Sky Garden

[Mellie]

The Sky Garden was something donated from the Nisequois people to Vieri in order to entice peace in a longstanding war between nations. Vieri accepted, and thus the Sky Garden began to be seen as a symbol of peace between the sky and the earth - Vieri and Niseca. Sadly, with Vieri's position in the War of Atton, the flowers in the garden have begun wilting and blackening.

[Yuusuke Aelchr]

Yuusuke’s knees gave way, and he allowed himself to finally collapse on the firm ground, the finality of his decision being a welcome one – he had wanted time alone, and what better place than a wilting garden to ward others off? He had thought through every other possibility, of course; Dirys was too hard, too metallic and thick; Liesdro, too bright; Muerte, too depressing, with the smell of death lingering in the air; Aissic and Fiamont were much too extreme; Niseca and Submiere could have sufficed, but they were somewhat moist and left an odd feeling on one’s skin when they lingered too long; Artavia and Aurcaele were beautiful but too bizarre – land in the sky was believable, but in space? And clouds seemed too…thin. He’d fallen through clouds, but never walked upon them; and the entire Elusian continent was threatening in this day and age, with the war and what-not – besides, you never knew what you were seeing in Malscure and Rielcia anyway.

So what was left? Home, sweet home, Vieri. He abandoned his light boots and his belongings in a small gap between some of the dying plants, and plucked Carillion, his small Chniddly, out of the large pouch on the side of his pants that he’d donated as the little creature’s traveling compartment; it was safer than just his hands, at least while he was flying or something of the sort. She offered up a happy chime when he lifted her back into the open, fluttering her flightless little wings in a useless motion that only persuaded Yuusuke to bury his fingertips into the thick short fur of the little thing and rub her a little bit.

With the slight distraction of his pet, Yuusuke had nearly forgotten that he had come here to clear his mind, to meditate in a way. He mumbled soft words to himself in a language that couldn’t be considered even an offspring of Common, but more of a distant relative – some of the roots could be deciphered, but many of the words were defined by tone and key, sounding more like a song than a story or ramble of thoughts. But it did have a point and meaning, Yuusuke was just the only one who, unless considerable time was spent explaining, could understand it; he’d picked it up from the old woman who’d taken him in – she’d probably been mad, but as long as he knew what he was saying, who cared? He just needed to rant; the language didn’t matter, even if the occasional chimes that Carillon contributed seemed to fit in perfectly.

[Tehodis Kitai]

Tehodis had never been to Vieri before. The very idea of the entire continent of Celestia was far too daunting to really be seriously considered by her. It was so very high up from the ground, a distance at which it did not seem safe. One little slip and she could be plummeting back to the ground that she was so familiar with. One slip and she would be merely a pancake on the surface that seemed so small from a distance… Even with all of that, however, she could not resist it.

After her run in with Kiku, she found herself wandering – aimless – through Dirys. She had come across some dress shops and had purchased herself some new pieces, she had bought a book, had sat by a fountain listening to bard sing his tale, and had even eaten (alone!) at a small little bistro. When she saw the flying ship that was selling seats to go up to Vieri and Aurcaele on her carriage ride through Dimant, she was drawn to the idea. She was quick to stop her ride and go to buy one of the tickets. She was nervous about going up into the air, but she was excited.

She shared a compartment on the ship with a nice pair of older ladies from Liesdro. They had entertained her with stories of their husbands and families – of their children – and Tehodis had not even felt an ache to go and begin a family of her own. Instead she grinned along to the stories, and thanked them for it all when they arrived in Vieri, where Tehodis was getting off. It had been an adventure. And not an adventure like the ones she had suffered when she attempted to break out of the Cowell Castle or the ill-fated wedding. It was a real… normal adventure that she knew she would look back on and smile.

