On the Road Again

On the Road Again
Date of Scene:	25 May 2013
Location:	Eastern Continent - Figaro Desert
Synopsis:	Akari and Aeschere set out from Rabanastre with no real destination in mind. After fighting their way through dozens of monsters and heartless, the duo come upon a beach. Tired from a long day's march, they slip into the water to cool off but that's when things start to heat up...
Cast of Characters:	Akari Seran, Aeschere Childs

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Akari Seran has posed:
The Figaro Desert. It is like any other desert that Akari has come across in her years of traveling: miles and miles of sand heaped upon the earth in unkept piles as if some cosmic being had swept all of the world's dirt and grit into a giant heap and forgotten about it. The sun is a constant plague to life, cruelly and mercilessly casting its withering light down from on high. Here and there small patches of green defiantly stand tall against the oppressive heat only to suffer the ignoble fate of being chewed and smashed apart for the precious water that has gathered inside.

Despite the harsh conditions, monsters seem to thrive here, twisted hideous things that have adapted defenses against the heat and lack of water. Armored insects scuttle about in search of prey to drag back to their nests, some openly traversing the dunes while others lurk in carefully hidden pitfalls, lying in wait for some unsuspecting victim to wander near.

So far the unusual pair that wander along the dusty barely visible road have encountered no problems so far. Akari's fists of stone seem quite capable of smashing apart whatever stands in their way. Even the thick carapaces of the local breed of giant scorpion seem laughably pathetic protection against her inhuman strength.

As the day goes on she encourages her new companion to try and keep up with her seemingly insatiable urge for battle, hoping to find some common ground for them to share. The desert seems obliged to provide for this bloodlust and the more they fight the more attention they seem to attract. She makes a sport of it, keeping tally of her kills and playfully chiding Aeschere for being beaten by a blind girl when she starts to lag behind.

Aeschere Childs has posed:
The Figaro Desert. It's another stinking desert; Aeschere shouldn't be surprised Akari prefers them, and this one in particular. As they took up this path a day ago, it seems like, she's been doing her share of extermination. Trying to do. Trying. Even with her improved reach, it's hard for her to keep up with the dread geomancer.

"This is your idea of a good time. This." She struggles to lever a wedge of carapace off the head of her spear, muttering. "Of course it is." She's complained like this most of the way out, though; she probably doesn't mean it. It /is/ nice, really, to be out putting her years of theory into practice. "What's out this way that we're going, then?"

Akari Seran has posed:
Akari grunts, displaying a small amount of effort as she catches the claw of yet another giant scorpion in her hands. The beast thrashes with dramatic amounts of effort as it attempts to shove the clacking pincers close enough to shear through the tempting target of the woman's bare chest but even the herculean effort it puts forth barely manages to push her backwards a few feet in the sand.

She stares at it for a few moments, allowing it to give everything it has to bypass her death grip. The evidence of its previous attempts can be seen nearby, a rapidly expanding pool of brown sludge pouring from the disembodied claw that used to fit neatly into the now gaping socket of the frenzied monster. It's deadly stinger tail likewise sits twisted and broken atop the arched tail but it still attempts to bludgeon her about the head with it to little effect.

Eventually, she gets bored of the contest. There is an awful cracking sound as Akari takes the segmented fingers of the claw in each hand and casually pulls them apart. A hideous smell and more of the disgusting ooze explodes from the mangled limb in a geyser of insectoid gore and the scorpion staggers backwards, already in the throes of its demise. The jagged tips of its own claws being rammed into the thing's face finally silences it for good.

"No idea," Akari offers nonchalantly as if such concerns were something she hasn't even bothered to think about. "Guess we'll find out when we get there. That's thirty-two for me, by the way."

Aeschere Childs has posed:
The shell segment comes free abruptly, and Chera stumbles back a step. "Twenty-seven. I'm wasting time looking for vitals, I bet." Nothing presents itself for immediate impalement, so she settles for booting the remains of her kill into a slightly neater pile. "Is the only thing in this desert that exists scorpions? I haven't even seen a cactus."

She squints at her shadow, briefly, and at their footprints. They're heading south, she can tell about that much. What's south of here she doesn't really know, except a breeze. "Nor a way-station either I don't think. How do sane people travel this?"

Akari Seran has posed:
"Hmph. Most of the merchants I used to run across while wandering the Great Span had either ample guards or flew across the skies on their personal ships. The cowards."

