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year 5, quarter 3
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Post by Celes Chere on Aug 11, 2015 9:44:38 GMT -6
A long time ago, Celes would not have found anything so very special about the town of Provo. It was foreign to her, certainly. The people wore strange clothes (there seemed to be less scarves than she was used to), drove strange vehicles, and spoke into odd devices. There were some sectors that reminded her a little of Jidoor and others that could only remind her of Zozo. Still, this would not have been so much of a shock only two years prior. Back then, she might have accepted the inconsistencies with an uneasy smirk and a demand for answers.
But Celes was not the same woman she'd been two years ago, and to her, there was no greater miracle than a safe place to sleep for the night.
I've gone insane, she thought as she approached the town. Here, there were grasses, playing children, and buildings so tall she felt dizzy watching them. The town bled in from the countryside -- first a house here then a store there until she was suddenly surrounded by people, noises, and light. Her boots tapped hard against the road as she walked, and she suddenly felt as many stares on her as she provided to those she passed. These people wore strange fabrics and none of them carried swords. They also did not wear capes, and more than once, she caught someone pointing at hers. This was not a separation of countries, but of whole different worlds. These people had the casual look of those who had never known war. They proved more curious than suspicious and they did not eye her as though she might be some infiltrating spy. That was not to mention the lack of desperation or paranoia that she had already witnessed from Douken Sota. No, the trip here had given her enough time to come to terms with that.
In this world, the people were not afraid. The clouds did not part to inflict sudden judgment from a mad god. The ground was not cracked; the water was clear. If Celes continued to speak of ruin to these people, she would look insane. As she very well might have been, but they didn't need to know that.
Out of desperation, Celes asked the townspeople to direct her towards somewhere to stay. They each seemed shocked as she approached them, then gained looks of sudden understanding, and finally pity. They gave her directions in the same tone that one might use with a lost child. One man seemed under the impression that she was some kind of low class prostitute. The suggestion had so shocked her that she could only sputter out a few words until his further insistence had driven her to her sword. "I'm a soldier!" she'd wanted to correct, but that wasn't right anymore, was it? She'd once been a general, then she was a survivor, and what was she now? Well, a strange woman who pulled swords on overly pushy civilians, for one. From his terrified expression, the man had clearly never seen combat. Several bystanders froze and watched her with wide eyes. Someone said he was going to call "the police." Celes scowled, sheathed her sword, and continued on her way.
She was eventually directed towards an inn of some sort, though its features were unfamiliar to her. Everything from the make of the furniture to the use of lighting seemed somehow sleeker and brighter than she was used to. Even as the man at the counter blinked at her in confusion, she had no choice but to approach the man and awkwardly pull some leftover GP from her pocket. It wasn't much (Locke and Setzer had liked to handle the money for reasons she preferred not to ponder), but it occurred to her that the amount might not matter as she asked, "Do you take this?"
The man gave her a look of concern and then took one of the coins in his hand. His sudden frown told her the answer was no. "This isn't gil," he said.
"Gil?" she repeated. He sighed and there was that pity again.
"You're one of them," he said. Celes didn't have the chance to ask what he meant by that before he told her, "I have a spare room, if you want it. Just this once."
So she had come to surviving off the kindness of strangers. Celes didn't like it, but given her options (the other being sleeping outside where she might be assaulted), she took it all the same. The room itself was well-supplied and shockingly clean for someone who was used to living in wastelands. The bed was warm -- the pillows soft -- and she would have liked to have called it safe. Still, habit told her to check the window, under the bed, behind the door, and in the closet for intruders before she let down her guard. Closing her eyes, she would have liked to forget. In this place that felt so far away from the hell she knew, she would have liked not to have shifted and tossed as though certain that she was being watched. She would have liked to have had someone beside her to watch for assailants or to tell her if a part of the town had been obliterated in the night. Celes was alone, however, and had to deal with these matters herself. She slept with her sword beneath her pillow. Outside, she heard nothing but the calming lull of crickets.
The next morning, Celes left to wander the town without direction. She was lost, confused, and hadn't eaten for over a day and a half. Worse still, as she rounded another unfamiliar street corner, it seemed she'd caught the eye of someone more hostile than any curious civilian. He was an older man with graying hair and a wilting mustache. He straightened as she passed and spoke into one of their odd communication devices. Then he tagged along behind her, far enough away that any usual person might not notice. Celes was not usual, however. She had learned to study the environment for enemies and to recognize when she was being followed. She turned to face him before she could reach some easy place of ambush. She kept a hand on her sword. "Do you want something?" she asked as coolly as she could manage. The man jumped at her sudden attention. His hand strayed to something at his belt.
