Late Rise [Kressha]

[Faval]

Summer 17, 512

Groaning, groaning was the only response applicable to the situation. Faval had slept in, rather impressively so which was rather rare for the young man. He was typically the definition of punctual consciousness, but with all the chaos, tumultuous emotions, and general fatigue that Faval had the pleasure of enduring the past couple days, well, he could be afforded. Faval, tiredly, dragged his head off the pillow and lazily blinked out the window. Yeah, he was way past when he was supposed to get up. Going solely off of guessing, Faval would have to guess that it was almost noon, a good five or six bells past when he would normally be dragging himself in to consciousness. Faval, not possessing the energy to actually get himself up apparently, decided it’d be prudent to let gravity do the work for him. Faval rolled to his left and did just that as he collided in to the ground in a rather large heap, the sound probably annoying whoever was left next door. Thankfully, Faval was too sleepy to realize his arm was hurt from the fall and groggily dragged himself to his feet. Today was going to be a long day.

Dragging himself over to the end table, Faval let out a rather audible and tired sigh. The sole shirt he still owned was folded up on the end table and even without seeing it fully, Faval could tell him was awful at laundry. He had managed to get most of the more prevalent pieces of mud off the shirt, but there was still a rather visible brown stain down the back of the clothing. He would have to get some new clothes or at least a new shirt. He didn’t know much about getting a job, but he doubted many people would be willing to hire him to protect them if he looked like he spent most of his life covered in mud. Especially not the wealthier people who would pay well for his services, he doubted they’d pay well to a man covered in crap. Faval, begrudgingly slipped the shirt on before grabbed his bow, which seemed to be the only thing he owned that he took genuine care of. Making sure the bow was still strung properly, Faval slung the weapon over his shoulder and made his way out of his apartment, locking the door behind him and walking down the hall, not at all eager to start what was left of the day.

[Kressha]

Kressha didn't have any problem waking up that morning, she always seemed to rise when the sun did. Though awake, she hadn't left her room as she recovered from the previous night. She had wanted to explore the city more, or at least the World's End Grotto more today, but it wasn't until around the noon time bell that she felt fit enough to venture out. Stretching her arms over her head, she worked all the muscles in her body as she rose from her bed. It didn't take her long to get dressed, her cotton pants and top. It was still rather warm out and she wouldn't need the heavier material. Once she had her boots on, she double checked that she had everything that she wanted to take with her. The goal was to explore, but she knew in the back of her mind that the city had the potential to keep her busy all the way until dark and she wanted to take Rahhale out for a ride today. She felt a little bad for the mare. For the last two days she'd been out on the beach, which was nice, but she didn't have space to run, then before that had been the ship she'd taken to get to Zeltiva. Perhaps it was her own hate for being on the boat that made her think Rahhale had hated it. Making her way out of her room, she pulled the door closed and locked it secure before looking around. She knew the way to the front desk and back to the stable, but she'd caught wind that the place also had a lounge of sorts where people frequented just to be social. She didn't have any desire to sit in a place like that at the moment, but she wanted to at least see it so she knew where it was. Making her way down the hall, she turned around a corner heading for the front desk and found herself flat against someone's chest. Taking a step back while rubbing at her nose, she peeked up to let her eyes land on the familiar features of Faval's face. Even his muddy shirt was familiar now. From how he looked, he didn't seem to be particualarly happy of being awake at the moment and it brought a smile to her face. "Well hello ssere Faval." She purred out before looking at his shoulder and spotting her bow. Her brows raised as she glanced up at his face again. "Are you going to put more sssmilesss on sssome treesss?"

[Faval]

Faval wasn’t sure how he managed to not notice a face colliding with his chest considering being observant was something he was supposed to be good at, so he was caught rather off guard when he felt all the normal features of a face run straight in to his chest. Faval’s head quickly snapped forward and down, noticing that the person who had run in to him was almost a foot shorter than him, maybe that’s why he did not see her, his gaze would have went right over her if he was looking up at all. So when she zoomed around the corner and used her nose to strike his chest, it wasn’t too, too farfetched for him not to notice. Faval recoiled back a few steps and instinctively checked himself for any kind of wound that she might have inflicted upon bumping in to him. Finding nothing and satisfied with checking his inventory so to speak, Faval started turning back to apologize for running in to the shorter individual when a familiar voice, and the impediment that came with it, penetrated his ear lobes. Was that…Kressha?

