Wonderlust had taken a firm grip upon the child's heart once more. Her mothers felt ill at ease whenever this happened, but did not wish to clip their daughter's wings. However, they felt better with the knowledge that when she left home now, a pocket full of silver would always ensure the child's safe return home. Today was no different. Armed with a few enchanted weapons happened upon in her travels or gifted from various people, Akira had a bag full of a few trinkets, food, an extra set of clothing, a blanket, even a single doll. Of course… Steve too. Stupid bird.

While Akira could grumble continuously about Steve, and being seemingly indestructible, the child tried to remain bright and positive. Not wanting to get the pretty clothing her mothers have bought her, she had ventured out in her customary white cotton kimono. Yet her hair was pulled back by a pink bow into a single pony-tail. She giggled when she realized now she had two tails. It was the first time the child was a passanger on an airship, and she was amazed.

Standing on one of the blue velvet seats, Akira's face was pressed against the glass as she watched the clouds and the small land and ant like creatures below. Everything seemed so small up here! The closer they got to her destination, however, turned into confusion. Wasn't that supposed to be water? Why was it orange? It bubbled and there was steam rising above it, like a boiling pot of water on the stove or over a fire. When other passangers noticed it, they shrieked.

"Um, excuse Akira, but what is it?" she asked the first person she saw, pointing out the window. "That's lava, dear child." "Lava? What that?" So the woman described it as liquid rock at extremely high temperatures that causes everything to burn when it comes above the earth's surface. As they descended toward the city, the temperature was rising, even inside the cool ship. From here, the foxling could see people walking up to the edge of the lava, and throwing things in, objects that reflected the sun's rays like glitter at her.

Once the ship landed, Akira shouldered her pack and began walking through the streets, looking for a way to get to the lava and see what the people were doing. But she easily got lost as usual.

Lokir had been in the city for two days now, he had had a job when he first got here and on the second day decided to take a look around the city a little more. To that end he had left his armour suit and sword at the room he was renting at the inn and wore normal clothing and his boots from his armour set, but that was in. His grey hair and light beard were well kept as normal as he walked through the streets.

Something was off though, the city was much hotter than normal as Lokir soon found out why. The ocean, it was all lava! What by the Gods was going on?! Heading towards the lava shore, Lokir saw that some of the richer folks of the city were throwing their belongings into the lava to burn, but they didn't look at all happy about it. Then why do it? Were they being compelled?

He had no idea, but he wasn't feeling that compulsion himself at the moment at least, maybe it didn't affect those that didn't have very much? He had heard the airship come in while he had been walking and saw some of the passengers disembark and start to stare at the spectacle with him. One of them he saw was a little girl with fox ears.

It was then he started to feel that his boots were getting hotter and hotter the longer he stayed in place. He frowned but soon found himself raising one foot after the other off the ground to keep them from feeling like they were going to burn. He started to head towards a building to get his feet off the ground, but saw that the little fox eared girl was actually alone, no one was going to help her.

Looking around Lokir made a decision, not wanting to see the little one with burnt feet, he rushed out back onto the burning street. Wincing with each step the knight came up to the little girl and didn't waste much time with introductions. ”Come, little one, get off the street before you burn you feet.” He instructed his own feet he could now feel were burnt, like a sunburn but it would get worse. Picking her up with or without her permission, Lokir hauled ass back to the shop he had been in, and he wasn't alone, a few others had come inside when they felt their feet burning.

Once his feet were off the ground and on the wooden floor the heat went away, but the pain didn't. He set the child down and winced as he found a place to sit and pull his boot and sock off. Yup, the pad of his foot was red from being burnt, it would heal, he wasn't human after all, but that didn't make it less painful. He removed his other boot but left his socks on for now. ”Ah, that's going to hurt for a bit.” He looked to Akira. ”Are you okay? Are your feet burnt?” He asked. ”I'm Lokir, um, where are your mommy and daddy?” He asked, maybe she had gotten lost? Maybe they were part of the ones still out there throwing things into the lava? He looked outside for a moment, those poor people, compelled by the look of it to keep throwing things into the lava, their feet must very burnt by now if his own were as red as they were from that short time he had been out there.

