Fill My Little World [Torin, Sivan]

[Destyn]

Fill My Little World

Kalzasi - 5 Searing, 122

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The trip to the was not an unfamiliar one for Destyn, whose quondam clan had tended to travel close to bodies of water- Lake Udori being a long and frequent stop on their perennial pilgrimage. Those had, by definition, not been day trips like the one upon which Destyn and his friends were headed, however. Torin had a spot he liked and had hired horses for the terrestrial members of their picnicking party. Destyn thought the horses were a cute novelty, but that wings were a more efficient form of travel- especially through well-wooded areas like those they traversed today. Wings, he explained unnecessarily, enabled one to overperch the many obstacles that humans and horses had to circumnavigate. Gryphons, he supposed, were more expensive to rent, though- And so he flitted alongside the riders.

At first the horses were less than pleased with the stiff breeze and loud, buzzing din of Destyn's wings, but he would break off every now and again and return with food for them. After a few of these instances, the horses grew to associate Destyn with snacks and were no longer rankled by the side effects of his flight.

Destyn wondered whether he would recognise Torin's spot when they arrived, as he did note several familiar landmarks en route. He was a bit disappointed to find that his knowledge of the spot was only cursory. He was sure he'd passed by, but had likely been distracted or focused elsewhere as it hadn't been one of the clan's camp sites.

"I suppose," Destyn began, as he alighted on the bank of the lake, "The horsies are worth it so we did not have to carry everything ourselves. That would have been tiring flying all that way with big old baskets in our arms." He strutted up to Sivan and poked his nose,

"Are you as hungry as I am?"

Fill My Little World

[Sivan]

Sivan mocked biting Destyn's finger, then smiled. His stomach began to growl at the question.

"Well, it wasn't so bad until you mentioned it," he said. The elf pulled the saddle off his horse and hefted it over a nearby log. The rented horses were rather lazy and weren't going to wander off far if wander off they did. He tucked a lock of hair behind his ear and pulled a sack of fruit out from the saddlebag and then offered Destyn an apple in one hand and a pear in the other, figuring to eat whichever one the fae'ethalan didn't elect.

"Any good buggies around here?" Sivan had proven willing to try new things for Destyn's delight. He figured the knowledge of what was edible might help him survive someday. "Anyway, you will just have to persuade Torin to runeforge us all magical wings and then we can travel as you prefer."

He grinned, took a bite of whichever fruit Destyn didn't want, then caught it between his teeth as he began to give the horse a cursory grooming. His eyes cast over toward Torin, toward Timon and their wolfhound. Everyone seemed pleased to be here, though he hoped Torin wouldn't miss his man too much. He had considered inviting Urs, but he didn't want to commit the man to the entire trip. Best to have that picnic he and Destyn had planned that had never quite come to fruition because of the man's busy schedule.

And he still had to ask Torin for a favor on Urs' behalf. He considered when the best time for that might be.

"All right?" he called over to the smith and his apprentice.

[Torin Kilvin]

The ride out had been nice, cool enough, under the canopy that shaded most of the road, and without anything particular to hurry them. Riding stirrup-to-stirrup with Sivan was nice, in a sort of tantalizing way. Ever since they'd begun touching in increasingly intimate ways, it wasn't as if Torin spent his time thinking of the elf that way, but he did feel drawn to him any time they were in close quarters.

Destyn returning to them often to bribe the horses set him to laughing, quietly, but still, laughing aloud. It hadn't felt right to laugh for a long time, and he'd never been one to take over a room with his sounds, despite the side of his chest. It took effort to remind himself that he was among only friends and that he needn't hunch to make himself seem less threatening, but, after the first half hour, between the conversation and Destyn's antics, the smith relaxed enough to forget how he was 'supposed' to behave and began to joke and talk easily.

By the time he called out that they had arrived his stomach was beginning to remind him that the early start had meant he'd only grabbed a roll for his breakfast. The horses broke through the trees revealing the beautiful little stretch of sandy, freshwater beach that he remembered last seeing in the depth of Frost. It looked better green.

Taking a deep breath as he dismounted brought him the flavors of forest and lake in a way that made the air feel good inside him. Unsaddling the horses took only a moment, and then he was stepping over to wrap an arm around each of his friends. The basket Timon had packed for him didn't feel heavy but then, Torin couldn't fly. Sivan had his own basket, which, Torin suspected, held the fruits of his garden.

When he saw the elf offering a choice to the fae he moved over and snatched both fruits, taking a big bite out of the apple to cover his amusement at his own cleverness before offering the pear back to Destyn. His reflexes had been growing stronger for almost a year, between practicing unarmed with Aurin, sometimes on this very beach, and polearms with Kala and Sivan, his body was learning to move quickly, at last. Sometimes the heat of Searing made Torin feel like the whole world was a forge, welcoming him and inviting him to explore and play with it.

[Destyn]

Fill My Little World

Kalzasi - 5 Searing, 122

Destyn giggled,

"Hey! Do not eat my fingies! I need those!" Destyn protested, making a fist and withdrawing his hand. He held both behind his back until Sivan stepped away and returned with food.