Faval’s head snapped back up incredibly quickly, surprisingly not causing any damage to his neck, and his mouth dropped slightly in shock. It wasn’t that he was unhappy to see her, quite the opposite, she was still just as beautiful as she was a couple days ago and seeing her was one of the great pleasures of Faval’s life, but he was shocked that he was getting to enjoy that pleasure. While the last time they met had ended on a somewhat positive note, it was still incredibly awkward and Faval had all but given up on seeing her again, thinking he had chased her off completely. His thoughts then wandered off in to the details of what happened before the complete awkwardness, which was preceded by its own brand of awful awkwardness, which cause Faval’s face to grow that tomato red that Kressha was probably quite used to seeing at this point. Faval anxiously scratched the back of his head as he tried to get enough focus to respond to her question…and not many people would genuinely consider it an intelligent response once he finally did.

“I…hello…no…I was just…hi…wait what’re you doing here at the Grotto? What about your tent? And Rahhale?”

Good save Faval! Divert that conversation away from your own bumbling idiocy and hope she forgets to come back to it, genius. While the main intent was to distract her from how she managed to completely take away his ability to form coherent sentences, Faval was surprised to see her here. He had figured she’d have been sleeping in her tent out in some secluded forest or moving on to the next city or…something. He wasn’t expecting to see her here in the same place he was living. What in the world was she doing there…was she actually staying in Zeltiva for more than a couple days?

[Kressha]

Kressha felt her head tilt as Faval recoiled away from her to face the other direction and pat himself over. She didn't voice her question of what had had been doing though and had instead greeted him. She nearly burst out laughing at how fast his head had snapped around after he heard her voice and a moment later, his face was afire with that blush he always seemed to have. It was nice to know she still had that effect on him. As he stammered out his answer, Kressha actually laughed a little and took a step closer to him, her hands lifting to gently cup his face in her hands. She hadn't gotten a chance to feel of his blush was hot on her fingers last time, and well, this seemed like a good one. The tips of her fingers were soft against his skin as she looked up at him. She looked healthy as ever. Her clothes were clean, she was bathed, her skin almost looked to have a glow under it and the signs of their time on the beach weren't anywhere on her. The bruise he had given her there with his mouth had been an angry purple color with hints of yellow in it just yesterday, she'd been letting it heal at a normal speed just so she could look in a mirror and see it and be reminded of Faval. That bruise and all of the others weren't there anymore. The damaged skin having gotten removed the night before when she had shifted to her Dhani form then shed her old layer of skin. Today, having not even been outside yet, she was baby soft smooth. "Hehe, itsss hello Kressssssha." She purred out before pulling her hands away from his face. She could tell that the stammering wasn't from fear, which was good. Giving a small shrug at his question, she points down the hall from where she'd been coming from. "I got a room for a few daysss. Easssier ssan picking up and sssetting up sse tent over and over every time I wanted to wander around. Rahhale isss here too." Her head tilted again and she smiled. "Ssey have a sssmall ssstable on the ssside of sse building. I got lucky and got Rahhale a ssstall for while I'm here. What about you? Isss ssisss where you ssstay?"

[Faval]

Faval’s head instinctively drew back slightly as her hands suddenly went for his face, he wasn’t too different from Kressha in that respect, but it was more from training than any natural instinct. When painful things fly at your face repeatedly, you’re conditioned to be aware of things flying at your face. Faval wasn’t quick enough to actually evade her though and he was thankful that he wasn’t. It was a strange feeling, as her soft hands and fingers pressed against his face. It didn’t really feel like the usual from her, this really didn’t feel like her touches usually do. They’re typically provocative, coaxing, like they’re promising something more all the time and trying to convince you to do something without actually telling you what it wants you to do. This one didn’t feel like that, it didn’t feel like she was attempting to persuade him in to doing something. It almost felt…tender and caring…it was confusing coming from Kressha. So confusing to the point that Faval convinced himself that he was just imagining it entirely. That couldn’t have been right.

A small smile crept to his face as she spoke, reminding him of how pathetically oblivious he seemed to be around Kressha. He knew there was a stable here and it made logical sense for her to house Rahhale here while she was in Zeltiva, letting her stand out in the middle of nowhere for multiple nights probably wasn’t the best of ideas, if only for the parasites alone. It also did make sense to get a room instead of picking up and re-pitching the tent repeatedly, but getting a room did in fact mean that she was staying in Zeltiva and Faval had never been so happy to learn anything in his entire life. As her hands left his face, he started to relax slightly, the color steadily returning to a normal shade as he steadily forced more coherent speech out, a smile creeping on to his face.

“Yes, hello Kressha. I’m right around the corner there…I got a good deal on the room and I have it till near the end of summer before I have to re-up it. This is where we were going to go…guess I should have remembered they had a stable here for housing Rahhale…sorry bout that. I wasn’t going out to shoot though, I need a new shirt, the mud won’t quite come out of this one. It’s kind of annoying.”