Akari spits in the sand at her feet and kicks it at the still twitching corpse of her newest kill as if the very thought of such people annoyed her. She stares at it for a few moments then suddenly bares her teeth in a wild snarl for no apparent reason. Stomping over to the scorpion, she pulls her leg back in an obvious wind-up. An explosion of sand and noise accompanies the violent shattering of the fallen insect's body and for a few moments the entire area is obscured in a cloud of dust and raining ichor.

The berserker wanders out of the cloud still looking as if she's barely holding back the urge to just throw back her head and let out a primal yell. Her teeth are clinched tightly together, eyebrows furrowed in an angry scowl but she manages to keep whatever is fueling her violence in check around Aeschere.

"Hrngh... let's go. I think I can smell the ocean."

Aeschere Childs has posed:
Waterproofing was among the qualities Aeschere selected her new cloak for, in addition to reversibility. With an expression of vague distaste she wipes a smudge of scorpion juice from her shoulder. It's just on her fingers now, of course. Ugh. "From dust to dust."

She turns from Akari to survey the way forward, again. "Still you're amazing. Are we close do you think?" She's gone deaf in the head, maybe, around all this stifling sand, she can hardly picture an ocean, either. Like all of this but with water, maybe. "That'll be a nice change."

Akari Seran has posed:
Akari doesn't seem to notice or doesn't care that she's half covered in something that looks like bug snot. The goop drips off her arms into messy piles on the sand. This is probably something one simply gets used to when they bludgeon things into oblivious with their fists.

Upon being questioned about their distance to the destination, the geomancer kneels down and places the palm of her hand on the sand. Greater surface area contact with the ground grants her better focus. She expands her senses into the sand, feeling the rippling vibrations of the dunes as the wind blows across their surface, the heavy thumping of yet more insectoid monsters scuttling about, and eventually the gentle lapping of waves against a distant beach.

"Not too far. If we move quickly we might--."

Her voice cuts off mid-sentence. Something feels off. Akari's scowl manages to shift enough to accommodate a look of surprise, her eyebrows raising as she realizes what this sensation is. Darkness.

Akari whirls about, her fists already balling up into tight knots. Small patches of greasy shadow begin to bleed into the sand, bubbling up from under the ground like miniature oil derricks. The patches of darkness quickly begin to take shape as they rise upwards, bearing humanoid features composed of the shadows themselves. Heartless.

Decked in what appears to be fine blue silks and stark white turbans, atleast a dozen or more of the bandit-themed creatures surround the pair of girls in short order. Curved scimitars reflect the light off their sharp blades which they menace at them with obvious nefarious intent.

"So... it's you again. Alright! Who wants some?!"

Aeschere Childs has posed:
Even to Akari Aeschere would be loath to admit that she was /familiar/ with darkness, but certainly she recognizes it. She knows their type, these Heartless. and she does not care for them. A smile, strangely, returns to her face, but not a pleasant one. Sort of like her mother's. Makes you want to protect your throat.

"And there I was asking for something besides a scorpion." She brings her spear to bear on whichever one looks ugliest on her side, and, recalling Akari's five-point lead, decides to open festivities herself, with a probing thrust at one leering shadow.

Akari Seran has posed:
Heartless have never been the most concerned creatures around when it comes to self-preservation. Infact, many of them seem to distinctly lack any sort of common sense, blindly throwing themselves into combat in their endless search of hearts to devour.

Aeschere's lance impales itself cleanly through its target, the fine silk vest offering no protection whatsoever to the supple shadow-flesh beneath. It shudders in noiseless agony, pitching forward around the polearm in a final spasm before it erupts into a small cloud of black vapor that rapidly vanishes into the air.

The death of their companion spurs the others to life and they leap about with comical loping strides. Scimitars flash, blurs of grey metal slicing through the air as they attempt to swarm the lancer and take advantage of awkwardness involved in wielding a spear at close range. But Akari is faster.

With a roar of anger the geomancer explodes into the midst of the bandit Heartless. She pays no heed to their blades as they bounce and slide along her impossibly durable skin, rushing through their line like a charging rhino and scattering body bodies in every direction. A few of them vanish and die from only this but even as they do so more rise from the depths of the desert to take their place.

The majority of them now turn their focus on the raging berserker, recognizing her as the main threat and she happily proceeds to engage them in a free-for-all brawl, pummeling and kicking and crushing everything in a whirlwind fury. Still a sizable group turns its attention to Aeschere once more and she finds herself beset by the small dervishes as they rush in swords swinging.

