[Soriana]

Lokiri figured all this talk was becoming less and less interesting to Astrum. I've been rambling on like a lunatic, forgive me. Without so much as a glance upward, the demigod tensed his haunches and sprang onto the trunk of the tree. He immediately protracted his claws to avoid loosing his grip, and climbed up to meet the other lucain. No sooner had he almost reached his destination when he noticed Astrum traveling in the opposite direction. He'd heard her mention water, so he assumed she was talking about the small spring located at the base of the tree. Lokiri spotted it only moments after the femme decided to latch onto the stringy bark. Shall I wait for you, then? But he didn't bother lingering for an answer. His claws were beginning to slip. With a powerful thrust from his hind legs, he jumped for the branch that Astrum had been lying on only a minute or so before. It was pretty easy. For him, at least. Lokiri gave a half smile, satisfied with his rather graceful landing. Well, he chuckled, that answers that question.

{8}

[Kestrel]

"Th-th-there Night," Astrum stumbled over the word 'there'.
Night drank from the stream, contented. After a moment's pause, Astrum joined her. Then, sighing and stretching, she wondered what to do next.
Why don't I test my abilities? she thought, and turned to probe into the little Kudagetsune's mind.
The only thing Night was thinking about at the moment was water. Crystal clear water.
Humph. What about Lokiri? She turned. Now, where is he? Ah. her eyes rested on the male. Drat. He's too far away. Then, smiling, Astrum decided on something to do. Let's play a little game, shall we, Night?
The Kudagetsune stopped drinking and nodded. Astrum set off running through the forest. She lept onto a tree and waited after he was out of sight. Let's see if he can find me.

{35}

[Soriana]

Ah. So she wants to play hide and seek? I'm game. The branch he was perched on was a good distance from the ground, but that didn't bother him any. He bent his knees and arched his paws for a safe descent, and leapt. Barely a second after he thudded onto the forest floor, Lokiri began to jog silently so that Astrum would not be alerted of his position. But if she's as powerful as I believe she is, she'll have no trouble locating me. And as for Lokiri, well... his powers weren't as strong as usual in a place that was unfamiliar to him, a place he'd never been before. Like Roraldi. He knew his nose wouldn't do him any good, so he concentrated once again on telepathy. There was this new technique he'd heard about, a sort of "echolocation" for psychics. Of course he'd read about it in the newspaper, typical Lokiri. And seeing as it was recently developed, it wasn't that accurate. He'd tried it on Picasso once before, and it worked. Of course, finding Picasso doesn't require echolocation. You don't even need a good pair of ears to hear that idiot's thundering paws. He began to focus all his energy on the surrounding environment, and projected it into nature. He could feel the power rushing through his veins. Suddenly, the image of a tall tree popped into his mind. Lokiri sighed and rolled his eyes. That's real helpful. There are only hundreds of thousands of trees in Roraldi!

{9}

[Kestrel]

Seeing him almost right below her, Astrum shushed Night and leaped to the next tree.
Now... where is he? Concentrating, she saw the forest floor. That's really helpful. she thought sarcastically.
Leaves rustled. Turning her head, she saw Night was playing with some branches.
"Stop that Night!" she whisper-shouted, then jumped to another tree, and another, and another. She looked down and saw a dot of purple.
Purple? What would be purple? Then, she wondered if she could send pictures to Lokiri. Hm... I'll try it on Night.
She sent her Kudagetsune a picture of ice, her least favorite thing. Night didn't respond, so she tried again. On the 17th try, Night finally turned black, which she only turned when she saw ice.

{36}

[Soriana]

Oblivious to Astrum and Night's own little game, Lokiri continued to search for the femme while practicing his psychic abilities. Now that I think about it, there are two things I never quite mastered in my training. Mind control and levitation. Mind control isn't an advisable endeavor, at least right now. But levitation... man, I haven't tried levitation since I was a pup. He slowed his brisk pace and halted beside a medium-sized stone. It was rather smooth, with few holes or dents. Perfect for a practice run. He squeezed his eyes shut, gritted his teeth, dug his claws into the moderately soft ground, and focused intently on the rock. Concentrate. Let all thoughts leave your mind, Lokiri told himself, let nothing cloud your judgment. Focus on the task at hand. After a solid minute, the rock vibrated slightly, but almost immediately returned to its state of lifelessness. Drat. This will take more effort than I thought.

{10}

[Kestrel]

A rock. He was trying to levitate a rock. Wonderful.
How do you levitate things? she wondered to herself. Then, shaking the thought away, she contined to practice sending pictures. She would try to send Night her favorite thing (cucumbers) and see when she glowed white. Drawing up a picture of a cucumber, she pushed it towards the Kudagetsune. Night obviously saw something, because she looked around, but couldn't identify it as a cucumber. After many attempts like that, Night glowed white... after the 14th try.
Astrum sighed. Well, at least that's improvement. she thought.
She decided to see what he was doing. He was still trying to lift the rock. How much progress did he make? She didn't know. Apparently, he wasn't thinking about that right now. She looked again at the dot of purple. It had grown bigger.

{37}

[Soriana]

Yes, Lokiri was clearly becoming sidetracked. He kicked the rock away into the bushes, and grumbled to himself as he proceeded through the forest. Wow. I am an idiot. Telekinesis takes way more practice than that. What's wrong with me? This is supposed to be a game. He bit his lip, his mind ensnared on that last thought. I even treat games as a way to freak people out. I've... I've clearly changed a lot since the first time I met... him. The imbecile. Grrrrr... aw, forget it. And he did. Lokiri yawned slightly while dragging his feet across the forest floor. He didn't want to say anything, but the game was becoming boring. If we both have equally adept psychic abilities, then we can both avoid each other with precision. What's the point of continuing any longer, if it'll end up a stalemate?

{11}

[Kestrel]

Probing into his thoughts, she caught a snatch of it: psychic abilities, avoid, presicion, continuing, longer, end, and stalemate. That was really going to help find out what he was thinking.
She decided to practice mindreading on Night. Knowing very well that she was thinking of cucumbers, she convinced the Kudagetsune to sit still.
Cucumber. Cucumber. Stay still. Stay still.
Wow. She sure thinks simply, Astrum thought. Cucumber and Stay still.
What she gathered from this information was that she got most of main points of what someone was thinking. Night only thought in main points. Lokiri did not. Therefore, she couldn't practice on Night anymore.
She looked down. Lokiri was facing the other way.
Perfect. she thought, and leaped down (silently) to the forest floor.
Land quietly, Night! she instructed.
"Did you have fun levitating rocks?" she asked quietly, wondering how he'd react.

{38}