A
Alex Hart
On, planet 188604, before the first Kuvexian raid
Alex was, once again, on his way home for the day. He was less tired now than he usually was, and landed his fighter near the Queen's Slave, and allowed its engines to slow down before he hopped out and approached the freighter. He entered through the back door, and found an unusual sight awaiting him in the form of Araxie bustling about the main hold, apparently... Preparing for a camping trip. She even had a small classic-shaped tent packed up with an instruction manual sticking out of the side.
"Hm? Somebody's home..." The angel smirked when she saw Alex standing there somewhat awkwardly. "Never seen this place be even more of a mess?"
Alex laughed a little. "I didn't think it was even possible. What're you up to, awake this early?"
"Hush. You recruited me in the day, remember? Ahem, I'm about to go off to the mountain, make sure the resevoir's up to design. The last thing we need is for it to fall apart onto the city." Sliding some rations into a large backpack and shifting it around with a multitude of clanks, Araxie spun around in a lazy circle to see what else she needed to pack.
"If you'd like, I could fly you up there. I don't have anything better to do at the moment, and we uhh... haven't had a chance to talk about what happened during our training flight." Alex blushed slightly with the memories of it.
"Are you feeling alright? Your face went red there... You're not sick or something are you?" A flash of concern masked Araxie's eyes, leaning herself against a console for the moment before walking up to the enhanced pilot. She felt his forehead with one hand, causing him to blush even more. "Hm. No, you don't have a fever it seems..."
"I- I'm fine," Alex said. "I feel fine." Her hand was gentle and felt pleasant.
"Hm. Well a flight up would cut the time down significantly, yes... It was probably going to take me a couple days to do it, hence... This." The cobalt birb gestured at the moderate pile of camping equipment and turned to face away from Alex. "You don't need to, though. You've got the Sky Guard to lead and stuff right?"
Alex shook his head. "Don't worry about that. I don't actually lead them so much as they follow me. They'll be fine if I'm gone for a while. What do you have there in the way of gear?"
"Let's see... A tent, one portable stove with fuel, three day's of dry rations for an emergency, a week's worth of cookable food, a similar amount of water, a flare gun, and a fire starting kit." Pointing to some of the larger individual items and then the larger of two bags, Araxie prattled off a list. Indicating the smaller bag, she continued with a breath, "That's got surveying equipment and the plans for the resevoir so I can check the crews. Also a camera and datapad."
"Okay, All of that should fit in the cockpit fairly easily since I don't need to use my hands to pilot. We can put some on my lap and some on yours. Does that sound alright?"
"Seems a bit tight actually... I was planning on taking a truck up but hmm... It might work."
"Alright then." Alex said as he went to go pick up some of the gear. "Let me help you with that stuff."
"Ah, thank you." Despite knowing the effectively super soldier could easily carry bolth packs of equipment at once, the slender angel picked up the larger supply bag, and slung the tent to rest against her shoulder while being stable in her hand.
Alex led Araxie out to the fighter and opened up the cockpit, putting down the gear for a moment to offer her a boost into the passenger seat.
Arx sighed and rolled her eyes, letting Alex push her up. He was lucky-or perhaps unlucky depending on who was observing-that she had opted for rugged shorts this time around. Plopping into the back seat and pulling the equipment-laden backpack into her lap, Serai slid the tent down next to one leg. "Shouldn't be more than a couple of nights though, so I guess there's not much to worry about."
After helping the angel into her seat, Alex lifted his share of the equipment into the cockpit and climbed in himself, closing up the glass cannopy but not the armored cover. As he warmed up the engines he attempted to make idle conversation. "Usually there's armored covers over the cannopy, but when its not needed I perfer to leave them open. Nothing compares to the sight of the real sky."
"That's true. Have you guys ever tried messing with that moon by the way? Just, out of the blue question there..." Serai took a few deep breaths, not for nerves-she trusted Tasuki's flying, or at least this Tasuki-but instead just to keep herself mostly relaxed.
"I don't think so. I really don't know why anyone would though."
"Eh. Mining sites depending on what resources it has, or stuff like a military outpost or hell, any sort of outpost. Just an idea."
"I think that could definitely work. I'll give it some thought." Alex said, as they were now high above the ground. "So this is over in those mountains right?"
"Uhhhhhh yes. Considering that's the highest ground even close to here. Why did we park so far out when I first came here by the way?"
"I don't think we parked very far out at all when you first arrived."
"...Maybe it was the desert. Damn things..."
"Yeah, sometimes everything starts to look the same." Alex said. They began to approach the mountain. "Where should I set us down?"
"Let's see..." Pointing past Alex, at a clearing approximately halfway up, Araxie let him know. "That'll be a fine landing site. Following through we will need to hike a bit to get to the resevoir."
"Okay." Alex said, as he brought them in for a gentle landing in the clearing. He opened up the cockpit and climbed out. "Okay, you lead the way I guess."
Wobbling down the ladder, the lighter of the two young'uns landed neatly on the ground by skipping the last rung entirely. Turning towards a footpath, Arx walked off into the woods. "This way, at least for a while."
Alex hefted the camping equiment and followed Araxie down the path.
