Reize and Shiki's Adventures in the Desert

Reize and Shiki's Adventures in the Desert
Date of Scene:	02 October 2012
Location:	Damascan Sands
Synopsis:	A snapshot of various events during Reize and Shiki's second day of the trek.
Cast of Characters:	Reize Seatlan, Shiki Misaki

---

Shiki Misaki has posed:
ADVENTURES IN THE DESERT: DAY 2

Shiki and Reize's adventures in the desert are not going so well. You may not know this, but pillories are not a fashion statement on the eastern continent! Nonetheless, they are now sporting them. They're also getting a ride to Fluorgis on the back of a chobobo cart, but this is also not very good. Why? Well, ask the bandits who captured them this morning.

"Do you think people actually buy and sell... people n'Fluorgis?" one asks the other.
"Worst comes to worst, I know some guy called a shadow lord who might be inntrested," says a rather overweight third.

Shiki just kind of looks at Reize, because there's not much else she can do.

Reize Seatlan has posed:
Usually, there is generally time out. This sort of device, however, is pretty bad. Reize is sporting the pillory, unable to move his arms or head. This is really bad due to the fact that he can't get to his resources.
Of course, his bag of tricks and weaponry were taken. This leaves him at a tight spot.
He looks towards Shiki, lowering his head. "...This is unexpected."
He tries to move his legs, but he finds himself having difficulty with his movements. Crap.

Shiki Misaki has posed:
"We're gonna spend the rest of our lives feeding people grapes," Shiki whines.

"What's de deal with them shadow lords, anyway?" the two of them continue to discuss, while a rather muscular one sits in the back with the confiscated weapons.

"Dunno really," says the other. "Bunch of fancy magicians I think. Monster makers. Got a whole bunch of 'em, totally not like your freaky fish guys in Figaro. Turns peoples into monsters, too!"

Shiki whines again in the back. Yeah that's the alternative.

And strangely enough, a Fiery Globe Heartless digs its way out of the sand dune next to the cart, and skitters over to and jumps onto it. "Oh, here's one now! Hey little guy!"

Reize Seatlan has posed:
Spending Reize of their lives feeding people grapes? He looks at Shiki for a few moments. His expression gives a more disgusted look, his nose wrinkling.
"... Sounds boring..."
He blinks, listening over to the discussion while observing the muscular one, who is the nearest to their weapons. He has to figure out a way out of this. With the fact that they are on a cart, well, Reize will have to figure out some way.
Shadow Lords turning people into monsters..? His eyes squint before he grits his teeth. "..Not good.."
And when a fiery glob digs out next to the cart, Reize's eyes widen as a shade of darkness looms over his face. Horror on his features.
Not good.
"Oi! Those things are a threat!"

Shiki Misaki has posed:
"You've got this incredible talent for underreaction," Shiki deadpans.

The guys up front laugh quite a bit at Reize's insistence, and just prod the Fiery Globe a bit. Then they realise this was a dumb idea because it burns their fingers. I mean, you would think...

"Ehh, keep quiet! Yuu don't got any say in what gets to happen to yas now! Stupid guys, tryin' to get across the desert when there's bigger, badder guys like us around. Don't you know guys like you just get wasted like guys like us?"

"I hope you feel real good about yourself," Shiki snaps, trying to move closer to Reize. "What're you gonna do to us...?"

The Globe sniffs one of the drivers. It's like an adorable, burning puppy.

Reize Seatlan has posed:
 !!!
The boy frowns at the situation. He looks at Shiki, then he looks up at one of the bandits. He maintains that frown, given the fact hat the men are not listening and that Heartless is loose. Shaking his head, Reize looks over towards his weapons and around the cart that they are held at.
...If he can shift forward a bit or twist about, he can possibly fight that thing off with just his legs. However, the other guys are questionable.

Shiki Misaki has posed:
Shiki Misaki sighs. "Reize, I... just wanna say to you..."
Oh, that's never a good way to start off any discussion.
"I don't regret any of the things that have happened to us..." Abort, Shiki, abort.
"So, if this is the end of the line for both of us, then..."

"BLAH BLAH BLAH OH THIS IS THE WORST PART," says the guy up front. "Stop whining! You should just be a quiet little mouse like our new mascot!"

