A young woman steps deftly through the land of dreams, watching in curiosity and wondering where she'll wander to next. Will she face down and defeat a nightmare? Disentangle the complicated, twisty mind of a scholar? Enjoy something a bit more straightforward and simple?
Her answer is 'none of the above.' The dreamscape shatters into darkness as she's instead dropped out of the air and onto a foreign ground.
She startles, snaps her eyes open, and sits up in alarm.
"Well, even so, you seem to be doing a passable job at it," she says, pointing at the fire.
...he blinks at his hands, which do indeed seem to be harmlessly burning.
"That's still not..."
He gives her an impatient look. The comfortable temperature is now long gone.
She sighs.
"As far as I can tell, it's at least somewhat tied to your emotions. When you found me funny it was warm and pleasant, and now that I'm annoying you, you are spontaneously catching on fire. I don't particularly know what trying looks like either, but 'thinking happy thoughts,' is probably going to do something."
"What the fuck is a happy thought," he snaps, exasperated. The flames go out, and a brief torrent of ice-cold water pours out of the air over her head.
She yelps at this sudden icy downpour. It's definitely very cold. Also very illuminating. She realizes that she's been very very stupid. One should perhaps not take out their mood on the first person available when that first person available has strange foreign magic and he's the only one around for miles.
After a few seconds of consideration and uncomfortable being-coldness: "... Yes, all right, I kind of deserved that."
...he giggles. The pleasant warmth comes back, wrapping around her like a blanket.
Oh, good. That bodes well.
"I have decided," she says, after another pause to consider how uncomfortable it is to be covered in ice cold water while wearing furs, "that you probably deserve an apology. So. I'm sorry."
Those last two words sound a bit like pulling teeth, but not so much that they're insincere. Just an apology from someone that doesn't like giving them very much.
Okay, being in furs in an empty desert was uncomfortable, being in furs soaked in ice water is sort of an improvement, but not enough of one to be worth being in furs soaked in ice water. She has something on under the furs, it is time to stop being in the furs. Also, in her bid to live another day, it's probably useful to be a pretty girl in front of this person. As such, she begins stripping.
"So, on the bright side," she says conversationally while completing this task, "we are probably not going to die of dehydration in an empty desert. That's very exciting!"
"Granted, we should probably figure out a better method than this. It doesn't seem very good for my health."
"Oh?"
She drops the last of her fluffy warm furs unceremoniously onto the ground and looks at him, archly. The pants and close knitting tunic are not immodest, but they definitely reveal more of her than fluffy warm furs.
"So, it's possible you might still accidentally set me on fire. Should I keep my distance for my own safety?"
She snorts!
"I might find it more fun to not be on fire! What about that, have you considered that?"
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