No man is an island, but isle be yours

Rhuba could feel Pom moving closer to the door, ever since their energies mingled during their training session, he has been able to sense Pom to a degree he's never felt anyone on. If it was possible for Rhuba to be distracted from paying attention to Pom, he would be engrossed in his book. He had been tracking Pom's movements in the house, trying to guess what he was doing based on the way his energy moved around. It became a fun game for him, the book had started to be read at the start, but Pom's presence in the guest house was a large enough distraction that he had to come up with that game just to feel like he was focusing.

Rhuba had wanted to look cool, so he kept the book out, doing his best to pretend like he wasn't aware of Pom until they were right over him, and once Pom plopped down, he feigned surprise and shut his book quickly, with real surprise. This book was about romance, something Rhuba was trying to understand ever since his chat with Erys, even though he didn't know why, his mind knew that something bone chilling might happen if Pom realizes what he's reading. "Oh, just magic stuff." Rhuba said, snapping the book closed again with one hand, holding it out away from Pom as it was pulled into Parasitix's skin that Rhuba summoned from his hand. The book disappeared without a sound, as he pushed up against Pom playfully bumping him. Rhuba had felt the same feeling he always did when Pom got extremely close and visible, Rhuba's face didn't glow, but he could feel it getting hotter.

"Are you ready for our adventure?" He asked, bringing himself to standing, holding out his hand to help Pom up as well. The change in positioning helped him get out of his own head for a moment and move on to what he was there for. "I smell new magic. I think it was just born... or created?" Rhuba gave Pom a puzzled look, with his hand still extended to Pom, "This should be fun, and I had some people scout it. Seems like nothing really dangerous is nearby, though they said there was something stopping them from entering the jungle." Rhuba let slip where they were going now, and that it was considered a jungle. Rhuba was completely oblivious to the slip up at this point and thought he was still going to surprise Pom with the location when they got there. Not only that, but half the crew he had sent to scout had died, and the other half's report was only telling him that they believed RHUBA would have no issues there. The report didn't add the failures, as they were afraid of upsetting him, so the half that survived got together and lied about the area, knowing that Rhuba was powerful enough to handle any of the creatures they had encountered at the very least, not knowing he was asking for Pom's safety.

Rhuba's not reading anything!

WC:   508
TWC: 1,061

Base PL: 92,011

HP: 0%/250% (+0%)
KP: 6/6 (+0)
MP: 0/6 (+0)

Traits: Saiyan Pride (Inactive) | Aggressive Attacker (1/1) | Zenkai (Inactive) | Raw Talent (2/2) | Noble Blood (+20% HP/+30% Critical Threshold)
Items: Battle Armor (Unused) | Battle Liner (Unused)

"No, no, it's just some magic I'm looking into personally." He tried to make up something, not knowing what else to say to cover for his lie earlier, so saying the thing that came to his mind the fastest was the only route he could take. That was likely good enough, but the Freudian slip might be awkward if Pom actually did check the book out. Rhuba didn't want to have to explain why he was doing this, as he himself wasn't fully aware of what he himself was even doing anymore. It wasn't like Rhuba to care so much about figuring things out about a person, he's never put this much care into another living thing at all, this was more than he himself was ever cared for.

Rhuba smiled as Pom took his hand, and took notice of the last squeeze Pom had given him as a thanks, it was gentle enough to be understood as a nice gesture that even Rhuba could understood. A warm sensation filled his body as Pom let go of his hand, and here it was again, the allergic reaction. Rhuba had automatically believed the warm feeling he had felt in his chest was just some sort of allergic reaction to Pom's touch, given that he has always had some sort of reaction to Pom in close proximity. "No, that's the problem with magic." Rhuba talked himself out of his head again, "It's not easy to track, usually it's hidden..." Rhuba leaned in a foot away from Pom's face, and tapped the side of his nose. "But I can smell it!" He said, ecstatic tones electrifying his words.

Shaking his head at Pom's questions about if they needed anything, and flying. "I brought capsules with supplies for us, instead of flying... I got a better idea." Rhuba pulled out a capsule, clicked the top, and threw it off to the side, in a small clearing on the lawn a few yards from the garden. The capsule exploded into smoke briefly before clearing away and showing the vehicle left behind. It was a two-seater, the car itself had a muscle car body, and the upholstery was all imported leather from Arcose. Not only did he not know this about the leather, he never cared for the luxurious lifestyle, just the looks it got him. "I had some of the smart ones in my company make this baby fly. They even installed auto pilot." Rhuba jogged over to it, and leaned against it, slapping the top of the door. The car itself had the windows rolled down, and there was no top, aside from a large front windshield. For all intents and purposes it was an open-top car with wheels that could self-fly.

