Nothing to hide (Private, Cara)

It was cold. Not too cold, but cold. To be honest, Vortex quite enjoyed the low temperature, the early morning dew on his paws, and the calm song of the morning doves. It was a very tranquil place. He was very close Stormcaller territory, and did not care in the slightest, for they were decently friendly most of the time.... Unlike the Ki'Shan border patrol. So what if he... well, nevermind. He was also enjoying the fact that he had actually been able to sleep last night. He had been troubled with nightmares for the past month, about his past primarily, and it was nice to have a clear mind every now and then. The branches of the trees brushed against his scales as he walked through the forest, weaving through the trees, barely making a sound. Finding a spot he was content with, he sat down on his haunches and looked down at his claws, sighing as he saw there was still blood from his breakfast on them. The masked dragon had to admit he enjoyed the solitude, but was indeed a bit lonely.
(A bit short, but I suck at intros, so yay)

Caramina had considered wearing her favourite green scarf, for the weather today was cool, almost crossing the border that separated 'cool' and 'cold'. But she remembered what had happened last time, when she'd noticed that it was a cold day and had thus wandered into rogue territory with a scarf on, which had not ended well. She winced at the memory but continued on, her steady wingbeats unfaltering.

Wrong. It was still cool, in fact it was cold. The chilly wind whispering against her scales earned a filthy curse from the shivering Caramina, who wriggled around in the air in an attempt to gather warmth from her movements. Green sparking at the edge of her vision drew her eye, and she stopped rolling around and twirling in the air, muttering something about 'maybe I'll get shelter from this stupid wind' before starting to dive, angling downwards and arrowing through cold air that stole air from her lungs.

She landed as gracefully as she could, but stumbled and nearly tripped over a twig buried in the green green ground, protruding slightly out of the moss, such that it wasn't visible at first glance, but enough to trip her. She tucked her wings close to her, trying to appear composed as she wandered through the forest, the tall trees managing to block some of the wind, but wisps of wind still got past the trees, touching her the way feathers would, but it wasn't as cold now.

Oooh! Cool mask! was the first thought that surfaced when she spotted a male sitting down, his back against the tree. A smile breaking across her face, she murmured a greetings and watched him closely, wondering how he would react.

Vortex finally had a moment of silence as the birds stopped singing, but it was quickly interrupted by the sound of a twig being snapped, and the undeniable smell of a dragon carried by the soft breeze. Well hello there. he thought without looking to see who, or what, it was. slowly turning his head towards the scent, he saw a white dragoness with a greenish mane, who was, admittedly, quite beautiful. What was most interesting was he did not see the typical expression when others usually saw his mask. Instead, it seemed to be one of fascination.
Making no effort to move from his tree, he let a small smile touch his otherwise featureless maw, and blinked a few times before responding. "Greetings... What brings you out here?" He said softly in greeting, loud enough to hear.

Caramina continued observing Vortex with great interest, her eyes tracking from his unusual (but cool, she thought) mask to the rest of his body, which was layered with midnight-dark scales that held a subtle shine, hinting that it was very well kept. And his eyes! Gorgeous hues of deepest blue, unfortunately holding a guarded look that gave away nothing. A look for a stranger, but she shouldn't be so disappointed - after all, she was a stranger who'd popped up out of nowhere. She shrugged and sat, mimicking his posture, resting her weight on her haunches. "Boredom," came her reply, her eyes lifting up to meet his. "And you?"

Vortex let his eyes meet hers, deep blue orbs meeting dark green. He found himself a bit lost within her eyes, and looked down a little, trying not to show his embarrasment. "Boredom as well." He said, giving only a partial amount of the truth. Glancing again at his paws, he tried rubbing the blood off on the grass, which failed miserably. Sighing, he let his tail snake around and cover his bloodstained paws. Looking up, he let a tiny smile touch his maw as he shifted a little, stood up and strode a small distance away, to a small pond with barely any activity in it. Sitting on his haunches again, he looked down, intending to wash his forepaws but instead just staring at his reflection. "You're a Stormcaller, right? If you don't mind me asking, what is your name?" He asked, gaze not movinging from the surface of the water.

He has gorgeous eyes was the dreamy thought that repeatedly surfaced from the jumble of thoughts in her brain, snaggjng her attention. She couldn't resist a smile as her eyes explored the deep blue depths of his, and she shook her head in despair, as if to say, "Why oh why did fate decide to land me next to a rogue with pretty blue eyes?"

Her half-despairing smile melted into confusion when he stood, and she thought he was going to leave. She stood as well, following him, only to see him stop at the edges of a pond, a jagged circle of shimmering blue, reflecting his face and distorting it with ripples as the wind slid across the water's surface. She looked up, and she said, "Your eyes. They're pretty."

Okay. That was a bit embarrassing - but she had to tell him that. She just had to. She smiled awkwardly, a flush rising onto her cheeks, tinging it rose pink.

Vortex watched his reflection, remembering how much it had changed... Looking up from the surface of the water,he brushed away the memory and gazed directly at Caramina. "Thank you." He said, genuinely flattered. "As are yours." He saw the embarrassment in her expression and responded to it with a calm, comforting smile. It still doesn't answer my question. Part of his mind thought, considering voicing it, but quickly deciding against it. His tail slowly moving down, it slid along the grass and touched the water, causing an eruption of ripples along the surface in every direction. Sighing, he took his tail out of the water and ran it along the grass, attempting to dry it, but accidentally flicking some onto the dragoness. "Sorry..." He said in an almost sad tone.

