Fantasy heart of the sea: dead or alive (chameleon & lillymity)

[Chameleon]

CASTIEL ARISTAEUS

Castiel absorbed the peaceful view, committed it to memory. Before he left, he approached the water’s edge and glanced into it. It was too dark to see under, but he swore he caught sight of a fish’s tail as it flicked away. It might be worth the investigation in the morning.

To his side is a plant with large, smooth leaves just short of the size of his torso. Idea sparked in his mind, Castiel yanked the leaf’s stem from the plant. He molded the leaf, folding and wrapping it until it resembled a container. Satisfied with his craft, Castiel dunked it into the water to test it. As he intended, the makeshift container held onto the water.

His return to the camp went by smoothly. The fatigue that had weighed his eyes down was now replaced with a slight excitement and pride in his craft.

The fire had dimmed to nearly nothing in the time he was gone. That was the first thing his eyes landed on. The second, and most alarming, was the shaking bundle huddled into the shadowy nook of the trees. Castiel stopped, stood there confused as he pieced together just what—who, the whimpering bundle was.

“What…are you doing?” Spoken gently to avoid frightening Chiros any more. His leaf waterskin is left on the ground. He walked further into the campsite, quickly throwing some more sticks into the fire as he passed it on his way to Chiros. “Already having nightmares? It’s only your first night out.” Castiel’s teasing tone died as quickly as it surfaced, a hint of sympathy seeping into it. He’d make the exception only this once, a comforting hand hesitantly placed on the prince's back.

 

[lillymity]

CHIROS DE DHOELATH

​

Hearing steps the panic in Chiros rose even more. That was surely his end, some bear eating him as night snack. All his efforts for this..
The steps came closer and closer, every now and then a branch cracked, he heard it clearly. As the elve risked his gaze wandering up, he saw a tall figure with broad shoulders. Someone found him…would they kill him..?

But the familiar low voice showed him who it really was. Castiel ? So he didn't actually leave him…

Chiros cried pretty hard as soon as he felt the comforting hand on his back. "I…I..thought you left.." , he stammered through his crying. Almost instantly the small elve pulled the cloak from Castiel around him even tighter, the smell of the pirate soothing him a little.

"And..and then…there was some noise…I..I thought a bear would….eat me…" That was actually kind of a dumb thought, but a real fear to Chiros. After that the prince tried to stop crying. Was a little embarrassing to cry infront of an almost stranger. Now he was just letting out a little cry every now and then.

Slowly the smaller looked up to his companion. Wet streams of tears still glowing in the moonlight, his dark-hair being much out of place. "Where were you..?" , Chiros dared to ask, tasting the salty tears that ran down on his lips.

For Chiros there was no reason to leave the camp at night. Of course there was but nothing an ordinary prince would know. But by now and after crying that hard, he also got a little thirsty. Last time he drank something was already some hours ago.

 

[Chameleon]

CASTIEL ARISTAEUS

Chiros’ abrupt burst of tears startled Castiel. His hand flinched away as if worried he physically hurt the other somehow, but as the sobbing prince revealed the reason for his crying through hiccupped breaths, Castiel felt a twinge of guilt tug his chest. He sighed deeply and plopped down next to Chiros, letting him cry all he needed. The outlaw thought he’d felt the last of his surprise at how unguarded Chiros was, but this display was the icing on the cake.

When he calmed down enough to ask Castiel where he was, Castiel at least had the decency to look at him. “I was getting tired, so I went on a quick walk. Got some water.” He stood up to retrieve the leaf waterskin he’d set down. Back at Chiros’ side, he offered it to him. When was the last time Castiel had to comfort someone? Most in his crew were well adept at sorting their issues on their own. The most they asked of Castiel was advice.

“You can go back to sleep.” He sat beside Chiros again but didn’t look at him. Maybe from guilt, or maybe to give the prince a semblance of privacy to recollect himself. “I’m not going to abandon you out here, alright? I don’t want the death of a whiny sheltered prince on my conscious.” Castiel offered a slight, teasing smile hoping to get Chiros to focus on his light jab rather than his panic.

 

[lillymity]

CHIROS DE DHOELATH

​

As soon as Chiros felt the presence of the pirate next to him, he actually moved closer to him and leaned his head against Castiel's shoulder. After hearing the reason, why his companion left. That was okay. And hearing that the other got some water, let Chiros feel, that he was infact pretty thirsty.