It was a good hour or two later by the time they arrived at a location Araxie deemed sufficient. It was already going to be a long night, but at least she remembered Alex was a... Normal sleeper. "Let's get the tent set up so- ah, crap. I forgot to pack a second sleeping bag for you!" She sighed but soldiered on, assembling the small shelter with constant referrals to its manual.
"I'll be fine." Alex said. "Either I can sleep on the ground, or we can sleep at different times. That might not work if we both need to be working on something at the same time though."
"You don't need to sleep on the ground like that, Alex. I sleep during the day, remember?"
"I thought that if we needed to walk somewhere it would help for us both to be rested."
"Alex, I'll be fine. Besides, you can't just... Change your body clock in a day like that. Heck it took me WEEKS to get used to six-oh-four."
"You get used to it when you're constantly getting woken up for experiments."
There there was no immediate response. Araxie just tapped the remaining stake into the topsoil.
"Are you okay?" Alex said, oblivious to the fact that what he was talking about was, while fairly normal for him, probably shocking to the Elysian.
"I'll be fine... You should get some rest though. The site won't be very interesting anyways, I'm just scoping the land."
"Maybe so, but I think it'd be fun, even if only because you're around."
Serai hid her blush within folds of darkness. "Just... I'll be fine by myself, okay? Besides, if you don't get sleep you'll only put yourself at risk..."
"Not really. I'm different than a normal person, remember. I can go with less sleep for a few days. Besides, I want to spend some time with you."
"Hm." The slender one slipped inside the tent with one bag, a disturbance within as she started to set up the sleeping bag and some other things, hanging an electric lantern from the ceiling for vision within, casting quite a shadow on the walls as she moved.
Alex looked for a place to lay down outside of the tent, eventually settling on a patch of moss near a tree, and leaned up against the tree.
Stepping back out of the shelter, Araxie chuckled when she saw the man laying against nature like a dork. "Oi, if you are tired the sleeping bag is ready. Now..." Turning around and bending at the waist, Araxie Lia Serai rummaged the contents to procure some tripod-like device and an odd-looking camera of sorts.
Alex approached the tent before inquiring about the device. "What's that?"
"Auto Level. Good for determining distance for it all, which is unsurprisingly something we want. I'm glad Vier had some of this stuff to borrow."
"Neat! Is there anything I can do to help? I could carry it around for you..."
"I'll be fine, Alex. I've managed to carry awkwardly sized boxes around before this isn't much."
"I want to help." Alex said. He felt useless. "I..."
Arx walked over and poked him with the base. "You did fly me up here, you already have helped!"
"I know but... I want to help more. Besides, I'd get bored up here with no one to talk to while you're traipsing around."
"...Fair enough, I guess. What's been going on, anyways?" Swinging the tripod onto her shoulder again, Arx trotted off for a moment before realizing she had no light. "And can you get a flashlight or something, please..."
Alex rummaged around in the tent for a moment before finding one, flicking it on and following Araxie. "Got one. What do you mean by what's been going on? I mean, I've been busy with the sky guard mostly."
"Yeah, but recently you seem... Drawn to me? Or maybe I'm just being a bit more observant than usual or something. It just seems recently you've been asking a lot about like, just... Us, I guess." The birb's shadow danced across the trail and life erratically.
"Well the thing is, I've been looking for an oppertunity to ask you about what happened when we were flying a while ago..." Alex said aprehensively, afraid of saying something wrong.
"...About that... I don't really know. I'm not sure what that was..."
"I was worried that I might have done something wrong, because you started to cry a little."
"It wasn't you, Alex. Don't beat yourself up because of what they did to you."
"I guess. I just didn't really know what to do. You're the first person who's seemed to really care enough to get upset on my behalf. And I... I don't really know how to handle... Someone caring about me that much."
"Hm." It would be a bit more until the smaller clearing would be found again. "I don't know. You said you've never talked about it before?"
"No," Alex said, his voice wavering.
"Hm." Seemingly at random, Birdy stopped moving, spreading the legs on the tripod before planting it into dirt. "Looks like they've gotten to work already at least. let's see the marked area..."
Alex stood to the side, careful not to accidentally interfere. "What are you doing now?"
"Setting up the auto-level, and then I need to calibrate it."
"Hmm... Then what?"
"I use it to survey our build site so the whole thing is the right size." Her voice had gotten a matter-of-fact tone to it.
"I can't say I understand very much, but that does seem important."
"Well if it's too big we might have issues with the whole thing collapsing and flooding the city and all that. Pretty important." Securing the functional bit on to the tripod, Araxie spent a fair bit of time apparently messing with specific measurements.
"Yeah, that would be bad." Alex said. He waited patiently. He wasn't particularly interested in this part, but he was happy to be spending time with Araxie.
"Hm... They've got a bit less marked out than I would expect. I know most it is going under the rock but the surface segment shouldn't just be tacked on... At least I think. Let me see if..." Sliding a pole out if what seemed to be a secret compartment in a leg-but was just clever design-Araxie made for the cleared out grounds.
"Hm. they're already digging down too? No, just puddles." The birb muttered to herself as she walked off into the clearing slowly.
Alex followed Araxie down. "What's going on?"
