[PP-F3]Beware of Giants Bearing Gifts

[Piera 0]

Piera watched as Mack drank from the bottle and was satisfied when she didn't see any ill effects. As an alchemist, she knew there were all kinds of nasty toxins and poisons that were hard to detect but had detrimental effects and was glad to see her worries proven unfounded. The brunette had the decency to look a little abashed when he insisted that drugging people wasn't how he operated. "Sorry, j-just wanted t-to be sure." The alchemist licked her lips before the bottle was pressed to them adnd her eyes shut as she drank the bitterly alcoholic liquid.  Pulling back with her face twisted in a grimace, she forced herself to swallow before coughing at the harsh burn in her throat and sticking her tongue out as she rubbed her skin with more vigor. "Ugh, bleh!" That stuff could wear down armor..." The bespectacled woman didn't even notice that her teeth had stopped chattering.  But she did notice Mack's tone and narrowed eyes. "S-Sorry again. Here you are saving me AGAIN and I'm accusing you of-" She stopped short of naming his supposed crime before finishing lamely, "Sorry. And thank you. You didn't have to do...all this." Piera momentarily stopped her rubbing to try and gesture but forgot her arms were trapped in the shirt. Her hands already feeling...well if not exactly warm, at least warmer than they had been.  

[Mack 0]

"Exactly, I don't have to slip mickeys into drinks just for gratification," the enormous blonde man rumbled in a low tone, taking another slug from the bottle before setting it down on the ground near them. "I tend to do very bad things to men that would engage in that activity," he continued, wrapping both arms around the alchemist and pressing her against his much warmer body. "Now then, you need to keep rubbing. I wasn't making an idle threat when I said I'd do it if you didn't. Besides that, it'll be several hours before your armor is dried out, so you may as well get comfortable since we're not going anywhere for awhile," Mack continued, slipping his hands just inside the sleeves of the shirt and setting to work on Piera's shoulders.

[Piera 0]

Piera's purple lips quirked into an amused smirk at Mack's admission. "That's g-good to hear." When he held her closer against him and into the sleeping bag cocoon, the brunette couldn't help her eyes drifting closed in gratification at the warmth, finding it hard to open her eyes again as her hands movement slowed. At least until he encouraged her to keep going and her slowly lowering head jerked up and she rubbed with renewed vigor, still feeling somewhat awkward, but feeling a bit more relieved knowing that the weird action had a purpose. When the blonde man stated casually how long it would take before their things were dry, the bespectacled young woman blanched and her hands stilled once again as she craned her neck to try and look at him. "That long? What'll we d-do til then?" A frown pulled at her mouth and she realized that they couldn't continue into the cave with only their weapons...at least not safely. Her worries were halted as she felt warm hands touch her cold bare shoulders under the large shirt and they automatically tensed and hunched up to her neck before stopping as she tried to inwardly calm herself as she swallowed and tried to concentrate on building friction on her ribs with her palms.

[Mack 0]

"You're going to sit right where you are and get warm," Mack replied in a low tone, continuing to use his hands to work at the muscles of Piera's shoulders and neck and making sure that his fingers stayed well away from any area of her body that they had no business in straying near. "There are, of course, faster methods of heat transference but both the adult and non-adult methods for that require either less clothing or specialized incubators and heated blankets. The former would be considerably more awkward and the later is simply out of the question since we lack the proper gear. At the moment, we can do nothing except wait and so we wait," the blonde man said simply, shrugging his massive shoulders. In truth, since Piera was seated in his lap and wearing next to nothing he was distinctly disinclined to want to move, even if that weren't something that were out of the question until their clothing and armor were dry.

[Piera 0]

Piera's lower lip stuck out slightly as Mack told her what she was going to be doing and said lip was showing signs of becoming more pink than purple now. "That sounds tedious. And boring. Not that I'm complaining." She would still vastly take being stuck for a few hours to dying of game induced hypothermia. Stupid salamander. As the man's warm fingers rubbed the skin of her shoulders, the brunette sat still, bearing her personal discomfort of her personal space being invaded silently. But when he rubbed her neck, the bespectacled girl stiffened, her own hand brushing her throat as she forced herself to swallow, briefly remembering incident with the frost troll when she'd first woken up.

She was grateful for the distraction of Mack's voice and began to relax; though when she listened to what he was saying, she felt distinctly warmer now and wondered if that was his intention. The brunette was suddenly acutely aware that the man she was sitting on wasn't wearing a shirt and was infinitely thankful that he'd opted to at least wear the pants. Cheeks bearing the faintest bit of color, Piera rubbed her torso and sides with a bit more vigor than strictly necessary. "Y-Yeah. Mm....Wish we had a deck of cards or something. Eye spy doesn't seem too promising." She said wryly, glancing at the dimly lit plain cave entrance before thinking further. "Maybe twenty questions? You have any ideas?"