And she was smiling. She left the ship and had immediately trekked through the port (marvelling at the wonder of the odd brands of people that were there) to get to the gates. She did not plan to enter the city, instead she wanted to know where she would be able to find a beautiful place to relax. The guards that stood at the gates had recommended the sky garden. To put it simply, when she got there she was no longer smiling.

The place was a wreck. All of the flowers that she had once heard were so beautiful were wilted and quite obviously in desperate need of attention. She was shocked, and when she sat on the edge of one of the flowerbeds, she did nothing but stare for a moment. It took her more than just a few moments, but she did manage to collect herself. Steeling herself, she brought her hand to one of the flowers, holding it gently as she whispered words that were meant to bring it back to life. As a light began to grow from her hand and envelop the flower, she heard a small chiming sound and some mumbled words that she did not recognize. She briefly wondered if she was going crazy, though the thought disappeared as the light did and the flower stood in its full glory of colour and health…

…Of course, in mere seconds it began to wilt again, forcing a frown to cover Tehodis’ face as she ran a hand down it and paid more attention to the words that were so unfamiliar. After finally coming to the realization that there was someone else here, she removed her hand from her face and looked around quickly. She was slightly alarmed, but more so than that she was curious. Her blue eyes scanned the huge and death-filled garden until her eyes fell onto a boy who could not be much older than Kiku or Arianna. He had blonde, or white, or silver – or something! – hair and very casual clothing. Curiosity getting the best of her as it always tended to do, she moved herself closer, a smile of greeting on her face.

“Hello there,” She said as she got close enough to speak over his mumblings, “Might I ask what language that is?” She supposed, afterwards, that the words did sound rather silly. He may not even speak common if he was murmuring in such a tongue. However, she was curious and truly wished to know. Language, like everything else seemed to be, was something that interested her, even if she didn’t much have a strong grasp on her own dialect let alone another.

[Yuusuke Aelchr]

Yuusuke froze. Since when had people come to this garden anymore? Out of the countless times that he’d ventured out of the walls, he’d never once seen anyone here since the war started and Niseca’s hurt pride had killed all of the flowers. How pretty. Right? So why was some girl scootching over closer to him and piping up a question, only to have an innocent little grin pinned on her face? He opened his eyes – but when had they shut..? – and turned around, peeking over his shoulder and blinking at the girl. He felt stupid doing so, but what was he supposed to do? Start a conversation about the weather?

Oh wait. The question that he had yet to answer. Maybe he really did need to unwind if he was spacing out this much. He opened his mouth to answer before pausing again, unsure what to say. “It’s, ah…” he began, feeling mighty awkward, and forcing his mind to come back to Common. “It doesn’t really have a name.” He finished the sentence with an unsure tone, but it was true; the language really didn’t have a name, and besides, even if it would have been a good pun to mix the names of the farrago of languages that it could have descended from, his mind could only pull up a blank when he tried to think of some. So this lame little response was all she was going to get. Yuusuke shifted slightly, keeping his expression blank but turning slightly more towards the girl near him – it felt rude to be crouching and staring at this stranger. But just because his body language was more open in facing her didn’t mean he was going to open up. He had a problem with that.

But…courtesy was still important. Especially with those of the lady-sort. Because if you didn’t treat them nicely, girls could kind of…turn on you. Yuusuke tried not to frown at the thought – one time a nice girl had been nearly stalking him, but when he said one thing, that could have been just a joke, even [though it wasn’t], and the girl had smacked him in the face and flitted off with her pretty little wings back to Aurcaele.

Girls. So he took it upon himself to ask first, letting his voice take on a mild tone and offering up a simple “May I ask your name?”

Carillon let out an unhappy chime when he, distracted, stopped his absent minded rubbing of her silvery fur. “Hush, I already know your name,” he murmered, eyebrows raising. “Let her answer.”

[Tehodis Kitai]

The boy seemed flustered, which made Tehodis feel kind of bad. She didn’t think it was such a horrible thing to go and strike up conversations with strangers, she did it all the time in Rielcia. Still, she supposed, this wasn’t Rielcia. This was Vieri, and for all she knew the rumours of their cold natures was true. She was always confused by that though, she thought that the people of Aissic would be more likely to have cold natures.