"Eh. Need a more specific measurement than eyeballing it. The area looks smaller than it should be." Dodging around the irregilar puddles, Serai hummed some tune to herself occasionally. The night had cooled quite a bit, although Birdy did seem unaffected by it.
======= Later back at the tent, 3 AM =====
Unfortunately for the couple, the estimated 20% storm prediction decided to favor soaking over dryness. It took a fair deal of yelling and scrambling around in the rain and mud to recover equipment, but at this point at least one of them was shivering in their clothes, within the tent.
"C'mon. We've got to do something to warm you up." Alex said. Though he too was soaked thoroughly, he picked up the sleeping bag and unzipped it into a sort of blanket.
"I think the best way we could do this is to try to use this and our body heat to warm up and dry off, at least until you're dry enough to sleep in the sleeping bag. I'll sleep on the floor."
"Okay. The clothing's going to make this a pain in the ass, though... But sleeping on the ground? You still are insistent about that aren't you..." Shaking on the spot, the Angel seemed to be lost in thoughts. Or the cold. Probably both, with her wings wrapped around her like that. Unfortunately those were soaked too...
"I mean, unless we share the sleeping bag..."
Araxie's face flushed thirty-four shades of crimson. Damn it he's right isn't he... What did Uso say about surviving hypothermia... "W-well that would be... Effective... With the whole heating-up thing... But uhh, y-yeah. T-there's some pro-problems with the-th-the soaked c-clothing..." Even with a burning face the civil engineer was shivering like mad, the rain had fallen heavy and soaked deep, continuing to assault their little enclosure from above.
"I guess you should, umm.... Take the stuff thats too wet to wear off?" Alex said after a moment. "I should probably take off my wetter clothes too, they'd inhibit the heating." Alex was now blushing as much as Araxie was.
"...F-fine. Just... Turn around or something, please..."
Alex complied, and as he did so he began to peel off the soaking jacket and shirt, but left his pants on, as they weren't too wet.
Unfortunately, the girl had slipped a couple of times. Once she was absolutely sure Alex wasn't going to sneak in some looks, a squishy plop announced the removal of her jacket, followed by her shirt and shorts. Once again wrapping feathery blankets about her body, Araxie stood somewhat awkwardly in the light and continued to shiver, clearing her throat lightly.
"Should I turn around now?" Alex asked aprehensively. He too was shivering in the cold.
"U-uhh, yeah I'm not n-naked..."
Alex turned around, experiencing a fairly similar view to what he saw last-arguably with slightly more exposed skin than what the wet pile of clothing had given. At least she seemed to be wearing smallclothes, one strap of her bra visible as it cast a tiny shadow on her trembling shoulder behind a soaked lock of muddy hair.
"I... Damn it's cold in here... Stupid rain, soaking my wings like this... Worse than hair."
Alex blushed even harder. He stuttered for a moment before managing to get out the words, "Uhhhm... I... wow..."
"H-hmmm... Are you... Okay? I-I mean..." She gestured to the sleeping bag shakily, a gust of air shaking the cramped tent a little. Whatever compliment Alex was giving to her, the cobalt-winged girl seemed to not notice it.
"I- I'm fine. Should we uhh... get into the sleeping bag?"
The birb simply squatted down at the entrance to the bag, sliding in and trying to take up as little room as possible. "D-damn.... Rain..."
Alex walked over and carefully tried to insert himself into the bag without disturbing Araxie too much. As he settled in, he felt her warm skin against his and turned to look at her. "Is this okay?"
It seemed survival took precedence over embarassment, as the Angel shivered slightly closer to Alex, her wings wrapping around him like a cold blanket as her face burrowed into the soldier's chest. "Warm... You're still so warm. That another... Uhh... Yeah..."
Araxie's wings were fluffy and slick from the rain. As she pushed her face up against his chest he felt a certain sort of contentment. One that he had never felt before. He felt his hands snake behind her back and his hands clasp in the small of it, gently holding her to him.
"Another what?"
"Uh... Another... Experiment..." As the two started to warm themselves up, Araxie slowly started to turn her shake into a shiver, into a tremble.
Alex's breathing was slowing as well. He looked Araxie in the face for a moment and then asked, "What kind of experiment?"
"The ones that made you well, you. The ones from when you were a kid..."
"What about them?" Alex asked.
"Did they change your metabolism too or something? Why are you so warm..." By her own action, one arm drifted on top of Alex's torso lazily.
"I think they changed something. They had to feed us this sort of... thick soup is the best way to describe it I think. They told us it had about two or three times the amount of nutrients in it that we would have needed before the modifications. Now I have to eat a lot, or otherwise eat really nutrient rich foods."
"Hm. So yes... What the hell was that all for anyways..." The rain had lessened slightly, but still was falling.
"I think they wanted me to be some sort of perfect soldier, or pilot. Maybe both." Alex spoke softly.
"Hmmmm...." Her voice had been slowly taking a slur of fatigue, both of their bodies working overtime to stave off the low temperatures about. Not only that but Alex has been up nearly a whole day. It wasn't a surprise when the Angel drifted into another realm after a few minutes.
Alex's metabolism, advanced as it was, was soon unable to keep up with the demands of keeping him awake for almost 24 hours straight and warming himself and Araxie up. Soon he too drifted into sleep.
