Comet, Peggy, Sun- all of the kids had told James to take a break. And Pride had, too. So of course, Tahi, who was nearly as stressed as he was, had to come too. Yes, maybe there was a mind-controlling fungus, and maybe the masters were kind of dicks, and maybe there was a lot of other things going on, but right now was focused on relaxation and bonding.

So here he was, laying on his back in the sand, staring at the ceiling, watching seabirds fly past.

"... I don't feel very relaxed," he admitted after a moment, rolling onto his side and lifting his head, "Comet said we're supposed to just... sit here? Or lay here, I suppose, and nap or doze or something."

But James had never been good at sitting still. He needed to do something.

"There's no one around," he noted, peering over the water, his tail swishing in the sand.

An idea popped up and his eyes lit up, ears perking forward. He stood and stretched, spreading his wings and shaking sand out of his feathers.

"No one is here," he repeated, "So! Let's do something. We could race, we could build something out of sand. Anything! Relaxing is just relieving stress, right?"

Under his feet sprouted mushrooms as he walked, tiny little things that glowed a soft cyan. They had barely any stalk, looking like hoof-shaped dots in the sand. He was getting more and more comfortable with the magic, and had practically mastered the spell by now, able to make any mushroom he could think of.

@Tahi-shei

blink and you miss it

strong language

---

Tahi-shei Deimos was going blind, and he was quite sure that there was nothing he could do to stop it. It was possible that the Collector could reverse it, or stop it in its tracks, but that begged the question -- if the Collector couldn't reverse it, what then? There was the possibility that the beast would just tell him no and he'd be on his way. But he wouldn't put it past him to leave Tahi-shei mostly (or totally) blind without his fungal accoutrement. And that was almost worse -- how could he lead his army without it? It was why Vargas was making use of him; it was why he was the Fungal Prince. It was why he spoke with authority, and it was how he could keep his troops safe.

His troops. He really shouldn't have been thinking of them like that; they were Vargas's. He wasn't any lieutenant, he was no general -- the Overseer was the underboss, Tahi-shei was just a moderately useful tool.

James startled him from his thoughts, startled him from where he'd been staring at the water where the blindspot in his vision was, where he was unable to see his own reflection. He had never missed his own face so much. He glanced towards James on instinct, and then James was in his blind spot, but it didn't matter because he was talking. Plus, with the passive spores in the air and the constancy of mycelium, Tahi-shei could actually see his outline, just faintly.

"I'm never relaxed," he admitted. "I could never fall asleep out in the open like this." Especially not now, not that his sight was leaving him. He felt something rather like anxiety twist in his stomach -- he didn't like having to focus to know where James was and how he was moving. He wished he could go back to before he'd made the deal. But then he'd be missing out on his glorious opportunity.

He cleared his throat and glanced over to James, quietly thankful for his growth of the mushrooms as he moved. Tahi-shei followed along in his wake and then came up next to him, his pelt brushing James's to help anchor him. "Racing might not be the best idea," he said. "What with the, uh, sand and all." More accurately, he didn't want to run into a fucking boulder. He tilted his head slightly in thought. "Also, I can't move things with my mind like you can."

Tahi-shei tried to think about what he did when he was stressed. Alarmingly, the answer seemed to be run away and try to ignore it. Well that was going to catch up with him sometime. As it were, though, he said, "Maybe we could look for, uh, shells or something?" he said, immediately regretting his decision to say it. Considering his biggest blind spot was right in the middle of his field of vision.

@james

strong language

but you'll also prolly miss it

James was oblivious to Tahi's blindness so far. Maybe he'd figure it out, maybe he wouldn't, but he looked back at Tahi, ears perked forward, and smiled.

"We could do that," he agreed, "I hear long walks on the beach are romantic too."

He stretched and spread his wings, flapping them once before trotting forward a few steps, "But you've never fallen asleep in a meadow before? With the breeze all around, the birds singing, soft grass beneath you."

He could admit he did so often. Pegasus wasn't safe (thanks Draconua) but at least his section of it was. Mostly.

"Come on, let's see what we can find," he said, bending his neck to nuzzle Tahi's shoulder before trotting forward, the sand softer than he was used to.

