Ragnar was sitting and waiting at the bottom of a large forested mountain, in his full arms and armor, his axe resting against his left leg as he waited for Akuko to arrive. This place was filled with dangerous creatures, but Akuko also had shadow magic that most of them couldn't easily bypass in any real way so Ragnar wasn't too concerned about her not being able to make it this far.

He had sent her a letter to meet in Iceberg in the Udgard Wilds, and gave his current location. He also told her to bring warm clothes because while it was fairly warm where they were as they climbed up the mountain, it would only get colder. This place also had several trolls or giants that lived in this area, but hopefully the agreement he had made with them back in the day still held firm. And if it didn't... well they would have to learn their place then he supposed. Younger weaker him would have been worried about it, but older him didn't really consider them a threat.

They would have a 'short' hike of three hours or so to get to the location where they would be having their 'date'. Ragnar assumed that Akuko could reach up there in minutes if she wanted to, but she needed to know where it was rather then just shadow jumping randomly throughout the forest.

And on such a day like the letter would say to do eventually some one bundled up with a far amount of winter garb. Akuko could adapt to many things, She was yet to be use to arctic parts of life yet, But maybe at least was a good path forward into attempting, But it could be life to wonder what kind of spirits Akuko would be when she finally did meet up with Ragnar.

So far the annoying part for a minor moment was a distance, But Akuko would start looking past it because her version of a date had a lot of other things with it that might have made the travel equally as long and she could most likely, But alas the bundled up Akuko would find who she was set up for.

And if looking at her showed anything she seemed almost like it was not her at all, Only the colour of her hair and her eyes giving away it was her. She was was wearing dark brown leather boots, Black pants covering her entire legs and some what thick enough to help keep the body heat in, But she was also wearing a fairly bulky winter coat. It's colour maybe a bit different with it being green, A darker green. Most likely just choosing it because it was a bit different and interesting to her at the time, With a hat that on top of her head cover as a normal winter had did with a little fuzzy pom pom on top of it, the whole hat was white.

As she seemed to take a moment to stand next to Ragnar with her hands seeming hiding in pockets the coat had she then just quietly pulled out to the shock of no one that saw her a cigar and lit it up."I suppose you knew i am not the greatest with the winter huh?"

Ragnar looked at the person walking over to him, and he couldn't help but smile under his red helmet. He had forgotten that Akuko was not born in an area where there was winter. She might not have even seen snow before! Either way, Ragnar said calmly to Akuko " Yes I am aware of that but this is the only place I felt comfortable enough to bring you so..." Ragnar picked up his chainaxe and put it over his shoulder, before turning towards the forest and saying back to Akuko " If you need me to carry you at any point I can. "

Ragnar then started to walk. Luckily for Akuko, Ragnar was massive in comparison and basically left behind him a wake of packed snow and a relatively cleared path behind him. As Ragnar walked, he would keep looking around as if he expected to be ambushed. While he didn't really think he would, it was much better to be ready to be ambushed then just be ambushed.

It was a fairly nice offer but she did not require to be carried, not yet anyway. She was use to many things so far. it would entirely depend if she felt like being lazy."I do find your idea of comfortable interesting and bit....different then maybe what i thought most people i would meet from other nations that it would be."Akuko mentioned taking another puff away from her cigar, it seemed to be end up being a fairly light one, It was going out as she progressively tried to smoke her cigar. But it seemed not to annoy her that was the entire case that was happening. Eventually as it seemed she only managed three puffs in and nothing else happen Akuko gave up trying to smoke her cigar.

But she just kind of just figured it would be something she could do later."But if a look-a-like ice cream land is your idea of comfortable, I won't complain."Akuko just kept herself in good spirits. In some manner as always it seemed to be Ragnar's company that she was here to enjoy. In terms of how they both looked, Ragnar seemed to be covered in red coloured metal.

It was something she was going to bring up."I bring you to a forest adventure that did not need a weapon and armour....So where about are we going that need you to be covered in armour with a weapon?"She seemed to be asking to make conversation with him and to kind of learn what she was getting into.

Ragnar looked back for a moment before saying " Well most of the people you have meet aren't from his harsh nation, and if they are, if they go down to the other nations it is to escape. I left to get stronger to hopefully come back and then take over, but that dream have been thrown to the background for now. " Ragnar kept walking and quickly pushed the snow out of his way.