"I'm with the police. I need you to drop your weapon."
She eyed the something at his belt. It reminded her a little of Magitek technology or perhaps one of Edgar's tools. "Are you a soldier?" she demanded.
"We've had reports of a woman in a cape and leotard threatening to stab people. I'm going to need you to come with me."
A look behind him confirmed her suspicions. More men were approaching, all carrying their odd weapons, all dressed the same. Her experiences had taught her to distrust guards and soldiers. She unsheathed her sword.
The man's eyes widened. He pulled that unfamiliar weapon from its holster and aimed it at her threateningly. "Freeze, or I'll shoot!" His voice wavered as though he were staring down a behemoth. Was there something about her that specifically terrified him? Behind him, the others did the same, all aiming their weapons at her. There were three of them in all.
Celes took a step back. A few years ago, she might have complied with their demands, but the world had changed -- she had changed -- and that was no longer an option. She held out her unarmed hand and brought the cold chill of magic to her fingertips.
The soldiers gave a shout of alarm. She heard a deafening noise like firaga and then her shoulder was struck by something hot and piercing. She felt the magic (her own and that of the espers) well inside her for protection. Without their defenses, the blow might have crippled her. With it, Celes merely winced and continued her spell. With a flash of light, her magic was cast. The air froze, the wind ran chill, and all four of them gave cries of pain as the heat was drained from their bodies. The attack caught the attention of every man, woman, and child in a three block radius. Civilians were running. There were shouts of alarm, cries of "Did you hear a gunshot?", followed by "What was that?" From distant streets she heard sounds that might have been alarms. From her experience, that sound would summon more soldiers and here she was -- out in the open, confused, and completely lost.
With nowhere to go, Celes did the only thing she could do -- she ran.
If you’d asked her a few days ago what she was doing, Ruby would’ve told you that she’d be safe in Alexandria memorizing lines and putting together a costume. There would be silence in the backdrop, down in her small theatre. Mostly because no one would show up to help her with what she was doing; but she didn’t mind at times when she wanted to get things done her own way, on her own time with no one hanging over her shoulder every bloody second, wanting to pester her.
Now though, she was stuck in some other place, Zephon, her mind spat venomously, making her teeth grin together in her mouth unpleasantly and her fists tighten in a closed fist. The silverette stopped in the middle of the road, from Torensten where she’d arrived, and Provo, where she was heading. She didn’t need to think about the situation to get her riled up and spitting fire—being here was a constant reminder.
A white-gloved fist lashed out and struck a tree, digging into the bark quite deeply. The loud crack, like a whip slicing through the air, and the resounding smash caught none’s ears other than her own, and abusing the plant life didn’t bring her any relief in the situation. Pulling her fist back out, Ruby would shake it a few time to let the splinters scatter and unstick from the dainty-looking, but obviously durable glove.
“This all smells worse than a barrel of curdled chocobo milk,” She said aloud, pulling the tanned cloak closer around her shoulders.
But she couldn’t complain, not when there work to be done. That’s right, Ruby reminded herself as she took a calming breath. The rest of Tantalus—they needed to see if any of them had landed in this place, as well. That was why she was out here, out in the middle of nowhere but on her way to somewhere. For Tantalus. For their family.
Ruby arrived in Provo, walking through the gates of the city with little trouble other than some guard asking what her business was. A sweet smile, bat of her eyelashes and, ‘Now, sweety, is that something you should be asking a lady?’ and the traveler was on her way with directions to a popular inn within the city that she could pick up information in. Men are the same, no matter what chunk’o land you were on.
It was early in the day, enough so that she didn’t want to get stuck inside in a more than likely testosterone filled chunk of wood and loud noises. A walk around would fill the time, and who knows? Maybe one of them will be doing the same.
Taking a street down, Ruby pulled to cloak apart in the front and behind her shoulders, letting the odd-textured air of the town soak into her. Nothing like home.
Nothing like home meant strange, and as a crack resounded through the air like a dog barking, it scattered people like fearful cattle and a stampede started. “Get out of the way!” one of the people pushing past her snapped, and Ruby felt an elbow in her waist that was going to leave a bruise more than likely. Baring her teeth, she whipped around to start yelling, but they were already gone, a cloud of dust in their wake. Doors and windows alike closed, and Ruby looked around with narrowed eyes. These people are used to this happening.
