webnovel

It's too cold though...

Stella looks up at him, a slight shiver running across her shoulders, giving rise to goosebumps on her arms. Stella speaks through clattering teeth, "I'm cold..." 

"You're uh, cold?" Ignis asks, glancing at the entrance to the cave. "Wait here, we'll have to make some kind of blanket from the grass outside..." He moves outside of the cave, the sound of grass tearing soon filling the area.

Stella peaks her head out of the mouth of the cave, finding ignis crouched among the knee length grass. "H-Here I can help." She say's with a small shiver as she approaches him.

"It's fine, stay by the fire, we can't have you getting a fever Stella." Ignis say's his head and chest popping above the grass where he had been. Standing he holds a bundle of long grass, walking it into the cave, he places it by Stella. After plopping the long grass to the ground he follow's suit, "Here, try tying them into little circles like this, then make rectangles and tie the outside edges to the inside edges... like this, yeah there you go, then weave some thorough each of the circles... yes! Just like that, then keep expanding with the rectangles and tying them together, and weaving the grass through like we just did. I'll go get more for us." Ignis stand's up, starting towards the door only to be stopped by Stella snagging his hand.

"Is something wrong...?" Ignis asks turning and crouching down to face her.

"N-No, it's just can you, uh, you see it's, umm, uhh... Nevermind," Stella say's in a sheepish voice, "Thank you for going to the trouble, Ignis..." Stella turns to face the blanket they were tossing together by weaving it, her hands setting to work once more, albeit slower than before.

It's not long until a makeshift blanket more than large enough for the both of them is made. Ignis looks at it in silence, "Don't you... think you did... a little too much...?" He smiles slightly at the large blanket Stella had managed to make.

Stella looks up at him, then the blanket, then back at him. "D-did you want to try it out...?"

Ignis blinks, "I mean, I'll use it when It's my turn to sleep, or did you mean...right now?" He asks looking down at her already snuggled into it.

"Y-Yeah.. there's, plenty of room," She mutter's pointing to the other side of the blanket, the only part of her showing her eyes as she looks at him."..."

Ignis stares at where she points for a long minute, blinking slowly. "Yeah... you're right," he says pulling the edge of the blanket up and lying underneath it, Feeling the warm from the fire and his own body slowly warming the space he smiles with a slight sigh, "You're right, this feels...awesome..."

"Right?" Stella says with a smile, shyly looking over at him...just to find him fast asleep already. Stella opens her mouth, then closes it, "So much for getting some rest," she mutter's, a small smile still on her face as she lies on her side. His normally slightly tense face, looking peaceful in his sleep. "Good night~" she say's softly, as she brushes her thumb on his cheek, before getting up to take first watch.

Ignis stands at the mouth of the cave, looking at the ground, with Stella beside him. "I, uh, I'm sorry about last night...falling asleep like that and all..." Ignis mutters kicking a rock in a bid to hide his embarrassment.

Stella giggles, hiding her smile behind her hand, "It's fine, you were so cute, sleeping like a big baby and all. I couldn't bring myself to wake you until it was your shift."

Ignis's jaw drops, as he gazes at her incredulously "...whatever," he mutters, with a slight huff. "Let's go kill some bulls." He jog's towards the tree's, leaving Stella to scramble behind him.

"If...its about...me teasing you...I'm sorry...Alright..." She pant's from behind him as she struggles to keep up. Seeing him slow down a bit, and catching a mischievous grin he tosses over his shoulder.

"If only I had a phone to take a picture of you, you were drooling all over the bed when it was your turn." Ignis returns her teasing as they slow to a walk, his expression changes as he turns the conversation to talk shop. "Since we had troubles finding a single bull, we should attempt to fight the smaller groups. Let's aim for a duo, I'll distract while you do damage from a distance, also Remember to prioritize dodging if they target you."

After traveling through the forest for about an hour, they come across two of the bull's. The top halves of their bodies poking above the brush, Ignis holds a finger in front of his lip's. He leans in, his breath tickling Stella's ear, "As soon as I start distracting them, climb up a tree and shoot at them from above," he whispers to her.

He slowly makes his way towards them, keeping low to the ground, moving from tree to tree. 'I should aim for one of the two cow's tail's again. I'll just have to use slightly thicker armor for the other,' His mind whirls with thought's.

Both of the bull's stand facing the other direction, so Ignis traces his way behind them, the gauntlets on his arms morphing into two curved blades. He slice's downwards severing one set of tail's and raises his forearm's to block, having learned his lesson from last time.

As he anticipated, the leg's lash out with lightning speed, clashing with his arm's. This send's Ignis into the air, and on a short tumble before he regains his footing. As he raises himself, settling on the balls of his feet, The Tailless bull the first to charge at him. Ignis kick's off the ground, running to the side, around a tree.

The second bull greets him with a massive headbutt, once again sending him into the air. The only thing saving his bones being the thickened armor he encased his chest in. Even so, Ignis grunts in pain at the impact as he once again, find himself airborne.

Twisting in the air, he see's a familiar spike of Ice slam the tailless cows flank. The small ice blade pierces a few inches before stopping, before slowly fading away.

Ignis slams into the ground once more, sliding along the ground. A Familiar fiery aura bursts from his body as he heals the bruised and cracked ribs. Looking up at the charging bull he raises his body into a crouch, his hands digging into the dirt as he throws himself to the side. The second bull following shortly after lowers his head, catching Ignis in the air sending him into the sky again.

A massive thud resounds as he smashes into a tree, His fiery regeneration still working at healing his body. Ignis slides down the tree, landing on his feet. Pain radiating from the back of his head and his ribs once more.