Quickly the smaller took the leaf watercontainer, he wiped away his tears and tried off his hand on his shirt. "Thank you.." , he mumbled and took two big sips of water. That was really refreshing and tasted actually pretty good. Eating and drinking out here in the wild wasn’t too bad after all.

"Pinky promise ?" , the elve-prince asked and looked over to Castiel, holding out his pinky. Though normally that was something only kids would do, it would definitly give Chiros some safety for their journey. His mother also made pinky promises with him, when he was younger and she always stuck to them.

Then the dark-haired made a pillow out of his cape again and laid down — this time much closer to Castiel, his head almost touching the other’s leg. Chiros pulled the cloak over his body and snuggled into it. "You know, if someone breaks a pinky promise, they have bad luck their whole life." , the elve said with a sleepy voice, yawning almost instantly after. All this panicky behavior now made him really tired, it took all his energy. But now he was warm, not thirsty and had Castiel close to him. So everything was fine.

 

[Chameleon]

CASTIEL ARISTAEUS

A pinky promise? Castiel answered with an arched brow, unsure whether the prince was serious or not. But of course he was, that’s just the kind of guy he was. The kind of guy to believe in pinky promises and in total strangers. Castiel rolled his eyes and humored the prince, hand reached out with his pinky and curling around the others’.

“Sure, promise.” It didn’t sound very committed, but it was enough that Castiel said it at all. If there were any conviction in his voice, he’d feel far more ridiculous. He watched Chiros lie down again, right by his side. Cozied in his cloak and seemingly exhausted, all the crying out of him.

He scoffed at the prince’s warning of broken promises and bad luck. “Then it won’t make much of a difference to me.” Whispered to not keep Chiros awake for longer.

Forced to sit and wait in the dark silence, there’s little Castiel could have distracted himself with to keep his eyes opened. Somewhere into the night, he fell asleep without realizing, back slumped against a tree.

When he woke up there was an awful crick in his neck. Groaning awake, Castiel painfully stretched his sore muscles before his attention landed on Chiros who was still asleep next to him. Sunlight spotted their campsite, their fire all but extinguished and their horse grazing on the grass again.

“Wake up, princey. We should get a move on.” He nudged Chiros before standing on his own feet. His joints popped with each motion. “Fuck, I can’t wait to sleep in a damn bed again.”

 

[lillymity]

CHIROS DE DHOELATH

​

Chiros was actually happy, when Castiel made the promise to him. That even made him sleep better.
Though the whole night went over without any dreams for the elve. He slept much better than those last nights in the castle. Much calmer. Not turning from one to the other side every five minutes. He stayed the whole night on his right side, close to his companion.

Hearing the pirate's voice made him grumble and turn around. It felt wayyy too early for him right now. But after just laying on his belly for some seconds, he sat up and yawned. "Already..?" , the elve-prince murmured with another yawn and rubbed his eyes.

Then the smaller stood up and tried to fix his dark wavy strands, that were standing up into every direction. He had a total bedhead. Stretching himself Chiros walked over to the horse and gently petted it. The cloak still around his shoulder and his cape as well as he had snuggled himself into it over night.

But then his stomach growled quietly. Hungry already ? Normally he only ate lunch and dinner. But sure, they both only had a handful of some edible things. Chiros turned around to the other and came back. "Are we going to eat something soon ?" , the elve asked curiously and looked up at Castiel. He would be down for everything, from some berries up to these delicious mushrooms again.

 

[Chameleon]

CASTIEL ARISTAEUS

As Chiros slowly rose and proceeded through the motions of shaking off sleep, Castiel undid their campfire. Tossed the rocks aside, spread the burnt sticks and ashy remains, discreetly covered them with fresh leaves to hide the evidence of anyone being around. A measure against being tracked, however slight.

When finished, he turned to retrieve his cloak, only to see it still draped around Chiros’ shoulders. Castiel paused, a twenty-second debate with himself convinced him it didn't matter. It might've been more convenient that Chiros hold it for now.

A crooked smirk tugged at his lips towards today's question of food. “Yeah, there's a restaurant a little up ahead from here. We should check it out.” There couldn't have been more sarcasm in a single sentence. The restaurant, of course, was the lake. If Castiel's eyes hadn't played tricks on him, he was certain he glimpsed at a fish in the water. And if there was one thing Castiel knew how to prepare with confidence, it was fish.

Once satisfied with the shrouding of their previous night's camp, Castiel collected some of the spare branches they hadn't used and led the way to the lake.