The other points to the Fiery Globe. "Yeah! I mean look at this little thing! It doesn't even have a mouth to keep shut, it can't do anyth-"

That's when the Globe lunges at him and literally pulls his glowing pink heart clean out of his body. The man looks shocked for a second, before there's a flickering burst of dark flame and a Bandit Heartless has appeared to replace him.

And then absolute mayhem occurs, as the Chocobo breaks loose, the now-two Heartless turn on the other two bandits, and the entire cart gets upset. Use those legs, Reize!

Reize Seatlan has posed:
"Shiki.." Reize looks over toards the girl, frowning towards her. This situation does spell out bad things to them. A possible end to a journey. Or something much worse. Nevertheles, Reize listens to Shiki unti the bandit interrupts them.
Reize sneers at the bandit, already moving his legs to strengthen his position.
When the Fiery Globe steals the bandit's heart, Reize's eyes widen. As bad as it seems, he acts on instinct to push himself up to his feet. While the cart is going upset, Reize shifts his stance and he slams his foot down to break through the wood holding Shiki captive, "You get the stuff! I'll distract the Heartless!"
Unfortunately, this leaves Reize still locked by the pilliory. He knows this, but he has an idea how to adapt to this situation. As he springs out of the cart, Reize shouts, "HEY HEARTLESS! OVER HERE!" With his arms stuck to his hands, he shifts his stance to help complement the weight of the pillory, yet keeping himself at a steady fighting stance.

Shiki Misaki has posed:
Ahh, panic!

Reize's feet of fury snap through the wood with a single blow, because they were clearly using the cheap stuff. Now we've got two Bandits, one Globe and a Fat Bandit to deal with, but this shouldn't be a problem if Shiki can get to...

"Mr. Mew!" she calls, pulling the bag open. "I /thought/ you tended to do your own thing," she grumbles, and the cat just kind of looks at her with a dull expression, if it had moving facial features anyway.

Then it leaps onto her shoulder and springboards off to start scratching the Fat Bandit in the face, so at least he pulls through eventually.

Shiki tries to remove the remains of the wood from around her wrists, but decides she can deal with that later. She tosses a weapon to Reize, who's probably got some Heartless to deal with!

Reize Seatlan has posed:
Between that and Reize's kicks, it was pretty breakable. However, Reize himself is still stuck in his own particular pillory. With the fact that he can see a few of the incoming Heartless, well...
A boomerang is tossed his way. This would be useful if his boomerang could provide some better use with the situation. In this case, that's not going to happen.
With one of the bandit Heartless coming at him with its sword, Reize is twisting his weight over to where he deflects the impact of the blade with his pillory.
...It narrowly lands near his neck.
Look of horror comes next.
"...This thing is a pain!"
The boy sweeps his leg out to knock it on the ground and he springs back. "I may need a bit of help getting out of this thing here!"
The Fiery Globe moves forward to chomp on his head, but Reize shifts his stance to slam the wooden end of the pillory against its face, "Back off!" He snaps.

Shiki Misaki has posed:
What do you /mean/ you couldn't get out of your own one as easily? Reize, I am disappoint.

Well, not really. Shiki and Mr. Mew are just going to keep themselves busy juggling the fat guy using her Frostbite psych, but that doesn't last when the Fat Bandit starts spitting fireballs in rapid succession and she's forced to start running. Thankfully she has the sense of mind to run into a regular Bandit.

"Hold your hands up?!" she suggests. "Maybe it'll blow the wood up!

Yeah maybe it'll burn your hands, but we bought a lot of potions.

Mr. Mew and the Fiery Globe that started this whole thing off engage in a duel to the death. That's gratitude for ya.

Reize Seatlan has posed:
Crap. Crap. Crap.
This pillory is very sturdy for him. This is a bit of a good thing or a bad thing. The boy looks towards Shiki, "And my head!" That would not be a pleasant experience, getting his entire head caught on fire.
tSheesh, this thing.
With the Fat Bandit spitting fireballs, his eyes widen as one of them come his way, "Wha---" On the good side, the impact of the fireball shatters the pillory. On the bad side, it explodes everything else.
"Gah!"
Reeling along the air, Reize lands on the ground roughly and he groans in pain. On the plus side, his arms and head are now freed. On the hindsight, the Fat Bandit is coming at HIM!
Reize grunts and he sprints towards the bandit, already giving his thanks in the form of a mid-air spinning kick.

