AN: A few weeks ago, I had this whole conversation with Brifigy and Ixnayxg33 over on tumblr about this picture of Xena and Gabrielle, where Gabrielle's standing on a rock and Xena's right behind her. Now, the way they're standing, it looks like Xena's hand is in a quite inappropriate place, and we were laughing over that, only for me to make a mention that, if they didn't stop, it was going to result in a fic. They only encouraged me, and so now there's a fic. Sorry it took so long, guys- I was having the worst time figuring out the proper format for this, but now it's done! I hope you guys enjoy the fic loosely based on that convo.

Disclaimer: I do not own Xena.

It was undoubtable that Xena had many, many skills. From sensing the presence of gods to simply being able to whistle perfectly under any condition, even in the middle of battle, her repertoire was vast and impressive. And it extended to everything. Every time Gabrielle believed that she had seen the last of Xena's tricks, she was proven wrong. Even when they came across something neither of them had ever seen before, Xena's innate talent of being able to become a master of anything just by looking at it quickly turned the new thing into an old skill. It made no sense, and it infuriated Gabrielle to no end.

But the most annoying of Xena's skills was her ability to turn any and everything into a multi-purpose tool. In Xena's hands, pans became weapons (well, everything was a weapon with her, really), weapons became signs of peace, and clothing became almost anything.

And this included Gabrielle's belt. It was all of her clothes, really. Xena had stolen her shirt, her skirt, her shoes, her socks, almost everything Gabrielle wore on a daily basis for one purpose or another. She gave them back, eventually, most none the worse for the wear. But her belt. Out of everything Gabrielle owned and wore, it was her belt that Xena stole the most often for repurposing. In her hands, her belt had become:

A clothes line.

The storm had been awful.

For days it had rained, breaking for maybe an hour or two before the skies opened back up and began their downpour again. While it'd been safe- no thunder, no lightning, and the warm summer falls meant that much less of chance of getting a cold- it had been nowhere near comfortable. They had spent the last few days living off whatever they could forage that didn't need to be cooked to be edible; they had 'slept,' if you could call it that, huddled together under the largest tree they could find, and had still barely been able to close their eyes from the rain through the leaves; and they had spent the entire time wet.

Wet and leather and skin didn't mix well. Xena had taken off her leathers, wearing nothing more than her under shift to avoid a rash, and Gabrielle was sure her feet would start falling apart any moment now. And being nowhere near any villagers, with nothing but each other, Argo, and the wide open countryside around them, it meant they just had to deal.

Gabrielle had seriously been wondering if they were walking or swimming when they finally came across the cave, large enough for all three of them to spread out comfortably and still build a fire. Wood had been hard to find, but, miraculously, Xena had managed to find some that was only just slightly damp. It had smoked, but soon enough the water had evaporated, leaving crisp, warm flames to dry and warm themselves, their stuff, and the pile of soaked wood they had brought in with them.

"Hey, Gabrielle, give me your belt."

For a moment she had hesitated- more out of curiosity and confusion than anything else, but when Xena mentioned for it again, Gabrielle had just sighed and handed it over, glad that her skirt, while not tight enough to stay comfortably around her waist on its own, wouldn't be falling off over her hips anytime soon.

Though she began to protest as she watched Xena tie it between two outcroppings of stone and hang their clothes on it.

"We need to get our things dry, Gabrielle," Xena pointed out perfectly reasonably, raising her eyebrow as she laid a piece of Argo's tack over the belt, both pieces of leather dripping onto the stone below. "Otherwise it'll mold, and I don't know about you, but molding furs are the worst thing to sleep on. Trust me. I would know."

"But don't we have rope in the bags," Gabrielle pointed out, grabbing one and pulling it over. Searching through their things, pulling out what was wet and placing them off to the side so they could dry off, after a moment she stopped and scratched her head, confused. "I thought we had some somewhere…"

"Remember two weeks ago, when we had to use the rope to tie up those bandits until the King's Guard could come and pick them up," Xena reminded her, continuing to go about her task of hanging up everything to dry. With the belt almost full, she had started hanging the larger things from other outcroppings of rock, making sure it all would dry evenly. "We left town without getting it back, and we haven't been able to pick up anymore since then."

