Final Fantasy J

[Sound of Azure]

A shiver passes through the girl as if a cold wind had struck, her arms involuntarily drawing around herself. "I guess it's not safe anywhere anymore..." She says almost inaudibly as her gaze draws south.

Quiet for a while, Frida looks thoughtfully down at the street below, "There are people in this world that make a difference, though." She relaxes a little as her smile returns, as if by a fond memory.

"As for the shopping, " she looks again at Kyo and leans forward toward him, "I have faith that we'll be fine if we all stick together! We can watch each other's backs, like we always have."

With that, her attention returns to her sketching, the cityscape taking shape line by line, even as the city grows brick by brick below.

 

[Caros]

"That's the truth of life I suppose. Something orphans learn hardest of all." For him too his smile was momentarily gone, Eyes glazed over, fingers locked in a death grip along the banister. This was the reason people still worried about him these days, these little lapses of presence, where he seemed to be somewhere else, somewhere distant.

Cut them! Kill them!

Kyo snapped back to reality with a start, his left arm lashing out to grab the banister to keep from falling backwards onto the balcony with the force of it.

He took a moment, shaking his head, trying to hide his rose colored skin beneath those white bangs before looking to Frida. These words too seemed to strike home in the young man, his feet swinging back over the railing, as he slowly made his way inside. "I'm not capable of watching anyone's back anymore. Not since that day." He gave a brief sigh, then flashed that smile back to her. "As soon as Uncle Aluf returns we'll wander the city for a bit. He'll keep us all safe."

 

[Arkhandus]

Mikken lunges forward when he sees Kyo's arm-jerk reaction, springing to go after him before Kyo falls ---
but instead Mikken falls flat on his face, brain forgetting that his legs are still crossed, sitting on the bed. The youth mumbles something as his face is buried in the mattress.

Pushing himself up and breathing a sigh of relief, he sees that Kyo's okay now. Mikken crawls off the bed and walks over to Kyo, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Coz, why don't we all go have lunch downstairs. We can stuff our faces and chat for a while, see if Aluf gets back soon."

 

[Sound of Azure]

Seeing Kyo's reaction, Frida bites her lip, instantly regretting her words. With his smile back at her, she smiles wanly. "Sure. They say there's safety in numbers. So one more will be even better....I guess." She shrugs, trying to look non-chalante as she gathers up her things.

She looks at Mikken apologetically as she enters the room, "Best idea you've had all day Mikken!" she says, injecting a bit more happiness into her demeanor. "So, how about it Kyo? I don't know about Mikken, but I think I might be able to beat your record this time."

She smiles at the pair, waiting for Kyo's reaction. "12 bowls in under 5 minutes is gonna be hard to beat..." She thinks to herself as she puts her drawing materials back among her belongings. "Not to mention I'll end up being as round as a house after this."

 

[Caros]

Kyo put on his best smile, nodding to the pair of them. "I suppose a little food couldn't hurt anything. Just let me get my things."

Once upon a time that would mean getting his blade, a near permanent companion since his father passed his late grandfathers katana down to him. Now the blade was packed up with the rest of his luggage, rarely seen, touched only to move it from point a to be. Yet if there was one thing that had not changed, it was Kyo's vanity, his feet carrying him out onto the balcony where he gathered up his overshirt, carefully smoothing out wrinkles it had earned as his pillow before slipping it on.

"Mayhap you should go easy on yourself Frida. You won't be a flower so much as a weed if you try and keep up with how I eat." He gave a brief chuckle, swinging the door open and propping it with his foot, checking one pocket to be sure he had the room key as he followed them down to the resteraunt.

 

[Sound of Azure]

Frida gives Kyo a funny look for a moment, her hands on her hips. She considers his comment for a moment before shrugging. "I'm not some delicate flower or something, Kyo..."

She stretches upward and lets out her breath. "Aw, fine. I guess one of us has to act in a dignified way." She makes a face like a pig and grins widely.

Laughing, she turns to Mikken. "I wonder what they have to eat around here anyway? Something smells good from down there at any rate."

 

[Caros]

"Rice and grain mostly. Anything that is filling but doesn't take a lot to produce. Thats what regular people eat anyways.. effort needs to be saved for the war and all that." Kyo gave a brief shrug, ducking back into the room to collect a satchel containing his coin, bokken, change of cloths and the other few prize posessions he still owned, catching up with the group in the stairwell.

"For a hotel like this I'm sure they'll serve just about anything you can imagine. And since uncle Aluf is picking up the tab you'd best eat your fill, divines know that the temple can't afford to feed you well enough." He slung the satchel over his shoulder, wrapping a cord once around his waist so that would be thieves would have a hard time snatching it from his grip and running.

The hotel lobby was a prime example of wealth at its best, easily the size of the town hall in their hometown, it was a mass of chandaliers, fountains and artwork, the smell of dinner wafting from the direction of the dining room.

"If you really want to go shopping I'm sure we can find our way to some of the shops close to here..."

 

[Sound of Azure]

Frida's mouth starts watering as the three enter the dining room. She bites her lip as she tries not to look around open mouthed at all the extravagent finery.

I wonder what else all this money could be spent on, she thinks to herself as she follows Mikken to a table. She sighs slightly, trying to chase such uncharitable thoughts from her mind.

The girl turns to Kyo as they sit. "Rice and grain? For all the finery and wonderful things here... well, I guess they really are just regular people after all." She laughs a little, feeling a bit silly. "All told, I don't think I could ever get used to living in a place like this. Maybe it's better that we're just visiting. It's exciting and interesting, but I just don't feel comfortable here."

 

[Arkhandus]

Sitting down, Mikken adds "I feel the same. This place would be interesting to explore, but it's kinda intimidating and.....I dunno, frantic or something. I'd like to see what's in the shops though, after my belly's just short of bursting with food....." He grins and drools a bit at the smells drifting from the kitchen. "Let's see if they've got anything special on the menu, none of the same old fish, rice, soup, and bean paste!"

Inwardly, Mikken thinks 'Maybe we can get Kyo to leave the inn before Aluf gets back, so we can spend some time around town and get him to enjoy our visit to the big city....'

 

[Caros]

The service, like the resteraunt itself was impecable, a classily dressed waiter arriving to take their orders, then returning with them with all due haste, the kitchen preparing their food with such speed that one had to wonder if there was magic involved there too.

Despite the opulance Kyo took his usual meal, a few simple pastries and a bowl of rice, most of it unflavored, unseasoned. One more relic of his past gone, that insatiable appitite that reared its ugly head every time Kyo came back from a hard day's practice with the sword.

He plucked at the food, eating slowly, deliberatly, with at least enough class that he did not look like some country bumpkin on his first trip to the big city, though his companions might.

"I do have to agree. I don't understand how they can live like this, knowing just how bad things are down on the frontier you'd think that they would use the energy required for this for something more productive." He shrugged then, stopping to chew at a bit of rice before continuing. "Then again, I perhaps they're just trying to keep a 'business as usual' face on things to keep down panic. Who knows."

Fatalistic to the end Kyo seemed to find the cloud for every silver lining these days, leaning back in his seat as he waited for the pair of them. "When you're ready we can swing by a few nearby shops... what're you looking for though." He looked to Frida a smirk curving his lips for the first time in ages. "Clothes I'm sure." His eyes turned to Mikken narrowing briefly. "Spellbooks?"