Caramina watched Vortex, whose eyes were fixed on the reflective surface of the pond. His eyes were distant, perhaps remembering something, but snapped back into focus when she spoke. She wondered if he'd receive the compliment well, or throw it back to her, and her tensed shoulders relaxed when he smiled and told her the same. Her blush remained there, darkening slightly, and she murmured a thank-you; she hadn't expected him to return the compliment.

She allowed the silence between them to stretch, her eyes trailing to his tail as it slid into the water and flicked, not only causing ripples to roll across the smooth surface, but also splashing droplets onto her when he ran his tail across the grass. She shook her head. "It's fine," she said, then asked, "May I know your name? Mine is Caramina."

Vortex shifted his body, so that he was facing Caramina. "Vortex," He replied, "Nice to meet you, Caramina." His gaze traveled from her to the ground. Shifting, a little uncomfortably, he considered leaving, perhaps going back home; but, it had been a long time since he had ever met anyone who had been this nice to him, save for one of the Vuari. Making up his mind, moved nothing but his tail. Thinking it was going to be a relatively clear day, the one thing he did not account for was rain. Oh, but he did when a drop landed directly on his muzzle. Sighing and looking up, a frayed stormcloud sat overhead, as if mocking them. Looking back at the dragoness, he made a small shrugging motion, his shoulders rising and falling as a few more drops landed on him.

Vortex. Rihzome had mentioned his name once or twice during one of their conversations, and the name wasn't unfamiliar. "Lovely meeting you, too~" she said, the smile that'd slid off her face when he apologised (making her annoyed at her sad attempt to have a proper conversation) returning at full force. This smile was genuine, mostly constructed out of curiosity and excitement - she'd wanted to know more about Vortex when Rihzome had dropped his name, but Rihzome had been vague, quickly moving onto another topic - one about what was happening in Xøya. That had snagged her attention, causing her to forget about Vortex. At the first drop of rain, she sighed, feeling the droplet slip down her snout. At the second, she got up, muttering "We'd better go - I don't want to get drenched" to Vortex before realising that they had no idea where to go. "Um... Could we go to your den...? Or mine, if you like?"

Chuckling to himself, Vortex nodded nonchalantly. "My 'den' isn't exactly in the area." He replied, thinking back to his home on another continent. "You don't have to, I'm perfectly fine out here." He looked around, wind shaking the trees and letting the water droplets leak through, splattering against his scales. He responded to her smile with a small one of his own, which looked more miserable than happy. He was being genuine when he said it, as he was content to sit here until the storm died down a little. Still, he couldn't deny that something solid over his head would be nice. If the dragoness was willing it was unlikely he would not follow, since the storm was getting progressively worse.
(Short post, sorry)

Caramina huffed. "You're fine with being battered by water... But I'm not," she said as several more water droplets splashed onto her face and body, trickling downwards to the ground. She stood and tried to shake herself dry, then, feeling more rain fall onto her, she glared up at the darkening sky and called up a wind shield to cover herself and Vortex, smiling in triumph as the water hit her shield and rolled right off. "There~" she said, sitting down next to Vortex, beginning to hum under her breath. After a while of silence, where they sat, watching and listening to the rain, she asked finally, "Vortex... Where do you come from? And..." She paused, hesitating, before continuing, "where did you get that mask from?"

Vortex watched in fascination as she conjured some sort of barrier to block the rain, then looked back down at her to listen to her questions. "Well... I come from the Ectan Mountains." He paused, thinking for a moment. "I do not belong to the Vuari, mind you, but they are kind enough to allow me to stay there." He smiled as he thought back to his friends from the actual tribe that dwelled there, particularly Fate. His expression went blank as she asked him about his mask. He had been hoping that question wouldn't be dropped. "Well... I've had it my whole life." He said, partially lying. "I received it from my... from my..." He trailed off and looked down. He didn't want to think about his parents in the slightest, especially after what had happened to them.

"Etcan mountains?" she echoed, slightly surprised. "You've been there? I have, too, I visit it every now and then. I like the climate and the mountains, the view from high up is nice when the wind is not busy trying to push you off." Seeing that Vortex was uncomfortable with the mention of his mask, she decided not to ask further, but her curious eyes wouldn't leave his mask. She jumped a little when a roar of thunder reverberated through the sky, followed by bright lightning arcing through the stormy grey clouds, splitting them to hit the earth. Smoke trailed into a sky as a tree burst into fire, and Caramina shuddered, wondering whether her wind shields would hold out against natural lightning. Better not to think about that now, though... "Hey, do you know Rihzome?" she said suddenly. "He's my brother, and he keeps on mentioning you during our conversations."

Vortex nodded, twitching a little bit at the thunder clap, but his twitch was barely noticeable. Thunderstorms didn't really bother him, after all, they were just rainstorms with an extra chance of death or serious injury. Besides, there wasn't reall much left of him, so a serious injury wouldn't make that much difference. "I agree. The view is fantastic if it isn't cloudy." He responded, shifting a little. "Well, yes, I- He's your brother?" He said, genuinely surprised. "Yes, I do know him, and quite well at that. Odd. He has never mentioned you in our conversations. At least I don't think so."
(Shorter post, sorry, was a bit cruched for time)