Welcome to Gaia! ::

She chuckles bitterly, but her smile is gentle and loving. "Oh a lot will happen, of that I'm certain. You have your whole life ahead of you... so much to see, to do, to experience, while I will simply go back to doing that which I do best... safe guarding those who need it.... but never have I kept watch over someone as precious in my eyes as you. I love you, Kerobian, truly I do... Look... an eagle... see?" she cries pointing out a shadowy form in the sky over their heads. "Man, that thing is huge!"

Laughing Ai, rolls with the hug, somehow winding up on her back, hugging him back. "Stinker... careful what you're doing, it a long way down...." She nuzzles him fondly. "I love you heap big much as well...."

Squirming beneath him, the lioness has Kero wondering if she's trying to get away, but it is soon obvious she's not. Ai is only getting comfortable and soon returning kiss for kiss and adding a few of her own. And while the two felines entertain each other on the ridge, the sun slowly drops below the horizon, leaving them bathed in moonlight.

Finally, frustrated beyond belief, the lioness jerks away and stalks off into the shadows. She needs to get away. Her body is saying one thing, her mind another, and Kero isn't helping the situation one tiny bit. His display of affection is driving her right up the proverbial wall.

It is rather hard to lose sight of something that large and that white, even at night, but somehow he does. As she moves away from him, not running but definitely at an angry clip, she blinks out, even though he senses no use of magic or power. One minute she is there, the next she's gone.

As she walks, Ai finds herself in another of those face to face arguments with her inner self.

"He's smarter than you might think...." comes Tam's voice from deep within. "You can't go on doing this forever, you know..."

"Oh... shut up and leave me be... what do you know about wanting someone as badly as I want him... you've driven anyone whose ever loved you away...." she snarls back outloud.

"Oh, I know... I know... trust me.. I know... I am you, you know... I love him, too... as much as you... maybe even more... but I refuse to let you hurt him..."

She shakes her head vigorously in hopes of shaking him up but to no avail. Tam is firmly lodged in place. And he keeps whispering bits of not so understanding wisdom in her mental ear.

Then he looks up and sees her flying overhead, doing lazy circles in the night sky. But something about the scene seems off. She is definitley not enjoying herself. Lonely beyond belief, she is silently weeping, half wondering to herself if she does a death dive from up here, and doesn't pull up, if it would be as final as she half heartedly hopes it would be. She's not serious about it, not yet anyway; she is far from truly being suicidal, just feeling miserable and depressed.

Kero doesn't exactly know what is going through her head. Her thoughts are so jumbled right now, he doesn't get a clear picture. But the emotional bond between them is running strong and he finds himself longing to go to her, wishing for wings of his own, desperate in his own way to soothe away her sadness... when suddenly his shoulders begin to itch and hurt like no tomorrow. He starts to roll about, in an effort ot relief the sensation, only to find something, two somethings actually, growing from the fur on his back.


**the ability to shape shift often begins with shape modification... a desire to reach that book on the highest shelf, or rescue a kitten just out of reach... one just has to want to effect that change with every fiber of their being... and Kero's emotional desire coupled with his very real physical desire has triggered a buried memory... it's still very much a subconscious action... he's doing it, but he has no idea how... and won't have it under control for a very long time. Let's just say some times it will work, sometimes it won't... often with humorous results... he he he... this time he's not in control... and it works... all he really wanted just then was wings and he's getting them... rather large wings... mayhaps a bit too large wings... but wings he's getting.... have fun controlling those in the air wink **

His difficulties catch Ai's eye though and she spirals down to see who or what was tryig to make it's way up to her. From the look on her face, it is obvious she never in a hundred years thought it was her mate.

"Kero? Is that you? What happened? Whoa, those are some serious wings you have there. I think you need to find yourself a thermal before you wear yourself out. Hmm... fifity feet off to your right and about 10 feet up is an up draft, think you can make it?"

She is trying hard not to laugh, but her amusement filters through her voice anyway. Apologizing with her eyes, she angles underneath him, in case his stregth gives out before he reaches the afore mentioned relief.

Ai rides the thermals with him, watching him closely, and when he finally shows signs of truly tiring, she points down to the ground in front of the cave they had shared the night before.

"Let's not overdo it, alright, dulcha?" she calls when he shakes his head no. "I'm not so sure I could catch you properly if you take a plunge. I'd break your fall, sure, but we'll both most likely get hurt. How did you dream those things up, anyway?"

Ai lands a short distance away, so as not to foul his movements. He is definitely having trouble with those wings. They are far too long and drag in the dirt as he moves. He tries to follow Hopian and her methods of folding them along his back, but they are simply not cooperating.

Sighing, biting down laughter, the lioness stalks forward and tries to help him control them, but to no avail. It's almost as if they have a mind of their own.

"Try willing them away, dear heart. See if that works." she suggests after a bit, eyeing them worriedly.