[Chapter 02 - SCENE] Tree Hugging

[ruinsruinsruins.livejournal.com]

Who: Raine Sage, Yuri Lowell, Judith Sykes, Dhaos, Genis Sage
Where: St. Binah
When: A day or two after Raine and Yuri's scene in Theor Forest.
Warnings: None.


The group had finally entered the city of St. Binah, and Raine was quite relieved. After the glory of Grand Chokmah, Raine had to admit that she was a bit less than taken with St. Binah... yes, it had its charm, but...

Then Raine bit her tongue.

The tree!

Of course, St. Binah's tree! How could she have let that slip her mind? It was a marvelous tree, and had odd properties as well! "You all can go ahead and register at the inn; I have some research to conduct!" She happily exclaimed, practically skipping along as she left the group.

Comments

[spearthis.livejournal.com]

Judith smiled as Raine happily left the group. She stood in her usual pose, arms hugging her body, as she turned to Genis. “Should we follow her?” she asked innocently, still contemplating whether or not leaving Raine alone was a smart thing to do. In response, Genis sighed, shrugged and face-palmed to conceal the horrified blush spreading across his face. Judith didn’t quite know how to take that so she turned to Yuri for a second opinion.

[hateindignashun.livejournal.com]

Dhaos had been left with little to do for a time after his talk with Raven. He didn't really want to return to the Tower quite yet, it was always pleasant to see a blue sky, sunshine and other things that had long since not existed in the Qliphoth.

That and stopping into towns was always a good thing to do, a bit of observation and he could learn a great deal about things. News would be whispered among the people and could be heard by a discerning ear quite readily.

And he had to admit, St. Binah was actually an interesting city. Like most of the cities these days, it had not existed during the Dawn Age, and having a city built around a giant tree was an interesting concept, not one that would have been considered long ago, which was a shame.

That and they did not object if visitors climbed the tree the city was known for which he did like doing for various reasons, for the ability to relax along with the ability to gather information about large scale happenings, like preparations for rumored wars.

That and the few others who came up here tended to be interesting people with much promise to him, so he could afford a short rest to think and relax. And if there ended up being someone to observe, all the better.

[finalgale.livejournal.com]

Yuri couldn't stop his head from shaking at the moment Raine left the group, probably off to scare the locals with her fan girling of things that shouldn't be fan girled. He had asked for this, though, when he had decided to tag along with this little group. If she reacted this way to various things in every single city they stopped at...

He raised an eyebrow as the question was posed to him, Judith's smooth voice breaking him from his reverie. "Ah, yeah. Sorry, kid --" he couldn't help but shoot a glance at the mortified Genis "-- but we should probably follow." Or I will, at least. The thought passed briefly through his head while he actually started off, if slowly, in the direction Raine had taken.

late tag is late. sorry guys!

[ruinsruinsruins.livejournal.com]

"MARVELOUS~" Raine managed to be in ectsasy; nothing else mattered at the moment! The growth pattern of the tree, hwo the city was formed around it, and how the architects were planning ahead...! The city was rich with history! Raine had to check out the local library and references after seeing the tree up close.

Climbing up the ladder, she emerged on top of the platform and touched the bark with her own hands. Ooh, the splendid juxposition of the bark and how it layered among the years, and hwo the branches were trimmed every so often for the health and care of the tree!

Nothing else could matter in the world...

And then raine misstepped and began falling backward from the top of the ladder.

[hateindignashun.livejournal.com]

Dhaos went to climb up the ladder to the platform near the top of St. Binah's famous Soil Tree when he looked up and saw that a woman was falling down towards him.

At this point, he had two choices, he could let her fall surely to her death, or he could attempt to save her life and have her owe that debt to him.

His decision was easily made, she wasn't Order of Lorelei, so she could easily be useful to him, and owing her life would definitely encourage it. Chances are if she was up there in the first place, she was of some remote interest as it was, and until he knew who she was and what she was, he couldn't just waste such an opportunity.

Of course, this wasn't exactly an easy thing to do, he'd have to get lucky on catching her, and gravity would likely knock him to the ground also. He braced himself to catch her before she did hit the ground, at the very least ensuring that she wouldn't hit anything hard at a fast speed.

The force of the impact made him lose his balance quickly and he fell backwards also, but she was in his arms safely at least. At worst both would only have minor injuries that could be healed. Though definitely not the type of saving of a damsel in distress one would read in the stories, it would do.

