!! Shadow of the Mountain

She was not weak. She was not weak. Even though the foreign tiredness dragged down her limbs, though it muffled her senses, she plowed on through the tunnel, aiming for the blob of light which she knew was the exit. A figure shifted near to her - purple. That Shae kid, lagging around just as much as she was. Brows furrowing in concentration, she aimed a swift, 'encouraging' kick at the boy, before gathering the energy to move on.

The light in the distance grew larger and closer, until finally, it blissfully enveloped her. A huge gasp was taken of the fresh, untainted air, before she clambered out. Allowing herself a pause of about a few moments of rejuvenation, she stood straight again, dusting off her skirt like the entire ordeal had been but a chore. No time to waste - where were the others?

Staggering down the hill - still a bit more heavy-headed than she'd liked to have admitted - she came to a stop to before where a group had started to gather again. Sadly, they'd all made it out. Aiming a sour look at anyone who'd give her a glance, she folded her arms, staring down expectantly at the fallen damsel.

One hand on her head, Larita looked up towards Leon and his offered hand, squinting unsurely. What'd I find? The question floated around in her mind for a moment before she was fully able to process it. The delirious moment, no doubt a result of too much tumbling and toxic inhalation, slowly dissipated but did not fully pass and when Larita opened her clasped palm, seeing the vial still there in her grip, she was still unsure as to how it had gotten there in the first place.

She stared at it--trying to remember. "A vial?" she said unsurely before clasping her fingers around it again and reaching up for Leon's assistance. One she was standing she looked at the group forming around her. "What are you all looking at?" she said sharply and then reached up to her head with her free hand, feeling one of the sticks that protruded from her hair. "Oh no," she groaned, trying desperately to smooth it down as best she could.

While she still held the vial, it was hardly the most pressing thing on the girl's mind, especially once she noticed the muddy and tattered condition of her riding clothes. "This is your fault!" she shouted in the general direction of the group, at no one in particular.

Being kicked didn't really help him or encourage him at all. Rather he just filed it away in the back of his mind as 'pay back later.'

Honestly he barely made it out of the tunnel, but the sight of light forced him to force himself to take those last few steps, and the fresh air that wafted over him as he emerged hit his skin like a second birthday. Excepting the fact that he didn't HAVE a birthday.
That he knew of.

He took a big long breath through his mouth and then, seeing that everyone seemed to not be up, rather down the edge of the small-ish cliff thingy, he staggered over and sort of just let himself fall down, unable to really make much effort to stay upright. He did make an effort to roll and land thudding against Solastas legs however. Call it an encouraging bump.

Once he was there he lazily turned his head to look at the action, but otherwise made no real moves.

Leon gave Valentin a sideways glance as he caught up. The others weren't long in arriving either, or otherwise, Larita was taking forever to get herself together. Now Valentin was here, obviously looking for whatever it was that Larita had found, and though he hadn't even seen it yet, he felt a strong urge to keep the deer boy from getting his hands on it. He had an idea of what to expect.

Leon managed a look of fabricated confusion once Larita opened her palm. The vial. That was it. It took a concentrated effort to keep himself from thinking ahead. First things were first. Having just helped her up, Leon was already standing fairly close to Larita, and he now moved, as though he were simply shifting positions, so that he stood directly between her and Valentin. This was done solely to cut off a direct path from Valentin to the vial. For further effect, he held his wings at his sides, making him larger wall, and if Valentin did try to make any move for the vial, he would certainly extend this wall and continue to block the student's way.

He chuckled at Larita, taking a look around the area as though to point out where they still were. "And you still have to hike all the way back to the castle." His wings rose a fraction of an inch, just enough to call attention to them. "I don't." Leon reached up to pull a twig out of Larita's hair. "Missed one. Now I that I think about it though.."

He was remembering when he Larita had first met. It hadn't been a long meeting, and it was pretty far back. Actually Larita had been the first person he'd met when he came to Lillegard. He'd forgotten about that. But Larita had asked him to fly, and he'd turned her down. He'd been apprehensive about it because of the scar on his wing, but now.. He'd gotten the scar at the beginning of spring before he came to the academy. It would be two years this spring.

