Sunny Reach

[Mellie]

A large, spacious, open air cave, full of winding tunnels with many twists and turns, buried deep into the side of a long inactive volcano. The sunlight filters through the cracks in the ceiling for the first half, eventually breaking into several tunnels, formerly lava tubes, that are pitch black. There is a large hollowed-out dome, definitely artificial in making, yet surreal to look upon, located where the entrance meets with the tunnels. Unnatural chips and other odd, obscene marks line the wall, indicating human presence, most likely miners from times ancient. Perhaps some of their treasures still lie in the cracks and crevices of this ancient construct...

[Yuusuke Aelchr]

Well this was certainly different than what he had pictured. When someone had mentioned that there was a long abandoned mine in one of the inactive volcanoes of Fiamont, Yuusuke had taken an interest – not just because of the fact that, hell, there could still be something there, but also because it sounded more interesting than anything else he’d heard of so far. So he had headed to the deserted mine in search of something interesting – something to pass the time.

But he hadn’t expected the tunnels to be lit so beautifully; the sun shining in as such and illuminating the dome and the tunnels beyond. The Venese trailed his thin fingers along the dark volcanic rock in the domed entrance to the tunnels, eyes lowered. He hated the feeling of being so weak, the feeling of being so alone, but what else was there to do? He had little in the way of allies, and he’d never really seen much of the world outside of Vieri, even with his being able to move freely due to his ability to fly in any circumstance with the needed circulation for wind given.

Which was probably why Yuusuke didn’t feel so much inclined to venture into the shrinking tunnels that slowly disappeared into the depth of the volcano.

The light apparently eventually gave out and disappeared later on, and he frowned – he didn’t have a lamp or anything like that either.

So exploring the large domed cavern instead, eyes gliding over the walls as his arm stayed behind and his fingers still traced their way along the rough and dented surface. Whatever people had been here before hadn’t been very precise; the leftover indentations were scattered and uneven – had it been Yuusuke, he would have at least smoothed it out before he left…but perhaps that was a bit of his obsessive compulsive side kicking in. He shook his head and continued walking until he had walked the perimeter of the dome. And, for lack of something better to do, why not?

Why not explore the rest? The Venese allowed the winds inside his chest – the “winds of his ancestry”, his father had called them – mingle with those of the outside, controlling both sections as well as he could control his own and he swept himself off the ground. He let continued to press his fingertips to the walls as his light frame was flipped through the dome, and he intertwined long strings of flight in with an occasional flip head over heels. Or rather, heels over head. Yuusuke’d never really known why they said it backwards, but whatever.

[Cherry Milerand]

Money, money, money, money, money! If there was one thing Cherry loved in this world, it was Money. Money and Trina, and Aiko. And money. She loved the feeling of having it, she loved spending it on expensive clothes, she loved giving it to other people just because she could! But, she also had conditions. For one, she despised money gained by dishonest means. Thus, she would never steal money, or try to get it by tricking someone into giving it to her. Her second condition was that she had to get it herself. So, while she may have been the heiress to a very rich family (who were all waiting for her to "get tired of Malscure, and come back to us."), she wasn't willing to go spend her family's money willy-nilly (even though she could, as they kept an open account for her to use if she needed to). She only started using her Family's money recently out of necessity (travel, a change of clothes, maybe a small splurge on a new dress for the Ball....) due to the fact that she wasn't actually in Malscure anymore, thanks to Tristan Cowell, and she couldn't go back to get her money from her home due to fear of being seen while there. She wasn't interested in dieing young.

But here, now here was a solid, valid, honest attempt at making money! This old mine must have surely held some sort of treasure somewhere still. And if the miner's hadn't fully mined the place in the past before they abandoned it, well, that was their loss. Cherry didn't have a rule against picking up the leftovers. With her amazing luck, she would surely find something valuable, right? It would be a pretty big bummer if she didn't. Downright depressing.