When the boy peeked over his shoulder at her, she nearly giggled, but kept her peace so that he would not feel uncomfortable. Then, of course, he answered her, her face fell in a brief sort of disappointment before she referred back to smiling. Oh well. Maybe it was just some made up thing he had come up with. Wouldn’t that be interesting? Oh how brilliant one would have to be to invent a language. His face lit up again as she considered how brilliantly creative the boy might be and how incredibly intriguing he might be to talk to.

When he asked for her name, she gave it happily. Not the surname, but the first. She scooted closer to her, only then realizing how tall he was: at least a little taller than Kiku, she decided, and certainly much taller than her. Perhaps a whole foot above her! She cursed her short stature silently but then returned the favour of him asking her what her name was, “And you are?”

She took the time it would require him to answer to take a good look at him. He was quite skinny, like severely underweight and Tehodis felt her stomach lurch. It had been hard to tell in his crouching position, but now that he was sitting so openly it was actually a bit of a frightening sight. She kept her face light and happy however, taking a moment to notice that he probably wore looser fitting clothes to hide it – or perhaps the loose fitting clothes were because he recently lost all of the weight that he ought to have? She tried to stop thinking about how freakishly skinny he was by noticing the decorations on his ears and wondering why boys wanted to wear girl things such as that – and why they would want to put on so many. It seemed odd to her. Yet still, she managed to keep a friendly look on her face. This person that she had come across in the garden was certainly very odd, and not a person that she would expect to find in and around her home. It was unnerving, but she steeled herself with the thought that this was supposed to be an adventure, and that she was supposed to do things that she would not do in another situation. Like talk to this oddity before her.

[Yuusuke Aelchr]

“Yuusuke.” He stated his name shortly, only offering up his given name, as she had done for him. Tehodis. Not a bad name but…it seemed somewhat more mature than the small girl in front of him who was just smiling and looking him over. Okay well, examining him. Sure, her expression was nice and welcoming but…he wasn’t really sure why. Overly friendly?

Most likely. He looked her over as well, with quick glances, all the while trying to avoud eye contact by bustling over Carillon – he didn’t like looking into those pretty little blue eyes too much; they were too happy for lack of an apparent reason. Maybe she’d just gotten a new lover, or something or that sort, but she just had this glowy thing going on about her, in her personality. But she wasn’t bad looking, no not at all. She was plenty beautiful, and her showy clothing marked her as appearance wary, or at least it seemed like it – sandals that wove in and out all over her legs as much as those things must have taken a good amount of time to put on.

He’d come for time alone, but…this girl, Tehodis, didn’t really seem like she noticed. Not that it mattered; he never really could find time alone nowadays anyway, so his expectations were low. So a conversation would be okay. “You’re not from Vieri, I think? She looked different, at least. He’d never seen clothes like that on any of the people in this country, for one thing. “What brings you to this garden, of all places? Most ladies wouldn’t prefer a dead thing like this. He gestured over the small expanse with a short nod of his head.

And…well sure her happiness was probably contagious or whatever people say for that kind of thing, but he still couldn’t see what was so great. About anything, at the moment, to tell the truth – he wasn’t doing anything of importance, in the war or else where; he was too loose to get a job, and he didn’t particularly want one; he had no way of defending himself if something presented itself as a problem; he also had very few connections with people, no friends in particular.

Which…kind of wasn’t that great. Not that he was unhappy with anything, he just wasn’t really happy either. Just kind of useless. Great. He slouched a little, relaxing a little more after his small shot of happiness that was directed right at him, and stifled a sigh – he really did have nothing better to do than mentally insult himself and have a meaningless drabble of a conversation with some pretty girl who kept scooting closer when given the chance.

