A New, Blue Frontier
| A New, Blue Frontier | |
|---|---|
| Date of Scene: | 23 September 2012 |
| Location: | Luca - Harbor |
| Synopsis: | A few brave souls venture down the Path of Destiny from Traverse Town -- and a confused one gets off a boat -- and arrive in the bustling seaside metropolis of Luca, even now a hub of trade and activity. A friendly and informative conversation ensues, until it's cut off by the game crashing. |
| Cast of Characters: | Ivo Galvan, Zeke, Priel Aylin, Nagetta, Merilan Yursalin |
Ivo Galvan has posed:
"...Looks like I'm not the only person who's confused."
Blue cloak rippling in the sea breeze, gazing up admiringly at Luca's magnificent architecture as he sits on a low stone wall by the pier, one of the port city's many wooden docks branching out behind him, Ivo takes a moment to catch his breath and take in the aesthetic delights of yet another brand new world. Though the knight-errant's eyes are clear and his lips are slightly smiling, he needs a moment of rest: it's taken him the better part of several hours to determine how to get to Fluorgis from here.
Part of the problem is that half the residents of Luca have never heard of it.
The consequences of this vast world being an amalgation of many others have at last become apparent. On the one hand, Luca, long a diverse metropolis in its own realm, has become almost directly connected to Traverse Town via what people have taken to calling the 'Path of Destiny', making it one of the most accessible locations in this new world, so its residents are comparatively well-informed. On the other, Luca and Fluorgis are from entirely different realities, and only a few adventurous souls have already mapped out their relative positions. Ivo's still confident that his destination is the right one: while some place called Rabanastre -- from yet another land, it appears -- also houses Clans of adventurers and mercenaries, Fluorgis is home to the Fire Crystal, which has attract many smiths and inventors. He too will need access to that kind of power if he hopes to devise a plan to hunt the World Shards, he expects. Apparently, Fluorgis is also home to a Sky Port, from which operate some sort of flying machine known as an 'Air Ship'.
The choice, then, he concludes as he reviews his own hastily taken notes from numerous casual and charming conversations, is between heading to Costa Del Sol and traveling across the desert with a little girl in tow, or sailing to a different city with a Sky Port and flying there. Money is a concern. Besides--
The beach /is/ tempting.
Zeke has posed:
While yes Sunday was the sabbeth and Zeke had gone to morning servicees (and even left his business closed for the day) Sabbeth or no he was still a wanderer who had been without a ship for far too long in his estimation. Of course 'his estimation' boiled down to a week, which is a stupidly short time between jobs. Mayhap it was just the fact he now had no ship to call his own and had a warrent out for his head.
The beach was nice. Wherever he was. The smell of the sea. Feel of the surf. It made him feel... Nostalgic.
Merilan Yursalin has posed:
One of the amazing things about being able to fly is that you also tend to have great balance. And, failing that, your wings are always able to adjust.
It is thus with some happiness that Merilan is currently writing up notes for her latest article straight on top of one of Luca's main street's lampposts; the winged woman doesn't seem to have any issue at all, even distracted as she is. Plus, this isn't a town with lots of errant flying objects to possibly knock her over.
Still, the reporter looks a little bit taxed - there's bags under her eyes; yesterday's Spell had taken a large carving out of her energy, as it often -- or always -- does when she directly borrows power from her Auracite.
However, it does not diminish her spirits, as she looks towards both of her Yarhi -- Traya, and Lemy, tiny Espers less than a foot tall; Traya is green-haired, with black starry robes and a black sock for a hat, while Lemy has sky-blue and white robes with tiny wings on her back.
They're also both eating a Hypello delicacy... balled-up bits of octopus? Traya yanks her head back as she tries to tear off a tentacle, but only succeeds in getting it to whap against her head. Uuuu. DX
Nagetta has posed:
Nagetta thinks she's lost as well. She was trying to get to Baron, but it doesn't seem to be where she heard it was. Of course the fact she's never left the contient of Eblan before this isn't helping. She was able to "persuade" a ship captain but it looks like she ended up in the wrong place. This city certainly don't fit the description for the city that she heard. Of course the sunlight wasn't helping any, Maybe there was a nice dark cave somewhere around here.