She skipped along down the stony corridor, loving the feel of her outfit for the day - a pair of pale brown pantaloons tucked into a pair of red boots. A red, belted mini-skirt was worn over the pants, little birds decorating the belt. She wore a brown, long-sleeved T-Shirt beneath a sleeveless, red hooded sweatshirt, and her usual pair of pink sashes were tied to her wrists, trailing behind her like a pair of elegant, cotton tails, just inches away from the ground. She wore her hair down today, nothing really fancy this time, and had her favorite pair of star-shaped earrings hanging from her lobes. She did, however, have a pretty, Red flower in her hair, clipped in and enchanted to stay beautiful and fragrant. She nodded in approval at herself as she continued her trip through the tunnels - scoping out a nice digging spot - and decided for the second time that day that Brown and Red really go together nicely.

Someday, she thought, she might want to open a fashion line. She loved dressing up almost as much as she loved money! Why not make money by dressing other people up?

Up ahead, she spotted a large, domed structure....jackpot! There just had to be something valuable in there! Wasting no time, she increased her pace to that of a run, managing to arrive at the large structure. This was certainly not the doing of a volcano. People had made this, clearly. She found it kind of hard to believe that the inside of this place used to be volcanic, apparently - it was actually cool enough for her to wear her layered outfit in here, which was strange enough considering she was in Fiamont. Well, best not to dwell on it.

As she entered the dome, looking all over the walls for some sign of treasure, or money, or anything like that, she instead managed to spot a boy flipping through the air. Wow, he was pretty good at that, too. He was arcing, twisting, and leaping quite elegantly, the Wind obviously aiding him in his flight (for she could hear the rush of air in the area). Not an Air Embodiment...if he were that, he would turn into the Wind, not control it. A Venese then? She was pretty sure that's what they were called. After living for as long as she had, it would be downright shameful for her not to be able to recognize various races in Setsuwa.

Wait a sec....didn't she know him? Or rather, hadn't she seen him recently? Where was it....ah! Rielcia! In that Pet Store! Hah, fancy that. Maybe she should say hello, instead of just watching him flip around? Yeah, that sounded like a plan. "Hey there!" she called, her voice echoing through the dome, making a triple-sound effect. "Small world, hmm?" In all honesty, she certainly hoped it wasn't. Small World meant running into Cowell more often. She had already had the unfortunate pleasure of seeing him again at the Ballroom, though, so she didn't doubt it.

Right, the Venese boy....hmmm....he could use some better clothes. Honestly, how come people couldn't dress? That poor girl from the Dragon Graveyard had even let her pretty face and hair waste away! Cherry clearly needed to start that Fashion Line - and she needed to do it soon. Too many people were in desperate need of some serious style tips. This boy was so...plain-looking. His clothes, at least. She could make him look so much better! He had a nice face, and good hair too, so it was really a shame that he dressed that way.

She was getting ahead of herself though. She needed to talk to him first, get to know him. THEN she would make him get a makeover. With her in control, of course. She smiled excitedly. Maybe treasure wouldn't be the only thing she got to play around with today - toying with someone's fashion set-up was always oodles of fun.

[Yuusuke Aelchr]

As he continued to flip throughout the dome, winds carrying his lithe form and light weight, his ears managed to miss the small and quick taps of the girl’s approaching feet on the ground. The only hint to her presence was when he felt a small disturbance in the moving winds, accompanied with a young and girly voice calling out to him. He bent over backwards, taking a quick look to see the Lamini girl – or so he had assumed, from the color of her skin and the snippet of her conversation with the store owner that he had over heard; she had said that she was what, over 300 years old? Yeah, probably Lamini.

“Small world?” Yuusuke repeated, voice slightly raised to be sure that his voice was heard even when his flips faced him away from her. But, well, it was a bit rude to be flipping around in front of her, it would look like he was showing off. Well, he wasn’t, but you never know what other people think about you. He let himself down gently, hair blown up by the small gust that cushioned his fall at the end, earrings glinting in the sparkling light. His feet tapped onto the ground in unison with his hair falling back into it’s normal style, if not a bit mussed by the movement.

“I wouldn’t say small, just…” he mentioned, face blank but voice contemplative, “moving world. People don’t seem to stick in one place as much as it seems.” And it was true – whenever he had happened to run across someone that he’d met before in his life, they were rarely in the same area or even the same country. People just had a thing about moving around, whether I could be explained or not.