Aeschere Childs has posed:
A spear has a point; the point of it is to get you through your target's defenses. Chera follows her spear's point through the dissolving Heartless, and moves on to a wide roundhouse sweep, discouraging pursuit. Knives hurt her, unlike her companion, so she's making herself quite busy keeping the crowd at bay. At least they drop quickly.

When she has a half-second, she spares a glance Akari's way. Four bandits for each of hers, at the very least, and with just as much zeal and just as little sense they rush headlong into the stone girl's fists, and splash off like broken waves. Eyes front, though, Aeschere; one of the little buggers makes it around her admittedly narrow guard, and cheerfully attempts to sink its scimitar into her shoulder. She rolls aside, swearing; thank gods for armor.

Akari Seran has posed:
If Akari's bold charge had been due to any concern for her companion's well-being, that had been forgotten the moment she found herself wading into a proper battle. The sound of her fists crashing down on the slender bandits turns into a staccato rhythm in the background, punctuated by burst of black vapor that hardly have time to fade before being joined by others. The Heartless are falling so fast that their bodies have begun to form a literal cloud of death that hangs overhead but the tide seems to be endless.

A sudden surge of bandits rushes the berserker from all sides, a wall of shadowy bodies crashing down upon her. She yells at them in defiance but even her furious strikes are unable to fend all of them off and Akari vanishes under a mountain of Heartless. Swords raise into the air, their deadly tips turned downwards as dozens of the creatures begin to stab wildly into the pile, caring little about who or what they hit in the process.

The bandit that struck Aeschere makes a noise that sounds like laughter, its warbling voice echoing as if coming from deep within a well. It hops back and forth on each foot, taunting her with its capering gestures as the others clamber back to their feet, recovering from the low sweep that prevented them from landing a coordinated strike. This time they are slightly more wary.

Half a dozen bandits fan out around her in a semi-circle, their beady yellow eyes devoid of emotion or feeling beyond the raw hunger that compels them. After a few seconds one of them gets tired of waiting and leads the charge, rushing in with a shrill cry, it's heavy sword scything outwards.

Aeschere Childs has posed:
Is that different from what Akari always does? She was screaming at scorpions all morning, too. If she needs help, she'll say so. Aeschere concentrates on keeping herself clear, as her own admirers form up again, and get serious. They seem to be doing the kung fu movie thing with her now, though; she won't argue. Multiple attackers are hard.

This, her first contestant, she answers with another cautious thrust; it dances aside, wise to that particular trick, and makes its heavy-handed slash all the same. Chera parries with the haft of her spear and drives the thing back with a kick--

But she's playing a fighting game, and this is practically an RTS. Her own much smaller mob descends on her in a storm of shrieks and notched blades, and the little lancer, too, vanishes under the press, until an unseen shockwave blows a quadrant of them back and she dives out looking panicked. "Akari!"

Akari Seran has posed:
As if the calling of her name granted some measure of power to the geomancer, the earth begins to tremble and shake in ominous portent. All at once the ten foot heap of shadowy bodies shoots upwards in a massive explosion of raw force and rage given physical form. Heartless pinwheel helplessly in the air, many of them popping like punctured balloons in a crackling wave of detonations that almost looks like some dark mockery of fireworks.

Akari becomes visible once more as the bandits are scattered to the winds by the shockwave of her unleashed fury. Though the immediate threat of her attackers has been dealt with no less than half a dozen of their wicked scimitars are buried in her back, the wide tips of the blades protruding like some grotesque jewelry from the front of her chest. Despite these horrific wounds, the berserker hardly appears to notice, her head whipping back and forth in search of fresh targets to vent her battle-lust upon.

The surviving Heartless begin to rain from the sky in disheveled heaps and she sets upon them with renewed fury, pounding the prone forms into the dirt with a blinding flurry of punches before she leaps to the next.

Aeschere's small group seem undaunted by the massacre of their comrades and continue to pressure her with wild swings and acrobatic maneuvers in an attempt to bypass her guard and capitalize on her distraction.

Aeschere Childs has posed:
She is distractible, that is one of Aeschere's many failings; her guard is only perfunctory at best while Akari shows her all of the many good reasons for paying attention to her own damnable fight and not worrying about her companion. The Heartless provide their own reminders, too; a prod here and a slash there, just to show they're serious.

