Encounter of the Noobs

Encounter of the Noobs
Date of Scene:	23 October 2012
Location:	Bare Desert
Synopsis:	Reize wandered along the Bare Desert in search for the City of Illusion that he had heard about. This brought him to encounter with another newbie, Avira. She would help him find the strange city under the circumstances that he helped her with her mark. Hilarity ensues.
Cast of Characters:	Reize Seatlan, Avira

---

Reize Seatlan has posed:

Welcome to the Bare Desert.

There is not alot going around these parts. The large, wide expanse is nothing but a flat sandy dune. Making it even more painful of a travel is the enormous heat that had been set. The unrelenting sun continues to beat down any travelers that roam around the parts.

Thankfully, it is not too far from the area is Fluorgis itself.

However, one person is emerging out of the town, looking already worn from the heat. "Eeesh." Reize journeys ahead, wiping his brow. He finds himself grimacing, holding onto his face while the sweat falls.

"...Well, I recall there is supposed to be another city around..." He muses, procuring his map from his pouch.

Avira has posed:
There is certainly another city around here...at least another desert over. This far out, Rabanastre is no longer visible, the sprawling hub of trade obscured by the rolling dunes. It was far enough that anyone out in this desert would easily be better off going to Fluorgis for hydration.

There were, however, plenty of reasons to be out here. Banditry was common and once again on the rise now that the Groundshaker had been eliminated. There were also certain species of wildlife that attracted a fair amount of attention.

Take the cactite, for example, or the much more rare cactaur.

Avira has been lying on her stomach just below the ridge of a dune for an hour now. The sun bakes her back and the sand beneath her has become damp with her own sweat. Sent to fill a mark, her target had yet to show. In fact, ANYONE had yet to show since she settled down and boredom was quickly running rampant. When she spots a lone somebody slowly coming her way, she is struck with excitement. Finally, SOMETHING was happening! Not what she wanted...BUT IT WAS SOMETHING! Steeling herself, she waits patiently until Reize gets closer, gradually adjusting herself so she remains downwind of his approach. Just like Skoll taught her.

Reize Seatlan has posed:
The desert life is a hard life. Reize had never got completely accustomed to the desert life. This is very different than the forest. But, in a way, the young ranger is in the position to where his adventures put him in uncharted territories.

Neverthless, Reize is idly wandering, looking along the sand while trying to see if there is anything coming his way. It looks like nothing.

Not a thing.

But slowly, Reize is aproaching closer near the hunter. He's unaware of her approach. Definitely unaware.

The antenna hair, however, twitches a couple of times. Reize scratches his head, uncertain why, but he feels like he should be aware of his surroundings.

Avira has posed:
Gradually, that figure comes into view, and Avira can pick out...well, looks like a teenager, or maybe slightly younger. Blue hair? Guess that could be a thing. Boy could use a comb though, look at that bit of hair sticking up and flopping around like that.

Still, she waits, and waits...and waits until Reize is passing by the very dune she has flattened herself against. At that moment, she pounces-though not without warning. As she leaps down, she shouts out "HEY!!" before knocking him down into the sand with a shoulder. AMBUSH SUCCESS!

Looking triumphant, she's quick to stand, one hand on her hip. With the other, she waggles a finger. "It's dangerous to be out here alone in the desert, you know~ There are bandits. And stuff." Avira is oddly cheerful.

Reize Seatlan has posed:
Definitely unaware.

However...

THis is when the surprise attack comes. A shorter woman shouts his way, which startles him. That startling affords Avira a window of opportunity to leap down and knock him down the sand.

"GAHH!!"

The boy plants firmly against the ground, getting a face full of sand. He spits and sputters, letting the sands come out of his mouth. The young boy is slowly standing to his feet, spitting out the remaining bits of the sand.

His antenna hair points at her as Reize grumbles, "Oooi!" A hand rests along his head, then he muses, "I am able to handle the bandits and the monsters!" He runs a hand along the back of his head, "Besides, I am on my way to a city that is supposed to be around here... He tries to recall it. "They say that the city is pretty hidden, but there have been rumors about a city around."