His eyes scanned over the girl in front of him – she appeared to be around his age, and she was dressed well, and she had the aura of someone who knew that they were. The small girl looked eager and young but…she was close to twice his age, he’d assumed. Strange Lamini, he thought to himself. If only every race aged like elves, it would all be so less complicated. Yuusuke cringed at his inward whiney tone and changed the subject of which he was thinking.

“Your name was Cherry, right?” He thought that was what he’d heard, at least. And from what he’d seen from the girl, she seemed innocent enough, but…she was eyeing his clothes with a bit of disdainfulness that made him uneasy. But – she seemed fine, he could at least have a conversation.

But that didn’t mean he’d just, y’know, ramble at the girl all willy-nilly. It still required thought. Looks could be deceiving.

Especially with that little grin and those eyes on his clothing.

[Cherry Milerand]

"Oh, you have a good memory, don't you?" she asked when he mentioned her name. "You taking good care of that Chniddly? Because I would hate to find the poor thing malnourished and in need of confiscation." she added, hand on her hip and a falsely authoritative finger thrust at his chest. She giggled afterward, pretty sure he must. He seemed like a good boy, after all, why wouldn't he take care of the little thing? "And I don't believe I caught your name." she remarked thoughtfully. Odd, how he knew her name and yet she didn't have any idea what his was. She was always asking people's names...

The kid seemed as though he was uneasy about her. Despite having remembered her name and responding positively to her greeting, he was a bit...what was the word....tense? Yeah, that was it. Like he wasn't sure what she was doing here. Or why she kept staring at his clothes. She resisted the urge to cluck her tongue at them now that she could see them up close. They were just so unimpressive. Unremarkable. Boring. Just because he liked to skip happily through the wind, possibly singing a jaunty tune with his Chniddly, didn't mean he had to look bad doing it! Still though, it was too early for her to just say "hey, let me make you some new clothes, yours suck.", so she instead decided to pace over to a nearby wall of the dome, one laden with cracks and jutting edges.

"Why don't we talk while you help me dig up some treasure, hmm?" she suggested, pulling out a little shovel and a pickax from Lerewtan-Knows-Where, and began to happily hack at the wall with her tools. "I came here to dig up rare, and possibly expensive things, see, and it would be awesome to have some help." she explained, chipping away at the rock while avoiding getting dirt or rubble on her nice clothes. Funny how she could always avoid fashion messes, even in situations where it would seem clandestined to happen. Years of practice, really.

[Yuusuke Aelchr]

“I’ve been told,” Yuusuke mentioned casually in reply to the Lamini’s mention of his memory. And when she asked of the Chniddly that she’d actually handed to him, he smiled softly. “Perfectly good care,” he responded honestly, eyebrows raised, amused, at the young woman’s joking pose of scolding. “And the name’s Yuusuke, Miss Cherry.” He put on a pleasant – or so he thought it was – and polite tone, because one, he didn’t want a traveling Lamini girl stalking him for being a rude Venese on the possibility that he would hurt his new Chniddly, and two…she could probably kill him.

Because if she had something like the little mining tools hidden on her small figure without him noticing, she could just as well have something like a weapon as well. And thaaaat made him only a tiny…okay, somewhat putt off. Where did those come from anyway…?

“Sounds good,” he replied carefully, approaching Cherry’s new position at the wall of the dome, “as long as I get a cut of whatever we find.” He offered up a small grin and reached for one of the tools that she had discarded on the ground, because of course Lamini only had two hands. He took a step away from her however, when he noticed how she was managing to hack away at the wall without even getting a speck of dirt on her clothing; he wasn’t so confident in his ability, and the last thing he wanted was fot a strange girl who he’d just met to attack him with a mini-pickax for getting dirt on her clothing.

Well it would make an interesting story, but...he decided it wasn’t worth it. He worked silently for a moment before a thought came to him. “Didn’t you just get a job at the pet shop? Why would you need to come here and dig up the wall of a volcano when you’re employed?’ he asked curiously, peering over at the happily working girl. She somehow seemed to enjoy the minor labor, and he watched her for a moment, musing over the concept. She didn’t really look like a particularly hard worker, with her fancy clothes and all, but well, you can’t judge a book by their cover.