Faval twisted his hips slightly to show that the back was substantially muddier and crummier looking than the front before situating himself level once more. Faval’s eyes gently focused on her for a second and the tinge of red came back to his face as he seemed to be struggling to say something but couldn’t quite find the words, it was a look of strange concentration that Kressha had probably seen before. Faval’s mouth opened and closed a few times in preparation for it to further pronounce the struggle.

“I’m…really glad to see you again, Kressha.”

[Kressha]

Kressha kept her fingers against the skin of his cheek, her thumbs rubbing small circles into the skin. Just as she'd thought, his face felt warmer as the blush darkened. It brought a smile to her lips and as she watched the confusion grow on his face at her actions, she pulled away. She could see him physically relax after she gave him back his space. Lifting her hands, she held the tips of her fingers just under her nose and took in his scent off her fingers before she felt herself leaning forward a bit to peek around the corner. "Practically neighborsss." She said with a grin before looking back at him. "I don't mind, besssidesss, we might not have been able to have sse fun ssat we did if we came here right away." She tilts her head a little and steps over the the wall closest to her and presses her ear against it. "Itsss quiet now, but I'm sssure once we got going, it wouldn't be hard for ossers to hear usss." Laughing, she shifts around and lets herself lean against the wall as she let her eyes look over the back of his shirt. "Don't have anosser one? Ssshould keep it at leassst for when you know you'll be getting dirty. Maybe I'll come along wiss you, I don't have much for closses myssself." When he went quiet then, Kressha felt her head tilt a little as she watched him, his mouth opening and closing several times before he found his voice. She didn't understand his statement but didn't say so. "Itsss good to sssee you too, Faval." She said, pushing away from the wall and stepping up close to him. She lifted one of her hands and pressed it against his stomach before looking up at him. "Did you ssink you would not sssee me again?" She asked, head tilting. Having an idea hit her, she grins and pats at his chest. "Hey, after you go buy a new ssshirt, do you want to come ride wiss me? I wanna take Rahhale out, maybe explore the osser ssside of sse city clossser toward sse mountainsss."

[Faval]

Faval couldn’t help but look away as she pressed her ear against the wall and feel a familiar heat coming to his face. Maybe it was just a differing of cultures or perhaps she was just a lot better at talking about that subject, but he was struggling to understand how it was so casual for her. It was an interesting and strange dynamic, wasn’t the woman the one who was “supposed” to be embarrassed? Despite the severe threat his masculinity was apparently enduring, Faval couldn’t keep in the small chuckle that escaped him. Maybe he was getting more comfortable with the subject or maybe he was trying desperately to make himself seem a little less like a little girl, but Faval did manage to deflect a lot of the red coming to his face. He also was rather excitement at her offer to join him and that might have helped overcome that gap in experience via excitement. That and he silently joked with himself about how loathe it was to have her ever put more clothes on.

“Sure, I’d love for you to come…come with me. Yeah, that one.”

So he still wasn’t remotely smooth in any capacity whatsoever, but at least he was trying, sort of. On second thought, Faval figured it best if he just shut up for awhile after that one. This was usually the time where he sped off down the hall, jumped out a window and hoped the fall scrambled whatever part of his brain made him say stupid things but that didn’t seem to be the case as another stupid thing he said quickly came back to haunt him, especially after she pressed him to know why he was afraid of not seeing her again. As Kressha placed her hand on his stomach, inconveniently obstructing his window leaping escape plan, she asked him a question he wasn’t sure how to immediately answer. He knew she wanted something more casual than he was initially expecting and he had the entirety of the previous day to mull over and come to terms with that fact, yet the next day he was still fumbling over his words and making a fool of himself in to thinking there was more there than there was. Thankfully, she gave him an out that he wasn’t expecting in the form of something he was actually genuinely interested in doing. Mostly ignoring the pat on his tummy at the sheer elation at the opportunity, Faval responded with equally genuine enthusiasm.

“Sure! Getting a chance to ride Rahhale would be amazing. Let’s get going, gotta get some less filthy clothes.”

Faval then proceeded to seemingly ignore the pat on the stomach as he bolted for the front door. To the untrained eye, Faval was simply interested in hurrying up with the shirt purchasing so he could go ride Rahhale and there was some truth to that, but he truly just wanted to get out of there before Kressha realized he had neglected to answer one of her questions.

