abyssianmelody | [CHAPTER 03 - SCENE] over my head.

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[CHAPTER 03 - SCENE] over my head.

Who: Rita Mordio, Yuri Lowell, Genis Sage.
Where: Grand Chokmah.
When: Around the same time as the Raine/Kyle/Marta/Some Dogs Log.
Warnings: Here we have two genius fonists, each searching for someone, and their babysitter. Things are BOUND to get explosive.

It had been months since he'd last seen his sister. They'd gotten separated sometime after leaving Grand Chokmah, and after frantically searching until news of Akzeriuth had spread, he was finally resigned to returning to Malkuth's capital (upon being dragged back, of course).

Genis, though he was a smart little bugger and KNEW he shouldn't go outside of the city, wanted to go find her. With all the talk about places falling and whatnot, he wanted to get out of the city, and make sure his older sister was okay. She was probably frantic without him, too. It wasn't like the two of them had ever been separated for such a long time, after all.

And it's not like he would have been allowed out of the city. A child of his age? No. They wanted to protect him, despite not knowing him. Genis stood on the bridge leading to the exit of Grand Chokmah.

Maybe if he timed it right, he could escape and go find her ...

He kept a watch.

Maybe. Just maybe.

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Yuri himself had gotten wind of falling cities, and if he was worried about it he certaily didn't show it as he wandered around Grand Chokmah, no doubt on some odd errand or even out on a whim. For some odd reason, he'd decided to stick around Grand Chokmah for a bit despite the, er, new problems he was involved in now. That, and he'd embarrassingly gotten separated from the group he was following.

When he'd spotted Genis, he let out an inward sigh of relief, though he was curious as to why he was here again. Needless to say, it didn't take him too long to make up his mind and follow the younger Sage sibling to wherever he was headed -- he DID have to make sure someone kept him out of trouble, so why not?

As he followed the boy to the bridge, he frowned. Sure, Yuri had some idea that Genis could take care of himself, but he still figured it'd be bad if he got attacked by some random monster and got hurt, or worse. Raine would never let him hear the end of it, at the very least. He sighed quietly, rolling his eyes as he stepped up to the genius fonist from behind and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"And where do you think you're going, Genis?"

This was freaking ridiculous! She came all the way to Grand Chokmah, and there was no information about Estellise at all! It wasn't as if she never would make herself obvious...especially by her typical choice of clothing. How could they not see her?! It made her so mad! She was about to just...just PUNCH someone! (All the while screaming in frustration, of course.)

Well, then. The genius fonist supposed that she'd have to go to just about every other freaking town to find her, both in Malkuth and Kimlasca! Then, of course, the girl would have passed by and gone somewhere else, and... Well, at least there might be news! So preoccupied with her thoughts ans she was storming off towards the bridge to leave the capital, she saw a young boy suddenly in her path. However, it was already too late.

Genis was about to answer when he heard the sound of someone stomping, and looked over just in time ...

... to be pushed aside.

Genis fell on his butt, taking not too long to recover before glaring at the passerby. Obviously, the girl was angry, but it was rude to just push someone like that!

All thoughts of answering Yuri ignored for the moment, he stomped after her.

"HEY! Just what is your problem lady?! It's not nice to push little kids, you know!"

Yuri's eyebrow rose, but he missed no time in holding out a hand to Genis, pulling him up as he looked at him in concern. "Hey, you all right?"

Of course, that was ignored as Genis soon stomped off after Rita. Yuri let out a quiet sigh of long-suffering exasperation, and decided to follow after the two. Someone needed to make sure Genis didn't do something else stupid.

...that, and if there was a fight he'd have front-row seats to it. So it worked out either way.

"MY problem?! It seems more like you do, just standing there, so...shut up!" Rita snapped at the annoying little kid. A red fonic circle appeared below her feet as she quickly casted a weak Fire Ball--weaker because she didn't bother with the incantation. The spell wouldn't really hurt that much. Kids were just so irritating! She, especially, did not want to deal with this right now!

"Fire Ball!" She recited the name of the fonic arte as the fifth fonons gathered and shot out from an outstretched palm.