Priel Aylin has posed:
Walking along the circular streets of Luca, taking in the various sights, was a certain redheaded traveler. She did not seem to be all that culture shocked. In fact, she looked completely and utterly unimpressed really.
As her gaze swept about impassively, she could only wonder if she would be able to find anything of interest in this city. It certainly looked impressive. Reminded her of the capital city back in her own world in fact. But alas...
Regardless, now was not the time to think about that lost world. Now was the time to find information. The sooner she found that World Shard, the sooner things would be put into motion.
Or so she hoped...
Ivo Galvan has posed:
Slipping away his journal into an inner pocket of his cloak with a sense of satisfaction, Ivo rises to his feet, habitually placing a hand on Hauteclare's hilt to ensure the scabbard doesn't knock embarrassingly into anything. All swordsmen have to be conscious of this, particularly ones of an aristocratic heritage, but wielders of flying swords all the more so: always know where your sword is, lest it get stuck in some random object. After all, that random object could be your own face.
But it doesn't take superior perceptive abilities or spatial reasoning to recognize the merchant Ezekiel looking vacant-eyed and lost on the other side of the pier. Grinning easily, the calm-knight young knight strolls over to where the eccentric captain gazes out longingly at the sea. "My condolences," Ivo says, apropos of nothing. "Don't worry, Ezekiel. This is a world of opportunity. You'll acquire a new ship soon enough."
Galvan guesses confidently, but rarely wildly.
"And maybe even a new crew," he adds, his gaze sweeping the crowd. He doesn't notice Merilan high above, apparently having failed to learn his own lesson from the other day at the Coliseum, but-- "For example, imagine how helpful a half-snake woman would be. She'd never get thrown overboard, and even if she did, she could wriggle through the water." Uh, is that how it works? So saying, Ivo attempts to catch the eye of the lamia, raising his hand in an easy-going, friendly salute. "Hey there, Miss. You look a little lost. Am I right?"
What a socialite. No wonder he gathers information so quickly. As ease, placing a hand on his hip, he only stirs when he sees a certain mysterious redhead approaching in the distance. Hmm-- she doesn't look too happy. That makes him smile, ever so slightly.
"Yo, Red," he calls to Priel, at an opportune moment. "Found your World Shard, have you? Just guessing by your air of superiority, you must have found piles of them by now."
Teasing her might be a little /too/ mean, but -- all's fair in love and war, right? And who could tell the difference with this woman, anyway?
Nagetta has posed:
Nagetta's a bit surprised to herself being addressed. She was trying to keep a low profile. At least as low as possible for someone's who half-snake. She turns towards to address him, "I guess...you want me as part of your crew?" She sounds a bit surprised by that. Someone actually wants to be around the girl for once. "This isn't Baron is it?" Seeing how he's actually being friendly it couldn't hurt to ask right?
Merilan Yursalin has posed:
"Mumu? Isn't that..."
Merilan perks down to where Ivo, Priel and Nagetta have gathered - it is a curious sight! Especially the snake-lady. With a sudden whirl of winds, the Aegyl has descended, half-draped around her large black-feathered wings. "Good morning, everyone! It's your world-crossing journalist, Merilan!"
She certainly knows how to put on an airy demeanor -- it helps to get her through these kinds of patches, to try to lighten the spirit from its heavy mood.
A second delay later, Traya and Lemy float on down beside her, the former still trying to battle it out with an octopus leg, which is completley unmarred. Lemy's pulled out a tiny greatsword to try to hack it to bits, to Traya's consternation. Do Yarhi even have teeth?
Zeke has posed:
Zeke looked to Ivo when he spoke and sighed wistfully. "It's that obvious innit?" Much could be said about how he loved the sea and that it was his livelyhood and the like, yet at the end o the day what else needed saying when one look seemed to get the message across?"