Looking back to where she heard the noise, Ruby headed towards it with a determined stomp to her step. Maybe it was one of them—a member of Tantalus! She had to know, confirm it for herself so she could give them a good whallop upside their head for making such a disturbing ruckus. “Bloody idiots, all of them! Nothin’ ‘tween their ears but hot air and stu-pid-it-ty!”
Ruby kept going, and came to a sudden and abrupt stop when she felt something—someone, crash into her. Arms outstretched, the woman tried to grab onto something to stop her descent onto the ground, only to not find anything and have her back meet the hard face of the unforgiving, cold, and slightly damp ground. “Who-ooo-a there!!”
Final Fantasy VI
22
YEARS
Female
Complicated
Heterosexual
429 POSTS
Fin
Use your own eyes and see for yourself whose side I'm on!
Post by Celes Chere on Aug 27, 2015 19:32:53 GMT -6
Celes was not pursued immediately. Whoever these strange soldiers were, they did not appear to be overly organized. She escaped into the panic of the civilians as they fled from the sound of that strange weapon and Celes' magic alike. Terrified children dodged inside empty storefronts. Scandalized women closed windows and hid behind the shelter of walls. This chaos was more the environment that Celes had grown used to. In a strange way, it felt more like home to her than the idyllic fields and overgrown forests of this world. Even before the planet had turned to lawless waste, Celes had not been unused to inspiring awe and terror. As a general, she had led the siege on the city of Maranda. Back then, she had been led by a sense of nationalism and self-pride. She had acted as humanely as possible, given the guidelines of war. However, the incident had changed her. There was only so much death one could order before sleep came uneasily. This was not like that.
With alarms blaring behind her and panic fleeing before her, Celes ran without any clear direction. Her boots tapped readily on uneven pavement. Her breaths came quickly. She kept one hand on her sword. She did not want to harm any more who might apprehend her, but if the choice came to lose her freedom, she would act without hesitation. She glanced behind her, peering into the shadowed streets for signs of pursuit. When she looked back in front of her, she didn't have time to slow down before she came barreling into a sea of pale hair. She gave a shout of surprise as bone smacked bone. Celes' legs tangled on this new obstacle and suddenly she was pitched forward towards hard ground. She skidded with a wince and a barely restrained curse as her hands were scraped into gravel. Behind her, there was an offended cry -- a woman's voice.
“Who-ooo-a there!!”
Celes looked over to see a -- well, what she could only describe as a call girl. The woman appeared to be about Celes' age, but wore the kind of outfit that Celes had only seen on the dancing women of Zozo. Her pleated skirt tilted up to her hip where it met the lace of thigh-high leggings. Her hair was done up over the side of a ruffled bandanna. Her blouse was unbuttoned to the top of her waist-clenching bodice, and Celes swore that the woman would expose herself if she moved the wrong way. For a moment, it was all Celes could do to stare. She had certainly not expected to stumble into a woman like this.
"I'm sorry," Celes said once she'd found her voice. She stood and brushed dirt off her cape and leotard with the back of her hands. Her palms were smeared in dirt and blood. She eyed them distastefully before calling on her dormant magic to heal them. "Cure," she muttered and allowed the magic to well in her wounds. Within seconds, the damage was undone. She glanced uneasily behind her towards approaching pandemonium. Soon, they would be upon her -- but not yet. "Can I...help you up?" Celes offered the woman hesitantly. Her hand itched towards her sword. She couldn't leave this city fast enough.
Ruby moved her top up off the ground, and put a hand to the back of her head for a moment. There better not have been anything strange in that water—she threatening promised in her mind. Casting her eyes over to the person that had knocked her back, Ruby was left staring right back. What was she wearing—that was a leotard. Ain’t ever seen someone just walk around in that before. White cape, sword, shoulder armor; Ruby’d like to have taken her for an actor or something, when she’d first looked. Had she run in on some performance, or something?
Then, hearing the hurried steps of soldiers and remembering the earlier reactions of the locals, Ruby ditched the idea fast. The blonde, green eyed offender wasn’t an actor, even if they did sorta look like one. No, this was an honest to true soldier, Ruby came to when she looked in her eyes. One of them high up folk, she reckoned, what with the way she looked. One that knew how to fight, what with the sword.
