"Oh? oh!..." The spin pulls her hard into the harness, braid swinging around to smack into her collarbone. She ducks a little at the clatter, instinctively, but nothing flies into the cockpit, so she's able to enjoy the seconds of floating against the restraints, laughing again, staring out into the revealed valley as gravity reasserts its dominion.

"Blessed wind, that was amazing!" her own grin is delighted, eyes wide as her pulse races in the aftermath.

She bites her lip, external indication of a moment of internal debate. But there is no roof to leap from or stairs to race along to short circuit other impulsive actions here. "You're amazing," she says, reaching to unstick errant ponytail from his forehead. "The focus, that dip and floating, and..." A deep breath among the shallow. "phew...I...don't know how to do this."

She could be talking about the amazing piloting, but it does not really sound like it.

Yul gaze was drawn as she bit her lip, and he found himself leaning closer. How had they described it, that other night? Both a pull and a drive? That was how Yul felt right at that moment. He took a breath as Mumei's hand brushed his hair from his forehead, the slightest shiver going through him.

He tilted his head at her words, then smiled gently, his eyes going up to meet hers, his pupils large and dark. "I think I do." He murmured, even as his hand came up gently brushing across her cheek, guiding them as they leaned together...

His lips found hers, warm and soft, and moving with an easy passion. His hand slid up, brushing across her braid as they kissed, his eyes closing to focus on touch.

Oh this. This she knew how to do quite well. Her hand shifting from strands of hair to nape and tightening there as she meets him with the surge of adrenaline, desire, and even relief at the familiar footing.

Her own eyes close as she sighs into the moment, lips gentle for a moment, then more demanding. She's never been good at sticking to the shallow end of anything. Drawing back for breath, her eyes open, taking in the texture of his skin, the scent of leather and adrenaline sweat. Another kiss. A glance at the controls...they _are_ flying after all.

Remaining close, she breathes, "I think I'm pretty good at this, actually. You definitely are."

Feeling her intensity, Yul's own intensity rose to meet it, matching her beat for beat. Mumei seemed to suffuse his senses, touch, scent, taste... his breath was hot against hers as they parted a moment, then met again.

He swallowed as they parted a second time, noses brushing, foreheads barely apart. "Pretty good?" Yul grinned. "You're wonderful."

But... his gaze crept over. With one hand on the stick, they were holding steady, but this was unfamiliar territory. Yul tore himself away with a very visible reluctance, and not before brushing his lips against hers one more time.

"Phew." He sighed, before shooting her a grin. "I can't tell you how much I'm thinking too be continued right now. But making out while flying is not a great idea."

"Understatement," she says with a grin, shifting back in her seat, letting her fingers trail down his shoulder, arm, to brush fingers retreating to the rather important work of not blowing the landing.

Her voice is rough, lips tingling and throat tight. "It's that...'to be continued' that..." She a slow breath, reaching to place fingertips on his forearm as he works, a steadying connection that doesn't get in the way. "On station or ship? You know, I'd have asked whose bunk we should wake up in already, ok? Or...less crowded corner of space if everyone has a room full of bunkmates, right?" She huffs an almost laugh, the motion carrying through to fingertips.

"You can even have a while that way on a longer haul, right? But it's always temporary. And here, I'm supposed to.." She swallows. "I don't get to chose where I end up, so right now? Right now, to be continued is a little short term, if that's ok?" There's waver at the end and calming breath that says she's convincing herself as much as anyone not to get attached, even if she thinks she would like to be around to see his eyes light up like that again.

His fingers ever so briefly tightened around hers as they hers as they separated, but let them slip through.

The roughness in Mumei's voice drew a glance, even as Yul circled the valley in the Ornithopter, slowly descending. With hand on forearm, she could feel the little adjustments he made, the strange relaxed readiness that seemed to characterize his flying. "Oh. Yeah." He let out a puff of breath, his lips twisting. Ever an optimist, Yul hadn't really been considering some of the less happy possibilities.

After a moment, he smiled gently, glancing at her. "Hey. Yeah. It's okay." He reached up, brushing his hand across her cheek again. "We've got a whole planet. I think we can do better than a quiet corner." The smirk he gave her was decidedly playful. "And then... hey, we'll see how things turn out." He shrugged, but there was still a glint in his eyes. I don't mind taking a chance on a dream. He meant what he said.

"Hey." He said, nodding ahead. "You wanna check this place out? I think I can set us down over there." There was a particularly large and flat bit of rock up ahead.

Her eyes meet his as he brushes her cheek, a small smile in evidence that grows to a quiet laugh at him pointing out the entire planet to find space on. "Yeah. We'll see." She reaches up to take his hand, lowering it to her lips and brushing a kiss along his knuckles. "The music is always changing."