[Kressha]

Kressha wasn't the shy one between the two of them, and it wasn't intentionally done so just to hurt his male ego, it was just the way she was. She was blunt, playful, flirty and well, dirty. Keeping her eyes on him while she was against the wall, she smiled when she heard him chuckle. Pulling away from the wall, she felt one of her brows raise as he started to talk then paused. He wanted her to come... Her face took on a darker, more playful expression, then he finished it and just just laughed. A hand quickly went up to cover her mouth though as she forced herself to settle back down. When she was up against him, she was glad he didn't flee, though, she wasn't down on her knees. She let her head tilt a little and pondered what he'd do now if she crawled toward him on her hands and knees. She bit at her bottom lip thinking about that. After she offered him an invite to come join her outside the city again, she watched the excitement grow on his face and when he bolted for the front door she just laughed again. "We will have to ssstick sse new ssshirt in sse sssaddle ssso it doesssn't get dirty." She called out, following him, her pace a bit slower. Once outside, she paused for a moment just outside the door and turned her face upward toward the sky, her eyes closed as she soaked up the sun. The heat made her skin tingle and she wished her room didn't have a roof. Though, what good would the room be then? Looking at Faval, she stepped up beside him and not giving him a chance to dart away from her again, slipped her hand against his and curled her fingers around his hand. "Ssshould we take Rahhale wiss usss, or do our ssshopping firssst ssen come back and get her?"

[Faval]

Faval, while not as much as his companion, was also enjoying the warmth of the sun upon his face. There was no substitute for a vibrant morning to really shake you loose from grogginess. Granted, waking up and meeting the curvaceous and provocative subject of your affections didn’t hurt when it came to dispelling grogginess either. It even almost made him forget about how she was laughing at him and almost distracted him from the hidden meaning behind her kind suggestion for keeping his shirt clean. While Faval had a sneaking suspicion that she simply just wanted him to have his shirt off, it wasn’t until he was out of eye line that he realized how she intended his shirt to get dirty in the first place. Faval, a few steps past the door, couldn’t get his face to calm down at the thought and given the sun, it might be stuck colored like a tomato if he wasn’t careful.

Carefulness wasn’t a forte it seemed though as Kressha snuck up behind him, before he could dart away, and entwined her fingers with his. Unbeknownst to her however, the last thing Faval wanted to do was dart away from holding her hand. As strange as it was, it was one of the things he truly enjoyed doing and he was surprised that she was the one initiating it this time. He figured she would have been sick of holding his hand by now. Faval turned his lidded gaze back toward Kressha as a warm smile crept across his face. She did genuinely make him happy.

She did bring his attention back to the task at hand and offered two choices that Faval was oblivious to how to pick between. He knew very little about horses outside of “You ride on their backs, hope you don’t damage something important to you.” The thought did make him a little hesitant to ride her now come to think of it, but Faval did eventually get back on task. He figured, like people, there needed to be a familiarity between the two before any kind of familiarity was accomplished, especially when it came to riding. He was worried about Rahhale getting bored and anxious in the crowded merchant streets though.

“Um…I’m not sure. I’d like to bring Rahhale with us so we can get familiar with one another, but I have no idea if horses get anxious in large crowds of people or anything. Rahhale showing up in the notices as a killer horse because she got freaked out and stepped on a little old lady wouldn’t bode well for your stay here.”

[Kressha]

Kressha let her fingers trace little circles on the back of her hands as she watched his face as he thought about her questions before shaking her head. "Rahhale isss a good horssse, very calm." She tilts her head a little and thinks back. "Ssough, I've never taken her to a market before, ssso perhapsss it isss bessst we leave her here for now." Giving a small nod of her head, she looks one way then another before recalling which direction the market had been. She hadn't actually gotten to wander through it as much as she wanted the day before but she'd made note of where it was for when she did have time, which was now. With her hand still gripping Faval's, she starts in the direction she knew the market to be in, pulling him along with her. "SSisss way, when we are done, we can drop off our new clothesss back at sse Grotto ssso ssey don't get ruined." She let her eyes drift upward toward the sun as she weaved around a group of people milling in the middle of the road. She pulled Faval along in silence for awhile, weaving through people, her smaller frame making it easy for her, though that might not have been the case for Faval who was a bit bigger than herself. She did this for a few minutes until she came to fork in the road and she stopped. "Now... Which way wasss it again..." She said aloud as she looked one way then the other, trying to remember what she'd seen down each street. Deciding to go left, she pulls Faval along behind her again as her eyes dart from side to side, looking at all the buildings, looking for where the shops started. She went down about a block and a half before she suddenly stops, turns and yanks Faval back around the way they came. "Nope, wasss sse osser way." She says, laughter clearly evident in her voice. It didn't take them long to recover the ground they'd walked then travel down the other street. After a few blocks, market shops started to spring up on either side of the streets.