Joe laughed to himself as well, before looking back down into her eyes, “And I guess I need to be wise and remember it as well. Make sure I don’t take advantage of that.”
“You won’t.”
Fearful concern flickered in his eyes, “That’s… the opposite of being careful. You’ve been ignoring me this whole time.”
“No. I just know you, and trust you.”
“How could you know me? You’ve known me for maybe a week!”
Kilniara shook her head before continuing, “You offered to protect us before you knew us. This reveals the kind of man you are. A Priest of Knowledge acknowledges you and pursues a relationship with you more avidly than I’ve ever seen many ever pursue you. Your first apprentice is happier than any other apprentice I’ve seen. Your courtesy and consideration in thousands of different interactions with thousands of people every day these past weeks and in all of them, you have never used your power for evil.”
“I might be deceiving you.”
“Ha! Then deceive me for the rest of my life. I’m fairly certain I would be more than happy to live in that deception.”
Joe sighed shaking his head but mute, unable to respond.
“Besides, you are not pursuing me aggressively. You push me to wait. You caution me continually. I have plenty of more time to watch you and become aware. I can always wait more and more. And anyway, why are you so worried about this. We became your apprentices in a matter of days, and you seem completely unconcerned with that? But when I want a relationship with you that would or could cost me nothing more than what I have already given you… and now you show concern?”
“But, I could easily hurt you in this intimate relati…”
“Master, I could die under your training!”
Joe’s mouth snapped shut with a click, staring at her.
“And, not only my life. Most apprentices offer their bodies as part of such a trade, whether to the master or to fellow apprentices… it is … it's life.”
“But that’s… I could never accept such things. I find them… reprehensible. I…”
“And why do you not see, because of just this, that I can trust you.”
“But being aware and…”
“I am aware. And you are most certainly aware! Now we live life in such a way as to keep such actions or power from harming others. I certainly wouldn’t join myself to a person who wasn’t aware or was and didn’t care! Pick your friends wisely.”
Joe chuckled at that point, nodding slightly, “So, be aware.”
Kilniara chuckled, more of a soft snort, before shaking her head and responding, “Sometimes you seem so brilliant, and sometimes I feel you speak of folly that… why is this… This is life. Bad people exist. Stay away from bad people! Wisely find good people to keep in your life.”
“Well, no matter what, make sure you don’t let your fear or worry about what I might or might not do stop you. I will not use or abuse my power over you. This I promise.”
Kilniara smiled brightly, “Yes!”
“And, you can’t use your power over the other two.”
Her smile firmed to seriousness, “I promise to ‘be aware’ and not use my power in such ways.” Kilniara finished her statement with a small smile.
Joe smiled back before firming his face, “You may be right, but don’t make light of this. It is… two people’s lives and happiness depend on you keeping control.”
Kilniara nodded quickly and seriously while responding bluntly, “Yes.”
Joe smiled, grateful for her acceptance and dropped his head back against the tree trunk. They rested like this for several moments in comfortable silence until Kilniara sighed deeply and the silence was broken for nonsensical talk on the weather, the plaza, and recollection of odd events their group had experienced over that last couple weeks. Happy amity bathed their conversation until another moment of companionable silence allowed his mind to roam and reminded Joe of his curiosity about HP and its function.
Taking out the dagger he regularly carried with him, Joe pressed it cautiously against the palm of his hand until he felt the subtle pop of broken resistance and a small bead of blood swelled up around the blade of the dagger. It felt like it took quite a bit more pressure to break his skin, but couldn’t be certain and left that thought for later and instead flipped open his status page and saw a single point of HP gone from his pool. Several seconds later, even as he watched, another point seem to waver and disappear from his HP, and he quickly took his dagger away from his skin.
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With a hawk’s gaze on his HP, he saw that it had stopped dropping and even a few moments later, began wavering like it had before, signaling a soon to come change. Over the next several minutes, Joe kept his eyes on the number although he did notice Kilniara’s quiet gaze watching him with curiosity. Joe flicked a smile to her before turning his eyes back to his HP status.
“Just testing something. Don’t worry.”
“Mmhmm. That’s fine,” Kilniara replied.
Several minutes later, his HP flicked back up a single point and Joe considered the ramifications of this, his eyes glazing. He sat like this for some time before looking back down to his palm to find it clean without any sign of blood. Joe’s eyebrows furrowed. Huh… where’d the blood go? Did I rub it away too much?
Joe brought the dagger back once again and stabbed his palm, a bit more quickly and with less concern this time. Once again, the feeling of flesh popping open under the too hard press of the dagger brought the sight of a welling of blood once again, but this time he quickly removed the dagger, watching the blood carefully. Soon, he felt his eyes open wide while barely able to keep his mouth shut. Even as he watched, the blood drop seemed to waver, becoming illusory, as if it wasn’t even real, and slowly disappeared from his palm, taking the puncture wound with it.
