|| End of the __l.i.n.e

[rikelusdeverell]

My eyes scanned her face, and they delved into her deep jade colored eyes. He shut his eyes chuckling softly before his ear picked up a twinge. Perhaps it could be wolves or something else lurking in the rain around the rocks..her breath came shallow now as her breathing eased. My thoughts drifted off for a minute until she opened her mouth again, then her words came drifting in my mind causing me to chuckle softly, “I’m much more complex than that, you should know that.”

His gaze shifted towards the hidden path off a couple of meters near the rocky mountain terrain. He could almost see through the grey rain. He could swear he almost saw yellow beady eyes watching them through the cliffs. His tight grip released, and his crimson red gaze drifted over towards the rain and he spoke softly, “Did you see that?” He mused, his leathery gloved hands now resting upon her bare skin near the side of her hips. It was awful difficult to spot; but, something was definitely out there. Come to think of it, Rikelus didn’t hide the footpath that they had created due to the roughage of the terrain. Anyone with lesser than very keen eyesight would’ve missed it.

Was he looking for him or not.. someone was definitely around here. Rikelus’s lips canted towards her ear and he whispered softly, “Shhhhhh..” His eyes shifted back towards the narrow winding, even path. Although he could not see the end of it, he knew that it was easily mistakable as part of the terrain. It was part of a man made ledge, he wondered if it was that which he was walking quietly along.

They laid there pressed against one another silent for about ten minutes before the noises of rocks falling, and footsteps leaving was heard. He squinted letting out a sigh of relief as his embrace tightened and his face became buried into her shoulder blade. It struck him that whoever was out there definitely didn’t want to be found. He absently wondered if it had been the white phantom or not as he lifted his head up from it’s resting place brushing soft, thick azure locks against her smooth skin, “I think you have more perverted thoughts of me Mon Cherie.”

[acidgypsy]

Throughout the whole time he kept her pinned against him, she could swear her already crazy heartbeat just screamed faintly. Crazy, I know, but considering her usual aversion to close physical contact, Maji was doing remarkably well in dealing with it. Unfortunately, that also meant she had to work with the odd twitch or two and a sensation like her face was on fire, but that hardly mattered.

At his playful accusation, however, she lost her cool. And then all was lost.

"I-no! What?! What was the question?"

She spluttered, frozen in place by both a mix of embarassment and helpless infuriation. Her tongue nervoudly moistened her lips as she added,

"....I do not."

Ouch. That sounded lame even in her ears.
Majidah winced, her shoulders slumping slightly. "I do not"? Surely in all her sage experience of trashtalking and insults, she could've come up with a more witty retort, but noooo. Had to go and open her mouth before her brain caught up, and WHAM. There went the ball game. And the stadium, while we're at it. All because of a fumble and an irritatingly childish sentence.
Damn. She hated losing.

Her breath left her body in one long huff as she went limp and closed her eyes, sullenly going back to pouting in silence. Rikelus had a way of outmaneuvering her that she had to grudgingly admire. Sooner or later, though, she'd back him into a corner and come out with a win. Just a matter of time.

But just to clarify, she totally DIDN'T

[/u] have perverted thoughts, thank you very much. Not her fault if he was the one that waltzed out shirtless and that image happened to keep surfacing in her head. All. His. Fault. Not hers.[/center][/size]

[rikelusdeverell]

Rikelus licked his lips and prepared to speak again before he heard her soft sullen, beaten response. His unnatural ruby red eyes looked out into the darkness, and turned to her shutting slowly as he chuckled only for a moment. He loosened his hands from her hips and he raised one to brush strands of ginger out of her face. The crackling of the fire died down as embers were blown away in a gust of wind which swept through the cavern. The rain died down before it ceased all together. A mirthful grin slid across his expressions, he lifted a lock of thick tangled azure hair off his cheek. His hair seemed magnificent still in it’s disheveled, and unkempt glory from Maji’s ruffling of it, as if it were a pianist’s shirt.

The Soldier ran a thumb down the side of her face tracing it down her jaw line glancing into those sparkling jade eyes filled with much angst and uncertainty. Commodore Deverell lifted himself up from his resting spot, still remaining in a squat extending a hand to her to lift her up glancing towards the long winding pathway that snaked it’s way around slick rock, and twisted spirals until it was completely out of their line of sight, “There’s an old railway line down there, if we head up there hopefully nothing’s broken and it’ll be an easier route.”

