Week 4: Feliciano/Lilli

And of course it had started raining.

Feliciano sighed, running along the path covered in puddles, hoping to find somewhere to hide very soon.

When he had gone out that morning, with the simple idea of taking a walk in the woods, he hadn't thought of taking an umbrella with him. The sky was still clear and blue before midday, so when he found that nice field with that even nicer tree in the middle, he didn't think twice and laid there to take a nap in its shadow.
But when he woke up, the sky was dark and it was already thundering.

He was already soaked to the bone when he found that cave in the side of the hill. Not like it was a place that Feliciano would have been glad to explore, normally, since the inside was rather dark and scary, but he was happy to find a shelter from the heavy rain and the wind.
He turned to the darkness of the inside of the cave, hoping that he was the only one who had chosen it to hide from the storm.

Sitting in the darker area of the cave wasn't the best idea she'd had today- well, not that her hike was a better one. She had seen the scout clouds that morning, signalling for the rain that she was stuck in at the moment, but she comepletely ignored them and went out anyway. It had only started raining about a half an hour ago, but that little slip on the ridge slowed her pace a bit, so she found creepy cave #3 on her trail. Yay.

It wasn't much of a problem, but the little blonde had been out since early that morning, so sleep was bitting at her eyelids... Untill the siluet crashed into the cave's evterance. Her green eyes snapped open and she froze, stairing at the intruder that was standing in the gray light. Of all the days to forget her safety bag it had to be this one? Great, how many of these lovely mishaps will happen today?

Feliciano jumped as he realized that there was someone in the shadows right behind him. What could that be? A bear? A wolf? Some kind of... uh... unknown and scary monster that hunted the woods? Vash with his gun?

He stepped back, but as soon as the rain started hitting his head again he decided to wait a few more seconds before running aways as fast as he could, like he would have done normally.

"...e-ehm, i-is anyone here?"

Lilli pondered how to go about this, that was how Nii-sama always told her to go about situations. Especially one like this one. The shakey figure in the mouth of the cave kept moving back and forth, so maybe it was just another bistandard stuck in the rain, not to mention the wavering voice that asked the question. So what does that mean she should do? Vash constantly tells her about stranger danger, but what if they could help her out of this storm? Her ankle was twisted from that ledge she /never/ trips on, but today she did, and now walking was a problem. She hopped they were a decent person, but Brother always says to think that no-one shuld be trusted.

Not that she really has a choice here.

The small girl stands up, awkwardly enough, making sure not to place too much pressure on her foot. Lilli rubs her arms with her hands and hobbles a few steps forward, quietly answering, "Um... Hello."

Feliciano jumped again when he heard a voice answering him. He had hoped that it was only his imagination, and that none was really in that cave with him. Although, he admitted the moment after, since there was someone there with him, it was better to know that this someone who could speak - so no monster nor people who preferred let their guns speak for them.

Eventually, Feliciano realized that the voice he'd heard sounded feminine and kind. And also, the voice sounded rather familiar, but he still couldn't see well in the shadows of the cave.

"Ah, excuse me lady..." he was unsure about what to say. "I had to run here to hide from the rain. I hope you don't mind if we share this shelter?" not that caves were private property, but still, it seemed a bit rude to him to occupy the same shelter a lady had found first without asking for her permission.

The girl mentally sighed in relief. The man, she figured, sounded like a nice person. Hopefully. Nii-sama said to never underestimate anyone, especially the nice ones.


But...


She's just going to have to go with her gut in this situation. Lilli couldn't tell if was his stature; it wasn't very confident, very modest. Or his voice. It sounded so innocent, much like hers. Maybe he was just another poor victim cought in the storm.

These silly misshaps today were going to be the end of her, weather it be her own doing or not. The blonde inched her way toward the cav'e opening, answering the stranger's question timidly. "I don't mind. It's nasty out there and no-one should be stuck in that." Lilli thought a moment before tacking on, "Unless you wish to harm me. Then I will have to ask you to leave."

Feliciano shook his head at the thought. "I would never dare to do something like that, signorina!" he hurried replying, trying to reassure her. "And anyway, I'm rather harmless." he added with a smile.

Thinking of which, the lady in the cave was quite lucky in having met him, there, instead of some scary maniac or pervert who could have been very dangerous - and the same was true for Feliciano too.

"Anyway, do we know each other, Miss?" he stepped closer to her, but not too close - although he had tried to reassure her, it didn't mean that it had worked - to see if he could distinguish her shape in the dark. He spotted a small figure, and the poor light coming from outside reverberated on a lock of golden hair.
"I'm Feliciano."

The lack of lighting didn't help her nerves, but he did sound like he was speaking the truth. The small girl relaxed and slowly moved back to the calmer, warmer interior of the cave, away from the wind and rain reaching into the mouth. She guestured with her hand for him to fallow, then realized he probably couldn't see that. Smooth, lilli thought as she sat down on the cold stone floor.

"It's warmer over here, you should probably move a bit away from the opening of the cave... Um... Sir." She requested over the rain.

Feliciano nodded.
"If you allow me to..." he went forward, touching the ground carefully with the tip of his feet, not trusting the rocks and holes that were hidden in the dark.

He would have been too scared to dare exploring the inside of the cave, but the entrance was really cold, with all the wind blowing, and the fact that the girl was already there made the darkness safer and even more desirable.

Although he was trying to be as careful as he could, he ended up slipping on one of the rocks that moved from its place when he placed his foot on it, and almost fell down over the girl.

"Oh, uhm, I-I'm sorry. Did I hurt you?" he panicked, stepping back and trying to see if she was alright at the same time - not that he could see anything, in that darkness.

The sudden jolt of the man's hands on her shoulder caused her to stumble a step, but she cought her ballance quickly, unfotunately irratating her all ready sore ankle. Lilli reached over her shoulder and gently took the man's hand in hers and slowly lead them to the area she was sitting at before he entered the cave, well about where she was. Too dark to tell.

"It's fine, takes a while to get used to seeing the rocky floor with your feet." Lilli said as she guided her companion to sit next to her.

"Looks like it is... sorry again..." he whispered, embarrassed, sitting next to her.
He touched carefully the rocks where he was about to lean, in order to avoid sitting on the girl's clothes.

"Are you fine, anyway? The storm out here seems pretty scary..."
He was still shivering slightly, his clothes all wet and cold. "When I went out today, the weather looked perfect... the time to take a short nap, and here we are." he sighed.
"I only hope it will go away as fast as it came."

"No need to appologies agan." she reasured. Thunder shook the cave before she could answer his question, causing both of them to jump. Lilli looked around the cave to see if she could find any openings deeper inside that lightning might strike through. Then realized she probably wouldn't be able to see any if they were there. The blonde sighed, bringing her knees up to her chest and hugged her legs.

"The storm isn't bugging me as much as my ancle is, " she admitted. "I tripped walking up here."

Feliciano heard the girl next to him sigh and move, and could picture her being all miserable and hugging her knees. He turned towards her, about to say something to encourage the girl, when she told him that she was hurt.

"Oh, I'm sorry! Is it twisted? Does it hurt a lot?" he worried.

"As soon as this hell here goes away, I'll bring you home if you want. Do you live far away from here?"
This was the least he could do for a kind a sweet girl who had the bad luck of run up against that horrible storm and even hurt her foot.