[Tehodis Kitai]

She was told his name was Yuusuke, and she tried it out within her mind. It was a very different name than she was used to. It was not common, nor was it taken from a character of some sort of story. She wondered briefly if perhaps such a name was common in Vieri, or if the naming style was at least. Perhaps, however, his parents had just devised the name themselves from air as thin as it ought to have been as high as they were.

When Yuusuke (it was such an interesting name!) spoke again, it was to lay before her the assumption that she was not from Vieri. She smiled and began to answer, but he continued before she had the chance. He nodded to the dead plants in the area and her eyes feel after following his gestures. She found herself silent for a moment or two, and then finally looked back up and tried to meet his eyes and she finally responded with a ladylike, albeit forced, laugh, “Am I that obvious?”

“No, I’m not from around here,” She dangled her legs off the bench, scooting herself backwards so that her toes wouldn’t brush the stone mistakenly, “I think that if I was, I may have known what was happening up here. Alas, I’ve never even been here, nor did anyone around me say that these flowers were dead and dying.” She offered a small little sigh before continuing, “One of the guards over at the gate recommended me to come and see these gardens. He said they were the most beautiful in the world apart from Niseca. Either he is very far out of the loop, or he has something against me… I most certainly hope it’s the former, as I don’t believe I’ve done anything to him to deserve misdirection.”

ooc; Sorry for the painfully long wait. Busy busy busy is I.

[Yuusuke Aelchr]

Yuusuke’s mouth twitched to the side when he realized that he had cut her response off with his follow up, especially since she seemed to be rather…upset about the state of the flowers. He watched her subtle movements as Tehodis shifted and let her legs hang loose, and she responded as he had expected – she had no idea that the flowers had been harmed along with the relationship between Vieri and Niseca. But he couldn’t help his lips from pulling up into a bit of a small grin; “Yeah, the guards aren’t the most…up to date with things, aside from who and what’s going in and out of here,” he commented.

“If you’re looking for a less depressing part of Vieri, I’d recommend the Temple of Viera, as long as you’re open to viewing other religions.” His face showed a hint of sympathy and he eyed the garden for a moment again before repeating his earlier opinion; “This isn't really the most beautiful of the places up here.” Yuusuke inhaled a little deeper for a moment, face falling back into its bland expression as he finished speaking. He tried to be polite and all, but when he wasn’t talking it was perfectly fine to be…unamused, right? Or he could be interested without staring at the girl, right?

He looked her over again, running his eyes back over her figure to try and figure out what she was, or anything he could just from her appearance. Because even if you can’t judge a book by it’s over, the titles of it usually has something to tell, as well as anything else about it. But she looked harmless, with just a pretty face and long soft hair, ecetera. Attractive enough appearance-wise to be pleasing to look at, but Yuusuke still wasn’t sure about the rest of her.

Let’s just wait and see, Yuusuke thought, watching the girl and her expressions as she spoke, taking it all in. Because books can be judged by their contents and language, correct?

Erk..sorry for the wait/crap that this is..Dx

[Tehodis Kitai]

Tehodis smiled brightly as her new companion seemed to take more to her. One of her goals as she travelled the world over was to try to have people like her. She would hate to think that she had merely gone over Setsuwa only to come back to Rielcia with a whole load of new enemies or people that did not like her at all. The idea was saddening. But since she was not thinking it at this point, she merely smiled, glad to see the path this had now taken. Sure he was odd looking and entirely too skinny, but as she was beginning to find out, you could not judge a book by its cover. She had thought that maybe he was some sort of freak, or crazy person. But he was just as normal as she was, or Arianna or one of her few other friends. Just skinnier.

