Welcome to Gaia! ::

The morning air was damp and cool as the rains continued throughout the night. Esai turned in the bed he had taken at the inn, the bulky Yaeli filling up most of the delicate frame that creaked as he moved. The flat mattress and cotton stuffed pillow was still significantly better than sleeping on the hard, wet ground outside but even Esai missed the comfort of his own room. At least there he could have moved with ease since his bed was more suited to his size. Either way it was fine, the man was patient enough to endure such trivial things when in pursuit of the greater good. What bothered him the most was the rain and the early morning fog of memories that nearly made him think that yesterday's encounter was but a dream. His missing cloak however attested to the fact that he had met a stranger from Zena and helped her take care of wild wirenth that were harassing the village.

Now though before he could get his bearings the man heard screams erupting from the village, the calls for help whistling in through his open window. Esai wasted no time in grabbing his clothing, quickly slipping into more appropriate attire and grabbing his supplies and weapon so that he could rush outside. "Mudslide!" The rains had broken a piece of the cliffs from just outside the village and caused a rumbling mess as it all headed down towards the lower markets.

[Esai 1]

Esai grit his teeth as he darted down the path, the man helping to pull up a fallen woman to her feet before moving onto the next person who needed his aid. "Run!" He instructed without missing a beat as Esai went towards the disaster while directing others away from it. The momentum of the debris from the cliff had thankfully slowed but it was still moving forward as Esai even plucked a pair of startled chickens from the ground, tossing them towards safer ground. As "bawks" of surprise followed the flurry of flying feathers Esai caught sight of Kukiko. "Helping?" He asked without stopping as he tossed another chicken onto a nearby roof for safety. They couldn't stop the mudslide but they could at least make certain that nothing was caught by it. Esai held out a hand towards Kukiko as the debris rushed closer. "Moving up." He warned before tugging her onto a nearby pile of crates and climbing onto the roof.

Now that they had a good view of the damage, Esai winced. A few houses were covered and the lower stalls of the local farmers were completely crushed by the debris and muck from the cliffs. "I suppose at this point it's cleanup and making certain no one got injured and stuck down there." Esai mused with a frown as he studied the scene, waiting for the debris to settle more before moving.

[Esai 2]

Esai frowned with concern as he studied the scene before them. If anything it was strange that part of his expression was because of the emotional shift in his new companion and not simply from the disaster below. "They can clean up and recover. It's best to just make sure no one got caught in this mess." Worse things could happen...Esai mused with a soft sigh. As unfortunate as the situation was it looked like the village's market had been hit worse which spared the residential areas closer to the right side of town. Watching Kukiko hug the chicken though stirred something in Esai's chest and he found himself reaching over to pat her head comfortingly, almost as if she were a child.

His hand felt a bit awkward, a slight flush on his cheeks as he gave a couple more pats. "I saved the chickens at least. I suppose I'll be here a bit longer than planned since I would rather help rebuild the area before traveling again. For now though it looks like most of the debris is settling. Are you alright? Should I help you back to the inn before looking for others?" He asked quietly as he peeked back towards Kukiko for a moment.

[Esai 3]

One always wondered what it was like to fly, but never expected to actually experience it. Esai most definitely thought he was a well grounded person, especially because of his bulky size and firm stance, but the look Kukiko had given him actually petrified the Yaeli to the point that he didn’t realize he was being flung until it was far too late. Thankfully the mudslide had abated so that all he did was end up in some muck that was on the roof instead of being covered by it and even when he stood finally Esai was still in too much shock to really process how to feel about the whole situation. Should he be angry? Concerned? All he could do was blink a few times before glancing back at Kukiko, the man brushing his clothing to rid it of whatever muck and debris he had picked up from his short flight across the roof. While it obviously hadn’t been a huge toss, else he’d have fallen to the ground below and gotten more than hurt pride, there was still plenty of dirt on the roof from the mud that had been flung everywhere with the shifting earth.

“Was that some foreign way of expressing affection?” He mused with a frown, trying to piece together why she would fling him so suddenly. She had seemed so distraught that he had simply wanted to comfort her, but maybe they did things different on the other continent? What strange lands indeed…Esai’s brow furrowed in thought as he simply nodded at Kukiko’s directions. Another brush or two of his clothing and then he looked at the baffled chickens one last time before dismissing them and heading down from the roof after the strange Zenan woman. He truly had to learn a lot about these foreign lands and their customs, that much was for certain.