It was farther than Castiel remembered walking. Granted he'd been half-asleep; it wouldn't have surprised him if he dozed off while walking last night. The lake looked even brighter in the morning. A sparkling, clear turquoise color. He could already see the water ripple with potential fish.

“We're going to need another fire.” He instructed Chiros as he rolled the legs of his pants up to his knees. “And find some flat rocks, big. Something you need both arms to carry.” Pant legs up to his knees, Castiel then straightened and took off his shirt, rolling it up and tossing it to the prince. “Unless you want to be the one who catches breakfast?” There's an underlying challenging tone to Castiel's voice, paired with his usual teasing smile.

 

[lillymity]

CHIROS DE DHOELATH

​

The elve watched Castiel in slight confusion, how he was destroying every evidence of their existence right here. Was that really necessary ? They wouldn’t just see the little campsite and think Oh yeah, these are our runaways. Right ? But if it would be better for the other’s mind, he should do it. However Chiros saw no point in it. But probably because he never was out of his golden cage before.

But meanwhile the dark-haired snuggled up in the pirate's cloak. The morning breeze made him shiver a little. And the cloak gave a comfortable warmth. But the sun was stretching out it’s rays to them again, at least spending a little warmth for now. But hopefully it would get warmer over the day. Because Chiros didn’t plan on being out in the cold, he just wore his normal every-day-gown — nothing for an icy winter.

"Oh really ?!" After all sarcasm wasn’t one of the smaller strenghts. "What do they have ? Perhaps roast venison ?" Chiros' voice sounded very excited and genuine. He would die for a roast venison right now, almost hungry like a wild bear…or more like a fox…perhaps a badger — considering his height.

After untethering the horse and this time just leading it instead of mounting it. Chiros followed Castiel without a doubt, without a thought in his mind. He would probably lead them to this nice restaurant, he was speaking of. Perhaps the first time they could eat till they are full. Their stallion had luck, he could find grass everywhere. Rather would they starve then their horse.

But when the elve prince caught the sight of the lake, he stopped. "And where is the restaurant..?" , Chiros asked pretty dumbfoundly. He was really thinking they would go to a restaurant, but that didn’t look anything remotely close. And it also didn’t sound like there would be a restaurant nearby.

Looking at the lake, he hae to shield his eyes a little, the sun almost blinding him. So after Castiel's instructions and a little sigh from Chiros, the smaller tethered up the horse again and went to find some big stones. That was pretty easy to be honest. But the not so easy part would follow now.
At first Chiros didn’t even get them to move a bit, then even falling over while trying to get one to move. But after almost giving up and kicking it — which hurt even worse to be honest — the stone finally moved from the wet muddy area.

So Chiros brought one after another to their area and put them next to each other. Then he caught a little glimpse of Castiel, starring at the shirtless pirate for some seconds.
That did look nice.
But before his companion could even catch him looking, Chiros quickly turned away, his cheeks feeling a little hot. He still didn’t know how to make a fire, so perhaps he should help Castiel with catching their fish.

The dark-haired elve put the cloak over the horse's saddle and then took of his boots and pushed up his pant legs. Almost like Castiel but his shirt stayed on, only the sleeves were rolled up. Then the smaller slowly slipped into the lake, the water up to his knees. That felt weird, he never was in a lake before. The only time his body was in water, was when he was bathing. But that was different, much different.

Slowly he waddled through the water. "I'll help you." , he announced with a big smile. But Chiros hadn't reckoned with a big hidden branch in the water. It made him stumble, lose his balance and falling into the water. Right where many fish had gathered unfortunaly. Castiel was going to be so mad, Chiros knew already, he didn’t even have to look up. But he did anyways, slowly looking up. His hair hanging in his face, soaking wet and some water driplets falling from his chin. "Sorry.."
Like that they definitly wouldn’t get anything to eat…

 

[Chameleon]

CASTIEL ARISTAEUS

Castiel carefully waded through the water, mindful of not disturbing its surface too dramatically as he surveyed the lakebed for fish. There were a handful of times he’d resorted to catching fish barehanded. Sometimes out of necessity and other times for sport. So he stood still. Waited patiently. Saw where the fish gathered and crept toward them. So focused he hadn’t realized Chiros had rolled up the legs of his trousers and proclaimed he’d help.

The water splashed, Castiel instinctively shielded his face with his arm feeling the splatter of droplets against his skin. When his attention was back to the fish, they’d all scattered

Great. Now it would be a chase.