Yuusuke went on to tell her that the temple of Veira was a very pretty place that she would have to view. It would definitely be a consideration for her, but at the same time, she had visited no temple other than Miynie’s and a few of the demi-gods. She didn’t know if it would be heathenistic of her to go. She would not be worshipping Veira, but she did not know if that would make a difference. “Well, I would,” She told her new… friend?, “But I don’t know what Miynie would think of that. My father said that the Gods are sometimes even more rash and spiteful than we are. And us people are pretty horrible…”

She sighed stared at her laced up feet for a moment before turning to the sky, amazing herself with the clouds. After a moment of thinking back on this, thus far brief, meeting with this new Vier person she realized that although he had asked her why she was here, she had not offered the same polite question. Her cheeks carried a slightly red colour when she opened her mouth quickly to ask it, “Well, if you don’t like it so much here Yuusuke.. Yuu? Could I call you that? Then why did… you come here? With your little bird?”

ooc; That was neither a long wait nor a crap post. (: Don't sell yourself short.

[Yuusuke Aelchr]

Miynie? So assuming this girl was true to the habits of most people, wouldn’t that make her from Rielcia? Or, that’s what he thought that that deity was from, but you could never be too sure. So why not ask? “So you’re from Rielcia? Correct me if I’m wrong…and I can’t say I’m sure of that either, but if it was true, I can’t say I’d be much inclined to go there either,” he agreed, trying to sound sympathetic. “But if you do choose to go, it has a lovely structure…” he trailed off, unsure what to say next. Because, well, frankly he never really talked this much to people. It felt odd, awkward almost. But the only thing he had actually told her about him was his name…wasn’t it? So why did he feel like he’d said a terrible secret?

Maybe he just never really had conversations with people. In general. Tehodis looked up towards the sky, seeming perfectly comfortable with the situation – Yuusuke noticed that he really must not seem very intimidating – and then called him back out with the same question he’d asked her; why was he here?

Yuusuke paused before responding. Because what was he supposed to say, the truth? Because he had come to be alone, but well…she had interrupted that. Wouldn’t it be rude to say that? “Ah…well I’ve come here since before the flowers were like this,” he replied. “I just never stopped. It’s a good thinking place.” And it was the truth, of course. He didn’t need to point out that he had just dropped a small detail. “And er…well she just comes everywhere with me.” Carillon added in a pleasant chime of approval with his answer – almost as if she had understood that he had been about to apologize for the fact that she never shut up – and rubbed up against his wrist in an affectionate gesture.

[Tehodis Kitai]

“Oh, well now I feel bad,” She teased, smiling at his answer. Of course she didn’t really, but it was a way to keep the conversation going. She was enjoying this talk – and she was actually quite surprised by the fact. Based on the way he looked, she never would have guessed she would enjoy conversation with him. She had supposed that his extremely thin body would be enough to distract her to a point where she would not even care about a conversation. Yet here she was, comfortably chatting while looking up at the nearby clouds.

“ Here I’ve come and ruined your thinking place, being all loud and noisy – even I can’t think when I talk,” She joked with a grin. Why couldn’t talking to all men be this simple? However, it seemed when you knew what they thought of you, thinks just got a hell of a lot more awkward. Mostly when you don’t reciprocate. “Oh Kiku…” Realizing that she had not said that within the confines of her mind instead of out loud, she swiftly covered her mouth in an embarrassed gesture that perfectly matched her reddening cheeks. “What’d I tell you? Can’t… Can’t talk and think at the same time. That was supposed to be inside my head.

[Yuusuke Aelchr]

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that…” Yuusuke began awkwardly, not sure with what to follow with, however. Because well…she wasn’t exactly that far off. Sure, she wasn’t being noisy and such, as she had said, but she was a rather distracting obtrusion on his thinking time. But he couldn’t very well complain – not when his thoughts were mostly self-insulting like they were frequently headed now-a-days. “Sometimes a distraction can be a good thing,” he finished with a small, airy chuckle.

That was polite, right? However even though he was trying rather hard not to get himself in trouble and piss anyone off, all he got was a girl next to him spacing out and mumbling out someone’s name. His pierced ears perked and he felt his eyebrows raise when she noticed what she’d done and looked as awkward as he felt the entire time. What’d she tell me?

