All the better; all the worse . . .

[Nayt]

Akizets handed Eld the sandwich clad in sweet peas, mashed potatoes, and pork. She took the second sandwich in the bag, one almost identical to Eld's, except it had peanut butter instead of sweat peas. The girl also handed him off a canteen of water. She only had one so they were going to have to share it, but she was not adverse to putting her lips to something that Eld's lips touched, not if he wasn't adverse to doing the same.

"Ummmm . . ." Akizets trailed off after Eld's question.

She laughed nervously. As she thought about it, it was a little bit embarrassing, but she wasn't at all against telling Eld these things anymore. It seemed if he had a question, she was more than willing to answer it honestly-- well, except for one subject matter. She always skirted discussions about her future plans in life.

"A-actually, umm," Akizets set her sandwich in her lap. "Th-this was kinda all we had left. Just, um, leftovers from, umm . . . from a few days ago."

[Zach Kaiser]

"Aha." Now Eld felt a little guilty. "Sorry; since we have patients to feed we always have plenty of food in the house," he said, rubbing the back of his head bashfully. "I forget that isn't the case for everyone." The only other place he'd ever eaten at is with the Vaerbonds, and they seemed to also always have plenty of food--though probably because of Sarah and her father's big appetites.

"I mean, the food looks like fine...just kinda odd to see them on a sandwich." Then he had an idea. "Ah, next time we can just get basket and have a little picnic."

He tentatively took the sandwich, inspecting it a little first, trying it get over it's weirdness enough to try it.

[Nayt]

"A-- a picnic?" Akizets seemed surprised that Eld brought up the idea.

Then her heart started beating hard again and a million and one thoughts crossed her mind all at once, but she hadn't the slightest clue what any of them meant or why Eld suggesting they go on a picnic together was such an alarming thing. She didn't recognize what it could mean, not consciously. Somewhere else, though-- somewhere deep in the back recesses of her mind, she understood at least on the most basic of levels.

"O-of course," she chimed with a hint of nervousness, but she was ultimately too happy over the idea for her anxieties to show much at all. "I'd love to have a picnic with you!"

Perhaps she'd exclaimed that a bit too loud, Akizets wondered, and she instantly sunk down and blushed and felt anxious and nervous all over again.

---

They stayed up there for a good while, eating and talking and freely sharing in each others company. Tension and nervousness was scarce and they laughed together as friends were so apt to do. It was easy to lose track of time up there in Akizetsumei's little slice of paradise, however, and by the time they realized it, the sun was beginning to go down and leave their excursion behind. It became a bit imperative that they get back home, and so--after a moment of watching the setting sun together, side-by-side and inadvertently close at the top of their hill, they decided to retreat back home for the evening.

When they descended the cliffside, they did it in reverse order. Eld climbed down first and Akizets climbed down second. It was a bit tougher, as the shadows cast upon the cliffside made it next to impossible to catch a glimpse of the rocks they needed to hold onto, but Eld managed to descend without incident. It seemed Akizets was going to make it without a problem, too-- at least until she was a quarter of the way down.

She was banking on a rock being there. She'd put her foot down with all her weight and the rock simply wasn't there. It was nothing more than a shadow.

"U-uh o--"

Her hands slipped second, and though she tried to hold on tight, the rocks close to the top were smooth and offered her very little leverage . . .

[Zach Kaiser]

Eld quickly got over the strangeness of the meal, and time proceeded to pass fluidly. Akizetsumei was an easy person to spend time with, as he'd been finding out recently. She was always bright and cheerful, and despite not being very studious she seemed to have a lot that went through her head.

But as they were climbing down they hit a snag...

"Akizetsumei!" Eld shouted, entirely forgetting that just a second ago his main concern had been avoiding looking up her skirt as much as possible. He darted forward, arms spread out, and let her fall into them. But even as light as she was, Eld couldn't take that much force so easily. He grunted and stumbled back, and on an incline as they were the stumble turned into a fall.

Fortunately, it wasn't steep--he only slid a few feet. He coughed, but he didn't feel like he'd gotten more than some scrapes and bruises. "Hey, are you okay?" he asked.

[Nayt]

Akizets let out a small cry of surprise that lasted until she was in Eld's arms. It all happened so fast, but as soon as she was caught, as soon as she was held close to a warm body, she knew she was safe. She immediately knew it was okay, that she'd been saved.