"Ooh!" Suddenly his fingies were fair game again, as he reached both out toward the offered fruit. He pouted when Torin snatched them up before he could, but replied to Sivan with a vigorous nod.

"There are always good buggies by the water! And lots of buggies that eat people, um... I do not know what they are called- the ones that stick you and suck your blood out? I like to eat them. They are not very nourishing, but... fuck those guys, am I right?" Destyn grinned guilelessly and accepted the pear as Torin offered it.

"Oh, good!" That was the one he'd been reaching for anyway, and he promptly munched down on it with relish. "Yummy." He noted, and tilted his head.

"Is this true, Torin??? Will you manufacture false wings so that you and my other friends can fly like I can? I could teach you good technique so that you do not fly like the Avialaes. You must make good wings like these." He said, gesturing over his shoulder and stretching them behind him. "That beat fast so that you have more control. Avialaes cannot, you know, hover. I feel very sad for them. They bluster through the air. They are, I think, a mess. Very dangerous."

Fill My Little World

[Sivan]

"Mosquitos," he supplied, then nodded. "Fuck those guys."

The elf managed not to choke when Torin snatched the apple from betwixt his teeth, then laughed after swallowing. It was good to see Torin out here, more open, bigger as if he wasn't afraid to take up the space he required. Destyn seemed lighter as well, though he could fly just as easily in Kalzasi as out here, blundering Avialae notwithstanding. He glanced at the runeforger to see how he reacted to Destyn's question. If Zaichaer hadn't been so dangerous for people like him, he might have gone there, learned more of clockwork, and made flight possible for himself, he supposed. But magic might just be easier, especially when his close friend was a wunderkind.

He patted the horse's withers and watched as Huntress went running off toward the water, Timon giving chase. Sivan suspected theatrics, but he didn't mind setting up camp so the apprentice could play.

His hand rested on Destyn's shoulder and then Torin's as he passed, still listening to them, but quietly bustling about the logistics of camp while they spoke. Sometimes he didn't really have anything to add to the conversation, just wanted to be there with his nearest and dearest, and he didn't mind working so the two of them could play as well. None of them were old, after all. This was going to be an amusing little trip.

Perhaps this would be the perfect time to talk to Torin about the idea he and Destyn had shared a while back of building a cabin out in the woods or up in the mountains, a place they could all go to get away from the city sometimes. Perhaps they could even get far enough away to be out of harm's way should Zaichaer come to their very doorstep.

[Torin Kilvin]

The smith had missed the part where it had been mentioned that he was contemplating manufacturing wings, and he choked a bit in turn on his own apple. He'd just been contemplating whether or not he could taste the elf on it, but the thought fled him as he turned to look more intently at Destyn.

"I..." Chewing quickly and swallowing he tried again, "I've been thinking about it but I haven't even finished the plans."

Handing the apple back to Sivan, trying not to feel guilty for the little trick he'd played he went on, "But if I ever do make them, they won't be like yours, they probably won't move, more like the Avialea." His face pulled into a sorrowful grimace, trying to apologize for what he knew would be an insult to the fae.

"They won't move, like yours, they won't be natural." The idea of a set of wings that flew from physics alone briefly inserted itself into his thoughts, but he had nowhere near the expertise in such things to even understand how they might work. "My magic is not like yours, not nature expressing itself beautifully."

A large, calloused hand reached out and very gently brushed at the delicate membrane of one of Destyn's wings with a look that was longing to create more than it was envy of the ability to fly. The truth was, the big smith hadn't really considered what it would be like to fly himself. His venture into creating wings was intended to fill the lack in someone else he cared about.

When Sivan walked past Torin's hand found the elf's lower back and lingered there until his friend moved away to see to the camp. The intention was to spend the night under the stars and return to the city in the morning. Torin was more than pleased at the idea, it had been too long since he'd slept outside.

Taking his basket over to where a fire pit had been set up by himself and Aurin months before he squatted down and began cleaning it out for use, still chatting with Destyn.

[Destyn]

Fill My Little World

Kalzasi - 5 Searing, 122

Destyn nodded profusely at Sivan's clarification.

"Yes, yes! Musky toes!"

The fae narrowed his eyes at Torin's reply to his suggestion about the wing construction.

"Suit yourself, Torin." He responded, curtly. "But your wings will, you know, be not very good, then." He reminded the human, "Because they can't hover. So..." He trailed off as he took another bite of pear. He shrugged one shoulder, but Torin's further explanation seemed to assuage his umbrage enough for him to let the matter lie.

His wing flicked away reflexively when Torin first reached to touch it, but then he let it slowly return to brush against his palm lightly.

"But that tickles, though." He observed, as his attention turned briefly to where Timon was splashing through the shallow waters with his lupine companion. Torin started to amble off to where Sivan had already fled, and so Destyn followed, continuing to munch on his pear.

"I have been thinking about growing a froggy tongue to help me better nab buggies." He mused, sticking out his human-like tongue as far as he could and trying his best to see it, though only the tip was visible at its current length. He wiggled it back and forth to see the different angles of what was available to him and then shrugged.

