FRAME OF REFERENCE
Sunrise, the Great Spirit's watchful gaze slid up over the horizon, casting His gaze across the arid ravines and slopes of the Paroro canyons, with the rest of the island following minutes after.
But it was rare for the morning to be as active anywhere else on the island as here in the often sunbaked expanses of the De-Matoran home region, where the Great Spirit's morning rise was the cue for his children to rise with him. Wherever the De-Matoran had made camp for the night, within a cave, out in the field, at the bottom of a valley, at the foot of a mountain, they began the well-rehearsed process of packing up sleeping mats and tents, corralling mounts and bringing the night watchers some well deserved refreshment.
For one particular Child of Mata Nui, though, the morning was slightly different.
Toa Telne's eyes slid up as the sunlight made its way into the cave he'd gotten a short sleep in at the tail end of the night. The morning red glow of early daybreak beckoned him to slide out of his hammock and land on all fours with the grace of a Shallows Cat.
The Toa of Sonics straightened himself to his full height, and stretched his limbs, before packing away his small campsite and heading out. Well out of the cave, a sight of an unusual phenomenon diverted Telne's gaze. It was somewhere to the south, apparently at the edge of the canyon his chosen cave laid in. A bright little dot glowed fervently, almost like a small sun of its own. His eyes narrowed, and his entire frame stiffened, ready for action.
The Toa of Sonics began making his way across the canyon towards the unusual light, that somehow managed to thrive by itself with no visible source. Whatever it was, it was no natural phenomenon.
Telne dropped down from an elevated point in front of a large boulder, temporarily obscuring his view of the light. When he came round on the other side again… the light had disappeared.
"What manner of trickery is this?" Telne wondered. He knew of no Rahi that possessed this ability, and no clan tales he'd ever heard mentioned anything similar. Just as he was about to write it off as a possible trick of the light, it returned, glowing a little less intensely, and by this point the sun had climbed high enough on the sky that the small light was growing less discernible by the hour. Nevertheless, it had returned just as suddenly as it disappeared, whatever it was. This required further inspection. After he got a little closer, he could finally make out an unclear silhouette, stretching their arm out and producing the glowing orb of light that had grabbed his attention so readily.
"What could she want out here?" Telne asked himself. Now that he could make out the general shape of the silhouette, he also knew exactly who it was. Whatever she wanted, he could at least hear his Sister out.
Rilvi, Toa of Plasma, was drumming her fingers in a jaunty rhythm, composed on the spot, muttering under her breath in boredom. Her plan wasn't working at all, but she'd been so certain-wait, hold on a sec. Was that him down there?
Rilvi dispelled the ball of Plasma she'd been maintaining on and off for the last hour and a half and called out to the Toa of Sonics looking at her from afar.
"Hey, Telne, took you long enough. How are ya?" She asked while massaging her right arm, which had started to ache a bit after the long time spent channeling her powers.
"I'm well, Sister Rilvi," Telne called back. "But what brings you out here to the Paroro canyons, surely you didn't just come by to check up on me?"
"Actually that sounds like something she'd do," he thought. Rilvi interrupted his thoughts as she abruptly began a risky decent along the cliff face down to his level.
He didn't say anything, but he sprinted over to the beginnings of the rubble that formed an improvised path up to the top of the cliff, watching Rilvi make her haphazard descent down the same slope.
"No, you see," Rilvi started explaining amid climbing, "I wanted to ask you… for some help".
Her foot connected badly with a loose rock, causing her to slip and stumble down the slope at an unhealthy speed. Telne acted instantly, grabbing sure footing with his own two feet and dashing upwards in long strides. By the time he'd made his way up, however, Rilvi had regained her control, and was smiling widely in his general direction.
"I appreciate the gesture there, Telne, but I've got control of this. Mt. Rewa's slopes can get pretty tricky, too."