But it wasn't all well and fine, not as well as she thought it was going to be-- or hoped, at least. Akizets shut her eyes and let out a whimper once she felt a rush of movement again, and felt under her something of a thud and a skid. She kept her eyes shut tightly and waited for the pain. Tensed all over, she continued to wait. Seconds passed and her thoughts continued in a flurry, until she finally started to realize that she might not be hurt. She started to tense her muscles individually, starting from her toes and working her way up to her neck. Everything felt in order and she started to wonder exactly what happened.

Eld, of course, would know long before she did.

When Akizetsumei opened her eyes, she was confused to find herself sitting on Eld. She was sitting on top of his hips and she was instinctively squeezing her thighs against him. Her hands were set flat upon his belly, partly exposed in the rush of the fall, and one of her knees seemed to have worked its way under his shirt was was pressing against his ribs. Her skirt was kicked up and bunched up over her thighs and didn't separate their bodies at all, and her blouse was a bit loose and ruffled from the fall, the catch, and the second fall, making it seem as if it were slipping off her shoulder on one side.

Confused and disoriented, Akizetsumei stared down at Eld's face.

[Zach Kaiser]

As the pain from the tumble began to fade, other, warmer sensations began to take its place. She was sitting on him, and the tumult had caused a small amount of disarray in both their clothing--enough to warrant a bit of a blush from him. One of his hands was on her side, and the other one rested on one of her thighs.

He was a bit overwhelmed with embarrassment but it had to fight against worry, since Akizetsumei hadn't actually responded to his question. "H-Hey, are you okay?" he asked a bit more urgently, beginning to feel vaguely uncomfortable for a number of reasons.

[Nayt]

"U-umm . . ."

The first time Eld asked, Akizets was still reeling from the fact that she'd fallen. Everything happened so fast, it was almost like it happened all at once. It was confounding and disorienting and she had a hard time putting together all the pieces, but she double checked herself again, nonetheless. She tensed her feet, her calves, her thighs (squeezing tighter against Eld, though she didn't intend to), hips, stomach, shoulders, arms, and neck. She tensed every muscle she could at least once, and when she didn't feel any pain for the second time, she knew she was fine.

"Y-yeah, I'm okay," Akizets replied with a hesitant nod. Her own well being wasn't the biggest worry of hers right now, though. "Wh-- what about you? Are you okay . . .?"

She hadn't gotten up yet. Really, she hadn't yet gathered the enormity of her position on top of Eld, and what it probably looked and felt like to him. She just didn't think about that kind of stuff.

[Zach Kaiser]

"I-I'll be alright." He had to remind himself that the girl squeezing her thighs against him was three years his junior, and was also quite oblivious to what she was doing. Fortunately, his body was still too preoccupied with shutting off the adrenaline that came with the recent scare, so there wasn't too big a reaction. He still had to blush and look away out of politeness if nothing else, though.

When after a few moments Akizetsumei didn't move, he asked somewhat bashfully, "U-Umm...could you get off me please?" He really, really hoped she'd fix her appearance on her own without him having to point it out.

[Nayt]

"O-oh! S-sorry~!!" Akizets cried as she finally understood some level of depth to their circumstances.

A very shallow depth, that is. She didn't draw the same mental conclusions as Eld did. In fact, she concluded little more than the fact that she was sitting on Eld and it had to be terribly uncomfortable for him. She wasted no time at all in rolling off of him until she was by his side and sitting on her knees. It was only then that she winced some. It seemed she'd fallen on Eld like this before he started to skid, and she scraped her knees on the ground. It wasn't bad, though. Barely even noticeable, in fact!

"Oh man-- I'm so sorry," Akizets apologized again.

She didn't yet fix her own appearance, not the way her hair was a ruffled mess or the way her blouse seemed to be slipping off one shoulder ever so slightly. They just weren't concerns of hers right now. In rolling off of Eld, she even tugged her skirt down a bit, barely showing the top elastic part of her panties and exposing little more than an inch of her belly. She didn't seem to notice or care at all, though.

"I can't believe I . . . oh maaaaan," Akizets continued.

[Zach Kaiser]

"It's alright," he said as he climbed to his feet. He spent a few moments checking himself over; the back of his elbows were skinned and his back was a bit sore, but otherwise he seemed to be fine. Akizetsumei was too light to cause much damage by falling on him from that height.

