Act II. [active]

[nolongerthere]

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

Comments

[leadingman_kthx]

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

[nolongerthere]

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

[leadingman_kthx]

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

[nolongerthere]

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.

[leadingman_kthx]

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

[nolongerthere]

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

[leadingman_kthx]

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

[nolongerthere]

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?

[leadingman_kthx]

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...