====== The next night, approximately 8 PM ======
Alex woke up in what was, to his internal clock, the morning. There seemed to be something missing in front of him from last night, as Araxie had gotten up somewhat early for herself and managed to already leave the campsite. The portable stove was still set up outside the tent, with a written note attached to the side, written in trade script: "I've gone back to the resevoir to finish the survey. Go get something to eat before you search for me. -A S"
Sure enough, her still-wet clothing from the rainstorm was still piled up on the floor of the tent, and a disturbance in the supply bag means she probably had an extra set in there.
Alex put on his clothing, which was now only mostly wet, picked up a can of soup from a small bag of them, and went outside to cook himself a small meal.
Ten minutes later, Alex used the small spoon attached to the underside of the can's lid to eat the meaty broth and noodles before cleaning up the mess from his meal and storing it in a different bag that seemed to have another soup can in it, most likely from Araxie's meal.
Then he set out to look for her, heading towards the reservoir.
It seemed "surveying" was not the only goal the birb had in mind. As Alex approached he began to hear a distinct, and loud, hum ahead. Once he managed to see the clearing, it was pretty obvious Arx was causing the ruckus-hovering nearly perfectly still save for when the breeze caught her, miss Serai was taking a good look from above the approximate center, her normally obvious plumage seemingly transparent around her as she hovered.
Alex stared for a moment, in awe of the majesty of seeing someone flying, not aided by machine, but by themselves. The effect was only enhanced by her plumage filtering what seemed to be blue light around her in a sort of halo.
"Araxie?" He said, awe clear in his voice.
The angel stiffened at first, before slowly hovering to the ground in a quite graceful manner, settling into the mud with a "huff!"
"Yeah, hey Alex. Finally got up, heh." With her face flushed from exertion, Arx breathed heavily and rapidly to keep her complaining muscles at bay. "Turns out they are actually digging... A touch big!" She laughed or a couple moments, silver eyes shining reddish gold in the sunset's ambient light.
"Yeah. Listen, I wanted to tell you uh... last night was er... nice. You were nice."
"Uh, thanks? Not really sure what I did but take your body heat but, alright..."
"I meant to ask you a question then, but you fell asleep and I didn't want to wake you. You never really told me what made you start to cry that one time."
"Honestly," she stood slightly straighter, "I can't really say. It just kind of... Happened, I guess?"
"I understand what that's like." Alex said. "And I was thanking you for being there for me, for being there to listen and to care."
"You're... You're welcome." There was an awkward pause... "Well, I got what I needed. Stupid rainstorm screwed stuff up a little but at least it's all done... Let's break camp and head home?"
"That sounds fine to me," Alex said. He began attempting to work up the courage to say something that he didn't quite understand.
At least the fading light was still enough to navigate to the camp by. Araxie was already messily putting the tent into a pile when Alex caught up.
"Do you want me to carry more of the stuff this time?" The words he felt he needed to speak were stuck in his throat.
"Uhhhh sure. This tent's a pain in the ass can you take the supply bag please?" Eventually giving up the birb wadded up the rain-proofed device under one shoulder, and set the smaller equipment bag on her back awkwardly. Spinning a lazy circle, she called to Alex, "I'll get the stove. And that should be all of it..."
"Okay." Alex took a deep breath and mustered the last of the courage he would need. "By the way Araxie, last night made me realize something. I uh... I like you. I like you a lot."
"Huh. And uhh... You're.... Hm. Thanks... I... I do like you a lot, as well..." Arx nervously played with the strap on her backpack before picking the stove up carefully.
"Araxie, I think I might..."
Alex began to blush furiously. What had he done? Agh, he should have known that he would somehow mess everything up. He sat down for a moment and buried his face in his hands.
A somewhat unsteady hand landed upon Alex's cranium. "Are you feeling alright? Want me to fly us home this time?"
Alex shook his head. "No its just... Ever since you got here I've been feeling weird. All light and warm, especially when I'm around you and... I uhh..."
"And?"
Alex blushed even harder. "I think I might be falling in love with you."
"....Oh." She was lucky Alex was busy looking down. A small tear of unknown origin welled up in her eye, being blinked away.
"You... Don't think it's stupid?" Alex said, looking up hesitantly, as if afraid that she would ridicule him.
"Well love has, in the past, caused people to make... Questionable decisions..." One arm became two into an embrace around Tasuki.
Alex stood up slightly, embracing Araxie in return, his forehead ending up pressed againt hers.
"Hey... You alright Alex?"
"I... I don't know. I was so afraid that you would think I was silly, or just dismiss it as some childish act."
"I... I don't know. It's... Dammit Alex, heh... You're quite an interesting guy to be around for sure..."
"Thanks, I think." Alex said. Their foreheads were still pressed together. His eyes were visibly drawn down by the inexplicable force of horomones to Araxies lips.
Then he straightened out his head, and brought his lips to hers, gently but firmly, causing Araxie's face to go hot in response. Her slim form shuddered a little, but not from the cold air as she brought her lips to meet his.
Alex pulled away reluctantly, his eyes wide.
"Ummm... was that... should I... sorry?"
A finger rested upon his lips, silencing the big dork. "It was just fine, thank you... Let's go home before a search party mobilizes."