"I did owe you a flight didn't I? Feel like taking the quick way back?" He flashed a smirk. "Or are you still scared?"

((Who'd have though that Leon would find a way to bring up my very first thread at AALC and try to make some use of it! X'D))

Vaguely, Valentin was aware of the others emerging from the caverns and finding their way the impromptu landing site, but he paid their approach little attention. As Larita opened her palm, his eyes zeroed in on the vial without missing a beat. Suddenly his mind was a swarm of possible options at this time and why each in succession was probably a pretty bad idea. His dead-ends were punctuated by the not-so-subtle reposition of Leon, now strategically creating an obstacle between the faun and the obnoxious girl. The intentional adjustment was not lost on Valentin, and a quick flickering of his gaze to either side followed by the irritated pinning of his ears declared that he had come to the same conclusion as Leon had. Registering what Lein was now saying to Larita, Valentin stood straight with his shoulders tugged back and tried not to sneer too heavily.

"That's a horrible idea! Does anyone even know what's in that thing? It could be dangerous, what if you dropped it?" he gestured with annoyance in Larita's direction. "Besides, what's with you playing up the suave now, Leon - how are we to know you don't just want to get your hands on the thing yourself!"

He was playing it by ear as he spewed out words, but he was realizing that this is precisely the best of the worst situations to be had in this moment; Larita had the vial, Larita was clueless and more or less harmless, not to mention naive. He would much rather the vial stubbornly in her hands rather than with the likes of Leon. Leon, he recognized, was much more dangerous.

"Larita, listen to me, it's probably best that we stay in a group and just head back to the castle together instead of letting anyone break off and head for who-knows-where."

Offering to take the vial back himself was on the tip of his tongue, but he knew he wouldn't be pulling that one by any of the others. Putting the suggestion out would undoubtedly just garner him more suspicion.

He glanced around at the others; he didn't know what to make of Solasta at all, she just seemed pretty nuts to him. But Shae had been relatively quiet lately and he seemed to have something of his own brand of sinister about him which could be favorable. Or really bad. Valentin decided to shoot the boy on the ground a sharp look that was half pleading for some back-up and half trying to portray in a glance that this was important.

The junkai tottered forth as something bumped against her legs, and she looked down angrily to see the form of Shae lying on the ground. Upon realising this, she did what any mature, responsible grown-up would do - that is, aim a harsh, deliberate kick directly at his abdomen. She was determined to get the last 'laugh'; in the form of violence of course. It was only afterwards that she'd return her attention to the others.

It was no surprise to see Larita lashing out, as she usually did. She let out a loud huff at the accusation, placing a palm on her hip. "Yo' flailink around could'a killed us!" she snapped, before pausing to listen to what the others had to say.
Leon - well, she'd gotten a sour taste off him the moment she'd met him, really, but she had an even worse one now. Did the two of them have some sort of history? She didn't care enough to think about it too much, but she knew for a fact she didn't want the two of them going off together, not with that... thing. She found herself subconsciously nodding in agreement to Valentin's words.

"He is right." She gave the faun a sharp glance before looking to her former room-mate. "I bet'chu will be droppink it before we even look at de castle! Not whi'chu stumbling all over da place." Her glare intensified as she extended an arm towards her.
"Give it to me."

There was nothing Larita loved more than being the one with the power of decision. She looked down at the vial and grinned; dangerous as it may be, she was aware that it was somehow the possession of this little thing that gave her such power. Curious. Still, she wasn't immediately sure what to decide. Dolce, her horse, was nowhere to be seen and had probably already started making his way back to the castle. This would mean that she had to walk, and since she rode most of the way here, that didn't seem like a very fun prospect. On the other hand, trusting Leon to hold her steadily in the air was a hard thing in itself. She was close to deciding that she would, indeed, walk with the group when Solasta's arm extended towards her. Larita clasped her hand around the vial and pulled away.

"Absolutely not!" She glared at Solasta, making her decision. There was no way she was going to stay in the company of this beast any longer than she had to. "Alright, Leon, let's go then. But if you drop me, so help me, I will haunt you for the rest of your life. You'll hear about nothing else except handbags and designer shoes until the day you die."