"I'd never considered that" Telne admitted simply as the two Toa took the descent back down together, Rilvi taking the chance to show off a bit with more reckless acrobatics on descent.
"But it shows," Telne admitted with an approving nod. "So, what did you want to ask of me?"
"Well, basically, I wanted some help with an art project," Rilvi explained, pulling out her sketchbook.
"I need some good examples of big, scary Rahi like a Nui-Jaga or a Tarakava in their habitat, where they're at home, I wanna depict a scene like that, so I'll need good references, but to get good references, I'll need to find 'em, and the only person I know who's a master at snooping them out is you," she finished, pointing in somewhat dramatic fashion at her teammate.
"Well. You're not wrong," Telne replied matter-of-fact-ly. "And I respect your dedication to your craft."
"I'll help you," he said abruptly, "I can spare the time to help you get your inspiration."
"Awesome," Rilvi said with a cheer, and wrapped the Toa of Sonics' neck in a sudden, one-armed hug. "Honestly I didn't expect you to go along with this so fast, so extra thanks for being cool with it."
"You're… welcome" Telne returned, struggling to breathe with Rilvi's arm wrapped tight around his neck.
"Oh, heh, sorry about that," Rilvi mused as she released him, shaking the arm a little afterwards, it was her right one.
"Just don't do it again" Telne excused her, massaging his neck.
"Promise!"
It took a few hours for Telne to properly zone in on the tracks of a solitary Rahi that was on the way to a region he felt would be safe enough to carry out Rilvi's request. He knelt down to observe the tracks, his hand trailing the edges of the print, fully visualizing the partly imprinted shape of the given Rahi's full footprint. The shallow depth of the imprint implied the Rahi was moving fairly slowly, while the space between them revealed fairly quick movement all the same; Telne's current prey was neither injured nor agitated, it was just going about its business like usual, possibly looking for food or patrolling its territory. His head titled upwards to look towards the horizon, seeing a blue-ish hue coloring the edge. The Rahi was moving south towards the edge of Whutao Cove, away from the Northern Badlands, making this about the safest option he had available to him.
While Telne was busy with all this, Rilvi was following behind him, nose buried in her sketchbook. That desolate horizon served as its own inspiration; the sun beaming down on the parched, rocky ground before them, the ground itself stretching out around them, before rising up or falling down, and contorting into rough and craggy shapes in the distance. Rilvi looked out across the vast expanse in front of her, surprised to find that the picture was missing something.
Her eyes fell on Telne, crouching down ahead of her, his practiced hands interacting with the ground with unnatural care and attention, his piercing gaze cutting through the clutter and picking out the clues.
"That's it!"
Rilvi's hand flew to the paper, sketching an outline of the Toa of Sonics' crouched form, her gaze darting back periodically to refresh her short-term memory as she shaped the hunter's lean form on paper, depicting him in his own natural environment. Her marker drew the outline of his back, edging slowly down until…
"Whoa, check it out" she thought to herself, momentarily distracted from her unfinished drawing. In that moment, Telne stood up, and nodded to himself, before turning around to face Rilvi.
"We've got a target, straight sou-what is it?" he asked, puzzled at the Toa of Plasma's unexpectedly attentive gaze in his direction.
Rilvi shook her head, closing her sketchbook instantly, "oh, no, nothing, I was just making sure I wouldn't miss anything, it's… ehmm, important for me to pay attention, so I don't make a mistake in my work. I'm sure you understand."
"…attention to detail is important, yes" Telne agreed, slightly hesitant to accept her explanation, but electing to take her on her word, "and that's what helped me out here, see the tracks?" the Toa of Sonics gestured at the ground.
"What, those little circles?" she asked, Telne nodded.
