With the precision of a surgeon, Cain's curved talons twists and wedged themselves between the grand gem and the granite holding it along the side. Just like an anxious patient, it winked and sparkled up at him with apprehension, unsure if the instruments would cause it harm despite the care taken. While the vampire was well-read, well-practiced, and intermediate in a great many things, surgery perhaps was one area he'd never took interest in. Others of his kind found it essential to their positions as hunters and devourers. Cain, however, found the macabre scene of messy disembowelment beautiful. The carmine blended into the phantasmal background in a baroque masterpiece. There was no care or need for careful incisions and mindful lacerations when it concerned his taste. Then, how’d he get such an articulate control over the talons of his wings?

Practice, dears. Practice.

A single hark swept over to Severa’s command to try and wiggle it the best he could. His eyes strayed from the treasure itself to her slender, coal legs as they dug into the sands. Each scoop revealed more and more of the gemstone’s girth, betraying the sheer size of the thing. An incredulous snort erupted from his nostrils as he refocused on his own task. What were they going to do with such a thing? In all his years (and Gods knew there were many) he’d never quite seen a stone of such a size used in any capacity. What? Would they take it to the nearest town for appraisal and hope someone had the currency to buy it off of them? Break it into a million smaller pieces for easier carrying? As he did his best to adjust where he applied pressure to the stone he asked himself the age old question: did he care?

At the end of the day, they’d split profits - that was the agreement after all. Yet, he found himself completely at a lose with valuing this new commodity. The cacophony of yowling ideas made his eye twitch, and in the end Cain shoved away the musings that had kept him so unbelievably silent and decided that the task alone was enough. He wasn’t bored anymore, at the very least.

What felt like an eternity of finagling left Cain on the brisk of frustration. His audits slipped back into his desaturated mane, and his duo-colored eyes fell to shadows beneath a beetled brow. What leverage he’d managed was unimpressive in size, but great in progress. It had hardly budged at the beginning of this venture, but he had managed to yank at just the right angle with his vampiric strength that he heard the faintest pop, and the stone shifted. Surely releasing the gemstone of its sandy prison helped, and once again Cain let loose sentiments veiled by false honeysuckle sweet. "While you’re doing a marvelous job, perhaps tactics should be adjusted?

Call it rude, but Cain took the small reprieve as Severa snaked around the gemstone. She’d seemed more or less agreeable to the idea that they required a change of pace if they were walking out of here far richer than they’d started, and the vampire took some pleasure in watching her sweat-slick form maneuver like the viper she was through the sands. At the very least, the view was nice and his strained wings could rest. (The heavy appendages actually hung low, completely unfurled in the sands so that they served a better dead weight than useful physical extremity. Oh, woe is the life of Cain.)

The phantasmal unicorn poked, prodded, and examined carefully under his supervision until finally, something interesting happened. No, the gem hadn’t moved. Finding the tilting point that quickly? Preposterous! Nay, the viper tossed him a siren’s grin, offering that they take the time to celebrate. Path of least resistance indeed. His brows peaked, and an impish grin immediately met hers in response. My my, what a change of tune. Who knew, maybe afterward she’d try and behead and eat him. How exhilarating.

Coy responses flirted with his lips, his head tilting in preparation to extend a suave approval, but comedically Severa pronounced she’d located the desired angle. What smolder had started to rise on his visage quaffed, his gaze dropping directly to the stone to study the degree at which she applied her forehead. As her alluring beckon fell from her lips, Cain’s hooves pricked in response. "No need to tell me twice." He slithered alongside her, stealing her mantle of sly, charming snake, covertly lifting the wing closest to her and trailing the tip of his thumb talon across her dorsal before the knuckle planted in the sand on the opposite side. Heh, he got the opportunity after all.

Obediently he extended a rosy pink hoof forward, locating an appropriate location where the pressure wouldn’t slip and he’d topple over their prize like a damned colt. Call it finicky, Cain called it smart. As she’d opened the door with her enticing invitation, Cain was swift to step through and take advantage of the metaphorical green light. After locating an ideal spot along the raw edges of the stone, he swayed and planted himself so that their shoulders and abdomen kissed. With his muzzle near the shell of her ear, he mused, "How about we see if we’re celebrating?"

If he was honest, whether this large prize loosed itself from the granite didn’t directly determine whether he’d pursue this shadowy Severa afterward. They needn’t forget the haul already sitting behind them, most assuredly glinting in the moonlight where the gems were flat and lustrous. In his eyes, they already had more than enough motive to commemorate a job well done. Truthfully, it was the tantalizing idea of whether Severa saw it the same way that truly got his nerves firing.

Without further adieu, the stud pushed on the stone where she’d indicated, throwing all the remaining vampiric might the moon granted him behind the point of pressure. If he’d get a wager, he’d say that luck would come to him in more ways than one this moonlit night.