“I’m sorry,” The other had said after a moment of just staring. Ruby looked down at herself and over her clothes—nothing was out of place, so there was no reason to, unless she swung that way—and Ruby didn’t think she did, so like the people of Torensten, maybe Provo would find her just as odd looking. Not like she was gonna change what she wore to fit in with a flock of sheep, but Ruby pulled the cloak she had pushed aside back around her, closing the front. It'd kept eyes away from her, let her blend in so far. She'd keep it that way until she was around someone friendly, like the other members of Tantalus.
Tantalus!
There was no sound, no chaos and shouting that she could recognize from being around it so long, and knowing it by heart. Maybe the one who caused this whole fiasco wasn't one of them? Well, that was good for them, she guessed. One less thing to bark their ear off for. Ruby was sure she could find something by the time they all got back together to gnaw them out for, anyways.
The woman cast a spell, and she knew what it was by of course the name said, and being someone who used it herself on occasion. Looked like she’d taken quite the scrape there, with that fall. "Can I...help you up?" Ruby shook her head and bent a knee, getting herself up. There wasn't any need for someone to help her up, she hadn't broken anything and she most certainly wasn't going to cry over getting knocked back like a cowboy off of a bucking bull.
“Nah, what’s got you in such a hurry cowgirl? Only ever been knocked round that like one other time, and they were in quite the buzz to get away too, from what I ‘eard.” She looked back over, down the street to where more of the noise was coming from, and getting louder. “Ain’t got nothin’ to do with that there ruckus from earlier, does it?”
Final Fantasy VI
22
YEARS
Female
Complicated
Heterosexual
429 POSTS
Fin
Use your own eyes and see for yourself whose side I'm on!
Post by Celes Chere on Aug 28, 2015 12:08:49 GMT -6
Thankfully, the woman got up by herself. It seemed that Celes hadn't particularly harmed her. Celes hadn't expected to, but she wasn't the type to hurt civilians, nor to leave them behind should they get in harm's way. Celes glanced behind her once more to check for oncoming soldiers. The street was still clear. She had to keep moving if she expected to avoid any more unnecessary bloodshed.
“Nah, what’s got you in such a hurry cowgirl? Only ever been knocked round that like one other time, and they were in quite the buzz to get away too, from what I ‘eard. Ain’t got nothin’ to do with that there ruckus from earlier, does it?”
"I-I'm sorry?" The woman spoke, but Celes couldn't quite understand the dialect. It was the same language, definitely, but there was something off about the intonation and something even more off about the vocabulary. "Cowgirl...?" she echoed weakly. Celes had heard of nomadic cattle ranchers in some areas of the Veldt that went by similar titles, but she was most certainly not one of those, and she didn't know how someone might get that idea. "I'm a-." Soldier, she started to say, but that wasn't true. Despite her endless wandering, she still had no idea what to call herself. At this very moment it would seem she most closely resembled a criminal. What would this woman say if she knew what Celes had just done? What would she think if she knew how connected to the "ruckus" she truly was? Celes took a step back and gripped her sword.
"I'm sorry. I have to-," she started to say before there was another explosion and something jolted past her shoulder. A look back showed that the soldiers had not slowed their pursuit. They saw her now, at the end of the street, and were shouting into their communication devices. Celes' eyes widened. She turned to escape in the other direction, but the soldiers had found their way here as well. They raised their projectile weapons threateningly. Celes looked from man to man and from weapon to weapon. She was surrounded.
While Celes did not want to hurt anyone, she had no objections to a fight. Still, she could not risk violence in such close proximity to a civilian. She glanced from one blockade to the other and raised her voice. "I don't want trouble," she said, "If you want to live, then you'll leave me alone." The soldiers did not respond. Celes glanced back at the woman seriously. "Take cover somewhere," she told her before stepping forward and drawing her sword. The soldiers flinched. One of them fired. The projectile hit her as sharp and biting as before, but did not pierce skin. She flinched and cast a barrier on herself before another explosion could sound. Her skin hardened with magic. It deflected the shot with only a pinch of pain.