"I've found us a Nui-Jaga here, their tracks are pretty distinct, and it seems to be alone, this is pretty much perfect, you'll get to study a lone Nui-Jaga in its natural habitat, like you wanted" Telne exposited willingly, gesturing at the tracks and in the direction they were leading. Rilvi noticed that Telne actually seemed to be pretty involved with the current situation, not as much as she was, obviously, but still…
"Well, if he's enjoying himself, nice bonus" Rilvi surmised neatly, shrugging it off as she focused on following the Toa of Sonics, who'd picked up the pace suddenly.
Telne's attention was fixed forward, his frame slightly hunched over as he scanned the ground for tracks pointing ahead. At irregular intervals, he found new sets, still pointing in the same direction. They were getting closer.
An unexpected draft against his side made him look up, to see the Toa of Plasma running ahead of him, flashing him a cocky smile as she rushed past.
"Catch me if you can" she called back jovially.
"If you were me, you'd know better than to challenge a hunter in his own habitat" Telne responded silently, and picked up his own pace in response, rushing forward on a mix of adrenaline and determination to show his ability. Rilvi wasn't easy to overtake, however. When she noticed that Telne was catching up with her, she started into a faster spring, dashing ahead of the Toa of Sonics, much to his surprise.
Telne steeled himself and funneled even more force in his legs, nearly stampeding forward up near to the Toa of Plasma dashing ahead of him. They were neck and neck, now, and the treeline ahead of them was growing visibly closer with every stride.
Just before they made it, Telne tapped into a final bit of reserves and sped ahead of Rilvi in a final mad dash, screeching past the first few trees moments ahead of her. The feeling of triumph blossoming in Telne's chest greatly counteracted the creeping fatigue in his limbs, and he managed to stand upright and regard Rilvi.
Rilvi had propped herself against a nearby tree, wheezing without end, it seemed apparent to Telne that the sprint had taken more out of her than him, but she'd kept remarkable pace with him.
"I… wow, you know how… to run fast, Telne, that was… pretty incredible" she said in between deep gasps of air, her optimistic grin having receded a bit as fatigue made her feel slightly dizzy, and she was seeing stars.
"You managed a lot better than I expected, too," Telne admitted, leaning against the tree next to her, "I… never considered that anyone who lives beyond the canyons might have similar interest in maintaining shape."
"Hey, we know how to have our fun outside, too," Rilvi retorted with mild indignation, and failed at a mock punch against Telne's arm, "and being a Toa kind of requires it, ya know?"
"Very true," Telne agreed, "I keep forgetting…"
"What, that we're a team now?" Rilvi asked, "well we can't have that"
"I'm sure you're looking forward to reminding me," Telne quipped lightly, "but we're here to find you something to draw reference from, aren't we?"
Without waiting for a response, Telne took a few careful steps across the treeline, in between the trees proper. It didn't take long for him to step back out just as carefully, and whisper to Rilvi "I can hear it in there, it's not too far away, but it's moving. We'll have to be extra careful if we want to get close. Stay down, and follow me, okay?"
"Right" Rilvi whispered back.
The two Toa started carefully crouching through the bushes, keeping their heads close to the ground as they scurried through the underbrush and moved in the direction of a strange sound somewhere ahead of them. Rilvi could only make out the vague contours of sparsely spread out trees and tangled bushes, and Telne's form weaving in and out ahead of her.
Telne, meanwhile, had a different problem. He could hear the two of them brushing against leaves, tree trunks and other kinds of undergrowth, and that noise was a lot louder and tons more revealing to him. He knew how to be careful himself, but Rilvi was being quite a bit noisier, and that was a serious problem when he was sneaking up on a Nui-Jaga.
One of his hands shot into the air, balled into a fist, Rilvi stopped immediately, she had caught onto the signal pretty easily.
The Toa of Sonics pivoted around, resting his weight on the balls of his feet carefully. When he looked back, Rilvi's bright orange eyes met his attentively, he returned the gesture, and spoke in a hushed whisper.
"It's near, very near" he told her, edging slightly closer to her. She nodded quietly as she carefully watched his movements.