[Mack 0]

"Just relax already," Mack rumbled in a low tone, concluding his massage of the woman's neck and shoulders. She seemed to be warming up enough, at this point, that her body could handle the rest of the task of warming up. "I'm open to idea for passing the rest of the time until you warm up and the gear dries out," he continued, wrapping his arms in the sleeping bag and then he slipped them and the sleeping bag more securely around Piera, enfolding them both in the cocoon of warmth offered by the heavy sleeping bag. Then he picked up the bottle of brandy from the cave floor again and placed it to his lips, taking a long pull before holding it up to Piera's lips again. "Come on, more brandy."

[Piera 0]

Piera nodded let out a long breath, trying to get herself to relax as Mack asked and was able to do so, though it might have been due to the withdrawal of his hands. Regardless, her posture loosened as she allowed herself to lean against his warm torso. She thought for a moment of what they could do to pass the time since he didn't volunteer any ideas. As he drew the sleeping bag around them closer, the brunette hummed slightly before realizing that her body was starting not to feel freezing anymore...except for her toes. She wiggled on the blonde man's lap as she readjusted herself to draw her feet in more before frowning as the bottle of alcohol found its way to her lips again. Frowning and making a soft noise of discontent, Piera opened her mouth anyway and squeezed her eyes shut against the brandy's bite as it burned her throat. This time she coughed less, though some still spilled on her chin when she pulled away and she snaked an arm out from the overly large neck hole of the T-shirt to wipe her mouth. "Ngh... Um... Where are you from? Or, er, where were you when you logged in?"

[Mack 0]

"Technically, I'm not allowed to divulge that information," Mack said in response to Piera's question about where he was logged in from. Sure, he could provide the forward operating base where he was stationed, but that would be of little to no use to Piera since she wouldn't know the location of the base anyway. "I assume, by now, though that I've probably been moved to Ramstein or Landstuhl in Germany or, maybe, Walter Reed in Bethesda, Maryland," the blonde man rumbled with a shrug of his massive shoulders, tightening his grip on Piera slightly as she moved around a bit to wedge the two ice blocks that she called feet in against his thighs. Not that he minded. "I'm from Idaho, up north near the Canadian border. I'm used to the cold, you?"

[Piera 0]

Eyebrows were raised at Mack's elusive answer and she grinned before retorting, "You could. You'd just have to kill me after, heh." She'd of course known that he was a military man, but she had no idea if he was actually stationed out of the country or anything like that. Then again, he did seem like he'd actually seen real combat... Her eyes widened slightly as he mentioned that he was likely moved to Germany or Maryland since being stuck in SAO. "Hmm..." But finally he gave her a more personal answer and she smiled wryly before answering, "Southern California. At least that's where I grew up. Moved to Maine then North Carolina. Guess I'm in some hospital now like everyone else." The brunette's mind wandered slightly as she peered out at the flickering flames before thinking of another question. "What's your favorite color?" She asked with somewhat childish curiosity, an interested smile tugging at her lips. "Mine's purple."

[Mack 0]

"If you're from up in Maine then I would think that you'd be used to the cold," Mack answered, snugging one of his arms around Piera's waist and hugging her still tighter against his own body. While he hadn't brought the alchemist on this little adventure with this exact moment in mind, now that it had arrived the hulking blonde man certainly wasn't going to complain. Sometimes fortune simply shined favorable luck down on a person and, in those moments it was best to seize the day. "I like green, like your eyes," Mack responded automatically to Piera's question, the remark had the virtue of being true and a solid flattering remark. Double threat.

[Piera 0]

"I'm not from Maine. Only spent a year there, but I did get to experience my first white Christmas there. Even got snowed in a few times. More used to the desert, nice dry heat. I get cold really easily. At least in real life." Her avatar wasn't exactly a perfect copy of her real body, in SAO everyone pretty much had the same core body heat. Except for special circumstances such as right now. Awkward as the situation was, the brunette couldn't help but make a small noise of contentment as one of Mack's thick arms wrapped around her to hold her closer to his warmth. Said green eyes opened widely and glanced up at the blonde man when he answered with slightly warm cheeks before flicking down. "Oh." Why did she feel so warm? He was just using her eyes as comparison, nothing to get excited over. At least that's what she tried to tell herself. "Um." Her mind was somewhat blank and she offered, "Do you have any, uh, questions?"

