Nisequois Adventure [Roksana]

[Ein Lansfeld]

Unknown (Yet) Location.

Timestamp: Emonea 5th, 10:00AM

What a marvelous, indescribable, jubilant feeling this was! Ein plummeted through the air like an arrow from a bow, the wind screaming past his face as his long hair billowed behind him, his eyes watering from the sensation! There was no feeling in the world like a free fall! It was just so incredible! Astounding! Fantastic!

His heart thundered in his chest, his grin threatened to split his face in two, his lungs felt as though they might burst from the oxygen intake, but his grip never became too tight. For he did not wish to hurt Roksana.

Yes, the young Embodiment girl was with him, her wrist held firmly, but not painfully, in his grasp. Surely she must be feeling this same sensation? After all, Roksana was so light that whenever she would fall anywhere normally, she would just float slowly down. It was nothing exciting. But now, with Ein holding her, with Ein dragging her down, Roksana could truly feel the rush of falling at incredible speeds from so very high in the air!

The two had been in Aurcaele, making a grim promise to one another, and had at Ein's insistence, decided that their first destination with this grim promise would be to travel to Niseca! And as luck would have it, Niseca was actually very nearby Aurcaele. At least, Horizontally it was. Vertically, it was probably thousands of feet below the floating country, beneath the Clouds. But Ein had jumped from the Clouds before! He knew a handy little spell for cushioning one's landing against solid surfaces, and had used it several times - after all, traveling to another country by leaping off of Aurcaele or Vieri was one of the funnest experiences one could ever partake in!

He had asked Roksana if she was alright with this, before they made their leap. And she had seemed sure. So he grabbed her hand and jumped through a gap they had found. He hoped she hadn't had second thoughts.

But now here they were, drawing closer and closer to their destination, Ein's limbs spread out now to slow the speed of their fall - Niseca was in view now. A large, green mass of land stretched out beneath them, only about a third of the entire country, still far enough away though that Ein could hold out his hand to block it from view. He spared a glance behind him (carefully moving his neck so as not to break it against the oncoming air) to spare a glance at Roksana, smiling widely at her.

"Is this not fantastic? Surely you haven't felt such a sensation as this before?" and he dearly hoped she hadn't. He already knew she could have fallen this fast before, due to her weight and species, and when she was flying, she said that she was often pulled along by the wind, having little control. But this time, she was falling. Falling very fast. And while they had no vertical control, they could certainly control how they moved horizontally through the air! Not to mention, Roksana was now in a solid form, rather than an unsubstantial one. Sure the experience of rushing through the air was different when one was solid!

As Ein cast his eyes back down at the expanse of green, which was getting ever closer with every second, he idly wondered which city they would land in. Sometimes it was Matiera, sometimes it was Montevir. Why, Ein had once found his landing right above the White Wood Tower! It was always fun to try and guess where he would end up, but this time he had a traveling companion!

"What do you think, Roksana?" he asked over the din of the rushing air. "Where do you suppose we'll land? I'll place my bets on Matiera! How about you?" he laughed loudly enough to be heard.

He hoped she responded quick - in roughly ten seconds or so, the land would be close enough that several details would start to be distinguishable. And that would take out all the fun of guessing!

[Roksana Sheirn]

She was smiling.

It was not the same thing that made Ein so happy, however. And the smile was not anywhere near as cheerful. Instead as they plummeted her lips grew into a grim grin. She prayed that they would simply keep going faster, that Ein would stop paying attention to what he was doing or that he'd forget the spell to cushion their landing. If he did that, they'd crash hard. And die. Probably, at least. She could always hope that this feeling of falling, the sight of land so close below them, the grip that (although he probably believed it was not firm enough to hurt) would leave bruises on her dainty skin - that everything would end with a sudden impact and blackness. That it would be over and she'd be nothing but... dust on the wind.

"I'm guessing some sort of..." She thought for a moment, her voice quiet and probably unheard from by anyone else, not even the man next to her, "Harsh climate. Rocks everywhere - jagged and sticking up out of the ground. Or in the middle of a forest fire. Or in a dragon's den, a mother protecting her eggs that will not hesitate to kill me." She could hardly hear herself over the loud whistling of the wind - after all, he had yelled to get her to hear him - but she supposed that was better. After all, she didn't really want to hear him go on and on and on about things he'd learned about rocky areas, forest fires or dragons. What he thought of her constant pessimism and death wishes. "Are we there yet?" She asked boredly, louder this time so he could hear her if he strained to listen, "This is stupid." Unless, She thought cynically, We crash and burn. She crossed her fingers on her free hand.

[Ein Lansfeld]

Ein thought he heard something from the girl when he asked his question - there was definitely a faint sound behind him, but for the very life of him, he couldn't understand what the devil she was saying. Her voice was far too soft to be heard over the euphoric rush of the air sweeping past them. But, chancing a glance backward, the demon was positively delighted to see that the girl had a smile on her face.

