Heated Desire In The Sand [Open]

[Fate]

Gosh, Does Anyone Have Decency?

"I felt like it, that's why," she explained, looking at her somewhat crashed ship. It was still in somewhat mint condition due to not crashing into any buildings. "... And probably because I didn't slow down until I got close to landing. I'm still getting used to all of these controls. They're nothing like what I--" Her words were cut off by Elrick's exclamation, which probably had something to do with the heat. She gave him a startled look, but quickly looked away when he took off his upper clothing. "Hello, I'm right here,"

[/color] she thought to herself in a sing-songy way, her cheeks turning slightly pink.

She waited until he got back, deciding she could look back at him now. "Good to hear... don't like the heat then I guess?" She kept a little bit of a smile as she gave his question a little bit of thought. She would feel more comfortable in something other than cargo pants, but... eh, she'd live. She could bear with this heat, not wanting to go inside and feel like someone was watching her in her own ship again, much less when she was changing. "I can handle the heat just fine." Her words were slightly taunting as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Let's get into town and find some shade."

... Or some people too. Someone approached the both of them, a guy with a sort of pirate look about him. She raised her eyebrows to this, shifting her weight a little. An indignant look was given to him as soon as he asked who the bad pilot was, her lips now pursed. She was not a bad pilot darn it! She just... went too fast and didn't slow down before she hit land. That was normal, though it would have nearly gotten her killed back home. She chose to smile again, not letting that comment get to her. "Oh, that was me. I didn't slow down enough before hitting land. Who're you anyway?"[/blockquote][/size]

[Ain_Soph_Aur]

The sand is hot, I'm going back to town.

It was clear he didn't even consider that he would have to go through sand to reach them, his feet now partially submerged in the hot sands and the heat was almost to much to bare as it burned at his ankles from just the touch. Since it was still the middle of the day it would be long before the sun went down, and he wasn't about to just stand there until it turned cool at night. Walking on the sands, he couldn't stand up straight so he found himself slightly leaning which would have got him yelled at by the marine admirals that he respected. Taking his time he glanced back and forth, not a single heartless to be found thankfully, the girl had just crashed by herself because of bad judgment. To think he ran out here because he was worried, a total waste of time but at least no one was hurt in the crash.

The well-being of others was purely secondary.

Ain after about half a minute finally looked, his eyes and facial expression void of emotion. First at the black-haired girl who was talking rather normally for having just crashed her ship which might have meant she done it before, he then looked at the guy who was half-naked, If it wasn't for the intense heat he might have commented on that but he recalled poor folk in town that do the same thing, the guy was probably poor. Turning around he simply walked a bit off back up to the gate to the market place before turning back slightly though not enough to look them in the eyes.

"Ain.." he answered rather dully, using the minimum words necessary to give an answer to the question. "..Your ship, take better care of it."

[King Mickey]

Do Either of You Have a Swimming Pool on Your Ship?

Ain just walked off, not bothering to ask Mickey to follow or anything. He certainly wasn't very amiable on the surface, but at least he wasn't looking for a fight. Rather, he genuinely wanted answers. And he apparently thought he would find them by going to see what was up with that crashing ship. Correction: There was one crashing ship and one ship that landed perfectly well. Nothing had exploded yet, which led Mickey to believe that no one had died. But better to know for sure than stand around guessing.

He ambled toward the city gates, not in a hurry to catch up to Ain. He was still very much on the alert for the appearance of Heartless, but there were none to speak of. The city was as deserted of the creatures as it was currently deserted of people. When he reached the entrance to the city at last, he took in the scene with a quick glance.

Two Gummi Ships were in the sand, one in much better condition than the other. Ain had his back to two people and was uttering some very brief words. Mickey turned his attention fully onto the newcomers. From what he had caught of the conversation, the girl had been piloting the ship that had not landed so smoothly. And even though the man was currently bare-chested, Mickey could still see sweat rolling off him. Even if the king had decided to take the upper portions of his outfit off, it wouldn't do him much good. Fur--black fur, at that--didn't come off as easily.

He waved a hand at the new people as he approached and offered a friendly greeting. "Hi, there! What brings you two here?"

[Lagunamov]

There's a shower, but you are forbiden from entering if you are shedding hair.

