midnightstar | Shionne and Alphen in Menancia

They've all come a long way since Calaglia, both in terms of distance and... other things. Things Shionne was forcing herself not to acknowledge. Because what would the point be to acknowledge those thoughts when she couldn't act on them - when at the end of this journey, she had no future? Ah... but that was something she hadn't - couldn't - tell the others, who she's begun thinking of as more than just 'tools'.

Particularly Alphen.

It was the hardest to think of him when she knew how much she was keeping from him. Much to her frustration, however, the group had decided to take a break for a little while since Shionne's pace had been pushing the others quite a lot - and they did just gain two new companions. Shionne was avoiding them as much as possible, deciding to go for a walk through the city almost...baffled by how accepting the Dahnans and Renans were.

It was ... nice. But it felt so alien to her, at the same time.

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There was a faint smile of pride at having predicted this development and if anything her stomach growling was more close to how he liked their interactions to go. AT least then she didn't look as if she had the weight of the world crushing her.

"No worries. It's only normal I'd make plans given how long we've traveled."

Shionne picked up the plate, staring at it for a second before she had to fight a small smile, "I guess it is a bit of a routine, isn't it?" She shifted the blanket enough so that she could enjoy her meal, trying not to look in his direction TOO much.

"It is but I don't mind it." Shionne being betrayed by her stomach whenever she tried to refuse extra food was actually one of her cute aspects as far as Alphen was concerned. Still all he wished was to have Shionne alive and well and if possible, happy as well.

Shionne started to take a few bites out of her food to eat, just to hush up her stomach - though it was so good that moments later she realized that her plate was almost empty. Alphen was still there too. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, then back at her plate, studying the fork in her hands.

"You don't have to stay here watching me, you know.." As much as she loved his company, she didn't want him to get attached. ~~too late~~

He was already plenty attached as well he just didn't realize it.

"I was watching you?" He said as if pretending he had been staring off into the distance for some reason. At a different future. Wait what was up with that house....and why did the person opening the door bear strikingly familiar pink hair... He quickly shook his head at that.

She eyed him suspiciously - it had certainly felt like he had his eyes on her but...maybe she was imagining things. Why would he be watching her so much? .... maybe she was the one watching him. She didn't want him to come to that conclusion though, so she glanced away. ".. Never mind." She really needed to figure out how she was going to deal with him, not to mention the others. She couldn't keep putting it off - he might figure it out on his own eventually.

"..I suppose.. having a roof over your head is a bit better than taking shelter under trees or in a cave during the rain." She relented on her earlier grumpy comment about wanting to travel through the rain still. She glanced at her hands, absently brushing them together - though she found her thoughts wandering to the feel of Alphen's cheek, and his peaceful sleeping face, a slow smile returning to her face.

He certainly didn't mind Shionne watching him. While their time together was not the longest, Alphen found himself instinctively comfortable around her even though they by all rights should be at each other's throats from a racial perspective. Not even her initial arrogance had managed to get under his skin. The one time was when Zephyr had died and that one instance the topic of him being a slave came up. But even then he found himself able to cool off in time and apologize in the end. Almost as if he feared pushing her away more than anything else. All of this thinking was going to give him a headache but he realized how important these thoughts were so he would not just ignore them.

"Yeah. Might not be as bad for the two of us but can't say the same about the others." Says the pair who had sneezed up quite the storm back during their trek through the snowlands.

Shionne still insisted she wasn't sneezing -- although when they kept doing it, she had to reluctantly admit that yes, she had sneezed. The shame of it all.

But Alphen - it was the strangest thing, the way she found herself seeking out his company -- even if she did occasionally ruin it by backing away from anything remotely similar to friendship.

Maybe it was less that she didn't want him to get close to her, and more accurately.. she didn't want to get too close to him. Except that was already... "So what are you going to do while we're waiting the rain out?" She asked instead, shying away from the thought of being too friendly with him.

Now there was a question he had not considered in the past. He hummed thoughtfully as he looked through the options he could think of at a glance...

"Hmmmmm. I guess I could do some maintenance on my sword and armor while chatting with you." Since they were in the same room and all. Of course if he was to do maintenance on his armor that meant he'd have to take it off. How Shionne would feel about that was not something he even considered.

"I see." Shionne glanced at the window - "That's fine." More than fine since it meant he'd be spending his time with her. Inwardly she winced at the thought - yes, it was getting telling how much time she wanted to spend with him at this rate wasn't it? And if he had to take it off -- well it's not like he'd have to take his /clothes/ off too, right?

...although she might have a hard time not staring even with that. ... ... "Do you mind if I watch...?" Because obviously she's bored. And no other reason than that.

A fact that Alphen was more than happy to accommodate really. As for her request he doesn't even hesitate or think on his answer for a moment instead quickly giving a nod and a smile.

"I don't mind that at all as long as you don't find it too boring anyway." Alphen then went for the clasps of his armor to start stripping it off.

She flinched slightly at that smile, turning her head away when she felt her cheeks warming. Ahem. ".. I don't think I'll find it boring at all. I never really watched you maintain your armor, so this will be a first." Shionne you liar.

