Just Another Day... Or Is It? (Open)

[Claire Lovelace]

It seemed like just another day at Balamb Garden. The students were in class and the halls were quiet. It was a sunny day out on the ocean. There current location was about 10 miles north of Fisherman's Horizon. The plan was to stop at the small fishing town for the weekend and then proceed to Esthar from there. Most everyone was looking forward to the weekend outside Garden. Well, except for Claire that is. She hated when the headmaster Cid would organize these "outings" as he called them. They never equaled fun the the moody 18 year old. All they meant for her was a ton of paperwork for the garunteed 5 to10 students she would have to put through diciplinary procedures by the time the weekend was over. She enjoyed making student's lives miserable with detentions and probations and penalties that may or may not involve manual labor but she loathed the paperwork that came with it. Even for the tiniest infraction there were at least 4 or 5 pages of paperwork to go through.

After class was dismissed Claire made her way to the library. It was one of quieter places in Garden and Claire favored it for it's seclusion. In particular, a desk at the back of the library that was farther away from the many bookshelves than the others. The black-haired girl often spent the time she didn't spend training reading up on world history and magical lore. She'd been aquiring a bit of knowledge and learned of some research that had been done long ago that said that there may be other worlds out in the universe that can be reached by the use of some type of portals. However, later in the article it said that the research was dismissed as invalid and the entire project to generate and sustain these portals was shelved. At any rate the story intrigued Claire enough that she wondered if these portals could be produced by magical means rather than scientific ones. Claire was smart but she admittedly wasn't smart enough to even begin to know how to go about making these portals so she put the idea that the back of her mind but at times she couldn't help but imagine all the power she could possibly gain from visiting these other worlds.

The chakram weilder spent a few more hours reading before she went to her dorm room for the night. Luckily her obnoxious roommate wasn't around and she was allowed a nice quiet soak in the tub before changing into her black sweatpants and sweatshirt and retiring for the night. Claire's sleep was anything but restful. She tossed and turned all night as her mind was invaded by strange dreams. Dreams of strange black creatures with beady yellow eyes coming out of dark portals and taking over the garden bombarded her mind until she woke up in a cold sweat. Claire glanced at her roommates bed and sees Yukio fast asleep, a big, ridiculous smile on her face as she was no doubt dreaming about mogs and little fairies. Claire went into the bathroom and washed her face with cold water, parted her bangs and looked in the mirror. It took a moment to refocus after waking up from those seemingly all to real dreams.

Claire decided to get dressed and make her way to the secret area inside the training center. Before she left she made a note of the time, 0200 hours (2:00 am). She knew by now that there shouldn't be anybody else there. She made her way to the training center, making sure to avoid patrolling faculty as she did. As she entered the facility she pulled out her chakrams in case she found any trouble on the way there. Luckily it seemed that all the monsters were sleeping at this time of night and Claire made it to the secret area with no complications. From here Claire's could look out on the ocean and breathed in the salty sea air. This was another relaxing place for the black-haired girl but there were often far too many people here for her tastes and so she took advantage of the small and all to rare periods of time when she could enjoy this place alone. Something felt off though, like someone or something was lurking in the shadows of the secret area. [red]Who's there?[/red] Claire asked in an alarmed but unafraid tone. She waited with chakrams at the ready incase the presence she felt, if it was actually there, was hostile.

[Falko, Red Mage of Light]

Falko had, once again, found himself in an interesting place. Interesting and hostile.

The mage looked over his shoulder yet again, making sure no odd plant creatures were creeping up in him. They were surprisingly cunning for essentially being carnivorous weeds. But then, such is the nature of life to adapt and survive, and so it was not entirely unexpected for these hostile floral specimens to have perfected their ways of preying upon others. They were the easier opponents though. Only moments ago he had run afoul of a great draconic creature of some sort and been forced to escape; he did not feel the battle was unwinnable, but the great carnivore was a fairly compelling foe, and he could not afford to injure himself in these unknown surroundings. Thankfully it was easy enough to sneak around the great creatures, as they were hardly stealthy and were easy enough to hide from when he heard them coming.

