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SOMEWHERE NEAR MEAN PEAK - MORNING
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Erika mm's groggily as the first rays of sunlight hit her face as she's laying on her side. She slowly blinks a couple of times as she gathers her surroundings and recalls she's out on a herb gathering trip... which also explains the warm presence she's holding her arms around. "Mm. Nesseth... good morning~."
Nesseth appears to be asleep still, resting rather peacefully for once. As Erika stirs, though, he likewise begins to awaken, the movements familiar enough to let his subconscious know it's time to wake up for the day. His frills flex a little as he blinks his eyes open, then he smiles warmly as he sees Erika. "Mm-morning, Erika~"
Erika nuzzles into Nesseth's frills, her desire to get up somewhat diminished. She glances at the long-gone campfire next to them: "Think we got a bit excited last night?~"
Nesseth hums warmly as he scoots just a bit closer to Erika, rather clearly enjoying the warm embrace as his tail lazily drapes over her legs. "Mmh... just a little excited, I'd say~"
Erika lets out a soft giggle: "Not that I mind, though I guess the smart thing would've been to keep some watch..." She gives Nesseth's neck a soft lick in appreciation.
Nesseth chuckles as the lick sends a little shiver through his spine. "Hehe... yeah, maybe, but I think we were making enough noise to keep most everything away for a while." He smiles, then leans in and kisses Erika on the neck in turn.
Erika blushes: "I don't scream that much!" She blinks: "...probably. Kinda got lost in that moment." She leans closer to Nesseth, shifting her position to just touch his body as much as possible.
Nesseth likewise presses against Erika in a hug, content to stay resting on their shared camp bed for as long as feasible. "Well, in all fairness, I'm not exactly the quiet sort either, so..." He grins teasingly as he lets his hand rub gently against Erika's back, "It was a team effort."
Erika giggles and shivers at Nesseth touching the base of her tail: "Good team effort. So we make a good team, for... well, definitely for that."
Nesseth lightly scratches his nails through the fur just above Erika's tail as he continues to hold the hug. "Well, that, and a lot of other things like herb gathering, gardening and such, too."
Erika shivers again, grinning: "Possibly that too... always happy to teach you more things about plant life, of course."
Nesseth hums, smiling brightly. "And I enjoy learning about it all. I'm an explorer, but I was never really one to know about all the different kinds of plants and such, before."
Erika nuzzles Nesseth's neck again: "All kinds of useful things out here, yup yup." She hums softly: "I've learned stuff from you too... never paid all that much attention to how animals travel I guess."
Nesseth chuckles as he hugs Erika warmly while she nuzzles against him. "It's good things to know, either while hunting or avoiding, yeah... It's fun teaching you stuff I know."
Erika starts to lean to be more on top of Nesseth, grinning: "And sometimes even teaching me survival skills and not just what you've learned from your other partners~."
Nesseth 's arm wraps a little more warmly around Erika as he feels the shift in weight, encouraging the okapi to get cozy however she wants. "That, too. Anything you'd like to learn that I know, I'm happy to teach~"
Erika giggles and gives Nesseth's nose a lick: "Well, there you go. Happy to teach each other, we are."
Nesseth chuckles and licks Erika's nose in turn. "We have a lot of knowledge to share, after all, and we both love to learn."
Erika shifts her arms around Nesseth: "Mm, learning is good I hear. It's almost a shame we have to get up from here eventually..."
Nesseth hums in agreement as he settles into Erika's embrace. "Mmh, but at least we're in no rush, with Mean Peak as close as it is, now."
Erika idly glances around them, but thankfully no bears are to be seen. She looks back to Nesseth with a smile: "Mm, true, I had no intention of letting you go just yet~..."
Nesseth smirks a little and also glances around a bit, noting their little campsite is pretty much undisturbed from the previous night. "And we look to be alone together out here... and you've got me pinned in place. I wouldn't want to wiggle free in the first place~"
Erika licks Nesseth's face once more: "Well good. When you wiggle your frills tickle, and we can't have that..."
Nesseth grins. "Then I'll try and hold still for whatever you've got planned, dear."
Erika pins Nesseth down... and just lies on top of him, holding him close: "This, mostly. You're warm and I don't want to get up."
Nesseth laughs quietly and rests his chin on Erika's shoulders as she settles atop him. He lets his arms drape around her, holding her in a loose, but still warm hug. "I'm that warm? I could have sworn you were the one radiating all that wonderful heat."
Erika hugs close, closing her eyes: "Mm don't really care, I'm staying here until we have to move."
Nesseth settles onto the camp bed, content to cuddle with Erika for as long as the two can draw it out for. "That's fine by me. Let's just say... however long until our stomachs start grumbling, hm? We can make some food and set out again. No need to rush at all before then~"
Erika kisses Nesseth, though without opening her eyes she misses slightly and ends up kissing him above one eye: "Mm, hehe. Let's do that~."
