"I don't know. Charr have claws. And sharp teeth. And tend to be taller than you. Still pretty brave, I think."

"I shall take the praise, then. Still brave."

"Never doubt it." She pauses in her climb to blow him a kiss, then resumes. "So, asura?"

"Asura are pretty fascinating, actually. They're technically not mammals at all! The males have slits out of which their penises emerge. And they have orgasms that can last almost a whole hour. They mostly find this pretty distracting from more interesting things so they do not always want to indulge, though."

"They what? The lucky bastards!"

"I know! I honestly think if it wasn't that good their species would have died out, they find the whole thing a bother."

...

She cracks up.

"That. Makes some degree of sense, admittedly."

"Yep! They treat it with some clinical detachment, really, but some of them really enjoy it, they're not all insufferable geniuses."

"Naturally. Ugh. Orgasms that can last almost an hour. That's so upsetting. And I thought the male refractory period was so unfair, that's just. In another league of unfair."

"The refractory period? Why is that?"

"Be...cause... men need a break? On their end, anyway. It seems terribly sad. With two women we can make a marathon of it until both of us are too exhausted and sore to be into it anymore."

"Ah, unfair towards us. Yes, I do agree. Although there are ways to prolong things. As I think I've shown you."

"Well, yes, and they were lovely, but that's finding tricks around an unbalanced system. Which is certainly what magic is for, but I can still be annoyed on your behalf at the original situation."

He laughs. "Yes, I suppose."

"Mhm. Just like I can be annoyed at. Ugh. The benefits of asuran biology." She huffs. "Okay, new topic, we can save other mechanics for later."

Grin. "Any suggestions?"

"None whatsoever! I picked the last topic anyway, clearly it's your turn now."

He laughs and opens his mouth—

—then stops. "Did you hear that?"

At this, all mirth drops away and she goes straight into business mode. She stops, and listens.

After a pause, she shakes her head.

"Sounded like a thunderclap. Not overcast, though." He starts slowly walking in a direction—

—and then there's the noise, which does in fact sound very much like a thunderclap. James doesn't react to it, though.

She jumps, slightly, upon hearing it.

"... I just heard it. Too loud for me to have missed before. Just now. Did you hear it?"

"—no, I didn't. From that direction?" he asks, pointing at roughly the same direction she heard the noise from.

"Yeah." She frowns. "I don't sense anything magical going on, but I'm hardly infallible..."

James starts walking towards the place the sound probably came from, northwest of where they currently are. It's not too big a detour—the volcano is still a ways north, so they're still walking in the same vague direction.

He conjures a flesh golem and draws his weapons.

Vetareh similarly draws her scepter; this is all of the preparation she needs.

The fact that they heard the sound at different times is... concerning. It implies that there's something going on with mental magic. As a mesmer with dominion over types of magic including mental magic, it's very bad that she didn't notice the effect occurring. It's probably not a hex, but she casts her hex breaker on herself just to see what happens. If there's no hex to shatter, then this will not hurt her; if there is a hex on her, she'd rather be mildly hurt than have her senses messed with.