Or so they say. From what he could tell, it was true, however. He shifted nervously and looked down at the shovel that he’d picked up. Wouldn’t the pickax be better…? He made a face at himself and started chipping at the dome’s wall dully. “Sure you’re not hiding another pickax somewhere?”

[Cherry Milerand]

Ah, Yuusuke. That was a nice name. And she was happy to hear that the little pet was in good condition. Her boss would have a fit if she came back to the shop with the little Chniddly, explaining that she really had taken it into protective custody. Anna was so emotional over the animals. But it was rather nice, too. At least it showed she cared.

"Oh, of course!" she responded happily to the venese's inquiry about him getting a cut of the value. "I wouldn't ask you to help me and then give you nothing for your effort." he had walked over to where she was currently crouching, still seeming a bit uneasy, and then decided to pick up the little shovel she'd dropped, going at his own section of the wall. A brilliant idea occurred to her then. What if she...accidentally knocked a whole bunch of dirt onto his clothes? Then, she could apologize, inspect the damage, and simply offer to make him some new ones as an apology. Yes! Then she could get him dressed up nicely without having to insult his fashion style! A smug little grin plastered itself onto her face as she decided just how to go about it - it needed to seem accidental. Maybe she could find a section of wall that was a little unstable, so dirt would just flood right on out on top of him by "mistake".

However, he spoke up then, implying that he thought it strange for her to be digging for treasure when she had just gotten a job at the Pet Shop where he had received his aforementioned Chniddly. "Oh well, you know. I enjoy money, to be blunt. My job is lovely, but I really like the hands-on approach too - exploring, finding valuable artifacts, mining, all that jazz. It's exhilarating! And today, I had a day off, so I thought hey, why not come looking for someplace interesting? I met a customer the other day who could teleport places, and he was really happy with my services, so he said I could ask him for a favor; so I asked him to take me here. He's back in town, ready to take me back as soon as I'm done." she chatted away, using the talking as a time-passer while she chiseled the stony wall. Tsk, just more rubble. Maybe she needed to find another spot.

She was about to ask him what brought him into the long-dormant volcano, but he interrupted her reverie by asking if she happened to have another pickax he could use. Well, that was reasonable. Shovels were better for digging anyway. "Sure." she answered, producing yet another small pickax in a quick movement that left anyone watching her wondering: "Where the HELL did that come from?" She liked her secret ways. They made her giggle.

Now that he had his new little pickax and could be happy, she went on with her train of thought, acting on her earlier curiosity. "Sooooo, what about you? You just enjoy skipping through the air? Or is there a special reason you're here?" she asked casually. Why is it that when people first met, they often asked what the other was doing in the area? There had to be better questions to ask. She suddenly wished Trina were here. She could exploit the Succubus' abrasive attitude as a subject of conversation if she were. Yes, that would be amusing. "Please excuse my friend's rudeness, she was abused as a child. By herself. With a rock. Her mother tried to make her stop, but she just got violent!" Making up little lies about her close friends just for a laugh had always worked before. And they got cleared up easily, so it's not like she was slandering them.

Oh! But another interesting conversation piece was the art of the rumor! She could talk about something made up about someone else to pass the time more interestingly! "And by the way, have you seen the Queen Riol of Venefrica lately?" she started, bringing up the familiar rumor she had shared with Trina (because the girl had never responded to it). "Publicity makes her look good! Because the other day, I was in the market, and she suddenly showed up! She was with her guard, apparently touring the city on a whim, and let me tell you, seeing her up close -" she giggled, "She has gotten faaaaaat."

He seemed so impassive! Maybe that would get a reaction from him.

[Yuusuke Aelchr]

Yuusuke eyed Cherry’s smug little grin with a wary eye as she paused before replying to his question. But the was interesting – not very people nowadays would actually want to workfor their profits, he pictured most people wanting to inherit their money with no hassle or something of the sort. “Guess so,” he mentioned, voice thoughtful in response to her using the term ‘exhilarating’. It’s kind of true though… he thought, finding himself internally agreeing with the girl – better to reap your own benefits than someone else’s.