"It innt just that though mate. I kinda took a job from this Church of Ajora's right hand or Faram's blessings or whatever... Starting to have second thoughts on the whole venture." And then on the Lamia woman getting pointed out he quirked an eyebrow at her but didn't seem overly surprised or frightened. "I wouldn't tell you no lass. However my employer might have issue. Dunno how the whole politicing thing works or if there's any inherent anomocity I've walked in on, but I'd at least want to see if you'd be capible of the work load needed." Professional, to the point.. sorta. Hey he's not about to give people a flat 'no' when he's only got about a dozen souls to his command.
Priel Aylin has posed:
Priel had no particularly been paying much attention to the people around her. Most looked rather useless to her. And their gossip and banter which reached her ears sounded equally worthless! Who cared about how much their neighbor annoyed them? Or how cute their dog was. Seriously? All useless! So caught up in her thoughts of people's utter worthlessness, the girl didn't recognize Ivo and Zeke until he was calling out to her.
"...Hmn?"
She hummed non committedly, glancing at the blue cloaked manm and then towards the other with him. Zeke was his name? And who was that woman? A Lamia? Interesting...perhaps. Maybe. "Well, if it isn't the oh so radiant knight." The redhead spoke calmly, a smirk crossing her face."Why, where are those two brats? Did they get killed off already? A shame." She deadpanned the last part, clearly not worried about their well being at all.
It was at that point however that a black winged woman came flying down, addressing them all apparently. "Oh? A journalist you say?" Priel asked, resting her hands on her hips and fixing Merilan with a curious gaze. "And just what do you write for, hmm~?"
She never did answer Ivo's question. Funny that.
Ivo Galvan] has posed:
Ivo grins both at Zeke's straightforwardness and the snake-girl's seeming naivety. "This isn't Baron, no," the dark-haired swordsman says, rather assuredly for someone who found that out about three hours ago. "This is Luca. Baron is, umm..." Reaching back into his cloak, he withdraws his journal once again, flipping it open, briefly silent. A well-prepared man is worth two, as they say. "That's right: there are ships that travel from Luca to Baron. It's on the Western Continent." He closes his journal and lowers his hand, smiling affably. "I don't have a good sense of the geography of this world as a whole, but I was able to get a list of all the cities one can most easily travel to from here. You'd need to pay for the trip, though... I don't know how much it would be." He glances toward the waters, his eyes briefly turning more serious. "The seas are still restless from the conjunction of the worlds, apparently..."
Looking back at the two of them, the knight-errant shrugs with an air of unconcern. "Well, if Zeke here got his ship again, and you joined his crew," he suggests, "I bet that'd solve the problem." The young man grins to himself. What are you, Ivo, a matchmaker?
"Oh, it's the croquette cook," he remarks as the winged woman and her inimitable sidekicks descend. "I've got to start looking up more often." He said that last time too, though. "Merilan, was it? I'm Ivo. We weren't properly introduced before." Well, it was a bit hectic. He smiles again. "Any good stories today?"
"Only radiant by comparison," is his jab back to Priel. He effortlessly shifts from pleasant conversation to antagonistic repartee with the newcomer. It'd seem like he didn't take any of it seriously, if it weren't for his observant eyes. "No, I ditched them for the day in the hope I'd meet a beautiful woman. Looks like I've met you instead, unfortunately." He pauses, looking at Priel for a few moments, his smile fading.
"Reize is on his way to some city called Goug or Midgar, escorting a couple women there. Lily's resting now, but she's heading with me to Fluorgis, where the Fire Crystal is, and we're meeting up there. The champ's doing well, far as I know." He's saying this for Zeke's benefit, too; the man might be curious. But his eyes are on Priel as he pauses and continues.
"The Fire Crystal should help me construct a device for seeking World Shards."
Zeke has posed:
Zeke snorted as more company descended and or came out of the works. "World shards huh? You mean all the pieces of places that seem to connect to eachother but miss most of themselves? Like me being able to sale to just about any island in the carribean, but anything far away as florida isn't there anymore?" Shards. Interesting name, apt description if he's got the right of it.
Ever try splitting your attention between people? Especially ones you didn't know. Yea Zeke's trying to do this, and not doing a great job. So keep attention on Ivo til the snake girl says something contributory.
