paixaorpg | Act II. [active]

Entry tags:

Act II. [active]

Character(s): Fran, Balthier, and whoever would like to join.
Content: They meet up.
Setting: Joutenheim Station.
Time: Afternoon sometime.
Warnings: None.

As she lay herself to rest that night, even Fran could not foresee the adventure that lay ahead of her.

When her eyes opened, there was no bed. There were no blankets. No softly snoring hume just a few feet away. There was no shack of a room that they had taken stay in that night, and the only noise that echoed in her long velvety ears was the sound of a warm wind gently brushing past them.

She sat up and looked around slowly, face as taciturn as it could ever be, and then she stood. That was when she noticed her bow lay at her feet, which she bent down immediately to pick up and eye over. Who had brought her here? she wondered idly as she inspected it. And were was Balthier? A glance around the calm meadow led to no answers, but she saw buildings in the distance. She knew the closest thing to one would probably come from there. And so she moved toward it.

The viera went through the process all those who came to this city did; she waited in line and was asked for her name, then given a small metal object that was foreign to most, a small journal it seemed, that served as the only form of technology in this esoteric city. There were no airships or anything of that sort to speak of. Judging by the looks she had gotten from the citizens- all blond and blue eyed, she'd noted- it seemed they were not used to seeing viera.

It made sense. Fran had never heard of a place called Paixao.

Shortly after, and luckily for her, she had utilized the journal's services to her aid, and found Balthier, who was currently on his way to her. She learned she was at a place called the Joutenheim gate, near the southeastern domes of Paixao. That was another interesting thing about this place; the entire thing was contained in domes, above their heads a fake sky. There was also no way to exit once one had entered. At least, to an untrained eye there wasn't...

Once the conversation with her friend had ended, there was not much she could do save wait for him to come. She headed to the Joutenheim station which was a short walk from the gate, and headed inside to where the passengers disembarked from their journeys, positioning herself against one of the beams that supported the structure, and waited patiently for Balthier.

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Balthier's train car pulled into the Joutenheim station some time later. He had happened to choose a seat nearby the train car's door and, considering how terribly boring the trip had been, Balthier was the first one out. And as he had predicted earlier, spotting Fran wasn't a problem at all. His gaze met with hers even before he had stepped off of the train car and, casting her one of his normal cocky and charismatic grins, proceeded over to where she stood without missing a single beat.

"Well, that took entirely too long," Balthier remarked, glancing over his shoulder at the train car once as an indication. His smile faded a bit as he looked back to Fran, his expression giving way to just a touch of seriousness as he took in her state. She had her bow, as she had said earlier, but other than that she seemed perfectly fine and unharmed.

Balthier was suddenly reminded of Fran's earlier quips about paranoia during this split-second examination, and the sky pirate snorted softly with amusement as he figured that she might have been on to something... maybe just a little. As his eyes met with hers again he could plainly see that Fran had caught onto it as well. Not that he had tried to hide his concern, but he had still proved her entirely right. He gave a lazy shrug in response, seeing no particular need to address it with words, and moved on.

"I'm starting to worry," Balthier said thoughtfully. "I travelled across a good bit of the city on that train and I didn't see any sign of a single aerodome." He glanced behind Fran and out the window behind her for a moment before looking back to her and distastefully adding, "And I don't know exactly what these things are that are separating us from the sky, but I don't like them."

The train trip had taken an odd number of hours, and while anyone else would have gotten twitchy with boredom, the moment she saw Baltheir stepping out the only movement she made was to step away from the pillar and wait to be greeted, her expression placid as ever.

There was a silent acknowledgement, and remembrance over the conversation that had earlier that day, but of course a silent individual like Fran didn't see any point in addressing it again earlier. Rather, she blinked slightly and tilted her head as Balthier expressed worry yet again- although for a different reason.

"It is safe to say there will be nothing familiar here. Look." With that, Fran turned away from him and took a step back to the pillar; at its bottom rested a small messenger's bag, which she had gotten during her wait for Balthier (it was traded for letting the merchant's daughter touch her ears, actually), which she had deposited the small journal she was given in, as well as a few brochures near the gate's front area.

She pulled a pamphlet or two out and slung the other thing over her shoulder, and held the folded paper out to Balthier. "PAIXAO: No City You Have Ever Seen Before." She offered to let him take it and inspect it for himself; rather than a travel brochure, it seemed to contain information that would be necessary to know if one was intending to move there.