Still, despite this danger all around, Falko could not help but be absolutely entranced with his surroundings. He had never seen so much metal since his voyage into the great sky fortress that was Tiamat’s dwelling, and even then it was not so sleek as this! Visible gears and grinding cogs were absent, and everything shined with a certain polish. Even the balcony just outside, from which he had entered, was improbably well maintained. More puzzling yet was this strange chamber filled with all manner of wildlife. Clearly he was indoors, if the roof over his head was any indication, but the place seemed constructed as though to mimic some kind of jungle. There was even dirt below his feet, even if it felt wrong somehow. Constructs of gleaming steel still littered the place, which only added to its overwhelmingly alien atmosphere.

It was not long before he thought he heard the heavy breathing of one of the great scaly beasts. Not good. Falko looked about, seeking out a decent place to conceal himself. His bright manner of dress was not good camouflage in this place of greens and browns, and he did immediately spy anything he could hide behind in a speedy manner. Still, not wishing to do battle with this particular foe until he had a better lay of the land, he turned on his heels and dashed off the way he came. His cape of scarlet trailed behind him as he went, searching for the opening he had entered through. He had no intention of leaving this place be, but he was certain that the gargantuan reptile would be unable of pursuing him through a portal of such small size. At the very least he could wait it out and plan his next move.

And so with a last flutter of trailing red fabric he darted through the opening and around the corner, casting only a single glance over his shoulder. The beast, it seemed, was not in pursuit. Good. He came to a stop out in the open air, picking up his cape so he could dust off the hem. If the great hunter was not aware of him it wouldn’t think to wait him out, and thus he could enter later without fear of being camped. If worse came to worse he supposed he could still attempt to fight the thing, but it was still preferable to him to conserve his strength for whatever further unknowns laid wait in this aerial citadel.

He had not been out long when Falko thought he heard footsteps. Not the great trembling of the scaled giant, but those of an actual person, perhaps. Ordinarily this would have been a more intriguing situation, but the problem was that he had no idea if he could even be here. His travel had dropped him upon this airborne structure and it was exceedingly likely that he would be dealt with as an intruder. If this was a sentry patrol then he would not want to harm him, which would make any ensuing fight tricky. There was also no telling if a surrender would be accepted. Quite the conundrum. Without a second thought Falko absconded to the far corner, where the shadows would help conceal him for a time. Long enough to evade detection, hopefully.

Much to his surprise it was a young woman who emerged into the night air. She did not seem like any sentry he had seen, but he could not help but notice she was armed. At least he thought she was. Falko had never seen such a weapon in his life but he was certain that it was, in fact, a weapon. So that being the case he could safely deduce that she was a combatant. This gave him further motivation to wait her out, but it seemed that fate had other plans for him.

“Who’s there?”

The Red Mage winced, and then shrugged helplessly. If he did not emerge there was nothing stopping her from walking over and dragging him out. It just couldn’t be helped. And so he stepped forth from the shadows, arms in a cease fire manner and a sheepish expression upon his face. “It seems that stealth is not my forte. Truly disappointing.” Falko winked playfully, his front of serene cheer still maintained. “I do apologize if I have startled you. Your senses are marvelously sharp!”

What, then, would this woman do....?

[Claire Lovelace]

When the intruder of her alone time stepped forward from the shadows, Claire was expecting some junior classman or a one of the young couple that sometimes sneak out her to be a romantic or whatever. But the man that did appear In front of Claire certainly didn’t seem like he even belonged at Balamb Garden. Maybe he stowed away on board from the Garden’s last stop but then it would be hard for anyone to sneak around the Garden for that long without being spotted or without at least a semi noticeable amount of food missing from the cafeteria’s inventory.

But even if that were the case the man’s choice in clothing was odd even for the remote places of the world that the black-haired girl had seen during the many stops the Garden had made since going mobile. But none of that mattered at the moment. Claire couldn’t figure out where this man had come from and at this point she didn’t much care. All she knew for sure was that he was an definitely an outsider and he needed to be dealt with.