Well the second pickax was convenient, but… well frankly, that was weird. Where the hell was she getting those things? He took the small pickax from her loose grip and flipped it carefully around in his hand to position it correctly. He chiseled at the wall for a few moments until she asked where he was from and he paused, mouth quirked to the side for a moment. “Well I had heard a rumor of an abandoned mine and got interested,” he said blankly, “but…the free space is an upside.” He almost chuckled, held the small laugh in his chest for a moment, then blinked at himself. It was funny really; he normally didn’t exactly talk so well with strangers…maybe it was because he’d actually met her before at the petshop, and therefore they had at least a little background.

He kept hacking away at the wall of the dome, eyes scanning around the area where he was picking, expression bland again from boredom until she mentioned something about the Queen of Detut. He blinked over at her; “…I’ve only seen a few pictures of her…” He paused, pondering. He wasn’t really much one for gossip, but the Lamini girl seemed eager to chat about the rumor. “But maybe she normally has an illusion affecting her appearance?”

He watched the girl carefully, eyes rescanning over her shape for a moment – were there anymore pickaxes…? He made a face and turned back to the wall again. However…the girl’s excited tone kind of insinuated that she wanted to talk about it more, right? And also…he couldn’t really think of anything else to say. “And with the clothes she wears, frankly it’d be hard to have a body shape other than she one she uses publicly, right?’

…well the Lamini girl certainly knew how to distract a guy.

[Cherry Milerand]

"Oooh, that's a clever little idea. After all, it is Rielcia. She could very well be using illusions to cloak her true appearance. Those clothes she wears could be illusions as well. Because let me tell you, her belly was like, out to heeere." the Lamini stood up and made a bowl-like gesture with her two arms, holding it out wide in front of her stomach to emphasize just how large Queen Riol had apparently let herself go. She then decided to return to crouching next to him, her eye managing to catch the the site of a little crack in the wall. Ohoho, bingo. Instability ahoy!

"Anyway, it's rather shameful if she does that. Her people regard her so beautifully sometimes, too. But I guess we can forget about that - after all, we're here to dig, right? An Abandoned Mine really is interesting. And check it out!" she exclaimed, standing up again and pointing at the little crack, having apparently 'just spotted it'. "This little indent indicates that there might be something dense beneath the wall." she lied. "Like Gold or something! Come on, help me dig it up!" She then lifted him boldly by the arm from his crouched position until he was in a standing position next to her, placing a little drill-like device in his hand. "Take that and press it against the crack, then rotate the little lever here to make it move in a spiral. It's great for this sort of thing! Dirysn tools are so useful~." she explained the finer points of the mechanism, knowing full-well that once he started drilling it into the crack, the section of wall would come undone and dirt would pile down onto his bland, irritating clothes.

"I'll chip around the sides of the cracks with my Pickax, to make it easier on you." she added with reassurance. "So you won't be doing all the work." and true to her word, she picked up her previously dropped Pickax and began to chisel at the area around the crack's focal point. He might get mad at her. He might get angry that she got dirt all over his clothes after having acted like an expert on digging. But he would totally thank her after she fixed him some new ones. He would be waaaay thankful. And then maybe they could hang out! And she could introduce him to Trina, as soon as she came back from her trip into the wild. "Honestly Treeny...hunting for a wolf? Come oooon...." she mumbled to herself at the sheer notion of it. I mean, really? It was kind of funny to think about it. Trina off in the wild, chasing after some big doggy. Ha! She turned to her new acquaintance again after she realized he wasn't drilling yet. "Well? What are ya waiting for, buddy? We've got treasure to unearth!"