Compared to Akari, the lancer does seem like a toy, and her struggles on the defensive are probably laughable. She's not playing to her strengths, though, if she could just get her head around that. There are too many targets for her to track at once; finally, she gives up on it. The next one to come in for her takes a knife, and though it leaves her back wide open, she presses ahead on that line. A handful fall to her haphazard assault, and the rest pursue her, shrieking, in a little circle, until she has them neatly bundled. Skidding to a halt, turning, she meets them with a lance thrust that raises a roostertail of sand, and seems to dim the midday sun. Darkness meets darkness, and leaves little.

Akari Seran has posed:
The tip of her lance skewers through several bodies with this final assault, pinning limbs and torsos together like a giant Heartless shishkabob. They have only a few moments to stagger weakly, flopping limply like harpooned fish, before they collapse into the void from whence they came once more. A couple are spared this grim fate though the wave of rushing dark energies still robs them of whatever lifeforce drives them onwards, soul-ripping magic cleaving them asunder.

A resounding boom and another explosion of sand signals the demise of the last of the Heartless. The darkness receeds just as swiftly as it arrived and within a few moments the corrupted scent of wrongness vanishes from the air leaving them once more to bask in the sweltering desert heat.

All together the fight has taken less than a few minutes to reach its conclusion, the random nature of the Heartless' appearances sparing them from a protracted battle of attrition. Akari stands at the center of a small crater of her own making, her fists still clenched in subconscious fury as she searches for another Heartless, a monster, or anything to crush beneath her might. Eventually her dead eyes settle on Aeschere and the blistering heat of her anger dies out slowly as recognition dawns on her.

Realizing that the fight is over she takes several deep breaths and lets them out slowly. This process brings to light the multitude of blades still buried in her torso and she slaps the flat of her palm against her chest, ejecting the scimitars with a furious glare as if annoyed by their gall in even piercing her flesh in the first place.

After several long seconds, Akari turns and walks over to her companion. The linger hints of anger are still present on her face but she appears to be mostly calm by the time she draws near. She stares at the small girl in mute consideration, mulling something over, before she is overcome by an irresistible urge to grin.

"So... wanna compare counts again?"

Aeschere Childs has posed:
Aeschere leans on her spear and catches her breath. "Blood and ashes." She shakes the sand out of her hair, and surveys the general lack of devastation. "Those shouldn't count, there aren't any bodies," she complains, futilely. She wasn't going to keep up with Akari, anyways. "What even Chaos would want with this place I couldn't tell you."

Her pack now has a spare trauma plate hung on it, and for the most part it survived the excitement. She's going to be at her cloak all evening with needle and thread, though, probably. For now she just extracts a handful of rag, to address her own minor injuries. "Oh don't grin at me like that, you have to be up like 80 now! Let's don't stand around, they might come back and let me catch up."

Akari Seran has posed:
Akari snorts in good humor at the protests, arms crossing over her chest. "Let them come. Battle is something to be enjoyed!"

Still, she's not so blind as to be unable to see that her companion isn't quite on par with her level of endurance nor her strange delight for martial conflict. She shrugs and wanders off towards the east, no longer bothering to stick to the road.

Perhaps driven away by the darkness or the scent of death that clings to the geomancer like some morbid perfume the monsters no longer harry them as they make the short trek across the last of the dunes. Short, ofcourse, is a subjective term and the journey takes them two more hours, which pass without further trouble. Eventually the smell of salt is carried to them on the wind and is joined shortly thereafter by the sound of waves lapping upon the sands of a beach.

Aeschere Childs has posed:
The road had nothing to recommend it over the trackless dunes, anyways. The scent of the sea spurs Aeschere on-- she can't help it, it's in her blood-- though in the intervening miles she has plenty of time to try not to wonder why she's spending so much time wandering deserts and fighting things. That invites difficult inquiry.

It's been... possibly years? since she's been to the seaside, but anyone would appreciate one after this day's march. They enter the green band before the water is in sight, a narrow strand of palms and scrub taking advantage of the ready water. Chera takes advantage of one herself and sets her damn spear down. Ugh. You can't just sheath those things. "Shade! We're saved."

Akari Seran has posed:
Shade? Akari tilts her head quizzically at the declaration. It's been so long since she needed to fear the elements the thought is practically foreign to her. Despite her power to hold the scorching rays at bay from her skin the exertion of the day's trek has worked up a healthy sheen of sweat and she's perfectly fine with indulging in a short break underneath the wide umbrella of leaves.