Magic came to her stronger now, and in a second she had cast again. Magic flowed cold through her blood and then erupted in icy spears about her enemies' feet. It rose through the air like a noxious cloud that sucked out the warmth of life. That side of the street was overtaken in cries of pain. The other was a cacophony of detonations. Bullets swarmed her like bees. They struck her in piercing blows against strengthened skin and armor. She dodged into the hailstorm and felt hot metal strike blood. When she'd closed the distance between them, her blade met flesh. She struck them down with the practiced blows of a soldier. Their endless barrage weakened her defenses and drew cuts, scrapes, bruises, and burns. By the time that she had pulled her blade from the last of them, her movements felt heavy and her arms were running with blood. She stumbled away from the wreckage and leaned heavily against a brick wall. Her knees trembled. She slid against it until she was sitting on rocky ground. Her knees curled to her chest as her forehead found its way to resting on her forearms.
"I told you not to come," she said quietly. Force, oppression, violence. There was no use for it anymore, or at least, there hadn't been. Not in her wasted world of monsters and broken lives. Wherever she was now, it was a place that had not seen such horrors. It was a place where authority still meant something and orders were something to die for. "Where am I?" she asked, and then she was laughing. It was a slow, quiet laugh that sounded hollow, even to her ears. She was tired, confused, and alone. It was all she could do to ask questions and laugh at the absurdity of it all.
Far beyond herself, more sirens had sounded. She did not raise her head to look at it.
OOC: ((I hope I didn't make her too overpowered or bloodthirsty. xD My logic is that you fight TONS of human enemies in FF6, so obviously the characters can take gunshots and have no qualms about killing soldiers. Oh well.))
“I’m sorry. I have to—“ Ruby swore underneath her breath as something whizzed by—ain’t nothing she’d ever seen before, it just flew and wow her heart was in her throat all of a sudden! The soldiers, that’s what they were, weren’t they? Yes, they came up and with all the intentions of cornering the lass, blocked off the street both ways to where neither could get out.
“You’ve gotta be jokin’,” she muttered under her breath as she stood, tense with her shoulders hunching forward. So, this woman was the reason everyone was up in arms and running to and fro for. What could she have done, to make them swarm like such angry bees? First glance she didn’t seem capable of all that much, maybe they were just as ready to flaunt military power as that fat cow on the throne had been before she reached her end.
“I don’t want any trouble. if you want to live, then you’ll leave me alone.” They don’t seem to be listening, the silverette wanted to say to the soldier. In fact, from the first whatever they threw at them, it seemed like they’d be quite content with your body on the street. “Take cover somewhere.” Yeah she really should—wait a second! Did that imply that she couldn’t take care of herself?! Now, that was just downright insultin’, it was. Ain’t no man, and not a soldier, but she can throw down like the—
More shots were fired and Ruby ducked to the side and covered her head, startled by whatever the strange weapon was. Dislike about being told to hide somewhere forgotten, the actress peered out from behind her arms and watched the proceedings of the fight. Well, she wasn’t any regular cowgirl, was she? Not like the sheep and the bees that were from this place, that’s for sure.
It was to her understanding that there were other stronger people here, pulled from whoever knows where and dropped here. Maybe this one was like them? She hadn’t come across any other, aside from Blank, so far, so she’d be the first. With the way she was using her magic, though, Ruby thought that maybe, just maybe, she wasn’t cut like these folk. Which meant what she’d been coming to a conclusion to. This sword-swinging magic-throwing lady came to this darned place like them.
She took care of them real quick, seeming to be real good with that sword she had on her from what Ruby observed. By now, with the soldiers numbers thinned and a way to escape, the normal person would’ve gotten the heck outta dodge and somewhere a lot safer. Ruby, though, saw something slightly there to gain from this. If this person was like them, then maybe she knew something that Ruby didn’t. In the situation they were all in, information was going to be the strongest weapon at the moment. She might’ve also come across someone from Tantalus.
The blonde seemed to go through something like a breakdown as the fight ended, sitting down all bruised and battered and looking like she’d gone up and poked a hornets nest with her sword. In simple terms, she had, with angering them there soldiers that were kinda… Ruby poked one with her foot lightly, confirming that he was a stiff.
“Where am I?” She’d gone and started laughing, and Ruby rose a questioning eyebrow as she slowly walked over, not wanting to end up skewered on her pointy stick. There were more loud noises, sounded like more of the guys that she had chopped down real easy like.
Ruby lifted her hand and casted a cure on the woman, “Well, I’d reckon you’re in Porv—ah, Provo, from what I understand. Listen, I understand you just uh, took down quite a few of these suits, but you need to get outta here nice and fast before more of ‘dem come and start raising a ruckus.”