Upon Maji making her way to her feet and doing her little cute-I’m-so-cuddly dust herself off routine, we began our trek once again. I started forward followed by her as if it were some type of funeral procession due to the weathered conditions of the terrain. It seemed like at least twenty five minutes of twisted walking, and I grimly recalled back when this terrain was somewhat manageable. Due to the blowing up of a prosperous Mako reactor, it lifted the terrain towards the heavens in chaotic spirals many years ago. Soon, railways were visible, and it was a relief to put my feet upon them, and feel the smoothness of the rocks below. This was a testament to ShinRa’s old glory, in which they had built a railway that transverses both continents seamlessly.

Either way, the railway soon ended, and we were back to following the pipe ways that lead to Mako tunnels. Despite how often I always seem to wind up in Mako tunnels, I have an extreme distaste for them and the acidic like substance that pumps vigorously through them. Isn’t it ironic? Eh? Upon heading further northward, we followed the pipeline into what looked to be an abandoned mine, in which inside dim, blinking ShinRa embossed string lights littered the shoddy mine. A soft purple glow emitted from wall, it looked as if it was a materia mine, and rich in Mako in different colors of blinking light. Rikelus ran a gloved hand across a section of green feeling a warm fuzzy feeling wash over his hand, “It’s not often you see materia mines of this size, or proportion; but that’s beside the point. In Soldier I find myself alone with too much time to think. I think about anything and possibly everything but---- how about you tell me more about you.”

[acidgypsy]

((Bleh. Just got back from a party at a friend's house. Maybe I drank a bit too much.... I'm not feeling all that good. x.x
Apologies for the shortness. ))

Maji's expression darkened considerably; not by Rikelus' well-meaning query into her history, but from harsh memories that made her throat tighten. Her elegantly long fingers curled tightly into fists as she lowered her eyes to her boots. Guilt still rode her shoulders like a heavy collar... yes, she trusted him. But she was reluctant to expose her inner workings so thoroughly quite yet.

...perhaps she feared his reaction to the crowning 'glory' of her underground mercenary record.

"...we should keep moving..."

Quietly brushing past him, she continued to walk; normally bright eyes dulled by some inner pain. As her lithe silhouette navigated the tunnel, her heels clicking on the rusted grates underfoot, one of her fists uncurled and raised up slightly to touch a glimpse of ink shifting smoothly with the skin of her shoulder. Rikelus considered himself a monster, did he?
He didn't know what it was like to be a real monstrosity. She knew from bitter experience.

Maji's eyelids flickered as she turned her head slightly to speak to her partner, seeming utterly depressed for the first time since meeting him. The false merriment in her voice rang hollow even in her ears. But the apologetic tone was genuine, if nothing else.

"I'm sorry... I just don't think I can talk about that right now. Maybe later."

[/size]

[rikelusdeverell]

Upon finishing our walk across the grate, I shrughed my shoulders before opening a heavy thick steel door to the Mako Tunnel Maintenance Center. Upon entering he noticed a gem sparkling aquamarine on the floor, seemingly a lighter color of the Lifestream; but it was as if it reacted to the warmth of one’s skin. Upon the touch of it, it spread a warm feeling through his hand, and he turned towards Maji dropping it in her hand, slowly closing it before nodding to her reassuringly. He lifted both hands and put them on her shoulders gripping them somewhat tightly to get her attention; but not too tight. He leaned forward sitting his forehead against hers, his crimson red pools seemed as if they were delving deep into her soul, “Maj---If something happened back then that shouldn’t have, feel free to leave it in the past. I’m here for you Maj—I’ll always be, you have my vow.”

Rikelus’s life was complicated, he was sure that her life didn’t pale in comparison. Given the situation, and where they’ve arrived at in life..they’ve both made mistakes along the way. Perhaps, the correlation of several very unfortunate situations, but isn’t it strange how we believe that our actions and where we are at solely hinges on one thing? Sometimes can you almost feel so close to a person you could swear that were the same person at one time before you were broken in half and abandoned? I believe that we have destinies, and we are in control of them regardless of the consequences set forth---Don’t you think so too?

Upon reaching a card scanner, Rikelus Deverell lifted a red glossy ShinRa badge up in the air swiping it across the reader unlocking the door. Upon gaining access to the underground tunnel, he climbed down a stainless steel ladder and continued through a straight path into the tunnels. The reactor didn’t seem entirely sealed. “Ya’know you have to watch these hatches in the floors. Thy’re hermetically sealed, meaning that the air is re-circulated throughout them along with other lethal security features.”