While the sun was still hitting them hard with the heat of a hundred hells, the lack of clothes with so many metallic details on them was making a world of difference to Elrick. Even the hot breeze from the desert somehow felt refreshing, probably in comparison to the alternative. It made standing the heat easier, if only barely, for he was still sweating quite a bit, but at the very least now his clothes wouldn’t get drenched in sweat, which is always nasty.

Someone approached them not long after he had come back down from the ship, apparently someone who had heard Lillian’s crash landing and decided to inspect. The girl kinda greeted him, asking for his name, but whoever it was – Elrick didn’t catch his name when he turned around – he certainly seemed rather rude, first coming out of the city, criticizing a complete stranger’s piloting skills, and then starting to head back to the town while barely bothering to answer Lillian’s question of who the hell he was. “Ok, that was rude even for my standards,” he thought to himself, but didn’t comment it aloud. Mostly cause he didn’t want his mouth to dry up any time soon.

Soon after, someone else showed up to check on them. These people really didn’t have anything better to do, did they? Of course, this second one made Elrick raise an eyebrow at his appearance. At first he thought it was just some really, really short person, but as soon as he came close enough, he saw how wrong he was. Huge round ears, a long pointy nose and gigantic eyes. A talking mouse. First a sentient shadow and now a talking mouse. Something had to be seriously wrong with the water supplies in this side of the universe.

“We were just passing by and wanted to stretch our legs,” he answered to the mouse as if it was the most natural thing in the world. His appearance seemed friendlier than that of the previous non-human creature they had met that could talk. “Incidentally, I pay her to act as a crash test dummy for that ship, in case you were wondering about that,” he blatantly lied, which was obvious since a completely different reason had just been given to the other person. It wasn’t like he sounded serious anyway, the joke could be easy seen through just from how he sounded as he said that.

[Ain_Soph_Aur]

I guess it is downtime, I don't see any more heartless for the time being.

Ain halted his advance as King Mickey arrived on the scene, within him he felt glad that he had caught up to him though he didn't mind either way in the big picture. He would much rather care only about actions that would effect the whole of his world. If defeating a enemy kept him alive he would fight even if he didn't want to raise his sword, if a question needed answering he would seek it if only to further his own goals even if it meant talking when he rather not, and the protecting of lives if those threatened are in front of him but not to butt into others business. Acting beyond that was rare, but he wasn't a cold blooded monster he was willing to make allowances during downtime.

"King Mickey..." he stated dully as he looked at the over-sized mouse from a few feet away, his words loud enough for Lillian and Elrick to hear. "I can tell that dealing with these people would be troublesome, they are not at all sincere. Shall we look around town some more?"

By this time Ain had had enough of the heat and sand, clasping his hands together a incantationless spell or maybe more close to a special skill was activated. A force appeared around his body, Anti-Magic Aura was now in effect. It wasn't like him to use a special skill like that for a reason other then battle but he did so anyway. The heat of the desert no longer effected him for now, while it's main purpose was related to magic it also had a effect on the elements which partially included the ones in nature. His dull eyes turned to Elrick, the heat almost visibly being halted around him.

"You two should get out of the heat before you dehydrate and pass-out. This place isn't exactly one to simply stretch your legs or crash test a ship."

[Summary:
Ainus used Anti Magic Aura(for no reason).
Posts until next use: 8
Uses remaining: 1]

[Fate]

Do All People Act Like This? If So, I'm Doomed.

Well sheesh, that guy was rude. He came out here to see what the fuss was about and then just left, telling her to take better care of her ship. She gave a weak glare at his retreating form, keeping her arms crossed; she didn't need to be told to fix her ship dammit. He didn't even have the decency to say that to her face! Gosh, the nerve of some people. Either way, she didn't have the opportunity to shout at his back or say something sarcastic since someone else approached them; she would make a further note to never crash a ship just for fun again.

Though, this someone else seemed to be much nicer... and he was a mouse... an anthropomorphic mouse. Were they already seeing mirages or something already? Since Elrick answered the mouse's question, it seemed that either both of them were, or the mouse was real. She was going to go with the latter for now. She looked over at Elrick, grinning a bit before looking back at the mouse. "Lillian Owen, crash test dummy at your service. Now who might you be?" It helped in lightening her mood to get some witty retorts in; she didn't know what Ain's problem with them was, but she was going to ignore it for now.

She then glared at Ain once his words left his lips. What the hell was his problem anyway? It wasn't like her and Elrick were troublemakers or something; well, she wasn't anyway, but she didn't think Elrick was too much of one. She had half the mind to walk up to him and give her a piece of her mind, but the heels of her boots were sinking into the sand a little bit as it was. Eh, she could just yell at him from here she supposed.