He thinks, "The City of Illusion..."

Blink, "OH! I remember you! You were at Mercade's place!"

Avira has posed:
Younger than her...yet almost exactly the same size. The burdens of being petite!

"Oh reaaaallly." There is, of course, a teasing air of skepticism in her tone as Reize claims that he is fully capable of handling the bandits and monsters the desert has to offer. She circles around him, trying to spot whatever weapon he might have on him, before returning to standing in his field of view. While she warns of bandits, it's only...somewhat apparent that she isn't one herself. "Well there is Rabanas..." she starts, then trails off.

"Yeah, the name's Avira, nice to meet you, now what's this about the City of Illusion? I certainly haven't heard these rumors...but I /have/ been around this desert quite a bit recently."

That little cactite/cactaur mission could wait for later. This sounded FAR more interesting.

Reize Seatlan has posed:
"Of course!" Reize snaps towards Avira, his cheeks puffing a bit. However, he calms considerably. Nevertheless, Reize is armed with a pair of boomerangs to his side. Granted, there are a few pouches along his pants, but who knows what they store inside. Nevertheless, the only weaponry are boomerangs.

Cheerfully, the boy introduces himself, "Reize Seatlan! Pleased to meet you!" Then, he considers her question about the city, "I... am not certain. They are only rumors." He considers the rumor that he hard about, "They say that it's supposed to be out further west from here. I was on my way to look for it.." Until she pounced him and all.

"I'm an explorer, so I try to look for places that not many people have seen!"

Avira has posed:
What WAS Mercade doing with this kid again? Avira can't really remember off the top of her head-Reize pretty much split from the Twilight Detective Agency's office the moment she showed up. She certainly didn't recall any open cases on him-at least, none that were shared with her. As for that weapon...'only' boomerangs. Not that Avira was really in any position to make fun of somebody's weapon.

"Out further west, huh? Hmmm." Avira looks pensive for a moment, mentally reviewing the terrain in her mind that she's previously covered. "You know..." she starts to scale the dune she had been lying against earlier and looks out in a direction that...Reize had not been initially walking in. "Now that you mentioned it, there were some places out there where the air looked a little funny and glassy. But I just thought that had come from the heat." she turns to look back at him, "I could show it to you...but in turn, I'm going to need your help with a little something."

Reize Seatlan has posed:
"Yeah," Reize confirms his previous statement regarding the direction of the possible city. He tilts his head over, looking at Avira as she seems to be staring off into the direction that he is likely going.

Once Avira confirms his suspicions, Reize brightens, "Great! Then I'll be---huh? You seen something appear odd and glassy?" But, when she mentions about needing help, the boy brightens. "Oh! Sure!" He runs a hand over to the back of his head.

"What do you need help with?"

Avira has posed:
"Yes. You know, kind of like something being there but..." Avira makes motions with her hands that don't really accomplish much as she tries to figure out how to phrase it. Finding no other really good way to put it, she continues, "...but under a cloaking device? Invisibility spell? Though like I said, it could just be the heat coming up off the desert sand, but I can't say I /walked/ through that particular area. It's a start, right? Unless your rumors have anything else to say about this City of Illusions."

Avira sounds pretty interested in this rumor, nonetheless.

"Wellllll..." she drawls, settling both hands on her hips. From behind, Reize can clearly see that Avira is armed too...it looks like a sword with an odd handle. "Seems I'm having some trouble today with finding my mark. You know what a cactaur is, right? I took a mark to collect a thousand cactaur needles."

Reize Seatlan has posed:
"Cloaking... device?" He scratches his head, "Spell?" And then, it finally dawns on him. "Oh! Perhaps! Let's travel west!" He turns back towards Avira, "Not sure!" Then, he thinks back.

"Oh! One traveler, who looked beaten, mentioned that there was a very powerful sandstorm that made it difficult to see where he was at. But moments later, he arrived at that city!"

