[CHAPTER 03 - SCENE] BUMP BUMP

[toryuu.livejournal.com]

Who: Chester Barklight, Natalia Luzu Kimlasca-Lanvaldear
Where: Daath
When: Shortly after Arche wakes up.
Warnings: None.


Seeing that Arche was all good and well was a relief, Chester admitted, but the bitter taste of knowing that Rhea was gone still left a pit in his stomach. Whenever he saw Arche's face, he now saw an imaginary image of Rhea's superimposed over her. It wasn't Arche's fault, nor was it Rhea's, but... Chester simply wasn't sure exactly how to emotionally cope with such a stressful situation.

So, the next best thing to dealing with it was deflecting it by worrying about something else.

"We should hopefully be able to leave early tomorrow morning, and get you out of here." Chester stated, entering Natalia's room and leaning against the door, folding his arms. "I know we're in a hurry, so thanks for waiting while Arche gets better." He continued. "The only thing left is... where do you want to go, Natalia? We haven't decided what to do after we got you out of the Oracle Soldier's Headquarters."

Comments

[astralrain.livejournal.com]

"Please, there's no need to thank me," Natalia responded with a slight smile. "I'm just glad Arche is feeling better." She and Arche had never spoken too much, all things considered, but that didn't mean Natalia hadn't been worried. She didn't really understand everything about the situation either, but if the other girl was feeling better, that was all that mattered.

As for where to go... that was something the princess wasn't too sure of. The wisest choice might have been to return to Baticul, but... Well, to be perfectly honest, Natalia was torn. On the one hand, given what had happened at Akzeriuth, it likely would be good to return to her homeland. Her father was surely worried. However, she couldn't deny that she was worried about Luke... Not to mention, she was still rather conflicted about the whole Asch thing too.

"If I may be honest, Chester, I'm not at all sure," the blonde admitted, wringing her hands nervously. "I know it's important that we leave Daath, but... I'm honestly not sure what to do."

[toryuu.livejournal.com]

"Honesty's fine in my book." Chester responded. "I just wanted to make sure that you were comfortable or had any opinion... that's all." He looked at Natalia, attempting to read her emotions. Not that Chester was any good at that sort of thing, but... he didn't know the whole story, but if she wasn't jumping at the chance to go back to Baticul, Chester reasoned that she must have had a reason. He also had Arche to think about, never mind what to do about Fon Master Ion, Colette, and Philia.

"I'm thinking maybe Sheridan... I don't know anybody there, but we'd be at least able to keep the Fon Master safe and regroup a bit to decide our next move, if that's all right with you. I've yet to pitch the idea to the others, but..."

[astralrain.livejournal.com]

"Sheridan," Natalia repeated, eyes closing as she thought it over. She saw nothing wrong with that idea. As Chester had already said, it would give them a chance to figure what to do, while also keeping the Fon Master safe.

With that in mind, she nodded, opening her eyes to look at Chester again. "Yes, that would be perfectly fine. Right now, I believe our main priority should be keeping Fon Master Ion safe." She probably should've been worried about herself too, since she'd also been captured, but Ion took priority. At the very least, that helped provide a decent distraction, for which Natalia was grateful -- even if she also felt guilty for thinking such.

"At any rate, we should be relatively safe as long as we keep to the cities and towns. I don't think the Oracle Knights would risk trying another capture with civilians present." That was what she hoped, anyway. After all, it was a soldier's duty to protect those who couldn't fight, was it not? Surely they wouldn't risk a fight breaking out where innocent bystanders could be injured...

[toryuu.livejournal.com]

[ooc: ... I kinda messed up. I think after talking with most people, the Natalia-Ion groups are heading over to Chesedonia. I'll try to steer the conversation toward that instead of just retconning it, though. Sorry about that.]