Still holding the vial securely, Larita jutted a proud chin and stuck her arms out to the side, for some reason assuming that this was the proper stance to take before being whisked away into the air by a flying man.

Shae caught Valentin's look. He didn't really know the guy, but he did seem rather desperate and Shae himself was no fond fan of Leon. Besides, why should Leon get to fly away and take all the interesting things with him... seemed rather suspicious in itself really.
Since Leon was also already winning his position right now, it would be far more fun to hinder him than anyone else.
He was lying on the ground though. The kick had been rather painful too, but it wasn't like he couldn't stand.
He just needed a bit of time which he didn't have.
Bugger.

"Reaaally princess are you that gullible? You think he cares about you- he just wants what's in your hand.. I wouldn't put it past him not to be heading back to the caastle at all." He made sure to add exasperation to his drawl, he needed to sound like he cared as well- he also started to pick himself up as he spoke. "Do you think he'd still carry you back if you gave the vial to us first? Why don't you try him, huh- what makes you think it's you he's got in mind."
He just hoped that it would make her indignant enough about her up herself person to think twice. He needed to make sure Leon didn't just grab her and fly off though, that was harder. He made sure his knife was in hand- ready to act quickly in response to any foul play, but not obviously in his hand. He wasn't past throwing it at the demons shoulder or wing as a last resort.

((I'm a bit confused about everyone's positioning but I think Shae is close to Leon..))

Leon hadn't paid Shae and Solasta much attention since leaving the mountain. They didn't seem to be of much consequence. Not when more important things were happening. He remembered a few encounters with the boy who's name he couldn't remember, and he honestly wouldn't put it past him to get involved just for the sake of getting involved and for an opportunity to get on Leon's nerves. The other girl. He didn't know if she had any particular angle in the whole thing or why she might possibly want the vial, but she wasn't undermining him personally. At least, not right this moment.

He wouldn't miss the opportunity to undermine Valentin though. "Speak for yourself. It's obvious to me that you're just Kale's pet. I imagine if you think it's dangerous then it probably is. I for one don't want you bringing it straight back to Kale. All that blood? Ever heard of a thing called guilt by association?" Leon aimed a quick glance in Shae's direction. "As for getting back to the castle, I probably know where I'm going better than any of you. I practically live here." Not that he actually had any idea where exactly in the mountains they were, but once he was in the air it was a simple matter of figuring out which way was north and which way was south. Frankly he couldn't care one way or the other if the rest of the people in this group got hopelessly lost.

The thought of simply making a grab for the vial did occur to him. He didn't imagine it would be too difficult to take it from Larita, and he was the only one here with wings. Or at least, he didn't expect the deer, the emo kid or the purple freak to spontaneously sprout wings. As it was, Kale would find out who had the vial from Valentin regardless of who it was or what exactly happened. Either way, it wouldn't be a good idea to leave him with the impression of desperation. Besides, he wasn't even desperate.

Leon looked to Larita again, holding a hand out towards her for her to take. "I'm not trying to trick you, but I do have the best offer for you." Hopefully, making it sound more like a deal rather than a personal favor would render Shae's argument moot. He didn't have to care about Larita to make a deal with her. "I'm going straight back to the castle, I'm not going to drop you and I'll save you a couple of blisters. We can talk about what to do with the vial once we get back to the castle." The 'we' wasn't emphasized, but he felt including her in it was a key point. He wasn't sure Larita even really cared about what happened to the vial, but it was good for him if she felt that she had some say in the matter.

Well, at least something went right. He was grateful that Shae had seemingly picked up on the hint and filed that fact away for later. But Larita had accepted, and now Solasta was in on it. Valentin flicked his eyes back and forth between the people vying for the vial. Oh, this was just not good. No matter who got it, it was in bad hands. What to do, what to do. Leon would take Larita and leave the others behind. Perhaps that was it.

Lifting his chin, the faun scoffed loudly.

"Ah, I see how it is, then, Leon. You're going to take Larita, take the vial and leave the rest of us out of it." He glanced to the others again, trying to drive the point that they would have no say. He had to get to Kale. He took a few steps backwards. "Fine, then. I don't want to be a part of whatever dangerous thing you've found anyway. You can all get yourselves killed without including me."

