my_belfry_of_fun | For Yuna! (Whereishe). Continued Cuteness

It felt strange feeling the warmth of his hand against her skin and she knew that she liked it. She listened to the beats of her heart trying to steady the flutter that Alex caused. It wasn’t the sort of thing that Yuna could explain but she felt comfortable, safe.

Yuna looked down at the sand as well feeling a smile pull at her lips. It was beautiful. She slowly reached down letting her fingers run through the fine mineral. “What do you think is in this?” She assumed that Alex might know or be able to tell. She looked up at him before standing again. She held a small pool of purple sand in her hands. It was dark in a way, the colors mixing together like the night sky melding with dried blood.

“It’s beautiful.”

Alex had moved himself, and his hand from her shoulder, over to the shore. Pulling off his omniband from around his wrist, and using it to test and scan the water. Concerned first that it was safe for drinking, and safe for them to be near.

A minute or two for analysis, before he stood up and brushed his uniform off from where he'd crouched. "I'd have to check, but if it's anything like Earth, then something in the chemicals. Most likely the ph-balance between organisms in the sand, causing the color. Probably something acidic." Murmuring in response to her question, as he pulled the buckets out and assembled them. Dipping and filling them up before placing them back on the shore, where they sank into the sand.

Coming over to where Yuna was, he looked at the pool of sand she held. "It's definitely unique." And pretty--it was a good color for Yuna, from the contrast of her skin and the sand. Crouching once more, he poked and dug a smaller hole, and smiled when he noticed the sand was darker purple, the deeper in the whole. It was lighter, the closer to the air. "Interesting." He'd have to muse on that.

First though, a thought had occurred to him. He looked up at Yuna, and smirked.

“Interesting?” Yuna moved next to him leaning on his shoulder slightly as she looked forward into the hole. She noticed the color variation looking between the sand in her palms and the sand he found deeper in the earth. Her eyes then glanced over at him watching him curiously.

She wasn’t too concerned with the water. She knew that if monsters lived here then they would need water and while some could survive off different things they could always purify it somehow.

Yuna was more concerned about Alex. “What is it?” That smirk… she didn’t know what it meant but for some reason she thought it spelled trouble for them.

Interesting in the reactions he was sure were causing the chemical changes of the pH most likely, to produce the purple color. Admittedly, less interesting than as he tilted his head and listened. His Omniband had confirmed the water safe enough to drink, but he was for the moment more concerned about potential other threats.

None that he could detect, so his attention shifted to Yuna once more. Still smirking, before moving quickly. Shifting his weight, pulling her up into his arms and heading for the edge of the water. Getting in up to his ankles, before tossing her gently further out.

His smirk had heralded mischief, more than anything. She'd been mopey. He didn't like her mopey, Alex had decided.

Yuna tensed feeling trouble in Alex’s smirk. She tried to scrabble away expect that he was faster than her and was easily able to lift her up. Her hands held the loose fabric of the thief garb in place though with how she fought they weren’t going anywhere.

“Alex!” All she had time to do was shout his name in surprise as he tossed her into the water. She didn’t mind water but it was cold. She yelped as she lifted herself from the lake. Beads of liquid rolled down her skin and her hair matted to her cheeks. She flicked her wrist splashing him with a wave of water in retaliation. “You’re going to have to help me dry my hair now.”

Yuna was smiling even though she was trying so hard to pout. She slowly made her way back towards the shore until the water brushed against her ankles. Her outfit wasn’t meant to go swimming in and a few parts of it were becoming see-through. She wrapped her arms around her chest and shivered.

“That wasn’t very nice.” She was smiling; she couldn’t stop smiling though she wasn’t sure why being tossed into water made her smile.

He took the splashing with a chuckle, then took off his uniform jacket and handed it to her. "I never said I was nice, Yuna." But he was still smirking smugly himself, hoodie over his black uniform shirt and blue BDU pants.

Really, he...tried to ignore that she was smiling. That her outfit had gone almost sheer; no wonder she was cold. He couldn't actually carry her, and the buckets, back to camp so his jacket it was for now. "How involved will drying your hair be?" His head tilted as he moved to make his way to the shore, picking up the buckets and ready to head back to their safe-house.

She took the over sided uniform jacket and quickly pulled it over her slight frame before it got too see-through. She slowly walked closer eyes Alex before shaking her head with a smile. "True but that's okay." If he was too night he'd be boring.

Yuna stopped when she reached the sandy shore line looking down at the funny colored sand before looking over at Alex with a smirk that matched his own. "My hair takes a lot of work." Which was why she tied it up when she showered. She usually had to wash her hair separately.