[Mack 0]

Given how close he and Piera were currently snuggled together Mack regretted, at least on some level, his decision to force his beginner shirt over Piera's head. Even though it had been the correct decision to make, both in terms of providing the most expedient means of warming the brunette woman up and for the sake of protecting her honor, Mack also couldn't help but think that were she not in the shirt she'd be sitting in his lap in a rather revealing two-piece bathing suit. "Give me your feet," Mack said after a moment's thought then, suiting words to action he went fishing for Piera's feet underneath her body. "They seem to be the only truly cold part of you left," he continued as his hands located each of her feet in turn and wrapped around the tiny blocks of ice.

[Piera 0]

Piera waited patiently in the silence for Mack to respond but got no question or answer. She was about to try and think of one herself when he told her to give him her feet. "Eh?"  At his explanation, she realized that he was right and wondered if it was uncomfortable for him with her feet pressed against his legs. "Oh, yeah but I can do it, you don't hav-" As his fingers brushed against her feet, her body spasmed momentarily and she let out a sharp but brief laugh before shutting her mouth quickly. "D-Don't get any ideas." She warned warily, adjusting her position slightly and reached to rub what Mack's hands weren't, but his large hands nearly covered the entirety of her feet so her fingers brushed against his before drawing back. An errant thought caused her mouth to upturn and she asked curiously, "Are you ticklish anywhere?"

[Mack 0]

"Why would I get any ideas," Mack asked dryly, cupping both of Piera's feet in his massive hands. The fact that he had plenty of ideas, most of them inappropriate to their current situation was completely beside the point. "And no, I'm not ticklish," the massive man continued, answering the question before circling back around to the previous topic of conversation. "What kinds of ideas am I not supposed to be getting," he asked, arching an eyebrow down at Piera as she sat demurely in his lap. "Are you ticklish? I think you are, but how am I to know unless I test it? I seem to recall something about scientific method from High School," he continued dryly, releasing his hold on Piera's feet and playing his fingers over her ribs. As cold as it was outside of the sleeping bags where was the shapely alchemist going to go? Nowhere, that was where.

[Piera 0]

Piera's lower lip pouted, her eyes narrowing at Mack's suspicious sounding tone even as she forced herself not to move or laugh as his hands held her feet. When he finally answered that he wasn't ticklish, she let out a sigh. "Seems like most guys are." The brunette's eyes narrowed further at his insistent questions. She leveled a warning glare at the blonde man. "Well I'm not a science ex-" But what she had been trying to say was cut off as she felt large fingers tap over her ribs, causing her side to spasm. Her reaction was immediate as her mouth opened in a half laugh, half squeal and her body jerked away as she hugged her arms around herself before glaring again at Mack. "Not. Funny!" The young woman insisted even as she tried to think of something or some threat to hold over him to keep him from doing it again. An evil smirk stretched her lips as she turned slightly and pressed her still very chilly bare feet into Mack's stomach.

[Mack 0]

"I'm from the Canadian border, your feet don't bother me," Mack said in a low tone, continuing to play his fingers over the brunette's ribs. Judging by her reaction, she was extremely ticklish, but when she shifted around to plant her still rather cold feet in his stomach the blonde man got a much better idea. Since it was really only Piera's feet that were still cold, Mack shifted his position on the sleeping bag so he could stretch out on the cave floor and, hugging Piera's feet to his chest he proceeded to appropriate the woman's lap as a pillow. Problem solved. "Wake me up when everything's dried out," the blonde man said in a low tone, closing his eyes and looking for all the world as if he was asleep.

[Piera 0]

Piera's eyes widened and eyebrows raised at the utter lack of reaction that she got when her cold toes touched the warmth of the skin on Mack's stomach, looking up at him when he said that due to the area he grew up that he wouldn't possibly be bothered by such a thing. She pouted momentarily before coughing out a strangled laugh, flailing a little as he tickled her sides once again. "N-No!" She protested, her mouth stretched into a wide grin before her lips pursed when his fingers stopped. But she was momentarily stopped from berating him when he shifted his position. At first she was worried that he was really going to tickle her badly, but he simply stretched out her legs before lying on them, his head on her lap as he laid on his stomach. The brunette was silent, not quite sure what to make of this new situation. It felt personal, intimate even, especially given her state of undress. She was just glad that the ridiculously large shirt covered most of her thighs. At his request, no, order, she nodded before conceding softly, "Alright."

She stared at his face as the firelight played over his features. He still didn't look completely at ease so she was fairly sure that he wasn't asleep, especially considering he had only just laid down. The alchemist reflected on his words and realized that even in the short time that she'd known him, he rarely asked for anything. His manner of speech was very demanding. Perhaps that was a side effect from a long service in the military. They were very different people. She strained to keep from wiggling her toes as they warmed against his abdomen and realized that she'd been staring and so redirected her gaze to the mouth of the cave. It still looked like it was snowing and blowing rather heavily. She only hoped that it would let up by the time they finished their business in the cave. Piera suddenly realized that she wasn't entirely sure what they would be doing in said cave. She vaguely remembered him mentioning materials and had immediately agreed. Sighing lightly at her eagerness, the brunette also wondered how she was supposed to be able to tell when their things were dry when she couldn't get up to check on them.