Rikelus Deverell reached behind his back finally lifting his sword out from it’s captivity within it’s sheathe. The blade sang out with a high pitched ringing noise as he pulled it out for everyone to see. The tunnels once were bright and clean, and brushed stainless steel with pipes running along them. Now the pipes were torn and smelt of freshly pumped Mako, that familiar acidic smell of blood was present too along with a long slithery trail.

A roaring sound was heard ahead, and a slight wry chuckle escaped my lips as I looked over at Maji with a surge of grim satisfaction as screams followed the roaring in the corridors ahead of me. I quickened our pace and entered a large chamber with various computers and machines that regulated the flow of the Mako in that block. Scattered about the room were the bodies of various wanderers, drifters, and some townspeople, and at the far end was a hulking purple behemoth of a man, with sullen, sunk yellow beady eyes setting deep in his skull.

It was a quite horrifying sight, to look at a face so weathered by Mako, and Jenova cells. The human features were almost nonexistent, and it reminded him of a grotesque dragon with heroin addiction. Erratic raven black silky hair billowing into sheer madness. The monstrosity tossed it’s head back revealing a set of jagged double fangs before whipping a splayed tentacle towards him wrapping it around Rikelus’s hand. Rikelus’s crimson red eyes shimmered, and his hair color faded to pure white for a moment and he disappeared from view before reappearing above the monster slamming the hilt of his sword down onto it resulting in a slight stunning of it. The monster’s shifted into a loose stance sadistically screaming before those yellow eyes shot up towards Rikelus and a tentacle wrapped around a nearby railway before ripping it from it’s concrete barrier and bitchslapping Rikelus sending him hurdling into a set of control terminals causing the power to flicker. “Ugh…”

[acidgypsy]

Maji hardly stood around to get noticed by the creature; her boots dug into the floor as her leg muscles fired one after another in faster and faster sequence. Twice she skipped over the flailing tentacles attached to the monster's appendages, even going so far as to clip the beast across the forehead with her forearm plates.
Heedless of the dead and decaying bodies shattering underfoot, her shape seemed to move fluidly over obstacles as she ducked low and grabbed Rikelus roughly by the collar, dragging him along with her just as the damaged terminal sparked and exploded in a shower of brilliant white light.

"Damn! Are you suicidal? Leave this to me, Deverell!"

She growled, easing him back into a little side niche before darting away, screaming curses at the predator to get it's attenton.

Arcs of blue-white electricity snapped and crackled hungrily over the exposed grates-- one such arc seeming almost to tentatively brush the lumbering behemoth's sickenly warped leg as it stomped after it's fleeing prey. It took a moment to register the pain, but after a second or two of the smell of burning flesh filling the damp air, the humanoid thing howled in fury and turned back to glare stupidly at the still-sparking machine as it hissed and spat electrical energy. A tentacle lashed out, destroying the terminal in a flash of light and a loud 'snap' as energy flickered up the twisted limb and played havoc with the beast's motor skills.

A blur of movement and a spray of glutinous ichor fountained from the creature's legs as Majidah's keen knives deftly severed it's tendons and hamstrung it. She didn't pity the twisted monstrosity. As far as she was concerned, it was a dangerous animal that needed to ne nullified. No more.
Her boots rang out on the grates from a swift sidestep to avoid a flailing leg; taking her time in drawing perhaps the most cruel looking knives in her arsenal and held them loosely in both hands.
Feral yellow clashed with cool green as both eyes locked in place. Ever so slowly, her lips parted in a smirk and she ran her tongue over the blade of one knife.

Some primal instinct caused the shambling thing to start dragging itself away from the graceful youngster, the first stirrings of pitiful fear on it's flat visage.

"Die."

No sooner had the last sylable of the word died in the air when several things happened at once. First, the blast of raw power that left twin craters in the floor as she darted forwards; cold, metallic flashes of light reflecting on the weapons from the flickering lights holstered in the ceiling curving down in arcs; the wash of warm blood splattering her arms up to the elbows as the twisted knives bit deep into flesh, twisting cruelly before pulling out as she used it's arched spine to jump over it's head. The last two actions, however, were the important ones.