The next part, however, her request comes in.

Shades of darkness droops over him as his memories are reflecting back to a horrid, horrid memory. That memory is a painful process, every thousand of them. In fact, the moment Reize turns around, he can see the dark shadows loom above him, a group of cactaurs clamping hands together.

("BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHA AAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!")

Reize's imagination, taking over, leaves him shivering. He's half-tempted to curl into a ball. Instead, he turns to face Avira, "S--s-s--sure... I can help! K-knight's Vow #1: Always help a person in need!" Ignore the sweatdrop over his head.


Annd... just a luck of the group, a cactaur is in fact riding by. This one, oddly enough, is on top of a skateboard. He seems relaxed.

Avira has posed:
Avira slowly frowns, gauging Reize's reaction. Already she's hoping that she doesn't have to go into too much detail explaining cloaking devices. Guess who really doesn't know how they work? Fortunately, this does not really come to pass, "Invisibility spell. You're from a world that has magic, right? I mean, you look the type."

But NEVERMIND THAT. HIDDEN CITY OF ILLUSIONS. YES. "Hmmm. I have yet to see a sandstorm today." Unconsciously, she's already reaching for her set of goggles she has hanging around her neck. There's a distant look on her face, the look of someone who has sat through a sandstorm once or twice in the past and not enjoyed it.

She shakes herself out of that momentary loss of focus to find Reize looking slightly traumatized. Despite that, Avira smiles. "Good! You know what they are. So if we see any on our way, you can definitely help me out." By sheer coincidence, that one cactaur rides by just as Avira's back is turned. Unfortunately for Reize, it does not go unnoticed by the hunter-she can hear it!

When she turns to look, though, she double takes then rubs her eyes. "...that's real, right? You can see the cactaur on a skateboard too, right? Gah what am I saying, AFTER IT!!!" Avira is running, reaching behind her to not retrieve her weapon, but a small shield that she slips over her left forearm. "Reize, nail it with a boomerang!!"

Reize Seatlan has posed:
"I'm familiar with spells! Just not devices!" The boy exclaims towards Avira. He rubs the back of his head, sighing for a moment, "Perhaps the sandstorm has something to do with it." He turns his head over towards where the western side and...

Ohgod. Oh no.

It's a cactaur.

The cactaur is just chilling, relaxing. It eyes Reize and Avira. The little guy shrugs and is about to skate onward. At least, until Avira is running towards the smaller critter.

"Hoo boy." Reize pulls his boomerang from his waist and he winds it back. Then, he chucks the boomerang across the air to whizz straight towards the cactuar.

WHACK! It knocks him off of the skateboard. And... skateboard breaks.

Oh, that was not cool.

It looks over at Reize and then Avira. It points at Avira. All of its nails are directed towards her. One can almost hear a gun-cocking noise.

Rapid needles all flying towrds Avira.

The cactuar is planning to show her a thousand of ways of how much he appreciates the humans breaking his skateboard.

Avira has posed:
A cactaur! And Avira is already chasing it! She actually manages to look rather intimidating as she chases it since this is easily the ONLY mark she has pursued that she's bigger than. She'd almost feel sorry for it.

Almost!

Reize successfully 'disables' it by way of a tiny broken skateboard. Avira catches up to it just then and is about to withdraw her weapon. Suddenly...

SHINK.

The cactaur suddenly bristles with spines. "Oh shi-" Avira's eyes widen suddenly and she just barely manages to get her shield up in front of her face. Exactly one thousand needles fly straight up and while a good many stick to that shield, into her breastplate, and her thick leather boots and gloves, well...

Rabanastre fashion lends itself to a lot of exposed skin. Avira really, really wishes she had a pair of pants on right now. Or a long sleeved shirt. When she lowers her shield, her eyes are aflame with anger. AND PAIN. "GRR!"

One foot swings back, then forward to punt the smaller creature.

Reize Seatlan has posed:
Inwardly.

