Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Well, we're off to my place, then!" Merlin said with a cheery grin before teleporting the two back into his small house, leaving nothing more than a puff of blue smoke behind.

Upon their arrival, they would be met with a rather messy abode, but Merlin didn't seem all that bothered by it as he immediately went to work making the pot of tea for the two of them to share. Oddly, if one paid attention, he seemed to be making enough tea for at least four people.

"Go on, take a seat, I'll have it ready in a moment," he said with a smile as he flicked his wand at the teapot. "Or have a look around, whichever. You might find some of my tomes interesting."

[Third District : Merlin's House]

"No no, deary, come right in!" Merlin called out from the side, not surprised by her entrance at all. "I was just preparing the tea. Solaris, meet Aerith-" (At this point, without looking, he pointed his wand at Aerith) "- a good friend of mine who's quite the ace at healing magics, and Youni-" (and then he pointed his wand at the young girl that Aerith had brought in with her) "-A rather special student of mine who's specialty is pictomancy. Aerith, Youni, meet Solaris- I met him in town when I was fixing up the place. Boy's got quite a bit of potential in'im."

Aerith gave a reassuring smile and a wave. "It's a pleasure to meet y-"

"Tea's about done, so everyone take a seat!" Merlin interrupted, not even realizing Aerith had spoke. The young woman giggled softly before stepping up to the table and taking a seat.

[[Sorry for the slight time burp, figured I'd get these two groups together ^^;; Basically, yes, Aerith and Youni arrived mere moments after Merlin began to make the tea.]]

[Traverse Town :: Second District Cafe]

Window zoned out for a moment, taking in all of the sights and smells. It seemed so...normal in here. Well, aside from the myriad assortment of fantasy-like outfits and creatures of all sorts that he had never imagined to be possible. But, replace the smells and the people with the ones from back home, and...Window closed his eyes, imagining himself to be somewhere else other than his current location. He accidentally let a small sigh escape, but he was too absorbed to notice. The place hummed with the chatter of so many people, each one caught up in their own world. He heard laughter, chatter, flirting, ordering, arguing. It wasn't often that Window had the time to afford to just listen and be a third person observer. It was a slightly disorienting feeling (not that he hadn't had his share of that sensation today), like you weren't really there; you just kind of...existed. No name, no history, just another faceless body in the mass of people, holding no value of any sort for the strangers around him. Normally, Window would be ill at ease in such a moment, but in this particular instance, he took comfort in the anonymity. How odd that in such a short time, Window had gotten used to being no one. When everything is ripped away, one clings to the familiar; maybe his blank-slate identity was becoming a bit of a new standard. Again, Window played with the idea that he could be anyone or anything. Everyone would believe him. But, after the run-in with the woman in pink, the idea got pushed back and a grey cloud of depression set on the man. How would he return the favor to her? Would it even mean anything, coming from a nobody? He felt his ego getting smaller by the minute. Not that anyone would notice, but this is precisely what had begun to happen right after his humiliating accident--centimeter by centimeter, Window started to shrink. It was very slow and only the tiniest of changes. If it were to go on for an hour, someone might notice, but not as of yet.

Opening his eyes, Window turned back to Nalo. "So, I take it you do not consume meat, then?" Well, he does kind of look like a grass-type animal. "I will try to restrict my meat intake as well so as to not offend you. I think that I, too, would be interested in sampling some fruit." Sampling would have hardly been the word; 'inhaling' might have been more appropriate. "If it is not too troubling, would you mind ordering? I do not know the proper way to greet the server and request food from this establishment." Suddenly realizing that he had been still using formal talk, Window bit his lip. It was a habit hard to break, but hopefully Nalo would bear with it and not be offended. He cleared his throat, continuing, "But, er, where I come from? I do not...er, don't see why you might find that a point of interest. Still, what would you like to know?" In such a situation, his usual didactic manner was gone, especially when he noted a small number of people giving him odd looks. Well, he did only have a pair of oversized pants on. Window glanced around and caught the eye of a young man at the table next to the two of them. The other man looked away, but Window thought that he might have recognized Nalo. He decided to ask the Viera. "By any chance, do you happen to know anyone here? How familiar are you with this world of Traverse Town?"

Souzourou
{Don't we live in a beautiful world? And now a beautiful universe?}

[Traverse Town :: Second District Cafe]

"Ketchup?" Souzourou repeated. "Hmmm...You're right, I should start with moderation." He said this, and dripped the 'ketchup' on a corner of his fish. He cut off the section of fish that had ketchup with the side if his fork, then picked it up and put it in his mouth. "Hmmm...that's really not bad!" He exclaimed, and and spread the ketchup in a zigzag pattern on the fish, proceeding to eat it with the best of matters, while still showing great enthusiasm. It wasn't long before the fish was done, and he moved on to the 'Chips', which he found bland. "Hmmm...this is an...interesting taste."