Eventually The question of his gear came up, and he had realized that this was most likely the first time she saw him in this full gear, outside of any wanted posters she might have seen of him. Shrugging and saying back to her " Yes well, sadly my home is, even at it's most tame, hostile to most forms of life. That means that things that live here are use to killing in order to live to the next day. I would prefer to be ready for that and fend them off, rather then risk you getting injured. "

Ragnar stopped for a moment and then turned his head to the west, and his axe, which had been quiet until this moment gave out a roar that echoed in the forest around them. It sounded like hundreds of beasts roaring in a chorus "VRROOOOM, RAAAWWWWW RROOOOMMMM" and if Akuko looked the direction Ragnar was looking she would see something compress the snow running away from them. It was a large snow colored cat, most likely hunting and saw Ragnar and Akuko as possibly easy prey. Ragnar wanted to cut that off at the pass, and make it clear that if it came any closer it was going to end up dead.

Ragnar turned back towards Akuko and then reached down and gently grabbed her hand and put it on the back of his belt. " Keep your hand there. If you let go at any time I will stop. We have quite the hike ahead of us, and I would rather you not die here. "

If anything all of this did not seem to overwhilm Akuko but it surely was a lot of take in. Or the cold was making her slow but she could easily fix that later."I entirely doubt anyone else would be interested of travelling here weather it was deathly or not."She had to joke about it but she seemed at least happy with this situation at this time "But I see some charm in it." She mentioned in the end. Then again Akuko was a easy to please woman at least Ragnar had picked she was most people might have assumed the opposite.

A not tame homeland? How relatable just in a different style of life that made it hard for people at their times of life, it was understandable in it's own way."Well well, aren't you a you a good lad with like how you think it out. Almost like I like that about you in some manner."the sarcasm in some manner was strong but Akuko have a point with it, Looking out for a person even if lined in a bleak way because you trust them was always something to put forward to one another, at times it was a back thought.

But if he wanted to guide, She would allow herself to be guided by Ragnar so even doing as she said she had to make a joke about it in some manner, in this case over the loud animal she heard."Oh, did the kitties want to come out and play? or wanted a snack? I would assume both options."these jokes where normal in some manner and she had to make because it was just Akuko, She just made them to gauge reactions from anything or anyone, Reckless in her own manner in that way.

Ragnar laughed at Akuko's joke as he kept walking forwards " Yes. The kitty did want to play, and have a snack. It most likely would have been you given that I am currently in a hard to open tin can. " Ragnar kept walking, making good progress even with the snow and it appeared that most of the animals heard the roar of an unknown animal and decided to not be around as they didn't meet anything else along the way.

After the march, they managed to reach a location, they entered an area that looks like it had been heavily cleared of trees and looking in the middle of the clearing was a log cabin. While the cabin wasn't specifically large, it wasn't a single room location either. It appeared from the outside to be two or three rooms along with another building off to the side. The area around here had the snow already packed down so it was hard and easy to walk around, and there appeared to be a large wood pile outside of the house on the right side, near the front door.

"Here is the cabin. Even though the snow has been cleared out of this area, it is still cold. Glad my former clan mates kept their agreement. " Ragnar said as he expected Akuko to let go of his belt at this point as he kept walking towards the house. He went and grabbed a massive stack of wood, enough to fill one of his arms and then walked into the house.

The house was nice on the inside, though it was clear that it had no central heating outside of the wood burning fireplace in the center of the living room. It had a staircase that appeared to lead up to a bedroom. In the living room was a couch, and two lounging chairs. In the kitchen was another wood burning stove, but that appeared to be going already with a pot of something on top of it already cooking.

Then in some manner Akuko could let out in return to."They can be hungry all they want, Won't stop me from snapping their necks and eating their flesh with out cooking it to prove a point."It was seemingly out of no where. But this was Akuko she was a daemon with ways of it still being apparent, She was still mostly a person but that entire idea just mentioned was most likely something she only had in mind because Akuko did have her ways that still could be considered Daemonic in some manner.

But Akuko was still pretty harmless in the end. After all joking about her comment still."At least I have some could I could share it with, after a bit of cooking."And she did actually laugh about it, it was funny to her but it might not be for him. She didn't know and some manner in her own slightly careless nature she did not care about her joke about it.

A cabin was interesting vastly different in style towards what kind of life Akuko was use to living, But you know there was something else as they were walking away from the snow that Akuko could not help herself with. picking up a bit of the snow form the ground she formed a ball and throw it at him in some manner lightly at him, She was just harmless aiming for some where on the armour he was wearing, no sign of it was showing really until Akuko just randomly let go or stop touching what she was request too.

