Sunny crouched low to watch Laphi's reading for a second time, her arms folded on her knees and a look of wonder on her face. It was still fascinating to see his eyes change, to hear the shift in his voice; it sent a chill down her spine. She wanted very much to reach out and touch the pretty and powerful cards -- but her instinct told her this would be a very bad idea. Maybe sometime she would ask Laphi if she could handle them.

When he was finished, Sunny smiled fondly to see that he was nearly asleep -- that he'd sacrificed so much precious energy even though he was so frightened of the [i]monster[/i] before them.

She opened her mouth to thank him -- but instead a few cat-puns dropped unexpectedly from the imposing forest-spirit. Sunny snerked and snorted, a hand over her mouth while she grinned like an idiot. [color=yellow]"A[i]paw[/i]logies!"[/color] She couldn't help herself, and giggled til her eyes watered.

After a moment, though, she'd composed herself enough to lay a hand on Laphi's shoulder. [color=yellow]"We should find us some decent food, too, huh?"[/color] The bits and snacks from the tower chest had all gone, and even Sunny knew not to trust the odd local fruits and mushrooms that bloomed on the twisting trees. [color=yellow]"Wanna come with me? C'mon."[/color] If Laphi would allow it, Sunny would carry him on her back to let him sleep while they moved -- this was no place for a nap.

She tilted her head up to the forest-guardian with a confident smirk. [color=yellow]"But the task is to retrieve your new armor! We'll see it through to the end -- I don't like leaving things half-finished."[/color] She glanced up at the direction of the sun, found Northeast, and started hiking resolutely through the woods.

She hadn't gone more than a few steps before a small, quiet whispering caught her ear.

Nyte might notice her armor decaying even more, growing more layers of rust as the whispering continued -- an enchantment of age and erosion.

Something flashed within a flowering bush: little reflective buzzing wings, belonging to a little fairy with a hateful expression on his tiny face. Fervently he cast the spell to grow rust on Nyte's armor.