"On that scale twenty thousand is a narrow escape. How did you get out?"
"I made a really big shield, and held it for as long as I was physically capable of doing. My sister went out to collect as many as she could, and bring them back to the shield. I hit mana deprivation at some point three days in and I don't remember much after that. After the fact, I heard that other mages worked together to do the same thing I'd been doing, and some others managed to make a portal, and we ran."
Path glides off of her head and makes a soft trilling noise at Vernaia.
"C'mere. Hugs are nicer if the entire person is hugging," Path opines.
"Are they?" she asks, surprised. She does come there, though! Hugs?
Adarin relaxes, just a little, in the hug. He looks at Vern and Path curiously, then laughs a bit when he sees them cuddling.
"It wouldn't work as well if we didn't have reasonably compatible daemons. Ranata has a hummingbird and Charlie a wolverine; they have a bit of a hard time."
"Ah, I see. That's rather unfortunate for the both of them, because this is still nice."
(Ongoing hugs. She has plopped her head on his shoulder.)
(He smiles a little, when she plops her head onto his shoulder. Hugs continue to be returned. Adarin seems comfortable just hugging, apparently.)
"Or a firefly. A dragon or a firefly," says Path.
"Or a firefly, but I would have been so annoyed if you'd been a bug. They're decorative but they can't do anything."
"I liked to glow. But I like being an owl, too."
"I like being a kagu. I think I might have liked to fly, but this feels right," replies Vern. She makes a happy noise and cuddles Path.
Adarin tilts his head to look at the pair. "Fair enough. I do think owl suits you, Path. The small adorable fluffiness is a plus."
"I am travel-sized," asserts Path.
"And soft," says Isabella, though since he's currently snuggling Vernaia she doesn't pet him to punctuate this assertion.
In order to see pictures now he would have to stop hugging her. He doesn't want to. Hugs are nice, especially when the rest of him is cuddling adorably as a bird.
Vernaia giggles a little, and nuzzles Path. "Very," she proclaims.