[CHAPTER 03 - OPEN] Chesedonia, Week 3

[modoftheabyss.livejournal.com]

Who: Chester Barklight, Arche Klein, Philia Felice, Colette Brunel, Fon Master Ion, Arietta the Wild, Kyle Dunamis, Natalia Luzu Kimlasca-Lanvaldear, Raven Ecks, Estellise Sidos Heurassein, and I think that's everyone? Anyone else in the area is free to tag in. /fails forever.
Where: Chesedonia
When: After the mega-exciting adventures in Daath, several of our pubescent heroes find themselves in Chesedonia! Where the sands are hot, and the interactions are even hotter!
Warnings: I AM SO SORRY FOR BEING SO SLOW IN GETTING THIS UP. Anywhere, here's how this works; instead of everyone just tracking the post and make a new comment thread altogether, everyone posts their own "thread" and you guys can respond to each other. TIME AND PLACE DOES NOT MATTER. Time skips are allowed. Both third person and first person formats are allowed (though both follow the activity requirement merits). Threadjacking encouraged. We'll see how this goes, and later on I'll try to get one up for Sheridan and also... some island where Raven and Estelle can meet up with the CFY group. Any questions, concerns, comments, and cock-punches may be directed to me by posting on abyssianooc.

Comments

[toryuu.livejournal.com]

[ooc: Actual opening post doesn't necessarily have to have anything in it; it just has to be there to respond to. However, if your character is likely to have a haunt, say the bar or a store, then feel free to set up an opening that way. Just make sure not to just post your character's opening post and disappear; be sure to check back and see if there's anybody else to tag!]

It was a shame that stools didn't have a back rest to lean onto; Chester instead opted to lean on the counter as he took a sip of a shot of cheap booze. The act reminded him of the time he spent with that Guy dude back in St. Binah; he hoped he was okay. Giving a sigh, her knew it was way too early to get smashed drunk, but after what Arche put him through at the shopping center he wasn't too enthused with the rest of their wandering days if she was going to keep on pushing him like that.

[ligerish.livejournal.com]

Her friend was thirsty. Arietta was too, but she was more concerned with the liger. The desert heat was enough to get to anyone, really, but adding the fur that the creature had... The girl couldn't help but worry. The oasis would've provided a nice, refreshing drink, she knew, but it was also a short distance away. Normally that wouldn't be a problem, but she didn't want to risk letting the liger collapse...

So, the God-General went into the nearest building, heading straight for the counter with little more than a quick glance around. As long as they'd help her, she didn't care what type of place this was.

"Could I have some water? My... My friend's really thirsty."

[toryuu.livejournal.com]

The bartender was currently taking a restroom break, and Chester (for some reason) was the only one there. He didn't recognize the uniform Arietta was wearing, but he definitely recognized the creature beside her. Jolting a little bit, though, that was only half of the reason his eyes were wide in a surprised and shocked expression; this little girl seemed familiar, somehow. Well, pink hair didn't seem to be anything new, but a pit formed in the bottom of his stomach.

Aside from that, ligers were serious business. Friend? This little girl considered this ferocious creature her friend? That was more than a little odd, though Chester had seen weirder during his travels, he supposed.

"Oh, yeah, sure."

With that, Chester leaned over the bar to get a saucer, and headed to the water cooler in the corner of the bar, bringing it back to Arietta and handing it to her, not wanting to invite disaster by putting his hands anywhere near the liger's mouth. "You want me to get you a glass, too?" He asked, a bit wary as well as looking for an opportunity to ask her for her name.

[ligerish.livejournal.com]

Taking the saucer, she leaned down to set it on the floor, taking great care not to let any spill. Once the creature started to drink, Arietta stood up once more, smiling softly. Although she knew the liger wouldn't hold it against her, she did feel guilty for pushing it so hard. Even if she had a job to do, she really didn't want to hurt her friends in any way. At least now she could let the liger rest (and rest herself, of course) a bit to make up for all the work it had done.

Turning back, the wild-bred girl nodded. "Do... Do you think you could? I don't want to bother you, but... that would be really nice."

[toryuu.livejournal.com]

Chester shook his head. "It's not a bother." He simply stated, taking a glass and filling it with water, coming back and handing it to Arietta. "Say, what's your name? It's not too often you can see somebody just waltz around with a liger; is it tame, or are you just a special exception?" He asked, hoping he wasn't coming off as rude. The liger was scary; he's seen them before, and if he recalled correctly Engeve had a liger issue before he set off for Baticul and met Natalia there. Back then they didn't interfere with the hunts very much, but he still avoided them since they were known to be very fierce creatures.