"Oh, yeah…" Sighing and shaking her head, making a mental note to grab another coil the next time they found a town, Gabrielle just watched as Xena finished hanging up the first pile of things. Holding out a few for her to take, she watched as her trusty belt disappeared under a pile of things, all of them wet and musty from the last few days.

Shrugging, she turned back towards the fire and added another log, her nose wrinkling as it popped and smoked for a new moments before settling back down, adding to the warmth. Xena had set some traps not too far from the cave, and with any luck the two of them would be eating meat that night. They needed the fire hot enough to cook quickly whatever she caught, so their stomachs would be full and warm for the first times in days. And in the meanwhile…

"Hey, Gabrielle, hand me your top laces, would yah?"

A pot holder.

Sometimes, Gabrielle really, really wished she wasn't utterly in love with Xena, because it was moments like these that she wanted nothing more than to kill her.

She had used their last good pan as a weapon. Again.

Now, to be fair, it wasn't entirely her fault. The two of them had been warlord hunting, trying to seek out the hidden lair of a small timer before he grew big enough to actually be a real threat to the villagers around, instead of a general nuisance. Their search had been fruitless, leaving them ready to head back to the village for the night and start fresh that morning.

They'd barely made it to the edge of the forest when a dozen men surrounded them, swords pulls, waiting and ready to attack.

It wasn't like it was a real fight, not really. If it had been a hundred, maybe at least a couple of dozen, then it would have been real. But as it was, the two of them plowed through the men- barely so, for some of them couldn't be out of their teens yet- easily, without much of a second thought. They were barely trained, more punks then actual warriors, and even Joxer probably could have won.

But, somehow, one of them got lucky. Whether it was because she was tired after a full day of searching or because, somehow, the fates decided to turn against her, one of them managed to disarm Xena. Sloppily, with sheer, dumb luck instead of any real talent, but her sword still ended up on the far side of the clearing nonetheless.

Leaving her to grab the closest thing she could and smack him over the head with it. And that closest thing, in fact, turned out to be their pot.

After that, it had been a moment's work to tie them all together and tie the lead to Argo, threatening to drag them all behind the horse if they didn't walk and keep up.

But that still didn't change the fact that they now had no pot.

By the time they had reached the village, it had been late- late enough to make both of them grumpy and beyond exhausted, more than willing to just turn the men over and get to sleep. However, when they entered the town, they were almost immediately swamped by everyone there, thanking them for ending the threat, begging for any information on what they could do for them to repay their work.

Xena, without even really thinking, had just shrugged and held up their dented, unusable pot. "Anywhere we can buy a new one of these?"

They didn't have to buy it. Instead, they were gifted a dozen different pots, all of which were now clinking merrily from where they hung, by her belt, off the side of Argo's saddle.

"Why are you angry," Xena finally asked, raising her eyebrow at the girl. They had been walking for most of the morning, and it seemed as if Xena was immune. The constant scrape and clank of metal against metal didn't seem to bother her at all; in fact, whenever she looked at the pots, she had instead smiled, as if having twelve pots was a good thing.

"Twelve, Xena," Gabrielle growled, glaring at the line as three bounced hard, clattering throughout the line. "We sound like a traveling peddler. And what are we going to do with twelve pots anyway?"

"Don't worry," Xena said reassuringly, "I'll find something to do with them." Pausing, as if considering her words, Xena's lips twitched in amusement as she continued, clearly trying to fight off a smile. "Until then, just don't boil over, alright?"

Gabrielle nodded as she walked, still fuming, only to pause a moment later as she took in what Xena had actually said. "Did you just make a pot pun," she asked softly, horrified, staring at Xena as if she was seeing Tartarus for the first time.

"Maybe," Xena said with a smirk, tilting her head as she spoke. "What did you sear?"

"Xena, no."

"I'm sorry, Gabrielle, but I just can't keep a lid on it."

"Xena, stop."

"If it makes you this angry, maybe I'll just have to wok away."

"Xena, I swear to the gods…"

"Come on, Gabrielle. You have to admire the skillet it took to come up with all of these on the fry."