Screaming in a decibel level that would match a jet engine, the dying beast's flexing tentacles sought and wrapped tightly around Maji's torso as she paused to heft her knives and throw. Both blades sunk deep into the creature's forehead and killed it instantly... but not before it squeezed the air out of her lungs and continued to squeeze even after the brain ceased to send signals to the limb.

Crack.

She felt her ribs start to give even before she heard it. But that hardly mattered- no matter how much she struggled and sliced away at the disgusting thing, the limb continued to tighten.

[/size]

[rikelusdeverell]

A loud ringing noise was heard, and a sparkle leapt off the edge of Rikelus Deverell’s blade the instant before he chopped the beast into tiny bits and pieces literally. His crimson red eyes seemed to glow more intensely as the blood spattered over his skin bringing out odd colored veins that weren’t normally visible underneath his skin. His expressions seemed darkened as almost his psyche was raging a war well beyond anyone’s imagination. Several noises were heard as other deformities began piling out of a once closed steel door. The hissing of the air locks were heard as they busted releasing O2 into the hallway. Rikelus grinned as he found himself pitted in heated combat with no conclusion. It was just more scars and devastation.

“Prepare to wither..” Rikelus spoke, his voice somewhat raspy as a light red glow washed over his skin. They couldn’t decide which was worse, Rikelus or their hideous figures. Alibet they may be deformed, Rikelus was more insidiously disguised. No mask, no human frailty or skin could conceal the demon within.

Lightning struck out and the lights dimmed, until they finally went out, and the control panel on the far war sizzled for another moment. Those familiar ruby red empty pools were visible, along with his skin in a light red glow. Tonight the storm on the reactor had brought out a demon that hadn’t been visible in many years. The mistress of fate wove a fine tapestry of events in which there were no heroes here. Just monsters…

When Rikelus walked, the trail of death was behind him. The darkness was free floating, and seemingly consumed open corpses and withered them into nothingness. The long trial of evil seemed so overpowering that terror and blood meant almost little or nothing. Between the conflict, and Maji’s weakened state Rikelus was no longer a Soldier or chivalrous man. He took a glance at her jade eyes sparkling in the darkness for a moment which contrasted heavily against his blood stained pools. They glanced forward towards the wraiths which pined away from the light lingering in the shadows as the king of the damned stepped forward with his blade preparing to claim lives in the name of the great corporation known as ShinRa. He seemed twisted in melancholia, and lamented at moments, and others he couldn’t get enough of himself with his intense chuckling as he struck them down one by one slicing them into pieces in a rather almost torturous manner.

"Why won't you answer?" teased a guileful voice from within. It sounded like his own.

Rikelus didn’t speak, he continued his masterful art of dealing death to monsters bending around their failing tentacles and dispatching limbs one by one, and twisting his body into strange contortions when needed. He pushed the last creature upon a Mako tank, seemingly choking the life out of the monstrosity which stood about eight foot in stature and weighted several times what he weighted. That voice spoke again in the back of his head.

"I know why. It's because you're afraid."

"Afraid? Of What?"

"Yes. You're afraid of the answer."

"What answer?"

"Her answer. You're afraid."

“I’m not afraid.” He muttered out loud finally squeezing the life brutally out of the creature with both hands until his fingers interlocked in an ooze of dark dilapidated crimson that spewed out involuntarily. Commodore Deverell put his forehead against the creatures sobbing for a moment before he let his hands come to a rest at his side and began walking back through the darkness stepping over the still shaking carcasses. There she lay, quiet and with one leg stretched far back and dug into the ground. She had remained there like a frightened child watching the entire time. Rikelus crouched down looking at her jade eyes, removing a leathery glove covered in blood. He ran a pale complected index finger from one side of her cheek to the bridge of her nose tracing it down to her lips parting them before he spoke, “Shhhhhhhhhhh…”

[acidgypsy]

Maji's half-closed eyes fluttered slightly as she winced with each breath; one hand draped over her ribcage protectively. She didn't know if anything was broken, but damn... it hurt enough. Already a livid bruise was starting to form in a lovely shade of bluish-purple.
She gently wiped away a trickle of red streaming down her friend's cheek, worried for him even as her own body was grievously injured. She had to admit.... the bloodshed had shaken her.

"Rikelus...? Are you okay?"