Shiki Misaki has posed:
Darnit! We could have used that cart!

"Looks like there's gonna be no free rides," Shiki says with a note of frustration. She's busy using her lance lunge to fight off the other two Bandits, and is fairly satisfied with her contribution to things. Try to turn ME into a harem girl will you? Huh? HUH? Sure I'd look good BUT THAT'S NOT THE POINT!"

"...wait, did I say that out loud?"

The Fat Bandit is pretty well defended from the front due to its fat, but if Reize can clip it in the head or strike at just the right time to knock it off balance with quick Reactions, he could set it off kilter.

Shiki throws him another weapon to finish it off.

Reize Seatlan has posed:
While Shiki takes on the bandits, Reize can hear her cry of fury. This still puts him in the position of dealing with the formerly bulky bandit, now a fat Heartless. He slides back to pick up his boomerang, which is a good thing because that incoming blade would had been deadly for his neck.
In the midst of a struggle, Reize is face to face with death by the Heartless. The weapons clash against one another.
However, Reize looks back at Shiki with a very important question.

"... What's a harem? And what's a harem girl?"

Distraction is capitalized by the fat being, who smacks Reize pretty far. Ow. Reize is sent flying across the ground. When Shiki tosses him his other boomerang, the boy catches it and he springs over the Fat Bandit's head. He slams both boomerangs at his head for a splitting headache... And to turn into munny.

Shiki Misaki has posed:
At least we're raking in the munny.

Shiki finishes off the scimitar-wielding bandits, and doesn't care where or when they turn back up as people again so long as they /leave them alone/. Serves /some people/ right for underestimating the Heartless.

She turns back to look at Reize, who has gotten himself belly flopped on, and sighs. She goes back over to the bag and the wreckage of the cart for a potion.

"I'm not going to tell you. OK, we're fine for now, but..."

SOME TIME LATER

"Stop squirming!"

Siiigh. Thankfully this place is nicer to look at than Figaro Desert, but some of the cacti are a lot more lively. The two of them found that out the hard way when some of the Cactites turned hostile. Thankfully they weren't that difficult to beat, but, as we'll find out as they sit under a palm tree, getting all those needles out is going to be a chore.

Reize Seatlan has posed:
"Owowowowowowow!"
Those cactites were not nice. It was fortunate that Shiki did not get the brunt of the force. In hindsight, it was REIZE that got the brunt of everything.
Here he is, on his back, lowering his head. His head is lowered as he pretty much has a thousan needles that stuck to his back.
Reize cannot help but squirm! Those things hurt! Comical river of tears run along his closed eyes as Shiki is removing those needles out of him.
"...They hurt."

Shiki Misaki has posed:
Also, Shiki's still embarrassed. Not least of which because she, uh.

Has to be kind of close to Reize to do this. o.o

She thinks for a moment, and looks in her sidebag. "Ah! I know what I can do. Let me see..."

Shiki produces a pair of tweezers!

Yeah this is going to suck. Consider this your punishment for this whole ordeal, Reize!

*poink* *poink* *poink*

Meanwhile, Mr. Mew seems to be sitting on a lilo. Cheeky.

Reize Seatlan has posed:
"OW!"
Squirm.
"Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!"
The boy lowers his head in the midst of the pain. It is a lot of whimpering from the young adventurer. "Ow... Never again will I get that close to those things." He continues to complain while his comical tears stream along his cheeks.
The things that Shiki has to endure.

Shiki Misaki has posed:
"I thought the one with the pink flower on its head would be nicer!" Shiki insists.

She pauses for a moment, and examines Reize's shirt. "Ugh."

She's gone silent for a moment, and the tweezing has stopped. Shiki can be heard mumbling to herself as she stares at Reize from behind.

"...should I? In a place like this? But... this might be one of the only times we get a break... eh, nobody else is around..."

"Alright, Reize, I can't stand this any more. I just... cannot stand it."

"Take your shirt off."

Reize Seatlan has posed:
It is funny. During this whole trip. This whole journey. He had not made a big deal about traveling with a girl. Through he whole time, he had not made a fuss about cooties, or even made mention of it.
Through all of this, he turns his head towards her.
....
Wait, what?!
"EEEEHHHH?!" He looks at Shiki, cheeks flushing while staring at her with a bit of horror, "What do you mean, take my shirt off?!" He quirk his eyebrows.
" ...This isn't going to be some cootie attack that was told at the village... is it?!"