[Yuusuke Aelchr]

Yuusuke blinked. It was strange for the Venese to want to continue a conversation with a stranger – or at least an almost complete stranger – for this long, but he still found himself opening his mouth to mention something along the lines of “well maybe she’s gotten pregnant” before Cherry managed to quickly change the subject again, rambling on about shame and all that. But really…if the woman wants to hide things, let her be. She’s only queen by blood, right? You can’t really help ties of DNA and heritage…

But then the loquacious young woman shifted topics again with barely more than a breath, and he blinked in a rather owl-like fashion. Really, if someone didn’t pay attention to her for a second, they could get completely lost. She was babbling about the crack in the wall before she pressed a warm – warm? Just where had that thing been hidden? – drill-like thing-a-ma-widget in his hands, after tugging him from his crouched and somewhat defensive position on the floor. She continued rambling about the small tool until he thought that perhaps a word in response might be appreciated. “Uh…yeah, he said shortly, feeling rather stupid. And besides – she probably didn’t even care how much he spoke back to her.

Mmm…’m probably just being used to dig up the treasure anyway. He spaced out, mind wandering to the various situations that the girl could end up jamming him into, with her apparent tendency to not take no for an answer.

For example. The fact that as soon as she looked up from her little chisel and busily working hands and encouraged him to hurry his ass up – with different wording, mind you – and he complied, the wall before him started to crumble away. He face, previously hosting a skeptical but at least somewhat interested look, went flat. Really? Hell, he didn’t know whether she had planned this or not, but really? His eyes followed the short crack as the extended along the curve of the dome, only stopping after moving up about five feet up the wall. He kind of doubted that she had planned it – didn’t she say something about there being gold in the wall, and the crack was a sign of it?

…well it sure didn’t seem like it. He swallowed thickly, managing to hold his left, drill-less hand over his head as a good amount of debris was dumped from the wall, leaving a large chunk of the wall missing, and the majority of it on Yuusuke himself. Just dandy. “Guh…” He made a face, ignoring the girl next to him as he tried to find the will to summon up a bit of the Winds of the dome to try and blow off a bit of the dust. Backing up from the wall he attempted to blow off the dust, but had little success, only really cleaning out his hair in the process, leaving him looking mildly disheveled and not so mildly dirty.

“Great,” he mumbled to himself in a low voice, running a thin fingered hand through his slightly dust-dulled blonde hair. “You got any soap in that…well wherever you keep pulling those items from?”

[Cherry Milerand]

Cherry was very, very careful of her expression. The last thing she wanted to do was visible convey how delighted she was that she had been right about the wall, after all. In moments after the boy had begun to drill into the wall with Cherry's handy little tool, bits and pieces began to crumble away, slowly, until suddenly an entire subsection of the wall crumbled off in the form of mounds of dirt, so graciously landing all over Yuusuke.

Cherry, of course, had been sure to leap aside at just the right moment to ensure the dirt would miss her clothes, while still appearing as though she wasn't expecting it either. He seemed pretty upset, or at least annoyed now, using that power over the wind to dust off his hair and what-not, but thankfully failing to clean up his clothes in the same fashion. Cherry was quick to resume the next phase of her super secret, ultra awesome mission.

"Oh my gosh! I'm SO sorry! I really didn't know the wall was that unstable, honest! I thought for sure that....oh, here, let me take a look." she said, stepping up to him quickly and ignoring the concept of personal space (she usually did, anyway) as she began to inspect his clothing between her fingers, furrowing her brow as if she was honestly thinking about what to do about this. Ha, like she needed to think. She already exactly what she was going to do next. "This looks bad....these dirt stains are already set in deep, probably because of just how old this dirt probably is. It's like, been here for a few decades or so, right? Anyway, I don't think we can salvage this little mess here. I mean, unless you want to pony up the cash to have it magically cleaned, and lemme tell ya, those people charge out the nose - if you don't have the magic to do it yourself, you're better off just getting some new thre- Oh! That's it! I know how I can make this up to you!" she announced with glee, hopping backward and pointing at the ceiling as if to emphasize some heavenly point she was making.

"I, the ever gracious and responsible Cherry Milerand, shall make you a brand new set of clothes!" she exclaimed triumphantly, looking at the Venese with a faithful smirk. "Truuuuust me, I'm a whiz at this sort of thing, and it'll be completely free - it's the least I can do for accidentally ruining your outfit, you know." Ha, accidental. That was soooo on purpose, honey. And he probably knows it, but what can he prove? Zippo!

