Wave bit at Tom in the kiss, piercing his lip lightly, then her own, and sharing her blood in an ancient rite of binding for the two. The places where the blood exchanged tingled fiercely as she gazed into his eyes, holding his attention and almost daring him to try to look away.

Keeping his eyes open, he looked into hers, a muffled sound of surprise as he felt his lip burning, or so it felt like, alongside the sharp, metallic taste of blood. Eric’s words had drawn his attention for a brief moment, but he kept the focus on Wave, wondering what it was she was doing as his arms rubbed her back lightly, almost his entire weight pressed back against the stone wall now.

Eric got a little wobbly as his body reacted instinctively to subconsciously smelling blood. He glanced at the others, wondering what they were up to, but rather than inquire or look too hard, he started slipping out of the entrance, going off to seek out Lost with his loyal new companion.

Wave drew back from the kiss, and licked over her lips. "You're mine now. If you're wondering how close we can get, you can be theirs too." She waved a hoof dismissively. "They're a little weaker now than before, but they need servants, more than me at least. Their health insurance is pretty good." How did she know about health insurance? She'd probably never say.

“Theirs?” he questioned, running his fingers through her mane, his other hand going to his lip as the taste of blood slowly faded away as he swallowed. “You mean, the gods you serve?” Tom clarified, looking up to the cavern’s ceiling, thinking. “What would it entail, Wave? And what do you mean by me being yours, exactly? Was the bite part of something?”

Wave shrugged a little. "It's just a bit of romantic thought on my part. They enlisted me, remember? I know… so very little about them, in the end. I suppose the first thing we'd need to do is get some ponies back in the temple." She leaned against Tom with a sigh. "If you think any of them want to do that? I doubt it. They didn't look like they wanted a new god or three to worry about."

Tom lightly smiled at her, shrugging. “Honestly, I don’t know. This place is pretty cold, if you wanted to get ponies to visit again, things would need to change a lot? I still don’t even know much about this place, or all that much about you, really,” he admitted, letting his hands roam. “Besides the fact that you’re cute, extremely possessive, deadly and long lived. So, what now then? It’s been a long time since I’ve gotten close to another, to be honest.”

Wave wiggled a hoof in the air. "You've covered the really important parts, except the bit about my hair. You shouldn't forget that." She tossed the bright-golden mane lightly, letting it fall in a smooth wave. "As for it being cold, that's a little outside my control. It wasn't always that cold, but it was always a little nippier here than elsewhere. Maybe everywhere got a little colder? What am I supposed to do about that?"

“Maybe you could make a new place? I mean, there’s nothing around here that we’ve seen, and we’re a good week or so from the closest ponies. Not the most hospitable place to have to go to. As for being ‘theirs’ I’ll think about it, Wave,” Tom remarked, messing with her mane a bit. “And yes, your hair is, hmm, not cute. Beautiful, I’d say, like strands of gold.” Grinning a bit, Tom finally looked around, taking his eyes off Wave. “Huh… Eric isn’t here. Wonder if he went off after Lost and Footnote?”

Wave frowned a little as she looked out into the blowing winds. "I'm not sure if I should hope he finds them or not. As for moving…" She clopped her forehooves together timidly. "I'd need something… That tablet would have been useful. I don't know anything about them! I feel so stupid. Spend a few millennia watching over their things and I don't even know their names. They're probably laughing at me right now."

“Should we go after Eric, or wait for him to return?” Tom asked first, also looking at that hole in the cave’s mouth. “As for the other thing, well,” he looked up to the ceiling again and shook his fist. “Silly gods, not teaching their guardian about them! It’s not your fault, Wave, it’s theirs,” Tom finished with a smile, giving her a quick kiss before stretching his arms a bit.

Wave looked increasingly guilty. "It's not their fault… The priests tried to teach me. They'd come out and say sermons in earshot of me, or invite me to rituals, but it felt so silly before. But now that they're all gone. I mean, now that everything is all gone… It feels more important now, and there are no priests left to ask these things..."

Tom gently brought a finger to her chin, kissing her nose lightly. “It’s okay, Wave, there’s been things in the past I know that I’ve ignored that I probably should have been paying attention to. We all do it, believe it or not.” Giving her a goofy grin, he hugged her tighter. “The nice thing about history? Even ancient stuff has records somewhere. And if Eric can find Lost and Footnote, then the tablet will help a lot. I’m not really sure why I ended up here, but I’ll help you out however I can, okay? Even if everything is gone, life brings new folks around, yeah?”

Wave nodded with building hope, though her thoughts strayed. She considered her new mate, and all that he stood for. "I won't make that mistake again." She pushed down on his shoulders as she sat up. "I'm listening. I want to hear what you like, and dislike. What's your favorite kind of music? Color? Tell me."