Reize Seatlan has posed:
She is looming over him.
He quivered before her as she loomed over him.
"Y---yes..!" Reize manages only a squeak. He quickly undid his red shirt, and then the black undershirt. Comical tears run along his eyes.
"...I forgot how frightening girls can be."

Shiki Misaki has posed:
And Shiki's just gonna get right on with stitching that shirt up. So, a needle pulling thread.

"Those little plant things were the last straw. I just could not stand to see those things you're wearing getting so scuffed up."

Stitch stitch stitch. "Cure potions might fix your body but they do /nothing/ for what you're wearing. Just terrible. If I wasn't around you'd be in Fluorgis with little strips of cloth hanging off you."

Reize Seatlan has posed:
Sweatdrop.
Reize looks over towards Shiki as she stitches up his shirt. He muses thoughtfully. While he listens to her lecture, the boy can't help but muse back to the town, how one of the kids got scolded by their mother.
So this is what it feels like, he muses.
He laughs towards her comment, "I don't know how to stitch clothes." He looks at his gauntlets, "Heh, I should get new ones soon, I realize." He shakes his head, then he winces back to the needles. "...At least Mr. Mew has someone to repair him if he gets hurt!"

Shiki Misaki has posed:
"I made him myself, you know," Shiki says, sounding rather happy with the fact.

"In fact, I made everything I'm wearing myself. Before I ended up in this situation, it was pretty much all I- did." All I was good for. "Me and my friend made lots of outfits and uniforms for all sorts of things."

"I hope we can find the 104 Building in this shard seeking business," she says. "It's the number one place in Shibuya for buying new threads. You might like it!"

Reize Seatlan has posed:
Tilting his head over, Reize looks over towards Mr. Mew, who is essentially chilling LIKE A BOSS!
"You did?" He looks at Shiki, smiling towards her, "That's amazing, Shiki." He grins, then he tilts his head while considering over tale. "You two sounded like a great team." He considers, "..That was the girl with the glasses, wasn't it?" He considers, "...We'll get you united with your friend again."
Blink. "...104 building? Buying new clothes?" He scratches his head, "Well, I hope they are durable for traveling."

Shiki Misaki has posed:
"104's the best," Shiki insists. "Shibuya's got thirteen different big name brands. Something for everyone! Jupiter of the Monkey, Lapin Angelique, Hip Snake... me and my friend love D+B, which is where most of my pins come from. I just hope she hasn't been turned into a Heartless like those bandits," Shiki replies, looking sour. "That would make things pretty difficult. If it happens we'd really have to..."

SOME TIME LATER

"RUN FOR YOUR LIIIIIIIIIIIFE"


Shiki and Reize are being chased by a tyrannosaurus.

Reize Seatlan has posed:
The moment of respite had passed.
Now, it is rushing through once more. The two had been passing by, trying to continue their journey, until Reize decided to lean against a tree.
... That tree turned out to be a T-Rex. Woops.
"Not good! Not good! Not good!" The boy turns his back to see the small armed dinosaur chasing them. He yelps and tries to run faster while trying to figure out how to lose the large tyrannosaurus.
"There has to be a way to lose him!"

Shiki Misaki has posed:
"One of these days, you're going to get us killed..." Shiki says.

They're darting past odd trees and rock outcroppings, which don't offer a lot of options for this sort of thing.

"I don't know how easy that'll be in a desert!"

Why is there a dinosaur in the desert? Why were there poisonous flying seahorses in a desert? This is so messed up! Shiki tries to look around ahead of them for something. Mr. Mew is sitting on her head. "Maybe we could climb a tree?"

Reize Seatlan has posed:
The eyes shift about, looking at the odd trees and the rock outcroppings.
Oh man. Come on, let there be some sort of avenue where the boy can figure out WHERE they can try to seek cover or hide. With the stingrays, seahorses, and other sort of creatures in the desert, there isn't much leeway into things.
He looks at Shiki, "I don't know if there is a large enough tree with that thing that size!" He pants. He sucks in a breath to get second wind and continue his run.
"You split off, I'll distract him!"
He pulls a boomerang from his side, ready to throw it at its face.

