It is only a few paces from the edge of the wilderness to the lake; trees crowd close to the water in every direction. The water at your feet is pristine, shining blue. Gentle ripples ruffle the glossy surface of the water and whisper at the shore. The hump of Katahdin Peak, blue-grey with distance, looms over the trees as they ring the lake. The air smells clean, rich with pine and fish. In the distance you can make out a dock, and other signs of human habitation; but here, only the calls of birds, frogs, and insects disturb the peaceful quiet.
An airship bobs over the lake at the end of long, fine tethers that are fastened here and there around the eastern portion of the lakeshore. An array of ropes and winches dangles from amidships, ending at a small, floating platform with couple of small, neat dinghies moored to it. Occasional sounds emit from the airship: spinning propellers, jets of steam, and voices.
Did someone call for 'tall, dark, and handsome'? Well, dark's fairly well covered, at least. Jet-black hair's pulled into a long, loose tail at the nape of his neck, a few stray strands about the face occasionally drifting into his almost equally dark eyes, the irises of which are a brown deep enough that one needs to look closely to find the pupil. Nut-brown skin that sets off the white of his teeth and eyes -- it could just barely be mistaken for a very deep tan, if one really tried. Tall is a miss; he's still several inches off six feet, and he probably won't ever get there. Handsome... well, not a classic beauty, to be sure, but well-proportioned, with a stunning, frequent grin and deeply expressive features. Slim, but in perfectly good shape.
He's clad in... well, black leather pants. Somewhat faded, well broken in, but nicely cut and really =quite= nicely fitted. A simple cream shirt hangs untucked above them, long sleeved and fastened with a row of small, black stone buttons. Over that, he wears a decidedly well-worn old black trenchcoat, almost too big for him -- the cuffs hang down half-over his hands, when he lets them, and the hem hangs perilously close to his heels. Scuffed black leather boots with worn soles adorn his feet; there's a seemingly random collection of bracelets, all on one wrist, and several piercings along the upper section of each ear -- little silver hoops. His right ear also bears a rather delicate silver earcuff.
Slim and delicate at her modest 5'5", Rahne has an almost childish quality to her form and features. Carefully trimmed reddish-blonde hair hangs in loose, bouncing curls about an impish face that hovers between youth and maturity. High cheekbones offset wide oval eyes of bright emerald green and a frequent smile that adds to the rebellious look of her deeply tanned face.
Arms and legs that once seemed a bit too long are now a bit more proportioned, well-muscled from hard work and good food. She looks quite the wood-child, truth be told. Russet brown fabric cut into a sort of halter covers her torso, tied once about her neck and once around her rib cage. The hem of the garment barely brushes her bellybutton, and the cut only accentuates the pleasant feminine aspects that have before gone hidden. Dark brown shorts cover her waist and the tops of her thighs, but not much more. They might be longer, but the bottom cuffs have been rolled up to form an inch-wide band.
Standing out amongst the summer attire is the large, broad knife she carries. A length of cord, dark green in color, is wound about her waist three times to secure the blade's worn, tooled leather sheath to her body on the left side. A smaller bit of cord pins the bottom of the sheath to her left thigh. The leather bears the fading intricacies of celtic knotwork, a composition of light and dark growing dimmer with age.
Around her neck, a thin gold chain dangles a small, heart-shaped pendant delicately between her collarbones.
The breezeless evening makes for restless feet, restless minds, even. At least one pair of restless feet has stopped at the lake, and their owner sits atop what is becoming her favorite rock-perch by the lake. Bare toes dangle down to trail in the water beneath her as Rahne considers the reflection of the airship in the water with her head cocked to one side and amused smile.
From behind Rahne, there's a noise; the rope of the treehouse dangles, swinging a bit as if hit by a gust of wind, but no one seems to be visible.
Rahne half-turns her head, concentration broken by the noise. She perks up a bit at seeing the rope swinging, giving the impression of ears turning towards the sound. Seeing nothing but the rope, she hrms and shrugs, turning her attention upwards to the airship itself.
Rustling — a sound like footsteps, perhaps, padding very softly across the grass and dirt of the lakeside, if one's ears are the sort to sense them. They seem to come closer, then suddenly stop altogether.
Rahne gives a faint downward tilt to her head, all the motion she really gives as she sits very, very still. One foot, having been making little circles in the water, stops in its path. After a moment, the ripples it was causing begin to fade. One would think she's waiting for something.
If so, she's not going to be disappointed. It's quite quick when sound returns — a tiny movement of air behind her, a pair of arms around her waist, warmth against her back, and a calm, quiet — and amused — male voice by her ear: "...boo."
Rahne has enough aplomb and warning to -not- jump five feet in the air, but she does start just a hair. The voice is all that really keeps her from doing...well....who knows what! Tucking her arms against the ones around her, she leans back just a bit and smiles. "Y'know, you've got the sneaking thing down really damn well...I almost thought I was imagining things."