But after the snowball since the cabin was Akuko would just casually look around since they were both inside. Then she would walk over to the front door and then start taking off all of the winter clothing, She did still have clothing on under it. Taking off her hat and the neon pink would just fall down. She seemed okay with the place.

Ragnar turned around for a moment after hearing that comment, before shrugging and then continue walking. This wasn't the first time he heard this kind of thing from people, but it was the first time he heard it from her. That was surprising in of itself but also not really unthinkable. She was a daemon after all, and she couldn't be all 'sunshine and rainbows' all the time with that kind of thing being a deep integrated part of her at this point. Well either way, he continued his walk without any comments about it.

As they entered the packed down snow field, he felt something hit his armor lightly. He could guess that it was a snowball based on the sound. Stopping in his tracks for a moment, he comically started to look around in an animated fashion trying to find the person who threw the snowball at him. He did this to hope to get a laugh out of Akuko for a moment, but if that didn't happen he would eventually go back inside with his firewood and begin getting ready.

Ragnar threw the firewood next to the fireplace, before grabbing some of the wood from that and bringing it over to the oven and start to fill it back up with some wood to keep whatever was cooking going. At that point he began to take off his armor, putting his strange axe against the wall. It took Ragnar many times longer then Akuko to take off his armor, no surpise, but then he also had to take off the clothes under it to keep him from cutting himself on the metal. He wore a piece of chainmail under this as well as a thick cloth to seperate the cold metal from his skin. Clearly it was toasty in that armor because Ragnar was sweating when he took the armor off him. He was much much slower then he had been in the past with his armor. He could have made that march in less then half the time before but those are the sacrifices you make for a cool axe.

Ragnar after taking several minutes to get undressed, going down to the level of not wearing a shirt but still wearing the thick leather pants used to protect his legs from his armor began to walk up the winding stairs to go take off the rest of his clothes. He left all of his armor and the accessories next to the axe on the wall in the corner of the room. If Akuko went over to see what was cooking in the pot, she would find a rich stew simmering in the pot with carrots and potatoes in it with an unknown meat in it.

Yes almost like Ragnar thought when he looked around at the snowball part Akuko did laugh, only slightly. Part of her expected him to just do nothing or assume it was just nothing. But then again it was just how he was and what was normal of her. The freedom she had been doing then again since it was simple, Akuko being the way she was felt generally content for this time. But as always she was simple to keep happy just let her pull a few jokes maybe give her a chuckle or two and she would just go back to being rather settled.

But if anything Akuko was looking at a few details when it came to Ragnar settling in with out armour, The man most likely had build up enough internal heat from all of things he wore. So in some manner Akuko ponder if she needed to get something a cold, But if this man was use to all of this it was just his standard.

But she was not that curious of what might linger upon the pot slowly boiling away, But she go goes over it light up that cigar she did carry. Because well even if she was not addicted to it and could manage it well. she did seem to know what she enjoyed in her free time. But she still had enough to be able to enjoy herself."So does this place have a story?"She had to ask while he seemed comfortable enough to be sitting where he was, but Akuko even being a bit of a pain she knew she was. always just kept a bit of a distance only just not to blow smoke in his face since she was not trying to be that type to just rudely blow smoke in some one's face.


But so far it was just Ragnar in the room with him and she was generally making conversation."After all, all places have a story."Akuko wanted to know the origins of this place. Which was nice after all it meant this joyan daemon wanted to learn about things about him rather then just leaving it to be explained until later on another time.

" I built it. While I was off in the wilderness for two years. During that time I had to teach some of the intelligent creatures around here to leave this area alone and in exchange I wouldn't hunt them to the last. Seemed like they agreed to the terms even though I am sure they knew I was gone from this place. " Ragnar came downstairs at this point, wearing his normal jeans and with a towel as he wiped the sweat off his body.

After coming down the stairs, he saw that Akuko already had a cigar lit. Sometimes he wonders if she had a addiction or if she just did it for the style of it. He did know some people that would always have a drink in their hand but never seemed to get drunk or get anything out of it. Well it isn't like Ragnar cared, atleast not right now. These were small things that he was starting to notice about Akuko, though he was sure there was small things about Ragnar that she noticed that he didn't.

" This was just something I used to try and build something rather then destroy something. It took a couple of attempts, but eventually I got around to figuring it out. " Ragnar thought about the three failed attempts before this, usually due to Ragnar losing his temper at something and breaking an important piece of the structure and forcing him to start over, or having it all come crashing down around him or just not thinking ahead. All of these things he got alot better at.