"I'll be sincere when I say this," she told him, "Quit acting like an ass; I don't take orders from them." She guessed she was a little crude, especially in front of this mouse guy who had been nice to them at the very least, but she was speaking her mind. Reluctantly, she turned her head to Elrick again. "Unfortunately, he's right. We should find some shade or something before we melt."

[/size]

[King Mickey]

Honestly, We're Going to Need More Than Some Shade to Beat This Heat

Mickey laughed at the man's joke about the girl acting as a crash test dummy. These two seemed like much more sociable companions than Ain. Not that Mickey thought badly of Ain, of course. But giving and receiving banter back and forth often made for a much better travel experience. Ain didn't seem interested in making their acquaintance, and he expressed this reluctance to Mickey in so few words.

"Aw, not sincere? I think they're just fine!" He turned a grin toward the woman as she introduced herself. "It's nice to meet ya, Lillian." He pointed a finger at his chest. "I'm King Mickey of Disney Castle. I came here to... Well, yeah. Let's get in some shade before we start any long conversations, okay?" Waving the both of them on, the king turned and headed back into the city. He just naturally assumed they would follow, but he had to remember that not everyone was going to automatically be inclined to follow his lead just because he was a king.

It wasn't too long before he located ample shade under which all of them could fit. It was a rather large wooden walkway that connected two sections of the market. Since nobody was currently using the market, they wouldn't have to worry about sand trickling down between the cracks. Or at least they wouldn't have to worry about as much sand. The stuff was this world's equivalent of glitter. No matter how hard you might try to clean it up or keep it quarantined, more always managed to find its way into every inch of your person and belongings. Turning around, Mickey waited for the others to arrive.

[Lagunamov]

Would he trip if I pulled from his tail?

Elrick was liking this talking mouse a lot better than he had originally anticipated. He wasn’t sure if the previous interaction with Humor had made him more appreciative of someone who geniuly was nice, or his standards in general had plummeted to the ground over the past couple of months. Then, he looked back at Ain, remembering how much he didn’t like his attitude just now, and decided it was the first option.

And the mouse was… a king of all things!? He wasn’t sure if he was messing with them or not, but if he was serious, then damn. He was certainly the complete opposite of the asshole king back at home, so Elrick seriously wanted to believe some royalty could be nice. “I’m Elrick Ekhart Wieland by the way, but Elrick will just do,” he added soon after he introduced himself. He even threw a little vow, but that was just him messing around a bit. Turning his head to Lillian, he tilted it in the general direction of Mickey. “Shall we go into town?” he asked, mostly just to be polite, since a second later he started walking after the mouse himself. Going somewhere with shade was kind of a priority at the moment.

Following The King into town, he walked towards the spot he picked to rest, starting to feel his feet drag by now. It had been what, two blocks at the most? Either way, he sat on one of the crates below the wooden walkway, pushed against a wall. He reached to his boots and removed them, flipping them upside down, sand falling from inside them as if they were hourglasses. Seriously, he hadn’t even walked that much and his boots were that filled with sand? Then again, their design wasn’t particularly good for keeping it out, being pretty much open on the front of his legs. That, or some terrible cliché was taking place at his expense.

“God, it’s like day and night,” he exaggerated, relieved by the shade and slight breeze that was blowing. At the very least the breeze blowing through the city wasn’t even remotely as harsh as the one in the desert. The city structure probably helped lowering the temperature somehow. “So, what were you saying before? You were about to tell us why you came here I think?” Elrick inquired, mostly trying to make some conversation with someone so… different. And it helped resist the urge to poke him to see if he was like a stuffed animal.

[Ain_Soph_Aur]

Who really knows the reason...

It was common place to encounter people that took offense to his harsh and rather direct approach. Kindness was earned just like trust, and he has yet to feel the reason to give it. The girl known as Lillian seemed to have taken fault with this and resorted to name calling, maybe he was in fact a ass but he surely was not wrong. Seriously, why does he have to make a effort for random travelers but since King Mickey didn't mind he would give them the benefit of the doubt. He turned to Lillian and gave more attention then he normally would for calling him a ass. >D

"Perhaps you are right." he stated to Lillian without blinking a eye. "Let's go."