Maji's voice was tentative, the hand on Rikelus' face unmoving as if she sought to keep their eyes locked.
A painful cough racked her body, lungs spasming in her chest.
A pause followed as she caught her breath, keeping her spastic lungs under control with short, shallow breaths. Then, she began to speak; a faraway expression on her face.

"A long time ago... almost several years back, I think... I picked up what we mercs call a 'open season' bounty. Someone had put up a handsome lump sum of gil for the slaughter of a group of bandits holed up in the Nibel Mountains."

Her normally soothing tone had shifted to a rasp; broken now and then by a wince of pain that shot up her ribs like a bolt of lightning. Doggedly, she continued her story, never once looking away from Deverell.

"It was too easy. The stupid gits had a roaring bonfire going; all I had to do was pick them off one by one, thinning the numbers a bit, before going in and finishing the job. It dropped me in a state of euphoria to be killing so easily; weilding the power of life and death itself like a toy. By morning anything that moved either had a knife through the heart or a slit throat. But you know what?"

Wth a surge of energy, she grasped his collar tight in one fist and pulled him down to her until their noses were mere centimeters apart. Her voice lowered as she whispered in his ear.

"There weren't just men there... not just the vermin bandits I had been sent to dispatch. Oh no. There were women and children... all of them dead. Dead! I killed children, Rikelus! I lost control and killed innocents! And I was proud of it. You know what I did to commemorate the event?!"

Her fist left his jacket front as it caught the front of her vest and ripped it open with a sharp report of shredding fabric.
Peeking out from under the lip of a t-shirt that ended just a bit below her chest, the swirls and elaborate designs of ink curled around out of sight from her shoulder, reappearing on the opposite side of her waist then meandering down towards her hip. The rest of the tatto was hidden by her pants.

"Your 'body art' might mean something to you. A little trinket perhaps. But mine... it doesn't come off. I've tried everything short of a skin draft. You want to know why I can't imagine myself ina job outside of the mercenary business? Because I'm terrified I'll lose control for a second time and slaughter more innocents. Maybe people I care about."

[rikelusdeverell]

Rikelus’s hand pushed down upon a grate until it almost made marks through his very gloves as the intensity in his eyes faded. The gruff Soldier’s eyes grimaced for a moment; a single tear drop fell onto her as he nuzzled his nose against hers. “I’m sorry.” His azure hair leaked down from the heavens and locks of hair traced across her elegant features. Even when hurt she was dressed to impressed although he didn’t quite picture himself ontop of her, with her ripping the clothing off.

Touche’

I’ve talked about it with her before you know..about the switch. It’s hard to turn the switch on and off, some of us have the capability to do it. Although others, the more you flip the switch, the harder it is to put it in the off position the next time. With me, it was more of a game of keeping the monster in the cage and at bay. Either way I had lifted her up, and I ran across intertwined hallways, past bursting pipeworks.

He continued across thick grey steps upwards from the labyrinth past screaming alarms. He came upon a thick steel door and with a thunderous kick it flew off the hinges. Upon turning the corner he busted out a first aid kit with his elbow, then pilfered the mega potion with his free finger popping the cork and handing it to her.

He couldn’t even feel her weight with the adrenaline among other things pumping through his veins. A raucous clamor emanated somewhere below, and every so often he glanced up at the rattling pipe work at heard the fast and irregular footsteps thrashing about. There was no level of imagination that could picture exactly what was after him.

Rikelus took a whiff of the air before muttering, “Jenova cells.” He could feel them resonating around him, floating and calling to him. Gallops and groaning of winding machinery thrashed about as the pumps worked twice as hard to compensate. His stark crimson red pools, scarcely understood the gravity of the situation. He turned upwards as an explosion raced behind them, in the long hallway sending stone, shrapnel, cogs, and metal framework into the entire upper deck.

In the end, fate being as fickle as it were favored Rikelus Deverell. He had succeeded in reaching the materia mine, and escaping before the collapse of it due to the blown computer consoles. His mind spiraled into obscurity as his irises changed colors to yellow for a moment and then to blue before returning to ruby red. He blinked rapidly, before he felt a searing hot feeling overcome his senses.

The white phantom perhaps? He glanced back at the firey smoke which emerged from the battle worn cavern that lay as only rocks, sticks, and stones. The blast had covered the hole, and only a jagged silhouette of dust graced his crimson red eyes.