At least in some manner, Akuko was listening and seemingly more interested with her listening. After all Akuko for the most part just adjusted her to powers, she could find places to sleep and hide with out worry or a second thought. But to build this all entirely on your own was a feat that was interesting to her at least, sure she could figure out basic means of building things but this was a bit larger then she could have ever planned, But she never planned them."Well nosy ol' me does wonder how long did it take?"Only because she had no basis of an extremely solid answer to how long it could take.

Places like these were different then homes in joya or Fiore from what she gather but she seemed happy with being here."This is better...than just being use to factions at war around you for most of your life..."Akuko seemed to mention thinking about it while she. Then again seeing Akuko for even moment being considered in a state was being more common now days but being at peace was a bit rare still."It is remarkable."A smile of happiness, No devilish smirk or tricky smile linger there she just seemed, happy.

Maybe this was it, Normal Akuko no ideas from the daemon she fused with, no ideas for jokes no plans to just sneak around. The entire normal person of Akuko Hisako. Well in another other language but joyan it would be Hisako Akuko. This entire time she was most likely just a normal woman unsure about how she went on in life.

Then Akuko walk over to the pot, opened it up for a moment to check over and give it a sniff. She would discard whatever she had left of her cigar since she did not need it anymore then. Content with wait until she was hungry and told it was okay to eat, She simply walked over to where Ragnar was sitting, Sat again upon the lap she had grown accustom to sitting on. Then simply placed her head on Ragnar for a moment. With her eyes closed like she was just comfortable enough to not think.

After all Akuko was still a person, Even if she could call herself a daemon and or a monster with her behaviour. But for the moment Akuko was just this woman sitting on some one lap. Enjoying a quiet moment by a fire.

Ragnar sitting on the couch thought about this for a moment before saying " I think it was... two and a half years? During that time I just slept in a tent until I could build a room, then I lived in that during that time. It wasn't too bad in the summer months but the winter months were brutal, no surprise. And thank you! I did my best on it!"

Ragnar was very happy with his abilities, though he doubted he could do this kind of thing again. A bunch of this was done through total guess work and trial and error. He was sure that if a real builder came into this home that they would tell him that this is all wrong. It is still standing so it most likely isn't too wrong. Ragnar was lost in thought for a moment before he felt Akuko sit on his lap and place her head on his chest. Snapping back into reality, he looked down at Akuko and wrapped his arms around her in a hug before gently kissing the top of her head. He just let the moment stay there for as long as Akuko wanted, it isn't like Ragnar had anywhere else to be, nor would he want to be anywhere else.

With evening being content Akuko did think about a few things that she could consider mentioning over all about this situation. What else could she consider thinking about the building well."What else do you feel your creation is missing that you add in with out altering what you have now?"It seemed like a good thing to ask, what else could be brought in to make the place more enjoyable, Even if the answer was nothing she would still be find with it. After all it was an idea of her's for the future.

But then again she also had to ponder."How do these lands differ? Since each side of the of the world I do assume temperatures and when the sun goes down are different  in some manner, unless i'm wrong?"The annoying part of never really being in other lands ever was you had to wonder these things.

But she did not want to be doing things here and have night time come earlier then she thought, only to turn to her full daemon look because she could not do anything about it. This was all Akuko preparing if she visited here more often so she could get around with out worry or needing Ragnar if he was going to be gone doing something.

At least there could be more annoying people."Also when's the last time you brush your teeth?" This was a bait question, Ragnar's breath did not actually smell bad, But still over all trying to get some kind of laugh out of him.

Ragnar gently rubbed Akuko's back as he thought about the question for a moment. What would he change about his creation? He thought about the area around him and he couldn't really think of anything and then she asked him the real question. What makes this land different from where Akuko is from.

" This place is simply very hard on life, and because of that the people that come out of here are hard. We had to fight for every meal we got, and every piece of territory that we could get. Blood, Fighting and the Cold are simply part of life in this part of the world. It most likely explains why I am the way I am. " Then Ragnar heard the last question and he simply laughed. Ragnar wasn't a complete savage, atleast not anymore, he did take care of his teeth. "Fairly recently. I believe before we came up the mountain. "

"Why do you ask? " Ragnar said, though he pretty much knew the answer but it was more fun to see where this conversation was going to go. Ragnar was simply along for the Akuko ride most of the time, and it wasn't time for the roles to be switched.