His head turned to Chiros slowly, seeing the prince on his hands and knees in the water, clothes and hair drenched. For once since having met him, he actually looked apologetic for something. Castiel tried to harden his expression. Tried to narrow his eyes at him and set his jaw tight. But he cracked, releasing first a slight snicker, and then cackling laughter.

He covered his mouth part way. He wasn’t even sure whether he was laughing at Chiros’ sorry wet state or that the prince actually found the humility to apologize.

“Not used to treadin’ over anythin’ that’s not the polished floors of your hallowed halls, are ya’, princey?” Castiel razzed him, hand holding his chin as he stared at Chiros like one might assess a work of art. “The wet baby bird look ain’t so bad on ya.” His fingers lightly swatted at the water, splashing a bit onto Chiros’ face.

“But as cute as it is,” Castiel walked over to Chiros and grabbed the back of his shirt, then hooked an arm around his torso and hauled him with ease over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, “it just cost us our breakfast. So why don’t you hang tight and try to find something useful to do on land?” Castiel deposited Chiros onto the shore.

Castiel tilted his head as he regarded Chiros for a moment, his expression turned thoughtful for a pause before his smirk returned to it. His hand came up to Chiros’ head, fingers gently running through the wet mop of hair, sweeping it away from the prince’s face. “Stay out in the sun to dry faster so you don’t get sick, at least. You can die of a cold, ya know?” With a few soft perfunctory pats to Chiros’ cheek, the outlaw parted from him and went back into the water.

 

[lillymity]

CHIROS DE DHOELATH

​

Seeing Castiel's look on the face harden, Chiros prepared for the worst. Maybe the pirate leaving him here or punishing him with no food for the whole day. Perhaps he would kill him even. But laughing was not, what the elve expected as option. That made him look up pretty dumfounded. Was Castiel laughing at him…?

"Well..-" The dark-haired couldn’t even continue his sentence because Castiel grabbed his chin. "I never been outside of the town, so no." , Chiros continued his sentence and looked up at the taller. As the outlaw splashed some water in his face, the prince tried to shield himself, but having soaking wet, loose hanging sleeves, he made himself even more soaking wet. The wave of water from his own arm splashed in his face, making him swallow much lake water and a little water plant landing on his head. Trying to cough it out again, Chiros slowly wanted to get up but then a strong arm lifted him up — Castiel arm.

Quickly the elve-prince grabbed onto the other, so he wouldn’t fall over his shoulder. It was actually pretty cold, being completely wet outside of the water with a little breeze going through the trees. The small prince already shivered a little. He was such a sensitive thing, not a cell in him could survive alone in the wild.

"I can die ?!" , he exclaimed very anxious. That was something the dark-haired was very afraid of. Dying before he could even travel the whole world.

So as Castiel got back in the lake, Chiros hurried to get in the sun. But before he took the pirate's cloak with him, because it did really give him much warmth before.
Luckily there was a perfect big stone right in the sun. Now taking off his wet shirt and laying it next to him, Chiros sat down there, but still snuggled himself a little up in the cloak.

Having it around his back, the elve laid down after a while and stretched himself out. The sun was shining perfectly on his upper body and warmed him up again. It was even that relaxing, that Chiros almost drifted in a deep sleep.

But at least the sound of distant water rushing and the breeze flowing through the leaves rocked him into sleep. Sleeping in the warmth of the sun was much better than being curled up next to a campfire.

Maybe he could even do the nightwatch that night, but if Castiel would trust him with that…?
For now he relaxed on the stone, waiting for their breakfast.

 

[Chameleon]

CASTIEL ARISTAEUS

Castiel stood still until the water eased. He flicked a glance at his periphery to catch how the princeling scrambled for a cloak, then nestled on a rock under the sun. Good for him, even his thoughts rang with sarcasm. He decided to ignore that Chiros had stolen his cloak, no use in complaining now.

He managed to grasp a fish as it swam past his legs, tightly caging it between his fingers as it squirmed. He walked to the shore, set it down, then followed the perimeter of the water stalking for more. In due course, he dove back in and caught another, then a bonus double. Extra food wouldn’t do any harm. He returned to their camp with their bounty, the fish arranged atop a massive plant.