Alex was, once again, on his way home for the day. He was less tired now than he usually was, and landed his fighter near the Queen's Slave, and allowed its engines to slow down before he hopped out and approached the freighter. He entered through the back door, and found an unusual sight awaiting him in the form of Araxie bustling about the main hold, apparently... Preparing for a camping trip. She even had a small classic-shaped tent packed up with an instruction manual sticking out of the side.
"Hm? Somebody's home..." The angel smirked when she saw Alex standing there somewhat awkwardly. "Never seen this place be even more of a mess?"
Alex laughed a little. "I didn't think it was even possible. What're you up to, awake this early?"
"Hush. You recruited me in the day, remember? Ahem, I'm about to go off to the mountain, make sure the resevoir's up to design. The last thing we need is for it to fall apart onto the city." Sliding some rations into a large backpack and shifting it around with a multitude of clanks, Araxie spun around in a lazy circle to see what else she needed to pack.
"If you'd like, I could fly you up there. I don't have anything better to do at the moment, and we uhh... haven't had a chance to talk about what happened during our training flight." Alex blushed slightly with the memories of it.
"Are you feeling alright? Your face went red there... You're not sick or something are you?" A flash of concern masked Araxie's eyes, leaning herself against a console for the moment before walking up to the enhanced pilot. She felt his forehead with one hand, causing him to blush even more. "Hm. No, you don't have a fever it seems..."
"I- I'm fine," Alex said. "I feel fine." Her hand was gentle and felt pleasant.
"Hm. Well a flight up would cut the time down significantly, yes... It was probably going to take me a couple days to do it, hence... This." The cobalt birb gestured at the moderate pile of camping equipment and turned to face away from Alex. "You don't need to, though. You've got the Sky Guard to lead and stuff right?"
Alex shook his head. "Don't worry about that. I don't actually lead them so much as they follow me. They'll be fine if I'm gone for a while. What do you have there in the way of gear?"
"Let's see... A tent, one portable stove with fuel, three day's of dry rations for an emergency, a week's worth of cookable food, a similar amount of water, a flare gun, and a fire starting kit." Pointing to some of the larger individual items and then the larger of two bags, Araxie prattled off a list. Indicating the smaller bag, she continued with a breath, "That's got surveying equipment and the plans for the resevoir so I can check the crews. Also a camera and datapad."
"Okay, All of that should fit in the cockpit fairly easily since I don't need to use my hands to pilot. We can put some on my lap and some on yours. Does that sound alright?"
"Seems a bit tight actually... I was planning on taking a truck up but hmm... It might work."
"Alright then." Alex said as he went to go pick up some of the gear. "Let me help you with that stuff."
"Ah, thank you." Despite knowing the effectively super soldier could easily carry bolth packs of equipment at once, the slender angel picked up the larger supply bag, and slung the tent to rest against her shoulder while being stable in her hand.
Alex led Araxie out to the fighter and opened up the cockpit, putting down the gear for a moment to offer her a boost into the passenger seat.
Arx sighed and rolled her eyes, letting Alex push her up. He was lucky-or perhaps unlucky depending on who was observing-that she had opted for rugged shorts this time around. Plopping into the back seat and pulling the equipment-laden backpack into her lap, Serai slid the tent down next to one leg. "Shouldn't be more than a couple of nights though, so I guess there's not much to worry about."
After helping the angel into her seat, Alex lifted his share of the equipment into the cockpit and climbed in himself, closing up the glass cannopy but not the armored cover. As he warmed up the engines he attempted to make idle conversation. "Usually there's armored covers over the cannopy, but when its not needed I perfer to leave them open. Nothing compares to the sight of the real sky."
"That's true. Have you guys ever tried messing with that moon by the way? Just, out of the blue question there..." Serai took a few deep breaths, not for nerves-she trusted Tasuki's flying, or at least this Tasuki-but instead just to keep herself mostly relaxed.
"I don't think so. I really don't know why anyone would though."
"Eh. Mining sites depending on what resources it has, or stuff like a military outpost or hell, any sort of outpost. Just an idea."
"I think that could definitely work. I'll give it some thought." Alex said, as they were now high above the ground. "So this is over in those mountains right?"
"Uhhhhhh yes. Considering that's the highest ground even close to here. Why did we park so far out when I first came here by the way?"
"I don't think we parked very far out at all when you first arrived."
"...Maybe it was the desert. Damn things..."
"Yeah, sometimes everything starts to look the same." Alex said. They began to approach the mountain. "Where should I set us down?"
"Let's see..." Pointing past Alex, at a clearing approximately halfway up, Araxie let him know. "That'll be a fine landing site. Following through we will need to hike a bit to get to the resevoir."
"Okay." Alex said, as he brought them in for a gentle landing in the clearing. He opened up the cockpit and climbed out. "Okay, you lead the way I guess."
Wobbling down the ladder, the lighter of the two young'uns landed neatly on the ground by skipping the last rung entirely. Turning towards a footpath, Arx walked off into the woods. "This way, at least for a while."
Alex hefted the camping equiment and followed Araxie down the path.
