Places to be.. (Cass)

[Darian]

Seeing at first glance Cass had yet to come back to the camp, he shouldered off his pack, and began relieving the green twigs and vines from it and out onto the ground that would serve as their makeshift workshop. Hearing a noise at the side of the camp he looked up to see Cass back with her own contribution in hand, and a fairly good looking one at that. He nodded his head appreciatively at her, and waved her over to set the sticks and rocks down beside his own pile of green, and stood up, not particularly looking at anything, simply just thinking. " No, what you brought is perfect " he said, eyeing the haul prospectively, and thinking the big sticks might be good for a sort of fence or hidden trap, he couldn't quite decide which. The rocks would need a bit more brainstorming but he didn't think it would be beyond their capabilities to think of something smart to do with them. Thinking of that prompted to stoop down to take a closer look at what she had gathered, and how he could utilize the natural binding he had gathered in cohesion with what she had brought him. He picked up one stick introspectively, and found it to be deceptively heavy, him only lifting the bottom end he was grabbing off the ground, and it seemed like it work like a good spike, or fence to his thinking. The thin rocks, possibly could find a use for making the ground more difficult, and harmful to walk on as a added defense to what they were already planning to utilize.

Looking over at Cass, still mulling over these new revelations, he examined to see what she was doing to make sure he didn't interrupt her in any way. " Should we use the sticks as a fence, or should we sharpen them up and try to make a trap with them " he asked her curiously, wondering about what her thoughts on this were. After all this decision would affect the both of them, since both of their lives were at risk out her in the forest. Though if they planned on using it as a fence they would have to go out and collect more sticks, and more binding as well since they barely had enough to cover a quarter of their camp's semi circle parameter, not even counting the defense they would need around the back of it. A spike trap, if they intended to spread them about the outside of the camp would also require more sticks as well, so gathering them was not really much of a factor in this decision, what was a factor was what Cass thought about the whole thing, and what she thought was best for the both of them. Maybe while they went out gathering again they could find some more of those thin rocks as well, as they would make good wide spread defenses, making it hard for any intruder to sneak up on them if they didn't know which areas to avoid. All in all, the stuff Cass had brought where good ideas in his opinion, and what they planned on doing was beginning to take shape in his mind.

[Cass]

Cass's smile grew a little bit when Darian told her that what she had brought was good. She satood beside Darian as he quietly began to study all the objects before them. She noticed that he had also found vines that could be used as rope or twine. Cass remained quiet as she watched Darian study all the materials laid out on the grass. While she watched him her mind reeled back to her first idea: a powerful slave army. While she knew it would be impossible to find and enslave enough humans to make a small army -nor did they have the strength to do so- Cass couldn't help but think that a small army would help solve these problems they kept running into. And humans were the perfect choice in her opinion. She was yanked out of her dangerous thoughts when Darian posed his question to her. Focusing back down at the material at her feet and taking a glance around the camp she came to her desicion. "I think a fence would do us better. We'll need more materials to complete the fence. We should probably also sharpen the sticks so anyone who tries to hop the fence will be at least slightly wounded."

Picking up one of the small thin rocks Cass ran her claw-like fingers over the smooth surface. "Sharpen the rocks as well and we could lay them out as mini traps. Random though...we should place them in random spots so only we know where they are located. But our enemies won't. It'll be a...um...surprise?" She looked at Darian, wondering if her word choice was correct. While she still knew enough of the human language to communicate she was often confused by some of the weird words humans came up with every now and then. Dropping the thin rock she took a small step away from the materials. "It won't be an unstoppable defense but it'll be enough to hopefully alert us to any predators closing in on us."

[Darian]

He smiled as he heard Cass's thoughts and saw that they mirrored his own, and he paced around the parameter of the camp real quick just to get a lay of the land before returning to Cass. " Agreed, great idea. It will take a couple of trips for us to gather enough of the natural binding and wood, but it will be worth it in the end " he said with another smile, hoping he had made a astute observation, and his words would help them. Looking at the woods for a moment and then back at her, he decided it would be best they focused on different things at once so they could accomplish more in less time, and he looked to Cass, seeing the rock in her hand. " If you would sharpen the rocks, and the wood already here, and the extra I plan on adding to the pile, it could shave off the amount of time we spend preparing our defense " he offered with a gesture of his hand, and he unsheathed his dagger from his hip, and handed it hilt first to her to take if she decided that she wanted to sharpen the sticks and stones instead of gathering supplies. The day light was on the wane of course only slivers over the horizon, but he could see by it, and the starlight alright for now and he didn't intend on wasting the moment on sitting down at camp, when Cass's excellent night vision could be used as the night got later.