It wasn't the biggest, or the brightest smile Ein had ever seen in his life, but it was certainly a step forward! However, his hopes began to sink when she spoke again, this time louder than before, loud enough to be heard, if only barely. She asked if they were "there yet", such a childish question, and then remarked at how she felt the experience was stupid. Well poshfiddles on a sunny day! A moment ago, she had certainly seemed like she was enjoying it! Ein sighed to himself - was the girl just trying to force herself to feel dreary all the time? Was she trying to ignore her own smile and claim indifference?

Ein was baffled, frankly, as to how someone could possibly find this experience boring, after all! Maybe he had been right, unfortunately so this time, and she had had enough rushing around as the wind that this experience simply didn't faze her. In any event, Ein did his best to ignore the negative comment and retained his smile - yes, fine details were making themselves visible below them, and he was able to see where, roughly, they would land now. Oh heavens! Lots of sea, some ports, a few small, hamlet-looking buildings.

"Well, what a rare first!" he declared. "It seems we're to land in Quesier! That hasn't happened before, you see, it was usually Matiera, or sometimes Montevir, but never before have I landed in Quesier!" He was, of course, excited at the prospect of landing somewhere new, but at the same time he was somewhat disappointed. While still Nisequois, Quesier was much more based around sea and fishing, as opposed to forest greenery. He had wanted to take Roksana to a forest, and to be quite honest, he couldn't think of many places in Quesier worth visiting that would help him teach Roksana the lesson he was hoping to teach for the day.

Well, perhaps they could simply sight-see! Wander around for a bit (Ein would certainly think of something to do), and then make the trip to Montevir, as it was the closest and had a definite use in Ein's machinations. The land was getting closer now, so close that Ein could spot individual huts dotting the area, so he summoned his sword to him and held it in a firm grip. Rather than waste time talking to the girl he was holding onto, and thus risk mistiming, he carefully watched the land grow closer and closer - he estimated that they couldn't be more than three hundred feet up now. It was time.

He muttered a magical tongue to himself, one of the few spells he was actually able to use, and his sword glowed with a light, magenta energy. "Cradle!" he called loudly as he swung the blade, the glow leaping off the blade in a large arc of energy, colliding with an open area of land beneath the duo (who were now bare a hundred feet in the air). Immediately upon collision, the energy flamed up, expanding into a large, purple bubble. Ein and Roksana entered this bubble, and their movement quickly began to slow, their acceleration halted and their fall coming to a gradual stop.

Ein's boot gently touched down upon the grassy land, Roksana trailing slightly behind. As soon as Ein released her wrist, the bubble dispelled itself, and all was as normal. Ein dismissed his blade and turned to Roksana with a smile. "Now you must admit, wasn't that just absolutely delightful? Or ate least even a little fun for you?" he asked her, hopefully.

[Roksana Sheirn]

"Whoopee," She sighed as Ein went on about how they were about to land in a city called Quesier. As much as new places did hold a slight bit of interest for her, she just didn't feel it anymore. Perhaps before it had been because she was confused that new things were always interesting. Perhaps it was because there was always the chance that a new place could hold the answers she was looking for. Now, however, she had no questions to answer. She had no curiosity nor did she have confusion. Instead she left with a solid idea of what she wanted, and how everything was going to end. It had come to her up in that tower, and it had yet to leave her. Even the look of the bright blue sea or the lush green forests could pull it away from her mind.

"Delightful?" She said, slightly incredulous as the two landed, "That seems like a bit of an... over-statement? It was the same thing I always do, only with someone holding my hand..." All of a sudden she felt... malicious, she felt as though she ought to make him feel worse about himself, or to make himself feel as though he had to prove something - after all, she figured that she may as well make her last week fun, "I knew this would happen. It is you after all. This is just as boring as your last book."

[Ein Lansfeld]

Ein was struggling to maintain his composure after the girl's needlessly biting insults. He told himself that he simply must maintain control, control himself he did. He was able to do it because he remembered that she was suicidal. She wanted to die. It seemed reasonable that she would say things she might not mean, or that were said simply for the sake of perhaps hastening her demise. And he could do it because he remembered the last time he had lost control of his anger, with this same person as fate would have it, which ended with him nearly eating the girl. And to be fair, his last transformation with her had definitely released all of his pent up anger at that point, so it would still be a good long time before he would need to do that again.

Nonetheless, even with all of his magnificent and admirable restraint, he could not prevent a frown (almost a scowl) from fixing itself onto his features for a few seconds. He breathed in, breathed out heavily, closed his eyes, and then put his magnanimous grin back into place. "Now now, Roksana, there is no need for that!" he reminded her in a playfully reprimanding tone, not wishing to get hostile and only make her more distant. His mission was to get her to open up and admit that life was worth living, wasn't it? "If the experience didn't suit your fancy, there is no need to fret. There is plenty to do here in Niseca! So, shall I tell you our itinerary?"

