Steel Sky (Adelle/Mind Flayer)

[Guan Yu]

"Might be... for the best that we do just that." Rose would readily agree to the idea that they would back off a bit for the time being.

The distance seemed to be good, the last bits of the lingering dread vanishing as they made it back to the little cottage. Hotaru had not ditched them at least, having moved outside and left the door open to perform some exercise at the front, where there was enough space to move around. She was still moving slower than the average person while doing this, likely having lingering stiffness from her long time spent in the cave. But she was moving, and probably knew full well that she would need to do this to get back into shape. It appeared to be a mental exercise as well, a fireball hanging there over her head suggesting that she was focusing on that as well.

 

[Mind Flayer]

"Oh wow... you know magic too Hotaru?" Adelle asked softly as she and Rose returned to the cottage, trying not to interrupt Hotaru much to break her concentration and whatnot when she spotted the girl exercising and everything to try and get back into shape after her long slumber. "And is there anything you need? Also, we ran into some strange lady out there that had this... deathly aura about her, like she could have torn us apart without a second thought," she then asked softly, leaving the other girl alone after she spoke if Hotaru didn't want to be disturbed.

 

[Guan Yu]

"I... Did mention my pyromantic skill just before you left? No, not really. What I need now is to work myself up to full operation again, as it looks like I'll be moving around the world again." Hotaru would look at Adelle funny, not having an issue with her talking apparently as she was doing her thing. The fireball would eventually drop onto her head and look like it went in there. A sudden punch at the air would follow, fire engulfing the girl's fist as she threw it. It would be followed up by an upward kick, with equally fiery feet. Lastly, Hotaru would pick up her shovel and swing it like a golf club, making a pretty neat-looking blazing arc in the air as the shovel too temporarily lit up. "Looks like I can still channel."

 

[Mind Flayer]

"Yeah I remember that you did, I just... it's always interesting to see I guess. And... whoa, flame punch huh," Adelle replied softly, watching the girl doing her exercises. "Say Hotaru... can you tell if someone has any potential to use magic themselves by chance? If so... think you could, I dunno... see if I'm capable of it... maybe?" Adelle asked curiously after Hotaru mentioned she could still channel.

 

[Guan Yu]

"I'm not sure. I wasn't able to do any of this back when I was still living the normal life. I just decided to try learning it one day, since what else would I do. So I just started to meditate for days at a time and really try to force something into existence with my mind. It took me 10 years of constant effort to even manifest the smallest smoke puffs and sparks. Getting to this level was about a 150 year investment in time, but what is that to someone like me..." Hotaru would reply, not really having the idea in her by the sounds of it. "Not probably the person to ask for this, I don't know anything deeper or even basic about the art. I just brute-forced it to myself and after a century and half, here we are." she would go on, lighting her entire body on fire as she did and just kinda standing there for a moment. Then she realized that the shirt she had borrowed from Adelle was starting to get consumed by the flame, which made her shut the blaze down, leaving the shirt charred after. "Sorry... I forgot I was not wearing my own clothes. Those are fire-resistant by the virtue of the little amulets I have on them. Same goes for my hair, the ribbons are fire seals..."

 

[Mind Flayer]

"S-Seriously? Jeez. A decade just to get even a Little bit of payoff is dedication," Adelle replied with an incredulous look on her face before Hotaru burst herself into flames and charred the shirt she'd given to the girl. "N-No no it's alright. I can get another one. But that... is just amazing," she added, waving her hands to the immortal girl as she went to get a drink of water before taking a seat to relax a bit.

"Alright... tomorrow we can look around some more for that damned flower. Until then let's just... relax, enjoy the forest air. It's really peaceful out here, and nothing seems to be around aside from regular... well, Earth creatures. Aside from that crazy lady that is," Adelle said to the others as she hopped into and leaned back on one of the recliners if there were any, or on the sofa if there was one of those instead, relaxing for the time being until it was time to cook some quick dinner up for them all.