And, as he was a fonist himself, his first instinct wasn't to run.

Nope. His instinct told him to counter-attack. Which he did.

"Aqua Edge!" He cried, sending out a rather weak water spell of his own to counter the fireball headed in his direction. He'd duck if he still needed to after that.

Oh, geez. Smart move, you two. Fight in the middle of the bridge leading out of Grand Chokmah, why don't you? Yuri betrayed a surprised expression for all of two seconds before he placed a hand on his sword, ready to smack Rita with the blunt edge of it at a moment's notice.

...of course, that was before he realized there were a few people behind him watching. Good job getting an audience, you two. Now he had to worry about getting Genis out of here in one piece and keeping the people safe. He rolled his eyes.

"Think you two can take your fight somewhere else, maybe where it's not so crowded?!" Yuri shouted at the two. He got the feeling he would be outright ignored, though.

Yuri was a very smart man.

Hit and soaked by the (weak) water fonic arte, Rita growled. "Oh yeah?!" Instead of countering with her own rendition of Thunder Balde, as she would have in a normal fight, she had at least enough sense to not involve other random people in the little duel. Instead, she sued her own arte of the fourth fonon. "O caprice of innocent waters..." Normally, she would use her fonic belt, but this was a novice spell. It was not something she needed more concentration and power for. "Champagne!"

Do something, Yuri!

WAIT WAIT WHAT. Genis had never seen this before, and now that he had, he wasn't sure what to do to counter attack.

Okay. Water. Uh. Water ...

Got it!

"Lightning!" He shouted, causing a bolt of lightning to strike down at the water.

At the moment, Genis really wasn't thinking. And, ordinarily, Genis was a pretty smart kid.

Yeaaah, Yuri, might wanna do something.

Yuri balked at Genis' spell choice -- dammit, Genis, are you trying to get Rita killed?! Yuri glared at him, then rushed into the battle as he all but managed to push Rita out of the way; of course, since there was no more drenched target, the lightning hit the next best thing.

The swordsman yelled out as the lightning spell struck him, sending him flying back several feet and into the side of the bridge. His own sword had flown out of his grasp and landed a few feet in front of Genis.

...good job, Genis, you ended up frying your babysitter there. I hope you're proud of yourself.

What the...? Rita was suddenly pushed out of the way by that guy, and he got hit... Now, Rita was not partial to other humans, but she still didn't like seeing random people getting hurt. Unless she was the one meting out the hurt, that is.

"Hey, what are you?! Stupid?! At least I was smart enough to not fry you, you little runt!" The female fonist turned towards where Yuri was thrown. "Someone get a seventh fonist. NOW!" She snapped at the crowd.

Well, while he was ordinarily a smart child, Genis was still that; a child. And he was also a child who's just accidentally fried a friend of his. His eyes widened and he rushed over to Yuri, ignoring Rita and kneeling next to him.

"Yuri! Yuri, are you okay?! I'm sorry! I'm really sorry, I didn't-- I wasn't thinking!"

Yuri groaned, turning over and gritting his teeth as he attempted to open his eyes; shutting them again since his vision was still swimming. He coughed up some smoke -- that Lightning spell hit him good.

Still, he had to make sure to show that he was alive somehow, right?

"...ugh, oooow. You should be glad it's only me you fried, Genis -- if it were Raine, she'd be kicking your ass right now."

...okay, he could've done something better to show he was alive, but at least that answered the question.

"..." Rita stepped over to Yuri and searched one of her miscellaneous pouches for a certain item. She kept everything and everything in those pouches! "Aha!" She took out a red gummy-looking gel-candy thing and threw it at Yuri. "Eat that."

Oh, how the fonist felt she would regret that later when she craved her Gels... But it was better than letting someone die, she concluded. Being jailed for association with the kid would not be something good for a researcher to have against them. Stupid kid.

Genis couldn't help the shudder that passed through him at that. "Y-Yeah ... Sis would be livid."

He looked over to Rita as she gave him the gel, recognizing what it was immediately, and was suddenly a little more grateful for the fact that she was here.

