Campaign entries - Caspian: Crystal Caves, ch2 - glitter - 749 words

The eternal ignored the flirtatious gesture to the best of his abilities. Small, feeble humans always ended up in heartache - or that's what Kate always said. He had his own reasons.

 

"I mean..." Caspian didn't like making decisions. Not ones that made a difference or actually mattered. Maybe he could pawn this one off as well. "It boils down to if you want to end up as a sticky stew or not."

 

"Stew," Leslie repeated a part of the reply he got. "Right. I think I can handle myself well enough to not become soup."

 

"It's a possibility." Caspian gestured widely with his forearms. "A less probable at that with the backroute tunnels."

 

Leslie lowered his chin and raised his brow. The neonpole wasn't going to get off this specific hook so easily.

 

Caspian let out a nearly unnoticeable growl. "Ugh, fine. Let's just get this over with and take the main tunnel." He marched forward without looking back, the so-called small and feeble human right on his heels.

The descent through the main tunnel was a lot slower and more tedious than he would've liked. At least Leslie hadn't turned his back completely to him, despite his juvenile outburst earlier. Caspian had to admit, that he regretted it a little bit. It was just one of those things he could barely control, no matter how much he disliked the fact.

 

Leslie reached out his hand. While Caspian had no intentions to reject his aid, he had some things to even out.

 

Instead of half-gracefully following the drop with a helping hand, the shifter pulled the man with him. Squeezing the scaled hand only tighter from sheer surprise alone, Leslie showed no signs of letting go abruptly. It gave Caspian the time and grip he needed to slide down, and place the other on the crystals like a child's beloved doll. He got a mortified look with the tiniest hint of a blush, which he replied to with a wink. A toothy grin accompanied the eternal's gesture, his pointy teeth flashing in the dim light of the tunnel. What a dork.

 

That success was short-lived. The instant shift of the crystal surface below both of their feet sent Leslie over the edge, and from the uneven footing, he pulled Caspian with him with his iron grip.

 

Under panic-driven instinct, the shifter's tail seemed to come alive as its own entity. It was silly-looking and ungraceful, but it worked. Like a fifth limb, it wrapped itself around the nearest sturdy crystal that jutted out of the wall, and stopped the fall before it had a chance to even properly begin.

 

Leslie looked up. Caspian stood still on the platform's edge, petrified. With his widened eyes, he seemed to stare into the distance past the man, completely out of it.

 

"Nice catch," Leslie encouraged the Athos, trying to see if he could snap him back to the moment. The worry in his voice lined the underbelly of his tone only in the echoes that bounced back from the serrated walls.

 

Caspian was able to navigate his way back from the unspoken mental brink through a series of profuse blinks. While his confused gaze wandered aimlessly for a second or two, it quickly found its way around, and met Leslie's eyes, as piercing as they were. Chills of shame and qualm raced up the shapeshifter's spine. "What the hell just happened?"

 

A puzzled wave of worry washed over Leslie's face - both for the eternal's wellbeing, and the fact that he was slipping. "Care to pull me up first?"

 

"A-ah! Sure! Sorry!"

 

It both did and didn't surprise the man how effortlessly he was dragged back to solid ground - if one could even call it that. In his harried confusion, Leslie hadn't realized how nimbly the lanky thing had grabbed him - like his weight was just air. Feathers. Nothing.

 

Caspian still tried to process the whole thing. He stared into the dark void below, unaware of his surroundings. His fruitless endeavor for clarity was abruptly disrupted, when Leslie poked his side with his elbow. The Athos turned to the man, and was greeted with a wink.

 

"Just started and already falling, huh?"

 

An amused smile curled the corners of Caspian's mouth upwards. He couldn't completely hide the annoyance the expression hid behind it, but it was unclear to him if the other even noticed it. Caspian leaned closer to the man. His nose nearly touched Leslie's.

 

"I hope your job pays well, honey."