Everything seemed so warm. The closer she approached the lava ocean, the warmer it got. This was her guiding factor as to which direction she wanted to go. As long as she kept moving, her feet didn't complain too much about the growing heat underfoot. It was all going according to the plan of curiosity, until…

Someone called out to a little one, and Akira briefly looked around as she continued. There were no little ones around. Quite the opposite, actually. An approximately six foot giant of a man who looked older than the young face suggested due to the grey hair was looking right at her. The child stopped in her tracks, turned toward him and tilted her head as she gazed up at him. He was coming straight for her! Just as she took a step to dart away, she was scooped up.

She was stunned, and just blinked as she watched him carry her into a shop full of people. It wasn't as if he was kidnapping her, his words had suggested something else. He seemed concerned for her safety for one reason or another. Gently, she was replaced on the ground, her wide golden eyes following as he sat down and proceeded to remove boot and sock. So intent on him, that she did not realize how cool the shop floor felt on her feet.

When he asked after her feet, Akira lifted one to look at the bottom of her shoe. Replacing her foot on the floor, her attention returned back to Lokir as he introduced himself, and she began to giggle. "Akira have no mommy and daddy. They disappear long ago. But two mommies gave Akira home. Mommy Celes and Mommy Larka at home in… Soolairya. If they not on job." Truly, she was getting better, slightly, with her pronunciation of things, and Celeste was trying to work on the third person references.

"Lokir? You know what they do with glowy orange water? Akira want to see. You take Akira to go and see?" Maybe, just maybe, if everyone is throwing things in the lava, and it disappears… Maybe Steve can disappear too? For good this time.

She didn't seem to be harmed from the burning ground outside, which was good. Lokir frowned a little when she said that she had no parents, they disappeared a long time ago. But as she continued Lokir raised a brow; two mommies? Interesting, so she had been adopted by a lesbian couple then? Lokir's puzzled faced turned into a smile, that was good at least that she had a home. But why was she here alone? He had to think for a moment on the city named she said. ”Sularia you mean? Well, you are far from home, Akira. But why are you here by yourself and not with your mommies?” He asked confused and now somewhat upset by the fact that her new mommies would allow such a young child to be away so far on her own.

But he heard his name and that brought his attention back to her, Akira was curious about the lava, and really so was Lokir. Lokir wanted to take a look at things as well, but his feet were already burnt. ”I think the Gods are angry, Akira, the water has turned to lava and people are throwing their valuables in it for some reason.” He paused a moment. ”The ground is starting to get really hot, Akira, my feet are burnt from it and they hurt, thankfully you didn't get hurt.” He explained just as someone else came rushing into the building bouncing from one foot to another before dropping to the floor to take the boots off. Their socks burnt through and the skin in boils, a few people went to help the poor soul.

”Let's wait a bit, okay? Maybe this won't last long.” He suggested for now, but he was curious himself as to what was doing on. ”In the mean time, what brings you all this way from home without your mommies?” He asked again curious about this as well, and wondering if he should try and get her home as well. Where the two women looking for the child at this moment? But she had mentioned they could be on a job. What kind of job did they have, he wondered?

The child nodded eagerly when Lokir gave her the correct pronunciation of her home town. "Because Akira begged. Mommies said yes." They couldn't honestly keep her at home. If they had said no, Akira would have probably obeyed, but would become more and more depressed until they allowed her the freedom she craved. Not that Celeste and Larka were smothering parents, they were protective and cared for her. Yet they understood the need to travel, as it was all she has known for these last six years.