It was a good hour or two later by the time they arrived at a location Araxie deemed sufficient. It was already going to be a long night, but at least she remembered Alex was a... Normal sleeper. "Let's get the tent set up so- ah, crap. I forgot to pack a second sleeping bag for you!" She sighed but soldiered on, assembling the small shelter with constant referrals to its manual.
"I'll be fine." Alex said. "Either I can sleep on the ground, or we can sleep at different times. That might not work if we both need to be working on something at the same time though."
"You don't need to sleep on the ground like that, Alex. I sleep during the day, remember?"
"I thought that if we needed to walk somewhere it would help for us both to be rested."
"Alex, I'll be fine. Besides, you can't just... Change your body clock in a day like that. Heck it took me WEEKS to get used to six-oh-four."
"You get used to it when you're constantly getting woken up for experiments."
There there was no immediate response. Araxie just tapped the remaining stake into the topsoil.
"Are you okay?" Alex said, oblivious to the fact that what he was talking about was, while fairly normal for him, probably shocking to the Elysian.
"I'll be fine... You should get some rest though. The site won't be very interesting anyways, I'm just scoping the land."
"Maybe so, but I think it'd be fun, even if only because you're around."
Serai hid her blush within folds of darkness. "Just... I'll be fine by myself, okay? Besides, if you don't get sleep you'll only put yourself at risk..."
"Not really. I'm different than a normal person, remember. I can go with less sleep for a few days. Besides, I want to spend some time with you."
"Hm." The slender one slipped inside the tent with one bag, a disturbance within as she started to set up the sleeping bag and some other things, hanging an electric lantern from the ceiling for vision within, casting quite a shadow on the walls as she moved.
Alex looked for a place to lay down outside of the tent, eventually settling on a patch of moss near a tree, and leaned up against the tree.
Stepping back out of the shelter, Araxie chuckled when she saw the man laying against nature like a dork. "Oi, if you are tired the sleeping bag is ready. Now..." Turning around and bending at the waist, Araxie Lia Serai rummaged the contents to procure some tripod-like device and an odd-looking camera of sorts.
Alex approached the tent before inquiring about the device. "What's that?"
"Auto Level. Good for determining distance for it all, which is unsurprisingly something we want. I'm glad Vier had some of this stuff to borrow."
"Neat! Is there anything I can do to help? I could carry it around for you..."
"I'll be fine, Alex. I've managed to carry awkwardly sized boxes around before this isn't much."
"I want to help." Alex said. He felt useless. "I..."
Arx walked over and poked him with the base. "You did fly me up here, you already have helped!"
"I know but... I want to help more. Besides, I'd get bored up here with no one to talk to while you're traipsing around."
"...Fair enough, I guess. What's been going on, anyways?" Swinging the tripod onto her shoulder again, Arx trotted off for a moment before realizing she had no light. "And can you get a flashlight or something, please..."
Alex rummaged around in the tent for a moment before finding one, flicking it on and following Araxie. "Got one. What do you mean by what's been going on? I mean, I've been busy with the sky guard mostly."
"Yeah, but recently you seem... Drawn to me? Or maybe I'm just being a bit more observant than usual or something. It just seems recently you've been asking a lot about like, just... Us, I guess." The birb's shadow danced across the trail and life erratically.
"Well the thing is, I've been looking for an oppertunity to ask you about what happened when we were flying a while ago..." Alex said aprehensively, afraid of saying something wrong.
"...About that... I don't really know. I'm not sure what that was..."
"I was worried that I might have done something wrong, because you started to cry a little."
"It wasn't you, Alex. Don't beat yourself up because of what they did to you."
"I guess. I just didn't really know what to do. You're the first person who's seemed to really care enough to get upset on my behalf. And I... I don't really know how to handle... Someone caring about me that much."
"Hm." It would be a bit more until the smaller clearing would be found again. "I don't know. You said you've never talked about it before?"
"No," Alex said, his voice wavering.
"Hm." Seemingly at random, Birdy stopped moving, spreading the legs on the tripod before planting it into dirt. "Looks like they've gotten to work already at least. let's see the marked area..."
Alex stood to the side, careful not to accidentally interfere. "What are you doing now?"
"Setting up the auto-level, and then I need to calibrate it."
"Hmm... Then what?"
"I use it to survey our build site so the whole thing is the right size." Her voice had gotten a matter-of-fact tone to it.
"I can't say I understand very much, but that does seem important."
"Well if it's too big we might have issues with the whole thing collapsing and flooding the city and all that. Pretty important." Securing the functional bit on to the tripod, Araxie spent a fair bit of time apparently messing with specific measurements.
"Yeah, that would be bad." Alex said. He waited patiently. He wasn't particularly interested in this part, but he was happy to be spending time with Araxie.
"Hm... They've got a bit less marked out than I would expect. I know most it is going under the rock but the surface segment shouldn't just be tacked on... At least I think. Let me see if..." Sliding a pole out if what seemed to be a secret compartment in a leg-but was just clever design-Araxie made for the cleared out grounds.
"Hm. they're already digging down too? No, just puddles." The birb muttered to herself as she walked off into the clearing slowly.
Alex followed Araxie down. "What's going on?"