Shiki Misaki has posed:
"Don't get yourself killed!" Shiki shouts.

She takes a chance and runs off to the side trying to find a big enough rock to hide behind or something. Think, Shiki, how do giant dinosaurs work? Lizards slow down when they get cold... or is it that they can't hear because they don't have ears? Or are both of those urban legends?

Shiki begins to weave through a collection of rocks that it might be problematic for the T-Rex to step through. She tries to think. Can she spare the power to try and risk freezing this? How many of those ethers do we have left, anyway?

Reize Seatlan has posed:
Reize quickly shifts his arm out to fling the boomerang towards the tyrannosaurus. As the boomerang sails towrds his mouth...
CHOMP!
Reize's eyes widen as one of his tossed boomerangs is eaten. "...Uhh...." After the creature gives a roar, it now pursues the boy, who quickly runs off. It starts chomping towards the ground near him, but he quickly dives away. "crap! Crap! Crap!"
The dinosaur roars while stomping after the boy, tearing everything in its path.
Reize is in fear. He is running out of fear. He is going to run out of breath soon. He needs to find SOMETHING.

Shiki Misaki has posed:
'Eat this!' Oh, apparently it ate that.

Shiki realises it's stopped chasing her. Which means... "It's chasing Reize."

Oh gosh it's chasing Reize. What is she gonna do? What is she gonna do? Does Reize have a plan? Is this part of his plan? Shiki is momentarily freaking out. She rummages for her The Eyes Have It pin. Uhh, crap, is this going to work?

She just runs right out of the rocks, completely into the open, and begins tapping it with her fingernail rapidly. If this works, ice crystals will begin to form on the T-Rex's body...

Maybe Yashiro will finally be good for something...

Reize Seatlan has posed:
The thing about Reize's plan: Take the heat off of Shiki.
Next part of the plan: ... ???

Unfortunately, with the lack of surroundings for access, Reize was unable to think that far ahead. He would have some sort of plan, but the operational enviroment was completely against him. It's an open field with a creature that is LARGER than him.
This isn't good.
Reize is about to tire out, collapsing on the ground. The heat is beating him down. "Nggghh...."
The T-Rex sees Reize. Its eyes flicker and it narrows directly at the boy. Jaw opens wide, ready to chomp down the boy...
However, it is then that the ice crystals are forming along the T-Rex's body. It tries to lunge down to scoop the boy into its mouth, but it continues to freeze until the jaws are centimeters away from the boy.
It is now encased in ice.
Reize looks up towars the T-Rex, his eyes widen. "I'm...I'm alive...?" He then looks ahead, seeing that Shiki is responsible.
A smile brightens her way.

Shiki Misaki has posed:
Well, taking the heat off is definitely a thing.

Shiki is alright, but panting quite hard. "I'm running out of steam," she says, between breaths. "I haven't got much left after this. Gonna be all up to you...!"

She strains and wraps her arms around her chest, running her fingernail across Sexy + almost hard enough to scratch it.

Rocks behind her are levitating... and so are some Cactoids... and as Shiki lets out a pained half-breath of exertion, she flings several small lumpy things (one of which has a flower on there) at the stunned dinosaur!

Hope your pendant's got some magic tricks left, Reize, because she's on her knees.

Reize Seatlan has posed:
As Shiki draws upon the pin's power, Reize can see that the Cactoids are flung towards the stunned dinosaur. Each of them piercing the creature's raw hide. It gives a roar out of annoyance rather than pain.
However, this time, Reize starts to draw upon his pendant's power for its gift once more. A tarot materializes in his hand. He lifts it to the sky, letting the glittering card spin out of his hand.
"Flicking flame, burn!"
"FIREBALL!"
A large ball of fire sprays towards the beast, impacting against it. It reels away from the two, growling before it falls flat.
...It's not dead. But unconscious.
It should be enough. After catching his breath, Reize uncorks his waterskin and drinks. "Guh..." He coughs and hacks between his gasps. While he looks over towards a passing flower, he blinks before he shakes his head.
"SHIKI!" The boy runs over to her, still with the waterskin in hand. It's still uncorked, which he hands over to her. "...It's out... we should get time to leave."