"But why? Can we protect self from heat and visit? Please?" Before anything else could be said, Akira turned to the burst of commotion behind her. A poor man was hopping to and fro, and pulled his boots off to show giant bubbles, red and angry bubbles on the bottom of his feet. With a frown, Akira lifted her chin and walked over to the man. The adults were trying to shoo her away, yet she waved them off, or swatted their hands away from her. One of them women tried to raise her voice at Akira, yet with a wave of the hand, the woman could not open her lips, looking puckered like a duck's bill as if something was pinching them closed.

Gingerly, Akira pulled the injured foot closer for inspection without touching the boils. "Angry bubbles." "Children have no right poking their little nose in adult problems. Go away, let us deal with this." Still, the child ignored them as she looked around and spotted a glass of water. The frown deepened as she stared at the glass. Ice crystals formed and branched out until the entire thing was frozen solid. It rose out of the glass and floated to her outstretched hands. Holding it a mere inch from the man's burned feet, her hands began to glow slightly, allowing the ice and cool air radiating off of it to have healing properties.

Soon both feet were almost good as new. Standing, Akira silently walked out of the gaping, astounded crowd of adults as she returned to Lokir. Rubbing her eyes, she looked a bit unsteady on her feat. "You ask about mommies? They Mersanaries. Fight bad people and monsters, keep people safe." With that, she climbed into Lokir's lap and curled up, snuggling against him. "Akira like you, Lokir. Mommies would too."

”You begged them to let you travel alone and they let you?” He questioned and thought a moment. Interesting indeed, but she had been adopted, so it was likely he was missing a lot of the story here between them. Maybe he shouldn't sell the two women short for allowing their daughter to roam around alone like she was if it was something she had begged them to allow her to do. She persisted in asking to see the lava up close however, and Lokir would have said more but the injured man came rushing in with burnt feet.

Lokir felt sorry for him, but then noticed that Akira had walked away from him and over the burnt man. Well, this should prove interesting, Lokir didn't bother to try and stop her, he got the feeling it wouldn't work anyway since she was waving off the other adults in the room. Lokir watched the scene with a grin, children doing magic wasn't new to him, he himself had learned around Akira's age that he could create weapons out of pure magic.

But perhaps it was her looks that added to the astonishment of the crowd as Akira used the ice and her magic to heal the man's feet that made them gasp and gape as they did. Lokir chuckled lightly while he watched the adults become amazed at what the little girl had done, as she walked back over to him, a little unsteady on her feet. He could understand, that probably had taken a lot more effort than she realized so her body was tired from it, unused to such excursion of power. Lokir did wonder, however, if Akira realized just what she had done and what kind of power she could wield when she became older? It would be fun to watch her to grow into her power, he thought.

She climbed up in his lap which brought him out of his thinking and confused for a moment, well, she was a trusting one. Ah, so her mommies were mercenaries then, would somewhat explain how they would end up finding a wondering child like Akira and adopting her. ”I like you to, Akira, and I'd like to meet your mommies one day. And that was a very nice thing you did for that man.” Lokir replied with a smile.

He thought for a few moments, now that he knew she had ice magic, maybe he could help her see the lava up close? ”Akira, if you still want to see the lava up close I can take you. But, do you think you can keep my feet wet and cool if I take enough water with us? It will stop my feet from burning further and I can carry you there so you don't burn your own feet.” He suggested, wondering if she'd take him up on the offer if she knew how to control her magic beyond a possible emotional control.

[OOC: Gmod granted, do as you like :) ]

Snuggled as she was against Lokir, Akira frowned. "Akira hear his pain. It screams, ugly red, burning. Now pain is gone, and all is silent again… Kinda." The pain from other people's heated feet was still there, but they were very quiet in comparison to that man's feet. It was hard to explain, but this was the way things were becoming for her. Ever since she discovered the ability to push things with her mind, Celeste had been working with her, but with little success.