"Civilians present... in that case, maybe going to a neutral place may be better." Chester mused aloud. "Daath itself is already neutral, so Kimlasca and Malkuth can't touch it. However, since it's Daath after us, how about we try Chesedonia? I've been there before selling items from Engeve before, and stopped by when I was on my way to Baticul for the fighting tournament." He continued. "Sheridan is a bit out of the way, but in that case it wouldn't draw a lot of attention if a scene were to occur. If we head to Chesedonia, we may be able to get away with being in such a populated area where a big scene won't be able to play out without severe consequences between all three sides."

"Then once we figure out what to do, we can probably get you home." Chester tapped his chin, still thinking. He wasn't much of a strategist, or the brains, but he tried to exude some common sense. "We'd just need to somehow disguise the Fon Master, probably."

[astralrain.livejournal.com]

Chesedonia, of course. It made more sense to head somewhere neutral, and a place like Chesedonia, well-known as being a place for trading goods, was even better since it would give them a chance to get lost in the crowd. Of course, given that the Fon Master was a part of their traveling group, they were likely to draw some attention no matter where they went.

That could possibly work in their favor, if some sort of scene did occur. Ion was a prominent figure among the people of Auldrant; Natalia doubted the people would appreciate any type of unlawful act towards the Fon Master.

"Perhaps. Although it may be better to leave Fon Master Ion as he is. If he's recognized where we go, people may act in our favor if something does happen." A pause, and then she added, "We should let him decide what he would like to do, though. It wouldn't be right for us to decide for him."

With that thought voiced, there was one more thing that concerned her, and that was Chester's mention of her returning home. There were still too many uncertainties regarding both Luke and Asch. Until she could manage to sort her thoughts on them and everything she had learned, she didn't feel she could return to Baticul.

"Chester..." Of course, trying to voice those particular thoughts aloud was difficult in of itself. The blonde sighed and, after a brief pause, she looked down at her hands and continued, "...I'm afraid I'm not yet ready to return to Baticul. That's bound to cause you even more inconvenience, and for that I apologize, but there are certain... matters I must think about first."

[toryuu.livejournal.com]

"I'm not even going to pretend to understand all of the reasons." Chester tilted his head and then shrugged slightly. His lifted eyebrow then softened into a smile, hoping to comfort Natalia. "But if that's what you want, I'm willing to deliver. Not like I have a place to go back to right now, either. So, if you say no to Baticul, then I'll say no to Baticul for right now, too. Not entirely sure what the Fon Master guy will say to that since he probably wants to go straight to Kimlasca in order to stop the war, but we'll figure it out."

"But... I would like to know one thing." He entered the room and continued leaning against a dresser. "What happened to your friends? Weren't they there to protect you from getting kidnapped?"

[astralrain.livejournal.com]

"It's... complicated. Everything happened so quickly; this is honestly the first time that things haven't been quite as harried." Natalia smiled slightly, though it lacked its usual warmth. "I haven't had many opportunities to take the time to truly think about everything before now. I'll do my best to answer your question, but please bear with me."

The princess took a breath, and then, looking at Chester, continued, "Once you rescued us from Oracle Headquarters, you informed the Fon Master and I that Akzeriuth had fallen. We were already aware of that fact, as we had been there when it happened... In the end, Luke and Tear remained in Yulia City, which is located in the Qliphoth. Shortly after the rest of us returned to the Outer Lands, the Oracle Knights captured us. Anise, Ion's Guardian, was able to escape, but I'm not sure where she would've gone."

[toryuu.livejournal.com]

"You're a survivor of Akzeriuth...?" Chester's eyes widened in disbelief. It was like Feres Isle all over again... or, rather, Hod, but he didn't need to tell Natalia all that. Oh, by the way, I come from Feres Isle which crapped out because a certain country decided to attack Hod. Oh, right, your country. It didn't work out that way; Natalia was only a child when that had happened, and she wasn't responsible for it. No need to put that luggage on her shoulders when she seemed to be a genuinely caring person who cared for her people; Chester's hatred of Kimlasca in general aside, he never had a doubt that Natalia would have made a great queen.

"... what's a Qliphoth?" Maybe a stupid question, but Chester sincerely had no bloody clue.