"Xena, the next village we come to, I'm asking for a divorce."

On it went, Gabrielle's threats becoming more and more elaborate as they walked, the pots all clinking happily as they hung from her belt from Argo's saddle, as if they approved of Xena's horrible puns.

A makeshift weapon.

"Gabrielle, your belt!"

She didn't think, didn't even wonder or question why Xena, in the middle of a fight, might want her belt. Snatching it off the ground with the tip of her staff, Gabrielle jerked the wood upwards as hard as she could, sending the leather soaring over their enemies heads, right into Xena's waiting hand.

Her smile was wicked as she loosely wrapped one end of the belt around her hand, the tip of the other almost brushing against the ground. It grew as the men, suddenly nervous, stepped back, showing far too many of her teeth for anyone's comfort.

"Scared, boys? You should be."

She didn't give them time to react, instead darting forward to land a punch on one guy's jaw, sending him sprawling before any of the others could even realize what she had done. Lashing out, it was almost with an audible crack that the belt smacked across another's face, leaving him stunned as he tried to regain his wits. Twirling behind a third, Xena grabbed the loose end and pulled, the belt becoming a noose as it pressed against his windpipe, his face turning red as he tried to hook his fingers into the edge, only to fail as Xena held on tighter.

Gabrielle hadn't realized she, and the men she had been fighting, had fallen still, taking aback by the impressive display of the makeshift weapon Xena had been able to turn her belt into. When the man's desperate movements finally fell still she let him drop, only to turn her gaze on the others that were surrounding her, her eyebrow raised, as if just daring them to try.

They dropped their weapons and ran, for if they couldn't even defeat Xena when she was weaponless, seemingly 'defenseless,' when she could take a decorated piece of leather and turn it deadly, how could they ever hope to win?

"Thanks for that," Xena said after they were gone, smirking slightly as she waked over to drop the belt into Gabrielle's waiting hand. "That wouldn't have worked without you."

"And why," Gabrielle asked after a few minutes, just slowly shaking her head, "couldn't you use your sword? You knew they were there, and had plenty of time to grab it."

"We only have eight pots left, Gabrielle," Xena said with a laugh, shaking her head to force some hair out of her face, flashing Gabrielle a brilliant smile. "I had to use something to wake me up and get my juices flowing. It was either pot number five or your belt. And your belt's more fun." Shooting her a wink, sticking out her tongue when Gabrielle just continued to shake her head (unable to hide her smile), Xena just continued to prepare for the day, content in her little makeshift weapon experiment.

A halter for Argo.

Their things had been stolen.

It had started out such a simple morning. They had woken up late, the long day's travel the night before exhausting them more than usual. Even Xena, who was normally awake at the crack of dawn to hunt and train and get ready for the day, had slept in. There was nowhere for them to go, nowhere for them to be, nowhere that actually needed their focus for the day. It was fine that they had slept in, it was.

When they had finally woken up, they had just laid there for a while, curled around each other in the furs, casually chatting while they snacked on the fruit and remains of the rabbit they had caught the night before. A lovely way to spend the morning, relaxing instead of running off into some battle that only concerned them because they had decided it did. They made casual plans, nothing real, just a general idea of what direction they wanted to go and what laid waiting for them. It had truly been nice.

After, they had gone for a swim in the river, which was where things began to go wrong.

Neither of them had realized just how deep it got towards the center, and while the water had seemed calm, out there? Where it was deep and dark and Gabrielle's feet couldn't touch the bottom, and Xena's only just barely grazed it with her toes?

Xena had been able to resist it, had been able to back out towards the shore, but Gabrielle had been caught, had been pulled downstream by the strength of the current, and Xena had followed right after.

It hadn't taken them far, thankfully. Two miles or so down, without anything for them to really worry about hitting, before the stream widened out and shallowed, allowing them to get back to their feet and out of the center of the river with ease. They had sat and rested as Xena taught her about currents and how to identify them, how to survive them if she ever got caught in one worse than the one they had just escaped from, and then, when they were ready, they had headed on back.

