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High-functioning Marshmallow
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 Posted: Sat Sep 04, 2010 3:43 am
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Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2011 4:36 pm
After passing through the ranch once again, Romane had lead Auguste to the very bottom of the mountain and stopped at the edge to allow the man to catch up. She honestly didn't say much but curt, short responses to his protests. She was the officer here, of course she knew more about the crime rate than he did! So, after awhile, she stopped answering beyond a yes and a no and simply stared at the mountain. It was a rather tall mountain and looked to be a bit intimidating from where she stood, looking up at the height. But, she knew Cid to have walked up this mountain at least once a week to visit the very top's shrine. A silly reason to want to go mountain climbing, but the man was highly capable on his own and she wouldn't judge him. She lowered her eyes to scan the area around them, trying to locate a trail of some sort to continue their walk on, but it seemed that all of those were hidden by foliage or off at some other side of the mountain. No matter, she was sure of her sense of direction and she did have a map on her. A vague one when it came to the mountain as few had thought to map out the wilderness yet, but it was still enough, she was sure.
“There have been reported mountain lions in this area. Should you see one, I would recommend alerting myself before fleeing.” She would say no to fleeing altogether, but.. she didn't know much about mountain lions and what would set them off. Running away seemed to be the natural thing to do if it appeared aggressive. Cid always seemed to come in and save anyone who was in danger in the wilderness, after all, so she wasn't very cautious on this sort of thing. A mistake, certainly, but no one had told her otherwise yet. “Are you aware of the local religion here, Mr. Vineyard?” She asked as she decided on a safer route up the mountain, stepping over a suspicious looking pile of leaves. Well, suspicious to her. Korth and Mauser seemed to be just fine with wading right on through it and going ahead of the pair. Neither had been on the mountain before – it was always the streets or field for them.
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High-functioning Marshmallow
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High-functioning Marshmallow
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Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2011 3:01 am
Romane had been ignoring those complaints entirely since the majority of them didn't even seem to make much sense or were even original. By the third voiced protest, she could already guess what he was going to say next and had seemed to be absolutely correct each time she ventured to do so silently. It was at that point that she decided that she should spend her energy on watching their environment rather than listening to the man. It was also at that time that she noticed the man had stopped making any sounds – well. Coherent sounds. She paused in her sure-footed steps up the mountain to look back at the now rolling man as he tumbled down the mountain side at a surprising rate. She widened her eyes a fraction and turned sharply, but her foot skidding on some loose dirt held her still for fear she may tumble down the same way he had. There wasn't any nearby cliffs that she could see – all of those were on the other side of the mountain – but, it still looked like a painful descent that she had to pity the man for going through.
Especially since he would have to climb all the way back up to meet her when he reached the bottom or else she would have to hunt him down and announce him as a dangerous criminal. ..Yes, Romane was still suspecting him of that, even though nothing he had done had indicated such a thing. Ah, well, if a baby could handle a gun, she would probably accuse them of being evil in some way as well. Just a part of her personality at this point. She watched him go down with a flat expression while Korth and Mauser stood staring down at him, both in curiosity with the occasional whimper on Auguste's behalf when he hit a particularly painful looking bounce. Both dogs were probably wondering why they hadn't stayed behind with that pretty golden retriever, but, alas, Paprika's training did a number on their loyalty. In a good way, but boring for the two dogs. Romane had knelt beside them and went to stroking Mauser's head,
“It appears as though we will have to wait for an extended period of – ah?” The woman stopped in her speech when Auguste finally – finally – caught onto a ledge and started to straighten himself back up. She arched a brow and shared a glance with Korth before straightening herself back up just when the man managed to return to her side. “Are you alright?” She asked first, concerned but not severely so. Auguste could still be a criminal, after all, she couldn't give that much empathy to him. Especially when he seemed to be looking just fine – flushed and a bit flustered, but he still looked capable of continuing. So, Romane turned and went on in their walk. Unlike the other locations, she would have to go over the majority of the mountain side circled on the map before being satisfied. Any of these places could trigger a look of some kind to indicate it was the area he needed for whatever deeds he was planning. For now, she would keep up small talk and attempt to appear casual. Impossible for Romane, but, eh, she tried.
“I see. Your family would have been intelligent to do so.” She commented – her family or, well, father never was very religious either. “However, you should be aware of the predominant religion here as it fills a large role in the societal structure of the town and daily rituals the majority of the townspeople partake in.” She stopped to allow him to catch up, tiring of having to raise her voice for him to hear her. “At the top of this mountain is a local shrine. Would you be interested in seeing it, Mr. Vineyard?” To be honest, she only knew of such a thing due to Cid, but she was almost proud of what she learned by listening to the man and, in some childish way, wanted to show it off.
