snow? And... new caves? I've missed... a lot, haven't I?"

@Haven

Haven shook her head, "Nope! It's mostly been because I'm kind of lazy... I don't want to make a nest, haha. Not without you, at least."

She shook herself out and took to the sky, weaving in the air like a ribbon, slowly and easily, making it look like a cakewalk. She hummed softly and looked at Electrum for a second.

"It's frozen water, I think. It's soft and fluffy and you can make it into balls to throw at people," she said, "And it's white and powdery, like the ice in Pisces but its so small it piles up on each other."

Haven landed when Electrum caught the fish and settled down again, perking up, "We can check it all out later! I haven't seen any of it either."

@Electrum

Electrum

Electrum bites into the Whiteling, hopefully he gets a gem here, but alas, he does not, and quickly finishes off the small fish with very little chewing.

"Lazy? I doubt it. Nests are for family, anyway, right?" his fins burn a deep gold around his spokes, and his ears flush totally gold in embarrassment. Again, for a split second he is thankful Haven can't see his reactions. "So of course we need to make it together."

Although...

"I'm... sorry I made you wait for me. Honestly. I didn't realize I slept for that long."

What the hell... snow sounds freaky, I want to eat some... after I eat more fish.

"But." he shakes his head, his ear flopping loudly in the relative silence of the cave, "We can go check out that snow in a little bit if you want? I uh, I'm still hungry. I also, very much," here he takes a deep breath, and he feels his scales ruffle in agitation, "Very much do not want to deal with whatever that thing is you mentioned. If everyone else is dealing with it, we should be fine. Besides, I might be able to see if anyone there is as interesting as you."

A beat, and a shuffle, before he tucks his head down and bunts her gently and adds, "I don't want to lose you so soon..."


@Haven

Haven huffed, "Well then it was a combination of lacking family and being lazy."

Thankfully, she couldn't see his blush, but she did press her face against him, tail wagging, "I'd wait for a million years for you, Electrum. I love you!"

Haven herself flushed, the skin of her face turning a rosy pink as she shuffled her paws. She curled up and snuggled against his chest, huddling under his larger mass rather happily.

"We can go see the snow!! Or uh- you can, and I'll eat it!", she said, springing up and very nearly hitting Electrum in the chin as she sprung around him in a circle like an overexcited rabbit.

Haven turned her head and stopped at his last statement, and shook her head wildly, "Heck no! That golem sounds scary- I don't want to fight something like that! I don't even really know how to, anyway."

She approached Electrum again and nosed him, "Y'know what? We should build a nest first."

@Electrum

Electrum

A snort at her first comment, that turns into some sort of squeak when her mention of the L-word makes his brain come to a bit of a screeching halt.

That feels like a big word, is it a big word? I'll put that as a big word.

A few beats, and the shifting of Haven's weight against his as she wags her tail makes him come back to the present moment. "I won't make you ever wait that long. Promise." He mumbles, looking down at her and realizing she's pink-er than usual. Huh. That's neat.

Anyway.

"I wanna eat some snow too, so we gaugh-!" he jolts a bit at her sudden explosion of movement, but he quickly calms down and watches her bound around with a fond expression on his face. Her vehement refusal of the battle has him beam at her, all teeth really, and his soft glee in his voice is evident when he quickly agrees to her idea to make the nest.

"Alright, sounds good! We need to find a decent tree, or a crag near one. Someplace off the wet ground, and where we can both hang out without touching the ground, and with space to put things if we ever get anything interesting..." he drifts off a bit, muttering a bit about scanning the whole cave, but he's got one eye on the water as well, like he's got some sort of Idea.

@Haven