She would answer the question pretty quickly. After all he might have brushed them recently. But she would look at him right in the face for a moment make his head turn to her, Then open his mouth for a moment, Then with a light scrape with her finger accessories and looked at it for a moment."You need to floss more then."Akuko said because she just did these things so casually."And maybe sure a bit more mouth wash." She then would give him a kiss on the cheek, It almost was a joke in it's own way for a moment.

Then she would just casually get off of Ragnar's lap. Open up the pot and check on it again. More if anything being attentive to make sure things did not boil over, Then again boiling over might work differently here. But it seemed to smell nice."Not my typical anything sour or bitter smelling. But I won't complain."But she did not stick her finger or anything into to give it a bit of a try just yet then simply put the lid back on.

Walking over to her discard winter attire she would place the golden finger accessories she normally had on the pile, Her typical pink glasses then were placed on the pile as well. She had always kept them with her but it was just kind of her thing to keep them with her."I have had to be picky about a persons hygiene of late, Only because I have been baby sitting."She would bring this up casually because well it was random conversation to have. But she was talking about this situation casually. after all she was stretching her arms, only because well she wanted to be sure everything was okay and normal in terms of her body and nothing was still stiff and cold."So my slight need to be a mother to some one else, Might be reflecting right now."She then laughed about it. After all while she was stretching out her back was too Ragnar and she was not really trying to look at him at this time, was this another trick by her?

Ragnar listened to what Akuko had said before her getting off his lap. Well that was unfortunate, Ragnar had expected something else but honestly Akuko has been known to never follow the obvious path. One day Ragnar will figure it all out, but who knows how long that would take. Getting up from his seat for a moment he walked back up the stairs and walked into the bathroom as Akuko was checking on the food and what not.

Once he came back down, he had some floss in his hand and he was flossing his teeth. He couldn't figure out where his mouthwash was, most likely because he didn't own any. That might have to be a purchase for the future. Ragnar listened and before asking " Who are you baby sitting? I can imagine the amount of people that would trust you to baby sit is the same amount that would trust me to baby sit" Ragnar said this as he knew of only one person who would trust him to baby sit, and he hadn't seen her in over a year, though that isn't unheard of. Her adoptive mother did die very recently, atleast that was the story that was told.

Ragnar wasn't fully sure if it was possible for someone to kill the women he meet on those docks, but there are people much stronger then him and maybe she was caught out. All of those facts didn't add up to Ragnar but it didn't really matter. Maybe Akuko took on the role of watching over the child now that Quill was gone. Ragnar still never processed his grief about losing a dear friend, but this wasn't the time or the place to do that. If Akuko had moved on, then Ragnar should do the same or atleast pretend to have moved on at this point.

There was a bit of a laugh about it not that Akuko could not be fully trusted she just seemed to never really care about children to start with so such a reality of how it was did not really matter to her that they were around and they where not a part of her way of being and not really something she worried about existing around her."I know it is strange to be asked to look after a child."She did remark but some how she would manage all of this with out problem in which she found remarkable.

But who was she baby sitting."Well the tiny one who would ever trust me with their tiny one is Quilly."It was pretty simple to line up in the end it was her. It would have been easy to piece it all together in that it was the case she had been watching over the small one named Suza."I do not know why she handed her over to me, After all i have no knowing of how to take care of a child."But if anything the child would live and Akuko would most likely kill anyone that tried to take them away from her.

Then well upon Ragnar's return Akuko then simply walked over check to see how clean and how better his teeth where when flossed."See that should be better now, nothing stuck in your teeth."Then Akuko being the strange woman she was then kissed Ragnar on the cheek."Well anything interesting going on in your life of late?"She would change it see if anything neat had happen with him while she was not around things did need to talked about at the time. It was not just all of her happenings.

Ragnar listened to what Akuko had to say about this child, and he realized which child it was now. Well that was interesting and did add some more evidence to his current working theory about Quilla but that was neither here nor there. Once he finished with flossing his teeth, he took the floss and threw it away. He was only mildly dissappointed that he didn't get a kiss, but Akuko did what she wanted and there wasn't any forcing her to change.

Well Ragnar could force her to change, but what fun would that be. Akuko was always keeping Ragnar on his toes, and that was one of the reasons why he fell for her. Atleast he think he is falling for her, Ragnar had never really experienced love before, and didn't really know what it felt like. Throwing that to the side for a moment after Akuko asked her question, he answered.