Reize is glad it was not help. Truth be told, he is tired of getting the needles on him. He already spent the day getting Lenn and Shiki plucking those sets of needles out of him. They were so bad it required two. Well, Lily helped as well.

Not one of the best days.

Reize can only wince in sympathy over the thousand needles that the girl receives.

And then....

PUNT!!!!

The cactaur is flying sky high, shaking a fist at the girl in anger. Yet, it flies...

*DING!*

"...We-well, it looks like you have your needles." He sweatdrops, reaching into his pouch to pull a waterjug. He uncorks it and drinks.

Sigh.

"...I hope Ivo finishes that device soon."

Avira has posed:
Avira lets out a noise that would be more appropriate coming out of a predatory animal as the cactaur is dispatched to outer space. Then slooooowly, she turns around to level that anger at Reize. If only he had disabled the damn thing faster, then maybe she wouldn't be a human pincushion! Argh!

"We're not done yet." she says mildly, her excited mood having markedly disappeared now. Carefully, she sets aside her spine-covered shield and allows her un-spined hand to gingerly extract something from one of the many leather pouches attached to her belts. It is a pair of pliers. A jar follows after that. "We need to collect the needles."

She holds out the pliers to Reize, a steely look in her eyes. Having experienced this himself, he certainly knows what comes next.

Her eyes narrow just slightly when the name 'Ivo' pops up. "Device? You know an inventor?"

Reize Seatlan has posed:
When Avira's anger directs itself Reize's way, Reize cannot help but to sweatdrop at her. "Ehh heh heh heh heh...." But then, when she goes about getting a jar and a pair of pliers out of her...

Reize grimaces and he shudders. Not because of the pulling of the needles. Because...

"Guh... cooties."

He lowers his head, comical tears rolling along his cheeks. But, a knight's gotta do what a knight's gotta do! Reize approaches the woman, taking the pliers and he takes a deep breath.

"Uh yeah, my friend Ivo is an inventor, I think. He's pretty smart and knows a lot of stuff." Annnd the boy starts plucking those needles out and putting them into the jar.

Avira has posed:
It really does seem like, for a few terrifying seconds, that Avira will turn her punting leg against Reize! Thankfully, this would not be the boy's fate tonight. No, instead a much harsher punishment awaits him-getting near a WOMAN.

"...did you just say cooties?" she grumbles. She would facepalm but that ran the risk of getting needles stuck in places she doesn't want them to go. Instead, she forces herself to remain still and brace for the incoming pain as Reize prepares to pull out all of those spines.

"You don't say..." Avira encourages with great curiosity, "Tell me-ow-what kind of things does-ow!-he invent?" She tries to focus on the topic of Ivo as a way of drowning out the pain of needle removal. It only makes her a little bit more angry because he DITCHED HER the last time-but Reize didn't need to know about that. Especially if they were friends.

She'd have to keep an eye on this kid...he might get in her way.

Reize Seatlan has posed:
"Yes! It is your kind that bears it! And it's real! I already had to rest for three days thanks to one of my friends!" Reize was hospitalized, unable to adventure. He was bedridden, it was a shame for the adventurer! Nevertheless, Reize coninues to work on getting those spines out.

Reize mutters a few words to himself, but then he looks at Avira, "Well, I am not sure what he invents. He seems very gifted. He is trying to build a device that lets us find the world's shards." He shakes his head, "...I don't know if it'll work. We don't even know what the shards look like, but..."

A smile is given, "I am certain that we'll find them. That's what the Shard Seekers are out to do."

Avira has posed:
"...Reize, I've got some good news for you. I'm too old for cooties. Once a girl hits eighteen, they stop carrying cooties." Aivra says dryly. "Heck, some of them stop carrying cooties at sixteen. So chill and get to work, this is painful."

Avira glares at him archly, as if she thought it was his fault she had all these spines in her now.

But, oh Reize, that's not very helpful for knowing what to expect from Ivo! "Huh, tell me more about him. Sounds like you're pretty good friends with him."