... he still thought she was rude, and owed him an apology, though. If it weren't for her attitude, they wouldn't be in this mess in the first place!

"That'd be putting it mildly," Yuri replied as he caught the Gel and swallowed it immediately. Aaah, apple-flavored warmth. He groaned, this time managing to sit up in with his own power.

"Thanks, that helped." Yuri replied to Rita before glaring at both Genis and Rita. "But couldn't you have at least tried apologizing before breaking out all the artes? Geez..."

"Well, I didn't want to be marked as a catalyst for the death of someone. That wouldn't work well with my reputation. Although he was the one just standing there!" Rita retorted. "It's not my fault he didn't see me coming." She crossed her arms and glared at the shrimp. "So until he says sorry first, I won't apologize." She shouldn't even be apologizing to the runt anyway!

"We wouldn't even be in this mess if you hadn't run into me, and then attacked me! I'll apologize to Yuri, but not to you." Genis pouted, crossing his arms over his chest and huffing a bit in his own annoyance.

"Besides, what kind of reputation can a jerk like you have? It's probably a pretty bad one anyway. But I'm glad you helped Yuri like that, so I'll give you that much."

"Oh, for crying out loud..." Even in his sorry state, Yuri couldn't exactly do much but facepalm at the two as he rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"Enough, you two," Yuri replied testily as he glared them both down. "This is exactly the kind of argument that started this whole fight in the first place!"

"I am Rita Mordio, genius fonist of Belkend!" Rita growled at the kid. "But I guess a little runt like you wouldn't know anything about researchers like myself." The young fonologist softened her expression slightly as she sighed.

"Look, I really have to be going. I kinda have someone I need to find and I don't have time to sit here and argue with a kid like you!" She, at least somewhat, listened to Yuri. She needed to find Estellise, anyway, and as quickly as possible.

"And I'm Genis Sage, a genius fonist of Keterburg," Genis grumbled. But he perked up a little when he heard the last thing Rita said.

"You too?" He asked, a little too eager to know. "I got separated from my sister a while ago, I really need to find her! I wanna go, but some people won't let me." And with that, he sent a bit of a glare to Yuri.

"People say it's too dangerous. But I'm willing to risk anything to find her."

Yuri simply ignored the glare from Genis, exchanging glances between both genius fonists as he walked over to where Genis was and picked up his forgotten sword. So they were all looking for someone, huh?

Suddenly, the swordsman had an idea. "Maybe we can work together and help each other find who we're looking for?"

At first, the idea seemed utterly absurd to the only genius fonist. Yet...this guy's idea--as irritating as it may seem--had merit. Together, no monster would prove to be any trouble, even a group of them. If someone was hurt and couldn't move, they could get assistance instead of dying slowly and painfully. Not to mention, they could pool funds for supplies and search multiple sections of an area at a time. It was the only logical choice. She had to find Estellise before she hurt herself or worse.

"As much as I would hate to travel with the brat, that would be the most efficient way. I am looking for a girl who's a little out of it, naive, believes everything a book tells her, and who just happens to be a runaway noble. Her parents asked me to look for her; paid me a significant sum, as well. Estellise would stick out in any place."

Genis rolled his eyes. He may not have liked the jerk they were now traveling with, but it was the only way he'd be able to get out there and look for his sister. And he was smart enough to know that it was better financially, and as far as battle went.

"Fine. We'll scratch your back, you scratch ours. We're looking for my sister, Raine Sage. She's a lot older than I am, but she's got my hair color and eyes, and she's ..." Genis tried to think of how to describe his older sister.

"... she looks kinda scholarly. With good reason, too. She's really smart."

Yuri nods a little bit at that, placing a hand to his chin in thought before he sighed. At least they weren't fighting anymore. Hopefully.

"Well, I didn't see Raine in this city, so I doubt she's gonna be here." Yuri reported, turning to Genis. "Doesn't mean that this 'Estellise' isn't, though."

He shrugged, turning to Rita. "You've already described how she acts, but what about how she looks? Anything specific we should look out for?"