Balthier simply looked at the brochure for a moment. He had noticed a few gate attendants passing out such pamphlets, now that he thought about it, but hadn't thought to take one. And so now he took the brochure from Fran and peered at the front critically, letting out a quick and arrogant, "hm." The sky pirate turned the thing over to look at the back for a moment, and then opened it up to skim the inside.

Only a few short moments had passed before Balthier folded the thing back up and returned it to Fran. "Wonderful," he noted dryly, "Except I don't plan on living here." As the viera returned the pamphlet to her bag, Balthier's thoughts turned once more to his beloved airship- and stronger than ever. Balthier wasn't a particularly possessive man, but he had his moments... namely, whenever his freedom, airship, or partner was involved.

"So what do you propose we do next, in the way of finding The Strahl?" Balthier asked of Fran, his voice slightly hastier than normal in his eagerness. She generally had a better sense about these kinds of things than him, and he had never hesitated to let her make the game plans once he had figured this out. After all, she had never led him astray yet. "I'd really like to try out those new upgrades we finished installing yesterday, see if they're working right and everything," the man added as an explanation for his rushed speech. It had been subtle, but Fran usually picked up on such things.

Fran didn't have much to say, except the obvious, which was the fact that they were not going to be seeing their airship any time soon. It might take them a week if not more to find a way out of this place; the viera hadn't found anything as quickly as she usually did which was slightly alarming, and yet the challenge was somewhat enticing.

The poor fools didn't know what was in store for them at all.

"We must find a place to stay the night," she said, which was probably not the thing Balthier was wanting to hear. "There is something strange about this place. I cannot hear anything." Of course Fran meant the Wood; though the voices of it were soft in her ears for the most part, it was not a complete silence. She would have told her sister Mjrn that a few years from now when she saw her again, because it would be then that Fran knew what true silence was like- now that she'd been to Paixao, a place of hollow nothingness.

Fran didn't have to say anything to answer Balthier's question. Even in her silence, he heard her loud and clear. It was an answer that he was hoping against hope not to recieve, but had suspected more and more ever since his arrival. He gave a resigned sigh as he nodded once in reluctant acceptance, an acknowledgement of the answer and urge for Fran to go ahead and speak what was on her mind.

In all his life, Balthier had never been particularly in tune with nature... and of course he had never heard anything resembling this infamous 'Green Word'. But due to how highly the viera spoke of it- even Fran, a self proclaimed outcast- he was concerned that it seemed to tell Fran something was off. Perhaps it was the fact that a Fran, who was normally so withdrawn, had decided it was worth mentioning twice already in the past two conversations they'd had.

Balthier had never been a worrier. He trusted in himself and in fate to get the duo out of any scrapes they ever found themselves in, and it had worked like a charm up to this point. But he didn't like this situation one bit, and the feelings and comments he was getting from Fran were the opposite of reassuring. He frowned, his expression simply changing to one of mild annoyance, and muttered a dark and dignified, "... right."

And then the sky pirate was back to his usual self, taking rational actions towards a solution. "We'd best be going then, to find a place to stay," Balthier said matter-of-factly as he gestured towards the door. "I doubt you want to be sleeping on the streets tonight, and I'm quite certain that I don't."

Fran didn't reply, simply turned her back to him and began to start walking, heading down the steps off the platform and into the cobblestone street again. The number of people who milled about outside slowly decreased, but it seemed Paixao was an ever-bustling place. She moved through the crowd fully expecting Balthier have the smarts to stay close to her- it was hard to lose a woman who was six-foot-even plus a large set of rabbit ears, after all.

This being an area where the train station was near, of course there would be a hotel close by. Well, close being about a mile and a half. The distance was no concern of Fran and she should hope a fit hume like Balthier wouldn't be too troubled by it. The more she moved through the streets the more she saw this was very similar to the places she'd seen before... although none of it was familiar at the same time, and the cobblestone felt strange on her feet.

She finally moved from the middle of the street to the side, approaching a ruddy orange adobe-building with a sign hanging from one of the protruding poles that supported it: The Hotel Novidadi. A strange word... Fran knew not what it meant. The building looked fine enough, a little cheap, but it would do for now.

But she paused then and looked over her shoulder, as if looking for silent approval from Balthier.