 

[Guan Yu]

Hotaru was not quite willing to take to the sitting path just then, deciding to remain outside for the time being as she continued to flex and exercise, doing some fire magic along the way as well. Apparently she was not quite limited to the physical fire as she did create and control different flame projectiles as well, just not wantonly throwing them around but instead keeping them under control to not light anything up and end up setting the forest on fire. Rose seemed to be curious about it all, and lingered not too far off the immortal to see all her stuff happen.

The armchairs inside were not quite the modern things with their fairly rustic design, but they were sturdy and had some furs thrown over them, so they were not too bad at all to rest on. If anything, they showed Rizzet's liking towards more natural and old things, like most of the gear in the little cottage.

 

[Mind Flayer]

Adelle relaxed inside the cottage for now and just watched Hotaru through one of the windows as she meditated and exercised, and as she relaxed, Adelle would start to doze off, feeling a bit tired after the big scare earlier and just feeling quite peaceful here in this place as she conked out. "Mmm... this place is really nice and peaceful. I could stay here for weeks and not get tired of it," Adelle murmured to herself as she smiled out the window at Rose and Hotaru while her eyes closed to nap.

 

[Guan Yu]

Dozing off on the chair, Adelle drifted through a dream that she would not be able to remember afterwards, the wakeup happening at what looked like to be early night. The cottage was fairly dark, but the hearth lit it up nonetheless and there was some moonlight coming from the windows as well. It was such a different level of darkness compared to the city where lights were all over the place.

Of course she had not been left alone in any way, though the two others were each doing their respective things. Rose had apparently vacated the day and had taken to sleeping by then, laying rather peacefully on the furs that covered the fairly primitive bed. Hotaru was not feeling the need to rest by the looks of it, the girl lingering by the window near the door, very much deep in thought.

 

[Mind Flayer]

"Mmm... how long did I sleep?" Adelle mumbled softly before looking over to spot Rose already lying in the bed as the busty girl stretched and looked around the darkened cottage to spot Hotaru a moment later. "Hey... how are you feeling now? Better I hope," Adelle asked Hotaru as she came over to check on the girl, still drowsy and likely going to join Rose soon thereafter, but feeling she should see if Hotaru was okay herself first at least.

 

[Guan Yu]

"For a good while, I'd say... four hours at least." Hotaru would reply from her spot near the window as she was looking out, even as it was not really a question that was aimed at her directly. But the other one that followed was, and she remained quiet for a while before speaking again, maybe not entirely sure what to say. "As fine as I can, I think. It's just... now I'm thinking about the world again, and would going onward from here be worth it?"

 

[Mind Flayer]

"Wow, I wasn't expecting to have slept that long to be honest," Adelle replied with a surprised look on her face as she sat with Hotaru. "Well, that's entirely up to you to decide I suppose. If the world is worth seeing again and stuff. As for me... well, I happen to like the world I live in, and would like for it to become better if at all possible. Which is why I try my best to make it better when I can," she went on to say with a shrug.

"If, you don't want to maybe try and help rebuild the world though, I won't try and convince you otherwise. It's Your decision Hotaru. Not mine, or Rose's, but yours. It's your life after all. But, I'd hope you would think long and hard about it before deciding not to try and do anything and all," Adelle said to Hotaru after a few moments before she got up and headed over to climb into the bed with Rose, where she'd snuggle up to the larger girl happily, burying her face between Rose's breasts unless the bigger girl stopped her, where Adelle would snuggle in for warmth.

 

[Guan Yu]

"Hmmh... maybe it might. I need to think on it..." Hotaru would reply in a low voice, not raising any further questions and letting Adelle go on to have her sleep in the somewhat questionable yet comfy spot that was Rose's hefty bosom. It was not resisted in any way as Rose was deeply slumbering at that time, so the busty girl could go on with her desired plan.

And the situation was not different at the early morning hours, Adelle's long nap no doubt being a contributing factor to her relatively early wakeup. Regardless, she was still firmly nested in her chosen resting spot as Rose was still in the land of the dreams. Hotaru had vacated the building, but it did not look like she had gone too far as she could be seen from one of the two windows.

