Mark tried to convince Sean to sleep while he stayed up, but Sean's mind was too active. He didn't think he could rest if he wanted too. So, he took the first shift to watch over them. He didn't think anyone would mess with them, but he couldn't be sure of that. They were outside the safe zone of town, and he doubted this cave was always empty. Sitting against the wall, Sean watched until the others had fallen asleep before getting up. Standing closer to the rushing veil of water, he kept his keen ears and eyes sharp. His wings twitching to every distant snap of a twig and animal call. They days events trying to distract him. He couldn't believe there were people in this world that cared so little for others. To them this was just another game. Another reason to divide themselves from everyone else and dominate others. Games were supposed to be fun... but people like them turned games like this toxic. Shaking his head, he wondered what the Game Master's experiment was. Was it to see if they turned on each other?

Sighing softly, Sean glanced at his shimmering reflection in the moonlight water. He marveled at every attention to detail in this world. It was so beautiful... and if it wasn't for the threat of death, it would be hard to pull himself away from it. Reaching out to trace his fingers in the crisp cold water that fell in a shimmering curtain, he smiled to himself. Everything felt so real. Upon lowering his hand, he glanced back at the others over his shoulder. He could only hope they weren't putting Lulu in danger. He didn't think his heart could bare it if she died because of him. He didn't know much about this game or what they'd run into. He stayed up all night with his thoughts, until he eventually sat down and dosed off without meaning too. The dreamless sleep state was bliss, until a soft 'whack' nearby woke him. Jerking upright from his slumped position on the wall, Sean's long ears perked up and his wings shuddered in distress. Mark and Lulu were missing.

Tossing off a blanket that he hadn't fallen asleep with, Sean hovered a little off the ground as he called out to the depths of the small cave. "Mark? Lulu?" There stuff was still here. Spinning around, Sean landed on his feet and jogged out around the waterfall. He was just about to yell their names, until he heard Mark and Lulu laugh. Skidding to a stop on the wet rocks, Sean observed Mark on the other side of the little lake. He was holding a small bow and showing Lulu how to use it. Mark was holding his nose and wincing as he told her through a muffled chuckle. "Ha. Ha. Now you see why it is important to release properly?" Lulu was bent over laughing, her face streamed in tears as she wheezed out. "Ya. I don't want it to break my nose." Rolling his eyes, Mark playfully shoved her and chuckled back. "Go on. Let's see you try it." Lulu composed herself, flicking her long bangs out of her face, before taking a few breaths. Then with a long inhale, she pulled the string back.

Her hands shook as she tried to hold it steady. Mark placed his hands on her waist, his hands ready to spring up to grab the bow as he told her. "See the red dot? Let go when you see it flash. The game will do the rest." Lulu cringed as she tried to line something up and released with just a soft thud of the string. The arrow whizzed toward the apple that sat on a rock and soared right over it. Lowering the bow, Lulu exhaled out grimly. "I missed." Mark lifted his hand, gesturing with his fingers as he playfully told her. "Missed it by that much. You're getting better. Had it been taller you would have it hit." Lulu snorted, strutting out to retrieve her arrow while retorting sarcastically. "Liar. I couldn't hit a moose with that." Mark shrugged, mumbling out to himself. "Well... I didn't say how much taller it would have to be..." Snatching up her arrow, she shot back. "I heard that." Shrugging to her, he quickly told her with a warm smile. "From here it was about that distance above the apple. You're improving. That is the important thing."

Groaning, she took her spot beside him again and said a bit disheartened. "I'm going at throwing smoke and flash bombs... Can't I just do that?" Mark cleaned off her arrow and restrung it as he replied nicely. "They are good to flee, but not to protect yourself. You can't always pick food in games like this. Different levels and areas may not have pickable food. Which makes stealth hunting critical. You should practice basic combat skills at the very least." Lulu huffed, turning to aim her bow again. Upon release again, she missed again at the same point and mumbled out. "It's no good... I can't see well in the daylight. My marker is all off... I'll never get it. I'm... I'm gonna die..." Lulu dropped her bow, reaching up to flip her little black hood over her head to hide her face. Only her long ears stuck out through the holes in the hood. Sean inched toward her to comfort her, but Mark was closer. Cupping her face, Mark sat back on his heels as he told her so serenely. "Hey. Lulu? Look at me. Everything is going to be ok."

Lulu's long pointed ears drooped as she sniffled out. "But I can't see. I picked wrong..." Mark pressed his forehead to her, telling her sweetly. "There is no right or wrong race, Lulu. Everyone has a trait flaw. You just have to learn how to overcome it. I'm learning too. Look at my nose! I can't use a bow." Lulu's little giggle made Mark chuckle with her. Stopping a short distance away, Sean raised a hand to shade his eyes from the bright sun and froze. Looking up at his hand, he grinned as an idea struck him. Shrugging off his bag, he dug around for a long strip of grey bandage. Mark called out to him, but Sean ignored him to focus. Cutting the long strip from the supply of bandage, he stretched it a bit as he called out nicely. "Lulu? Come here a second." Lulu walked over, blinking her big green eyes when she said to him innocently. "I'm not hurt. But Mark smashed his-" Cutting her off with a light chuckle, he kneeled and told her. "I know. I want to try something. Stand still."