This also marks the first time she's heard anything about the Shard Seekers. Such a thing is also filed away for later since it means that Ivo could have allies. More allies than just Reize whom she'll have to watch out for. "...I'm under the impression they can look like anything. Not too long ago, I was part of a mission to get back the pieces to a sea salt ice cream recipe. Turns out that in that little piece of paper, a world shard was hiding. According to Mercade, Sora's keyblade took it out of the paper...now the entrance to the place is in Traverse Town."

Reize Seatlan has posed:
"...They do?" Reize peers towards Avira, uncertain and distrustful of her regarding to the tale of cooties. Last time someone told him that, he collapsed and foamed in the mouth! He doesn't trust her words for one moment. He squints.

"Last time I was told something like that, I was bedridden!"

He puffs his cheeks, then he recoils from her glare at him. "R--right..." His antenna hair flops away in fear, shivering.

Then, the topic of Ivo. "Uhh, well, he, like some of my friends and I, lost our worlds." He frowns, "He's pretty smart. He has been helping us with getting a base of operations in Fluorgis. He's a kind, brave swordsman! And he's an actual knight!"

"Ivo mentions that they are like shards... Shards similiar to this." The boy slowly reaches along his pouch. In his pouch...

Reize pulls out his tarot deck. Many of them are paintings of many worlds, shaped in shards. Maybe similar to the shard Avira saw. Many of those pictures are representation of various worlds that were likely taken by the Heartless. There are various paintings, particularly one world that looks way too modernized for him to be from, Shibuya.

"...Keyblade...?" He furrows his eyebrows, "...I saw someone else with something like that."

Avira has posed:
"True fact." Avira proclaims, peering right back at him. "I'm an adult, damnit. I'm exempt from cooties-here-" without warning, she grabs his wrist with her shield hand. OH NO. "Do you feel at all different?"

Bedridden! Hah! Oh well, seems Reize was still going through 'that stage.' Nothing like a world-threatening problem to completely interrupt puberty.

"Wait, so you and him have no pieces of your world out there?" Avira asks suddenly, frowning. For a while, she had thought that was her case too but it did turn out a big chunk was there, "Do you miss it?" She lets go of Reize's wrist at that point so he can take out his tarot cards (and potentially stop freaking out).

"I didn't get to see the shard when it was removed." Avira admits, her eyes lingering on the card that represents Shibuya. "So I can't really say. Maybe you saw Sora, Reize, 'cause so far I've only seen one person with a keyblade. I wish I knew where you get those...being able to restore a world piece would be pretty handy."

Reize Seatlan has posed:
 !!!!!

Oh god, she grabbed his hand. This isn't going to end up like Lenn and Priel, is it?!

"...Not..not now, no." Reize suspects it'll be afterwards. And besides, it's not like Avira has kissed him! No. Reize grunts. Furrowing his eyebrows.

"No, we haven't gotten anything about our world." As she asks him about his world, Reize offers her a shrug. Yet, when Reize slips out another card.

Avira is likely to catch a glimpse of her own world shard through the mixture of those tarot cards...

However, like all of the other cards, it slips back into his pouch.

Reize lifts his head up, smiling her way, "I don't know what my world is like. But, I do miss my village and my friends there!" He frowns, "...I'm sure they're fine. My father is pretty strong. He'll keep them all from getting swallowed." He nods, as a matter of fact.

The boy offers a shrug, "I don't know about a Sora, but I saw a small big-earred mouse. His name is Mickey! He helped me find a traveler's missing bracelet. The man was relieved." With the cards pocketed.

Avira has posed:
If Avira kissed Reize, /she/ would be the one ending up with cooties, easily. That thought doesn't even cross her mind, though, but she does seem satisfied with her attempt to shake his views of the opposite sex to the very core. All in a day's work.

Reize will see Avira reacting to something at that deck. It's hard to see which card it was exactly that brought such a thing. None of the ones that went by resembled anywhere in Ivalice. For a few seconds it almost seems like she wants to reach out for it but quickly restrains herself from doing so.

No. That life is over. Things are going to go MUCH differently now.