A sudden itching sensation overtakes her, spreading from the gap between her shoulder blades where the bundle of sword had skewered her like a bunch of billiard darts. She grunts and reaches over her shoulder to indulge the bothersome feeling with a few strokes of her fingers. Healing always itched for some reason.

Crisis averted, Akari leans back against the surface of the large palm, using its rough bark to grind up and down against the trouble spots like a bear. She makes a few appreciative sounds in the process, grinding away for several seconds before she finally relaxes in earnest.

"Mmmm. There are certainly worse places we could have ended up."

Aeschere Childs has posed:
So long as they ended up somewhere. Chera takes the opportunity to shed her cloak and her pack, and find her canteen. She'll fill it here, later, though it may be effortful; part of the tiny bit of elemental magic she can manage. "If we keep east, here, we reach the port I think." That was what the map looked like, anyways. It isn't as though she bought one.

"Here." With half the canteen left, she caps it, and tosses it to Akari. It's important to stay hydrated. "...how long have you wandered here? You were at the Academy, too. I'm not sure I've been here a month."

Akari Seran has posed:
Akari turns at the sound of 'here', sensing the motions of the canteen being tossed her way, but it effectively becomes invisible once it leaves the other girl's hand. She reaches out anyways, trying to guess where it will come down, and luckily enough it lands in the crook of her arm.

She uncaps the container and tilts her head back, draining most of the contents in a single long swig. The rest is upended over her head and she enjoys the temporary sensation of wetness as the water spreads through her thick hair.

"A week or so I guess. I don't really keep track of the time." She tosses the canteen back to Aeschere lazily. "If we follow the beach we should find something."

Aeschere Childs has posed:
"Don't feel like walking yet~" The canteen lands at Chera's feet, and it can stay there for now. "...how do you just, you don't care even about anything, do you?" She tries to make that less flip. "Where you're going, or how long, or if you're winning the next fight. I should admire that, it feels like." Akari will have had plenty of chances to observe Aeschere caring about stuff. Now, for instance.

"I suppose worrying doesn't help much."

Akari Seran has posed:
Akari frowns a little, not quite sure how to answer that. She stares blankly ahead for a while in mute thought, her body practically statuesque as she allows the tension that usually has her wound like a spring to wind down. Eventually, she just shrugs.

"Never had much reason to care... I guess."

Her day to day life had never been all that important as she wandered from place to place in her youth. Each day was filled with wandering and fighting, followed by eating and sleeping. Sometimes she met new people and had short conversations, like this one, but most of it was a blur of landscapes and battles.

"I'm not sure if I'm someone worth being admired... I just take things as they come at me. Enjoy what life has to offer. Live in the moment."

Aeschere Childs has posed:
"You only get so many," Aeschere agrees, with what sounds like a smile. She's keenly aware of that; really, she'd love to just get out and see some stuff, but she's had to spend so much time just preparing. Long periods in hospital beds punctuated by short bursts of stuff likely to get her hospitalized. "Surely I wouldn't know, anyways. You'd be a legend with a dojo if there was any justice."

She relaxes like a professional, does Chera. Conserving her energy is something she has to be excellent at. She sits, still as sleep, under her tree until the breeze dislodges her spear from where she'd leaned it. She catches it, with an indelicate comment, and lays it aside, like she probably should have anyways. "...but, this is what we're doing, then?"

Akari Seran has posed:
The mention of a dojo makes her laugh. "Me? A teacher? Heh."

She settles back against the tree again and closes her eyes, stifling a few snickers at the thought. Unlike Aeschere, Akari seems incapable of fully relaxing. Her muscles, while not overly developed, remain taut and flexed as if she expects something to leap out of the shadows at any moment.

The breeze from the ocean kicks up around them now, a cool current that ripples through their hair in a pleasing fashion and carries with it the strong hint of brine as if trying to entice them out of their shady retreat and into the water. Akari inhales the scent deeply and rises to her feet. She sports a grin as she turns to look down at her companion.

"Well, I don't know about you, but what I'm doing is going for a swim."

Aeschere Childs has posed:
But, but that involves walking!

...not far, she's forced to admit. "First good idea you've had today." She can leave her stuff here, probably; aside from the Heartless they haven't seen anyone who'd mess with it, and she would daresay that they could deal with anyone foolish enough to try. Swimming presents a minor clothing dilemma, but...