Balthier followed wordlessly as Fran turned to leave, weaving through the crowds without much trouble at all. Fran never really seemed to have a problem with people getting in her way, especially in a city such as Paixao, and so Balthier had learned long ago to either take advantage of that cleared space by sticking very close to Fran or deftly threading through the crowds well enough to keep up with her long strides. There was no need for that right now, however, as the moveable clearing that seemed to follow Fran was more than large enough for Balthier to use.

It took slightly longer than Balthier had imagined to reach the hotel, considering how many the train had seemed to pass on the way here. Not that he minded, or had any trouble with the trip. The two had run at full speed for longer periods before, and it proved to be anything but a challenge.

The hotel, however, was a different story. The building that Fran had stopped in front of was a rusty tangerine color, and Balthier imagined it looked more like a little clay hut you would find in Jahara more than anything suited for a viera or a hume. Of course Balthier was fully conscious of how overly critical he was being, and that his standards were ridiculously high compared to most ('a little cheap' to him was borderline unacceptable!), but first impressions can rarely be helped.

It would work, Balthier decided. For one night, it would definitely work. As Fran glanced back at him, Balthier shrugged indifferently and passed in front of her and through the doorway. He knew the drill; Fran did the tracking and locating, and he handled the talking.

The woman behind the front desk did nothing to help Balthier's opinion of the place. She was as pale as most residents here, but her skin still had an odd ruddiness to it, as if to match the hotel. Nobody in Paixao was really fat, but this woman was definitely on the chunky side, with stringy hair and a low voice that brought sandpaper to mind when she took the duo's names and handed them their key. Balthier thanked her politely as he placed some gil down on the counter and quickly turned away from the woman to face Fran.

"Well, we won't be playing the roles of Rabanastran orphans tonight, for certain now," the man said with a slightly sarcastic smile as he jangled the keys for a moment. "Now, shall we go back out there and find out what we can about this place, or would you like to drop off that bag of yours first?"

Fran followed silently behind Balthier and indeed, let him do the talking. That was how it always was; besides, she wasn't sure if she was the best to speak with people who had never seen viera before. Some seemed terrified of her, others, mystified, and thankfully the hume at the desk had no issue with giving the two of them a room.

Once the task was completed, she looked down at Balthier as he asked her what to do with the bag. She shook her head once. "I would like to keep it with me. The journal may be useful when we least expect it," she said, and then began to walk past him, heading out of the hotel.

She wondered where exactly Balthier planned to go, as she stood outside, looking around this way and that. It seemed like a normal enough town, really, besides the fact she nor Balthier had never seen the place before in all their years combined. What to do?

Tucking the key safely away into a pocket, Balthier followed Fran back out of the building and onto the sidewalk. She looked around blankly, noncommital, and Balthier did the same for a few moments. Nothing within sight interested him in the least, however, nor did anything seem to catch Fran's attention. Good question, what to do?

Right about then, Balthier suddenly realized how hungry he was. He had stopped for a quick drink at The Sandsea right before appearing here, but he hadn't actually eaten anything... when was the last time he had eaten? Nothing came immediately to mind, and all it took was another hunger pang to strike for him to dismiss that question and throw out his idea.

"... so, shall we find somewhere to get something to eat?" the sky pirate suggested. It didn't seem that either of them had any better ideas...

The brochures she took from the gatekeeper hardly explained about this Paixao to her. It talked in a round about way that said a lot but told nothing. She had been taught how to speak like that by one of her tutors, in case she made a mistake and had to explain it to the people, but she insisted that it was the same as lying.

Discarding all the brochures into a nearby trash bin, Ashe flips open her journal again to check the many posts in the message board. Earlier, she left a comment on a post that seemed to be Balthier's but it hasn't been replied to yet. Letting out a frustrated sigh, she closes her journal with a snap. How could she had been so careless as to let herself get lost?

Walking aimlessly around the town, she contemplates entering some place to get some food. She doesn't know how long it has been since she first entered the strange city, but she knows that she is very hungry. She had been telling herself that she shouldn't give up the search for her companions just yet, but she thinks she might faint from the fatigue soon if she doesn't rest.

Upset at herself for being so weak, Ashe walks towards the nearest hotel. She will eat quickly and start searching again right after. Suddenly, she spots a pair of rabbit ears among the sea of fair-haired people of Paixao. Vieras are not so common in the middle of cities like these, and she has nothing to lose in running towards that direction. Dodging people along the way, Ashe quickly makes her way towards the figure.

Spotting the proud sky pirate standing just a little way from the Viera she had been expecting, Ashe is suddenly glad. They still need to find the three others, but two is definitely progress. "Fran, Balthier, I am so glad," Ashe greets them with half a smile, trying her best not to look flustered or overjoyed. It would not do. "Where are we?"