Cherry now turned her attention to the piece of wall Yuusuke had caused to crumble, happily skipping over to view the inside of the chiseled wall. Who knew, there could actually have been something in there. She poked her head inside the small little wall that now existed there, tugging out a flashlight from... well, the usual, and proceeded to shine it into the hole as she poked around.

"More bad news, buddy." she called over her shoulder. "It wasn't gold at all. The crack in the wall was because of crystallized rock being jammed into it. And it's not even valuable - it's just a piece of unrefined Feldspar. If you don't know what that is, I'll tell you; it's a mineral that;s so common that it makes up about sixty or so percent of our Planet's crust." she explained in disappointment. "I could have SWORN it was gold..." Except I totally didn't.

Turning away from the wall and tucking away her flashlight, she returned to smiling at the Venese boy. "Well, I think this turned out to be a bust, and you are in urgent need of some new clothes, so what's say we get out of here? We'll get you all washed up at a bathhouse or something, and I'll get to work on some clothes for you right away~"

[Yuusuke Aelchr]

Okay, so little Miss Cherry’s plot apparently wasn’t “let’s use this handy Venesian to dig me some treasure”. Because if it had been, she probably wouldn’t have just suggested them to leave after pronouncing the mineral to be Feldspar [which he had known of, seeing as mineralogy was one of the many things his old caretaker force fed him as a child]. However, her announcement of her plan to make him a new set of clothes had a particular tone of success intertwined into the cheerful exclamation. But as there wasn’t enough evidence to prove that she had purposefully directed Yuusuke to that certain spot with the perfect drill to knock the chunk of wall onto him.

No matter how likely it seemed.

“So soap simply won’t work…?” Yuusuke frowned, trying to find any way possible to get out of his current situation. It wasn’t that he didn’t like the Lamini girl, just…okay well he didn’t particularly like her, but he didn’t dislike her. Yeah, that was it. “I mean, it’s just that I don’t really have the time to travel anywhere else, I should have been on my way home before now, actually.”

Right. Lie his way out, that was a good idea. And what he was saying could be plausible of course – she had no idea how long he’d been here, he could have been, say, visiting the area and just passed by here on his way back to Vieri. Yeah, just like that. He’d mention it if she asked, but he didn’t think he needed to – she seemed gossipy, but not nosey.

And like she needed a certain amount of control, judging from the way that she assumed he wanted – and would go along with – this whole “let’s make you CLOTHING” idea. “It’s just uh…an issue of time. You don’t really look Fianese, and all, so it’d probably be out of my way. You know.”

Well, maybe she didn’t know, because he didn’t really either.

[Cherry Milerand]

Timestamp: Kriete 29th, 6:00PM

Cherry was a cat with a cornered mouse. And she was NOT about to let this mouse get away. The poor boy seemed rather content on finding some soap, or just leaving and managing himself, or something, anything to get away from Cherry and her promise of a new outfit. But no. No no no, it would not do. Cherry hadn't worked THIS hard to ruin his outfit just so that he could brush off her advances. Not happening. So she grinned at him, her expression pure and giving.

"Oh, nonsense! It's not out of the way for me at all, I've got a teleporter, remember? And it'll all be taken care of in a jiffy! Promise, promise, I'll get you fitted, and then whip something up for you straight away!"

And then she was grabbing his wrist, not caring that some residue dirt was splashing onto her skin - it was no big deal - and began the task of forcefully dragging him out of the cave, towards the light of day, humming merrily. "I'll having you looking sooooo good, you'll look like a million bucks! Oh, and you know, I'm thinking of opening up my own store soon! But of course there are other things that need to be considered, like..." and she just went on and on, chatting animatedly with the boy who probably wanted to leave as she paid him no mind.

She'd step outside, meet up with Jancey-boy, her teleporting chauffeur for the day, and this would all be a wonderful, resolved, happy occasion. Weather Yuusuke liked it or not.