"Eh. Need a more specific measurement than eyeballing it. The area looks smaller than it should be." Dodging around the irregilar puddles, Serai hummed some tune to herself occasionally. The night had cooled quite a bit, although Birdy did seem unaffected by it.
======= Later back at the tent, 3 AM =====
Unfortunately for the couple, the estimated 20% storm prediction decided to favor soaking over dryness. It took a fair deal of yelling and scrambling around in the rain and mud to recover equipment, but at this point at least one of them was shivering in their clothes, within the tent.
"C'mon. We've got to do something to warm you up." Alex said. Though he too was soaked thoroughly, he picked up the sleeping bag and unzipped it into a sort of blanket.
"I think the best way we could do this is to try to use this and our body heat to warm up and dry off, at least until you're dry enough to sleep in the sleeping bag. I'll sleep on the floor."
"Okay. The clothing's going to make this a pain in the ass, though... But sleeping on the ground? You still are insistent about that aren't you..." Shaking on the spot, the Angel seemed to be lost in thoughts. Or the cold. Probably both, with her wings wrapped around her like that. Unfortunately those were soaked too...
"I mean, unless we share the sleeping bag..."
Araxie's face flushed thirty-four shades of crimson. Damn it he's right isn't he... What did Uso say about surviving hypothermia... "W-well that would be... Effective... With the whole heating-up thing... But uhh, y-yeah. T-there's some pro-problems with the-th-the soaked c-clothing..." Even with a burning face the civil engineer was shivering like mad, the rain had fallen heavy and soaked deep, continuing to assault their little enclosure from above.
"I guess you should, umm.... Take the stuff thats too wet to wear off?" Alex said after a moment. "I should probably take off my wetter clothes too, they'd inhibit the heating." Alex was now blushing as much as Araxie was.
"...F-fine. Just... Turn around or something, please..."
Alex complied, and as he did so he began to peel off the soaking jacket and shirt, but left his pants on, as they weren't too wet.
Unfortunately, the girl had slipped a couple of times. Once she was absolutely sure Alex wasn't going to sneak in some looks, a squishy plop announced the removal of her jacket, followed by her shirt and shorts. Once again wrapping feathery blankets about her body, Araxie stood somewhat awkwardly in the light and continued to shiver, clearing her throat lightly.
"Should I turn around now?" Alex asked aprehensively. He too was shivering in the cold.
"U-uhh, yeah I'm not n-naked..."
Alex turned around, experiencing a fairly similar view to what he saw last-arguably with slightly more exposed skin than what the wet pile of clothing had given. At least she seemed to be wearing smallclothes, one strap of her bra visible as it cast a tiny shadow on her trembling shoulder behind a soaked lock of muddy hair.
"I... Damn it's cold in here... Stupid rain, soaking my wings like this... Worse than hair."
Alex blushed even harder. He stuttered for a moment before managing to get out the words, "Uhhhm... I... wow..."
"H-hmmm... Are you... Okay? I-I mean..." She gestured to the sleeping bag shakily, a gust of air shaking the cramped tent a little. Whatever compliment Alex was giving to her, the cobalt-winged girl seemed to not notice it.
"I- I'm fine. Should we uhh... get into the sleeping bag?"
The birb simply squatted down at the entrance to the bag, sliding in and trying to take up as little room as possible. "D-damn.... Rain..."
Alex walked over and carefully tried to insert himself into the bag without disturbing Araxie too much. As he settled in, he felt her warm skin against his and turned to look at her. "Is this okay?"
It seemed survival took precedence over embarassment, as the Angel shivered slightly closer to Alex, her wings wrapping around him like a cold blanket as her face burrowed into the soldier's chest. "Warm... You're still so warm. That another... Uhh... Yeah..."
Araxie's wings were fluffy and slick from the rain. As she pushed her face up against his chest he felt a certain sort of contentment. One that he had never felt before. He felt his hands snake behind her back and his hands clasp in the small of it, gently holding her to him.
"Another what?"
"Uh... Another... Experiment..." As the two started to warm themselves up, Araxie slowly started to turn her shake into a shiver, into a tremble.
Alex's breathing was slowing as well. He looked Araxie in the face for a moment and then asked, "What kind of experiment?"
"The ones that made you well, you. The ones from when you were a kid..."
"What about them?" Alex asked.
"Did they change your metabolism too or something? Why are you so warm..." By her own action, one arm drifted on top of Alex's torso lazily.
"I think they changed something. They had to feed us this sort of... thick soup is the best way to describe it I think. They told us it had about two or three times the amount of nutrients in it that we would have needed before the modifications. Now I have to eat a lot, or otherwise eat really nutrient rich foods."
"Hm. So yes... What the hell was that all for anyways..." The rain had lessened slightly, but still was falling.
"I think they wanted me to be some sort of perfect soldier, or pilot. Maybe both." Alex spoke softly.
"Hmmmm...." Her voice had been slowly taking a slur of fatigue, both of their bodies working overtime to stave off the low temperatures about. Not only that but Alex has been up nearly a whole day. It wasn't a surprise when the Angel drifted into another realm after a few minutes.
Alex's metabolism, advanced as it was, was soon unable to keep up with the demands of keeping him awake for almost 24 hours straight and warming himself and Araxie up. Soon he too drifted into sleep.