Rhuba smiled at Pom, hoping the car would be impressive, not for the price, but for the looks. "It's not that fancy, to be honest. Self driving is pretty standard on other planets y'know." Rhuba didn't just have Earthlings working for him, he had extended his hiring processes to other planets as well. "I thought it would be good if you needed to go somewhere or something. I don't know. I remembered seeing you go to town, and I wanted you to be able to get there quicker." Rhuba shrugged at Pom, to imply it was no big deal. It really wasn't, Rhuba had opened up enough doors with his shapeshifting that a lot of things were possible if he walked through the right doors as the right person.

The real reason he had wanted to do it with the flying car instead of flying himself was because it had become very troublesome to ignore Pom's presence, breathe, fly, and not feel the heat of a thousand suns on his face at the same time. Not only that, but when he did fly he had to somewhat concentrate on flying and carrying, while Pom and Rhuba rarely ever talked while they flew together. It was unusual for him to want to sit down and relax, he did meditate, read, and draw, as a holdover from his time as a slave. It was different with this, he didn't feel like speeding toward the magic when it was now Pom and him, for some odd reason he was thinking that he should slow down so he can get a better look at everything.

Rhuba hadn't always been so energetic, as a child he was calm and calculating. The boy loved reading, only able to do so because his master was a book connoisseur and thought having a well-read killer would be fun. For awhile there was no training, and it was just him, his books, and his cage. When the training started, the indoctrination did as well. After the years of solitude, hate, insults, being beaten, and used, he developed personalities while locked in his cage, all the characters from the books and movies he would never become. The Rhuba that was on display now seemed to be a remnant of normalcy, all the personalities he molded into one in that cage of his long ago was coming undone slowly around Pom.

Rhuba jumped into the car, leaping over the driver's seat, and into the passenger. Rhuba tossed the capsule that would contain the vehicle at Pom lightly, as he motioned for him to come join him. "I'll show you how to do it, they showed me yesterday." Rhuba had been gone for awhile yesterday, and this was why. The only reason he had even thought of bringing Pom along today was the fact that this had even taken place yesterday.

Pom's new car, maybe?

WC:   937
TWC: 1,998

Base PL: 92,011

HP: 0%/250% (+0%)
KP: 6/6 (+0)
MP: 0/6 (+0)

Traits: Saiyan Pride (Inactive) | Aggressive Attacker (1/1) | Zenkai (Inactive) | Raw Talent (2/2) | Noble Blood (+20% HP/+30% Critical Threshold)
Items: Battle Armor (Unused) | Battle Liner (Unused)

Rhuba was happy that Pom liked the car, it wasn't expensive, it was generally favors turned in for him. Moving things around, helping people here and there. "Oh, silly. Yeah, you can manually drive it if you want. I gave it simple commands, it interfaces with the Earthling phone. That GPS app you have? Input where you want to go, then place it right here..." Rhuba sat his phone with the coordinates of the island input into GPS, on a phone-shaped reciprocal on the dashboard and then pressed the button next to it. The car beeped, and then stated "Self Drive Mode," in the most cliche robotic voice.

"Then you just press it again, and voila! It'll start it up, and go! If you wanna do it manually, just start it manually at the ignition. There's a button at the base of the wheel." Rhuba sounded like he knew what he was talking about, but he had practiced showing this to Pom with his crew for awhile before doing this.

"It wasn't expensive at all, just turned in some favors is all. Really, it was no big deal." Rhuba had ignored the statement about it earlier, but it gnawed at him briefly. Pom was always afraid of the gifts Rhuba got for him. If it cost money Pom was apprehensive about it, which frustrated Rhuba to some degree. If Rhuba were to buy you the moon, you should just accept it.

"Oh, before that, I am learning gravity magic, and I can do this with it right now." Rhuba snapped his fingers, and a dome of magic slowly formed over the area around the windows and above them, as if an invisible force made up of the rest of the vehicles body that was missing. "Now bugs, rain, or whatever won't get to us." Rhuba smiled, proud of his new technique. It was a gravity wall that removed and absorbed kinetic and ki/'magical energy, useful for combat and scenarios such as these.

New car smell

WC:   333
TWC: 2,331

Base PL: 92,011

HP: 0%/250% (+0%)
KP: 6/6 (+0)
MP: 0/6 (+0)

Traits: Saiyan Pride (Inactive) | Aggressive Attacker (1/1) | Zenkai (Inactive) | Raw Talent (2/2) | Noble Blood (+20% HP/+30% Critical Threshold)
Items: Battle Armor (Unused) | Battle Liner (Unused)

Slipping his hand through where there would be usually a roof, his hand parted a translucent liquid-like barrier. "Are you going senile?" Rhuba turned his head away from Pom, and raised his arm to his chin, using his other hand he held the bottom of his elbow and pretended to turn his head toward Pom, flipping his bang in the process. "Rhuba, there are too many bugs when we're flying. You should do something about that." Rhuba said, in his best Pom voice. Taking Pom's advice, he didn't morph into his head and imitate his voice exactly. It was a very poor telling of how the interaction went down, but during one of their flights Pom had complained about the bugs and debris.

