for @citer

[cashewlater]

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[cashewlater]

[ oh, so it's to be a contest, is it? cyno would like to think he isn't competitive, but.. the moment tighnari takes aim at the next tree, cyno feels his adrenaline spike. all right, then. crouching, cyno tenses and leaps straight into the next palm, seizing the trunk and shaking it. ajilenakh nuts tumble freely into the sands. ]

[citer]

[ light a bolt from the blue, tighnari thinks. cyno in motion is visceral. he is lighting, and he is the resounding clap of thunder. he is a jagged line that blitzes into the canopy, and before long, nuts rain down. tighnari laughs. ]

Is this a contest of skill, or brute force? [ but his bow is already nocked and pointed towards an even further tree. his arrow sails - and crumbles upon impact. the shards split, the force of which concusses. the ajilenakh nuts spill from their mooring.

his bow turns again. ]

Across the oasis, Cyno. [ he nocks another arrow. another tree across the pond is in sight. ]

[cashewlater]

[ for all his great strength, people do not often expect cyno to be nimble as well, but the general mahamatra must excel in all things physical, and cyno's entire body is his weapon. leaping from palm to palm is child's play.

.. as is this silly contest, and yet!! he cannot help himself. still - how clever of tighnari, to make use of an arrow in this way; cyno had expected that his weakness here would be his inability to strike more than one nut. hmm. he could use the power of electro.. but that seems a little excessive, for a contest like this.

..

....

leaping to the top of the tree, cyno calls down not one, not two, but three bolts of electro, which nip the top of three palms. a veritable deluge of nuts cascades down. he puffs out his chest. ]

i can't. the only thing i'm thinking of this entire time is 'deez nuts' im so sorry SCREAMS

[citer]

[ tighnari laughs. the oasis echoes with it as he finally lowers his bow. it's a concession. he is hardly too proud to admit defeat. the nuts roll across the sands. hanan trots over to one, and begins nibbling on its shell. ]

Fine, fine! The former General Mahamatra can knock the most nuts off their branches. I concede. [ tighnari lifts both his hands in the universal gesture for surrender. but he's still smiling as he does so, the tip of his tail waving back and forth. cyno moves like a bolt of light - he is, after all, tighnari's. the thought warms him; it lingers. ] Now, any more tricks? Can your electro somehow gather up all our nuts, or is this something that we must do hand by hand?

honestly the amount of nuts jokes that could be made is staggering

[cashewlater]

[ .. let's all admit that cyno was going a bit overboard, using electro to win this contest; he shouldn't be so cocky. yet he looks all too proud of himself. at least, until tighnari goes on. ]

Ah. Well.. [ a beat. ] .. by hand it is.

[ suitably abashed, he slips down from the palm and back to the sands to set to work gathering them up. ]

seriously, face in hands

[citer]

Cyno.

[ tighnari tosses one of their blankets across the oasis. it is buoyed by the fact that it has been balled up and moistened with oasis water, just heavy enough to be lobbed like a ball. ]

Use this. You can wrap the nuts into a bundle; it makes up for the lack of a basket.

smh....!! keeps typing about nuts..

[cashewlater]

[ you're so smart, tighnari. catching the damp ball, cyno nods, shaking it open and draping it across his forearms; then it's back to work. working in a circle around the oasis, cyno gathers as many as he is able to carry in the makeshift sack. soon enough he is returning triumphant, arms full, sitting in the sands to open the blanket.

then begins the tedious process of cracking them all open. ]

I'm going to miss your clever mind, when you're back in Aaru Village.

LMAO

[citer]

[ tighnari, who is already sitting with a pile of his own nuts spilling forth from the woven saddle blanket, grins a crooked grin. the sun's baked his tail dry; he can feel the onset of sunburn coming on. it's why he's slipped into the shadow of the palms, looking up only when cyno arrives to join him.

he makes room in the shade. ]

Will you? You seen clever enough without me. [ and here, a huff- ] And my mind is hardly clever at the height of the sun. It slows the way I think. [ ... ] I suppose I don't like it, the slowness.

[cashewlater]

Well. I'll miss your company, as well.

[ he can admit that much, without shame. since the moment they met, they've spent a good amount of time together. cyno has grown used to having tighnari beside him, and since escaping the gala, they've felt more or less like partners in crime. strange, considering how accustomed cyno was to working alone.

at any rate, one by one, they crack open the nuts. cyno pauses on one, to scoop the meat free and enjoy a bite. ]

But I can understand how that must frustrate you.