"Heh, that's pretty optimistic of you, Reize. But hey, if that other world piece got restored, then it's still a possibility." Gingerly, Avira starts removing some of the 1,000 spines on her own, carefully gathering them into the jar. She still seems to be in pain every time one is pulled out, but she's no longer yelping about it.

The curiosity is all back too, and in full force. She even sounds a little excited again, "And he had a keyblade too? So there's more than one...hmmmm...I'll have to find this guy. Sora said his keyblade kind of just...appeared to him."

Reize Seatlan has posed:
It's shaken.

But not down!

Slowly, the boy turns his eyes over to see her hand. Huh, it looked like it nearly moved for a moment with some purpose. Any further thoughts are dissuade as she speaks once more. Reize smiles towards Avira.

"Deep down. I believe everyone's shards still exist." A faint smile is given, "These cards are my clue to finding the shards..." And finding mother. "I promised to help people find them find their homes." Even if he doesn't find his, at least they can have some peace.

"So, the Shard Seekers will search."

Her excitement regarding the keyblade is noted. "...Hrm... it sounds interesting.. It did the same with Mickey." A smile curls, "So, those things help restore a world piece.." He muses. Looks like finding Sora or Mickey would be a good idea when they find the shards.

Avira has posed:
Discipline wins out over impulsive grabbing for now. Avira would much rather have the spines out of her skin anyway than to raise suspicions with this boy. There will be time enough for that when she goes after Ivo anyway. But until then...

"Strange. How'd you get those cards?" she looks a little worried, "They didn't just appear for you, did they?" Maybe this was a trend. Maybe some cosmic thing out there was handing teenaged boys the means for the survival of all worlds? No, that couldn't be the case. The very thought would make her incredibly jealous so that can't be right at all!

Nevertheless, she seems to deflate just a little at the thought. "Yeah they did." she confirms, sounding distracted and busying herself with her own needles. With one final pull, she manages to reach the last one that had stuck into her skin. The rest remain embedded in her clothing-not causing pain, but they'll need to be removed eventually.

Reize Seatlan has posed:
There is a change in the boy's mood. When she asked him about about thos cards, Reize is lowering his head for a moment. A rueful smile is given towards Avira, "Someone gave it to me after I was born." His hands move towards his shoulder, the smile grows slightly. "...I had them for a long time, uncertain of what they were for but..."

The face he never got a chance to see.

He shakes his head. "...Nevermind that." That rueful smile fades, the young man grins towards Avira, "Well, it looks like you have your needles! ...Probably not the way you wanted to get them, but you got them now!"

Avira has posed:
Right away, Avira can tell she touched on something of a...sore spot? Something painful enough to put a roadbump in the manic energy she's seen Reize display ever since meeting him today. It makes her regret comparing it to the suddenly appearing keyblades. But it does make one thing clear.

This kid had some destiny to him if he wound up with those cards.

"Noooooo..." her eyes narrow, "This is not the way I had intended to get him." Reize was supposed to be the one getting turned into a pincushion! Maybe she should have thought through her plan to chase the cactaur a little harder before rushing off. Well, /lesson learned/. She takes her tweezers back from Reize.

"So." she says casually, "Still going looking for that City of Illusion?"

Reize Seatlan has posed:
"Eh heh!" The boy rubs the back of his head, looking rather sheepish towards the woman. Allowing her to take the tweezers from him, the boy takes several steps away frm Avira. The grin grows back once more.

"Of course!" Putting the thoughts of his lingering feelings behind him, Reize is off for his adventure. He grins, "Able to help me find it?"

Avira has posed:
Both the tweezers and small bottle that is now filled with cactaur spines are put back into Avira's pouches. Even at his sheepish laughter, she seems a little nonplussed. "If only the rest of my clan was here. Or VALKYRI...oh well. This is what happens when you take a mark solo."

Her annoyance quickly fades and she grins, almost slyly, "You bet! Let's go west!"

Reize might be in luck today. Avira knows which direction is west.