Well, she'll worry about it in a minute. She stands, and turns to look over as nice a beach as ever she's seen. "Won't you sink, though, only?"

Akari Seran has posed:
Akari laughs again. She can't remember the last time she's had cause to do so on such a regular basis. It feels strange and better yet it distracts her from the constant buzz of her anger, pushing it into the back of her mind.

"Heh, just because I'm tough as stone doesn't mean I sink like one, squirt. Or should I call you shrimp? Might be more appropriate."

As if to prove her point, Akari heads off towards the beach at a light jog. Once she passes out from under the canopy of the scattered palm trees she stops long enough to disrobe, shedding her clothing without regards for modesty and leaving it all in a haphazard pile at the base of one of the trees so she can find them again.

The ocean seems as equally thrilled to have visitors. Large waves rise up to lap at the sandy crescent, washing deeply inland and leaving behind a bubbling layer of salty foam as it recedes. Akari wades casually out into the rough tide a few feet and then sits down. The water hovers around her midsection, rising up to engulf her from the neck down as the waves flow in and out, but she remains stationary against the powerful surges like a boulder jutting up from the seabed.

"Come on in," she calls over her shoulder. "It feels great!"

Aeschere Childs has posed:
See? Like a stone. Again Aeschere finds herself honestly appreciative of Akari's total lack of concern; who's around but some gulls and a blind girl? And it'll be nice to get out of these clothes, anyways, that she's been fighting in all day.

Everything of hers is piled under her cloak, and she crosses the sand at-- a quite brisker jog than her companion managed. "Hot!" She sprawls into the surf not far from her, and creeps out until she can barely touch bottom.

"I'll just float off perhaps, I think that'd be nice."

Akari Seran has posed:
"Hmm. It might be."

Sailing is one thing that Akari had never done much of in her travels throughout the plates. It was practically required to cross the vast oceans of Leviathan but she only did so on public barges and ferries that took the most direct routes between the floating cities and outposts. There was little time to just wander and explore, even if the only thing she might find is an unending field of blue-green water.

She immediately resolves to change this. Her senses extend into the sand and the water around her and for a few moments she enters a trance-like state as her mind probes the vast expanse of the beach for signs of a boat. Unfortunately, such things do not manifest simply because her whims demand it.

"Tch. Guess it'll have to wait."

Instead, she turns her attention back to her companion. While not as strong in her connection with the water as she is with the earth below, she is quite capable of using it in a similar manner to enhance her senses. The shape of Aeschere's body displaces the liquid and that gap provides a sort of negative image for the geomancer to read which gives her an almost perfect view of the small girl's nude form.

She smiles again for reasons that are not immediately obvious to anyone but her and she playfully splashes some water at Aeschere's back. "Don't wander off too far now. I can swim but I'm no match for the tides in speed."

Aeschere Childs has posed:
"Not for hours~" Chera sing-songs, and returns fire. Er, water. She sees Akari smiling at her, which...

No, it's damn odd, she forces herself to reflect, as she bobs bonelessly on the waves for a bit.

...well, no, whatever. She's barely known the girl for days, how would she know what's odd for her or not? Nobody's as simple as Akari claims to be. Ash procures another face full of water for herself, with or without Akari's help, and forms a question.

"...You're that Akari, from school, then. Did you know who I was?"

Akari Seran has posed:
Akari has the good grace to play along, shielding herself with her hand from the onslaught of splashes. When they eventually die out she leans backwards and allows herself to completely submerge for a time. The rolling of the waves overhead pulls her long ponytail to and fro, the only part of her body that isn't as hard and unmoving as stone. It's reddish-orange color makes it look like the wandering tentacle of an octopus from above.

She sits up with a colossal splash just in time to hear Aeschere's question. Akari sputters a bit, blowing at her wet bangs as they settle on her lips. "Pfft. The Academy, huh. Guess it's not surprising that you've heard of me. I'm afraid I can't say the same."

She scratches at the back of her neck as she seems to always do when uncertain or nervous about something. "I uh... didn't much care to learn names back then. Seemed like everyone I met just wanted to make fun of the blind girl or try to take me down for bragging rights."

Aeschere Childs has posed:
"Well, I would think that if they took you down they might fairly brag." Aeschere draws a little circle in the sea in front of her; it persists for maybe a moment, the extent of her power. "That wasn't what I meant, though, I... actually never said anything at all to you about it did I, nevermind me." Sigh. "It worked out for me anyways."