Pushing her hood back carefully, he wrapped the bandage around her eyes and tied the rest behind her head in a little bow. Her ears perked up as he finished, prompting him to ask curiously. "How is that? Can you see?" Lulu looked around, before giddily answering. "YA! That is sooo much better!" Dashing back to her bow, she excitedly told Mark. "I'm gonna try again!" While Lulu set herself up, Mark wondered over to him, asking in a low voice. "How did you know that would work?" Shrugging honestly, Sean replied in the same low tone. "I didn't. I just... I remembered her saying she could see through fog and smoke. I can't... but I thought if I clouded her vision... maybe for her it would be clear." Ruffling his hair, Mark teased out. "Smart thinking." Shoving Mark's hand away, Sean fixed his ruffled hair and cooed out through a blush. "You're good with her. I forgot how good you are with kids..." A smug grin pulled at Mark's lips when he retorted boldly. "I have been told that I'm just a big kid at heart. Takes one to know one."

Crossing his arms, Sean scoffed the grass with his shoe, mumbling out under his breath. "Did you and Amy ever think about... you know. Having your own?" Mark was silent a moment, allowing the whizz of Lulu's arrow to fill the brief silence before he said openly. "No. I like kids, don't get me wrong. But... I don't know. I just don't have a desire to have any. I'm... I'm happy as I am. Besides, I have Chica and Henry. They are as close as I'll get." Sean felt a reluctant rush of relief. He really didn't want to think about Mark having kids with Amy. He felt it would only drive them further apart. Mark nudged Sean, chuckling out. "You?" Lulu unleashed an excited cheer, bouncing around as she called out. "Did you see that?! I hit it! It lined up just like you said!" Mark gave her a thumbs up, while Sean informed him coolly. "No. I'm... not so good with kids. I can barely stand me... I can't even imagine a miniature version of me running around. Besides... I wasn't... I wasn't close to my dad growing up. I wouldn't know where to begin."

Mark draped an arm over Sean's shoulders, leaning in to whisper close to his long ear. "I bet you'd be real good at it if you tried." Sean rolled his eyes, trying to ignore the goosebumps springing down his right side. Mark lightly brushed his warm lips over Sean's ear, before playfully teasing out. "You could even start now. She doesn't know how to fly." Sean turned his head to lightly glare at Mark, causing him to let out a deep throaty chuckle. Sean's wings twitched anxiously as he looked to Lulu with a softer expression. Lulu was completely distracted with shooting her arrow at the apple over and over. Her confidence growing with every hit. It was a little thing, but it meant so much to her and that made him smile. His smile quickly faded to a sharp gasp as Mark's knuckles moved down the frame of one of his wings. The sensation made his wings spring up as pleasure rippled through him. Stepping away from Mark with a violent shiver, Sean's voice broke when he squeaked out in surprise. "What did you do to me?"

Mark's lips curled into a devilish grin that vanished as he glanced at Lulu. Then stepping closer, he whispered into Sean's ear. "This morning, Lulu had to pee and see woke me up. She needed help with the buttons of her underwear. I tried not to look but Lulu told me that because of her age, her body is censored. And her pleasure circuits are switched off. The tutorial told her so. Apparently, when she turns eighteen, it will give her the option to switch it off or keep it on." Sean shuffled his feet, nervously asking. "And us? I didn't get a prompt about it in the tutorial." Mark took his wrists, pulling him closer as he purred out with false innocence. "If we want it off. We have to do it manually. Otherwise... it is assumed that we want it that way. We can even censor what we see in this game. Lulu can't see any sexual content and any sexual phrases are muted to her." Sean blinked, mumbling out to himself. "Holy shite... That must have been a coding nightmare..."

Mark nodded, rubbing Sean's wrists with his thumbs as he added lightly. "Ya. But at least kids like her are protected in this game from pedophiles. I tried to touch her wings and I got a warning about inappropriate contact. It threated to respawn me if I persisted." Raising and eyebrow, Sean blushed out. "That's not fair. Why didn't it protect me from you?" Mark's warm breath puffed over his ear when he seductively whispered. "You have to change it in the menu. Right now, you are set to public interactions. You can set it to just party members, you can enter a lover's code for their access only, or set it to no interactions. I already played around with my settings." Narrowing his eyes on Mark, Sean grumbled out lightly. "You shouldn't play with your settings, Mark. You could go blind." Chuckling, Mark tried to pull him closer to himself as he asked in a puppy tone. "You want my lover code?" Tugging his hands free of Mark, Sean made the symbol to bring up his menu with a snort.

Lulu called out to Mark to show him a fish that she shot in the lake, drawing his attention away to congratulate her. After setting his sexual interaction to 'lover's Code,' Sean tapped the keypad and mumbled out shyly. "Mark...? What's your code?" The smile that spread over Mark's face made Sean blush from ear to ear. Bringing up his own menu, Mark tapped his lover's code and then tapped Sean's name under their members of your party screen. Instantly a cupid arrow shot over his screen and unveiled a love letter that read. "A party member has sent you a lover's code. Would you like to accept this code and allow them sexual permissions?" Sean's finger hesitated to press the yes box. He felt almost dirty and exposed doing it. Closing his eyes, he pressed it and watched the code save itself into his sexual permissions list. The message confirmed the completed action, then rolled up and shot back to Mark for him to accept Sean's lover code in return. Mark didn't hesitate to press it.

Once it was confirmed, Markdismissed his menu and leaned in to kiss Sean briefly on the cheek. Sean bit his lower lip, looking away fromhim. Mark's hand rubbed his arm then,casually informing him. "I still owe youa hand rub. I'm gonna show Lulu how to cook her fish and then I'll... rub your handsdown." Smirking, Sean added playfully. "And I'll get a spell ready to heal yourbleeding nose." Mark tapped theunderside of Sean's chin with his finger, before dashing off to Lulu, who wasproudly holding up her fish for Mark to see. To Be Continued...