"Do you think that you would like me less if I had a froggy tongue? I know that, sometimes, people are, you know, repulsed by things that diverge. I do not wish to be repulsive." He glanced to a nearby cicada buzzing bym "But I do wish to catch more buggies, though."

Fill My Little World

[Sivan]

Sivan didn't flinch at Torin's touch as Destyn did, though it did send a slight quiver through his frame before heat spread out from where his hand had been. The elf worked industriously, hands remembering the dance they had performed so many times when traveling with his dear departed master. Once again, it was a labor of love. Let the boys speak of wonders to come, let the little ones splash about in the water. Sivan would ensure that all was in readiness.

For a moment, he felt watched. For a moment, he scanned the green shadows of the trees. His senses told him nothing and his eyes dropped back to his work as he wondered what those sorts of things were, the atavistic reactions that made the tiny hairs on the back of his neck rise. Were there things that even runic senses couldn't? Perhaps it was just his imagination at work; Gods knew the tensions with Zaichaer had everyone on edge, even out here were it was easier to ignore them.

At the mention of a frog tongue, he glanced back at Destyn.

"Your glamour would never effect how much I like you, Destyn," he promised. "But strangers might not enjoy watching you eat with it."

Sivan considered, then shrugged. He didn't care too much what other people thought unless their opinion of him could inconvenience him.

"I wonder if we could create wings fashioned after Destyn's," he wondered aloud. "A bit of clockwork, a bit of runeforging, a bit of artificing... Hmm..."

Someone was going to have to distract him or he would just try to figure out a way to do that while he set up camp.

[Torin Kilvin]

Torin continued the conversation as he did what he did best; start a fire. It was the very first thing he'd learned to do in a forge, and it sparked something inside him, even now, any time he did it. Once the flames were lit and set to burn without much tending for hours to come he turned fully back into the discussion. Sivan's suggestion had set his mind to working as though driven by gears.

"Maybe..." He sounded unsure, but as one does when they are doing mental calculations or trying to imagine schematics. "I just don't know enough clockwork to know how I'd get something to move fast enough."

Standing he looked over Destyn's wings again, walking a circle around them, examining them. They were a wonder, like all of Destyn, and he was sunk into his study when the Fae's question hit him, causing him to snort out a laugh that clearly embarrassed him.

"Would you still be able to talk? I'd miss your voice if you sacrificed it to gain more bugs, but I wouldn't like you any less." The smith's understanding of the magic Destyn could wield was little better than the tales he'd heard as a child.

Returning to the idea of wings he said, "I think we'd have to Scriven them. I don't see a way around it, unless you think you can get gears to move that quickly on their own?"

The image of a massive clock, belching steam and running at breakneck speed while the hands moved around its face in a blur came to mind. Shaking the strange idea away he looked around for whatever needed doing, but, it appeared, Sivan had taken care of all of it already.

"Sorry, I meant to be more help." His rueful apology accepted that he had been distracted by craft-talk, but it was too nice a day to spend inside, even if inside was just his head. Sitting on a log bench he began pulling off his boots when he remembered what he'd last used the log for and turned bright red all the way down his neck. Banishing the thought immediately he said,

"I think I'll go for a quick swim, cool down before I eat. Will you come with me?" His look took in Elf and Fae both, but he stood to pull his shirt over his head (and hide his face for a moment) before he saw if they would or not.

[Destyn]

Fill My Little World

Kalzasi - 5 Searing, 122

Destyn smiled, warmly.

"Thank you, Sivan. You are, you know, a good friend." He turned next to Torin, and blinked at his response. "I..." He stuck his tongue out again, and then retracted it and began to try speaking without moving it.

"I hink I 'ould thee athle to talk thut ngot ath gud." He attempted, before wrinkling his nose and shaking his head, letting his tongue relax. "I sound worse than..." He suddenly paused, eyes wide and made sure the youngest biped of their group was far enough away, before whispering: "...Timon." But he immediately felt guilty for uttering a comment at the boy's expense.

"I am sorry. Anyway, maybe I will not make the froggy tongue because of, you know, strangers." He sighed, as if slightly crestfallen at having to suffer such considerations but such, he supposed, was civilisation. "And talking." He added, seeming to feel that was a more valid foundation for his decision.

His expression lit up at Sivan's suggestion.

"Yes, yes! See? Sivan understands!" Destyn was hopping up and down and his wings were beating rapidly at odd intervals, so his hops went about four feet into the air each time before he fluttered back to the ground.

"These are better!" He pointed at his back with both thumbs and on his finally hop, ascended into a noisy, buzzing hover above his friends. He started to execute different poses with his arms and legs, even as his torso hovered in roughly the same spot. "See?" He had to yell to be heard, but that was neither here nor there to the Fae.

With Torin focused on the water, he ceased his demonstration and alighted on the grass.

"Sure!" He said, quickly doffing his vest and lifting one foot at a time to slip off his turn-shoes.

Fill My Little World