“Just a name,” he replied bluntly, not willing or wanting to point out the sigh that he had picked up in her voice. Most likely another man that she had scooted up to before, Yuusuke assumed. “Don’t worry.” He wasn’t particularly sure if he was supposed to ask why she had said his name, because it wasn’t like Tehodis had obviously hinted that he was supposed to ask about it, right?

So a subject changer was in order, he presumed. Because if she got that flustered it could only mean that continuing on the topic would lead to more awkward silences…like this one. “Ah…” The problem was, there wasn’t much to talk about. “So what was that you were doing to that flower before you saw me?” Yuusuke asked the question casually, hoping that she wouldn’t notice that it pointed out that he had noticed she was there before she had announced herself.




[[Ooc; Sorry for the wait..]]

[Tehodis Kitai]

Most people that she spoke to were the kind that would have asked her to elaborate on the name she had tried to cover up, despite whether or not it would cause her to be nervous. This was a very pleasant surprise and one that made her grin from ear to ear because of how happy it made her. It was so nice when people didn't pry into things that obviously made someone feel uncomfortable. She didn't understand how that Daisy Wright person could make an occupation out of it. That and ruining people's lives. Just horrible.

Yuusuke was unlike many others, specifically Daisy Wright, because he had instead changed the subject, obviously noting that she wouldn't really want to talk about what she had said previous. How very nice of him. Instead, he asked her what she had been doing to the flower before she had struck up a conversation with him. The question sounded sort of odd in that way, like she had been doing something bad. She knew he probably didn't mean it in such a way, but it was the first thing she thought, so she blurted - "I wasn't doing anything bad, I-"

She realized her misperception and stopped herself, "Sorry, I guess I'm a little frazzled, being some place new and all. I was just trying to bring it back to life. Here, I'll show you." She turned about to face a dying row of a flower she couldn't tell the type of, and cupped the bud in her hands lightly. She began to whisper a series of words, like the ones she had done earlier. They were not in any common language - not that spells usually were. In a matter of seconds, a light began to shine from within her hands and then the flower reversed its wilting. It looking absolutely beautiful for a few moments, and then it wilted again.

"I was hoping that before it was just because I got distracted, but I guess not... I... Well, I'm usually really good at this spell. Or at least, I used to be. I'm not good at much, but I can bring flowers back to life. Just not... These flowers. I wonder why that is?" She sighed slightly, turning back around to face him, in the hopes that perhaps he might have an answer. Perhaps he might, somehow, know why these flowers refused her charms. She was intensely curious, and she thought that - if she knew - she might be able to find some way around it. She might be able to find a way to bring them all back to life so that the garden might be a nice place to visit again. It'd certainly be nice.

[Khoel Leschi]

The pictures of flowers he'd seen in textbooks, encyclopedias, and dictionaries had always fascinated him. The people in his community- he assumed the rest of his country, with the lack of light- were never able to grow plants. At least flowers, anyways. His family had kept fake ones around the house, specially made by a seamstress' daughter. Even though they had been pretty, the faux blooms didn't have the same magical quality that living foliage had for him. The idea that something could spring up from the ground with only the prompting of moistness and sunlight was foreign, and something to be desired.

His classes had often explored outside of Malscure's world and ecological patterns, and Khoel had painted a rather fantastical images of forests and lush gardens in his mind from these lessons. He envisioned vivid hues that he only saw glimpses of in photos- the large lamps baring the cities of Malscure didn't much allow for intense views and breathtaking colours. Often, he would sketch almost ridiculous fronds and hanging moss on the corners of his pages of school work, fantasizing about such things. Where people were untrustworthy and something to be afraid of, plants were more diverse than humans and most couldn't do anything to harm you. Of course, there were poisonous plants, but they were usually obvious.