Rather suddenly the deer turned and bolted, off at a dead run towards the castle. He couldn't stop Leon, couldn't track the boy if he took Larita to the sky. He would need wings - which he didn't have. Not him, anyway.

She would be so angry...but only she would know best what to do now.

(( Exit Valentin ))

Solasta was aware that there seemed to be some deep, underlying conspiracy within everything that had happened that day. She was curious about the vial, and everyone about her seemed to want it too. It would put her into a position of power. But it didn't stretch much further than that - a mere curiosity. As Larita declined her generous off, she pulled her hand back, before crossing her arms with a contemptuous huff.

She twisted her head as Valentin made a darting escape. The coward! The others found something suspicious with him, certainly, but he seemed nothing more than a lowly rat in the grand schema of things. They could've been right, he might've known something. But he was not a threat. She let him run.

She glanced to Leon and Larita, both of whom seem prepared to take off. They may have had the vial, but Solasta would be glad to see them away, especially with the added risk of 'dropping'.
"Why aren'tchu leaving already?"
Scrunching her face, she scowled impatiently towards them.

Shae's warning did have some effect on the girl, and her brow creased in thought. But the warning was soon lost behind the actions and words of the others. Valentin took off, Solasta seemed to want her to go, that darned horse was no where in sight... flying with Leon was starting to appear as if it were the only real option, besides walking, which she was not going to do.

"Fine," she said, "But I'm holding on to this." She tucked the vial into the top hem of her riding pants. It was a bit precarious, but she wasn't all that concerned, and the waist was tight enough to hold it in place. Then she reached out, took Leon's offered hand and said, "Let's go, then."

Well.. Valentine seemed to have changed his mind, perhaps? Or maybe he had a better idea.
Either way Shae couldn't see much he himself could contribute to the situation to keep it interesting in a place where he might be interested in it- rather than somewhere he couldn't enjoy finding out whatever was going on.
Oh well.

He shrugged and turned around. "Have a fun flight princess- see you back at the castle..." He was about done here- time to go have fun somewhere else.. or maybe he'd seek out Val and make the deer squeak out some answers. Right now however there was nothing he could do.
So he just left.

Leon made no comment as the deer boy left. Regardless of what Valentin said, Leon would have to assume that he'd be going to Kale as soon as physically possible. He'd have to get the vial and hide it before then. In fact, he already knew just the spot for it..

Leon disregarded Shae and Solasta, not having really cared for their input to begin with. Once Larita took his hand, he directed to a nearby ledge. Taking off directly from the ground would have been difficult while carrying someone, and Leon didn't want to give the impression that he could fly with a passenger. He definitely could, he'd just have to hope that a year, nearly two now, would be enough to prevent the scar on his wing from giving him any trouble.

Leon took Larita in his arms and lifted his wings, then dropped from the ledge. He was pleased when his scar didn't immediately flare up from the shock of the added weight, and he would at least put on a good show that it wasn't difficult for him. He waited until he was flying stably in the direction of the castle and for Larita to get over whatever shock she may have felt before speaking.

"I hope you realize I'm doing this on the assumption that I'll get that vial once we reach the castle." He didn't think getting the vial from Larita would be difficult, but he did have an idea in mind either way. He couldn't fly with her forever but.. "I guess what I'll do is once we get there I won't land until you give it to me. At least, not somewhere where you'll be able to get back to the castle easily." He had absolutely no qualms about leaving her stranded in the mountains somewhere. This way Larita could be sure that she'd make it back to the castle okay and he could be sure that he'd leave with the vial. "Work for you?"

Well. Everyone seemed to deem it fit to depart. And finally, the troublesome two were up and away - out of range of her consideration. Sadly, they didn't land in a heap at the bottom, but she couldn't have everything. Finally, she was on her own.

She hummed to herself, torn between heading back to the castle, or staying out here. Eventually, it was the latter that she found to be much more appealing. Her grumbling stomach reminded her that she still hadn't eaten.

She raised a hand over her brows to shield them from the sun as she looked to the sky.
Still day.
More than enough time.
She twisted around and headed back, deeper into the mountains.