" I had wondered what happened to Suza. It is good to hear that she is in capable, if slightly under prepared, hands. I have been looking into Quilla's 'death', because nothing makes sense about it in my mind. Who could have killed Quilla? She was a force of nature, fighting her is like trying to fight the sky. So having some kill her seemed as impossible as someone fighting and killing the ocean. You being given the safe keeping of Suza makes me think that she is still hiding. Though why she would be hiding at all is beyond me. It just doesn't make alot of sense to me. But it isn't like Ragnar the Red has been known for being an amazing investigator. I normally investigate things with the edge of an axe. But enough that. "

Ragnar went over to the kitchen, and pulled out some bowls, spoons, and some large artisan bread loaves that he had and pour himself some of the stew along with ripping off a piece of the bread and putting it into the stew before handing the rest of Akuko. Ragnar wasn't sure how much of it she would want, if any at all, so he was going to have her fill her own plate so she didn't feel pressured into eating something she didn't want. Ragnar was sure that she wouldn't eat it even if he did, but it was better this way.

Ragnar sat on the couch and looked at the fire as it was going in the fireplace as he ate his food. He didn't realize how hungry he was until now, but talking with Akuko always made him distracted from everything else but Akuko.

Akuko laughed at being called capable but unprepared she could only help but make the joke of it."Yes even not having sex before let alone never being a mother, I would like to think I could manage."Akuko laughed about it because she had to keep calling herself Aunt Aky rather then Hisako or Akuko around Suza."She is easy to take care of."She also let that out because well why hide weather or not Suza is a good child, she had nothing to worry about in the end if anything what Akuko had been doing with Suza would be extremely wholesome to the reality that most people would think Akuko with a child would be like around her.

as far about that situation she just kind of mentioned stuff like that as she felt."Until really proven, I don't actually believe such a thing is possible."It is still a bit to think about. Quillareine's best friend not believing such a thing. Then again Akuko could also just be learning this new and deal with her problems later that could come out from such a thing she hear of.

But where Ragnar had settle in Akuko merely lounged on the back of lay on it like she would a bed. Running the fingers of her right hand throught his hand. The top half of Akuko was on the right of Ragnar, The lower half on the left. Then just as Ragnar was comfortable and settled in, Akuko stole the bread he had with him. She would get her own food eventually she just needed to be a figurative pain in the butt still."This didn't entirely freeze on the travel over? interesting."Then she took a bite out of it waiting to see what would happen.

Ragnar heard her speak for a moment and heard her say that she had never had sex. Ragnar couldn't help but find that, a rude as this is, unbelievable. Looking the way she did, and knowing how much sway she had over men, himself included, with just her looks. He looked at her for a moment but he continued with his tasks and continued with his speech for a moment.

Ragnar felt a hand in his hand soon after he sat down, and a beautiful women laying across his lap, which distracted him long enough for him to lose his bread. Ragnar wasn't about to take it back from her at this point. Simply wasn't worth the trouble, but took her hand anyway before asking a question he never thought he would have to ask Akuko. " Akuko. Are you even interested in sex? Do you have any desire to have it or have you just never found someone you wanted to have sex with? "

Ragnar was trying to figure all of this out because in his mind he hadn't really considered the fact that he might not have that part of a relationship with Akuko. He thought about it more and more, and part of him was happy to just have her in his life and another part felt like it would be very cruel for him to have her in it without a way to release the building stress. Though, he was only barely paying attention to that thought as he watched to see Akuko's face and try to read her expressions.

With what Ragnar asked, the casual way of Akuko acting would actually change, She simple put that taken away piece of bread. Then get up from where she sat. There seemed to if anything no smile on face, no joy. The person was most likely she was raised to try to be would talk, not this casual careful joker."Short answer is yes."But it seemed Akuko wanted to pose something to Ragnar with her answer."But I had always wanted it to be with the right person."This kind of answer maybe showed a bit of personal weakness she wanted to see how Ragnar deal with.

So she would finally get her own food and bread."You can only just be the eye of some one's desire until you wonder....if it just what they look at they wanted to just relieve their own personal lust for some one...."The fact Akuko said this so empty and void of emote and joy must show one thing, Akuko's jokes and tricks where starting to show themselves of test of trust or boundary pushing to see just how long until a person no longer found it worth it.

"Or they don't stick around because a flaw becomes too strong to ignore or look past for the looks of a pretty face."Was Akuko testing Ragnar? Or was Akuko just so use to being just a persons eye candy that she almost never wanted to be considered a person to anyone."Everyone can look at myself or my closest friend and know we look how do look."After getting her food she would do the most opposite thing of Akuko, she sat up right in a chair as a normal person would.