“The earth has stopped shifting but we should make certain no one got trapped in the markets. It looks like a few stalls fell over.” Esai finally called out as he touched the ground and only briefly glanced at Kukiko, still wary of the foreigner’s next potential reactions, before continuing forward through the muck and up the street. He could wash his boots later, at least the debris and dirt only went up to his calves and not much further in the worst spots. It was mostly the momentum that had destroyed the inner streets since the rushing mud had pushed so much around, knocking down so many of the stalls and breaking a few windows of nearby buildings.
[Esai 4]

Esai's frown only grew with Kukiko's words, the Yaeli truly puzzled over her behavior and reaction to his question. She had muttered something as well which he missed. It seemed that her actions were not some sort of foreign misunderstanding, but rather from something else that was probably more personal. Though he could never tell with Kukiko, the iceling swordswoman never reacted like others and continued to surprise him with every moment spent together. He realized that when he watched her pull another Yaeli from the debris, the action seemingly taking no effort from the stronger woman. Despite offering assistance it looked like Kukiko's actions scared the Yaeli as well, the woman bobbing her head in appreciation before scurrying away from the stranger.

Ah, he could at least understand that expression. Esai's lips twisted as he pondered how to respond. "In various ways, sometimes a gentle embrace or a gift to show that we care. Others were fearful of touching me without permission, so I received mostly gifts while growing up in my village after I helped others." At least his parents considered those gifts signs of affection even though Esai wondered if it was just something to serve as payment for his services, the gifts bribes to keep him in the village where he could keep curses at bay. He reached over and started pushing against a pillar, the heavy wood caked with mud and blocking a doorway. Even if he didn't hear any noises inside he didn't want someone to be accidently trapped within the walls. And so while he shoved against the pillar, Esai found himself glancing over towards Kukiko. "Are you not accustomed to being touched? I may have overstepped so my apologies."

[Esai 5]

Esai simply blinked in return, confused by the comparison to a prince before realizing that once again Kukiko was a foreigner to the area. It seemed that there were a few things she hadn't caught onto, his own darker complexion probably not even being noticed by someone so accustomed to blue skinned earthlings from her own home area. "I see. You must have surprised your family by taking up the sword." Esai managed after a moment, a small smile crossing his lips and easing his normally stoic expression as she showed off her scars and muscles. He had the feeling that Kukiko stood out even in her homeland and that it wasn't simply a difference in cultures that kept him on his toes around her. Still, he did note that she would accept hugs and that he would avoid the hair. "My family was a bit more simple, but my darker complexion marked me as blessed by the gods to repel curses and so the villagers gave my family gifts in return for my help. And now I've started wandering to help other villages, it's part of my calling." Even if it was as simple as greeting a newborn baby or placing twisted herbs in front of a sick household, others sought Esai's attention since they truly believed he repelled evil spirits.

As the pillar finally toppled, Esai pulled the door open so that whoever was inside could peek out once they felt safe enough to do so. Then he started stepping through the muck to catch back up with Kukiko, gesturing towards a fallen cart that they could push out of the road together. "Do you mind helping?" He asked, surveying the cart and trying to judge exactly how to shove the thing out of the way. "Clearing this from the path will help others to get into town with supplies to help clean up. There's a river up ahead that we can rinse off in afterwards." He doubted they would find clean rooms here in the moment, but he was more than ready to try to wash off some of the muck that clung to his clothing once they took care of this final thing together.

[Esai - 6]

"Is that so?" Esai questioned before shaking his head, the man focusing on shoving against the cart with Kukiko's help. "Lurin and Dafiel, our Yaeli gods, simply took mercy on my mother which affected me as I was born shortly after to remove her own curse. I wouldn't dare say I'm as important as our actual leaders." Esai protested lightly before glancing towards Kukiko with surprise at her teasing. Both of them considered royalty? Oh, he hoped not! "Royalty pushing carts in the muck together." Esai managed, shaking his head once more though there was a ghost of a smile on his lips at the display if Kukiko looked closely. Her curtsey definitely meant she was simply joking, right? It was amusing, if not somehow also endearing to see Kukiko being playful like that instead of raging against a wild beast or throwing him for touching her hair by mistake.

"Still, if you are royalty then I think it's only fate that I keep working alongside of you to make certain you return safely one day to Zena. It would do neither of our countries any good to wage war against one another because of an accident." His people had already suffered so much thanks to appearance of the Extremists so many years ago, he would never want such a tragedy to happen again and so war was the last thing they needed. Even though Esai knew they were just playfully bantering there was still a somberness to his expression at the very mention of war, the man feeling protective of the peace that was currently in their world. But Esai was quickly distracted by the cart's sudden movement, the thing popping free from the muck with a loud squelching sound as it started rolling forward and away from the path. "Good. Now we can go clean up." And just like that the stoicness was back in place, Esai gesturing towards Kukiko as the cart settled and they could go forward to the river to clean up.

[Esai 7]