What’s going on? Is it healing me? Or cleaning? It’s like it just erased the… A cold shiver trailed down his spine, icy cold fingers of shock with a hint of dread drove a spike of fear down through his skull into his spine.
Time magic? Or maybe… something like fate? A reversal type thing? I guess? It could be an insane healing spell or pool, which is really freakin’ cool! But this felt… different. Almost like… some kind of weird…
Joe blinked when he felt Kiliniara’s hand lay on his chest, stuttering across it carefully before sliding up towards his upper chest. Joe’s thoughts skitter through his mind in sync with Kilniara’s stuttering hand movement and he turned to look at her to find another surprise waiting for him, her face somehow so much closer to him.
“I love how you are so curious about everything, but could we… spend some time together?”
Joe’s eyes widened in a bit of surprise, eyebrows flinching upward, then smiling, “Sure. Sorry. I always get in trouble like this. I’m always curious.”
“I know. It suits you.”
“Eh… not sure that it suits me, but thank you.”
She didn’t respond, simply staring up at him. Joe looked down and soon the two were simply staring at one another with silly smiles on her face. Kilniara seemed to shudder, a deep breath echoing in strange sympathy throughout her entire body before her eyes slipped shut, the expression shifting to one of hidden fear that Joe saw through easily enough. Joe felt a smile slip onto his face, even as he felt a sense of excited confidence infuse him before he considered his options. Don’t want to rush this fast, but… can’t leave her hanging. Wouldn’t be cool… just a peck?
His thought raced quickly until he felt he’d found a decent compromise and he slipped his head down to offer her a soft but quick peck on the lips before pulling back after holding it just long enough to offer promise. She opened her eyes, a small pout forming on her lips even as a hint of sadness welled at the bottom of her eyes.
“Hey! I don’t… want to move this fast, to be honest, but I didn’t want to make you think I’m not appreciative of your efforts or willingness. Trust me, I want to jump on you and throw you to the ground while I French the ever living daylights out of you, but… I’m… like I said… just, let’s enjoy our time together and grow.”
Putting action to his words, he slipped his head down once again and left a quick peck on her lips once again before pulling back slightly and resting his forehead on hers, “Trust me, the kissing will come soon, it’s just still a bit too soon.”
Her eyes shot wide and stayed wide open even as a blush flushed her cheeks and goose bumps raced across them in a tidal wave towards her ears and jawline as his face rested close up against hers. She took a moment, pulling in a deep shuddering breath before she nodded, a bit jerkily in her excitement.
Joe smiled once more, a much more relaxed smile as concern was relieved and he slipped his head forward once more to peck her lips, then stopping for a moment before deciding to throw caution to the win and pressed in for a more significant kiss, although he pulled back from slipping his tongue up against her lips and into her mouth.
Despite this, his heart pounded and he soon found himself pulling back with a shuddering breath, “Yeah. Gonna need to wait a bit before we start doing that!” He then looked to her with a smile, “Really want to make sure our relationship is a bit better founded than the purely physical.”
Kilniara didn’t respond, seeming lost in her own world as her eyes were still closed and her lips held up to him, pursed, still lost in the moment of the kiss. Joe was able to calm himself after a bit of time and turned back to look at her, finding her frozen moment a bit humorous and stared on, wondering how long she would take to recover her thoughts. It was only a few moments after this that she opened her eyes before blinking in comically delayed startlement after seeing him staring at her.
She shifted away from him before dropping her head, the blush now threatening to escape her face and neck down to her torso, the bright red quite a bit more significant than before. She took a few moments to calm herself before looking back up at him with a bit of an angry look.
“I thought you were going to wait to… French? kiss later?”
“French? Heh! That wasn’t a French kiss.”
She looked at him, fearful concern evident on her face before she continued, “Then, this French kiss is … more than this kiss?”
Joe smiled a bit more malevolently, “Much!”
She scrambled back a bit from him, thoughtful and took some time to continue.
“What… is a French kiss?” she asked with some trepidation.
Joe leaned forward, letting a smirk form on his face before he smiled and laughed, releasing the tension, “It’s not much. It’s just a kiss where one touches tongues.”
Shock painted her face and she seemed quite taken aback, although a bit intrigued with a hint of concern or disgust, “Is it… better? Touching tongues seems… disgusting.”
Joe stopped, thinking, “Huh… I’m not really sure, to be honest. Is that an Acokzau thing? Cause for humans, it feels amazing!”
She seemed to squirm a bit at this revelation before glancing back up at him, “I’m willing to try.”
Joe guffawed, much more humored than he realized by the situation, “Well, don’t worry. You’ll get a chance soon.”
She looked at him and smiled, saying nothing, but began to swing her arms draped over her knees in happy distraction while she continued to look up at him. They sat like this for several moments, staring into each other’s eyes before Joe broke eye contact to drop his head back against the tree and she followed after.