Kneeling down a bit, she cast another spell just to be sure. Been a long time since she’d used any of that after all. “Now uh, lassie, this ain’t no time ta be sittin’ round and be waitin’ like you be doing there, come on now, don’t be a-givin’ up just yet.”
She didn’t do reassuring, didn’t do pep talks, so that was the best she could offer at the moment for a person that seemed really out of place and about on the edge of falling off. Ruby could understand, after all. This place—they don’t know nothing about it, right at this moment. Doesn’t mean she’s gonna sit down and take it that way. Letting someone else didn’t make her feel good, and wouldn’t when she faced the rest of the troupe. There was something she could kinda do at the moment, and that was getting the blonde up on her feet like a bomb was on her heels and ready to explode.
Final Fantasy VI
22
YEARS
Female
Complicated
Heterosexual
429 POSTS
Fin
Use your own eyes and see for yourself whose side I'm on!
Post by Celes Chere on Aug 28, 2015 17:24:03 GMT -6
Despite the violence, the danger, and the bloodshed, the woman did not leave.
As Celes sat with her back against a wall, bleeding and bruised, the woman approached. Magic stirred in the air -- not her own -- and suddenly Celes felt stronger. The pain dulled and her lightest of cuts stopped bleeding. Celes blinked in surprise. If her previous encounter with that bull-headed monk had told her anything, it was that magic was not so odd to these people. Still, it was disconcerting to see it used by such an unsuspecting woman. Celes wondered briefly if she had somehow found magicite, but the idea seemed unlikely. No one so far had shown any sign of familiarity with espers or magicite in this world. Perhaps the rules had changed here or this woman was a magus. Or perhaps Celes had just gone insane. Yes, that was still a possibility.
“Well, I’d reckon you’re in Porv—ah, Provo, from what I understand. Listen, I understand you just uh, took down quite a few of these suits, but you need to get outta here nice and fast before more of ‘dem come and start raising a ruckus.”
Ha! And she was giving advice. Celes laughed a little more despite herself -- or maybe at herself. Here was the great General Celes reduced to cowering on the side of the road. Here was the fearsome Magitek Knight, being healed and given instruction from what might very well have been a prostitute. Celes took a deep, shaking breath and ran a hand through her hair. The worst part was that this woman -- whoever she was -- was right. Celes needed to move. If she valued her life. Now that was the question, wasn't it?
The woman knelt beside her and cast more of her curative magic. Where had she gotten it from? “Now uh, lassie, this ain’t no time ta be sittin’ round and be waitin’ like you be doing there, come on now, don’t be a-givin’ up just yet.”
Embarrassing. Celes smirked a little at her own weakness. Had she given up again? Perhaps. Most of the blood on her hands was not her own. With her wounds healed (or mostly healed, the magic had been quite weak), she slowly raised to her feet. "Thank you," she told the woman. "I just..." She tried to search for the right words. "I needed a moment." That would do. Celes looked back behind her, towards sirens and more panic. She knelt down to pick up her discarded sword, and then sheathed it.
Then she realized that she did not know what to do next.
Should she leave the city and wander back into the wilderness? It wasn't as though she was unused to surviving on her own. Yes, perhaps the wild was the only place she could involve herself at the moment. But where had she come from and how would she get there? She didn't know a single thing about this city and all of the paved streets and towering buildings looked the same to her. It was for this reason that she looked to the women and almost sheepishly asked, "Do you know a place to hide?" Perhaps if she could collect her bearings she would be able to navigate for herself. A smirk caught at her lips as she looked up to the sky. "I need to get out of this place," she said, "I think I've made a mess for myself."
Yes, that was one word for it. Others being disaster and massacre. 'Well, at least that much feels like home,' she thought. She seemed to be running on some kind of defiance streak, and didn't know how to stop.
“Thank you, I just… I needed a moment.” Well, she was on her feet, step one was done. Ruby glanced around and made sure that none of them were twitching, waiting for the woman to pick up her sword and gather herself up. If they wanted to get her out of sight, it’d need to be pretty soon. If they caught eye of the soldiers, then there’d be another chase that wouldn’t end well. Men were sickeningly persistent, after all.
“S’all right, ain’t nothin’ wrong with taking a bit of a moment.” Sometimes. This time was between black and white, because they had time but not a lot of it. This window was going to be small to slip through.