He gestured behind him, and Rilvi could hear a chittering noise, she quickly understood just how close they truly were to the object of their search, and crept up closer, keeping her head down.
"Don't worry about looking up," Telne remarked, "the Nui-Jaga's eyesight is terrible"
Rilvi peeked her head up, leaning a little over Telne where he crouched in front of her.
There, through the branches and bushes, she saw the the magnificent beast prowl the clearing. The Nui-Jaga's marvelous, intimidating tail raised high.
"Oooh, it really is incredible" Rilvi whispered in hushed tones, quiet reverence evident in her voice as she gave the creature her undivided attention. She fished out her notebook again and flipped to a blank page. She then began etching out the form of the Nui-Jaga, as it silently prowled around the clearing, claws bending the heads of long blades of grass as the Rahi lazily loitered.
Telne kept his focus on keeping the two of them as silent as possible. Rilvi was not even close to quiet and stealthy enough to actually get this close to a Nui-Jaga on her own, but with his help it worked like a charm. The Nui-Jaga didn't actually "hear" like they did, but it had an uncanny sense for vibrations, but Telne's powers didn't have any problems keeping those out of the way.
From his vantage point, Telne now got to see Rilvi at work. He quietly observed as she attentively rendered the form of the creature onto the page. Numerous pages of the sketchbook were filled up in quick succession as Rilvi took advantage of the Rahi's route by getting several angles on it and quick concept sketches of the Rahi moving through different poses.
Watching her work, she was a natural, and she expressed intense reverence and admiration for this creature in its natural habitat. Telne found that in and of itself something to watch for his own enjoyment.
Silence persisted for a while, with the two Toa exchanging a few endeared glances when the Nui-Jaga did something noteworthy or unusual. A few times, the Nui-Jaga did something unexpected or unusual, and Rilvi looked at Telne with a questioning glance where there wasn't much else he could do but shrug, the silence was complete.
It was when Telne was feeling himself beginning to tire, and about to raise the specter of calling it quits to Rilvi, that he sensed something else he hadn't expected…
The leaves above him rustled lazily, drafting in the wind brushing against his side and flowing across his body…
...towards the Nui-Jaga
In the almost complete silence of the bubble that Telne maintained, words were useless, but his sharp eyesight caught a glimpse of something looming above them, something prehensile and poisonous.
Telne lunged forward, the noise of the world around him coming back to life in a brilliant flash as he grabbed hold of Rilvi ("hey, what's the damage?") and the two of them rolled away from where the Nui-Jaga jabbed its tail into the spot Rilvi had just been in.
Telne and Rilvi ended up in bushes on the other side of the clearing. Telne continued moving with lightning speed, releasing his hold on the Toa of Plasma and moving to his feet. The Nui-Jaga was currently reorientating itself, but it would only be seconds before the creature had re-located them, and Telne wasn't going to give it that chance.
Telne shifted into a Muaka-like pose, and prepared to leap forward, but he was quickly and suddenly taken aback, grabbed from behind by an unexpected arm quickly wrapping around his torso and pulling him down onto the ground. Landing on top of a remarkably warm surface, and seeing a flash of white and orange, Telne quickly realized what was happening.
"Rilvi, what are you-" he began to protest, but he was cut off by Rilvi's voice wheezing into his ear.
"Just shut up and stay quiet!" the Su-Toa barked, before she shut her mouth. Telne, lopsided and slightly confused as he was, barely registered Rilvi's breathing changing rhythm as the Nui-Jaga slowly crept closer.
Telne, stuck and practically at Rilvi's mercy, drew his breath and held it, even as an unexpected, slightly cold sensation started creeping into his body. As he lay there, on top of Rilvi, face towards the Nui-Jaga that was right nearby, Telne felt a cooling sensation emanate from the Su-Toa below him. Not like a breeze, but like a draining force that was sapping the warmth away from his surroundings, from him.