Yet, she had been hesitant to reveal the discovery of hearing something she was sure only she could hear. Akira wanted to be sure what it was before approaching her parents. Before she could answer Lokir, however, the man she had healed approached them. The child peeked from beneath her hair at him. "Thank you, young one, for what you did. Here, it's not much but, I hope you enjoy it." He offered her a sweet roll and a glass bottle of milk, which was obviously recently purchased. Hesitantly, she accepted the gifts, looked up at Lokir who nodded his approval. After all, she had used up quite of energy doing what she did.

After consuming the treats, Akira felt much better and contemplated the idea this giant had proposed. "Akira can try, but no can promise anything. Akira never done this before." Idly, as he retrieved the water required, Akira wondered if this had anything to do with Celeste's ability to control water that she could too. Lokir came back and asked if she was ready, to which she nodded and lifted her arms for him to pick her up. Closing her eyes, she concentrated like Celeste had instructed, searching for the water in Lokir's possession. The child lifted her hand before her, moving it from side to side methodically, the water responding to it in their containers.

With the established control, the pair made their way. Water was constantly being rotated. What wasn't being used on his feet was cooling off the warm water she had just switched out. She stayed silent through it all. How could she keep this up and inspect the lava? The closer they got, the more she had to switch out the water it felt like. They had finally made it, and Akira opened her eyes, noticing a building close enough that she could watch, yet far enough away to not be burned. Creating an icy stairway for Lokir, they made it to the roof.

Getting them this far was amazing, but she doubted she would have the strength to get them back. Right now, she just wanted to curl up and sleep. Creeping as close as she dared to the edge, Akira watched the people walking toward the edge of the ocean and throwing away all those precious items. Some of them glittered in the orange red glow, showing that they were precious stones and gold. There were paintings and statues, toys, jewelry, books and more. Akira nearly fell off the roof as she went to lunge forward, watching to catch some of the shiny objects, her fatigue now forgotten. "SHINY!!"

Lokir eyes Akira for a moment when she spoke of hearing the pain the man was feeling. ”You can hear his pain?” Lokir questioned carefully, wondering if he understood her rightly or not. The man she had healed came over to them and Akira peeked around her hair at him while Lokir kept an eye on him. He thanked Akira for healing him and offered a sweet roll and milk, Lokir eyed him, he seemed legitimate, so he nodded to Akira after to show her it was okay to take the offered food.

He allowed her to eat the treats in peace while he watched the crowd of people and looked out the window now and then. Panic filled the city, Lokir would really liked to have gotten Akira back to her mothers, but at the moment that was looking like a no go with everything that was going on. She finished her meal and said that she could try, having done it before, but he'd give her the chance to try, worst cast he'd have to make a run to another building while carrying her.

Lokir got the water and lifted Akira up again, he thought about doing this in bear form, but that meant for feet for her to concentrate on instead and it would probably scare people. He watched her for a moment until the water started to move and Lokir headed outside, carefully stepping out, but the water she was controlling did its job and kept his feet cool enough to stand on the hot ground. But Lokir didn't risk standing in one place for too long.

He could feel the water moving around his feet faster the closer they got, but when they were close Akira created a stairway up to a building for him. Well, that was interesting, she had more control perhaps than she knew. Up on the roof Lokir set her down and watched as she moved to the edge and he did the same, being careful of his balance. He watched with a different perspective than Akira, as the people threw their valuables into the lava ocean to be destroyed, but the look on their faces showed that they didn't want to be doing this.

Lokir watched Akira and she suddenly almost fell in an attempt to get closer to the shinies, as she called them. ”Easy, Akira.” Lokir said reaching out to place a hand on her shoulder to prevent her from jumping off. ”They can't help themselves throwing it into the lava, and the lava will destroy it all. The Gods, or at least two of them from what I have heard, are angry with people and are making them do this to themselves. Look at their faces, they don't want to do this, but they can't stop. If you go down there and start getting stuff you might feel compelled to throw it into the lava like everyone else. We'll be safe up here, and good job, Akira, you did really well with the water and the ice.” He praised at the end, trying to end something rather upsetting on a more positive note.