Nesseth blinks at the misaimed kiss, but returns the favor with a teasing kiss on Erika's neck again, just at the base of her jaw. "All the time in the world to enjoy this morning, after all~"
Erika giggles softly, just leaning her head atop Nesseth's: "I like that. A lot, really."
Nesseth snuggles comfortably beneath Erika, his shorter stature definitely working in Erika's favor in pinning him in place... not that he's really got any desires to move. "Love you, dear~"
Erika smiles warmly: "Love you too, silly lizard~."
Valia: Somewhere somewhat away from the camp, there was the breaking of branches, and a gentle 'Oof', before further continuing. Whoever was there might not be on track to walk over where they are, but..they might also! Hard to tell.
Nesseth is contentedly snuggled beneath Erika when the sound of breaking branches catches his ear. He blinks his eyes open again, only to quietly nudge Erika on the neck with the tip of his scaly snout. "Hey... did you hear that?"
Erika blinks awake from her half-dozing: "Mmm...? Oh. Something's near?" She's instantly more alert as she raises her head to glance around.
Nesseth looks around as well, trying to zero in on the direction that faint sound came from. "I think so? Sounded like something pushing through branches nearby..."
Erika nods and quietly gets up to her knees, freeing Nesseth as she does. She looks around and flicks her ears as she tries to listen.
Valia: There's another few crackles of branches, before a stop, and a curious little 'Hmm'. Maybe picking up a track?
Nesseth sits up a little more, propping himself on his elbows as he looks around a little more freely, his gaze focusing towards a point a ways off to the side of the camp after the next set of sounds. Their position is still... rather questionable, considering their nudity, but if this is a wild animal, it probably doesn't matter.
Erika homes in towards the sound of the animal or traveler, tilting her head: "I wonder what...?"
Valia comes upon the two of them. "Oh!" The white fox looks down "I thought I'd noticed something! I was practicing my tracking, so..sorry if you were trying to be sneaky!" She smiles charmingly. She is either unaware of the compromising nature of their position, pretending not to notice, or doesn't care. It's..super hard to tell.
Nesseth is about to answer when the fox steps into view. He stares for a few moments, then looks over at Erika, then back at Valia again. "Not really trying to be sneaky, no... We were just... waking up? We set up camp here last night."
Erika smiles and waves: "Hi!" As usual, she's oblivious to her lack of clothes: "I'm Erika! And yeah, we were just here, and now you're here. So nothing sneaky about that, I think."
Valia: "Oh! That's good! I was just making my way to..up..Respite Falls? Yeah..but then, I saw a cool rock..and got a bit distracted..."
Nesseth blinks and tilts his head. "Respite Falls? That's out towards the plains a ways." He takes a moment to gesture down in the direction he and Erika came from the previous day.
Erika nods: "Yeah, it's... quite a bit away. How'd you end up out here?"
Valia: "Oh..well, once I got off track, I..well, I sort of just..wandered about trying to find my way back" She smiles "It's fine though! I've seen loads of cool stuff! And new people!"
Nesseth chuckles and smiles a bit. "Well... yeah, you definitely found us, alright. We're still heading deeper into Mean Peak, though, so... unless you want to accompany us, we can tell you the trail to follow back to town."
Erika smiles brightly: "Finding new stuff and new friends is the best. And getting lost is like... well I do it a lot too. But I like to think that I just find places I wouldn't have otherwise."
Valia likes this view, it makes it sound like a life philosophy instead of hopeless navigation skills "Yes! That's it. I like the way you think" She nods brightly "Uh..I mean, I could go with you, I suppose, but I think people here prefer to do that" She wiggles a paw at the pair of them "As a one on one thing?"
Erika shrugs with a smile: "Well, mostly, anyway?" She looks at Nesseth: "Though I suppose it's easier if we just point the way to Respite, we might be out here a while..."
Nesseth nods at Erika. "Yeah... we've got a map and can point the way to town from here. You seem pretty okay wandering around solo, so I'm guessing you can defend yourself from wildlife."
Valia: "Wildlife?" Valia blinks, one eye at a time "Oh..the local little animals and stuff! Yeah! They're super nice. I..um Defend? I suppose. They're friendly though. I hope I wouldn't need to hurt them"
Erika smiles: "Good way to go about it."
Nesseth blinks, then nods. "Oh, uh... yeah, in that case, you'll have no problem getting to town, then."
Valia: "Yeah! No problem at all!"
Valia nods, full of confidence that her past history did not back up.
Erika giggles: "Getting a bit lost, that happens. No worries there."
