[OOM] Eiattu - Grasslands

[fighting_mad]

Plourr rolls onto her back and stares up at the blue sky, shading her eyes with one hand. It's a warm day, a few wispy clouds scudding across the sky and the sun shining bright. The two thaks are quite happily tucking into their feed nearby, tethered to a fallen tree, and the tall blades of grass wave softly in the wind all through the field. Best yet, there's no sign of anyone else or any manmade object as far as the eye can see; just grass, thaks, forest, and sky. She closes her eyes and lets the sun warm her face.

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[fighting_mad]

Plourr is of the same mind, really, which is why there is a flash of teeth and she heads unflinchingly into the darkness. "Careful; there's an incline," she says.

[eiattu_pride]

Rial nods, not really realizing that she can't see him, and clings onto her hand rather tightly as he navigates the corridor.

...it's not his fault.

Eurg, dark.

[fighting_mad]

They turn a corridor and poof, the light from behind them is gone. Plourr isn't bothered by it; she knew these passages by rote when she was a girl, and she uses them often enough now that she doesn't need her eyes. She just scuffs in front of herself with a boot occasionally, carefully, and keeps her free hand up, to lessen the chances of making friends facefirst with a wall.

They go on (not long; only a few minutes). Until:

"Rial, I'm losing circulation in my hand," she says.

[eiattu_pride]

"Oh."

There's a pause. He loosens his grip, a little.

"Sorry."

[fighting_mad]

She frowns and stops abruptly, at that, having expected a quip or at least a light-hearted response. She turns back toward where she knows he is. "Everything alright?"

[eiattu_pride]

"Yeah, it's fine."

Doesn't bother him as much as it did when he was little, but there's always that creeping feeling of something is coming.

[fighting_mad]

"Rial," she says, because she may not be able to see him, but she can tell when something's bothering him (she isn't stupid). She takes a step closer to him, footstep echoing in the silent passage. "What's the matter?"

[eiattu_pride]

He looks shifty (she probably can't see).

"I'm just not big on the dark."

[fighting_mad]

"Seriously?"

At least she isn't laughing?

[eiattu_pride]

"Yes, seriously."

This is why he didn't tell her.

[fighting_mad]

That would be a hint of snap in his voice. He's serious, alright, and so she's not laughing or mocking.

It takes some effort, but she's not doing either.

"How have I not heard about this before?" she asks, hand still firmly in his.

[eiattu_pride]

Rial shifts awkwardly, "It's a little embarrassing."

[fighting_mad]

"We sleep in the dark, in case you haven't noticed," she says, and her hand moves in his as she steps back toward him, closer.

[eiattu_pride]

"Yes," he says patiently, "but that's sleeping. That's also in our quarters."

[fighting_mad]

A faint smile curves, and if he can't hear it in her voice (and he probably can), he can certainly feel it against his cheek. "Darkness is fine," she murmurs. "You just have to trust your other senses."

[eiattu_pride]

...mmm.

Rial shifts just a little to kiss her on the cheek, damp hair straggling across his face. "Sounds okay to me."

[fighting_mad]

"Besides," she says, resting her free hand on his hip and tugging him in a step or two, and she tosses her head. "I won't let anything eat you."

She might be grinning just a bit as she leans in--rustle of wet cloth, scuff of a boot, her breath against his lips--and kisses him.

[eiattu_pride]

Rial laughs, at that, and he's about to agree when she leans in and then...oh. Well. This is certainly rather nice.

He breaks away a few moments later, grinning. "We should get going. They'll start to think something did eat us."

[fighting_mad]

"I don't know who the 'they' you speak of is," she says, and she presses her mouth to the corner of his lips (she misses the first time and catches his chin instead, but she does it the second) before stepping back and tugging on his hand, "but I think 'they' are going to be sorely disappointed. This is, after all, our day off."

[eiattu_pride]

"And a well-deserved one, too." He follows her, still grinning brightly eve if she can't see it.

[fighting_mad]

"That goes without saying." Her voice doesn't immediately echo back from her left, and she turns into the passage that she knows is there, running her hand along the wall. She knows it's here, and -- aha. She fits her hand into the reader and after a moment's consideration, the little light flashes green and the panel slides open without a sound. A rush of fresh air accompanies it and Plourr ducks out into the private hall several meters down from their apartment door, blinking in the light.

[eiattu_pride]

Rial ducks out just after her, squinting against the light. Once his eyes have adjusted, he glances down to where he can see the door to their quarters.

"I'm going to need to remember this one."

[fighting_mad]

She snorts, heading toward the door as the panel closes noiselessly behind them. "Good luck. It's a kriffing maze in there."

[eiattu_pride]

"Well, you seemed to do okay."

He follows her, leaving a little trail of watery footprints.

[fighting_mad]

"I ran in those passages with my sisters from the time I could first walk," she says, slicking her hair back again with the hand not in his. "How else do you think I escaped tutors, bathtime, Nynie, and occasionally my mother?" And would-be assassins, that time, a few weeks before they became successful. That's less light-hearted, though.

She nods briefly to the lone guard standing at his post beside the door (ignoring his stare), keys in the access code, and steps into the apartments.