Rikelus coughed leaning forward grimacing before his feverish fit stopped suddenly, and an odd snaky looking black vein that was throbbing visibly down the side of his neck disappeared from view. His arms, and back were covered in glass and debris which the jagged edges soon scraped across the ground as he sat down slowly putting the back of his head against the flat cool rock which felt like heaven.

Slightly paradoxical of course, due to his hot body temperature and nature; but, the feverish feeling had subsided due to the coolness. A slight wry chuckle escaped his lips as he leaned down looking at Maji raising up an index finger pushing streaks of ginger out of her eye, “I said that you wouldn’t get a mark on that pretty little head of yours..i didn’t mention ribs though..guess I kinda jinked you Majh” With that being said he slumped over from sheer exhaustion his hot neck laying adjacent to hers.

[acidgypsy]

She blinked lazily, tempted to try sitting up. But an extra-sharp twinge from her bruised torso soon made her think otherwise.

"What a pair we make. A murderer and a klutz."

Despite her fatigue, she managed to raise the vial of potion to her mouth, where she yanked the cork out with her teeth and sipped what she estimated to be half of the strangely sweet-tasting stuff before a vaguely naughty notion popped up in her head. Must be blood loss or something... normally she wouldn't have the guts do try this. But damn... he had earned perhaps a little insight into her cuddly side, right?
Feeling the first twinges of magical restoration infusing her limbs, she refrained from swallowing mouthful of potion and instead lowered her lips to Rikelus', transferring the healing liquid via oral contact.

Hmm. She felt... strange. Like a good kind of nervousness. Hard to explain, really.

Closing her eyes, she maintained contact even after the last of the medicinal nectar left her tongue for a surprisingly long length of time before pulling away. A prominent pink tinge blossomed on her cheeks as she buried her face in his shoulder and mumbled one of her sorta-apologies.

"Er...sorry..."

Bah. So much for the mysterious 'femme fatale' appearance.

Lying there, feeling somewhat awkward after her rather forward approach, she realized what exactly made her stick with Deverell for so long. For one, she felt safe. He had this aura of protection and had thus far proved to be a steady arm to lean on when she needed help. Second... well... maybe Maji had decided she 'liked' him more than just a friend.

[/size]

[rikelusdeverell]

Rikelus weakly winced as his eyes fluttered open and he regained consciousness slowly. He thought for a moment lost within her jade irises before a slight laugh escaped his parted lips which were splashed with the blue liquid still. “Killing…it’s in our blood Maji, it’s what we do, it feels weird to be outside of that zone, and do what normal people do. It’s easier for us to take the selfish view. That way, we can hide from our own shame, anger or hurt. IN the end that’s what the world wants."

"They want us to be killing machines incapable of living happy lives. We want freedom from those repressed emotions, and sometimes we want it so badly we exchange everything we have to attain that freedom. Some of us exchange our humanity even.” He winced in discomfort from the glass shards as they were pushed out of his arm from her transferring part of the potion to him.

"I used to believe that 'kindness' and 'good' made us human. But then, that was just my narrow view," Rikelus confessed laughing rather softly pressing a familiar smirk across his expressions, “I was shrouded in sheer naivety looking at the surface instead of what’s beneath. The past isn’t important, and what we are isn’t important. It’s who we choose to be that’s important and more important who we choose to be with. Don't you agree Maj?"

Rikelus leaned forward placing a soft kiss upon her lips before he rolled over on his side crunching some glass with the flat of his weight. “You’ve got to dig really hard Maj, kindness itself doesn’t make a human a human. Just like blood and crimes don’t make us criminals or monsters. My hands are more stained with blood than you can imagine; but i've still got a soul. I'm still a person, a person who cares..you know. We’re people too.” He reiterated leaning forward burying his face into her clavicle. His arms slid around her much like the same fashion of putting a hand into a glove.. It was a good fit, and he could feel her heart beat slow down almost matching his.

[acidgypsy]

(D'aw. xDD)

Maji opened her mouth to stutter out a sentence, thought better of it, and instead barked out a laugh.

"Well, I'm happy. And as fun as being squashed by you is, I think we'd better find a good site to camp out for the night. I'd rather not face off against more of those terrible beasties until tomorrow."

She murmured, blinking away a few strands of his hair entwined with her eyelashes.
Her ribs had quit making grating noises when pressed on, but it still tingled a bit and she was skeptical of Shinra's first aid potions. A good solid nap was the best remedy for ills of all kinds.

