for @citer

[cashewlater]

Comments

[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.

[citer]

[ cyno lays back. after a moment, tighnari joins him. his tail pools at his side. the desert chill sweeps across the dunes; he feels warm, and unseasonably so. his hand seeks cyno's, tugging at his pinky with his own, and then, letting them sit, side by side, so he can feel the faint echo of his pulse. ]

Is Hermanubis a spirit that understands the stars? Or is it a creature that thinks little of such worldly things?

[cashewlater]

[ tighnari lies beside him, and cyno feels himself relax inadvertently; tighnari's presence alone soothes him far more than he ever could have expected. his honest heart and open mind always put cyno at ease. ]

Hermanubis is.. [ cyno is thoughtful, and he looses one hand to slip fingers through his partner's. ] .. humble. He concerns himself with many worldly things, though not in the sense that you and I might. I can't say I've ever asked about the stars.

[citer]

[ tighnari's hand gives cyno's a deft squeeze. ]

What have you talked to him about?

[cashewlater]

Mm. All sorts of things, especially when I was young, I talked to him about anything I could think of, and asked him many questions. But he was always patient with me. I suppose, for a long time, he was my only friend.

He used to love shaved ice.

[citer]

[ his ears prick. ]

I've read about it. A dessert, whose primary flavour is derived from the sauce that coats it. Though each flavour is supposed to be the same; the perception of the colour is what changes the level of sweetness and the taste associated with it.

[cashewlater]

[ spoken like a scholar. cyno smiles. ]

There should be some available in Aaru Village, if you'd like to try it. It's very simple, but refreshing.

[citer]

You like it as well, I take it?

[cashewlater]

You could say I'm fond of it, yes. It's inexpensive, so I was able to afford it as a child. I suppose there's some nostalgia there.

[citer]

The world is wide, isn't it? The things that remind us of our time in the world is equally wide as well.

[ a contemplative hum. tighnari lets his eyes close, slowly. ] I'd like to have some with you. Two different colours, you see. We can compare to see if it's truly perception.

[cashewlater]

Mm. It's a plan.

[ the chill is beginning to set in, the desert evenings as unforgiving as the days. cyno sits up to snag two more blankets, shaking them out and laying them both over himself and tighnari. an arm snakes around tighnari's middle, pulling him in near. ]

[citer]

[ tighnari laughs. he allows himself to be tugged close. his arms find themselves purchase around cyno's neck - his face against the hollow of cyno's neck. his ears slip, one by one, along the set of cyno's shoulders. he is warm; it is beyond what is reasonable. ]

I keep thinking this, but you're getting very used to this, aren't you.

[ this: them. ]

[cashewlater]

[ yes.. yes, he is. until tighnari came along, cyno perhaps did not realize how starved he was for affection, for touch, the closeness of another person. for all he is feared, cyno is rather soft at heart; he's taken to this like a fish to water. ]

Would you rather I didn't?

[citer]

[ the curve of tighnari's smile, felt against the line of cyno's throat: ]

I said no such thing. I hope you were asking that rhetorically, or I will need to show you definitive proof.