 

[Mind Flayer]

Adelle sighed softly into Rose's breasts and closed her eyes to go back to sleep, feeling almost a little giddy to be where she was, but more relaxed than anything, because Rose's big soft tits were just that, big and soft, and easy to get lost in. She quickly fell back to sleep and snooze for a little while longer, but she'd woken before Rose did the following morning, and decided to just lay there with Rose, still with her face nicely nestled in between the larger girl's tits, until Rose awakened, so she didn't wake Rose up herself. When Rose did wake finally, Adelle would smile up at her and greet her.

"Good morning Rose. Hope you slept well. I did my best to keep you nice and warm," Adelle yawned softly at Rose when she woke, gently pulling away and stretching.

 

[Guan Yu]

Eventually Rose did come back to the waking world from her slumber, not quite as puzzled by Adelle's chosen spot of sleep as she had been before. "Yes... Good morning... It does look like one." she would go on to state as she saw the outside from the windows. And like the busty girl, she too did not seem to be in too much of a hurry to get going.

 

[Mind Flayer]

"Aye, it really does," Adelle mumbled softly, not even bothering to pull her head up from Rose's breasts, seeming to really like her nice warm and cozy spot there.

Eventually though she did finally rouse herself up and went to do her morning business before washing her face with some fresh clean, and cool water, where she'd then head out and grab some food to cook for them all.

 

[Guan Yu]

Rose too would get out of bed eventually, having served her time as a pillow for now. She was careful of it as usual, even as the more primitive wood frame bed and furs were less prone of getting torn by the tips of her fingers than basic bed sheets were. Having cleared herself off the bed without any hazard, she would remain in the background as Adelle took to the food.

Somewhere along the food preparation time, the girls could spot a rather large bear not too far away from their cottage. It was larger than any regular brown bear would be and had a rather distinctive red mohawk of longer hair on it's head. It did look at the house and more probably at Hotaru, but was dissuaded from approaching them too closely when the honestly tiny girl lit herself up in a cloak of flame while staring the animal back.

 

[Mind Flayer]

Adelle helped Rose get herself ready if she needed any help, and while the food was cooking, Adelle would help Rose tend to her claws, moving over and getting some of the same oils she used for her pistols out and using them to help the large girl clean them so they didn't rust any in between tending to the food while it cooked. "Is this kind of oil okay, Rose? If not, I can look around and see if Rizzet has another kind lying about," Adelle asked Rose, and once the food was done, and Adelle had finished tending to Rose's claws, they'd prepare to eat, and as she got their plates set on the table, that was when Adelle noticed the large bear in the distance that Hotaru was keeping away from the cabin by... literally bursting into flames.

"H-Holy shit. What's she doing?" Adelle murmured as she rushed over and grabbed her bigger pistol and made sure it was loaded before stepping out on the front porch area. "Hotaru... you okay?" Adelle called over, ready to aid the smaller girl if needed.

 

[Guan Yu]

Rose was not far behind Adelle as the two headed for the door, where the standstill between animal and girl was happening. For all the flame she was producing, Hotaru was calm as one could be when facing a potentially aggressive beast of huge size. "Sure am." she would reply as she took a step forward, the bear unflinching in the face of such a display. A few more seemed to make it hesitate a bit more, even as the one grabbing it's attention was so much smaller than it, easy potential food for such a beast. Yet, the display of roaring fire and lack of fear towards it was making the animal reconsider if going for the food presented was to be a good move. And it was apparently not alone either, with some bigger meals coming out of the strange cave it had been looking at.

 

[Mind Flayer]

"Wow... I uh... I suppose I'll let you handle that one then," Adelle said with wide eyes, just watching the situation from a distance with Rose until the bear was backed off for them to approach Hotaru.

"Alright, now he's gone, Hotaru. Rose and I are gonna see if we can find those flowers again since it's early in the day this time. If you want, you can come with us, or stay here at the cabin," Adelle told Hotaru one the bear was gone.