[citer]

[ tighnari's head dips. he puts aside a cracked nut, and starts on another with a hum. ]

I haven't dealt with it with as much grace as I likely should. [ one, pale hand reaches for cyno's. he slips his pinky against cyno's, and gives it an affectionate tug. ] Well, I'll miss having someone to complain to.

[cashewlater]

[ it's so easy for tighnari to pull smiles from cyno - effortless. cyno's thumb runs along the ridges of tighnari's knuckles, before he's cracking nuts again. ]

Maybe not, but it's been a little entertaining, at least. [ a light chuckle. ] But you'll be better off in the village. I'm sure you'll be able to put that cleverness to good use.

[citer]

I'll have people to interview, at least. The palm trees have yet to talk back out here.

[ a helpless little breath. the next nut gets pulverised under tighnari's fist. he picks apart its shell. ] The Flame-Mane has proven to be elusive, however. Perhaps she's already returned to Caravan Ribat, and we simply passed her by.

[cashewlater]

That's possible. We'll find out once we return to the village. She won't have crossed the wall without stopping there, first.

[citer]

Especially to resupply. Do you think Candace would pass on the message if she did see the Flame-Mane? It's not a question of her trustworthiness, but she does seem to have known the Flame-Mane for longer, and better.

[cashewlater]

Mm. Hard to say, we can only hope that Candace saw through to our earnestness, and chooses to trust us. [ another nut cracked, and another. ] No use worrying about it at the moment, I suppose.

[citer]

I suppose not. [ is tighnari's echo. he takes the largest nut from the pile; it is, he thinks, easily the size of his head. how glorious plants thrive even under these conditions. he passes it over to cyno with a questioning tilt of his head. ] Can you keep half the shell intact?

[cashewlater]

[ cyno takes the ajilenakh nut with a nod, and after peeling the green meat off of the shell to expose the large nut beneath, cyno slips his dagger free, and begins to cut a deep score along the diameter of the shell.

then, he smacks it down against the boulder beside him; the nut cracks neatly along the score, into two relatively clean halves. ]

[citer]

[ as sure as the hand of an archon, tighnari thinks. he takes one of the halves with a small smile. ]

Thank you. Since you've prepared our cooking implements, it's up to me to prepare our food for the night. [ tighnari's tail flicks. he eyes one of the alligators.

... the alligator, sensing a predator but uncertain as to where it may be, begins to shift uneasily in the water. ]

[cashewlater]

[ cyno follows tighnari's line of vision toward one of the alligators. a brow cocks. ]

By all means.

[citer]

[ tighnari's fangs glint.

anyway, they have alligator stew tonight. the ajilenakh nuts are fragrant when roasted and adds spice and depth to a broth seasoned with only pepper and salt. it's nice, tighnari thinks, as the night chill washes over them and their little campfire by the side of the oasis. the palm leaves keep the night wind and sand at bay. the horses feed on the meat of palm nuts and foliage gathered from nearby. the oasis is at peace. it makes tighnari think that the desert is only terrible half the time.

the stars, however. he's stopped eating to look up. ]

... I hadn't realised, that the city and the forest blocked out so much of it. The starlight, I mean.

[cashewlater]

[ it's rather a nice evening, for time in the desert. the heat begins to abate, making way for the chill of night, and the night sky opens up above them like a bolt of deep black velvet, pinpricked with stars. cyno is not unused to this view, but it is always beautiful, even if the starlight reflected in tighnari's eyes is equally distracting. ]

Mm. There's no better view of the night sky than here.

[ in cyno's humble opinion. ]

[citer]

Do you know much about the stars? [ asks he, as his tail flicks along the side of cyno's thigh. tighnari's eyes pinpoint the brightest of them. a starchart organises itself in his mind. ] I'm no Rtawahist, but that one ought to be Altair, right?

[cashewlater]

I know enough. [ he uses the stars to guide him through the desert quite often, in fact, so he knows them in the sense that he can use them to navigate, if not for astrological reasons. ] Yes. Which means..

[ one hand settles against tighnari's wrist, guiding it to point to another bright star further west. ] Deneb. And.. [ moving tighnari's wrist again, northeast, to the top of the triangle. ] This one?

[citer]

Vega. [ asserts tighnari, with a pleased breath. he lets cyno guide his hand until the tip of his finger alights on a blueish glow of a star the size of a pinprick. it has never seemed to tighnari that the night sky could be such a bright thing. ]

You must be able to call these stars your friends; you use them to navigate, do you not?

[cashewlater]

[ that's right. cyno smiles, before he's dropping to lie on his back on the blanket spread beneath them, both hands lacing behind his head. the sky opens up above, wide and dark and beautiful. ]

I do. I know little about them from a Rtawahist standpoint, but I can map them easily enough. I've spent a lot of time with them.