Of course, luck would have it that as he fell backwards, in an attempt to grab at something to stop the fall, Dhaos' cloak came partially undone. Of all the things that could happen, and he doubted the woman was unconscious and now she'd ask about this, since it wouldn't be normal to see a man who had something that appeared like wings. He could see the fonons coming out on one side of him and as they both fell, enclosing them on one side. If it wasn't for the fact that he kept that hidden for a purpose, it would be a beautiful sight to see the fonons like that, but he also got weakened quickly by it, though not as much so with half of it still covered by the cloak.

He'd have to get this woman off him and fast so he could get the cloak back on and it would be easier to explain it all away if the fonons weren't being released from him so quickly.

He didn't care what happened to her now that he knew she'd live. He got himself out from under her and quickly got his cloak fastened on properly. Then he could deal with her questions as long as nothing was showing for her to ask about. He already had an idea of how he'd explain it away, he'd say she must have hit her head when she landed and saw something odd because of it. Head injuries did do strange things to the mind, so seeing an angel wing could be explained away that way.

He just had to hope that would end her line of questions quickly and that she would be useful in some way for all this annoyance he was having to deal with. He looked at something in a pocket without pulling the small device out to see if one thing was true. Any odd readings from his fonons should be cleared out now that his cloak was on and keeping his fonons in check.

He smiled in a not so nice sort of way to see that she was indeed what he was looking for. Good, this trouble was worth it. He put the device away and waited for the woman to respond now that he knew how to deal with her.

[itspancaketime.livejournal.com]

Raine's most likely going to act like this in most of the journey. Genis gave a heavy sigh.

"Might as well get used to it."

For a fact, nothing Genis can say will stop the way Raine is acting.

[spearthis.livejournal.com]

Judith nodded and ushered Genis forward as Yuri began to walk in the direction of the dust trail Raine practically left behind as she skipped further into town. She quickly caught up to him, but not before some of the townspeople started to gossip loudly and rush in the direction of the tree.

“Well, it seems like Raine must be having fun,” Judith said with a smile as she glanced at the ever growing crowd of people. She walked past the boys in an attempt to get a better look at the scene Raine must have caused.

Her sharp eyes caught sight of Raine lying on the ground near the tree, and a tall man wearing a strange looking cloak standing near her. By the way Raine was lying on the grass; Judith was pretty much able to guess what had happened. Whatever had happened though, it had caught a lot of attention from the townspeople. The crowd started to disperse, probably because Raine was uninjured or the crowd had simply lost interest. The only people left watching now were lingerers.

Judith waited a moment before calmly walking towards Raine, as rushing over there would just cause another scene. She was interested in who that man was, how he had gotten involved and what he would do next.

[hateindignashun.livejournal.com]

Dhaos was a bit concerned that the woman was not seeming to get up on her own, which implied that she had been perhaps injured in some way, and that could be tricky because she could be injured further if moved and he didn't want to risk that.

He seemed mostly fine, a bit bruised and not pleased that there was a chance others saw the unusual fonon resonance that came from him, and if that was the case, this woman had better be worth his trouble for what had inadvertently been revealed. He hoped that any who saw it thought it a fonic arte of his rather than the truth. At least nothing seemed broken, which was a relief considering that he was more easily able to be injured in that state, at least it was obvious that physical injuries were not worsened, just those caused by fonic artes.

But even with a gel, he would probably be a bit sore for a few days, he definitely was getting too old for this sort of thing.

He bent down besides the woman and slipped her an apple gel that he had handy so that she would hopefully heal from her injuries and he ate one himself just in case. He felt fine quickly from it and waited for the woman to show some sign of life.

Then he saw another group arrive after the others dispersed. From the looks of things, these people appeared to know her, since there was a boy with hair like hers. Interesting considering that she was most likely a replica, was the boy one too? And the long haired male, he recognized that young man also. This would definitely prove to be a most interesting diversion from his trip back to the Tower. At least it won't be a fruitless trip after all.

Keeping an eye on Raine out of the corner of his eye for a sign of life, he looked towards the others. "Might you be friends of hers? She unfortunately must have misstepped on her way down the ladder, but she's alive and should recover."

[ruinsruinsruins.livejournal.com]

Raine gasped at her sudden fall, and even moreso she gasped at the sight unfolded before her eyes...

The man had... wings of light?!

The blood must have rushed to her head. It couldn't be.

