All the better; all the worse . . .

[Zach Kaiser]

"With how your father is, you can't tell me you don't the potential, though," Eld joked. While not terribly familiar with him, he'd seen the man before, and he was built like he was made of bricks. He wouldn't have been surprised if he could punch through most walls like they were paper.

"Errr...shouldn't you watch where you're going?" Even on a trail there were going to be branches and roots and the like; plenty of things to trip on or bang into if a person wasn't paying attention.

[Nayt]

Akizetsumei didn't know how to feel about that one! Sure, it seemed Eld was joking and that was just fine-- but what if he was right? What if she naturally predisposed toward being big like her father? Gestahl of Terra was a huge man. He was easily the single strongest man in town, capable-- probably --of tearing even the second largest man, the smithy, in two with his bare hands. No way to Akizets want to be that big. Even being built that Sarah would've made her feel weird. That wasn't to say she thought Sarah was overweight or anything, nor did Akizets find Sarah as some sort of physically unappealing girl. She could see why boys were attracted to her! It was just that Sarah was a little larger all around than Akizets would have been comfortable with.

Nonetheless, she gave it little thought from that point and kept on walking, still content to continue moving backwards at a fairly casual pace, seemingly devoid of caution.

"Hm? Nah, I'm fine! I walk this all the ti--"

It was at that moment that Akizets lost her balance. Akizets let out a high pitched meep of surprise. She took a wrong misstep, her foot landed awkwardly, and soon her body wanted to fall back abruptly. She tried to regain he balance, flapping her arms while pushing her shoulders forward, but it seemed inevitable that she'd fall.

Without assistance, of course.

[Zach Kaiser]

"Ah-!" While it was rather ironic that Akizetsumei tripped just as she was reassuring him she wouldn't, Eld wasn't the type who would just sit back and laugh for the sake of having his point proven.

He nimbly darted forward, catching one of her flailing arms in one hand and holding her up by it just long enough for him to get the other around her waist. It was fortunate that she was as light as she was--if it had been Sarah, he probably would've just been pulled to the ground with her.

For a few seconds he merely breathed in relief, but then a wry smile crossed his lips. "You were saying?"

[Nayt]

It was as much of a surprise to her as it was to Eld-- if not moreso, as Eld somewhat expected this might happen. Akizets tried to balance herself, but would have failed were it not for Eld taking her by the left arm and wrapping his other arm about her waist to catch her. He did a wonderful job at it, really. Akizets was light and easy to carry if he so wanted to, let alone hold up. Akizetsumei's first thoughts were those of shame: she'd proven herself wrong before she even had the chance to make a claim. It probably made her look silly and frivolous.

The second round of thoughts dealt with a whole different subject. Eld was practically holding her against him. Akizets couldn't help but look down and observe the scarce space between their bodies. Her hips and chest were practically pressed up against him, and she couldn't help but realize how unmistakeably warm Eldridge Tsukimono was. It was too late to act by the time she realized she had her free hand palm flat upon his chest. It was too late to tell herself not to do it, that making physical contact would drive Eld away and snuff out this budding friendship of theirs.

Undoubtedly, this led to her blushing tremendously by the time she looked back up to Eld's face. She couldn't muster a smile, giggle, or even the smallest of nervous laughs. She felt like a person just ready to take their first ever dive into the ocean: afraid, anxious, and ashamed.

"U-umm . . ." Akizetsumei's voice was quiet and meek; her cheeks were red and she was biting her lower lip. Bashfully, she whispered, "th-thanks . . ."

[Zach Kaiser]

"It was nothing." Eld backed up and pulled her with him until she was standing straight up again. This put a bit more space between them, but he kept a hand on her side for the moment just in case.

After taking stock of her, he was still a bit worried. As far as he'd been able to tell she hadn't actually tripped over anything, and now she was looking rather flushed. It could have just been embarrassment from nearly falling, but he wanted to make sure.

"Are you feeling alright?" he asked, placing the back of his hand to her forehead.

[Nayt]

Eld set his hand upon her head and Akizetsumei furrowed her brow. She looked up to his hand first, then to his face. To her it felt like her face was on fire, but Eld would feel no such thing. She wasn't exceptionally warm, blood was simply running to her face to match her emotional reaction.

"U-umm, y-yeah, um . . ." Akizets replied incoherently.

Akizet took a step back. She withdrew her hand from Eld's chest and managed not to nearly fall this time. She put a couple more feet of distance between them. It felt like she couldn't breath all of a sudden; it felt like she needed physical space so she may start breathing again.

"L-letskeepgoing," she remarked speedily, before spinning around and heading off down the natural path again. She didn't notice it, but she was practically trying to put an extra few feet between she and Eld than before, when they were walking with moderate closeness.

[Zach Kaiser]

"Okay..." She didn't feel warm, so it didn't seem like she was sick or fatigued yet, but he still couldn't help but worry slightly. She hadn't been out of the hospital for all that long, and she'd admitted herself before that her constitution was on the fragile side.

"Just...don't push yourself too hard, okay?" he said as he resumed following her, not noticing the extra distance between them. "You just got out of the clinic; we don't want you going right back."

[Nayt]

That's all it took, really. She simply needed a moment to breath. She'd caught her breath a moment ago and simply didn't have the chance to let herself breath again, not until after she had sufficient distance between herself and Eld-- something she now acknowledged as both a blessing and a curse, for as much as she enjoyed breathing again, it was nice to be that close to Eld. Why, she didn't know. These sorts of urges to be physically close to the boy, to have his arm around her, or even to take upon herself the ultimate act and hold his hand, they all didn't make any sense to the girl. She had those urges. She had those needs. There just simply was no "why."

