“Good.” There’s a faint smile at the corner of his mouth; he’d been waiting for this. “Nothing ventured, nothing gained. I’ll speak to Niehaus once we’re back.”
And they keep going, forging into the Planasene as the day wears on. Eventually the well-traveled paths fade away, so they have to push through the undergrowth; whenever they reach a particularly difficult impasse, Strange summons up magical energy to brusquely whisk it aside, or Tav draws on nature for a gentler manipulation to make the branches lean away for them.
Tav’s bag fills with herbs and roots and seeds where they can find them, and the light drains from the sky. The sorcerer eventually calls it when twilight’s close (he’s just an ordinary human, he doesn’t have darkvision), and they camp out in a fairly large glade to set up their individual tents and bedrolls, with a low fire between the two tents. Hopefully they’re far enough from the front that there aren’t any Tevene forces nearby. If any wild animals get any hungry ideas, he’s certain they’ll be able to take care of it between them; having already fought an alien invasion and no end of demons and other sorcerers, the doctor is terrifically blasé about the idea of danger. They eat a simple dinner; they bid each other a polite goodnight.
Strange lies on his back, hands folded over his chest, restless, the mouth of the tent open so he can see the stars. It feels odd, not feeling the faint movement of water underfoot, not having the weight of someone else on a mattress beside him. It turns out he’s gotten awfully accustomed to sleeping next to Gwenaëlle on her houseboat, and he didn’t even realise until now how much that’s become home —
Still. It’s just one night away. It’s not going to kill him.
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Date: 2024-07-31 01:29 am (UTC)And they keep going, forging into the Planasene as the day wears on. Eventually the well-traveled paths fade away, so they have to push through the undergrowth; whenever they reach a particularly difficult impasse, Strange summons up magical energy to brusquely whisk it aside, or Tav draws on nature for a gentler manipulation to make the branches lean away for them.
Tav’s bag fills with herbs and roots and seeds where they can find them, and the light drains from the sky. The sorcerer eventually calls it when twilight’s close (he’s just an ordinary human, he doesn’t have darkvision), and they camp out in a fairly large glade to set up their individual tents and bedrolls, with a low fire between the two tents. Hopefully they’re far enough from the front that there aren’t any Tevene forces nearby. If any wild animals get any hungry ideas, he’s certain they’ll be able to take care of it between them; having already fought an alien invasion and no end of demons and other sorcerers, the doctor is terrifically blasé about the idea of danger. They eat a simple dinner; they bid each other a polite goodnight.
Strange lies on his back, hands folded over his chest, restless, the mouth of the tent open so he can see the stars. It feels odd, not feeling the faint movement of water underfoot, not having the weight of someone else on a mattress beside him. It turns out he’s gotten awfully accustomed to sleeping next to Gwenaëlle on her houseboat, and he didn’t even realise until now how much that’s become home —
Still. It’s just one night away. It’s not going to kill him.