Wriggling out from the embrace, she somewhat belatedly noticed her bare midriff and held her trenchcoat closed with one hand; an impressed whistle chirping from her lips as she glanced at the ruined tunnel mouth. A shower of dusty debris fell from her hair as she ran a hand over the crown on her head and remarked,

"Hot damn. You must've really been bookin' it. Did you get what you wanted, other than getting me undressed?"

Yep. She was back to normal alright.

Smirking her crooked cheshire cat smile, she plucked glass from his jacket and relished the cool air breezily playing with her shoulder-length locks.

[/size]

[rikelusdeverell]

“Yeah actually.” He chuckled, and his voice somewhat broke in pitch when she spoke about the undressed part. It seemingly caught him from surprise and embarrassed him slightly. If only she could see the red flush on his expressions. What was he to say..?

The fogginess and haziness gradually dispersed from his deep crimson red eyes. He glanced down at her amicable features with a bit of blurriness for a moment before a cold shiver ran over his body. He had been sprawled out for some time in an uncomfortable position still shielding her. His face was somewhat red a flushed; but covered in a bit of black suit. The pungent smell of acidic blood and ash filled his nostrils.

The cold slate floor was filthy, and damp. His crimson red pools glanced over towards the sunken mine, and he noticed pipes were mangled in thick cable lines, and crushed stone and coal blanketed the entire area. Darkness and it’s cruelty seeped in from above suffocating the area into mere shadows and darkness. He felt meager in comparison to the elements; but managed to get Maji and work their way back to their camping location via moonlight.

Rikelus took his usual spot held up against a warm flat smooth rock, his fingers on his right hand twitched involuntarily as they loosened up from their stiffness. His crimson red eyes shut as he drifted off to sleep. The naturally hot geysers and steam had kept the area warm, in all actuality it was several degrees warmer than anywhere else.

[acidgypsy]

Maji's chest rose and fell slowly in a drawn out sigh as she propped herself up against a medium-sized boulder jutting sharply out of the rocky ground a few meters off to one side. Her body screamed for rest, yet the adrenaline rush from earlier hadn't quite petered out yet. The best she could do was to half close her eyes, stifling a jaw cracking yawn and hunker down to wait out the energizing chemicals circulating in her bloodstream.

Lucky stiff.

Her rapidly closing eyes sought and found Rikelus' shape in the murky darkness, causing her lips to curl into a faint smile. How he could manage to sleep so soundly after a fight like that mystified her... in fact, the merc would probably still be awake and paranoid as ever by the time morning came.
Her boots scraped softly against the floor, tap-tapping steadily before suddenly stopping as she settled down again next to Deverell and quietly studied his unusually peaceful expression.

And to think... it was a little while since she had spazzed over him offering to walk her home in Edge. Good times.

A second yawn, not quite all the way shielded by the back of her hand, flashed her neat set of teeth momentarily as her eyes closed completely; flickering between stages of slumber.

[/size]

[rikelusdeverell]

Time had long passed since midnight, instilling an even deadlier silence into the chilly morning air. At such an early hour, the endless shadows ran amuck in the grim twilight as hues of orange spread their way across the vast blue sky. The area had grown more ghostly, and lifeless than before, as trees stood barren and extended with thin tattered limbs. Many paths seemed to disappear into different caverns and chaotic spires. Indeed the area had truly been affected by the explosion.

The two of them slowly strolled down a gravel pathway in silence. Rikelus seemed fluid in his motions as if he wasn’t hurt or affected within the devastation that had occurred a couple of hours prior. His leather zip up shirt was all he had between him and the chilly still air. His footsteps echoed among the desolate place further adding a haunted feeling to it.

He shut his mouth, as his hot breath leaked out of his once parted lips and was seemingly visible for a couple of hundred yards. His keen crimson red eyes gleamed brightly in profound intrigue. His arms were folded across his chest to bar out the chilly air; but, in spite of the morbid atmosphere a smile adorned his chilled features.

Upon finally reaching the bottom of the chaotic spires and mountain path, the temperature seemed to rise dramatically, and Rikelus added, “We need to head to the ShinRa labs in Edge to analyze these samples, you can use that ID badge to get through all the gates.” Rikelus crouched down near her motorcycle lifting the sheet and polishing part of the bike near the tail section before folding the sheet up and putting it underneath the seat cowl, “You think you can get us there in one piece Maj?”