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Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 2:29 am
Romane wasn't sure if it was a good thing or not that he was able to recover from rolling almost halfway down a mountain so quickly.. Well, she supposed everyone must have had their good points. Cid was agile, strong, had boundless amounts of stamina, good-looking, had wonderful hands, but with a poor personality. Auguste seemed to have the same personality problem, but lacked.. everything that Cid had to make up for it. Apparently, though, he.. had a quick recovery, which could possibly be useful for some things. She wasn't sure what, but it – ah. Romane had turned back to look at him, only for her thoughts to be halted as she noticed a large red mark across his face. ..She honestly wasn't sure if a 'quick recovery' was enough to make up for all of his faults at this point. Ah, no matter, she was sure he must have some other talent she wasn't aware of.
“The predominant religion of this area does not have a name,” She informed him when he seemed ready to listen, having said his share and brightening her up some with the acceptance, although it was honestly hard to tell in the mood shift. The only indication of which was a small twitch in her brow and her sudden attention on the man as she explained some of what she knew. “the natives believe it to be too.. sacred to give a proper title. However, people who find that to be completely nonsensical, like myself, have called it Nirvanism.” ..Yes, the title seemed very.. blunt and silly. It was mainly made out of irritation a long while ago when some scholar was attempting to record the culture of the people who lived in Nirvani. But, oh well, no one who actually practiced it ever used that name. Just people like Romane who had to label it somehow were the only ones aware of it. “There is a shrine located at the top of the mountain..” She paused mid sentence with a look between him and the path they were taking heading up the mountain. They had hardly covered much ground with as much blundering as Auguste was doing and she had to wonder how well he would manage if he tripped further up.. or if they ran into a mountain lion.. She met his eyes again as she turned, snapping her fingers to get Korth and Mauser, who had wandered up ahead in eager exploration, to come back to her.
“..However, there is a more accessible shrine if we were to approach the hot springs instead.” She would have told him the ruins, but she wouldn't doubt him to be capable of getting a pillar to collapse atop of him if they went there. Romane already had a bad enough name after her mishap with Walter, even if it was cleared up on her record. She didn't need people to begin rumors on her murdering some new man too, even if he turned out to be a part of the slave ring. ..Though, she was seriously beginning to doubt such an idea after studying him. He really was just a less athletic, slower version of Cid, who she never could see doing anything to intentionally harm someone. “The hot springs are not far from this location. Should you require rest or time to recover, I would ask you hold out until we have reached the destination.” Because she certainly didn't want to sit around on the mountain. She had enough trouble when she came across that crazy monkey of the mayor's in the street! Plus, she swore she had seen a panda on her way down.
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High-functioning Marshmallow
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High-functioning Marshmallow
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Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2011 6:39 pm
Romane had begun to head down the slope carefully, moving slow for the other's benefit as she was aware if he fell again, he would likely hit her on the way down and.. she didn't feel like taking the same 'easy' way down the mountain. Not to mention she had her dogs even more ahead of her and.. Yes, it would just end in one, unnecessary mess. So, going slow was the best method here. She kept an eye on their sides for any people or wild animals, having heard some odd calls moments ago. It didn't sound like a roar like she had expected a lion to and it didn't quite fit the bird calls they had been hearing during their trek.. But, then, what did Romane know about mountain wildlife? She never paid any attention to those sorts of subjects. All she needed to know was that if something charged, shooting the head would be the most efficient means of escape and she always had her hand on her gun. So, she should be safe.
With that assurance, she glanced back to check on Auguste's status before quickly glancing back on her path. At first, she had stared out of curiosity, noticing his stiff posture and pondering if that was perhaps a sign when he suddenly smiled again. It was odd how disarming a facial expression could be and, right then, she didn't need to be put off guard by some small similarity to Cid. The man was becoming an annoyance, even when he wasn't here.. She frowned and forced her thoughts on the possibility of the hot spring being the place she was looking for. He seemed to be holding back something – a protest? ..But, the hot springs seemed rather unlikely of a place to do any criminal activity. There wasn't any benefits she could think of.. The hot springs were commonly used year round to either visit the shrine or relax in the waters, especially in this time of year as the ocean was too cold.. Ah, but maybe that was it? No one would suspect someone to be doing something illegal right in the open.
“Good.” She replied curtly and, as soon as they managed it to the bottom of the mountain, headed straight to the springs without any hesitation.
~Exit to Hot Springs!~
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