Blondie looked at her, and Ruby gave her half of her attention, with one eye and her brain. “Do you know a place to hide?” Probably not what she was expecting, maybe. Ruby did have something of an idea, she was good at this kinda thing, after all. Much to her dismay, it’ll forever be a part of her. “I need to get out of this place, I think I’ve made a mess for myself.” Mess, now, that was a might understatement.
The woman had made a cluster of chaos, but mess was a simpler word for the situation, and Ruby wasn’t gonna start talking her ear off, not when they were so close to danger. “We can get’ye somewhere to wait until the heat cools off.” Ruby looked at the street, catching a sign that told her what she needed. Just a few blocks away, then. “Keep yer head down, and follow me, ain’t got nothin’ to cover you up at the moment but when we stop where we’re going, I’ll grab something.” More like talk it out of someone or steal it, depended on how good the inn keeper was about keeping stuff like that. “Let’s get outta here, then.”
She started out into a walk, before it got brisker and she was leading her down a street. She hung a left, expecting the soldier to keep up with her despite what had gone on earlier. They didn’t need to go that far, after all, and time was of the essence. Bahamut Zero Ln. crossing Prickly Cactuar, was where the inn was. They were on Prickly Cactuar and the crossing shouldn’t be that far away. They were still near the better part of the city, after all. The soldiers wouldn’t have gotten there so fast if they hadn’t been. A station was close by, on this side of Provo.
Ruby stuck to the side of the street as they fled, and caught they door as they came on it and opened it, “In, in,” she waved her hand, cross between frantic and out of breath. There was no better place to hide other than a building full of loud, obnoxious people after all. An inn was just perfect, and this one was chock full from the telling signs of the bar room in the front. Not a table empty, but there was bound to be rooms open that they could hide away in. Not everyone here was going to stay for the night, after all. Some were locals, just coming to get drunk.
Which meant most wouldn’t remember them passing, and the inn keeper knew what business discretion meant, if he knew what was good for him. She eyed him, behind the counter at the front, “Got a room? We be a’needin’ somewhere to cool off from the journey,” He nodded his head, and reached back to the hooks behind him and lifted a key off of it, handing it to her where they traded—gil for key.
“Lunch is already gone and passed, but you can order something from the kitchen if you need.”
“Will do, gramps.” Ruby looked over her shoulder at her companion that had hopefully gotten inside and was behind her, “Let’s get up there then,” the noise of soldiers was all over the place, but not at the inn just yet, if they’d brave it to check. “I’mma ‘bouta fall on my back and cough out me lungs,”
((OOC: Lemme know if something needs to be changed xD Just went with the flow and got them somewhere else.))
Final Fantasy VI
22
YEARS
Female
Complicated
Heterosexual
429 POSTS
Fin
Use your own eyes and see for yourself whose side I'm on!
Post by Celes Chere on Aug 30, 2015 19:57:02 GMT -6
Despite her question, Celes had not been expecting for this new women to be so helpful. Who would be insane enough to aid a mass-murdering criminal, after all? But then, Celes had found that the world was not so black and white as she had once imagined it. Some of the most upstanding people she'd met would fall under the same classification, and the most supportive would be labeled by many as a common thief. No, one could not tell another's character by their standing with the law. Perhaps this woman knew that, or perhaps she thought better than to cross a woman who had single-handedly disabled so many. Either way, Celes felt great relief when the woman offered her aid. “We can get’ye somewhere to wait until the heat cools off," the woman said, "“Keep yer head down, and follow me, ain’t got nothin’ to cover you up at the moment but when we stop where we’re going, I’ll grab something.” From what Celes could understand, the woman seemed to know her way around, or at the very least to have experience in this sort of thing. Celes nodded. "Thank you," she said. "This is-...," but found that she couldn't say anymore. This wasn't the right time. Not with the sound of soldiers approaching.
“Let’s get outta here, then," the woman said. Celes silently followed her lead. They wandered the city's long, strange-smelling streets together. The woman stayed ahead with Celes close behind. With the area's apparent state of emergency, they encountered few on their way. Those they passed kept their eyes to themselves and walked quickly. No one stared so much at Celes' strange attire or at the blood she had tried to clean from her hands. They walked quickly without stopping for directions. The woman slipped inside a doorway and waved Celes inside.