[ooc: tell me if this is not okay~! :3]

Fran perked her ears to the sound of a voice that carried her name, and so she turned her head in that direction. What came to her sight was none other than- well, it seemed that it was just another one of the blonde and blue-eyed Paixaoan girls that she'd seen around here. Blinking confusedly, she did not recognize this person for the most part, although her memories tugged at her mind slightly.

This was the Princess of Dalmasca, wasn't it? She blinked confusedly. But what would she know Fran's name for? Why would she come running to her like she were the last thing familiar on earth...? She could do nothing but stare blankly for a moment before giving a slight glance to Balthier then turning to her.

"I do not know how you know our names, but we are in a place called Paixao, Princess. Were you taken here against your will as well?"

Balthier's reaction was exactly and almost comically similiar to Fran's. He turned at the same moment as the viera did as he gave the newcomer a blank and vaguely curious look, exchanged Fran's glance, and then studied the girl with one hand thoughtfully upon his chin as Fran spoke. She seemed a bit familiar, but he couldn't quite place her...

Thankfully, Fran cleared it up for him right away. He had caught glimpses of Dalmasca's princess before and had watched a few public speeches from afar, usually only half-interested, but now that the title was mentioned it was simple to place her. Less simple to explain why she and two sky pirates seemed to be the only people from Ivalice in Paixao, how she had gotten here, how she knew their names, and a million other things, however. This city just seemed to be getting stranger and stranger by the minute.

"I'm not quite sure what we've done to warrant your knowing who we are, princess," Balthier added politely and humbly (or at least as humbly as he was capable of speaking), taking extra care to show Her Majesty the utmost respect. He also thought it sounded rather innocent, which might be a help on the off-chance that this had anything to do with the bounties on their heads. He couldn't imagine why it would, but it was much better to be safe than sorry. "...but we are most pleased to be meeting you."

Ashe didn't seem to know how to react to this for a moment, and so Balthier took it upon himself to reiterate his partner's question. "... and like Fran said, what are you doing here?" the sky pirate asked with a slight, puzzled frown.

At the reaction she received from the two sky pirates, Ashe takes a step back cautiously. They have been travelling together for enough time for her to trust them, at least a little, but she knows that even those you have known for a lifetime could turn around and betray you anytime. Perhaps they are just pulling a silly prank on her, even though that is very unlikely. Why are the both of them acting so distant to her?

Looking from Fran to Balthier and back again, Ashe is sure that these two really are the sky pirates she had been travelling with. "I..." she trails off, not quite knowing what to say. How very eloquent of her. Closing her lips again, she turns to Balthier when he asked her another question. She is obviously lost like he is, is she not?

"This is not our first meeting, correct?" She narrows her eyes to Balthier. Of course she knows their names. She turns to Fran, "...yes, I was taken here against my will as well. We were separated." She says the last sentence hesitantly, unsure of its truth.

Fran did not know what to make of this, but as usual she left the talking to Balthier. She offered him a slight glance after listening to Ashe's words, wondering what to make of this all. She knew how the Princess Ashe looked, but had never been close to her, spoken with her, much less was her friend.

She was sure she was a nice enough girl and all- Fran could sense that, actually- but it didn't make sense that she would be sure that she knew them and they, not her. Could she be mistaking them for some other people? But... she knew their names, and a viera and a hume travelling around together wasn't exactly common place.

This wasn't making sense... then again, since she had been to Paixao, Fran noticed that not much in Paixao did.

Balthier sighed. First some strange girl on the message board claimed to know him, then he had apparently been travelling somewhere alongside a Dalmascan military captain, and now a princess was adressing him almost as an old friend. Not only was it annoying to be so out of the loop and uninformed, but the man had to admit that he was more than a little disgruntled that he had 'missed out' on whatever events led to his associating with such people.

Because, by the gods, if Balthier was destined to come across that much money, then he wanted to exist during that time to enjoy it! He was going to be very angry if this bizarre turn of events kept him from getting back to Ivalice and becoming so rich and successful a sky pirate. Or perhaps, the thought had crossed his mind, his father had died and he had inherited it? Either would be fine with me, just so long as it still HAPPENS... Baltheir mused bitterly, lips pursed ever so slightly.

