Welcome to Gaia! ::

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Current Location: Triet Desert || Currently With: Lee
Currently Thinking: I feel like a total idiot.
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Luka Irving
Physical Status: 100/100 || Mental Status: 100/100 || Mana Status: 100/100
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Current Mission: Find Stephen || Currently Feeling: Embarrassed
Hometown: Triet, Sylvarant-Aselia
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Luka looked up at the guy, blinking. He smiled sheepishly and let out an embarrassed laugh. "Yeah. You're probably right. Stephen wouldn't let a desert get the best of him. He's too proud and strong for that." Luka stood--or, well, tried to stand. He had to keep his knees bent and his hands on his knees. "So, you heading to Triet?...Oh, man. I wonder if Triet is any different in this time than it is in our time." He smiled at the idea before looking back at Lee. "Oh. I'm Luka Irving. Nice to meet you." His legs gave out again and he fell, landing with a thud and an "oof". "Yuan, I think our landing was a fail...."

[[ Out of Craziness: ]]
[[ Character Announcements: ]]

Location: Asgard

Zaul Oleander abruptly sat up in his bed in a room on the second floor of Asgard's inn. Looking out the window, he could tell it was already midday. He couldn't believe that he slept in this long, but then again, he kind of had a rough night helping defend the city from monsters---and not just ordinary monsters, but ones that had crawled out of the ominous shadow that came dangerously near the city. It was fortunate that there were at least a few other Half-Elves in the crowd that could fend off these creatures with spells, for it wasn't certain that physical strength alone could drive them back.

With a yawn and a stretch, Zaul stood up and walked over to the windowsill to look out and see how people were faring in the aftermath. He expected them to be generally wary, although he also anticipated at least a little sense of security since the shadow had vanished before sunrise. His view overlooking the city's entrance, he saw a spectacle starting to brew. There was...what appeared to be something humanoid in feature, but had the head and tail of a fox? And people were starting to crowd around it.

He wondered if it was one of the monsters, left over from last night...but logic dictated to him that if it truly were, it would seem weaker than it does now, being far away from the shadow. Not to mention, even monsters knew to keep themselves out of unfavorable situations...why would one deliberately wander into a city where it's outnumbered? Furthermore, it wasn't lashing out in self-defense like it should've been by now. Curious, the one-eyed gunman decided to investigate. He threw on and buttoned up his jacket, secured his pistols and holster, picked up his pack, quickly checked out of the inn, and made a beeline for the scene.

Upon reaching the back of the crowd, he shouted out, "'Ey! Ain't y'all been brought up t'know that it ain't polite ta stare?!" The crowd turned their glances toward him to give a slightly annoyed expression, showing that they thought him rude, but he didn't even flinch in response. He did, however, weave his way through the crowd to meet the fox-woman. One quick glance-over, and he ad-libbed a ruse that he seriously hoped would break the crowd's suspicion and take the heat off this...whatever it was. "That's a mighty fine n' super-realistic lookin' costume, lady, but why would ya be wearin' it now, of all times? I dunno if you've heard, but th' city's been on edge since a monster attack last night. Not a good idea t' be waltzin' in lookin' like that, no offense."

Zaul's words seemed to fool some; they made momentary expressions of confusion and "why didn't I think of that before" until they walked away. A few still stayed back and watched on, skeptical because they heard the fox-woman speak strange things, but the crowd was considerably thinning out.

((I felt like Krystal needed some help. ^.^;; ))



Location: The Shores Near Palmacosta

Rief's eyelids fluttered for a few moments before completely opening. Slowly, he pushed himself up to sit. He had a dizzied feeling about him, as if he had been tossed about in one of Karis' Tempest spells. The feeling soon faded, though a slight nausea lingered. Once he could feel with certainty what he apparently landed on, he was surprised to find himself on sand.

Out of habit (and finding much residue on them anyway), the boy removed his eyeglasses and wiped the lenses with the end of his tunic. After putting them on, he stood up and dusted the sand off his back then stared at his surroundings to get an idea of where he was. He was surprised to find himself at a beach, for moments earlier he was near his snowy hometown of Imil. It was also by the sea, but even so, the beaches were lined with a layer of snow atop the sand. And then it hit him---where were his belongings? He looked around in quiet panic, which was relieved shortly when he found his pack just a few feet away from him. His Atropos' Rod was a little further ahead of him, being lapped at by the ocean water. He ran over to snatch it up before the tide would claim it.

At this point, he finally realized that he had a weakened feeling about him. Not illness, just something like his powers were not at their full potential in some way. Something was amiss, and if that was what he was feeling, that could only mean one thing. He raised his arms to chest level, elbows bent and palms facing each other. A few moments after he closed his eyes in concentration, small blue orbs of light appeared in different places around his upper body; one at his shoulder, one near his heart, one at his left arm, and one at the palm of his right hand. Those orbs lifted off his body and landed in a straight row by his feet, growing and forming into curious little blue creatures that were about a foot tall, nature spirits called Mercury Djinn.

Rief frowned worriedly and shook his head. "Just as I thought. Sleet, Chill, Coral, Dewdrop...what happened to the rest?"

At his words, his little companions looked crestfallen. Sleet, the first Djinni in the row and the first he ever had, began to pipe up in a childlike voice. "We...don't know. They were there, and then...they're just not."

Rief began to pace back and forth in slow steps, looking deep in thought. "Do you think it was the vortex? Maybe it was a Psynergy Vortex after all...a new kind that had the power to just take them out of me..." The Mercury Djinn looked at each other, then looked up at Rief. Being linked with them, the boy could sense their befuddlement, knowing that if it were physically possible for them, they would be shrugging right now. He chuckled, albeit with a hint of nervousness. "Alright. It's not going to do us any good to dawdle here. I need to figure out where we are, not to mention find the others. Come on, little ones, back in."