He looked at the stone ring Chiros made with little amusement. He’d tried his best, the pirate supposed. It was an admirable attempt, though simply calling it that felt generous. Castiel rearranged it, tossed and replaced any bad or muddy rocks, then began to feed a fire. Maybe Chiros would prove himself more useful in the city, especially when they might part ways there. He’d agreed to not abandon Chiros in the wilds, surely the prince could navigate a town on his own.

Castiel walked up to the prince quietly, stood beside the boulder he’d situated himself on. Even with his hair a mess and his shirt off his body, the most undignified a prince could look, Chiros was still frustratingly beautiful. It didn’t matter that was out in his element struggling to do anything on his own, the universe wouldn’t let it be forgotten that he was royalty. Castiel’s lip curled bitterly. For all his aristocrat-hating bravado, he sure was letting Chiros have it easy. Either the prince was a master manipulator, or Castiel had grown soft. He preferred the former because it’d at least give him a reason to hate Chiros with reason.

“Get up.” His voice sliced through the peaceful silence deep and demanding. Before Chiros could see his face, Castiel was already turned around. “Make sure the fire doesn’t go out while I’m gutting the fish.” That jovial tone he’d taken before seemed to have extinguished. Almost like the earlier laugh and light-hearted jabs had exhausted his meter of geniality.

Castiel returned to the fish where he’d set aside a sharp rock to slice them with. With deft hands, the outlaw sliced the fish like it was muscle memory. Cleaned out their insides and outsides, pulled at their spines, removed anything unsightly, then stabbed sticks into them to hold them with ease over the fire.

He handed one to Chiros to cook for himself, then plopped down and did the same. He hadn’t bothered putting his shirt back on yet, not wanting the scent of fish to stick onto it when he was preparing it. “We’ll get on the horse today to cover more ground. Hopefully we’ll find a trail that leads to a village soon.” He dreaded the idea of getting on that animal, but he rather that than spend longer than necessary in the woods.

 

[lillymity]

CHIROS DE DHOELATH

​

The sun warmed him, making his body dry in some minutes. Though his hair took a little longer. It was pretty thick, so that took his good time to dry. But of course a prince wasn’t one, that knew about nature's cruelty. Which made him just relax in the sun, but his pale out got more and more red by the minute, leaving him with a decent sunburn.

As the elve heard Castiel's gruff voice, he yawned and sat up. "Got some fish already ?" , he asked, stretching himself and looking up to the other. But Chiros got no answer to that, just a new task. Had to watch the fire. Slowly getting up and trotting after the outlaw, the cloak was still around his shoulders. Was a little warm but also kept the strong rays of sunshine away from him.

Sitting next to the fire, Chiros sighed a little. He noticed how some stones were different from them, that he got earlier. Probably got the wrong ones. And quickly the spoiled prince got bored, taking a new branch to nudge the fire. That was pretty interesting for him and made the fire flame up higher.

Though then he took a glance over to his companion. Ohh, that seemed interesting. So he just let the branch fall down to the fire and observed how Castiel prepared their food. That seemed like it wasn’t the first time he did that. The other seemed like a professional.

But suddenly something close to the dark-haired sparked up. Fire! Shit! The branch didn’t fully fall into the fire and the flame was now crawling towards Chiros. Panicky he pushed the branch away, trying to put the fire outside of the stone rink down. Though he burned himself twice, it was out eventually.

Outchie, that hurt…
But Castiel didn’t seem like he noticed that, or he just doesn’t let it show.
But after all Chiros was handed a fish on a stick. "Is this secure ?" , he asked as he eyed the fish on the stick. With his luck the fish would fall down in the flame. That would make it crispy pretty quick but also probably burned as they wouldn’t get it out quick enough.

But the elve-prince tried it and it actually wasn’t that hard and pretty secure. "Okayy" , he answered with a little smile. The elve was fine with being on a horse and riding over long distances.And after all Chiros thinks, that they will stay together by now. Whatever would come. He couldn’t know, that Castiel had the thought of abandoning him in the next town in his mind. Sure, Chiros would probably be fine in a town, but he wanted to travel as much as he could. And the smaller actually liked the outlaw already and didn’t want to leave him.

As the fish was done and a little crispy, he took a bite. Careful and small. And it tasted…great! Castiel was a great chef. So Chiros almost inhaled the whole thing, only noticing after, that his upper body kind of hurt, but only from the outside. Looking down, he saw how red his normally pale skin was. An anxious glance got over to Castiel. "Why am I so red ? Am I close to dying ?" He got all panicky all of the sudden. Was this his end ? He never had a sunburn before and that showed.