James tossed his head as the waves splashed against his hooves, taking off for a few strides at a gallop before jumping up and bucking, giggling like a total idiot. What could he say? He was enjoying himself! He had Tahi here all to himself, a long, beautiful beach to relax on, and no Mother or Vargas or anyone to ruin their day.

Knock on wood, though.

As James ran forward he missed the divot in the sand, his foot catching. For a moment everything slowed, his eyes widening before he totally ate shit, skidding a few feet on his head and neck, his body plopping down as he lost momentum.

"... Ow," he said, spitting sand out of his mouth, shaking himself off before getting up and sheepishly turning to look at Tahi, face hot with embarrassment, "Um... careful, there's a uh... a hole. Here."

Man, way to impress your boyfriend, James.

@Tahi-shei

Tahi-shei cringed at the thought. "Having a giant monster mistake you for a Lesser and bite your head off while you're defenseless..." Nearly being eaten... twice, he supposed, was twice enough for him, thank you very much. He could've kept going with increasingly nightmarish examples -- Mother, people you'd pissed off by accident coming to collect, having someone cast magic on you, etcetera -- but decided against it.

He leaned slightly into James's touch and wished that the sand was harder, so he'd be able to hear the footsteps. Thankfully, the water made plenty of noise, and Tahi-shei trailed after him, casting a wary glance at the surf as it lapped at his ankles. Something visceral and instinctive told him not to trust deep water for fear of what might have been lurking beneath it, but on the other hand, he was one of the more powerful magic users in the Caves standing next to another one of them. It was unlikely that something would try to come get him, and of that fact he was reassured.

Eventually, after a few beats, he started to trail after James -- hesitant at first and then more enthusiastically before, by some spectacular twist of fate, he tripped in exactly the same place. Tahi's slide was a little more abrupt as his antlers snagged in the ground, and he was flipped ass-over-teakettle like a child who had decided against all wisdom to cling to the handlebars of his bicycle as he crashed.

His neck was aching, and honestly, he was lucky that he hadn't broken it. "Oh, is there?" he snarked. "I hadn't noticed." Tahi-shei got to his hooves and shook his fur out, huffing at the sand clinging to it. If only his coat was shorter like Aran's, but no, he just had to have long fur (for a deer, anyway).

@james

James watched Tahi tumble head over heels and winced, face pulled scrunched up in a grimace.

"Oh dear- um... sorry," he mumbled, using a wings to brush sand out of his fur, before shaking himself out and just covering Tahi in sand again.

He sneezed and tried again, before trying to suck it up and keep going. His bruises didn't seem so bad as he stepped forward, and nudged Tahi's neck gently.

"You okay?", he asked, "That was a hard fall. We can uh... take it slow until we know the beach."

He watched a crab scuttle by and trotted after it, sniffing at it curiously before getting pincers snapped at him. Touchy crab...

"Everything's so weird," he said, "Look at this thing, Tahi! It has armor and claws and sharp legs. It's so... weird. Like a bug."

@Tahi-shei

Thankfully, he wasn't actually upset, just being an asshole. Although, being showered in sand a second time didn't do much for his mood. He shook himself out again, blinking to clear the sand from his eyelashes, and tilted his head to where he heard James trotting along. "I'll be okay," Tahi reassured, approaching to try and peer at the crab as he tilted his head.

"Is it weird that it reminds me of Overseer Alpha?" he asked idly, unable to come up with why but finding it distinctly familiar. They both had armor, of course, but plenty of Gembound were armored. Dragons, for example, or even snails. The thick fur and skin around Comet's throat could even be considered a type of armor.

Then, feeling rather like he needed to also find something impressive, he straightened up and tried to scrape for one of his senses. Well, finding a living stone could be interesting, right? Those were always sort of fascinating; they always made you wonder about what might have been inside them.

He glanced over, and trotted over to where he'd spotted the source, careful of his footing. "Oh, there's something over here -- a living stone, I think." He waited for James to find it, mostly because he didn't rely on his sight enough to not step on the thing.

@james

James blinked and winced, "They are a little similar, you're right. You know, he actually chased me through Orion as a colt. I was barely a month old and he chased me until Pride came and managed to talk him down."