Rief coaxed with open arms, making beckoning gestures with his hands. The Mercury Djinn nodded, the began to float and glow. Shrinking into little orbs of light again, they were absorbed back into his body. Once that was done, he looked eastward and caught what appeared to be a village in the distance. "How fortunate," he said to himself as he began to walk in its direction.

House of Salvation (Between Iselia & Triet Desert)

Luck was on Aeris's side as she entered inside the house. Inside were two priests who welcomed her with open arms. "Welcome, traveler. If you have nowhere else to go, then feel free to stay as long as you need." One of the priests said, having the assumption that she was just a traveler.

"Thank you." Aeris said with a soft smile. "Could you tell me where I am?" She was grateful for their hospitality, though she couldn't stay for long. The sooner she learned where she was, the better.

"You are in the House of Salvation, Miss." The other priest said, figuring that she was just lost. "Is there anywhere in particular you're going to?"

She gave a small nod. "Why yes, actually. I need to get to the Forgotten City." She didn't want to mention about Sephiroth's plan due to not wanting to cause a panic with these people. However, she just couldn't figure out why the Planet felt so strange to her.

The two priests looked at each other for a moment after hearing the female brunette mention about a forgotten city. Perhaps the woman was looking for ruins? "If you're looking for ruins, then there's the Triet Ruins just beyond the desert."

Aeris had a look of confusion on her face. Triet? She had never heard of such a place. The last place she had been to in the desert was the Desert Prison and the Gold Saucer. Could it be that this strange vortex had led her to a completely different world? She didn't want to jump to any conclusions just yet. For now, she decided to go to this Triet Ruin. She would thank the priests after they gave her directions on where the ruins are as well as the town of Triet. She headed out of the house and looked in the direction to where the Triet Desert is. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to take a slight detour. She thought to herself as she began to make her way to the desert.

Asgard

Krystal could tell that the townspeople had suspicions of her being some sort of monster by reading their thoughts. However, they didn't seem to be a threat to her. "Te dek ro uvhuat. A um dek xoho ke udo ev oei." She said until she heard someone shouted out to the townspeople that it wasn't polite to stare, which had the blue vixen glance over to see the one-eyed half-elf. She couldn't help but wonder if he was the leader of this town. She then had a look of confusion when Zaul mentioned about her wearing a costume. "Sejkimo?" Hearing him mention about a monster attack did help her understand as to why the people around here seemed to give her strange looks, which had her thought that she was mistaken for a monster. She was rather grateful that he had managed to thin out the crowd. "A um whukovic veih xocf." She held her hand out to Zaul. "Mo dumo aj Krystal. Uho oei kxo coutoh ev kxaj kend?"

((Subtitles: "Do not be afraid. I am not here to harm any of you.....Costume?....I am grateful for your help.... My name is Krystal. Are you the leader of this town?"))

House of Salvation (Palmacosta Area)

The girl sipped the tea again. The old man said it was made of herbs and such that he had just found around, what he called, The House of Salvation they were in. It didn't taste like there were any bad materials in it, so it seemed okay to her, though she didn't know anything about the life around this world, which he called Sylvarant.
"The way you said that, the world has been split again and we are on the world Sylvarant, are you saying there is another world like this? This is hard to grasp." She sighed and took another sip of the herb-and-such tea. "Well, I guess that my home has a few different world... more like Dimensions."
The ghost half floated around the man again, presumably finding what he did funny. "Oh, that's no cloud, that's my ghost half. It seems that it's a little more interested than me with this new world." She laughed. "Do you need some help up?" She asked him, reaching out her hand to him.

Zaul - Asgard

Growing nervous, a drop of sweat went down the side of Zaul's face. He's never heard this language before...he heard some Elvish here and there ages ago, but he remembered enough that it sounded nothing like what this fox-woman was saying. The only word he recognized was "crystal", and he wasn't sure of the context she was using. Was she searching for some kind of crystal? The people who remained began to stare even more intensely after they heard her speak more of this strange language they did not know either.

Zaul scratched his head for a second and made a sheepish grin."Sorry, lady, I don' understand a thing yer sayin'. If ya understand me at all...can ya speak the standard language?" sweatdrop He pointed at his own mouth, adding "...like me?" non-verbally.

((I don't think English would be called English in the Symphonia universe, and I wasn't sure what kind of word to use as a substitute. Also, Zaul shouldn't be able to understand Krystal, right? She's not creating a telepathic link or something to make him understand? ^.^;; ))

((Nah, Zaul wouldn't be able to understand her. lol.))

Asgard

Krystal noticed that she wasn't getting anywhere since no one could understand her at all. Hearing Zaul's question on if she could speak in the standard language, she gave a nod. "Ooj." She answered. "A sud idtohjkudt oei." She then cleared her throat. "I apologize for the misassumption. I figured that everyone in this planet would understand this language, but I see that I was wrong." She noticed the remaining crowd staring at her, which was starting to make her feel a bit uncomfortable. However, she couldn't really blame them if they have been attacked by a monster recently.

((Subtitles: "Yes...I can understand you."))

Asgard

Seeing the crowd finally leaving had Krystal feel a bit better. She would turn her attention to Zaul. "That's my name." She answered, holding her hand out to him. "I'm Krystal. I have picked up a distress signal coming from the Dinosaur Planet, but....it would seem that I may have taken a wrong turn by going through that vortex." As she spoke, she caught notice of him examining her as if he had never seen anything like her before. "And I'm not wearing any costumes. It's all real." She tugged the corner of her muzzle. "What about you, sir? Are you the leader of this town?"