At school, his friends had always joked about going out of the country and exploring with him. After his parents had disappeared, however, he started to think of it as quite the option. Khoel was reluctant to ever bring it up with them- though they were willing to fantasize, the two girls were really quite down to earth. They probably had already connected with universities to continue their education and stay in their country. Most likely even just staying in their home town.

So, after school let out and he had nothing better to do, he decided he might as well take a trip. Better than recoiling into the empty house that he would soon have to sell, anyways. He had thought all the bills and debts had been payed, but one rather fat one plopped in through the mail flap. So, he sold it over to a real estate agent and left. One location in his texts had especially dazzled him. The Sky Gardens. A place chalk full of life, in a place that he would assume would be just marginally more hospitable than Malscure? He felt the dying want- need- to see it.

There he was, after a terrifyingly long trip out, and boarding with strangers of every race and background on a flying ship, he was there. He'd been directed to the gardens by other visitors. Much to his chagrin- it had taken him far too long to even get up the courage to ask someone. Afterwards, he supposed he could have asked a guard and gotten more specific directions, but they were so much more intimidating. He loomed over most of them, but the uniforms and serious, focused expressions set on their faces made them just that much less welcoming. No, better to ask another newcomer and ignore the sidelong glance at his dismal dress and darkened eyes than to confront an official.

Upon arriving in the gardens Khoel didn't know what to say. If he'd been with a friend, he would have been utterly unresponsive. Was this really the Sky Garden? Was he in the wrong place? Everything was so... faded. Black. The Keramun pushed his hair out of his eyes in near frustration, oblivious to the fact it fell back in front of his face. It was apparent that his text books had missed a major point, printed too early to mention that the Garden was dead. Now what was he supposed to do? Sighing, the boy figured he might as well enjoy what he could about it. With himself out of his home and out and about, it wasn't like he was restrained to going back and hoping his friends would give him a place to stay until he found a job. Khoel could just continue to travel.

A look around the wilted place revealed he wasn't alone here. He felt his stomach lurch when he saw the other two people talking quietly to each other a short distance away, but didn't panic. Luckily. The two seemed nice, and he wouldn't try to bother them. Ducking his head, he turned slightly to look out on the dead flower beds, hands in his pockets. It was an interesting sight, to say the least. Definitely out of the ordinary for him... though Khoel supposed most everything he would see would be out of the ordinary to him.

Ooc; oh jeez this post sucks. Too late at night but I didn't want to leave it undone. Hee. BE PROUD MASI.

[Yuusuke Aelchr]

Yuusuke heaved an internal sigh of relief when the girl’s response to his change of subject seemed like one of relief. Her expression or worry softened into one of a more pleased nature, and he relaxed as well – if he had been intended to inquire as to this “Kiku” person’s importance, and he hadn’t…well, he knew girls. Bad things could happen. Inside of those pretty little faces, they could be devilishly unstable. Luckily, this Tehodis girl seemed easier to read then most. Or at least somewhat simpleminded.

Well, perhaps he owed her a bit more than that, seeing as they just met. He watched her visual response to his question with half-lidded eyes – it had been a while since he’d slept, hadn’t it? – but they quickly popped open when she murmured something in a different language and temporarily revived one of the dead flowers on the ground. Maybe she had been trying to revive it so that she could tell the species… Yuusuke thought in the instant before he saw that her face fell along with the re-wilting flower. Nevermind that. But of course, she didn’t know why the flowers were in that state.

“I know why,” Yuusuke began, pausing before going on. Because he wasn’t entirely sure, actually, but he had heard the rumors. “The flowers in this garden started losing their color along right around the time when the rumors of Vieri joining an alliance in the war over Atton. And they all outright died when it was confirmed. And seeing as this garden was a present to our country from Niseca…which obviously, doesn’t like the war…I’m sure you can guess the rest.”

“So, since the flowers weren’t left to die on their own accord…they can’t…be…” he trailed off, decorated ears twitching. “Did you hear something?” Oh thank the gods, a distraction. I’ve never had to talk so much since that old woman passed on. Yuusuke put on a very distracted expression and turned around, not actually expecting to see a boy behind them with his hands shoved in his pocket.