She follows his nod, looking at the sturdy bones of the mountain, not that she could really feel them. But she'd like to taste the air up here. So she nods, then laughs "A high and quiet corner, let's see what's there and hope the answer isn't flesh eating beetles!"

He gave her a quick look, eyes widening in mock-alarm. "We're not expecting flesh-eating beetles, are we?"

Maneuvering the Ornithopter carefully Yul guided it to the center of the rock formation. Easing the stick forward, he set it down ever so carefully, a look of intense concentration of his handsome features. Landing on unfamiliar surfaces always had an element of risk, and his knuckles were just a little white as they got lower and lower. But then, with a slight lurch, the Ornithopter settled.

Sighing, Yul flicked switches, and the Ornithopter's blades slowed their spinning. "Alright." He grinned at her as he undid his safety straps. "Our second time in a high up place, huh? Let's check it out."

It's not been any time at all, really, so she's definitely not tired of watching him yet. It's also a lot more interesting than just watching a rock get closer when you aren't focused on perching atop it. "It was raining earlier, so I left the almanac in our ATV, so...I'm not actually sure about the beetles. It just seemed kind of the thing you'd find her though."

The *click* *click* *click* of her own harness releases were sounding as soon as he started flipping switches off. "This one required a little more specialized climbing. But...I'm ok with the precedent," she says on the climb out. Feet firmly on the ground she breathes the thin cool air feeling the kami dance in their hair, so unused to people up here.

One foot lifts as she turns in a slow circle, arms lifted to embrace the sharp little spirits as much as to stretch out the minor stiff spots after everything. She stops, facing Yul, the clear blue of the sky picking out the green in her eyes. "Thank you...for the specialized climbing." The urge to turn and pick her way across the rock and stop thinking and feeling for a minute was immense. She resists it long enough to add, "and finding the biggest little corner to explore," before turning to start just that.

Opening the pilot's door, Yul stepped out, making sure to secure his gunbelt. His shoulders rose and fell as he took a deep breath, inhaling the crisp cool air. Unable to sense the kami, he settled for a deep exhale, looking curiously at his breath to see if it fogged. It didn't; not quite cold enough, apparently.

Grimacing gently, he stretched his torso, rotating at the waist. He paused, smiling as he saw Mumei, watched her little rituals of touching down again. When she looked at him, that glint of green in her eyes almost reminded him that, hey, this was a pretty isolated place... instead, he grinned. "Hey, sure thing. Besides, I'll take just about any excuse to fly."

His gaze lingered on her a moment longer before he turned, picking his way down, carefully, to the water. "It looks so pure..." His lips quirked. "It's probably really cold, and who knows what lives in it. Swimming might be for after a survey team's been here." Still, he leaned carefully forward, peering into the blue depths.

Mumei picks her way, not particularly surefooted outdoors, but with balance and agility to make up for any shifting stones. She does not tempt fate actually dancing down the incline, even if she can feel the energy of wanting to fling herself forward thrumming out to her toes and fingertips.

"I could ask*" she crouches, hovering a hand just over the water, wary of touching it after the fog of weak poison she'd noted hovering over the grave river. "I wouldn't try it though. To many things here are poisonous or deadly. I can summon pure water if we need a drink, after all."

The stones up here are gritty, scoured bare, but tiny mushrooms huddle in the small cracks, and even tinier flowers cling to scraps of blown soil in even the smallest sheltered spots. They reach all the way to the water's edge, which bodes well for it not being horribly caustic at least. Rising, she holds out a hand, in clear invitation. "Will you honor the spirits of air and water here with me?"


______
*when GMs are awake at least

Yul straightened as Mumei drew close, glancing at her with a smile, and then squinting as he looked out over the water. The valley was big and deep, but the tall peaks they'd just crossed loomed close. "It seems like another world from the city." He murmured, smiling gently.

He turned to face her, tilting his head curiously as she held out her hand. There was only a moment's hesitation. She'd trusted his hands, hadn't she?

"Of course." Yul said, smiling, as he reached out taking her hand. Gentle confusion marked his handsome features, but not uncertainty.

"Isn't it? The spirits are wilder here. No priests regularly making offerings and settling them for habitation. Dance is part of our worship, but it isn't an offering so much as communion. We join them, wild or tamed." She takes his warm hand in her cool one, stepping close, eye on his, joined hands held low to the side. "The music is what the kami provide." She pauses, eyes closing with a deep inhale. "That hiss of wind over the stones, the soft lap of chill water on the shore. The thin air of every breath and rush of our hearts' blood."

Leaning into him she sways slightly, breath aligning to his own. Her eyes open to look up into his. "See if you can feel it, though I'll guide if you don't."