With a flourish of his broad arms, moving as if to embrace the country he now stood in, he looked upon the lush greenery all around the two of them, as well as the few huts and small stone buildings - they had landed somewhere away from the pier, and most of these residences must have belonged to sailors or fishermen who were out to work; the area seemed completely deserted at present. "This is one of the most beautiful countries in the world, you know, and this city is quite a brilliant thing itself! Our first destination is the pier! I'm sure you'll love it!" he would show her the life, the vibrancy of the people working there, rent a boat, go out into the sea, and the two of them would catch some of their own fish! Yes, she'd probably find that fun!

"And when we finish with what I have planned there, we'll take a boat along the shoreline until we reach the forest bordering Matiera; we'll cross through and arrive in the city by nightfall, find ourselves a nice place to stay the night." he explained further, turning back to the girl with bright, excited eyes. The fish were plentiful here, and if he agreed to turn his catch back to the waters, he was sure that the sailors there wouldn't mind him and his friend doing a little playful fishing. He had heard that sailors could get competitive with outsiders, but this was important! He would make sure it happened! "Shall we be off then?"

[Roksana Sheirn]

He sounded so excited, but at the same time... Not. She didn't think it was all contrived - some of it, but not all - and yet at the same time the man just seemed so unreal. He was straight out of a picture book, an extravagantly beautiful man (admittedly a man she had admired in a feminine sort of way for at least a year) with magnificent words and an audacious quality to the way he moved. The words he said seemed preplanned and rehearsed as she decided no one could speak like that without previous thought. Then again, it was his trade, wasn't it? Words. It was like that woman who wrote for that trashy newspaper, she seemed to find it so easy to come up with fake words that made her seem both like a lunatic and a genius. Perhaps it was the way the world worked. Writers sounded fake while politicians and warlords sounded like the most convincing truth-tellers to ever grace the face of Setsuwa.

"I guess," She shrugged, following him as he started to wherever was first on their list. In complete honesty, she felt a vague curtain of interest veil her as she followed dutifully. As much as she didn't care, she still wanted to know what she wasn't caring about. It was a curious state of apathy that juxtaposed itself in a mind that - although clear on so many things now, like her death - was so jumbled and filled with confusing thoughts and misleading ideas. She still wanted to die, she would have liked for it to all end this very moment in fact, but she did want to follow and see the things he wanted her to see. After all, he was kind of charming. Only a little bit.

[Ein Lansfeld]

Well, at least she was being agreeable now, if not pleasant about it, but that was still better than nothing! "Then without further ado, my pet, let us be off!" he exclaimed happily at her, making sure to give another of his famous sunny grins before turning on his heel to march off in the direction of the pier. He had never landed from one of his dives in this city before, but he had still had a fine view of the place from his vantage point in the sky. Locating the pier wouldn't be too hard.

- - -

Well, it had taken just a smidge longer than he had anticipated, but what was important was that it was still bright out by the time they had reached it. The Quesian Harbor was rich with the scent of fish, sand, and salty air. It was a true mariner's scent, one that had Ein had smelled a few times before, but he never grew tired of it. It was just such a natural scent! And combined with the also natural scent of the Nisequois flowers and trees that were all over the place, it was simply a smell like no other!

"Something about this scent just enthralls me! It arms my heart with the spirit of adventure, makes me want to rush out into the sea and find all of life's hidden treasures!" Looking around for a moment, Ein spotted what he was looking for - off in the distance, amidst a crowd of sailors and fishermen, a large establishment could be seen, offering out boat rentals for the day. "Roksana, I am going to go and get us a boat. Would you please wait here for just a moment?" he asked her with a wink, hoping she might be growing more interested at the prospect of some sea-faring. Something told him it was probably something she had never done before, which made him feel somewhat prideful that he could bring the experience to her. Now he just had to hope she remained as interested as she had seemed earlier. Well, as interested as she COULD seem given her sour disposition.

[Roksana Sheirn]

If possible, the place he brought her was worse than any she'd seen before. Worse than the entire horrible country of Atton - all because of the smell. That small amount of progress Ein had made dissipated quickly when the stench of slowly rotting sea-meat, rough and grainy sand and the overpowering odour of salt. Her stomach flipped around, unprepared for such a thing. Even a few steps back it had not been quite as disgusting as when they passed the first stand selling "freshly caught" fish that smelled a day old.

"The only thing it arms me for is throwing up," She said with a fatigue in her voice that came from feeling green. She clutched at her stomach as he ran off to get them a boat to sail around on. Get closer to the source of this vomit-inducing haze. She bent at the knees, crouching to try and avoid the smell of anything but the wood beneath her feet. "Fish for the lady?" Was heard as two dead, disgusting eyes were shoved in her face. It was as if the thing hadn't brushed it's teeth as it's gaping mouth released a heavy stench. It was as if it hadn't lived it's life in water, but instead in urine. She gagged, pushing the hand away. Any idea she had of Ein's charm dissipated in that moment. Anyone who would take her here and leave her alone to be bothered by merchants selling dead things was someone she could never find charming. At least for as long as she had to suffer through it all.