The Doors of our Heart

[losthunter]

Many thoughts about his latent magic had given Hunter a lot to think about in the past few days. He really wanted to find someone to help him learn more about his abilities. And maybe, help him to become stronger.

Kendra was gone, but that didn't mean there weren't ways to find her. Or at least find the people that were connected to her.

Hunter had spent a few days looking for the right door in the Nexus that would bring him the answers that he sought. And finally, he felt that he had found what he had been looking for.

But before entering into an unknown place, Hunter knew that he should have a couple of people come with him. He PINpointed a message to Jim first, since it was an adventure that he thought the restless captain would enjoy. Then he PINpointed a message to Faris, who had become his story-keeper in a fashion.

All that left was to wait for his guests, before the adventure could begin.

Comments

[losthunter]

"It is just a weird feeling... when you are not used to it." Hunter explains.

[[no problems]

[boldygoing]

"Sure does," Jim agrees, recalling the strange sense of weight where Faris had done the same trick with him.

Faris concedes that. "There is often a period of adjustment with any new host, adapting to the physical sensations as well as the needs of the symbiont."

[losthunter]

"I know that after you had spent some time with me, it was not such a weird feeling. But now, after not having that sensation for quite some time, it still was a little weird. But in a good way..."

[boldygoing]

"Does it feel different for you?" Jim asks, now curious about the K'da's side of it all. "Between hosts, I mean. Or with hosts that already have tattoos."

"Minor only," Faris answers after some contemplation. "Hunter is the only tattooed host I have had, and the nature of his markings may be responsible for the noticeable differences rather than their existence. Humans do feel different from Shontine hosts."

[losthunter]

"It was during the time that I was a temporary host for Faris, that I had started to notice a slight... sensation difference to my own tattoos. The latent magic was making itself known..."

[boldygoing]

"You mean he might've triggered it somehow?" Jim is still very new to the whole magic thing, but that sounds significant to him.

[losthunter]

"He might have. It is something else that I would like to ask Kendra."

Hunter folds his hands in his lap. "I never expected to be dealing with someone who was called a God in his day."

"I honestly believe it was his magic that created this fishing hut. It wasn't here before."

[boldygoing]

Jim chuckles a little bit. "We're in a hut that didn't exist, waiting for a tree that only appears at night, inside a magic painting of a door. Honestly, at this point I think it's better to just roll with it."

[losthunter]

"I am glad that I am with two individuals who are very comfortable with rolling with it..." Hunter chuckled.

[boldygoing]

"Perhaps I might also ask a question," Faris says to the two of them. "We shall be here long enough that I must rest before we are to meet the young one. Is there a preference as to who will be my host for now?"

Jim is mildly surprised that he's asking, given how quickly the K'da leaped aboard him on the way out of the false oracle's room. But that was an emergency with little time to ask permission, so he supposes it isn't that weird. "I guess I don't mind either way." After all, Faris has been quite polite and respectful about his need to share.

[losthunter]

Hunter is glad that Jim doesn't mind. There might be another situation where Faris might have to quickly change from one man to the other.

"Perhaps for now, since Jim is willing, stay with him. We don't know what I might have to face, to tap into my latent magic more."

[boldygoing]

"As you wish," Faris says, inclining his head. "I would not want to interfere with your markings' function."

Jim reaches out a hand, his nervousness overwritten by his curiosity of how the hell this even works, and watches in fascination as Faris flows seamlessly onto his skin, tickling slightly as the K'da spirals up his arm and wraps around his torso. "That is so weird."

Faris' head becomes visible around his collarbones. "Are you in discomfort?"

Jim shakes his head, and it is even weirder still to hear someone else's voice coming from his body, especially since its not even his mouth. "No, just that adjusting thing."

[losthunter]

"We might as well rest a little, while we can. It is still a few hours until midnight." The bed in the fishing shack looks like it could only fit two people, as long as they were comfortable being in close quarters to each other.

[boldygoing]

It's a good thing they're shared even smaller spaces before, then. Under normal circumstances, Jim might suggest they take advantage of the mandatory closeness. But the side effects are still annoyingly in force, so he decides they'll just have to cuddle. Not such a terrible thing.

Jim moves to lie down and stops abruptly. "I'm not gonna squish you, right?" he asks, looking down towards his chest.

Faris' voice replies, slightly amused. "You cannot harm me, unless you also harm yourself. Do not worry, captain."

[losthunter]

Hunter enjoys cuddling. So he will have no complaints.

"There were many nights that Faris slept on my body, while I slept in my bed."

[boldygoing]

Jim chuckles a little as he lies down, snuggling up comfortably to Hunter. "The ultimate cuddle."

[losthunter]

Hunter softly kisses Jim in agreement. "I never felt alone, with Faris there."

[boldygoing]

"Because you were not," Faris says, his voice seeming disembodied in the space between them.

Jim sighs, though he's smiling a little. "My life is so weird now." He returns the kiss, though.

[losthunter]

"Excellent. My goal was to be amaze the captain of a space ship. One down... but still got to introduce you to the other captain."

[boldygoing]

"Maybe one day," Jim agrees. He's known Hunter long enough now to know what kind of guy he is, and anyone who counts him as a friend must be decent people by extension.

[losthunter]

Closing his eyes, it actually is pretty easy to go into rest mode. Especially with the chaos of the morning behind them.

And depending on how deep Jim naps, Faris will likely be the first one to know when night falls, simply by the change of smell around them. The sound of crickets right outside. And closer to midnight, Faris will smell the sweet taste of leaves of a tree, that wasn't there before. And he will hear the sounds of a child laughing softly.

[boldygoing]

Jim isn't a terribly deep sleeper, especially in unfamiliar places, and what sleep he does get tends to be plagued by nightmares - or unpleasant memories. He startles awake when Faris raises a claw and taps it against his shoulder, all but throwing himself off the cot by reflex. "What...?"

"It is I, captain," Faris says softly, reaching his tail to poke at Hunter, if Jim's flailing hasn't awakened him. "I believe what we have awaited is here."

[losthunter]

The sensation of Jim almost falling off the cot is something that definitely awakens Hunter. He sits up, and nods at Faris, rubbing sleep out of his eyes.

"It is?"

[boldygoing]

Faris withdraws fully, back onto Jim's skin. "Yes. Listen."

Jim tries to calm his wildly beating heart as he does as the K'da asked, and it doesn't take long to hear the sounds of someone laughing. "I really hope that's her, or we're secretly in a horror holo," he mutters out loud.

[losthunter]

"It sounds like more than one child..." Hunter rises from the bed.

He moves to the door of the fishing hut, creaking it open slightly. He shakes his head at how 'horror movie' cliché the sound is.

Just outside, there is a large Sycamore tree now growing by the river. The tree itself has a very feminine shape. There are a group of six children playing near the tree. And the tree... seems to be playing with them too.