Yul wasn't exactly a dancer, but he had some instincts. As Mumei stepped close, his free hand came up, sliding easily around her waist, settling on her lower back. He could feel her against him, his own form solid. Looking down, he met her gaze, his dark eyes wide. He could feel their breath together, and swayed as she did. "I'll try." He said softly. His eyes closed.

He did try. He really did.

The elements were all there. The rush of wind. The rhythm of the water. Each breath they took together, in and out. Yul's lips moved, just a little. He could feel her heartbeat... or was that his? He could feel each of them, and they almost came together, but it was a little too much for his untrained spirit.

"I can almost..." Yul whispered, shaking his head gently, her hair brushing against his chin. "Show me..." His eyes slowly opened.

She nods, a gentle smile on her lips. "Everything I can, Yul," she murmers, eyes lifting to his, definitely with him while also seeing elsewhere. Her own free hand settles behind his shoulder, keeping a connection all along his upper arm.

Their movement starts there, a soft sway of shoulders dipping between wavelets and heartbeats, their joined hands beginning to rise and fall in time with the movement, then they add a third dimension, swooping back and forward on what seems a different beat. The Osprey leans in farther to rest her head on his shoulder. Fancy footwork seems odd here, and they stay grounded in the solid stone, the wind swirling around them.

After a moment, something clicks for her, finding his heartbeat's rhythm from the contact. She'd forgotten that it wasn't almost automatic with someone Osprey-trained. Not knowing his flexibility and trusting her own, she leans back farther on each long swing of their hands, folding over his hand at her waist in a slow swooping move.

It's not a dance that would be particularly impressive to watch, the rhythm is strange and there is no footwork to dazzle. But within the dance there's a sense of connection, for the dancers and to the world around them.

As they began to move, it suddenly struck Yul just how much this was like piloting. Letting her guide him, bringing their movements into perfect synchronicity, until there was no separation between movement and thought. How long had he practiced that, flying with Butterfly? The physicality of it is new; not just the movements, but the pleasant weight of her head on his shoulder, the feel of her body against his.

At first, Yul just kept up. He was reasonably able, agile and practiced, if not trained. His hand rose and fell with hers, and he swayed along with her. But when it clicked for her, something clicked for him, too. He couldn't feel the things she could feel... but he could feel her. And perhaps them, through her.

Yul's arm moved a little further, almost encircling Mumei's waist, not holding her tight, but close, intimately close even, as they moved. As she leaned back, he moved with her, supporting her as she dipped further back. His eyes, which had been calm, began to glint again, his passion beginning to rise.

She can feel the shift, letting her trust farther snd follow the wind in a sweeping backbend that necessitates letting go of his hand and sliding her other down from shoulder to elbow, confident in his grip. Her own eyes shine as she rises, her smile widening as she looks into his. "There you are," she whispers, hand once more at his shoulder.

Now the connection between them has the solidity that is all she can grasp of the earth yet, so she moves, bringing that sway into a gentle spin with slow undulations of shoulder and hip around that spinning center. They can both feel the lapping water in the movement, gentle but endlessly insistent, rising from powerful depths. "The fullness of this is a trance state, Yul-kun," she says quietly into the swaying. "I've sense enough to know that's a danger out here. But you feel it?"

Yul cannot help but grin at Mumei's whisper, his exhilaration shining through every bit of him, face and form.

He still wasn't entirely confident. He could not have taken the lead. But Yul was aware enough that he could be said to be moving with her, following so closely as for their mirrored motions to be simultaneous. He could expressed in words what rhythm they were moving to, but he could sense it, something powerful. Primal? Elemental? He could touch it, but he couldn't quite know it.

"Yes." He murmured. His hand shifted again, to rest on the curve of her hip, experiencing the motion as she swayed. "I feel it." His breath brushed her ear as he spoke.

They are much too close for a dance floor, to share with curious eyes, and in synch with a rhythm only she can hear. Mumei can feel herself brimming with the power of it, and speaks--in part to tamp it back, just a bit, draw her practiced mind from the edge of ecstatic trance. "Once we were called the Seekers of Stars, seeking this connection to the stars, to worlds, to one another," she sighs, warm against his throat.

He thinks he can't lead, but she lets the feedback loop of his hand at her hip spin them slowly beside the deep blue water as she pulls slightly apart so she can look up at him, her gaze coming away from that distant place to fix upon him. "Kiss me?" she asks quietly, swaying into those points of connection as she slowly lets the sound of wind and waves fade from awareness.

Something large splashed somewhere, the two samurai able to see a large shadow slithering under the waves, a narrow sail-like membrane peeking out of the water. Whatever the creature was, it was slowly moving towards the shoreline, the few flying lizards lounging on the beach flapping their fur-covered wings as they scattered in the air.