The Nui-Jaga was staring right at him, at them. Big yellow eyes glowed ferociously as the sound of its ear-piercing shrieks gave Telne an incredible desire to groan in displeasure, but he had to stay quiet, the slightest sound could out them to the predator.
For several agonizing seconds (minutes? hours?), the Nui-Jaga shuffled around in front of the two, its pinpoint sensors probing every inch of the area around it for the intruders that had dared interrupt it.
But nothing, nothing was there, no sign of any tasty, tasty interlopers. Stupid noises.
The Nui-Jaga released an irritated cry, that stung harshly in Telne's ears, before it turned around, and began scuttling away.
Rilvi carefully released her grip on the Toa of Sonics, and both of them poked their heads out of the bushes, side by side, looking at the Nui-Jaga now scuttling away. It marched through the treeline with nothing to stand in its way, and disappeared back into the wasteland.
"Aaaaw," Rilvi cooed, seeing the Rahi walk off, "there he goes"
"She" telne corrected her
"What?"
"That was a she" he repeated.
"Oh, okay. Thanks" Rilvi replied as she hurriedly made a few notes in her sketchbook.
"How did you-?" Telne started to ask, but he was suddenly cut off by a puff and a wheeze coming from Rilvi, as the vents in her mask's cheeks expelled some smoke. The sight was accompanied by a rush of warm air that enveloped the small spot they sat, and removed the strange chill from Telne's body and then some.
"What… was that?" Telne asked with great curiosity.
"I used my powers to lower our body heat" Rilvi explained, as she leaned back against a nearby trunk to bask in her regained heat.
"That's… quite clever" Telne admitted, giving Rilvi an acknowleding nod. Rilvi lazily responded with a thumbs up.
"I sincerely hope you got what you needed, Rilvi" Telne remarked, still keeping most of his attention on the spot where the Nui-Jaga had exited the clearing.
"I think so," Rilvi replied as she rifled through the newly drawn pages in her sketchbook, mumbling nondescript words to herself as she scrawled some notes in the pages as she flipped through them.
Without really paying attention, Rilvi ended up fumbling over the sketches of Telne from earlier for a few moments, before she noticed what was happening, and quickly slammed the book shut again. The reminder had, however, set her mind on other tracks.
She wasn't the only one.
"So, now that we're done for the day," Telne spoke up, as he sat down next to Rilvi, "I was wondering… would you care to stick around a little?"
The Toa of Sonics paused, leaving Rilvi to raise a cocked eyebrow in curiosity, before he continued.
"I mean, would you care to join me for a meal," he clarified, "we may be, nominally, teammates but… we don't really seem to act like it much of the time. You invoked that ideal today, however, when you asked me for help. I figure it would only be fair if we spent a little more time with each other. It's not too late at all, and this clearing is actually a pretty pleasant spot."
Rilvi looked around, letting the rustling leaves and the open, sunny sky show themselves. She had to admit, he was right.
"Yeah, sure," she said, giving the Toa of Sonics a friendly smile, "I'd love to"
A small hint of a smile appeared on the Toa of Sonics' face, and he stood up, before offering his hand to help Rilvi up, too.
"We don't need to go anywhere to find it," Telne quickly explained, "I already have it with me."
Telne found his way to an overturned tree trunk (quite recently overturned, it seemed) and sat himself down, with Rilvi next to him.
"Not the most glamorous place to eat, but I like to keep it simple" Telne said, gesturing to the very splendid view of the treeline before the Paroro Canyons. A band of trees
"You sure know how to bring your friends to nice places" Rilvi remarked as she admired the view.
"Well, I don't often get the opportunity" Telne replied absent-mindedly as he opened his rucksack.
His hands emerged with a pair of large fruits. Bulbous and round in shape and ocean green in color. He handed one over to Rilvi, along with a small knife.
"Desert's tears" he explained, holding up his own, "a staple for us out in the canyons."
Rilvi eagerly accepted the fruit, and briefly watched Telne to see what he did with it.