"Can we take some of the sand back with us too?"

"Not this time. I'd rather have a proper container to store it, and I don't have that with me." Alex responded, hanging back a bit and looking at the long tail of hair. He'd noticed before, but now he was noticing with an idea of just how long it was. That...

How did she HAVE that much hair not get in the way?

Yuna nodded bringing her fingers to her lips. She noticed that the jacket's sleeves were too big and it smelled like him. Bright mismatched eyes glanced over at him as she tilted her head back the way they came.

"You coming?" She had payback in mind but for now she would wait until they were back behind the shield she had created.

She slowly walked away letting her hair trail behind her as she moved. She assumed he'd catch up but she wanted to get her hair undone before it dried and then stayed all curled up.

"Just assessing how bad the problem is going to be." Alex responded with a smirk. Easy enough to grab the buckets and catch up as they walked back to the safe house.

He was glad Yuna wasn't really mad with him. Nor was he buying that she might not still try retaliation. Just because she hadn't pushed him in the water there... Not that Alex had ideas on what she might do, but he was going to be watchful all the same.

Yuna pouted but again her lips quickly curled into a smile. “I didn’t think hair of all things would intimidate you.” To Yuna he was fearless. She knew that was silly, everyone was afraid of something but he was always something solid that she looked too. She sighed softly pulling the jacket a little tighter around her shoulders. Her fingers reached out to the long braid and as she walked she slowly began to untie the ribbon. Beneath it was a tight braid of brown hair that Yuna usually kept hidden.

As she worked she looked over towards Alex feeling her cheeks flush red. She wasn’t used to having others see her hair unbound but she supposed if it was Alex it wouldn’t be so uncomfortable.

Yuna worked her nibble fingers as they walked though she hadn’t gotten her hair completely unwrapped by the time they got back. It felt like a shorter walk back though she assumed that was her imagination.

"You have a lot of hair, Yuna." Alex remarked, amused by her comment more than anything. Especially as part of him had noticed her starting to unbraid it while they walked. Granted he also was keeping his eyes open for potential enemies or trouble, but that didn't mean he didn't notice.

It definitely seemed a shorter walk back, and Alex stopped outside of where he'd seen her set her barrier up. "So...magic barrier. Anything I should know? Do you take it down? Cut a door?"

Yuna laughed raising her hand with a smile. The spell recast and it solidified in front of them. She then took Alex's hand letting her braid fall behind her as she pulled him through the spell unharmed. He could walk through on his own if he wanted but she wanted to make sure he understood the way it felt. Passing through a shield could be uncomfortable because he'd feel Yuna's magic surround him and most likely anything outside the shield would be met with dulled senses like looking through a cloud.

Once they were inside she let go of his hand feeling her cheeks redden slightly.

"I'm getting cold... can you help me with my hair real fast? Or do you think we should start a fire first?" She didn't think he needed her to start a fire but she wasn't sure what to do first and her skin was soon covered with uncomfortable goosebumps from the cold water.

It was a good thing he had a firm hold on both of the buckets as she took his hand and pulled. It was an odd sensation; a shiver down his spine and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. It was uncomfortable, but soothing at the same time.

He moved quickly, leaving one bucket on the ground where they were. "I think, you should get upstairs and get out of the wet clothes. Then we can see about a fire and drying your hair." Coming over and taking her arm gently, leading her and encouraging her up to the safe main-room.

Yuna was confused at first and the she felt her cheeks flush a bright rosy red. Did he realize the effect her had on her? Sometimes she wondered if Alex just mentioned things to make her feel flustered or if he really didn't realize what he was asking.

"I can do that without help. You start a fire?" Her voice faltered slightly but she hoped the compromise was enough. She could change with her spheres but it did nothing to the water on her skin. She needed to be able to dry off before she changed into her gunner outfit.

"I can change down here. Let me know when you have a fire going? I'll just take a minute."

Alex tilted his head and looked at her. Why was she staying down here? Even with her spheres their spare clothing was upstairs, as was a towel. He blinked, and went over what he'd said in a quick review.

Then winced.

"I didn't...I don't think you need help changing, Yuna." Alex sighed at himself and pulled away. "I was more worried about speed. I'll just...go get that fire started." Moving upstairs, leaving her be.

Shouldn't be too difficult.

That was awkward and for a moment Yuna was just stunned. She didn't really know what to say and before she could get any words out he was gone. Her cheeks burned bright red as she changed from her thief dressphere back to her gunner sphere. Her hair and skin were still wet but being out of wet clothes felt good. She was still wearing his jacket and without the scent of wet cloth she was once again hit with the scent that she had come to associate with Alex.