Nesseth hums in agreement. "No worries, miss. We'll get you pointed in the right direction." He looks at Erika with a bit of a sheepish smile, "But, uh... looks like we're getting up a bit earlier than intended."
Erika shrugs: "Eh, happens. Sometimes you just come across somebody out in the middle of nowhere, it's just a thing of sorts."
Valia: "Oh!" She puts up her paws "Don't stop on my account..um! Go ahead! You look like you're having fun!"
Nesseth shakes his head a bit at Valia, smiling. "No, no, we weren't getting up to anything of the sort. We were just enjoying some cuddles, is all."
Erika shrugs: "Kinda did the sex thing last night, mostly." She looks at Nesseth: "He's warm to hold, that's all, this morning."
Valia: "Oh! Well, I'll give my..uh..blessing" She focuses, and the markings on her fur glow a moment, before...they stop glowing "There we go! I think that helped" She nods "But..still...I think it's tradition to do that sort of thing in the morning too...so maaaybe I should just.." She points vaguely "Go?"
Nesseth blinks at the glowing marks, then looks over at Erika about the 'blessing' Valia just gave. "Uh... thanks for the blessing, miss? But, er... if you don't mind waiting a moment, we can grab the map and show you which direction to go to get to town."
Erika tilts her head and looks at herself just to be sure, but for the moment nothing seems to have changed: "Yeah, thank you? And map, we can do that." She feels a bit tingly but can't place why.
Valia nods, satisfied that she helped! "Right, if I get some directions, I should be able to get the rest of the way"
Nesseth starts to notice just a bit of an odd sensation in his core, a similar sensation from when Teis had to channel magic through him to talk to Melia way back when. He doesn't pay it much mind, though, as he pats Erika's hip. "Mind letting me up, dear? Gonna grab the map from the pack."
Erika blinks from her distractedness, then giggles and gets up: "Oh! Oh. Yeah. I can do that." She rolls aside, laughing at the awkwardness of the motion. "Oof. I gotta practice that more."
Nesseth makes to stand up, chuckling as he takes a moment to stretch his back before he goes to the pack bundled near the camp bed. He kneels and rummages for the map. "We'll get better as we go, I'm sure."
Valia looks on, and appreciates the sight of Nesseth. She doesn't stare, but she doesn't look away either.
Erika definitely stares at Nesseth's... whole package. She's pretty shameless, really.
Nesseth extracts the map after a short bit and stands back up, only to blink as he notices both Valia and Erika looking at him. He glances between the two, bemused. "Uh... did I... do something?"
Erika grins: "Yes. You're right there~."
Valia: "Well, I don't know how euphamismy I'm meant to be"
Nesseth shrugs a little, but shoots Erika a little smile. "Uh... however euphemistic you want to be, I guess?" He clears his throat and walks back over to the spot just by the bed, where he unfurls the map and waves Valia over to look at it, "Anyway..."
Erika sits down to the side, letting Nesseth do the admittedly-lot-better-than-her navigation operation thingy. "I can be very euphemistic if I want to be", she says to no one in particular.
Valia: "Oh..." She pauses "Your body is very attractive, and I see why your friend was enjoying sex with you" So..very direct.
Erika giggles at that, grinning dumbly.
Nesseth chuckles at that and smiles at Valia. "Well... okay, that's fair. Thank you, miss. You look very nice, yourself." He pauses, then takes a moment to tap a spot on the map, near a spot marked 'Mean Peak', "Well... right now, we're about here. About... three days out from town, give or take."
Valia: "Oh!" She nods at the map "Okay! That makes sense..."
Valia: "I think I can make it back now"
Erika smiles brightly: "I'm sure you can. You seem pretty savvy."
Nesseth hums in agreement as he just takes a few moments to trace the trail he and Erika followed. "Yeah, it sounds like you'll be able to get to town just fine." He points off to the side, "If you just keep heading in that general direction, you'll see the town's walls by the second evening."
Valia: "Right!" She nods "Okay! I can't possibly screw that up"
Erika smiles: "Yup! It's pretty simple going, really."
Nesseth nods as he lets Valia examine the map until she's good with memorizing the details. Once she's done, he starts to roll it back up again. "I think you'll like it around Respite, it's nice."
Valia: "Yeah! Lots of people have said that it's really nice" She nods again "Okay! I'm going to go ahead now. You two enjoy each other, okay?"
Erika smiles at Valia, then her smile turns just a bit saucier when she looks at Nesseth: "It's possible we will."
Nesseth waves and smiles at Valia. "Then, safe travels, miss. Maybe we'll run into one another back at town later on." He pauses, then gives Erika a similar, saucy look, "And I'm sure we will, sooner or later."
Valia: And Valia would be away. She'd totally make it to Respite this time. Totally