Merilan Yursalin has posed:
The redhead draws Merilan's attention in turn, though the discussion about the Lamia joining (possibly) a seafaring crew is an article in and out of itself! "Ah, I publish Traverse Maniacs!" she hands out a copy of the... handwritten (it is very prettily handwritten, at least. But, still handwritten) periodical, providing it to Priel in turn.
"I'm still just starting out, but, I hope to have a lot more news to spread around the entire connected worlds!"
She turns towards Ivo, perhaps a little unused to being identified as the 'croquette cook'. "Ah, that's right, you were one of the ones at the Coliseum... mumu, I'm glad we were able to fend the Heartless off that time."
At the question regarding the stories, she turns towards Zeke and Nagetta, smiling very warmly. "I think this merits a story all on its own! Ah, if it doesn't burden the both of you, could you tell me of your plans to sail the seas? And, I've never even heard of this Baron place!"
Behind her, Lemy has a dangerous *_* glint in her eyes as she lunges forward, tiny greatsword searing on through with a bright flash. Ittou Ryoudan: Thunderous Rump-Shaking Octopus Slash!
Shlurk.
Traya goes 'uuu' as she looks up at the sword stuck on her forehead, and the comical blood splurt going out of it. The Esper silently floats on down and gains a little golden halo above her head, expression stuck in a DX face.
Nagetta has posed:
This was certainly different. She had just arrived in the city and she was already getting job offers. She supposes she could use the money, it wouldn't be right to keep on charming people. Plus they might be able to help her get where she's going. "You have a ship...or had a ship...where is it?" That would be a good place to start.
"World-Crossing Journalist?" She notices the feathered woman seemed interested in her as she's addressed. "A story? I don't know if what I'm doing is that interesting...I just want to get to Baron." She sounds a bit uneasy.
Zeke has posed:
Zeke's attention got grabbed by the Espers doing... well.. Silly esper things. "Uh... Sir. Your two tiny things are trying to murder eachother." He didn't want to seem rude, but he didn't know what the espers were, and one was bleeding and had a letter opener stuck in it's head.
Nagetta's question of ships got his attention refocused. "Right now my former ship is either impounded at Port Royal, or more likely it's owner has comissioned a new captain to keep hauling freight. I have been given an opprotunity to work for a different employer though. One that will cover the cost of ship and crew, but I would be flying under their flag." He eyed the snake lady carefully. "hat sort of work could you do on board? Not everything involves sail and lines. Always could use another ship's surgeon, and pending how well you can hold your own in a fight I might hire you on purely in case these heartless decide I'm important enough to try sinking."
Priel Aylin has posed:
"........."
Silence was all Priel had to offer the knight. Not because she couldn't come up with a retort. But rather, she was becoming tired. Not so much physically, but mentally. There was simply too much on the mind. Too many things to think about. In a way, she almost envied these people. So upbeat and carefree despite this world nonsense. Ah, if only she could muster up the effort to so the same. She had tried, but...
"I see. It seems as if those two are doing rather well for themselves. I suppose that's better than being dead, yes? Ehehehe...." Chuckling sardonically, Priel shrugged and shook her head. The funniest thing of all was that this fool was giving her everything despite not being allies in any sense of the word.
"Oh? Traverse Maniacs?" Funny name. But she took the offered copy anyway, nodding to the journalist. "I'll have to take a good look at this later then, when I'm on the road of course~" Speaking lightly, she offered Merilan a plain smile, tucking the newsletter away before sighing and crossing her arms.
Well now. What was she to do with this band of misfits now?
Merilan Yursalin has posed:
"Mumu--?"
Merilan turns around to where, at this point, Lemy's tried donning a giant collar with a barrel marked 'RUM' to try to resuscitate Traya with.
No one ever said Yarhi were /smart/.
"Aah, come on, you two! I can't even leave you two alone for a while..." Merilan reaches her hand forward, and a little touch of Magic heals the equivalent of a papercut on Traya's head, returning her to XD-sporting, perfectly healthy goodness. Yarhi are about as easy to kill as Pokemon are anyway, in the end. They just ~faint~ and get ~retired~.
