Badlands Faery

Reacclimate

The boy was finally done, apparently preparing some salad he placed on a similar leaf. The boy looked at Gu Hai staring at the pot, and Gu Hai could see there was less hostility in the boy's eyes, and more puzzlement. The boy reached over and fashioned a leaf into a shallow bowl by pleating the sides and folding the edges over, running the edges and underside over the fire as the leaf got slightly burnt and fused. He dumped half the contents of the pot into the leaf bowl before handing Gu Hai the pot.

Gu Hai copied the boy, fashioning his own leaf bowl before pouring in what remained of the soup. The boy was sipping soup from the bowl by the time Gu Hai was done preparing so Gu Hai mimicked him again. He had to wonder, though, if he'd done something wrong because the boy looked more puzzled than before.

Then they got distracted, as the grilling meat started to drip grease and the fire spat where the grease dropped. The boy tended to the fire, quickly turning the meat to cook the other side. He carved the now cooked meat at the top, cutting a few strips he placed on his leaf bowl then went back to cutting a few more strips which he handed to Gu Hai.

Gu Hai was so hungry he didn't even wonder what meat it was. The soup was a good appetizer but it wasn't exactly filling. He briefly blew on the strips of meat before he munched on one. He was surprised to find it seasoned, the taste similar to lamb was a far cry from the rations he'd had all his life, and he wolfed down the meat before turning back to the boy to ask for seconds.

Bai Luoyin didn't know what to make of it, this daemon who isn't acting like one. He'd been prepared to do what was necessary once he heard the daemon up and about. What he hadn't been prepared for is the daemon shuffling out because there was light, and food. Cooked food.

He had offered the vegetable soup as a joke, not sure how to respond to it smelling cooked food. Became even more unsure when it eyed the soup as if wanting to eat, and just not knowing how. So he decided to divide the soup, and give the pot for it to use as a bowl, then got flustered when the daemon fashioned his own leaf bowl in which to drink the soup from.

The cooking meat thankfully distracted him, and he had cut strips of meat for them both before he remembered that daemons eat meat raw. So imagine his surprise to see the daemon blow the strips cool before eating it. The daemon is definitely hungry though.

Bai Luoyin wondered what made him stop and help the daemon. Pity? It was laying in a shallow hole with a bleeding head. Curiosity? It was a daemon unlike a daemon. Security? With the sky darkening at twilight, he needed to find refuge and it seemed more prudent to bring the daemon with him than let it wander around and wreak whatever havoc when it awakens again.

Some havoc, hunched over its cooked food on a leaf plate, politely silent asking for seconds with its eyes, nodding its thanks as it sat back opposite him at the other side of the fire. Bai Luoyin decided to finish dinner by eating his leaf bowl and plate. He caught it looking at him, before gingerly munching on its own leaf bowl and plate, an imperceptible lightening on its face as if it found leaves delicious. Bai Luoyin watched carefully, waiting for the daemon to break out in hives or react to eating flora. But no such thing happened.

"Thank you for saving me," it suddenly said, and Bai Luoyin had to make an effort not to show how its voice was affecting him. It has been a while since he'd heard another voice so it was disconcerting.

"Why would you think I saved you? Inside this cave and me barring the entrance, this just might be your prison with me the guard," he quietly said.

It only arched an eyebrow - at least Bai Luoyin thought it was an eyebrow, almost invisible against its dark skin.

"Ah yes" the daemon replied. "Waking without restraints told me I wasn't exactly being confined. That and the bleeding wound on my head that's now disappeared - it's either your doing, or I've been asleep long enough to heal. And if I applied myself, I'm confident I can take you down and get to escape this 'prison'. But since you've been kind enough to also feed me, I think I'm in better company than be alone out there."

Bai Luoyin mentally scoffed. What restraint - even the weakest daemon could easily break any magical bond that the practice was long outlawed. And he didn't exactly have time nor resources to build a cage. Also, daemons have no business bleeding in the first place, as they regularly use their necromantic powers to accelerate the repair of wounds - as it stands, its wound was slow to heal. As for the barrier he'd set at the cave's entrance, he took pride at the fact that he's one of the faeries best known at putting up barriers.

The daemon standing up distracted him. Bai Luoyin hadn't realized while carrying it on his back earlier that it was tall, and just a little bit taller than him, but looking up from where he currently sat, it just looked impossibly tall. It went around the fire to approach the cave mouth, the view outside dark but with a lambent glow from the fiery lake.

Gu Hai had a natural talent for feeling energy frequencies. He'd known the barrier was there ever since he recovered his wits about him, which was when he had enough food in his stomach. It wasn't only the cave entrance that had the barrier - the whole wall had the energy lattice embedded in it.

"This is amazing - how does this persist without you touching it?" He reached out and gently placed a hand on the inner surface of the barrier. He could feel a slight cackle and see a light green glow, but nothing violently electric, the sensation fresh and warm. He pushed a bit more, and the whole barrier glowed in a mesh pattern.

The question puzzled Bai Luoyin, but he didn't answer as the daemon started pressing hard against the barrier. "No! Wait, you can't..." he stood up suddenly in alarm, dislodging his hood from his head. Whatever he had to say next petered out, because the daemon's arm started glowing purple and it put its arm through the barrier as if nothing.

Gu Hai also had a natural talent for controlling energy frequencies. He could amplify or cancel energies at will, so even if this barrier is sturdy, it was easy canceling the energies on a small area around his arm and create a hole in the barrier. He felt relieved that his abilities still seemed intact, feeling the familiar energies swirl through him. His sudden night vision capabilities earlier had shaken him, and not until he challenged the barrier did he become sure he still had it. Though somehow feeling like everything's enhanced.

Gu Hai retracted his arm, and turned around. "Like I said, I could leave if I want to." His only reaction to the elfin ears showing up on his now-defensive, ponytailed host was to grin. "But I like the company so much more." He went back around to his seat, still looking up, amused.

Bai Luoyin didn't know what to make of the amused grin. He didn't have much encounters with daemons, but there are stories, lots of it. This one, however, have debunked enough of it to make him doubt what he knew of them. At least that was what he believed had happened today, before the daemon's grin and show of abilities made Bai Luoyin suddenly feel like prey.

"I'm Gu Hai, by the way."

Reluctant as he was, it was also said there can be no hiding one's name from a daemon.

"I'm Bai Luoyin."

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