The Toa of Sonics very straightforwardly cut off a slice from the fruit, before grabbing it between his fingers, and eating it.
Rilvi copied the Toa of Sonics, and set her teeth in the soft pulp of the fruit. It had a very fresh taste, and a little hint of something sweet. More than that, the fruit seemed to be just filled with water. Every bite Rilvi took made her mouth soggier and soggier, with her eventual swallowing feeling more like she just had a drink of water more than something to eat. The name quickly made sense.
"This is a real mouthful" she said, but with a satisfied expression as she savored the sweet taste of the fruit.
"I take it you get a lot of hydration out of these" Rilvi ventured a guess as she ate alongside Telne. The Toa of Sonics nodded, and swallowed a big bite before speaking up.
"It's always advisable for us to keep a few of them on hand, in case of emergencies usually"
"Your lifestyle sounds pretty cool, actually," Rilvi commented in between bites, "watching you work was… well it was pretty incredible."
"The same goes for you," Telne replied, looking over at her, "I… I think you paid the Nui-Jaga great respect by avoiding a fight with it. It didn't deserve to be hurt just because we disturbed it"
"Spur of the moment thinking," she replied, "but of course, I didn't want to hurt it. We have to respect Mata Nui's creations"
"Of course," Telne agreed "I am pleased that you understand that"
Rilvi smiled and nodded with her last mouthful of Desert's Tear preventing her from speaking.
Telne soon finished his own, too, and leaned back on the trunk, looking at Rilvi.
"You do a lot of spur of the moment thinking, don't you?" he asked calmly, keeping his relaxed pose next to her.
"Oh, yeah, quite a bit. Go with the flow, that sort of thing, expect when I really don't wanna" Rilvi replied as she sat herself cross-legged beside Telne.
"So then you probably react pretty quickly if something unexpected happens" the Huntsman continued speculating as he scooched closer to where Rilvi was sitting on the tree trunk.
"Yeaaaaah..." the artist replied coyly, following Telne, "but so do you, don'tcha? With all that hunting and tracking of yours?"
"Indeed," Telne replied, as he looked down at the small space that was left between them, at their two idle hands right next to each other.
The leaves rustled in the lazy breeze flowing through the clearing, making the shadows play on their faces as the two of them looked at each other. Teal and Crimson lights blinking at each other.
"Rilvi," he said, and gently took hold of her hand with his own, "can I ask you something?"
In response, the Toa of Plasma squeezed back, and leaned closer to him, "...yes?"
"If I… were to do something unexpected right now, do you think you'd… 'go with the flow?'"
"Mmmmm, I don't know," Rilvi replied with a wink, "why don't you try and find out?"
Telne's Faxon crinkled with a sly smirk, and he moved his other hand to cradle the cheek of Rilvi's Kiril. It felt warm to the touch, almost like Telne was placing his hand near a campfire. Rilvi, in turn, felt a subtle, ongoing hum emanate from the hand lovingly caressing her cheek.
Telne and Rilvi almost simultaneously put their mouths against each other, lips connecting as they two of them moaned into each other at first touch. Telne threw his other arm around Rilvi's back to pull her closer to him, the two of them maintaining a light thread of little kisses and smooches as they felt each others' taste. Rilvi responded by throwing her own free hand onto Telne's shoulder, and pulling him closer to deepen the kiss.
Like the rest of her, Rilvi's mouth was warm, swathed in heat from the furnace within her body. Like his hand on her cheek, Telne's mouth hummed, and Rilvi felt his tongue lightly stirring with tension as it rubbed against her own.
With their voices unavailable, the rest of them began to communicate. Rilvi's hand on Telne's shoulder slid down to his arm, a weak aura of heat emanating from it as she felt his body up close. Telne responded with the hand at the base of her back, suddenly shaking, and sending unexpected (though not unwelcome) shivers up the Su-Toa's spine.