She then hands them both tiny cookies to distract them with. Goodness, but their metabolism must be fierce.
Her attention turns back towards the group at large. "Well, it is true... and, if you're uncomfortable, then I won't write anything about it!" Merilan smiles very warmly to Nagetta. "But, I've got a lot to learn about th worlds I haven't even heard of yet -- Baron, Port Royal... aah, there's so much ground to cover, it's all very exciting!"
Ivo Galvan has posed:
"It's a bit of a mess, isn't it?" Ivo casually replies to Zeke, not sounding particularly hung up on it for someone whose world has utterly vanished. "From what I've come to understand, Shards refer to the remnants of worlds consumed by darkness and now dormant. In theory, at least, all those pieces of worlds -- or entire worlds -- which are missing are now Shards somewhere. Though I'm a bit unclear on how a Shard can be restored to its former glory." How, not if. He refuses to say 'if'. Not when people's hopes are on the line.
"Yes, I'm glad as well," he replies to Merilan, grinning a little lopsidedly. I mean, what was the alternative, except be devoured by darkness? "Who do you think that hooded girl was, though? Her bodyguard was extraordinarily strong, and the Heartless went for her right away. One of those detective characters was quizzing us about that after you left. I suspect /that's/ a good story." How helpful you are, Ivo. Not helpful enough, though -- he shrugs at the mention of Baron. "I'm afraid I don't know much about it myself. Apparently it's a highly militarized nation? They have those 'Air Ships', supposedly, yet it's not available for air travel. Maybe they're a little paranoid."
Beyond that, though, it doesn't seem like Ivo needs to interfere with the 'interview' -- so he turns his attention to Priel instead. He can't hide a faint hint of unease at her rather limp response. Normally, she's so entertainingly hostile. He figured she was just frustrated, but-- could it be that she is truly on the verge of hopelessness as well?
"Yeah, it is," he says in a lower tone, so as to more easily be ignored by the other three as he steps toward Priel. His features are calm and serious, not showing any sympathy in particular. "You know," he continues, quiet but still conversational, "I hear that when a world becomes a Shard, supposedly it's preserved just as it was. So all the people we've left behind-- they're just in stasis. That's what the rumors say." Stated just as though it were any other observation.
He looks sidelong at the redheaded girl, just for a moment, and smiles slightly.
"I may just be a wannabe knight," he adds, "but if we are able to craft a Shard-seeking device, you're welcome to make use of it. ...Even if," he finishes, smile broadening and becoming just a little playful again, "I don't know your name."
Nagetta has posed:
"Surgeon? I don't know, the only boat I've been on was the one I just got off. I can fight...I guess." Nagetta doesn't seem that self-confident. "I wouldn't want to be on a boat that sinks, so I might have to. I doubt I'll get many other offers here." She's not sure how welcoming of lamia that they are here. For all she knows she might get driven out of town.
Priel Aylin has posed:
Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she then exhaled and offered Ivo a tired smile. "So I've heard. I haven't been sitting around, twiddling my thumbs." Shaking her head after, the girl turned away, giving Ivo a sidelong glance. "But all of this information is utterly unreliable. What can you believe? What can't you believe?" She turned to face the knight again, tilting her head slightly as he began to explain his case with the device. "...Why are you telling me this? We're not friends, or allies even."
Her eyes lit up however when the question of her name was posed. ...Now that she thought about it, indeed, not once had she introduced herself to a single soul since coming upon this strange vortex of worlds. Partly intentionally, and partly because she simply forgot. It wasn't a big deal to her. She wasn't anyone special after all.
...But perhaps it wouldn't be such a bad thing to do so. Just once. "My name, hmmn?" Priel paused, tapping her chin in thought as she gave the man in the blue cloak an amused smile. There were so many possibilities, but....alas.
"Aylin. Priel Aylin."
And so finally, the girl introduced herself to someone. How strange.
She would have preferred not to really. Anonymity was one of the best defenses after all.