"But...what person would just look at me and realize that I am merely just trying to make everyone laugh...enjoy life in their own way and see the world for the casual way it needs to be."At this point Akuko had to wonder if being completely serious and thought provoking was making Ragnar feel weird or not."Rather then sitting in a chair stewing into the thought of life in Joya...wars....death...take over of lands...all things that can ruin a soul."It was all leading up to Akuko stating this to Ragnar, After that she would most likely go back to normal.


In which it would be spoken as such."I will desire to such thing as a form of emotional bonding....not a casual fling." She would then just to see what would happen she would stood up from her sit for a moment placing her food where she sat. Standing just in front of the most likely baffled Ragnar, cupped his chin with in the palm of her right hand and raised to meet her golden yellow eyes."I want to do such a thing with a person would not leave me feeling so emotionally empty and behind as I did when I died in joya...To leave behind that empty void..."It must be a bit much at this point, But that might be entirely the case of why she was being this way to see her point made.



Then she kissed him on the forehead."I believe you would in fact to be the man to fill that hollow empty void...I just wanted to be sure I never did anything to scare you away for forever."It was Akuko showing she was actually feeling some kind of connection to him."I had consider such desire long a go..It is why I have no problem just casually roaming around with nothing on....Or as a daemon."Then she rest her head on stop of Ragnar's for a moment and just kind of waited for three seconds No doubt it was give him a moment to process information from her.

Akuko was trying to fill emotional voids and not just seem to be for beauty and looks. Feeling Ragnar was the perfect piece with that missing puzzle."You just might be that right person if I where to put it simply."She then laughed about slightly, sat down in her spot normally and quiet ate her food.

Ragnar almost instantly after he said what he did realized his mistake, and that only became more clear when Akuko changed her entire personality. Ragnar felt like he had just walked into the mouth of a massive beast, one that had been sleeping until now, and might just wake up. Her first answer made sense, she was simply waiting for the right person. That is respectable, it makes sense to do that. As Ragnar listened his mind only raced faster as he tried to figure out where this conversation was going to go next. This was completely out of character for Akuko, and he didn't really expect this at all. He had assumed that Akuko was capable of being serious, but he didn't think this would be the thing to trigger it.

As Akuko continued to talk, Ragnar attempted to take as much of this into himself as he could. There was insight in this speech into the inner workings of Akuko's mind that Ragnar never got to see. Akuko sat down at the table, something very abnormal for her, as she continued to talk and Ragnar listened carefully. He was still shock and mind reeling from what he was hearing and the implications of this. As Ragnar listened he did hear something that he was very happy to hear but also very fearful to hear, that she did have a connection with him back. He had completely ignored and abandoned the second to last sentence from his mind as he was still trying to process what was said to him before. Eventually Akuko went and sat back down to eat her food in silence, possibly watching Ragnar trying to put together the shattered puzzle of his mind.

So, Akuko did thing that Ragnar was the right person for her or at least felt that. She did all of this in order to basically test Ragnar to make sure he wasn't just into her for her body and then would leave her. That was entirely fair, Ragnar thought to himself, there would be alot of people that would not put up with Akuko's nature. Once this thought passed his mind Ragnar realized that what he was feeling earlier was just selfish on his part. He was worried about his own feeling and not really putting himself in Akuko's shoes. Though Ragnar has never been known to put himself in other people's shoes, mostly because they are too small.

What was Ragnar going to do now! As he slowly worked through the broken puzzle pieces of his mind and feelings, he was quiet and didn't eat his food in front of him. He was simply still. As Ragnar went through his feelings something kept popping up, like maybe he was feeling what she was and didn't realize it. Though the more the thought about it the harder it was for part of him to accept. He didn't need anyone, there wasn't a blank spot in his life that needed filling. Or was there, now Ragnar didn't really know. Self Doubt had finally entered Ragnar's mind. Ragnar had always been a " I can" kind of person. Even if something was going to kill him, he still went and did it because he had faith in his ability to handle the problem. Now he doesn't know how to handle this problem.

Leaning back against the couch, Ragnar sat there in silence as his mind raced. Ragnar needed to make a choice here and now. Did he feel something for this women or didn't he? Was he only interested in her for her body or did he want her for her mind? If he didn't want her for her mind, then was it fair for him to drag her along? No it wasn't. Well, Ragnar needed to make a choice, he needed it to be honest and he needed it soon.