"U-umm . . . yeah!" Akizets replied, a lot cheerier than before she stopped breathing, "I-- I'll be fine. Don't worry about me, okay?"

When Akizetsumei looked back to him, she was smiling again, and it seemed the redness of her cheeks had all but died down to fairness once again.

"What about you?" she asked as she looked ahead of her again, "We still got a long ways to go. Umm, just lemme know when you wanna take a break or something."

[Zach Kaiser]

"I'm alright," Eld said with a smile, a bit happy to be shown concern. "I know I don't seem like it, but I've been working on staying in shape." For a long time he was scrawny and weak; not really unhealthy, but definitely not athletic. Well, he still wasn't athletic compared to most of the farm kids around (like Sarah), but he wasn't totally left in the dust either.

Plus, while he definitely wasn't as fast as Akizetsumei, he was willing to bet he had more stamina.

"Whenever you want to have a break, though, I brought some snacks for us." He assumed she didn't want to actually eat until they arrived at...wherever she was taking him, but he'd probably need to get something in his stomach soon.

[Nayt]

"Oh."

That's right-- Eld did bring some fruit. He put them in his pockets, though. That was probably really awkward to carry around. Akizets slowed down enough to breech the distance between their bodies again, but only to walk next to him. She held open her messenger bag. Carrying snacks, lunch, and the like was the reason she went through all the trouble to get this, after all.

"Put them in here. I'll carry them for you," Akizets requested cheerfully.

She wasn't quite ready to take a break right now. That was kind of all on Eld. Akizets could hike this whole route without needing a break. She'd done it enough that it was like walking through her house. She just couldn't walk through her house backward, either.

[Zach Kaiser]

"Alright." Eld pulled the fruit out of his pockets and placed them in the bag. It was a bit awkward at first, but he didn't notice their presence after a bit.

He continued to follow Akizetsumei, but despite his assumption that she'd need a break first he had to ask for one. "Hey, can we stop for minute?" he asked at one point. "I need some food before I go much further." While not audibly, his stomach had been growling for awhile now, and he couldn't keep going simply out of pride.

A tree that had fallen over during some storm or another made a good makeshift bench, so he sat down to take a breather and have his orange.

[Nayt]

Akizets looked back to Eld with her head tilted to the side. She didn't think any less of him for needing a break first, and followed his lead when he took a leftward path to a fallen tree. The trees were a bit closer together this far in, making it difficult to walk side by side at times, but this fallen timber seemed to make a good enough bench, regardless. Akizets plopped down next to Eld-- practically a foot to his left --and opened her bag for him, letting him pick out anything at all that he wanted to eat. It was odd that he took an orange. Akizets was kind of curious how he was going to get that thing open.

But no matter-- she had other things on her mind. Coming out this far with Eld really got her thinking. He'd willingly come out here with her. He'd come out and spend time with her, regardless of how weird and goofy of a person she could be sometimes. He was infinitely smarter than she was, too, and yet he still went this far. They'd been walking for over an hour and a half. This wasn't as far as a person went when simply patronizing someone. This wasn't the length someone goes to pity them.

She was starting to realize that Eld sincerely enjoyed being out here with her.

"Hey, um, Eldridge?" Akizets looked over to him again.

She had to say it. She couldn't hold this in. She'd started to feel a warmth and rush of pleasant feelings, and Eld needed to know how much she appreciated this.

"Thanks," she smiled and spoke sincerely.

[Zach Kaiser]

Getting the orange open wasn't a problem; he had a knack for the fruit. It was just a matter of getting that first split, and then it could be peeled quite easily. Like some kind of citrus-based martial artist he quickly jabbed his hand at the orange and with drew it, causing a small crack in the skin of it.

It was a testament to the truth of Akizetsumei's statement that it caused Eld to look at her with sincere confusion. "For what?" he asked as he started to peel his snack.

[Nayt]

Eld's method of peeling an orange was weird. Effective and sort of . . . intimidating? Intimidating in the sort of way that maybe he could do that to a human being. Maybe he could just hit the really hard in the right place at the right time, then peel away their skin. Akizetsumei, however, wasn't actually that intimidated by it. She barely even paid it much attention. She just kept thinking about Eld, and how he was out here with her because it seemed he wanted to be out here with her, and not because he felt obligated to . . . for whatever reason.

"F-for . . . for coming out here with me," Akizets replied as she looked away from him. She felt her cheeks burning a bit. "Ummm, no one, um, no one ever has. N-not even Tou. He goes out in the woods to train, but not out this way. I-it, um, it . . . i-it . . ."

Showing her appreciation for this was actually quite difficult, and all for reasons she couldn't at all understand. Maybe she was afraid deep down that Eld would think she's being frivolous and silly. Maybe she was afraid of sounding desperate for companionship. There were hundreds of maybes, but no definitive reason why.

"I-it really means a lot," Akizets concluded meekly, "That you'd come out here with me . . ."

[Zach Kaiser]

"Oh." There was a moment where he mulled this over, then he smiled warmly. "That's not something you need to thank me for. I'm having fun, and besides, you're a friend." There wasn't any big revelation in the way he said this; it was casual, as though it was something already obvious. "I bet Sarah'd come hiking with you if you asked...well, she'd probably insist on racing you, though."

As he took a bite out of the orange, he realized there was something that Akizetsumei said that she'd glossed over that struck him. "Wait, training? Kyo comes into the woods to train?" he asked in surprise, even using his nickname for him. "Train for what?"