As she thought, her hand wandered to Mack's head, stroking through his hair idly as if petting an animal. The alchemist wondered how the alliance meeting would go. They could really use it if she was completely honest. She wasn't sure how willing Lowenthal would be. She wasn't sure about a lot of things concerning her sandy haired friend lately. There hadn't been an opportunity to speak with him after his birthday party when she'd first discovered his orange cursor. Maybe she could try and have some one on one time with him before or after the meeting.

Glancing back down at Mack, her eyes widened as she saw her fingers running through his hair and quickly withdrew her hand. What had she been doing? This wasn't Lee. There was no reason to get overly touchy feely. She barely knew the man, though admittedly she did owe him her life a few times over now. She blamed him in the long run for bringing her along. ...Even if she did agree. Piera's eyes closed as she tried to think of something to occupy her mind. Songs immediately came to mind and she filtered through a few tunes before one repeated a few times. It was a soft slow melody and she couldn't quite remembering all of the words. Her head swayed slightly on her shoulders as she let the song play in her mind, the faintest of smiles touched her lips, her expression peaceful as she let the time pass.

[Mack 0]

In truth, Mack hadn't actually intended to take a nap out in the middle of nowhere in the cave that he and Piera found themselves in. But, given that she seemed to be out of any hypothermic danger for the moment, other than maybe her feet, and since there didn't seem to be any need to worry about being attacked the massive blonde man wasn't exactly on high alert. As his position of repose using Piera's lap as a pillow clearly indicated. When Piera began running her fingers through his hair though, a good bit of the tension in his muscles actually released and he really did fall asleep. However, when Piera stopped what she was doing he rather abruptly snapped back to wakefulness.

"What's goin' on," he demanded in a tone that was slightly louder than was necessary, his massive arms tightening around the alchemist's waist where they had been wrapped. His grey eyes snapped open and he immediately glanced around in search of Guillotine though, when a few seconds had passed without any kind of attack occurring, he relaxed again. He considered asking if the gear was dried out yet, but the blonde warrior was plenty comfortable with the current situation. As a result, he was feeling rather inclined to stretch out the current period of time for the longest possible amount of time. "Why'd you stop," he asked sleepily around a yawn at last, loosening his grip around Piera again.

[Piera 0]

Piera froze when she felt the man on her legs tense before demanding to know what was going on. Thinking that he'd been dreaming or something along those lines, she tried to soothe him in a gentle whisper, "Shhh, it's okay. Everything's alright. You can relax. We're safe..." She honestly wasn't sure about that last part, but she was loathe to force anyone to wake if she could help it. It was simply a personal dislike of hers. She'd felt bad enough about having to wake him for his shift of watch last night but she was afraid that if she fell asleep while she was on 'guard duty', that something terrible would happen. Perhaps that was why he was so tired now. He'd been up for a while already, though it was probably around mid-morning now.

 

Blinking in surprise when he asked why she 'stopped', the brunette belatedly realized that he was talking about petting his hair. Pursing her lips and glancing away in embarrassment, Piera looked back down at Mack with hot ears as he began to relax again. She supposed it couldn't hurt anything. He'd done a lot for her after all. Hesitantly raising her hand again, the alchemist began stroking through his hair, her nails gently scraping his scalp as she used her fingers to comb through his oddly cut blonde hair.

 

"Go back to sleep." She breathed softly as she continued, never petting one particular area for very long before moving to a new section, keeping a slow and steady rhythm to her movements. Piera's eyes didn't flick away from his face this time, watching as it relaxed and his eyes moved behind his eyelids. Her own were starting to become a bit heavy. She wondered why. Maybe because she finally felt nicely warm. Or perhaps because of all the excitement shortly after she'd first woken up. That certainly hadn't been very pleasant, though it definitely got her blood pumping and adrenaline rushing.

[Mack 0]

"Alright," Mack responded groggily, shifting his position a bit to something that was more comfortable. As Piera began to run her fingers through his hair again the grey-eyed man drifted back off to sleep. For the next hour, or so, the blonde man remained asleep. When next he awoke it was with a loud yawn that was accompanied by his arms wrapping themselves a bit more tightly around Piera's waist as he turned his face into her lap. "Is our gear dry yet," he asked, his voice muffled by a combination of his own shirt and the alchemist's lap. Though he was loathe to give up the prize of his alchemist pillow, it really was time to be heading out to get their objective taken care of. The important question asked, the blonde behemoth went back to using Piera's lap as his pillow.