It hasn't been quite as long, nor is it quite as large a deal, but she remembers another thing she hasn't found time to say, either. "Sorry about running off on you, in the market, too."

Akari Seran has posed:
"Ofcourse. Only one person ever did though."

She smirks at the thought of that man. What was he up to now? Surely the darkness wouldn't have been able to overcome someone that strong. But then, he was all power and no endurance, so it is hard to say for sure. Pointless to worry either way. If she ever did stumble across him again, however, there would definately be a rematch. Losing didn't bother her, really, so she wasn't out for a grudge. Fighting him was just fun.

Akari tilts her head to regard Chera as she mumbles about something. The first part is lost in the haze of her short reminiscing but she does catch the apology and a look of genuine surprise causes her eyebrows to lift.

"Oh that..." She waves her hand at the air dismissively. "Don't worry about it. You're a big girl. You can make your own decisions." There is a short pause. "But... thanks."

Aeschere Childs has posed:
Aeschere has never tired of being told she's a big girl, all four and a half feet of her; she at least finds it funny these days. "I've found them now, though, so. It wasn't what I thought." The wash nudges her drifting form in Akari's direction. "I don't know what I should be doing now. I asked you already, I know."

Akari's hard to approach; it's maddening to the (slightly) younger girl, and prying obviously would be counterproductive. She's probably just overheated, that's all.

Akari Seran has posed:
Akari sees her chance for a little amusement here. She's been pondering how to approach the subject without offending her newfound friend or making things uncomfortable between them. She rubs the back of her neck, pondering whether to go through with it, but her nervousness eventually just makes her annoyed. Get it over with already, you wimp, is what she's thinking.

th her body almost fully submerged in the water, Akari is able to use her geomancy to manipulate it without much trouble. She uses subtle nudges, altering the course of the waves to push Aeschere closer and closer until the small girl is floating only a few feet away from her side.

"You did," Akari responds finally as the foaming surf deposits her catch next to her. She slowly reaches out and wraps her arm around Chera's waist, drawing her closer. She takes a deep breath and then smiles down at her.

"You can stay with me for as long as you like. I don't really have any specific goal to offer you but... traveling around, seeing the world, enjoying ourselves... there are worse ways to spend your time, eh?"

Aeschere Childs has posed:
Aaa, she's approached, she's approached! Aeschere squeaks, supplying that amusement, and squirms a bit until she has her feet on sand. "That, that, that..." She struggles against the geomancer's grip, but perhaps without real intent, "...would be good. I think." She finishes in a small voice.

Was she wondering about this? She probably wouldn't admit to knowing what 'this' is. She'd tell you that Akari just made an impression on her, after their first meeting.

Akari Seran has posed:
The smile widens into a grin at Aeschere's meek attempts to wiggle free. Akari does not allow her to. If she really wants her to let go now she'll have to earn it with a display of strength! That and she can tell the other girl isn't really trying.

She pulls her even closer until the small knight is held right up against her. Akari's hand roams down along her side, casually exploring just how far she will be allowed to go before some sort of protest is voiced. She gives a playful squeeze to her slender thigh.

"I can make it very good, if you like."

Aeschere Childs has posed:
She's out of her depth. Aeschere mostly struggles with herself, it's true. This doesn't make any more sense to her than anything Akari does, it's, she's, look--

Actually, do look; why were you searching for your classmates, Chera? Now that you found them, why didn't you go with them? Why did you stick with Akari? Well, perhaps they'll chalk it up to disorientation, later.

"...just, just... carefully, ok?"

Akari Seran has posed:
Akari lets out an imperceptable sigh of relief. She was afraid that her one and only friend would be the kind to be uptight about this sort of thing. Never in her life has she been so glad to be wrong.

She's still not quite sure why it is it mattered so much that this girl she's only known for a few days be into the same sorts of hedonistic vices that she herself enjoys. It's not like there's a shortage of brothels or pubs where she could pick up some company to enjoy for a single night. Atleast, she hopes not. What a terrible place this new world would be if /that/ were true. But since she's been given the green light, Akari fully intends to show off the skills that she's developed in the few years she's been old enough to enjoy adult pleasure.

"Don't worry," she says confidently as she pulls Chera into her lap. Her arm wraps around the slender girl's waist once more, drawing her close and she leans forward to give her forehead a soft kiss.

"I can be very gentle when I want to."