She waited a moment longer sliding his jacket from her shoulders so that her hair didn't get it more wet. She placed the ribbon out to dry, not having any extras, and then inspected her long braid. She had stalled as long as she could and so with a less flustered expression she slowly made her way upstairs and towards the fire she was sure that Alex had already started.

She wanted to act normal but she felt a little awkward knowing that she'd be taking down her hair. It wasn't something she did in front of others tho she supposed that Alex would have been the person she'd choose to see her with her hair completely down.

"Hey." Yuna smiled holding her hair in front of her. Her skin still glistened with little droplets of water.

It was small, but Alex had indeed managed to start a fire in what was left of the fireplace in the room. He turned when she spoke, from where he was arranging their supplies to make them easier to get to.

Blinking, Alex looked at the tail of hair in her hands that was starting to unravel. How did she get it so tightly compressed that it hid in that ribbon? "I think I might've been wrong, in how simple helping you dry your hair would be." Bemused more than anything, but still willing to help. Even if it had been worth it to duck her in the water.

His comment helped her relax and she felt a smile tug at the corner of her lips. "You don't have to help if you don't want too." She wasn't going to force him.

Yuna walked over taking a seat near the fire with a smile. "Can you pass me a towel?" Since he was handling their things he most certainly found one and she wanted to try and get as much water from her hair as she could before she unraveled it.

Alex shook his head, as he'd help. He was kind of fascinated now to see the physics of it. Feeding some more scrap-wood he'd found in other parts of the run-down house to build up the fire. Then bringing her two towels; he didn't really need hers, and he noticed she was still kind of soaked even if her clothing was dry.

Crouching near, still fascinated by the compression she achieved with the braid.

She took the towels draping one around her shoulders and then wrapping the other around her hair. It's amazing how much water hair can hold. She looked over at Alex curiously as if judging the distance of the fire.

"Thank you..." She paused with a smile. "One more thing."

She held out a palm and then flicked her wrist. Water appeared from her finger tips and then up from the earth below Alex soaking him while leaving the fire untouched.

Yuna's smile widened. "Now we are even."

His eyes-widened, but not because she'd soaked him. He'd been expecting retaliation earlier to be fair. It's more...the magic he'd seen before kind of made sense to him. In the idea that she was manipulating energy.

Pulling water though, from nothing (like her finger) and the ground? That had him baffled. Even if he accepted 'magic' over all.

Swiping his hand against his face, he was bemused in a different way as he at least stopped his bangs from dripping. "I expected that sooner, I admit. How the hell did you create it out of nothing?"

Yuna laughed. She'd never really get him back. She noticed that nothing ever really bothered Alex. At least nothing she ever did. She began to slowly dry her braid as she scooped a little closer to the fire.

"It's not from nothing. I used my own energy to pull the water from the air and from the ground. Water is all around us." The same was with fire, ice and lighting. They were elements all present around them and even if they are in short supply her own energy would be enough to supplement it.

She started from the bottom of her long braid which already started to unravel and began loosening the tight wrap of hair. She kept a towel in her lap letting her hair drip on the fluffy material.

Alex just shook his head, standing from his crouch. "But...I...that..." A noise of frustrated amusement. "Ok, I get the idea of magic being manipulation of energy, but creating altered-states of matter and manipulating them? That just.." Throwing up his hands, as he had learned from her (and a few others on their crew) that it just wouldn't be solved easily.

Intellectually, he accepted magic had laws and rules. Could be viewed as a science in its own right as much as an art. But he did not understand it, and it kind of drove him a little crazy when he wasn't purposefully NOT letting it do so.

"I suppose one trick deserves another though." Hands out at his sides, as he let bios-mass flow over him. Slowing it slightly, as he shape-shifted; mostly into his usual clothing rather than uniform. But enough that Yuna could see how his very shape and make-up changed, composed ultimately of red-and-black viral-bio-mass.

Yuna watched curiously realizing then that she still had his jacket. She slipped it from her grip and tossed it over towards there stuff so it wouldn't get wet or get in the way of whatever Alex was doing. She could sense the flow and ebb of magic around him and it's change but she wasn't sure if she should comment on it.

Once he was finished her focus shifted to her hair which was slowly becoming undone, falling in long silky locks across her lap.

"I haven't seen you do that before. It's..." She paused thinking of the right word. "interesting."

Yuna smiled and then waved Alex closer. "You said you'd help or have you decided to back out?" She gestured to her hair. Now that half of it was out of the braid it was longer and harder to dry.

For Yuna! (Whereishe). Continued Cuteness

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