If she accepted the knife he would trek off into the woods in search of binding and sticks, and any appealing rocks he might find on his way, and found many suitable candidates, stuffing the binding in his pack whenever he found some. By stacking the wood horizontal in his arms, and balancing some rather large, thin, flat rocks on top of it he found a rather efficient carrying method for transporting the load, though he was sure there was a better means of doing this that escaped him. When he finally reached back to camp, it was deep night, and the moon was high in the sky, and luckily he made it their alright, even though he could hardly see the ground in front of him, and with a deep breath crouched low to the ground and set the pile down gently, before plopping down beside Cass and inspecting her work. After a look over it, he would grab a stick as well, and hold it in his lap, figuring that now might be the time for them to switch jobs even though he had went out on only one such run for their effort. " Its getting to dark for me to see out there so I think it would be best for me to take over and you get supplies to continue our pace " he offered and should she agree he would accept his dagger back and begin whittling away at the stick, continuing to do the same for the others until he had run out of sticks and had to wait for more.

[Cass]

Cass took Darian's offered dagger by the hilt that was offered. It still felt a bit weird to weild a blade, even a short one. Getting a firmer grasp on the hilt Cass sat down before the materials. She picked up a stick, nodding. "It will save us time. I'll do the best I can." She spent a long moment watching him disappear into the thick wilderness. A tremor of worry ran through her body before she dropped her gaze to the stick resting on her lap. With a slightly shaky hand she began to carve off thin slices of wood near the top. She was dead silent as she slowly shaved off pieces of wood until a very sharp point was made at the top of the stick. Checking to make sure the point was sharp enough Cass pressed her finger against the tip just a tiny bit before it broke her skin. Pleased Cass set the first completed stick aside and went to work on shaving the rest.

She managed to shave sharp tips onto all of the sticks and almost all of the thin rocks by the time Darian returned. Night had come and it felt thick and heavy, with only the moonlight to light bits and pieces of the world. Hearing Darian's approach Cass rose to her feet and made sure to offer Darian's dagger back, hilt first. He came back with a large load of materials. Larger than her previous load. "Right. It's dark." Cass had completely forgotten about a human's lack of night vision. Of course Darian was having trouble seeing. She wanted to kick herself for not thinking about that ahead of time. Slinging her pack over her shoulder she glanced over at the wilderness. "I'll go and find more supplies. Vines. Sticks. Rocks." She surveyed the materials on the ground, committing them to memory. "I'll be back soon. But if I don't return within two, erm, chimes...I've been held up." With that she turned and ventured off into the dark wilderness.

She was soon far enough away from the camp that she could no longer hear Darian nor the crackling fire. The first thing she came across were more thin rocks. Like before she scooped up large handfuls, dumping them into her pack so she could carry them easily. With that done she ventured deeper into the wilderness until she found more sturdy sticks along with vines. Taking as much as she could carry Cass happily began her trek back to the camp. But she couldn't help but shiver against the slightly cooler breeze that brushed against her back. She picked up her pace, eventually returning back to camp. Dumping everything she had next to Darian she lowered to her knees.

"I found more of everything," she began, gesturing to the materials. "Do we still need more?" If Darian said yes Cass would venture back into the wilderness but if he said no she would simply help him carve the rest of the supplies.

[Darian]

Piles of sharpened lengths of wood and sharpened rocks rested neatly ordered on the ground next to him, and he smiled looking at the haul she had brought back, and looked at the dagger he had rested on the ground before looking back at her, trying deciding if it was enough, and if it was what to do. " I think you have collected plenty enough, would you mind sharpening the rest of the sticks and rocks, and place the rocks about while I start trying to put the fence up? " he asked while getting up to his feet to look around the camp, and if she approved of the division of work, he would go over to the pile of already sharpened sticks and hefting several of them over onto his shoulder, and grabbing a sack full of the natural binding, he walked over to the left side of the camp and then set down the bushel of binding down on the side and then the sticks beside that he crouched low onto the ground, picking up one of the lengths of wood, and using the blunt end to carve a small depression in the ground. If the stick was going to stand up right, the depression would have to hold quite a bit of the length of the stick he figured, so working the end like a make-shift shovel, and scooping the soft soil out with his hand and times, he continued to dig till it could fit more than a quarter of the stick within the hole, and hoping it would be deep enough, he stood straight up with the sharpened stick in, and he set it straight down into the ground, the blunt in leading.