To Telne, every movement, every moan, every noise from both himself and his lover rang loudly in his ears. He kept his eyes closed, and didn't shut it out, but welcomed it. The all-encompassing sensation of drowning in the sounds of Rilvi and Him together drove him further, and encouraged him to keep going. Likewise, Rilvi's inner heat kept rising, and she could feel Telne's doing the same as she tended to him, creating a cocoon of warmth and welcome that she could herself in with Telne for Mata Nui knew how long.
The only break came when Telne suddenly felt his back give in, and him suddenly falling over, landing in the grassy ground with Rilvi awkwardly straddled on top of him.
Rilvi released a careless chuckle, quickly shifting into a moan as Telne happily sent another set of shivers up her spine through his hand, filling her body with sonic vibrations that touched her in all the right places.
Her insides were practically on fire by now, and judging by the bulge she could feel under Telne's crotchplate, she wasn't alone.
"Wow, you are pretty impressed with me, aren't you?" she teased, her voiced laced with a sultry tone as she beamed down at the Toa of Sonics with ravenous, blood-red eyes.
"I tend to have an eye for a good catch" came Telne's cool reply, as his hand moved down below the base of her back, cupping her rear as he let the vibrations dissipate.
"Alright," Rilvi said, "my turn. Close your eyes"
With his other hand, Telne grabbed and lightly squeezed hers in affirmation, before he did as she asked, and closed his eyes.
Rilvi sucked in a deep breath, filling her lungs with warm, damp air that heated up from the inner fires in her body. She then leaned over Telne, and started slowly releasing the heated breath across her lover's form.
Telne breathed calmly as the heat washed over him, bathing his figure in a warm breeze, sending waves of sensual warmth through his body. He felt Rilvi's breath tickling his eyelids and the parts of his face exposed by the vents in his mask. as the Toa of Plasma closed the distance between their faces.
When their lips made contact again, Rilvi's hot breath flowed into Telne's mouth, wrapping them both up in a cushion of heat that drew them closer together. Telne's arms wrapped around Rilvi's body, pressing her close to him as he returned the kiss with great enthusiasm. The heat, the smell, Rilvi's body against his, Telne felt his heartrate increase as he sent his hands roaming across her back, felt her hot hands on his neck and chest, caressing his torso
Telne and Rilvi's hips, almost by their own volition, had started to grind against each other, bringing them both closer to a need for release, although going back was already a long lost proposition.
So when Telne and Rilvi's hands brushed each other down in the crotch area, both of them exchanged a simple, affirmative nod, before they helped undo each others plates.
Telne pushed himself up, cuddling up to Rilvi with their legs tangled together and arms in embrace. Rilvi looked down at the Toa of Sonics' erection, and got a rise out of the anticipation of what came next.
Rilvi leaned back, settling against the grassy ground as Telne positioned himself over her. Before he did anything else, Telne leaned down to Rilvi's face, and bumped his forehead against hers. For a few quiet moments, they just breathed together, feeling their bodies heave to each other's rhythm, ache from the brief absence of the others' touch.
Telne then finally positioned himself properly, and carefully introduced his penis into Rilvi's vagina. His first moves inside of her were slow, gentle, and taking every pain not to suddenly break the quiet, intimate softness they had just established. Rilvi laid back, and savored the slow-moving act as she allowed herself an eyeful of the handsome Toa on top of her.
Half-darkened in the tree crown's shadow, Rilvi spread out before Telne was a sight, and the warmth of her hands and mouth was nothing compared to the heat smoldering within her. His pace quickened a little bit as he pushed deeper in, leaning slightly over her as his penetration increased in force ever so slightly.
With one hand on her belly, and another caressing one of her thighs Telne eventually pushed himself all the way inside of Rilvi, the base of his shaft connected with the ridges of her entrance as both of them savored the full connection of their bodies together.