"The name's Chester."

[ligerish.livejournal.com]

"Thank you," Arietta said, managing to give him a tiny smile as she took the glass. It was a little... odd to meet someone who didn't know her. Even if most people she encountered didn't know her personally, they at least recognized her by her uniform, or by the ever-present liger that accompanied her. But what was even odder, was when Chester gave his own name. It didn't mean anything to the God-General, she didn't think, but there was... something that made her pause and stare at him from over the top of the glass.

After a few seconds, she shook away the strange feeling and straightened her back as she gave her own introduction. "Commander of Third Division and God-General of the Oracle Knights, Arietta the Wild."

That said, she fell once more into a more relaxed stance, taking another drink before continuing. "My friend isn't tame, but he won't attack anyone unless I tell him to. He listens to me; most of my friends -- ligers and other animals -- do." That wasn't a secret, so Arietta didn't see any problems with telling Chester that.

[toryuu.livejournal.com]

Chester wouldn't say it out loud, but he'd never heard of a person being able to more or less communicate and request monsters' aid. It was pretty amazing, really; Arche typically got animals pissed at her and him, too. It was fascinating, almost, despite him not exactly being the sort of person interested in the sociological implications of the matter.

A God General, though? That work brought up unpleasant memories of when he and the others encountered the Tartarus and had to help Luke and the others escape. So, this little girl was associated with that motley crew? Chester made a mental note to be wary of his words from that point on, though Arietta didn't seem adverse to Chester's company. If anything, she didn't seem to know Chester, so this becoming an encounter of that sort hopefully wasn't the case.

"I see. They must trust you a lot, then." He commented, after a moment of thought.

[ligerish.livejournal.com]

"They're my family," she replied with a nod, turning to smile at the liger again. Unlike most of the other God-Generals, Arietta had no problems discussing her past or the way she had been brought up (unless one were to bring up her being a former Fon Master Guardian, of course -- that always became a difficult topic). Plus, the fact that she had been raised by ligers wasn't a secret; she was proud of that fact, even, so she had no reason to hide it, either.

Hopping up onto a stool, the girl cradled the half-empty glass between her hands. It felt good to take a little breather, and she wanted to make sure her friend was ready before they went back outside again.

"So, um... Why are you in Chesedonia?" Arietta asked, unsure of what else to say. She wasn't entirely used to speaking with others; often being in the company of a liger usually warded people off. It was a little... nice being able to talk to someone outside of the Oracle Knights, though.

[toryuu.livejournal.com]

Family, huh? That must've been nice. Being exiled from Engeve, he basically had no family left. But the mention of family did make him think back to Feres... if his sister were alive- no, he shouldn't think about that. The thought only made his angry. However, talking with Arietta seemed to almost naturally stir up those memories, though Chester couldn't say why.

"Oh, uh..." Gee, this was kind of awkward. They were escaping from Daath, right? Because of the Fon Master and Natalia... the fact that Chesedonia was a neutral territory worked toward their advantage, but he wasn't about to tell a God General the entire truth. "I'm just traveling around." He attempted to keep a straight face. "I'm originally from Feres Isle, and lived in Engeve for a while afterward."

[ligerish.livejournal.com]

As she waited for his response, Arietta took another drink -- although that turned out to be a bit of a mistake. As soon as Chester mentioned Feres, she choked, barely managing to keep from dropping the glass as she coughed and sputtered in surprise.

The little coughing fit was enough to make the liger snap its head up to look at the two, and it growled out a low warning. However, when Arietta shook her head and made a quick gesture with her hand, the growling ceased, although it continued to watch closely.

"Y-you," the God-General stuttered, once her coughing had subsided, "You said... Feres? But that can't be true, everyone was... I-I thought..." She shook her head, her shoulders hunching as she looked down. "No one else... made it..."

[toryuu.livejournal.com]

Arietta's reaction took Chester by surprise as well; nobody reacted in such a way unless what was being spoken of meant anything to them. 'No one else... made it...'? It took a few seconds to register in Chester's head (as slow as it was concerning this type of thing), and he set down his glass as he bent down to meet Arietta's eye level. Could it be? No... she couldn't be Ami. Getting his hopes up wasn't an option, otherwise the heartbreak would simply shatter him. But... it was nice having a tie with someone, really. Chester also thought nobody else survive the tragedy that happened in Feres.

He waited for a few more seconds to give Arietta time to collect her own thoughts, and offered her a small smile. "Arietta? Are you also from Feres Isle?" It might have been an obvious question, but... "It must have been difficult. It was soon right after you were born, wasn't it?" He tried taking her age into account.