Shiki Misaki has posed:
The Flowering Cactoid wanders off.

The tyrannosaurus, meanwhile, eats a fireball to go with its boomerang. For a moment it looks like a dragon! Then, it looks like a huge lump of lizard. Covered in ice.

Shiki gasps, and takes a drink. Not a big one. She's pretty obviously wobbly as she stands up, nostrils flaring as she breathes through her nose.

"I'm beginning to wonder," she says, miserably. "If this was a mistake. We've gotten into so much trouble... and we're stuck in the middle of the desert, and I'm..."

SOME TIME LATER

"So /cold/!" she whines.

It gets very cold in the desert at night and we're not really close to any outposts or civilizations. So we've had to rough it. Also, there were a bunch more Fiery Globes roaming around. Fortunately, Mr. Mew managed to find some steel cable from a small airship wreck and tie them all up in a big gaggle of squirming annoyed Heartless, so we've got something to pitch our tents next to for the night. Or is it 'tent'? Did one of them catch fire in the cart wreck earlier today?

Reize Seatlan has posed:
Sigh. It's freezing at night.
The day has been grating on both him and Shiki. This entire travel has been a pain for them both. He hears her complaints and he has endured it well.
But it was grating.
With the Fiery Globes around, the boy considered the idea of using them as a heat source, just have to trap them and keep from from eating their hearts.
While Mr Mew had them tied up, Reize had the fire roaring with the Heartless as the heatsource, the two had to use a tent.
That's right. One tent.
Thanks to the cart wreck, one of those tents went along with it.
"...Well, we have our heat for the night."

Shiki Misaki has posed:
"Yeah, that's somethin' at least."
"Anything's better than just sleeping on the sidewalk..." Shiki says, but it's clear that her nerves are frayed following everything that's happened today. It's the first time she's actually been seen to be genuinely grumpy, and although she's doing her absolute best not to be grumpy /at Reize/, the fact remains that we're largely trekking across this horrible desert because of his mistake.

But Shiki just swallows it down and doesn't let it show. She can't justify being upset at him, at least not visibly.

She's not doing as good a job hiding her body language, though.

Reize Seatlan has posed:
The air is generally thick with tension between the two. Reize merely lifts his hands into the air, his hands resting along his forehead. There is the fact that her body language does show her annoyance.
Reize just shakes his head.
Both are just trying to tolerate one another right now. It's a rough night for the two.
"I'll sleep outside to keep guard and make sure the Heartless don't escape." He gives a faint smile, "You should rest in the tent." He muses, "...I think we are about a day or so away. It shouldn't be too far from here."

Shiki Misaki has posed:
"Sounds good to me," Shiki says. Mph.

A couple hours later, she can't sleep. She's just been lying there for the entire time, looking at Reize's silhouette. Mr. Mew's also been sat there in the corner of the tent. She feels like he's staring at her. How does that even /work/?

Shiki rolls onto her side and grumbles to herself. This was so much easier when you'd just pass out on the curb. Why is it she can't stop staring at him? She feels awful about herself. This is kind of like how she felt about Neku. Is she superficial, or something? Is she getting a crush on Reize? Or is it just the fact that she can't tolerate the idea that she's making her comfort and welfare more important than someone else's?

"Reize."

"Come inside."

Reize Seatlan has posed:
In reality....
Reize was annoyed. However, considering the heat of conflict, Reize felt better that it was him out there. He knows that he'll be able to take care of the Heartless. Although Reize is still a bit inexperienced about the world, she is inexperienced with traveling and the dangers.
Sigh.
"Knight's Vow #22: Every day before you sleep, look back at it and then prepare for the next day."
He has his journal, which he is using to annotate the experienced he faced in his journey. He considers how will he try to do things better tomorrow. They need to get to Fluorgis to meet with Ivo and Lily.
Guh. If they only chose a better route. But, Reize doesn't regret the journey.
While holding onto the pendant, as if looking at it for guidance, he hears a voice, "..." His eyes drift towards the tent, hearing Shiki's words.
A faint smile is given towards her, then he nods.
"Alright..."
He starts to make his way into the tent.

Shiki Misaki has posed:
And thus, cuteness ensues.

Enjoy it while it lasts, Reize, tomorrow you're gonna have to cut her out of a sandworm's stomach.