He shook his head, not exactly fond of the Overseer. Not after that.

"Bye," he mumbled to the critter, watching it disappear into the water.

He looked up as Tahi shifted away, ears perked forward. As he was called, he trotted forward, hooves sinking into the sand and making it a bit harder to walk, but not much.

"A stone?", he said, "Oh my- I wonder what's in it."

He peered at it curiously, ears forward, "It sure is pretty, at least."

@Tahi-shei

The gemstone found is a Pupil-level Olivenite crystal, the size of a couple fingers. It was formed of sleek, slick green translucent stone not unlike sea glass, in a natural formation made up of a cluster of crystalline shapes and two protruding, square-ish prongs.

@Tahi-shei

"You can keep it," he said lightly. "I don't really have any use for it; I already have three life stones, I don't need more." He could find them if he did. "It is pretty, though," he said idly. Then, he got an idea. He knew that lightning was hot -- it could set fires if you used it in the wrong spot, for one thing, but he also remembered how it had burned through his body. Didn't sand melt if it got hot enough? He felt like it probably did; it sounded right, anyway.

"Here, stand back," he said, adjusting himself so he didn't hit James by accident. "I have an idea." The rise of magic was fast by now, but it fizzled out into the air, and Tahi-shei frowned. "Huh. Guess it's really not my day. Oh well. Anyway, you can keep it," he said, nudging James lightly. "... Although, I suppose that does beg the question, thinking about my stones." He frowned.

"Back when... you-know-what happened, I made a promise to Pride that I'd... balance things. Bring a life into the world for the one I took from it. That was meant to be his stone, which I gave to Aran, but it broke when he tried to revive it. Which is fair, I suppose -- I wouldn't want to be revived by Aran either." His ears shot up as though he were shocked with himself. "Oh, uh-- that's-- that's not what I meant to say, erm-- well. I guess it's true, though." He laughed, though it sounded a little hollow.

Tahi-shei sighed. "I have stones, though. That I could... revive." He glanced at James. "But because of how I'm linked to you, the lives I might bring into the world are linked to you, too. If they want to be, I suppose. I would never want to make that decision for you." Unlike Ari, went unsaid, he hoped. He hesitated, and looked askance. "... And I suppose... that I could, uh, bring a life into the world with you as well. If you'd be... amenable. N-Not until Peggy is an adult, though, I'd-- hate to, uh, overwhelm you? And your, ah, magic."

Oh, he was still talking. "N-Not that we have to, or even that I want to, not that I-- that I don't want to, I mean, I'd be open to it, I just, you know, no pressure or anything! We've not been together very long and kids, well, kids are -- whew, and, uh, you know, I'd never want to, um, force you into anything and I just... yeah." His whole body was stiff and hot now -- that had not gone how he'd intended it to go.

@james

James nudged Tahi gently at the failed spellcast, "I know that feeling... You can try again."

He stared at Tahi throughout the entirety of his speech, ears forward, only reacting to laugh at his comment about Aran, shrugging. Once he was done, though, he was silent.

Tears welled up and he rubbed his eyes with his wings, throat clogging up, "... I um... You're right about Aran, he's um... Aran. But I just- no one ever offered me a choice."

He stepped forward and nosed Tahi's cheek gently, his breath warm on the other's fur. He wiped his eyes again and nuzzled into his side, pressing their flanks flush against one another.

"Thank you," he said softly, "But... yes. I don't want children right now. Honestly? I don't know if I'll be ready even when Peggy's off on his own, but I suppose we'll see when the time comes, right?"

Aristotle's children would be on their own too, and he wouldn't need to care for them out of obligation anymore. Which would be such a relief. He could have time to himself and could just do nothing for once, and wouldn't that be fantastic?

"... We'll have to see," he said softly, "But I think I'd be comfortable with it. It also depends whether or not the Ursa expedition goes well."

James' eyes grew sorrowful for a moment before he shook his head, "Nevermind that, we're on vacation to get away from it, so... thank you. For giving me a choice. And if the time comes that I wish to have a child but you don't, then we won't. It's a mutual agreement."

@Tahi-shei