Heirot

Laya sat down at the table and began to eat while everyone eles was doing what they liked. She tasted the stew, it was very hot so she learned to blow on all of it until it cooled enough so it wouldn't burn her tongue.

It tasted pretty good, she had to admit. Not as bad as she thought it would have.

"Other gifts... well, I'm a good runner," Telanis said thoughtfully to Tetsumaru as they followed Laya and he sat down next to her at the table. He eyed the stew she had poured out and took one of the bowls, leaning down to smell it. It was very unique from what he'd eaten before, but there were definitely carrots in it... He picked the bowl up and moved to eat directly with his mouth. As soon as his lips touched the broth, however, he quickly snapped his face back and contemplated the hot bowl in silence.

Laya reached over and pushed his hand down to set the bowl down. She grabbed a spoon and held his hand opening the fingers and placing the spoon in, then clossing his fingers around it like she had her spoon. That faint hint of a smile came to her lips as she looked at his eyes and then moved her hand away.

She dipped her spoon in and lifted it, then her eyes looked back at him.

Telanis looked at the metal utensil and back up at Laya, and blinked. He watched her hand lifting the spoon, and followed her example, lifting it up thoughtfully. He was holding it too tight, and as soon as his fingers changed angle slightly, the flat handle of the spoon flipped 90 degrees to rest flat between his fingers, sending most of the soup back into the bowl and a few drops flying at Neko just as she entered the kitchen with her brother. Surprised, Telanis gripped the spoon securely with all his fingers and stared at Neko guiltily. "S..sorry. I'm not very coordinated tonight," he said anxiously.

Neko jumped as hot sprays of stew flew onto her exposed leg. "AIIE!" she yelped.

"Sorry." Telanis apologized and Neko regained her composture.

"It's ok." She grinned. "It woke me up." She sat down next to her brother who was surpressing his snicker and they took bowls of the stew. When they tasted it they both exclaimed at the same time that it was very good.

Laya looked up and made a slight snorting sound as she tried to hold the laughter in. She was beginning to get a bit angry with it all. She felt like she shouldn't be laughing or smiling. She felt as if she should mourn forever.

The unicorn sensed a sudden burst of mixed amusement and anger from beside him, and tensed, not sure he wanted either reaction. He was displeased by his clumsiness, and looked back down at his bowl with a troubled frown. He couldn't even eat properly? Things like this made his body feel even more alien, and entrapping, than in the first place. No, thinking negatively wouldn't get anything done, he thought, consciously relaxing. He set the spoon down and lifted it up again, copying Laya's movement, and managed to use it properly this time.

The soup was good, or at least probably was, since he had no similar experiences to compare it to. "So, where do you intend to travel?" he asked the others, his frustration dissolving back into his usual calmness.

Laya looked up at them. "We you mean," she said and looked at him her eyes intense. She meant what she said, she would stay with him. She would make sure no human hurt him. Even if he didn't want her to there was nothing he could do about it unless he hired someone to put her in a box and carry her away.

Neko thought for a moment before answering. "We were going home until we ran into Laya. We're not in a rush to actually get home though..."

"Whatever my sister's doing I'm going to follow." Kratos replied, taking another sip from his spoon.

"We were actually--Well, it's more Laya's plan than ours. We're helping out..." Neko pointed out and looked over to Laya confidently.

Telanis didn't miss Laya's firm stare. "Then, where do you wish to go? Wherever it is, I'll go with you," he said with a faint smile, touched by the friendship he sensed between Neko, her brother, and Laya. If it was to be with these people, he thought he could be happy despite leaving his forest.

Tetsumaru blinked when Telanis flung soup at Neko. He waited for a while, silently drinking the soup, but knew he would forget to ask if he waited any longer. "Aru you unused tsu uzing spoonzu?" he asked Telanis. "I havu somu chopsticks if you would like tsu use them." The fact that they were drinking soup and that chopsticks were useless was lost on the senile man.

Laya looked at them. "It doesn't matter to me," she said quietly taking the spoon and eating some more food. "I'll go anywhere but Ongoreth."

"Yes...well, I don't usually need them," admitted Telanis. "What are chopsticks?"

The old man walked over to his cabinet and from the drawers pulled out a pair of sticks. "Thezu aru chopsticks," he replied. He mimicked the way you would use them to eat rice in the air. "Thisu izu how you uze them. Do you wish to uzu them?"

Telanis stared at the sticks with intense interest. "Yes!" he said with a sudden smile of anticipation, accepting the sticks from him and playing with them. "By the way, Sir Tetsumaru, do you have any idea where would be good to travel from here?" he asked.