Only to find almost all of their things gone, only Argo and their clothes left behind for them to wear.

"Gabrielle, give me your belt."

Gabrielle had obeyed without a second thought, spurred on by the deathly terrifying tone of Xena's voice. She was absolutely furious, and there was no way Gabrielle was temping her already unlucky fate today.

Within a few minutes, Xena had looped the belt around Argo's neck to create a crude version of a halter, seated the both of them on her back, and set off, chasing down sounds only she could hear but that were right, the three of them cantering into the middle of a group of teenage boys a few miles down the road with all of their things.

The fight was quick- there were only five of them, and when Xena (easily) got her sword back just a few moments after she had leapt off the horse, four of them had fallen to their knees and begged for her mercy. One tried to fight, tried to hold his shaking hand steady as he raised his sword, but with a single kick and twirl, disarming him and bringing her sword to his throat, he too fell to his knees before her (with pants that were considerably wetter than they had been a moment before).

Almost all of their things were there. Their weapons, most of their supplies (though the wineskin had been drained), and almost all of their gear was still there, the boys unable to even really search through it. They had stumbled upon their camp, grabbed everything (except, at one of the boy's insistence, their clothes), and run. They had just settled down, thinking themselves safe, when they had burst into the clearing and startled them.

The only thing missing had been Argo's halter, which none of the boys knew anything about. One mentioned the possibility of it having been destroyed when they had tried to steal Argo as well, one of the metal hooks breaking after years of use and the entire thing falling off when Argo ran off, but that had just been conjecture, nothing real. None of them had any idea where it had gone.

Xena had even threatened to cut strips of skin from their inner thighs to turn into a new halter for Argo, but none of them broke or gave, meaning they were telling the truth.

She sent them all running instead, just glad to have the rest of their things, including their money pouch, back in hand. They had more than enough to buy a new halter the next town over- the previous village had loved Gabrielle's stories, and the two of them had stayed there for almost a week, she earning dinars by putting on a few public performances throughout the day while Xena helped out around the place, fixing what the warlord they had been there to stop broke- but it was more the principle of the thing.

Xena liked her things, and didn't like them being touched.

"Sorry, Gabrielle," Xena said after their things had been repacked and Argo resaddled, almost everything else accounted for. "Looks like I'll be needing to borrow your belt for a few days until we find a tannery."

Those few days were almost a week, and if she smelled hard enough, her belt still smelt like horse.

Hand restraints, for enemies…

Two weeks. It'd taken them two weeks to track down the slippery son of a bacchae, but, finally, they had him in their grasps. Now, all they needed to do was get him back into town and handed over to the authorities, and they could finally go.

Of course, as was their luck, that was a lot harder said than done.

The man, calling himself 'The Prince,' was a thief. Over the few months before the two of them had stumbled into the area, he had robbed from almost every single person there- rich and poor, young and old, man and woman alike, no one had been safe. And there had seemed no pattern in the things he had stolen. Jewels that were worth more than half the kingdoms in Greece had vanished up his sleeves right along with knick knacks that had nothing more than a sentimental value to the owner.

Nothing about him made any kind of sense, which was why they had taken up the case when the king practically begged them to find his young son's favorite toy.

For two weeks they chased after him, following his trail and cursing him every moment he slipped by. He was tricky, almost as good as Autolycus, bypassing their traps and escaping the few he did find himself caught in with ease. It'd been a long, frustrating hunt, one that had had Xena almost tearing out her hair and calling in Aphrodite to see if the goddess could sense a bit of Hermes inside the boy. But almost as good as Autolycus had ended up being the key, finally ending with the Prince in hand and almost everything he had stolen on a sleigh to be dragged back to the city.

And trussed up like a pheasant, draped over Argo's back, neither of them willing to take any kind of risk.

They started with his legs, using an entire coil of rope to make sure that the absolute most he could do was a small hop, and that was just barely. Using the ends to tie his legs to the saddle, Xena had almost been willing to let him be dragged along- they wouldn't run Argo fast, so he would come out of it overall unharmed.

But Gabrielle had given her that look, the one that still sent Xena's stomach churning with guilt, and so he'd been draped over Argo's back instead.