Chuckling, Tom brought a hand up to his chin, humming slightly. “I’ve always been partial to blues, as far as color goes. Could never settle on just one shade before, although I might be settling on a favorite one now,” he joked, smiling at her. “Guessing you’d rather wait for Eric to get back, so what else… music is anything with a saxophone in it, which is typically jazz, if you know what that is. It varies widely, but all of it is good.” With his free hand, he smoothed some of the fur on her legs, a bit of doubt creeping into his mind if this was something he wanted before it was quashed rather quickly.

Wave gestured down at her blueish body. "Well that works out nicely, doesn't it? Or are you just saying that to butter me up?" The way her eyes half-lidded and the flutter of her lashes implied she didn't entirely mind being buttered up. "What's your favorite animal?" She rolled her eyes. "And you'd better not say pony or siren, we're not animals anyway." She showed a rather strong drive, and ignored all comments and questions outside of where she wanted to go.

“It does work out rather nicely, doesn’t it?” Tom asked, grinning a bit as he shook his head. “But, it was that before meeting you, Wave, although red always took a close second. As for animals, back home it was just us humans who were ‘smart’ really. But, the ponies there weren’t all that attractive, and sirens were legends who lured sailors to their doom… I’d have to say that title goes to cats. Graceful and prideful, they didn’t care about anything but what they wanted, and they were never afraid to let you know… even if it meant annoying the everliving crap out of you. My cat way back when just loved hooking her claws in my nostrils when she wanted something and I was asleep.” Leaning forward, he gave her another quick kiss, brushing through some of her mane and resting on an ear, gently rubbing it between two fingers.

Her hooves rested on either side of his head as she smiled at him. "I never had a cat before. Most of them don't like the water much." She shrugged softly. "Just as well. Any cat I did have would have been long gone by now. That would have been sad…" She glanced away, then back at her mortal companion. How long did she have to enjoy his company? It already felt too short, but she didn't want to rush things. She was going to do it right. "Your friend misses a lot about your old world, what about you? You like it here so far?"

Tom brushed her cheek lightly with the back of a hand. “Hey, stay cheered up, Wave… as for Earth, I’m sorta torn, to be honest. As a child, my imagination ran rampant, and I absolutely loved fantasy novels. Magical worlds with creatures that didn’t exist on ours? It was a haven that I retreated into as a child, well into my early adult life. To know that such a world exists, and that I am in it? It’s,” he paused, face screwed up in concentration as his gaze unfocused for a long few seconds.

“I hadn’t even managed to put down any roots yet, and my contact with others was extremely limited. The time here has been hard, and I am not meant for so much physical exertion,” he paused to chuckle weakly, “But I met you, and Lost and Footnote were both interesting ponies. Eric, he has a family of his own, not just his parents, but a wife and child. That’s a pretty powerful anchor. I have nothing like that to hold me back. Once we don’t have to fear for our life, I’m sure it will become that much more enjoyable.”

Wave stuck out her tongue lightly. "We'll get you into shape. That's something you can change, if you want, and it sounds like you'd rather be moving than sitting around, which is fine. I think I've had more than my fill of sitting around, you know? If I saw that pool one more day in dim dullness, ugh." She leaned in and rubbed noses softly. "I'll take a baker's dozen of shadow hounds before that, especially if it means we get to be together." She paused a moment before asking with a bit of uncertainty, "That was romantic, right?"

Tom couldn’t help but let out a small laugh as he nodded. “Very much so, Wave, it was quite romantic, although perhaps you could choose something a little safer than a dozen shadow hounds to use. But, I’m glad that I could carry you out of your prison and back into the world… even if we are still trying to get to it,” he joked, scratching her ear lightly. “And yes, I need to get in shape. It’s one of those things that is really easy to tell yourself to do, but doing it is another matter entirely. Much easier now, though, I imagine. You’re not too heavy, but carrying you around everywhere is helping a lot, not that I’ve minded doing so that is,” he quickly added on to catch what could possibly be seen as a slip. Never, ever, infer that a woman, no matter her species, is fat.

Wave softly nudged him on the shoulder. "Exactly. We're not overflowing on food and snacks, and there's plenty to do. You'll lose weight even if you try not to at this rate." Her face soured a little. "Ugh, I should have hit up Footnote a lot harder on what he knew about sirens. By the time I started trying to get information, he was getting nervous from the wolf in the cave." She sighed softly. "We'll have to look it up when we get to a town, I guess?"

Nodding, Tom looked to the entrance of the cave briefly. “If we’re lucky, you’ll get to pick his brain a bit more. I laughed a bit when he thought you meant it literally. Perhaps it was your teeth that unnerved him?” he mused aloud, chuckling a bit more. “And I’d also like to learn about sirens, what we had in myth back home probably doesn’t compare at all, as they were mostly seen as bad, and you’re anything but. Least I can walk on those hooves now, mostly. Still find that weird, if a bit cool, to be honest.”

Next Chapter: 16 - Never Split the Party Estimated time remaining: 3 Hours, 29 Minutes