At this point, nearly two minutes had passed in silence, and Ragnar was still absorbed in his own thoughts finally getting the pieces of his mind back together. Eventually something washed over Ragnar that he couldn't explain, it felt like something that was missing was found. He knew it wasn't him, but something he was feeling, like a part of his brain that had it's own doubts was suddenly free. He looked up at Akuko eating her food for a moment before saying " I love you Akuko"

As soon as that left his mouth, Ragnar realized what he had said and he instantly felt his blood start to boil in embarrassment, and his face start to blush, as he also said " Well let me go outside and get more firewood! " and quickly walked out of the Cabin into the freezing cold to go get more firewood from the side of the house. The heat coming off his shirtless body clearly seen as steam. If Akuko looked next to the fireplace it was still over three-fourth full of firewood. Ragnar spent another minute out there, gathering wood as he realized what he had just done.

As Ragnar argued with himself, he eventually came to the conclusion that what he said was honest to himself, but surprising. He was going to have to deal with the ramifications of doing what he had just done, but he was sure it wouldn't be too bad. Worst case is that Akuko breaks up with him now, which kinda avoids the entire point and luckily Ragnar can always just continue to live out here in the woods for the rest of his life until he was eaten by a bear or something.

Going back inside with an armful of firewood, Ragnar came back inside, the color in his face gone now. After putting the firewood away, Ragnar went and sat back down and began eating his food in silence. He didn't really know what else to do now.

Akuko would get the answer she wanted to know, Just in a different reaction she could never have guessed. But this part was always good for Ragnar to have happen for Akuko would entirely not judge him for his actions. These emotions were odd to control. Akuko learned this just after her shift from human to daemon for it was risky when she first changed she was extremely angry and almost did not know control how to control her anger, But some how just managed. But maybe that was a conversation for another day for them to have since there was another situation to deal with first.

Akuko would have said something about what he spoke for that moment as well but Ragnar then just kind of left to get fire wood that they clearly had enough fire wood for most likely the entire time they where, But Akuko had a feeling this was all for a cover to make him mentally settle. So she would wait, But she felt content with what she heard him say. Thus the time he left and same back she seemed to not mind at all. He wanted time to just control his thoughts and keep it in one place.


When Ragnar returned Akuko had a smile, not one of tricks either but of actual peaceful happiness. Akuko had in that time finished her food and waited in her spot, But since he settled in then just walked over to where he was sitting took one of his hands and placed it on her butt, Why it was a show that it was okay to touch, A sign of getting comfortable settling. Then she simple just kissed him on the lips and just said."Well what do you say to I love you too? After all I figured I would wait for you to sit down before telling you."Akuko was being a bit of a smart ass, But she was just kind of getting things to continue, Sure they were still just relaxing about normally.

But Akuko was not rushing off to do anything because she was just managed in and settled her thoughts. Then casually wrapping both her arms around his waist and she waiting to see what happen. A wholesome moment just quiet embracing. Akuko was not rushing anything because they both had a moment of admitting something and rather then just ruining the experience.

But it seemed they both admitted it they both liked each other enough to consider it love."Well are you okay? Or did you need to go outside and find a bit more firewood?"she was not going to make too in depth of a joke yet but she would start adding them back in to be normal.

As Ragnar thoughts were still on rocky waters as the embaressment faded from his mind and he had finished some of his food before he saw Akuko walking over to him. Putting down his food he was surpised to have his hand placed on Akuko's butt and to get a kiss. Well apart of him wasn't surpised but he was very happy. Apparently he didn't fuck it up too badly. He then heard that she loved him too and he felt a worry that was just appearing get removed entirely in a manner of moments.

Ragnar sat there as Akuko wrapped her arms around his waist, at which point Ragnar moved his other hand to wrap it around her and move his other hand, relucdently, off her butt and onto her back as he also just enjoyed this moment of, oddly wholesome and nice feelings. Ragnar moved his face down and kissed the top of Akuko's head and he gently rubbed her back as he started to refocus that everything was going to be ok. Ragnar didn't think of what this meant long term or anything, he was just enjoying the moment of a weight being lifted from his shoulders and a hole in his soul he didn't know he had being filled by the most unexpected of people.

" I will be ok now. This is my first time doing that, and it happened without much thought on my end. It was just how I felt and I said it without thinking, but I guess it makes it more honest that way I suppose. " Ragnar said as he moved his hand down towards Akuko's butt before reaching and gently tilting her head up and kissing her on the lips again. Things were going to get better going forward.