Lokir held Akira fast, preventing the child from irrational, stupid decisions. Still, her eyes were for those shining objects glinting in that orange glow. Pouting, she listened. Perhaps they couldn’t help themselves, but why the complacent people were throwing them out didn’t the fact that it was still happening. Still, there was something she did want to throw out there. Not because a god demanded it, but there was an evil that needed to be eradicated.

”But Akira has something to add…” From the way that little flares of flame licked at items as they rested on the surface before submerging, the lava had to be hotter than regular kitchen flames. If this was the case, why did people not use lava to cook with? Even with this distance, Akira found herself wiping her brow with her sleeve, as the heat was somewhat intense. ”Why we no cook with lava? It hot.”

Yes, as a child she was having difficulties staying on one topic, especially with the fatigue from her magical escapade. An idea slowly came to her. ”Lokir? If Akira give you item, would you throw it?” She believed him to be asleep. If they do this right, he’d be soaring long before he woke up to latch onto anything. Slowly, she took her pack off, and carefully put it on the ground. As silently as possible, she opened it and shuffled a couple of items around, looking for one particular item.

She pulled out a ragged looking bird like toy. He smelled a little singed, an unpleasant aroma Akira had no luck in clearing. Meticulously, she placed the toy very specifically in Lokir’s hand, trying to ensure that it could not latch onto the man’s hand. Pointing to the lava, she gave him the most pitiful look. ”Please.”

Lokir raised a brow when Akira stated that she had something to add to the lava. What could that be?! Before she said what that was and before Lokir could prompt for that information she asked why people didn't cook with lava since it was hot. Lokir chuckled lightly with a broad smile. ”It's too hot, Akira. If you put something to cook into fire it will take a little while to cook, and you can control and contain the fire in a fireplace or stove as well. And the fire you cook with is normally burning wood. Well, lava is melted rocks, and it will burn through a stove and almost the instant something touches lava it ignites into flames.” If it wasn't for the fact that they were on a roof and the ground was boiling hot Lokir could have gotten a stone and demonstrated, but he looked up in time to see someone carrying a bust statue towards the lava. ”Ah, see there, that man carrying that statue? If you put that into a fire it would only make the stone really hot, but that's all. Watch.” The man threw the statue into the lava, and made a beeline to get off of the ground, and the statue hit the lava and slowly started to melt down into it. ”See how the lava is melting the stone?” Maybe that was a practical demonstration?

Akira then asked if he'd throw an item into the lava for her. ”Uh, well…” He started, not sure how to reply to that as Akira removed a bird looking toy from her pack, it smelled like it had already been burned once. As she placed the toy in his hand the hair on the back of Lokir's neck stood on end, nope, he didn't like this thing already. His instinct was kicking in to tell him that this toy thing wasn't good. He studied it for a moment before looking back to Akira, who was giving him a look he couldn't ignore, so he nodded. ”Okay.” He agreed, he didn't think he needed to ask why, or wanted to, since he would guess that might upset Akira. The fact a child her age was asking him to throw a toy into the lava wasn't a common thing, so he wasn't about to argue.

Still, the fact that it smelled singed already didn't him feel any better.

He stood and got a better grip on the thing before pulling his arm back and threw the toy towards the lava. Only, he hadn't. Lokir looked puzzled when he saw that the toy was no longer in his hand, but it also wasn't flying through the air towards the lava, or in the lava already. He went to scratch his forehead but then started when he saw that the toy thing was clinging to his arm! ”Uh.” He grabbed the toy and started to pull on it, but he couldn't get it dislodged despite his strength.

Suddenly it did come off which threw his arm back and the thing wiggled out of his hand and bonked him the face sending him backwards. When Lokir hit the roof on his back and started to slide a blade formed in his hand of grey magic and he rammed it into the roof to stop himself from falling off. Getting back to his feet he looked to Akira. ”Akira, what is that thing anyway?” He wasn't angry or upset just very confused, and was now starting to figure out why she would want rid of such a thing. But why was it like that in the first place?