Rain Dance

"Alright, just don't strain yourself," said Voltaire.

"You said that already," pointed out Adair with a faint grin.

"Shut up, Mr. Hero," Voltaire growled as he moved next to Kimi. "Go save damsels in your dreams or something."

"That's the only place I'll be saving anyone nowadays, huh?" Adair remarked almost cheerfully as he plopped onto his back. Not for the first did Voltaire wish he could keep his big mouth in check. This was not the time to poke fun at Adair's status, or current lack of it.

Kimi tried to focus on only her breathing. It was hard. She was so light that she was actually swaying with the breeze as Ava flied. She considered laying back down.

Adair had slipped into slumber. Perhaps that was one of the few benefits of his current condition, the ability to sleep easily. Of course he could easily sleep away half or even two-thirds of the day if no one watched him, so maybe not.

Voltaire was too edgy for rest. Every time he started to nod off he suddenly shoot upright and scan the surroundings for incoming Gales. When there were none he relaxed some, but not much.

"Would you stop that." Kimi scolded lightly. "Everytime you do that, I think you're going to knock me right off to my death."

Voltaire, who had only half-awoken the previous time, suddenly stiffened again.

"I won't let it happen," he muttered sleepily. "Goddamn Gales..."

Kimi let the barrier melt away. "Taire, I'm feeling Woozy, and it isn't from the barrier." She stated

"What, are you afraid of falling off, or are you just tired?" Voltaire asked. He wasn't worried about the barrier since it appeared the Gales had been evaded a while back.

"The first one I think." Kimi replied. "I don't like being in the air. It... It doesn't feel safe"

"Ava would catch you," Voltaire replied casually, yawning. "It took both me and Adair a while to get used to it. Adair was used to riding animals on land, and I'm...just bad with animals. They hate me."

"..." Kimi looked to Voltaire with pleading eyes. "Will you hold me so I can sleep?" She asked softly. "So that I won't fall?"

Voltaire felt his heart race again. Ava gave a concerned-but-not-too-concerned squawk and a quick glance, but nothing more.

"Uh, sure," he replied. "Maybe it'll help me sleep too."

Carefully, Kimi edged over to Voltaire so that she could lay next to him. "Promise I won't fall?" She asked.

"If you fall, I will too," replied Voltaire, wrapping his arms around her.

Kimi smiled softly before laying down and closing her eyes. "Thank you" she murmured.

Voltaire quietly nuzzled her hair in return. He lay there for a while just taking in her smell before he eventually drifted off to sleep.

--------

He woke up in a new cavern, still on Ava's back and still with Kimi next to him. It seemed Ava had gone deep inside the cave, since he saw no sign of the outside. Ava herself was deeply asleep, probably exhausted from flying both all day and then all night

Kimi was deeply asleep. She had rolled over to cling to the front of Voltaire's shirt. She looked, at peace.

(She had her back to him originally)

Voltaire just watched her serene face contently. He reached over and stroked her hair almost in a trance. He couldn't remember when he had felt this calm before. It was strange. He nuzzled her hair again.

And then Adair had to wake up and ruin everything. Voltaire felt two eyes staring at him and noticed the redhead looking over with a mix of amazement and amusement.

"Is this what it looks like?" the Hero asked with a slight smirk.

The Hunter answered with a blast of fire to Adair's face. The redhead seemed little affected by the attack.

Kimi let out a small noise of protest when she felt Voltaire shift away, and scoot closer to his warmth to press her face into the warmth of his chest. She didn't wake just yet.

Voltaire stopped moving and again relaxed, once again lost in contemplation of her before he remembered Adair.

"Get your mind out of the gutter Mr. Hero," he grumbled, his gaze still focused on Kimi. "I thought Heroes weren't supposed to think such unclean thoughts."

"I never mentioned any such thing."

"You asked if this was what it looked like," Voltaire muttered, unconsciously drawing himself closer to Kimi.

"I didn't mean lust," Adair elaborated, still smiling faintly. "I meant love."

Kimi mumbled something that sounded faintly contented as she curled, keeping close to Voltaire. Her long skirt was wrapped tightly around her legs, and they were both laying at least a little on her long hair.

"Lo-" Voltaire began, but the word got lodged halfway up his throat. Suddenly it became hard to talk at all. "I...She's...I..."

Kimi yawned widely, blinking herself awake. Well, half awake. "Mmmm. Taire?" She asked, half asleep.

(Is he one of the awkward turtles?)

(What does that mean exactly? That he gets suddenly shy around the people he likes?)

"...Hey," Voltaire replied. "See, no falling. Unless you roll too far in the other direction."

(Not shy per say, but awkward. like he'll get clumsy, tongue-tied, distracted by *her* etc. AKA awkward turtle.)

"Don't even joke about that, it isn't funny" Kimi protested, hiding her face in his chest again. "... You're really warm."

(That sounds more like what would happen to Adair if he fell in love. I think Voltaire might have tongue-tied issues, but I don't think he's going to be walking into any walls while looking at her or anything like that. Unless he's drunk)

"What do you expect?" Voltaire replied lazily, smiling just faintly. "You going to sleep all day?