She simply nodded, once the oxygen returned to her brain. "Yes, they are my colleagues." She affirmed. She couldnt' stand up from the shock, but simply smiled. "Um... thank you. You quite possibly have saved my life." She bowed. "How may I repay you?"

[hateindignashun.livejournal.com]

Dhaos was actually relieved when she woke up. True, it was odd for him to care much about anyone, except perhaps his fellow replicas and Harold, but this woman was also a replica as far as he could tell, so he did care that she remained well.

But anyone he approached always did need to be handled with care until he knew them better. True, this woman would be grateful, but he knew enough about proper etiquette that it was not right to request anything right off for such a favor, though both would know it was owed.

He held out his arm to help her up. "It was no problem. It would be quite the shame for one who shares at least one interest with me to have died so tragically."

Of course, he didn't want this group to just go on their way, he was interested especially in the woman and the boy who looked like her, but he would not object to seeing if the others were of interest. That gave him an idea.

"Perhaps you could tell me what piqued your interest so much about this tree. Maybe you could join me for a meal while we discuss that? Your colleagues are welcome to join us, of course."

That could well work, she'd probably agreed just because he helped her, at worst she'd think he was flirting with her, but that would be disabused with him inviting her companions along, so there was little reason for her to be skittish. And he had to admit, a meal would be most welcome now, as would being able to sit down and relax for a time. All those fonons being released did tend to have a weakening effect a short time afterwards until his body regained its balance again from the powers put into the cloak.

[finalgale.livejournal.com]

Well, this certainly was interesting. Not an hour in the town and they probably were already going to be the talk of it. Just the thing he needs. Yuri watched Raine and the man who must have saved her with a keen eye from a good few feet away, a hand resting on his hip. Admittedly, he might have felt just a tad lousy for not having been the one to be there and save her... Eh. The good thing is that she was safe, and that's what really mattered.

"Good thing we aren't on the run or anything," he remarked to no one in particular, a sigh thrown in for good measure. Aha, not that... Anyone needed to know the truth, of course.

Now to just wait and see what Raine said about that whole invitation to dinner thing. As long as he didn't have to cook, he was up for anything. The look on his face made that too obvious.

[ruinsruinsruins.livejournal.com]

"Aa, well, that would be fine by me!" Raine responded to the blonde man's invitation. "We haven't checked into the inn yet, but I'm sure that there's a restaurant or tavern nearby." She composed herself, and stood up by herself. "It would be an honor to be able to discuss the tree with you, especially once I look up a few pieces of research topics to discuss. I take it you're a traveler, sir?" She asked.

"My apologies for my rudeness; my name is Raine Sage. May I ask for your name?"

[itspancaketime.livejournal.com]

Boy it sure would of been horrible if anything bad happened to Raine. Good thing that man saved her or who knows what will happen. Genis gave a smile of relief.

Now about Raine excepting that invitation for a meal...

"Any meal that's not made by Raine would be perfect!"

[hateindignashun.livejournal.com]

Good, they were all being agreeable and he didn't have to think of another way to keep this woman around for a short time. He definitely would have to keep this in mind in the future. He also kept in mind the comment made from the one who appeared to be a younger sibling about her cooking.

"Ah, yes, do forgive me for the lack of introduction. Yes, I'm a traveler. My name is Dhaos."

Hopefully she would be like most and not comment on the lack of last name. He hated making one up for random usage, and he didn't truly have his own family name, since he was a replica, and he would have to change it every so often anyhow. Most of the time if asked, he just used Harold's, but he wasn't going to offer more information about himself than he had to.

"If I recall right from my last visit here, there is a restaurant near the inn. Shall we meet there in an hour perhaps? Or would you need more time?"

He still wanted to get his own observations of the city itself and the surrounding area and the gossip that was floating about the city. Of course, much of it was probably now about him and Raine, which would be good to know how much was seen. Because if anyone saw the fonons, he'd have to take measures to quiet those people quickly.

[ruinsruinsruins.livejournal.com]

"That works for me." Raine nodded to Dhaos. "I'm sure my colleagues will be with me there as well." She bowed once more, thanking him.

[ooc: short tag is short; sorry! Should we move this to another log, then? It might be easier to keep track of.]

[hateindignashun.livejournal.com]

"Then I will see you and your friends in one hour, until then..." He said before walking off in the direction.

((ooc: and short response, and yeah, another log is fine, but this can be left open if Yuri, Genis or Judith want to comment after Dhaos is gone, but I'll go ahead and start a new log for you since Dhaos will of course arrive first))