Although as he started taking his armor off, she fidgeted slightly, wondering if she should still watch or wait till the armor was off. Glancing left and right awkwardly, she started to raise her hands to offer to help - paused, and lowered her hands to her lap again. Of course she couldn't help - and he wouldn't need it anyway.

He might not need the help but he would not have refused her either. Silly yes but that was just how Alphen would handle such a development. Didn't take him long to take the armor off and soon it was laying in parts on the bed next to him as he started off with the easiest one, the breastplate.

"So uhm...anything you'd like to talk about while I do this?"

"NOt particularly.." Shionne paused. Well that wasn't true in the least, there were a LOT of things she wanted to talk about. "Sorry. I'm still.. not used to just...talking." ... he probably had a lot he wanted to talk about though. She put a hand to her chin, thinking about possible topics. "What about you?" Absently she got to her feet to move a little closer, for a better look at the armor.

Throwing the ball back in the court of the man who had just only recently gained his freedom and who is suffering from memory loss too? Shionne would regret that.

"I guess I can think of a few things. Did you have a teacher for how to use a gun or did you train yourself kinda like I did." Since no slave would be allowed to wield a sword back in his home camp.

... oops.

Shionne gave him a surprised glance that he came up with a question so easily and quickly. "How did you.." No, nevermind. As for the question, she shook her head. "...I'm mainly self taught." She admitted after a moment.

"I started out with smaller guns, but I find using the rifle grants more accuracy and power than what I used previously. Though they have their disadvantages as well." Obviously, with needing a slightly longer amount of time to set up a shot, and then being unable to dodge some attacks. Well that's what she's got her healing artes for.

ALphen nodded in agreement, his eyes moving over to the rifle for a moment before resting on Shionne's again.

"I had a feeling. Compared to the other Renan shooters, your style is way more...well like you instead of something standardized...." That trick with the grenades was compelling proof of that fact.

Shionne nodded, "I added the grenades to my attacks out of desperation at first," she added, almost as if she could read his mind when he thought about those bombs. "It's an effective way to make the enemy get some distance, or be stunned - and that's not counting the other elemental bombs."

He could only imagine how many trials and errors she went through to perfect such a skill. After all a grenade was far smaller than a human's head. Not to mention she was able to use this ability in the heat of battle every time too. That level of concentration and awareness could only make him more amazed with her.

"Oh I have seen how effective it is alright. Pretty sure not many can make that kind of shot in the middle of a fight or outside of it."

Is that praise again? She seemed vaguely flustered at that, shaking her head. "It's.. I'm sure anyone could do the same. It isn't ..that special." She folded her arms slightly. "... what's more surprising is how you can move so easily in the armor. It doesn't look very flexible."

It was. Though it was a genuine assessment on his part not that Shionne would ever accept that. He knew all too well she didn't just accept praise.

"Really? I mean it though. It doesn't feel that much heavier than my regular clothes." Alphen said before grabbing one of the shoulder pads and holding it out towards Shionne. "Here hold this and tell me if you find it heavy."

Shionne cleared her throat slightly, dodging the praise thrown her way, though when he offered the shoulder pad, she eyed him suspiciously for a second. Well this was safe enough at least, so she reached out to take the piece of metal, turning it over in her hands, "... huh..this is strangely lighter than I thought it looked.." She glanced back at him as she offered the armor piece back. Though she caught herself staring just a little for a second there. She couldn't be blamed right?

He didn't mind her gaze at all, reaching for the armor piece to take it from her hand, their two hands almost touching as he does so. It almost ruined the moment given how Shionne would likely snatch her hand back on reflex.

"Must be proof of old Danan's crafting techniques." He said with a hint of pride before starting to attend to maintaining and checking the rest of his armor.

She did reflexively snatch her hand back, but slower than she usually did. "I suppose it is," she murmured, a little distractedly before she carefully placed her hands together, her thoughts trailing off as she watched him. Funny that once upon a time she would have said otherwise rather than agree with him.

Considering they were stuck inside for a little while, this would probably be the perfect time to tell him. Then maybe he could help her figure out how to tell the others later. If she told them at all. Rinwell and Law maybe but she barely knew Kisara and Dohalim. "..." AUGH why is having a conversation so difficult?

Several times she tried to bring up the topic, and each time she stopped before she started. Okay start small maybe... watching his hands speculatively as he worked on the armor. His hands were safe to look at, right? Nice, strong...hands. ... ohgod. NEW SUBJECT.

"You know there's that training arena in town. Kisara mentioned it to me the other day. ..do you think you'd want to participate in that?"

Honestly little progress was better than no progress. Alphen wasn't going to rush anything since the last thing he wanted was for Shionne to lock herself up again. At least she was starting to actually sit around the fire with everyone else more often too.

"I know about it yeah. Odds are Kisara might head over there if the rain lasts the rest of the day. As for me....maybe later. I still have a lot of maintenance to do" That was half an excuse since in reality he just didn't want to leave Shionne on her own.