"This will stop that! It does a lot more than that too, it'll be very useful." He said, proud of himself, smile proudly taking up most of his face. "Now let's go." Rhuba leaned over and pressed the button again, having already input the coordinates into his phone's GPS and placed it on the console earlier. The car kicked on with a mechanical whirr, not the stir of a vehicle, but of a jet taking off. It hovered off the ground, before flying into the sky with the two of them at a slight incline, the speed itself manageable but a small jolt at first. Rhuba and Pom would feel no air differences as they ascended or sped up, the gravity barrier managing to stop the air from speeding through it.

Rhuba looked out the space where there would be a window had they the need to roll them up, the paper thin barrier was protection enough for a window. As they left the manor, Rhuba's eyes gazed at the garden until he couldn't anymore. After hitting the button, their vehicle was now self-driving itself to GPS coordinates south-bound, toward the island that held the magical presence. After the car took off, Rhuba onlu looked back to Pom just now. Perhaps he should have given more warning before just haphazardly starting the car.

As the air got silent, it crept up on Rhuba most effectively as he wished to drown it out with their words. "So, I saw you are taking good care of the garden." Rhuba nodded approvingly, knowing that Pom's watering while effective was not going to sustain the somewhat out of season portions of the flowers he had summoned. Rhuba has been keeping the flowers from wilting too much, and has tried his best to keep this fact hidden from Pom.

While Rhuba had been originally excited about the prospect of riding in the car with Pom, but the closeness wasn't the same. Perhaps it wouldn't matter. It wasn't like he needed to hold Pom all the way to the island, or that it now hung on his head as a mistake to choose this kind of transportation. The regret hit him hard as he leaned back into the seat, now just imagining the vehicle was just him carrying Pom, the feeling that he was now wasting potential moments like that with Pom pelted him. Why did it excite him to feel that reaction to their closeness? It was uncomfortable, and tasted of fear. Though it was exciting, and he wanted more.

Rhuba regrets not carrying Pom

WC:   529
TWC: 2,860

Base PL: 92,011

HP: 0%/250% (+0%)
KP: 6/6 (+0)
MP: 0/6 (+0)

Traits: Saiyan Pride (Inactive) | Aggressive Attacker (1/1) | Zenkai (Inactive) | Raw Talent (2/2) | Noble Blood (+20% HP/+30% Critical Threshold)
Items: Battle Armor (Unused) | Battle Liner (Unused)

Pom's display of how he acted had Rhuba cackling, holding his sides. It was cute, way too cute. It was also kind of true, but kind of in the middle of both of their interpretations of what happened. It had helped to laugh, as it reminded him of why he had wanted this anyway. To be able to actually spend quality time with Pom rather than just seeing him from above while Pom tries not to get bugs in his mouth. It was better, much better, he thought.

Rhuba often slipped into his thoughts, and around Pom that happened on the double. As they moved about the car looking around, he couldn't help but smile and watch. The pure magnetism Pom exuded was the opposite of polarizing, Rhuba had a hard time averting his gaze to anywhere else. It didn't help to excite him that he's seen the land from above much more than Pom likely ever has, specifically Earth's land.

"Ocean? I dunno, I think the island is in the ocean?" Rhuba wasn't the most geographically inclined, so he couldn't answer if it was a question for now, or when they get there, or ever. "Oh, did you wanna just go to the ocean? We can go to one of those Earthling beaches whenever you want." Rhuba said, as if it was never needed to be suggested, and was always the plan all along. If Pom imagined it, he would try to create it. At least that's how he felt about it, seeing the way Pom reacted to all the stimuli was pleasing enough for him.

"Oh, about the flowers..." Rhuba had been planning this for awhile, and finally the non metaphorical seeds that he had planted would lead to a chain reaction of metaphorically planted seeds within Pom. "Yes! I forgot, Pom!" Rhuba clasped his hands together, and then unclasped them as a giant book plopped out into his lap. The book itself looked brittle and old, and even creaked as Rhuba opened it. Leaning in closer to Pom, he scanned the pages as he flipped through them. Mundane names of spells, glyphs, runes, and finally he reached a spell just called 'Creation' and then scanned to a portion that read, 'Creation, Plant Creation, Flower Creation' and he ran his fingers over the words as he brought it up closer for Pom, leaning into him so he could see the book clearly.