And apparently trying to be inconspicuous, based on his expression. The one that said “no, I totally didn’t notice you two were here, what are you talking about?” and looked just about as believable as it would have been if he’d said it aloud.

[Tehodis Kitai]

Tehodis was enthralled with the explanation. It wasn't as if she was happy to hear that two countries had such bad blood between them that they resorted to killing plants, it was that she was happy to know there was a reason her magic was failing. She knew she wasn't the most talented magician in the world, but she didn't sell herself short, either. It was one of the few things that she knew she could do decently, and when the flower had wilted again, her heart had fallen along with the expression on her fact. In fact she felt that-

Yuusuke stopped talking, pointing out a sound that she had been completely oblivious to. She craned her neck a bit, looking one way and then the other before noticing the newcomer to the gardens. Oh, poor guy, She thought, frowning appropriately, Must be just as disappointed as I was to find this place so... Wilty. And well... Black. Smells like rotting fruit, too. She kept on listing things the garden smelled or looked like in her mind before she remembered that she was in a 'conversation' with someone and that another person had come into the gardens.

"Oh, hi there!" She smiled and waved at the newcomer. At least something in the gardens would be happy and colourful. If it couldn't be the flowers, it would have to be the people - and although she disliked the thought that she had to make up for the flowers, but at the same time she was happy she would get to meet more people. That was the whole point of travelling, wasn't it? Sure, seeing new stuff was great and all, but the best thing was meeting people. Like the two old ladies on the boat, or... or Yuusuke! And now this new fellow. Four new people in one day... Well, Tehodis figured that ought to be some sort of record. She smiled brightly, hopping up from where she was sitting and going over to the new arrival.

"Nice to meet you," She held out her hand to shake, proud of herself being so sociable. She used to be oh so shy, and now that she was getting more experience with the people of the world, she felt like she could talk to anyone. That she could befriend anyone! Alright, new goal, She told herself, Be the person in the world with the most friends.

[Khoel Leschi]

Khoel had been looking at a rather pathetic lump of something, trying to figure out what exactly the dead plant matter had been when it was alive. The blackened, limp bell suggested it could have once been a tulip, but the leaves were curled into each other and made indistinguishable from the path. The Keramun had been tempted to kneel down and untwist the foliage to see the type, out of pure curiosity. Plus, then he would be able to see what sort of bug or disease might have spread through the whole garden... It didn't cross his mind he would look like he fit right in with the dead landscapes, black and bone pale on the crumbling of the gardens. His thoughts darted through his textbooks. There had been a... treaty? He never payed attention to the countries and their bonds and whatnot. Perhaps he was right though, and the treaty had crumbled.

A voice cracked through his thought process, bringing his world hurling off of its axis and crashing into the sky on the horizon. That is to say, he jumped rather badly. Khoel's hand shot to his chest as he whirled around, hand pressed over his heart. He looked up to the speaker as an uncertain smile spread on his face. She seemed... friendly? Was that what she seemed? The boy glanced to the other male, still sitting where they had been. Realizing he had left her hand hanging in the air, he hesitated a moment longer before taking it in a light handshake.

"I... it's good to meet you too." There was no small amount of mental rejoicing that he hadn't stuttered more than once in that sentence. He quirked his smile larger, hoping it didn't look as wavering as it felt. Green eyes- the only color on the boy- darted between the two before focusing back on her. Her outfit was beyond anything he'd ever seen before- of course, he was used to the most exciting color he saw on someone outside of a photograph being gray. One might buy white in Malscure, but the dim doesn't allow for much vibrancy at all.. Khoel shook his head ever so slightly as if it would force him to stop getting off topic and stay with the conversation.

"Um, I'm Khoel.

(AW MAH LAWD THIS SUCKS ASS. I need to sleep and do these posts at reasonable times.)