The stick wobbled for a few moments in its new position but gradually it stabilized, and appeared to be set firmly into the ground. Binding it to another stick nearby it would hopefully stabilize it and with that thought in mind, he picked up a another section of wood, and resumed working the blunt in the ground like he had done with the other, and copied his moves setting the sharp pole into the ground only five inches away from the first. Now was time for him to try and be able to bind the two together with some of the green vines he and Cass had gathered, along with the strong green twigs that would suit the same purpose. Taking a long green stick, he bent it at random intervals to determine its flexibility, but tossed it back down in favor of the thin stringy vine that he found rather suited for tying and knotting purposes. Before he could apply the vine though, he tied the ends of them together several times till he had a few feet of the twine like vine, and then got up again to loop it around one of the sticks and tie it in as best of a knot as he could. Knotting it twice, he looped the other end around the stick standing beside that one, and after branching it from side to side and making a x-pattern with the vines between the two sticks before tying it off tight at the top of the sturdy wooden pole. Satisfied with the result that it would be the best he could manage, he did the same with the rest of the wood he had, and continued to return to the pile of wood till the entire camp was encircled by the sharp sticks of wood, with little thin bits of green branching the gap between them, and giving the appearance of a structurally sound fence though that probably wasn't the whole case. Only a small gap remained at the front of the camp, where he and Cass could come and go as they pleased, and he hoped maybe later they could figure out how to make a gate out of the scraps of wood they had left. Heading back over to Cass, he checked to see how she was progressing.

[Cass]

Cass sat down next to Darian, nodding. "Okay." Picking up Darian's dagger she set to work on sharpening the rest of the sticks and rocks. As she worked she would sometimies look over to see how Darian was doing. With each new stick she sharpened the fence would magically grow. But Cass knew that magic wasn't the reason behind the growing fence. Sharpening the sticks were easier than the thin rocks so within a chime the rest of the sticks were sharpened and ready for Darian to use, but she still had plenty of rocks left to sharpen. Dropping her gaze to her lap she silently worked on sharpening one of the many thin rocks, trying to create the sharpest point she could possibly make. Another cool wind slapped against her back, causing Cass to shiver a little bit in protest.

"You should kill him before he kills you," a familiar voice whispered. Cass immediately snapped her gaze over to the body and bones of the stag to find her imaginary friend standing before it, idly kicking at the body. Her "friend's" gaze shifted over to meet hers. "Don't be a fool. He's practicing an art we know nothing about. This is probably one huge trap...just waiting to go off." Cass's eyes narrowed as a low growl rose from her throat. Her imaginary friend merely blinked, unafraid, as she gestured over to Darian. "How can you trust him? So he showed interest in mating with you, so what? This is all one huge trap. Can't you see that he's using you? He's going to kill you if you don't wise up!"

Without even thinking Cass's fingers curled around one of the sharpened rocks and hurled it at her imaginary friend. She watched as her "friend" easily dodged the rock before disappearing into the shadows. Hser jaw clenched in anger Cass returned to sharpening as many rocks as she could before she heard footsteps. Picking her gaze up her muscles relaxed a bit when she saw Darian approaching. Remembering the rest of her task she quickly got to her feet, scooping up all of the sharp rocks she had gotten to. Thankfully there was only a small pile left of unsharpened rocks. "I'll, erm...be right back." She turned and began scattering the sharp rocks, making sure their points were facing upwards so they could deliver as much pain and discomfort as possible.

[Darian]

He smiled and saw that she had done a lot in the time it had taken him to put up the fence, and he gladly took over sharpening the rocks while she was scattering the others. Taking one particularly sharp edged stone in his hand he ran it roughly against the corner of another, and grated the two rough stones together till he had a justifiable sharpness to the rock, and then set the stone down to start on another. By the time Cass had came back he had finished the few she had left, and picked them all in one big handful, and carried them out of the lone entrance to their camp, and spread them where he could, making sure that the sharp points where sticking outwards, and to remember the pattern he had put them out in so that he or she would not step on them when they were out and about. Carefully he would come back to the camp and immediately head over to Cass and wrap he up in a tight hug before releasing her, and looking around at the fence they had created and a satisfied smile came to his face as he examined their work, and turned to Cass again. " We did great work, our sleep will be much safe from now on " he said satisfied, and plopped down on the ground, eager to be off his feet which now ached along with the rest of his body from all the work they had done that day. Patting the ground beside him he looked up at Cass, and relaxed backwards. " What do you think we should do now? "