[red]”No it would seem that you still need work in the stealth department and it’s too bad for you that I don’t startle very easily. But I wouldn’t accept your apology either way. I know you don’t live here. No one here dresses like you. Believe me I would know. Now the way I see it is either you tell me who you are and how you infiltrated Garden and who sent you before I toss you overboard. Believe me, I could. After all, no one else knows you’re here and I could use the entertainment.[/red]

Claire smiled evilly at the man, a part of her hoping he would react in a hostile manner to her threats because honestly she was bored and she hadn’t dished out enough punishment to satisfy her appetite yet this week. If some nameless intruder got thrown overboard she doubted that even if anyone found out about it that the most she would get it a slap on the wrist from Headmaster Cid and be sent on her way. But another part of her did want to find out more about this man. She told herself that she wanted to stall to assess any weaknesses that he had but she knew it went deeper than that. The guy was very different and figured that he wouldn’t be able to but maybe, just maybe, he could answer some questions that she’s had for a while now.

[red]”Well? Answer me or I swear I will throw you over the side.”[/red] Claire was in no mood to mess around and her tone made that fact very clear. She wanted to prepared for anything so she took a battle-ready stance and junctioned Blizzara to her Elem-Atk, making it so her attacked would do ice damage and Fire to her Elem-Def so she would be resistant to fire damage.[red]"Just in case he wants to start trouble." [/red]The Disiplinary Commitee head thought to herself.

[Falko, Red Mage of Light]

It seemed that Falko had not stumbled across the friendliest of individuals. To a certain degree he had expected as much, seeing as he was an intruder. It was not as though he would be greeted with hospitality after taking to the shadows like a common cutpurse. But on the other hand, this was more than simply confronting a trespasser. Somewhere between the girl’s age and manner of dress he was fairly certain that she was not simply a sentry making the rounds. Somewhat more indicative were her choice of words, which seemed to imply that this interrogation was going down simply because of her soured mood. She certainly took no pains to hide the fact that this was halfway for fun. The wicked smile she flashed him as she threatened him with death was evidence enough of her ill intentions.

Still, he did his best to maintain his composure. A smile in the face of hostility went a long way toward unnerving one’s assailants. And simply put, there was no need to resort to violence at this point anyway. It sounded like half of this confrontation was on a whim, and if he could diffuse the situation it might not come to blows at all. To win a battle without drawing one’s blade was indeed the preferred outcome. Well, that and he would simply rather not draw blood from a woman. Priorities though.

He kept his arms semi-raised in a show of peace, even as the young lady entered what was clearly a combat stance. As though he would just charge at her here! He didn’t entirely fault her decision, but if she just kept her guard raised she would only be tiring herself out. Given her threat, he took a nonchalant peek over the side of the balcony, as though actually curious as to what lay below. “Well, that would not be a terribly kind fate.” When he shifted back he gave her a playful wink, accented by a knowing smile. “A fall from such heights would leave a truly unsightly corpse!” Falko had greater worries than his postmortem appearance, of course. But so long as he was being threatened he felt obliged to taunt his aggressor at least once.

The woman still demanded answers though. Falko was slightly less obliged to give those, at least in full. He was still getting accustomed to this world-hopping business, but there was one thing in particular he remembered. Apparently it was standard practice that, should a traveler come into contact with a world’s native, he was to do his best to not reveal that he had arrived from outside the borders of known reality. In short, it was a secret. So while the truthful answer would be that he came to this world and ended up atop this floating citadel by chance, it was not the answer he should give.

“Since you asked so nicely, you may call me Falko!” He swiftly doffed his hat from his head, placed it to his chest, and gave a showy bow. As an afterthought he peeked up and added “It is generally more polite to give your own name first, but given the nature of our meeting I will let it pass.” He would not ordinarily have called out this sort of ungenerous behavior, but given his situation he couldn’t help prodding a bit more. “As for how I got here, well....” His smile was broader now, revealing teeth. “....I am a genius.”

He did not thing this would go over well with the woman, but it was not meant to. He had just as much a drop on her as she did on him, as neither knew what the other was capable of. For all Falko could tell this lady might be able to lift him with one hand, but that same lack of knowledge went for her as well. If it came down to an actual show of harm he would have to play that surprise to the hilt.