"As I said, she sticks out. Bright pink hair, odd choice of clothing." Like Rita was one to talk about that one. "And she's a seventh fonist. I already asked around Grand Chokmah, though. I know she's not here." Where would Estellise run off to? It was not as if she had anywhere else but home to go...unless she went off with someone else? However, that was not like her. Perhaps Rita underestimated the noble's desire for freedom...

"She wears a lot of white. And pink, usually. But I can't say that she'd be wearing something like that since she probably ran off on her own. I'm guessing with someone else, so she would likely be in the company of someone else."

Genis nodded. "So neither of them are here. Where do we go next?" He bowed his head a little in thought, trying to think of all of the places his sister had talked about seeing.

This would be so much easier if they had a map.

"Knowing Sis, she'd probably go where the knowledge is. So ... my guess are any ancient ruins on the way. But with part of the world becoming a battlefield, I can't be sure if she's risking it, or if she's somewhere safe. That, and she's probably just as frantic as I am, what with being separated from me and all. Can't imagine she'd be showing it, but you get the picture." He looked to Rita.

"Her name is Estellise, right? Is there anything in particular she might have been interested in?"

Yuri shrugged, glancing at the two of them with a narrowed glare before shrugging. "Not sure, but I'm not sure if I wanna be city-hopping for the next few days."

He stretched, frowning a little as he sighed and pulled himself upright. His body and legs still stung from the Lightning attack, but at least he could now stand without falling over and flailing about like a marrionette -- talk about unmanly.

"Hmm. By that logic, we'd be looking at Zao Ruins, at least." Yuri sighed. "But that's not even on the same continent, even. So unless someone has access to a boat, we'd have to walk there, I think."

He glanced at Rita again, nodding. "Any clues about what Estellise's interested in might help..."

"Hmm...well, I do know that she liked reading a lot. She probably read an unhealthy amount. Her parents also tried to keep her locked inside her whole life, but I'm not sure if that helps lend you any ideas or not." Rita had no leads for Estellise, but if they were to aim for the Zao Ruins... They would need a boat, but from what she had heard recently, war had started again between Kimlasca and Malkuth, so she doubted anyone would be able to have easy access to a boat. At least from Grand Chokmah...

"I'm sure if we went to some other port, we could get on a boat to wherever we need to go. The port here would be closed, anyway."

"Her entire life? Oh, wow. If it were me, I'd be happy to go anywhere," Genis commented, still thinking.

"And that doesn't really give us too many leads. The Zao Ruins, yeah, Sis would be interested, but ... what if we're wrong on that? Maybe she's found some sort of safe place. I mean, I guess there's no harm in checking, but ..."

"...wow." Yuri blinked. "If that's the case, she could be anywhere -- I know I'd want to see anything and everything after being cooped up in a golden birdcage like that."

He shrugged. "Wrong or not, it's unfortunately our only lead. It's the only ruins I know of, at least." He turned to Rita with a cocky smile on his face. "Unless our genius fonist of Belkend here knows about any other ruins close to here?"

"Grr..." That smug look made Rita quite angry. For every action, there is and equal and opposite reaction, according to Newton's Laws of Matter. Rita's reaction, however, was more powerful than Yuri's, for she aimed a punch at him.

"Ruins and history really aren't my thing." The brunette finally responded. "So I guess the Zao Ruins are as good a guess as any."

"Well then, we have a destination! Let's go!" Genis was a tad bit eager to get started on their search, and immediately hopped up and tried to get his companions to move.

Yeah, he REALLY wanted to find his sister.

Yuri rolled his eyes at Genis' hyperactivity, sighing a bit and shooting him a flat stare as he unconsciously avoided Rita's punch. "Hold on, we don't even know how we're going to get there first. Besides, if what our second genius fonist here says is right, we're not going to he hitching a boat ride here anytime soon."

"...unless you wanna try stowing away somewhere and possibly getting caught." the swordsman added as an afterthought.

Rita ignored the "second" comment. At least for now. Instead of worrying about such petty things, she responded, "We could try stowing away on a vessel that is authorized to travel, but I cant guarantee how that would work out. It's probably either that or walk, though, because the next nearest port is Chesedonia. If we're going to the Zao Ruins, that won't help us very much, anyway." The brunette sighed.