[Cass]

Once all of the sharp rocks were in place Cass glanced at the dark wilderness before heading back over to the middle of the camp where Darian was also heading. All of the thin rocks were gone which meant that Darian must have sharpened them and placed them around the camp as well. A small smile appeared upon her face as his strong arms wrapped her up in a warm hug. She carefully returned his hug with her own before sitting down beside him. Looking out at the sharp fence she nodded. "Our sleep will be safer. Predators will think twice now. And if they don't, they're bound to make some kind of noise that will alert us." Darian's question about what to do next had stumped her. They had already hunted down a stag, collected plenty of meat, Darian had carved his picture on the skull, and now their camp's defenses were a bit stronger than before. What was there left to do?

"Kill him," a harsh whisper brushed against her ear. Cass didn't need to look to know who was whispering to her. The same Zith that had been toying with her since the moment she left the tunnels. Since the day she decided to leave and maybe never return. "Use him. Kill him. And then...bring his body back to prove your worth to your brothers. That's the only way and you're a damn fool to think otherwise."

Fighting the growl crawling up her throat Cass quickly leaped up a few inches and spun until she was sitting on Darian's lap. Leaning forward she placed a soft kiss upon his lips. Her claw-like fingers traced random patterns lightly against his shirt. Through his shirt she could feel the strong, powerful muscles his body was constructed of. Pulling away only to breathe Cass quickly captured his lips again with hers, a bubbling new will breathing life into her every movement. Right now she wanted Darian. Needed to have him. She felt the chains on her restraint loosening...too much.

[Darian]

He was surprised by her quick movements but accepted her lips none the less, bringing his hand to brush her cheek gently. Darian guessed this was what came to mind when he asked her what she wanted to do now, and she would find no complaint from him, always enjoying the feel of being in the woman's arms. Whatever had come over the woman must have been powerful though as she scarcely stopped for breath before she captured his lips again, and his hands went to her sides, holding her close and feeling her lithe body underneath the fabric, casually letting his back rest to the ground, his hands gently rubbing up and down her back, and he continued to kiss her again and again, as his heart began to beat faster, and a heady feeling replaced the calm, introspective one that had previously occupied his mind. Right now all his thoughts centered around Cass, on being with her, and everything else was blocked from view till it was only him and her underneath the starlight, and the warm glow of the fire. He was no longer aware of thinking the oddness of her spontaneous kiss, nor anymore on work with the defenses, his mind centered on her now, and his thoughts that in this moment she was all that mattered.

[Cass]

The feel of his finger brushing against her cheek caused Cass to shiver. His hands then lowered to rest against her hips as her own body lowered to touch his. Pullingher face away again she suckd in cool sweet night air before devouring his lips again. The fact that Darian was responding with his own kisses and touches kept her body shivering, barely able to keep it together. With Darian laying on the ground and with Cass on top of him soon all that could be heard in the background was the soft crackling of the bright warm fire. She could feel its heat warming her back as she captured his lips and let her fingers explore.

"That's right," the familiar voice whispered again, this time in her other ear. "Take him. He's yours. Please yourself. Make him your slave to your every desire."

Cass pulled away again, but only about an inch this time. Taking in another breath she started making a trail of kisses down his neck, making sure to take it slow. Her fingers roamed down to the edge of his shirt. She played with the ends of the shirt for a moment before teasingly pulling it up with one hand while the other traced circles on beautiful firm skin. Her kissing trail led all the way down to his collarbone before she abandoned her quest and softly planted another kiss upon Darian's lips. A soft snapping of twigs in the distance only caused Cass to remember their actual surroundings. But stopping? No. She had no plans to stop. While she knew it might be dangerous to share love out in the open like this...well...they could always hide away in the tent if they needed to.

Smiling, Cass playfully bit Darian's earlobe. "I think we'll have an audience." A small idea of hunting down whatever had snapped the twig and happily ripping them to shreds crossed her mind...and stayed there for a long moment. It wasn't until she felt Darian moving and breathing beneath her when her focus returned to what she was aching to really do. Diving down to kiss him again she felt the last shackle of restraint vanish. Kissing him deeply her teeth bit into Darian's lower lip...until she tasted blood.

"Now kill him," the familiar voice whispered coldly.

Cass's eyes widened as the taste of Darian's blood dripped into her mouth. Yanking her hands away from him Cass instantly rolled off of him and darted into the tent.