Serendipity laughs, and gives a squeeze, resting his chin on Rahne's shoulder. "Had lotsa practice. How's it goin', lovely? Saw you from up there, figured I hadda at least come say hi..." He lets go to climb up beside her on the rock; he's barefoot, just in his pants, so perhaps he wasn't doing much up in the treehouse.
Rahne smiles and scoots a little bit to make more room, though there is still plenty of room for two on this rock. "S'not bad...just watching things and lettin' the noggin wander a bit. Thought maybe it might find a breeze...I don't like it when it's this still." she rambles amiably, wrinkling her nose in faint distate at the last sentence.
The fact that there's plenty of room doesn't seem to keep Ren from sitting right up against his companion, leaning into her side. "Yeah, 's better with a little wind. Feels more alive. Makes the hair fly." He grins, and punctuates it by boinging a couple of the girl's curls."
Rahne giggles and tosses her mop back and forth for emphasis, "I'm definitely with you there! Still...just gets too stagnant, like an old pool of water. Give me a good blow any day, it makes the trees sing!" She leans back contentedly and looks up at the airship, pointing at it, "Though...I suppose it's a good thing for that that the wind's not kickin' up a fuss."
Serendipity laugh. "I know a good blow always puts =me= in th' mood t' sing," he agrees archly, and dangles his toes into the water beside where the ripples once were. Studying the airship for a few moments, he agrees, "...prolly. Then again, they gotta do =somethin'= with it in a gale, an' I doubt they pop it in their pocket..."
Rahne looks amused at the concept, "Now, that'd be a way t' introduce yerself. 'Hi! Yes, that is an airship in my pocket, and I'm very happy to see you!'." She seems thoroughly amused with herself, and playfully splashes a bit of water against Ren's toes with her own. His agreement with her statement brings the faintest of blushes to her cheeks.
Serendipity splashes some water back in return, grinning broadly. "'What? Oh, I only keep it there when I'm not gonna use it. You wanna see how big it gets? Okay, but yer all gonna hafta stand back...'" He wriggles his eyebrows at Rahne, teasingly. "Wonder how they make it work? An' you know if it's ours, or the one from the other dimension? ...an' did you know I've got a lovely singing voice?"
Rahne smirks and raises both eyebrows at the string of questions, "Yes, that's a good question, and I would certainly love to hear it." It's the water-equivalent of footsie as Rahne holds a conversation and douses Ren's feet with water at the same time.
Serendipity's feet retaliate against Rahne's with their own little waves of water. "It's a good several questions," he replies, and boings another curl before sliding his hand onto the back of her neck and up into the base of her hair, leaning in as if to kiss her. "...Would you?" he asks playfully, still several inches away, and grinning, "'cause I gotta be in the right kinda mood, y'know."
Rahne narrows her eyes lazily and smiles back, firmly entrenched in the cat-with-cream look. "Oh, I most certainly would...singing is one of my -favorite- things." she says loftily, blowing the bounced curl out of her eyes as it settles there. "Now, my only question, is how do I go about getting you in the right mood, mmmmmm?"
Serendipity puts on an exaggeratedly thoughtful look. "Hmmm," he replies agreeably, "s'pose there's nothing to do but experiment, yeah?" He leans the rest of the way in, catching her lips in a light kiss -- which quickly gets a lot less light if she doesn't push him off the rock for it.
Thankfully for Ren, things like that don't go over Rahne's head easily, so the kiss is allowed and accepted with a smile. She certainly doesn't push him off, and responds in kind as the kiss lingers. There is still a bit of mischief about her, though, as she limberly snakes her foot up out of the water and gently pokes Ren in the stomach with a cool, wet toe.
Serendipity squeaks at the toe and starts laughing, breaking the kiss to grab the offending foot and clutch it to his chest with both hands, striking a melodramatic pose and managing to control the laughter =just= enough to belt out at the top of his lungs — and range — "Ahhhhhhhhh, sweet mystery of life, at last I've found youuuuu!" before he starts laughing again and pushes the foot to where it risks making her overbalance into the lake.
Rahne, having not -quite- accounted for that turn of events, squeals and actually does overbalance. As she realizes this, her arms begin to flail, and she starts leaning backwards. Eventually, she latches onto Ren with the grip of someone realizing their doom and determined to take the other person with them. If he's not careful, they're both going to end up in the drink.
Serendipity tries, he really does, but the balance is too far off. The pair of them make quite a splash as they hit the lake and go under; it's a good thing it's not too shallow by the lake-side of the rock. Ren comes up after a few moments, soaking wet and sputtering with laughter, and checks around with a hand to find Rahne and pull her back up with him.
[...and as she didn't try to kill him, Ren suggested they go up to the treehouse to get out of their cold, wet clothes and into a warm, dry bed.
The suggestion went over well.]