"So do whatever you want. Just whatever it is, it better not be anything stupid."

Genis frowned. "Well, I don't know if the guards will let just anyone out of here on foot. I mean, you're a researcher, right Rita?" he looked to Rita with a serious expression.

"They probably let you in and out because of that title. Probably thought you were conducting some experiment, and then assumed you could take care of yourself. But Ordinary people like Yuri and I, we'd probably be told to stay for our own safety.

"Of course, we can take care of ourselves," Genis added with a slight grin. "I've got my abilities as a fonist, and Yuri's not too shabby with a sword."

Yuri nodded, a smirk tarting to form on his face as he soon got another idea. "Yeah. It kinda bites since we're just normal, but hey. We're not exactly one to listen either."

"So... since you're gonna be travelling around, and we're gonna be following you, we could act as your bodyguards for the time we're stuck with each other like this." Yuri responded. "I even have a dog who'd be more thanhappy to come with us -- just need to go get him first."

It was true that she might be allowed on the boat, but the soldiers might not just because of the war and not wanting her to get hurt...

Except she was from Belkend, a Kimlascan city. Like they'd let her on because of that. They might assume she's some spy.

"Yeah, well. I think you guys forget that I'm from a Kimlascan town. Researcher or not, that's not going to get us very far!" The brunette finally replied. The fonist twitched in the slightest when a dog was mention. Lorelei, how she hated dogs. She remembered years ago, working on research...and a dog came up and chewed up all of her notes! Since that day, she hated dogs with a passion. Cats were much nicer. They didn't make much a fuss and they watched you, or at least seemed interested. They didn't usually ruin things, either.

She hated dogs.

"Oh. Well. Uh. I guess, in that case, our best bet would be to sneak on a boat. And who knows, maybe Sis isn't in the Zao Ruins ..."

He thought on that a little more and scrunched up his nose a bit.

"Nah, she'd live in a ruin if she could," he murmured, before sighing and slumping his shoulders a little.

"Maybe we should find a boat to sneak on to and just take it from there?"

Yuri rolled his eyes at Rita, sighing at that. "...so? I'm from Baticul, and I've managed to cross between Kimlasca and Malkuth just fine." Of course, this only worked for him because he'd actually made it a point to not say where he was from, or even deflect the question entirely. Just uttering that he was a drifter was, in his case, enough to ward off suspicion from both border guards for the most part.

In the end, he sighed. "Sure, that sounds like it'd be a good idea at this point. Besides, I doubt we'd actually be able to hitch a ride at this point without being stowaways. Anyone have any objections?"

"Just so long as we don't get caught." Rita responded and sighed. Yuri was right, though. Because it was wartime, no other ships besides war vessels and merchant ships fueling the army with supplies would be allowed to leave. That would make it hard to get aboard, but...it should be possible.

"I know there are a few merchant ships docked at the harbor right now, so if we hurried and were careful, we might be able to sneak aboard one of those."

Maybe.

"What are we waiting for, then?! Yuri, go get your dog!" He hadn't actually had much quality time with the dog, else he'd remember his name.

"Rita and I can meet you at the docks, or near the docks, or something! We can ... uh. Claim to be watching the ships!"

Genis was excited. Yep. As if that wasn't obvious enough.

( ooc: no objections here. :] )

There was a laugh from Yuri as he nodded. "Sounds good to me."

He turned back towards the city entrance, waving. "I'll see you both at the docks, then! Just... try not to fight again, okay? We don't need you both blowing up our means of leaving this town."

And before either of them could retort, he was gone.

"Yeah, whatever." The brunette fonist muttered before turning to the kid. "Well, let's just go, okay? Before anyone suspects us of anything, while he gets his mutt." The genius fonist stepped away from the bridge and began heading towards the harbor.

Rita merely hoped that she didn't have to stay with the Yuri and Genis for very long. How futile her wishes were.

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[CHAPTER 03 - SCENE] over my head.

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