Lloyd snatching the carving before it can hit Zelos' hand comes as such a surprise that he can't help the yelp that escapes his mouth, but at least it's quickly replaced with an incredulous laugh when Lloyd takes off running with it, then trips, then rushes back. Zelos tries to warn him about the root, at least. The fact that Lloyd didn't listen is on him.
At first Zelos has half a mind to race him, and then he thinks about using that speed boosting ability from before to give himself an advantage, but ultimately he dismisses that; honestly, they didn't really complete the perimeter check. The least Zelos can do for their party is walk back to camp while feeling the atmosphere around them, focusing so he can catch anything in a larger range than usual. So he does just that, amplifying his range, slowly making his way and following Lloyd's steps.
It takes him a while to get back, like that, but soon enough he feel his own ether feeding the campfire somewhere close. But before Zelos can reach the camp, he hears an undignified cry from Lloyd echoing through the clearing, then roaring laughter from a voice Zelos now easily recognizes as Anna's. He snorts. Oh, boy. Something's going down. Led by curiosity now, Zelos drops his focus and hurries the rest of the way until he finally breaks foliage and returns to camp, opening his mouth to ask just what the hell did he miss, but all the visual image he gets instead is Anna dragging Malos to the ground and roughhousing her blade.
Oh, okay. That's--not weird, but still not what Zelos was expecting. He makes his way over to where Lloyd is and stands next to him, hands on his hips as he observes the mess happening before them. "Hello?" Zelos calls out, leaning forward. "I leave you people for like twenty minutes and you manage to start fighting! Did I miss something?"
Honestly!
Whatever! It doesn't matter in the end, anyway. Once the playfight ends and everyone's had dinner, the usual night watch arrangements are made and Zelos helps himself to some rest once he realizes that his driver won't be taking a turn tonight. His conversation with Lloyd, awkward as it may have been, sticks at the front of Zelos' mind as he falls asleep and reawakens on a grassy field at sunset, somewhere peaceful, somewhere safe. He spends about a minute just laying there, feeling the fake breeze and sunlight on his skin, taking in the beauty of a world constructed to suit his every whim.
To be honest, he hasn't opened the dreamspace in a long while since his last miserable interaction with Sheena, and he'd intended to keep it that way, but there's something that he still wants to ask. Something about Lloyd's ether and words that haunts him, the sensation of burned ether channels and a pull of power down an arm coalescing on his hand. He said something about an exsphere. Is that what it's like for Sheena, too? How does that affect her? Their lives are very much intertwined. Is she going to be alright after the mines?
Curiosity and worry bloom in his core as he sits up on the grass, pinging a signal to his driver to join him and waiting for an answer.
I LEAVE FOR A COUPLE DAYS AND YOU KILL LLOYD? AND AFTER THEIR NICE DATE? SMFH I'M TIMESKIPPING
At first Zelos has half a mind to race him, and then he thinks about using that speed boosting ability from before to give himself an advantage, but ultimately he dismisses that; honestly, they didn't really complete the perimeter check. The least Zelos can do for their party is walk back to camp while feeling the atmosphere around them, focusing so he can catch anything in a larger range than usual. So he does just that, amplifying his range, slowly making his way and following Lloyd's steps.
It takes him a while to get back, like that, but soon enough he feel his own ether feeding the campfire somewhere close. But before Zelos can reach the camp, he hears an undignified cry from Lloyd echoing through the clearing, then roaring laughter from a voice Zelos now easily recognizes as Anna's. He snorts. Oh, boy. Something's going down. Led by curiosity now, Zelos drops his focus and hurries the rest of the way until he finally breaks foliage and returns to camp, opening his mouth to ask just what the hell did he miss, but all the visual image he gets instead is Anna dragging Malos to the ground and roughhousing her blade.
Oh, okay. That's--not weird, but still not what Zelos was expecting. He makes his way over to where Lloyd is and stands next to him, hands on his hips as he observes the mess happening before them. "Hello?" Zelos calls out, leaning forward. "I leave you people for like twenty minutes and you manage to start fighting! Did I miss something?"
Honestly!
Whatever! It doesn't matter in the end, anyway. Once the playfight ends and everyone's had dinner, the usual night watch arrangements are made and Zelos helps himself to some rest once he realizes that his driver won't be taking a turn tonight. His conversation with Lloyd, awkward as it may have been, sticks at the front of Zelos' mind as he falls asleep and reawakens on a grassy field at sunset, somewhere peaceful, somewhere safe. He spends about a minute just laying there, feeling the fake breeze and sunlight on his skin, taking in the beauty of a world constructed to suit his every whim.
To be honest, he hasn't opened the dreamspace in a long while since his last miserable interaction with Sheena, and he'd intended to keep it that way, but there's something that he still wants to ask. Something about Lloyd's ether and words that haunts him, the sensation of burned ether channels and a pull of power down an arm coalescing on his hand. He said something about an exsphere. Is that what it's like for Sheena, too? How does that affect her? Their lives are very much intertwined. Is she going to be alright after the mines?
Curiosity and worry bloom in his core as he sits up on the grass, pinging a signal to his driver to join him and waiting for an answer.