The building revealed itself to be an inn of some kind. It was of a lesser quality than the one Celes had taken shelter in the night before. The lobby was filled with tables, people, and the noxious fumes of alcohol. Celes resisted the urge to wrinkle her nose at it. These were not the most scrupulous of people, but Celes had seen worse. She had lived with worse, actually, between Setzer's gambling, Locke's "treasure-hunting," and Edgar's heavy interest in women. Then there was Gau's collection of meat, Sabin's eternal sweat-stench, and Relm's many paint stains. She had even lived with a yeti for some period of time. Given that, Celes had little issue hiding her disgust for this place. Compared to the common state of the Falcon, there was very little to complain about.
The woman exchanged money for a room and then led Celes upstairs. From the window, Celes could still hear sirens and even the sounds of voices and hurried footsteps. It reminded her of her escape from South Figaro, so long ago. There had been soldiers then too, and Celes had been just as wanted and feared as the magic-using threat that she was. Only Locke was not here this time to save her. Instead, there was only a strange woman of uncertain motivation and unknown name. Perhaps it was not so different after all...
“I’mma ‘bouta fall on my back and cough out me lungs," the woman helpfully informed her. Celes gave her an odd look.
"I think it's the exhaust from machines," she said. The same smell had hovered over Vector and the decks of their airships. Often, Celes would hear people from rural areas complain of it. It had even threatened to make Gau sick on his first airship ride, but it was nothing to Celes. She followed the woman until they stopped outside the door that matched the number on their key. Without anyone in earshot, Celes turned to her.
"Thank you," she said again now that they were safe, "I don't know what I would have done without your help. I probably would have, well, continued as I was." Yes, she most likely would have fought her way out. Whether she'd survived or not, the toll of her actions would have been too great. She coughed a little to clear the tension from her throat. "What is your name, by the way? Mine's Celes." After a moment, she added, "I'm not from around here," though she assumed that was obvious. If her magic hadn't given it away, then her clothes and confusion certainly would. Still, it seemed official this way, to get everything out on the table now. If her experience in the forest had taught her anything, it was not to over-judge another's intelligence, perception, or common sense.
“I think it’s the exhaust from machines,” Ruby heard her say. It had been an expression, was the woman too serious to get that kinda thing? Seemed like it was just that. It made the corner of her mouth tilt up in a small, grin. Ah, yes, them city-folk were quite the bunch of characters.
They got inside the room and Ruby found herself falling into a chair. Her head tilted back and she exhaled, stretching her legs for a moment before pulling them back in so she could sit up straight. “Thank you, I don’t know what I would have done without your help, I probably would have, well, continued as I was.” Ruby imagine that would have ended with her covered in blood and a lotta dead soldiers on the ground. Whether she would have survived from it all… well that was in the air. Her abilities so far were pretty good, better than Ruby’s, but were they that good?
She imagined that Zidane and the boys could get through it, but they were together and all around a bunch of mischeivious prairie dogs, the lot of them. This lady didn’t have anyone behind her, except for someone that had given her a little help and had led her away, a perfect stranger. Must be weird.
“Ain’t no problem, Lassie. Didn’t sit well with me, in me stomach, yeah?” It hadn’t, which is why she had reached out and did what she had at the moment. There were questions that she needed to ask, but they could wait a few moments. Not like they were going to be jumping out the window to escape at the second.
“What’s you name by the way? Mine’s Celes.” She paused, seeming to have something else to say so Ruby waited patiently, her hands clasped in her lap as she leaned forward and watched her. “I’m not from around here.” What an odd name; but pretty none the less. Ruby didn’t think she could say it to save her life, though. Odd, and not common, and her not being from around there didn’t come to her as much of a shock as it should have.
“I’m Ruby,” nothing wrong with giving her what she usually went by, there wasn’t any reason this woman would use it for anything bad. She hoped, that is. One could never be too good a judge of character, there was always something hidden inside, after all. “Guess we both be the same. I thought so, when I saw ‘ya. Well, not at first, I suppose. After seein’ ya throw that magic round though, the thought came to me. Ain’t many from around here that can do that, from what I’ve gathered.” She revealed what was on her mind, as well; it might get her to trust her better after all.
“Ain’t seen or heard of you from where I’m from,” which was weird--someone with such skills would be well known, which meant that they weren't from the same place. Everything about this was weird and it brought back the discomfort from earlier that had been boiling. Other worlds out there? With people, different in so many ways? It wasn’t a far off thought, she wasn’t so closed minded, but she’d like to have stayed in her small little home without all this weirdness. “This whole thing stinks like chocobo dung.”