He pulled his shirt back down, which due to its color hardly even looked dirty. I knew there was a reason I wore brown. "Well, we did stay up there kind of late." That made climbing down more difficult, and they still had a long ways back. Are we even going to make it back before dark?

As he turned to regard her, he realized that somehow she'd made her outfit even worse. He quickly blushed and turned back around. He hadn't wanted to say anything, but he really didn't have a choice now. "Umm...you might want to...check your clothes there," he suggested as casually as he could muster.

[Nayt]

She couldn't see the scratches and cuts on Eld, even when he stood up in front of her. The sun was going down and not showing any of its light upon his back. All she could really see of him with his back to her was a shadow.

When Eld turned from her and suggested she fix her clothes, Akizetsumei was a tiny bit confused. She really wasn't showing anything indecent, was she? Akizets assessed herself. No, her undies weren't showing or anything. Nothing awkward or weird, but she was a bit disheveled. The girl didn't give it much thought as she fixed her blouse and skirt before standing up, herself.

Akizets looked up to where she could see the cliff-side and the orange glow slowly leaving it. The sun was going down and they probably weren't going to have much sunlight left in the next twenty minutes or so.

"I-- I'm sorry," Akizets apologized again, this time a lot meeker and desperate. "I-- It's all my fault. I-- I-- if I had-- I should've-- weshould'veleftearlierI'msorry."

Were Eld to look back at her, he'd see the girl with a look of sincere apology and concern and fear so present on her face. Her lower lip was pouted and quivering and her eyes were a puffy red, as if she'd start crying right here and now provided the right (wrong) trigger.

[Zach Kaiser]

Eld turned around once she spoke again, and fortunately she had fixed her appearance, so he could remain facing her. "It's fine...it's my fault as much as yours," he said with a small smile. She seemed worried, either because she was shaken up from the fall or because it was late, and he wanted to reassure her.

"We'll just have to pick up the pace a bit, right?" He held his hand, either as an invitation for her to take it, or to simply take the lead.

[Nayt]

Akizets stared at Eld's hand for a long time. She still felt awful. The sudden onset of guilt wasn't going to just go away with the snap of a finger, and though she didn't give it any thought, she seemed to feel completely justified in her ill thoughts. If she'd just insisted they leave earlier, rather than trying to spend as much time with Eld up on that hill as she possibly could, then maybe they wouldn't have been out so late. She'd never have fallen and all the unvoiced worries they had right now would never have come to be.

But she reached out nonetheless, took Eld's hand in hers, and walked close to him. It was easy to tell how down she was about this new turn of events, but over the course of several minutes it seemed she was able to get beyond this and calm down just a bit.

Unfortunately, the two of them simply took too long to get moving from the hill. The sun went down with great quickness, and soon all the light they had was sucked from the forest. Only a vague shimmer of moonlight pierced the canopy, but it did little more than illuminate their faces. By then, Akizetsumei squeezed so tightly on Eld's hand and walked so close to him that she was practically jamming her shoulder into his ribs.

The forest at night was the last place she wanted to be.

[Zach Kaiser]

Eld remained stoically silent as night fell. He was less worried than Akizetsumei, mostly because his worries were probably different than hers. Predators, he knew, were not likely to attack humans unless they were starving or felt threatened, and neither was going to be likely. He didn't believe in monsters, either. His primary concern was that they'd lose their way in the dark, in which case it was likely they'd have to spend the night out in the woods. It wasn't something he particularly wanted to do.

"Don't worry," he said in an attempt to soothe her. "We'll be fine. Can you still see the trail?"

The important thing was that they didn't move blindly through the forest; if it was too tough to continue, it was better to try and get some rest and wait until dawn than to stumble around in the dark all night.

[Nayt]

In the dark of night, every tree started to look the same, and so did every natural path. Her route took curves and detours. It depended on memory and markers, and without the latter there wasn't the former-- and she couldn't see those markers out here, not this late. Trees were supposed to look different; she was supposed to pick out very specific ones, and in the day that was easy.

With the utmost regret, Akizetsumei shook her head. She hadn't the slightest clue where they were going, and they couldn't see any glimpses of Hillcrest out this far.

"I'msorry," she whispered meekly.

It was only then that the howl of a wolf pierced the silence of the woods, and Akizets suddenly felt the urge to jump into Eld's arms and hold onto him for dear life. Instead, she simply clung to his arm with both of hers.