"In Ölüm's defense, my dear Vereor, this one had as much of an intent to harm,"* she seethed, turning away from Tsurumi and helping herself to her tea. Cupping the vessel slowly in her hands, the fingers that cradled the delicate porcelain paled and elongated slightly, gaining a frosty elegance. The slender form of her digits extended onto the rest of her body. Within a moment, her whole form morphed once again and in her place sat a spectral yet majestic Yuki-onna.

"No, we wouldn't want anymore teatime nightmares,"** Aiko agreed, speaking into her cup as she lifted it gracefully to her pale lips. Unfortunately, she would have laughed at Vereor's justified worries if her mood had not been soured.
As the soothing ambrosia wet her lips, the vixen dropped the illusion and the cause thereof. Suddenly, Tsurumi would see everyone seated in their previous places, with no trace of her replica's pyre to be seen. The producer of the spontaneous burning would now look like an Oriental snow woman, her slick gaze focused dead ahead of her as she shunned Tsurumi's presence from her conscious, pretending with the utmost skill that their little quarrel had never happened.



[[*Everyone but Tsurumi can hear this, btw
**Ditto XD]]

((<<; After all this time I am finally posting as Shade, Rawr!))

[Shade : Traverse Town : Second District Cafe]

Shade sat quietly by herself at one of the side bars. She continued to stare down into her food which she had hardly touched. Her attention was more drawn to a conversation at one of the tables, (Sory's) that brought up a topic that peeked her interest greatly. During the time she had remained sitting there she had heard the words Darkness and Heartless mentioned a few times.

Fang, Shade's wolf companion, quickly sat up and growled softly at the group that had entered the cafe. (Window and Nalo)

"Down boy..." she whispered to the large black wolf. She barely leaned over and stroked his fur gently to calm him. Then handing him a large piece of steak she had on her plate for him to eat, "Not much longer..." making the wolf make a slight sound as he chewed on the meat.

Shade knew the wolf disliked crowded places such as this cafe. But she didn't want to give up on the first possible lead she had in months about the darkness that swallowed her world.

[ ӄ ¥ Θ ƺ Ʉ Ӷ Ѳ ]

{I shall ascend beyond the gods themselves.}

[ Edo : Village ]

As the world was ravaged by the dreadful samurai and the Heartless that had followed him, the amassing forces sent a ripple through space- a ripple felt by only two things- beings born of the Realm of Darkness itself (such as Heartless)-

And him.

Within the center of the city, a tear in the fabric of the Light Realm appeared, forming a tall hole of black and violet; the Corridor of Darkness was sustained for a moment , its tendrils of shadow creeping along the ground for a moment before a tall being stepped forward. He was garbed from head to his ankles in black leather; a hooded zip-up cloak, the sleeves torn off at the shoulder to reveal his well-built arms and the hood covering his face in shadow. The cloak went down to his ankles, but was only zipped to his waist. From there, it was revealed that he was wearing leather pants; however, the pants legs were torn at the middle of his calves, revealing that the rest of his leg was tightly wrapped in protective white gauze. The same wrappings covered his hands and the lower half of his forearms.

The tank towered over most men, standing at 6'3" and built with more muscle than the average fighter. That, however, was perhaps not the most intimidating thing at this moment. That would probably be the way the Heartless seemed to convulse at his mere presence, shying away as if fearful. He said nothing, merely standing in the center of the destroyed village, every once in awhile craning his neck to get a panoramic view of the carnage.

+Saito+

{{Cue : Shadow Lord}}

The village was destroyed. His link to this now decrepit world would soon be gone forever, the Heartless that began to swarm in paid the ronin no mind. They were seeking any remaining weak hearts as well as the elusive heart of the world. As such Saito was of no interest to them, he was nothing but a nobody to them and this land... Saito merely looked amongst the chaos. His attention soon focused on a tremor of darkness, his hand lowered to one of his katana as he turned to look at the corridor of darkness that had appeared nearby. His eyes narrowed at the being who had stepped out of the corridor... He felt a familiar feeling of nothing coming from this being. He couldn't make anything out about this person as the great majority of his body was covered in black leather. But from what he could tell, the man was a few inches taller then he was and seemed well built.

"Who are you and what do you want?"

Saito asked the man, his eyes not leaving the hooded figure for a second. If this being tried to strike he would fight. But he wanted to figure out his intentions first... He noted the strange way the Heartless acted around him as if moving away to avoid him. He had never seen Heartless act that way before and it spoke volumes of the power this man possibly possessed.