Another coil had been wrapped around his upper arms, squeezing them tightly to his sides, making it almost impossible for him to move. Impossible for his hands to reach more than a foot or so beyond his torso. It should have been enough, leaving him his hands so he could eat and drink what he needed during the day long trip back.

A few hours in, he had somehow managed to get the ropes tying him to the saddle undone, allowing him to roll off of Argo and almost off into the forest before they were able to recatch him, leaving them nothing they could do but bind his hands as well.

"Hey, Gabrielle. Give me your belt."

"You know, Xena," Gabrielle sighed as she took off the length of leather, handing it over to her friend, "we really need to invest in some more rope. You can't keep using my belt whenever we run out."

"And why not?" Xena's voice was a mix between teasing and confused as she took the belt from her, as if she was fully aware of what the joke was but couldn't entirely recall it at the moment. She was mainly focused on her knots, twisting the thicker leather into a usable containment for their prisoner. Determined to keep him from escaping once again, she finally smiled as she rose, stretching out a kink in her back from bending awkwardly.

"Just…never mind," Gabrielle said with a sigh, shaking her head while Xena just looked on in confusion. "It's fine. Let's get going. The sooner we get to the city, the better. And the sooner I get my belt back."

The moment they were in town, they bought two more coils of rope, just to be safe.

And for friends.

"Xena, please."

Gabrielle whimpered as she squirmed under Xena's touch, as her lips skimmed over her throat while her hands painted burning lines over her stomach, ghosting up her sides before running back down, the tips of her fingers pressing her thighs apart but refusing to touch her. As she teased her, played with her, worked her close to that sweet edge before pulling back, waiting for the stiffness in her muscles to relax back as the pleasure Gabrielle was chasing fell from her grasp. As Xena laughed into the kiss as Gabrielle whined her displeasure, trying to beg her with her tongue, her rocking hips, with the leg she had managed to hook over Xena's hip, trying to pull her closer, tempt her into breaking their little game and give her what she wanted.

As Gabrielle tugged uselessly on her belt- wrapped as it was around her wrists, tied to one of the protruding roots of the largest tree near the clearing they had chosen as their own for the night- as Xena tried to drive her mad.

"What do you want, Gabrielle?" Xena whispered the words as she placed a kiss right below Gabrielle's ear; Gabrielle could feel her smirking as one hand slid down between her thighs, slipping between her folds to wet itself before pressing lightly against her clit. Too lightly, not nearly hard enough to satisfy, but Gabrielle couldn't bring it in herself to complain. She had lost track of how long they had been playing this game, since she had agreed to this particularly interesting use of her belt, and anything was better than nothing. "Tell me."

"I want to touch you," Gabrielle gasped as Xena pressed hard, her hips jerking with the sudden pressure, the honest answer falling from her lips without a second thought. She wanted to touch her: to tangle her hands into the wild black mane that surrounded them, wanted to dig her fingers into her shoulders, her back, her arms, anything Gabrielle would be able to reach to ground herself as Xena continued, as she helped her higher and higher, winding the coil within her stomach tighter and tighter until it was almost close to breaking, releasing her. She wanted to touch her, taste her, be free to have her own hands roam as Xena worked, pressing her closer as she just held her.

She wanted to touch her, for Xena to be the one begging and pleading and crying out her name, on the other side of their little game.

"Please, Xena," Gabrielle whined as Xena pulled away, kissing her way down over her breasts, her stomach, her hips, only to pause and suck a hickey into her inner thigh, so close but refusing to continue, refusing to replace her finger with her mouth even though it would be so easy. As she once again pulled on the belt keeping her hands restrained even though all they twitched to do was touch her. "Let me touch you."

"Don't worry, Gabrielle," Xena said, glancing up at her- her eyes lidded, what could be seen of them dark with lust, her lips curled into an almost predatory smile, looking for all the world like a cat about to eat the cream. "You will, soon enough."

She lowered her head, and Gabrielle cried out at the feel of her lips and teeth and tongue, her hands no longer tugging on the belt but instead curling in to hold it, digging the fingers that wanted to sink into flesh into leather instead to steady herself as Xena angled her hips upwards, making it easier to finish their game and let her fall.