====== The next night, approximately 8 PM ======
Alex woke up in what was, to his internal clock, the morning. There seemed to be something missing in front of him from last night, as Araxie had gotten up somewhat early for herself and managed to already leave the campsite. The portable stove was still set up outside the tent, with a written note attached to the side, written in trade script: "I've gone back to the resevoir to finish the survey. Go get something to eat before you search for me. -A S"
Sure enough, her still-wet clothing from the rainstorm was still piled up on the floor of the tent, and a disturbance in the supply bag means she probably had an extra set in there.
Alex put on his clothing, which was now only mostly wet, picked up a can of soup from a small bag of them, and went outside to cook himself a small meal.
Ten minutes later, Alex used the small spoon attached to the underside of the can's lid to eat the meaty broth and noodles before cleaning up the mess from his meal and storing it in a different bag that seemed to have another soup can in it, most likely from Araxie's meal.
Then he set out to look for her, heading towards the reservoir.
It seemed "surveying" was not the only goal the birb had in mind. As Alex approached he began to hear a distinct, and loud, hum ahead. Once he managed to see the clearing, it was pretty obvious Arx was causing the ruckus-hovering nearly perfectly still save for when the breeze caught her, miss Serai was taking a good look from above the approximate center, her normally obvious plumage seemingly transparent around her as she hovered.
Alex stared for a moment, in awe of the majesty of seeing someone flying, not aided by machine, but by themselves. The effect was only enhanced by her plumage filtering what seemed to be blue light around her in a sort of halo.
"Araxie?" He said, awe clear in his voice.
The angel stiffened at first, before slowly hovering to the ground in a quite graceful manner, settling into the mud with a "huff!"
"Yeah, hey Alex. Finally got up, heh." With her face flushed from exertion, Arx breathed heavily and rapidly to keep her complaining muscles at bay. "Turns out they are actually digging... A touch big!" She laughed or a couple moments, silver eyes shining reddish gold in the sunset's ambient light.
"Yeah. Listen, I wanted to tell you uh... last night was er... nice. You were nice."
"Uh, thanks? Not really sure what I did but take your body heat but, alright..."
"I meant to ask you a question then, but you fell asleep and I didn't want to wake you. You never really told me what made you start to cry that one time."
"Honestly," she stood slightly straighter, "I can't really say. It just kind of... Happened, I guess?"
"I understand what that's like." Alex said. "And I was thanking you for being there for me, for being there to listen and to care."
"You're... You're welcome." There was an awkward pause... "Well, I got what I needed. Stupid rainstorm screwed stuff up a little but at least it's all done... Let's break camp and head home?"
"That sounds fine to me," Alex said. He began attempting to work up the courage to say something that he didn't quite understand.
At least the fading light was still enough to navigate to the camp by. Araxie was already messily putting the tent into a pile when Alex caught up.
"Do you want me to carry more of the stuff this time?" The words he felt he needed to speak were stuck in his throat.
"Uhhhh sure. This tent's a pain in the ass can you take the supply bag please?" Eventually giving up the birb wadded up the rain-proofed device under one shoulder, and set the smaller equipment bag on her back awkwardly. Spinning a lazy circle, she called to Alex, "I'll get the stove. And that should be all of it..."
"Okay." Alex took a deep breath and mustered the last of the courage he would need. "By the way Araxie, last night made me realize something. I uh... I like you. I like you a lot."
"Huh. And uhh... You're.... Hm. Thanks... I... I do like you a lot, as well..." Arx nervously played with the strap on her backpack before picking the stove up carefully.
"Araxie, I think I might..."
Alex began to blush furiously. What had he done? Agh, he should have known that he would somehow mess everything up. He sat down for a moment and buried his face in his hands.
A somewhat unsteady hand landed upon Alex's cranium. "Are you feeling alright? Want me to fly us home this time?"
Alex shook his head. "No its just... Ever since you got here I've been feeling weird. All light and warm, especially when I'm around you and... I uhh..."
"And?"
Alex blushed even harder. "I think I might be falling in love with you."
"....Oh." She was lucky Alex was busy looking down. A small tear of unknown origin welled up in her eye, being blinked away.
"You... Don't think it's stupid?" Alex said, looking up hesitantly, as if afraid that she would ridicule him.
"Well love has, in the past, caused people to make... Questionable decisions..." One arm became two into an embrace around Tasuki.
Alex stood up slightly, embracing Araxie in return, his forehead ending up pressed againt hers.
"Hey... You alright Alex?"
"I... I don't know. I was so afraid that you would think I was silly, or just dismiss it as some childish act."
"I... I don't know. It's... Dammit Alex, heh... You're quite an interesting guy to be around for sure..."
"Thanks, I think." Alex said. Their foreheads were still pressed together. His eyes were visibly drawn down by the inexplicable force of horomones to Araxies lips.
Then he straightened out his head, and brought his lips to hers, gently but firmly, causing Araxie's face to go hot in response. Her slim form shuddered a little, but not from the cold air as she brought her lips to meet his.
Alex pulled away reluctantly, his eyes wide.
"Ummm... was that... should I... sorry?"
A finger rested upon his lips, silencing the big dork. "It was just fine, thank you... Let's go home before a search party mobilizes."
