Rain Dance

"Yeah," Voltaire replied, gathering some grasses and lighting them on fire with his firebreath. "I prefer the smoke method since we usually don't have a lot of salt to spare. Fire we have plenty of, obviously."

"Understandable" Kimi replied. "Anything I can do to help?"

"Make sure nothing comes to eat us," Voltaire answered, watching the meat cook.

"Okay" Kimi smiled. She bean to keep watch.

(I know it's taking forever to get to the point but I have a plan)

As Voltaire cured the meat he stole glances at Kimi. The glances became lengthening gazes until he nearly burned some of the meat, which he quickly rescued most of. Dammit, he needed to concentrate and not look like a complete fool.

Growing bored with just standing watch, Kimi began to hum softly.

Voltaire was listening to Kimi's melody and packing up the meat (Ava could have the more charred parts), when he felt a cold prick on his shoulder and a loud hiss. He looked up to see darkened clouds and felt a few droplets.

Ah shit, not now

Kimi looked up. She frowned and moved back over to Voltaire. She summoned her barrier to protect him from the rain. "Better?" she asked

The light rain soon turned into a torrent. It must have been one of those summer squalls, which would explain why it caught Voltaire by surprise. Partially anyway.

"...Yeah," he replied, finishing his packing. He wondered if they should try to find a cave or wait out the storm. They were currently far from the cave where Ava and Adair were.

Kimi looked thoughtful. "Do you want to try and go back to the cave?" she asked. "I can keep my barrier up"

"...Yeah, guess so," Voltaire mused, only he didn't really feel like going back. He couldn't explain why. They had already done their hunting, so they had no other reason to stay out here.

"Do you want me to help carry anything?" Kimi asked.

"I got it," Voltaire answered, slinging the meat-filled bag over his shoulder. "You just keep the barrier up and we should be good. How fast can you run?"

"Decently. Probably not as fast as you though" Kimi replied. "Must we run?"

"Will you do better if we walk?" Voltaire asked, before thinking it over some more. "Tell you what, I'll carry you. You can concentrate better on the barrier that way, and you're not that heavy so you won't slow me down much."

He picked her up and began to sprint across the field.

Kimi held onto him lightly as they crossed the field. "Do you think Ava's still asleep?" She asked softly.

"Probably. She's done a lot of flying the past few days," Voltaire answered, heading for the cliff area where the caves were. A few thrushes were startled out of hiding by the barrier, and Voltaire was vaguely annoyed that he couldn't hunt them.

Out of pure reflex Kimi threw the barrier out farther so the thrush were inside. They bashed right into the inside of the barrier and snapped their necks.

Kimi blinked in surprise. "Sorry. that was reflex."

"I'll keep that in mind," Voltaire replied, before noticing a cave in the cliffside. It wasn't the one Ava was in, but it would do for now. He headed for the cavern.

"Do you want me to get them after you get to the cave?" Kimi asked.

"Nah, don't bother. We've got enough food to last for a while," Voltaire answered. In truth he didn't want Kimi to go out there by herself. It wasn't even that she could be in danger. He just didn't want her to leave. He wanted to hold her and kiss her - kiss her? Yes, kiss her, right on the lips even though it would probably mean getting the air sucked out of him, and - and this was not the time for that.

"Are you sure?" Kimi asked. "It seems wasteful."

The Hunter part of Voltaire argued with his lustful side. "...We'll see." He dashed into the cave.

Kimi smiled. "That way we'll have more food too"

"...Fine," he finally conceded as they entered the cave, putting her down. "Go ahead, just...be careful."

Part of him wanted to kiss her right then, but the logical part told him to wait...or was it the lustful part? It was getting hard to tell which one was which.