"For a flower made to keep its glow,
Kiss each one as the season flows.
A bloom from each kind, with tender care,
And your garden will forever fare."

Rhuba snapped the book shut, and it disappeared into his hand as if a powerful vacuum had opened up on Rhuba's palm. "It's a bit vague, but I'm pretty sure you have to kiss one flower of each type in the garden once every season, and that's it. They might start dying soon, unfortunately, they can last a little on just water, but water will only work after the ritual is done, so all you'd have to do is water them normally and they'll be good." Rhuba shrugged, as if it might not be a big deal. "Though if they die, I can always make another, y'know. Just the ones that died will be gone." Rhuba said, a sneaky jab to try and get Pom on the right track with his ploy. The last trap to set up was coming up, and hopefully Pom would step into it. "The way the magic works is strange. The user of the spell cannot do this, only if someone comes along and does it for them does it work." Rhuba sat back in his chair, away from Pom.

"I would have done it already if that wasn't the case." Rhuba nodded to himself, with a big frown. "It's alright though, the plants will die, then I'll just make new ones. Y'know, that's fine, right?" Rhuba was the sentimental type, and had hoped his trap would spring after this, because he didn't want those flowers to die just as much as Pom didn't.

"Then the next one will die, pbbft." Rhuba did a small raspberry in the air, as he mimed a falling tree with his hands. the trap was set. The words Rhuba had showed in the book weren't fake. It was true, the lie was that someone else didn't need to do it, Rhuba did have to do it. It was a way to keep your magic flowing all season long, the magic he was feeding it through the ground to save them from dying before was just a very short bandage.

Rhuba does a lil trollin'

WC:   737
TWC: 3,597

Base PL: 92,011

HP: 0%/250% (+0%)
KP: 6/6 (+0)
MP: 0/6 (+0)

Traits: Saiyan Pride (Inactive) | Aggressive Attacker (1/1) | Zenkai (Inactive) | Raw Talent (2/2) | Noble Blood (+20% HP/+30% Critical Threshold)
Items: Battle Armor (Unused) | Battle Liner (Unused)

Rhuba looked at the GPS on the dash, and saw they were still a ways away from their destination. That was great, more time to spend with Pom, no wait, that was bad, Rhuba hadn't planned this far ahead so he had nothing planned to say or do. Pom had brought up beaches, damn, nothing Rhuba can really respond to. Smiling and listening to his words, he had nothing to add. It wasn't like he hadn't been on a beach before, it was more like he didn't quite think anything of it.

"You wanna live on an island, with a beach?" Rhuba thought about it, turning the wheels in his head. Getting an island was simple, Rhuba could easily afford that. Building an amazing enough home for Pom on that island? Rhuba could imagine what he would need to do to build what Pom would want given he wasn't so against taking Rhuba's handouts. What was his wealth for if not to use? The thought about relaxing on an island alone with Pom was strangely soothing, a thought he himself had never thought of.

Rhuba's face melted away, his goofy smile washed away as Pom asked when they were arriving. 'Knew it, Pom thinks I'm boring!' played in his head, as he tries but fails to hide his change in demeanor. Quick, he had to think of something, anything! Pom had also brought up his home, Arcose, at least where they spent most of the time. It was the same for Rhuba, given that he was born on Plant but sold to Hurtless. A thought crossed his mind, a metaphorical lightbulb lit up in his head as he whipped his head to face Pom.

"I was learning to do this recently!" Rhuba excitedly stuck his index in the air, and gave a smug proud of himself look. "I can show you my memories of my home and childhood! It's called mind walking, you can walk in my mind!" Rhuba's expression turned from gloom to excitement on a dime as he seemed to vibrate in his seat next to Pom at the idea. "I can show you where I starred in all my childhood plays!" Rhuba clapped to himself, and looked back to Pom. "Come on, it'll be fun!" Rhuba's tail whipped around him, wrapping around Pom's tail and shaking it lightly, as Rhuba repeated "Come on," a few times, each time shaking Pom's tail lightly, his tail double wrapped against the short end of Pom's.

Rhuba does a lil tail shakin'

WC:   396
TWC: 3,993

Base PL: 92,011

HP: 0%/250% (+0%)
KP: 6/6 (+0)
MP: 0/6 (+0)

Traits: Saiyan Pride (Inactive) | Aggressive Attacker (1/1) | Zenkai (Inactive) | Raw Talent (2/2) | Noble Blood (+20% HP/+30% Critical Threshold)
Items: Battle Armor (Unused) | Battle Liner (Unused)