Though she didn't, and all Gabrielle could do was growl out of frustration as Xena pulled away and kissed her, the taste of herself on her lips all the worst for the fact that, at least until she said the word that would have Xena releasing the knots the moment it left her mouth, the game would continue. And made all the better by the fact that she wouldn't use it, not until she won, even if it meant continuing to have her wrists bound by her own belt.

A way to save her life.

If there was one thing Gabrielle hated above all else, it was climbing.

Normal walking she loved. She loved traveling across the country, never knowing where they were going to be when night fell, never knowing what dinner was going to be when the fire was built. She loved taking in the world around her, loved seeing the flowers and the trees and meeting the people they would come across on the trail. She loved sleeping under the stars, burrowing into the warmth of the furs and curling into Xena's side, just content to sleep until the sun woke her up (a few hours after sunrise, but it still counted). She loved it all.

Horseback riding she was a bit less fond of. Even after she and Argo had come to terms with each other, she still felt strange whenever she was pulled onto her. It was clear the horse, while she didn't hate her, wasn't entirely fond of her either. Plus, she hadn't ridden a horse in years, not since her pony had had to be put down after it got sick when she was a child, and whenever the mission made hours of riding a necessity, it took its toll. She was sore for days after, much to her own embarrassment, but at least riding was fast.

But climbing? She always wrinkled her nose in silent protest whenever Xena declared that their route would be rocky and uphill, leaving them no other choice then to climb.

She was ok at it. Her legs were strong and her arms were steady, at least letting her climb fast enough to keep Xena in sight, if not actually keep up with her, but she was still always a bit scared. Not of the height, no- while she had been scared the first few times, spending time with the Amazons in the trees had helped with that. You couldn't be scared of heights when you were expected to scale twenty foot trees in a few minutes.

But trees were different. Trees were sturdy, were reliable- it was easy to tell whether or not a branch would hold, if it would accept the weight about to be dropped onto it, and while the tree could fail, it was easier to catch yourself if you began to fall. One branch would break with a dozen others nearby, meaning, overall, the tree was just safer.

But stone…

Gabrielle sighed in relief as she reached the top, taking Xena's hand for help to be pulled over the edge. Scrambling up, brushing off the dust and bits of debris from her hands, Gabrielle rolled her wrists to loosen them up, to work out the cricks that had developed in the climb.

And then she looked up, and gasped as she took in the sight.

As far as she could see, the world was laid out before her, further then she had ever seen it laid out before. Forests they had walked through last week, that had taken almost three days for them to transverse, now seemed insignificantly tiny. She could barely see the road they had come along, what had been three horses wide now just the smallest of slivers that passed through the foliage, creating the slightest of breaks between the leaves.

It was beautiful, perhaps one of the most beautiful things she had ever seen, and standing there, watching the world below, Gabrielle almost didn't realize the rocks she was standing on had begun to shift.

"Gabrielle!"

It was only at Xena's cry that she realized the world was, in fact, beginning to shift, that it wasn't just her head spinning from the height but instead she herself was actually moving, tilting towards the edge she had just finished climbing up.

The realization that she was about to die, that she was about to fall to her death over the edge of the stupid cliff, and there was nothing she could do because this wasn't a tree, there weren't a dozen branches she could grab nearby to keep herself alive, lasted only for a moment before she was jerked back, Xena's hand hooked through her belt and pulling her back to safety.

"You need to be more careful, Gabrielle," Xena chided as she pulled her fully onto the platform, visually checking her over before accept that that Gabrielle was ok and letting go. "You're lucky you had your belt on."

And she was, for without it and Xena's quick thinking, she would have already met the bottom of the mountain, would already be on her way to Chiron's boat by now.

But instead she stepped closer, closing the distance between them, until Xena wrapped her arm around her shoulders, tucking her into her side. Safe and sound and alive, and wearing a very stylish and useful belt.

As annoying as it was, Xena had many skills, and with her? With her, every day was an adventure where you never knew if your belt was just going to be a belt or if it would become something so much more.