[Yuusuke Aelchr]

Well...lying apparently had no positive effect. To be frank, it had no effect on Cherry at all. Luckily his awkward lying didn't piss her off; she was still in a good mood as she dragged Yuusuke off to this..."teleporter" of hers. What exactly is a teleporter? he mused, shifting his arm uncomfortably as her grasp on his wrist became increasingly tight. New Artavian technology? How the heck did they come up with a non-magical teleportation device? The last advancement he'd heard of was that gun thinga-magigger.

"So uh...what's this teleporter you've been mentio-..." Yuusuke gave up attempting to formulate the question when he realized that her incessant rambling about her new show and her preparations for the ordeal and her optimism and her plans and her etcetera and etcetera and etcetera wouldn't allow him to even get in the words to ask.

And of course, just as he saw the light at the end of the tunnel, that little sparkle of hope, his spirits dropped again as even the interest of a high-technology transportation device vanished.

Because laying on a flat rock at the cave's entrance was a man. An elf, to be more specific. But definitely not a machine, or anything interesting like that. "What is he, your slave...?" There was no trace of sarcasm as he asked the question with furrowed eyebrows, because well.

She seemed the type.

[/size]

[Jance Khærte]

[[OOC: ENTER, JANCEEEEE. /Dx]]

Footsteps. Jance's pointed ears twitched a little at the first personesque sound since his little client for the day had pranced off into the dark entance, gibbering on with a promise about returning with a clang and jingle in her pockets. When he'd told the pretty little Lamini he'd be glad to do her a friendly favor, he hadn't expected to be a spontaneous personal chauffeur. Luckily, he got to return to one of the countries that had been rising on his list of favorites - a nice sunbathe and fond memories of the warmth? And, getting to hold a pretty girl so tight as the shot through space?

Pretty much well worth the day. How old did she say she was again? 60 or something? Even though she looked older than Jance, he could potentially still pull the older man card and...

Jance's thoughts were interrupted when he heard a male voice speak up from the left of his comfy little sunning rock. He certainly hadn't heard another person coming. Jance flipped over off of his back and rolled onto his stomach, peering over at the boy that accompanied Cherry out of the cave. Blonde, Jance liked blondes; skinny, Jance didn't mind skinny; green eyes, Jance thought green eyes were nice; and therefore, he was properly flirt-with-able.

"Naw, I'm not her slave," Jance called from the short distance away. "But I am open for the business, providing the normal human...requirements are satisfied." One more eyebrow wiggle...okay.

[Cherry Milerand]

Cherry laughed loudly at Jance's retort to Yuusuke's incredulous question. She shoved Yuusuke a bit, just playfully, and then proceeded to pat him lightly on the shoulder. "No, no, he isn't my slave. Just a new friend who promised me a favor! So he's being my personal chauffeur for the day! He can teleport, see, so we can go literally anywhere!" Cherry had also been told about his power to fish images out of people's heads, which certainly helped with the teleporting, but she didn't mention that to Yuusuke - Jance had said something about that freaking some people out, and Cherry (while not freaked out at all herself) could understand where he was coming from.

So she grabbed Yuusuke by both shoulders, standing behind him, and proceeded to push him forward, into the awaiting arms of Jance (who had stood up from his rock, clearly ready to accept the package). "Don't mind the hug, now! It's necessary for him to take you places." Cherry added by way of explanation to the struggling Venese boy, before promptly adding herself to the ensemble, wrapping her arms firmly around the other two boys so that Yuusuke ended up sandwiched between herself and the Lakunai, in a very awkward-looking group hug. "Alright Jancey! We're heading to Liesdro this time. More specifically, my place." she explained, looking straight ahead and exposing her forehead to Jance - he would need to find her place first, so that he could take them. "Well, more like my parents' place," she went on, still staring ahead. "I've got some materials there, and we could all use a meal I'm sure, and we'll be able to handle this little case here (She gestured at Yuusuke with her chin). Oh! That reminds me, I haven't even introduced you two! Jance, this is Yuusuke. Yuusuke, Jance. I'm gonna make him a new outfit because his current one is all dirty." she said to Jance by way of explanation, giving him a cheeky smirk.

"So! If you've got our destination, shall we be off?" she questioned, raising an eyebrow.