When Telne once again spoke aloud, his voice had suddenly and without warning changed drastically. It had dropped a few octaves, and become more melodious and… rich? There was something lurking at the back of the new voice he was suddenly speaking with, something… primal, and untamed.
"Should I keep going?"
The question hung in the air, and Rilvi almost felt the bulge within her grow larger with the weight of the question, a feeling which in turn sent her mind spinning just a little bit faster.
"Yes," she said, "keep going... and keep that up… I like it" She felt herself flush a little with the last request, but given all the heat already involved, it wasn't particularly noticeable.
"As you wish, Rilvi" Telne's new "voice" boomed, and she could feel his form relax a bit against hers, like some burden had just been lifted.
Telne's moves inside of her began to speed up, and the noises of hips slapping together rang in both of their ears. Rilvi felt the quickly damping grass tickle her, and moaned in pleasure. Telne heard it clear as day, along with his own rapid breath drawn in and out to the pace of his rapid fucking. His thrusting increased in force as his hands grabbed onto her hips, keeping the Toa of Sonics steady as he plunged his cock deep into the Su-Toa's heated core.
Rilvi's body began to tremble as Telne moved faster, and she swung her legs around his back, locking them together and pulling back to meet Telne's thrusts inside of her. She was getting close, so close. The vague smell of something burnt wafted across her nostrils, but she was too deep in pleasure to care, and by all accounts so was Telne, judging by the continuing fast pace as he continued to fuck her.
"Do you… desire more?" Telne's unhinged new voice inquired as his movements grew more erratic, more… unhinged. Like the Toa of Sonics was running out of any concerns beyond just pushing his cock deep within Rilvi until neither of them could take any more.
"YES… aaaah, aaaah spirits, yes, keep going, I'm so close" Rilvi shouted at the top of her lungs.
"Me too… I'm almost there" Telne replied, his voice breaking as he rammed into Rilvi, filling her up to the base of his shaft with every thrust, striding closer to release with every second, and.
The sound of the two climaxing was extraordinarily loud, both Rilvi's delirious moans and Telne's primal grunts seeming to completely fill the entire clearing as they clung onto each other riding the peak until it subsided, slowly, carefully faded away.
It was over.
When Rilvi opened her eyes, she found Telne catching his breath next to her, his heartlight glowing like a small moon had settled on his chest. She looked down and saw that her own was almost a small sun by comparison. In addition to that, when she moved her hands, she suddenly found her fingers rifling through burnt ash. A stench of burnt grass emanated from the spots where her hands had grabbed onto some loose tufts of grass to hold onto something as she finished.
"That was…" she was about to say, but didn't finish the thought
"I very much agree" Telne replied, his voice back to normal, "and I see you didn't quite handle it perfectly gracefully yourself"
"The burnt grass? Yeah I- hey" she looked back at him with a sudden look of realization on her face as she caught the implication of what Telne was saying.
"It was your fault we finished that loudly?" she asked, Telne quietly nodded.
Rilvi just snorted, for a minute wondering just who had heard the two of them going at it because of that.
That thought quickly left her mind as she snuggled up to the Toa of Sonics, Telne, and planted a kiss on his cheek.
"This has been a wonderful day," she said sweetly, "thanks, for everything"
"You too," Telne replied, "and just say the word the next time you need some inspiration. Any kind of inspiration"
"Oh, don't you worry," Rilvi replied as she got to her feet, before extending a hand to help Telne up, too.
The Two Toa hung onto each other as they staggered out of the clearing, having quickly and dirtily cleaned up after themselves.
"I could really use some sleep right about now," Rilvi said, resting her head on Telne's shoulder, "say, isn't your place nearby"
"My current dwelling, yes," Telne replied, "If you can get us a flame going, we can take all the rest we need there"
"Who needs a flame when you've got me?"
"Good point, there is just one hammock…"
"I'm sure we'll figure out something" Rilvi said jovially. Telne smiled and put an arm across her back as they walked back.