"Separated, were we?" Balthier repeated thoughtfully. He didn't recall her at all, but that hardly seemed to mean anything here in Paixao. Hmm, the girl he spoke with earlier through his journal has failed to mention a princess as part of the group. He figured that she was probably even further ahead then, which would only make things more confusing.

Fran must have been horribly confused by this point, Balthier realized, and so he cast her a reassuring look that promised an explanation later. He hadn't had a chance to tell the viera anything of what the Rabanastran girl had theorized yet, after all. Then he turned back to Ashe to speak. "Would you, ah... mind refreshing us on how we know you again, then?"

Ashe turns to Balthier when she heard him let out a sigh. She hates being a source of disappointment, or worse, frustration, but she can hardly help it. She hopes that once they sort out each other's identity, everything will be fine. Of course, there is also the business of going back to Ivalice to think about but she would rather deal with the issues one by one.

"We had established that I am from your future..." she answers hesitantly, still afraid of how mad she must sound. "It seems that you recognized me now that we've properly met," Something tells her that Balthier hasn't quite realized that she was the girl he talked to through the journals.

Something wasn't right about this, and Fran knew it. What was Balthier up to? Her expression, ever blank, somehow held a hint of annoyance with the entire situation, and maybe slightly with Balthier- she knew him well but she couldn't read his mind.

Her attention turned back to Ashe when she began to speak again. They established something? They established that? For once, Fran found herself full of questions, but something told her, as always, that Balthier would ask them first. She remained silent and watched the situation.

As recognition dawned on Balthier's face, the sky pirate half-turned to Fran out of instinct, then realized that he was completely on his own here. The girl he had spoken to was the Princess of Dalmasca! The look of realization was slight and subtle, and only lasted for a fleeting moment before he frowned in annoyance. Quite an important detail for her to have left out, he mused. And Balthier had never liked being the last to know something.

"Wonderful, Princess," Balthier said, emphasizing the title in a way that made Ashe wonder if he was being sarcastic or not. Then he looked over at Fran and decided to sum the story up for her. Although she wasn't one to speak up, he knew that she hated being in the dark just as much as he did.

"A girl contacted me through the journals like you did, while I was on the train," Balthier began. He didn't spare Ashe a single glance and spoke normally, as if she weren't there. "She theorized that some people that seemed to be from the same places still seemed to be from different... well, times or some such nonsense," he continued nonchalantly. He glanced over at her disdainfully as if Ashe were some sort of exhibit, again speaking with normal volume as he looked back over to Fran and added, "I half expected her to be completely mad, to be honest, but here she is. The Princess of Dalmasca."

Letting out a small, thoughtful sigh, Balthier raised on hand to his chin yet again. "Or ex-princess, actually, as the case may be," Balthier corrected as an afterthought. "Claims she's three years ahead of us and her country is... occupied, or decimated, or something. I didn't bother to ask," he finished with a small one-shouldered shrug. He raised an eyebrow at Fran as if to wordlessly ask for her opinion, still treating Ashe as if she weren't part of the conversation at all.

The accent Balthier put on the title made Ashe narrow her eyes in annoyance. He was one of the few people who normally referred to her as such, but the way he said it made it seem as if he is mocking her. Ashe turns to Fran as well when Balthier began explaining the conversation to the Viera. She leans back a little when Balthier glances over, tilting her head up a little in defiance.

There was much she could do about the way Balthier treated her, back when she was a princess. Her consorts would have done something about him before she could even give out orders. But now she can only narrow her eyes in anger and huff indignantly. There isn't much she can say about being an ex-princess either, the statement has more truth to it than anything she can say in retort.

"Occupied," she corrects him through gritted teeth. "I lead a resistance army but..." she clasps her hands in front of her chest in thought before continuing in a low voice, "now they are no more." It still pains her to think about Vossler and how he fell.

Fran mused silently for a few moments. She did not appreciate Balthier's tone with the princess, but outwardly seemed pretty indifferent to it. Still, she rolled the thoughts around in her head for a few seconds, looking slowly at Ashe and tilting her head.

"You are from the future," she said matter-of-factly, although the thought was a bit redundant. She was simply getting the thoughts in order for the lot of them. "Or we are from the past. Memories have already been made, and so it is likely us who are uniformed. The people who take your country may have done this to you, but I feel that conclusion may be too easy."

Her eyes averted, and she stared at the cobblestone a moment. "I do not feel she lies," she said, obviously directed to Balthier this time. "We deal with a force greater than any magic I have seen before."

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Act II. [active]

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