Ain ignored what Lillian had said for the most part, and scratched his head. Walking through the sand, he was still unphased by the heat, thankfully from his ability. His dull expression not changed even in the slightest regardless, as he walked off with King Mickey. It wasn't like he was planning on leaving the world yet anyway so he would tag along as suggested, but he hoped this didn't mean he would have to engage in conversation for very long.

Once he saw where the King had gone, he walked off to a side street to gather some drinking water from a well, and filled up a few canteens. His soldier like stance unbroken he arrived next to the king and handed him a canteen of water, he then turned to Elrick and handed him the same. Placing Lillian's canteen on a nearby crate. "So, King Mickey. What do you have planned, Is there anything in this world that will help your investigation of the imbalance?" he stated seriously.

[Slash]

Ah, what time is it?

The first thing Soren noticed was that it was very hot in this world. The second thing he noticed was that he had no idea where exactly he was. He thought for a second...Oh yeah, he hitched a ride with that Ain guy from Destiny Islands. The guy had been stoic at best, and Soren had decided to sleep the entire way through. And he had apparently been dumped out of the ship. Well, couldn't say he could blame the Ain dude. But, in a move Soren hadn't really forseen, he was stuck with the guy until he could get another ride. Because he had left his ship on the Islands. Craaaaaaaaaaaaaaap.

Soren walked in slowly past the city gates, after answering the many, many questions of the guards all having to do with- yep, you guessed it- his wings. He was pretty sure this was an unaware world, though, so it was all good.

Walking through the marketplace, he eventually came upon Ain, another guy and a girl, and a...mouse? Eh, that wasn't so bad. He'd seen weirder. In fact, he was weirder.

"Uh, hi." There wasn't really much to say. "Does anyone have room on their ship, because I don't think Ain's going to let me hitch a ride again...?"

[Fate]

Insert Foot Into Mouth

Oh shoot, she had just said all of that in front of a king? This mouse wasn't just any mouse, but he was the king of some place she had never heard of. Even then, she felt like an idiot right now since she had just mouthed off to Ain without censoring herself in front of someone of royalty. She had always acted courteously when in front of anyone that had authority back in Libertas, especially the ruling party. Now she felt like she had just made a fool of herself in front of Mickey, who seemed like a nice guy.

"Yeah, sure," she said to Elrick, following him into the sun and across the desert into town. It took a bit to actually get into town, but they got there and all of them found shade. She saw Elrick dumping out his boots, which made her laugh internally as she did the same; fortunately, there wasn't quite as much sand in them compared to his, but that didn't make her like the stuff any better. Ain brought them all canteens with water, in which she gave him a humble "Thank you" before leaning against the wall and drinking some.

Well, now was time to figure out what Mickey was doing here, and possibly Ain. She gazed at him again, seeing something a little familiar in his stance. Yep, she remembered that military-like look; she saw many men who had that stance back in Libertas, but of course she had been out of that habit for at least a year or two now. He mentioned something about an imbalance and investigating it. Imbalance? Oh... probably that light and dark stuff again. She seriously did not want to be reminded of that right now. She already knew that she was tainted with the darkness and that she was probably tainting these people by being around them.

"Don't know if this helps you or if you've already heard about it, but Radiant Garden just got nailed with this powerful guy using darkness," she said in a slightly melancholy voice, "Destroyed a good chunk of the town while he was at it." She crossed her arms again a bit protectively, not going into how the dark guy managed to taint everyone's hearts who was present there, including herself. It was a good thing someone else showed up, some guy with wings this time. She wasn't even going to bother questioning this guy's looks either; it seemed she was going to meet a lot of odd people on her travels.

"I've got room... but you probably don't want it. I don't think I'll be able to fly that ship out of here," she answered, "I'll need to figure out a way to get it out of this desert so I can fix it up." Part of this was a lie; her ship could actually function and she could fly it out just fine. However, she did doubt this guy wanted to be in her ship; she felt like someone was watching her in there and she didn't want to really share that. This was why she was making this excuse now; hopefully she'd be able to hitch a ride with Elrick instead of feeling too uncomfortable in her own ship.

[/size]

[King Mickey]

Going Home After This Sounds Perfect

While he was waiting for everyone to get there, Mickey watched Ain leave and then promptly return with several canteens full of water. The man may have been a tad unfriendly, but at least he was thoughtful enough to bring those back. The king happily accepted one and took a deep drink. The refreshment was much appreciated. Though, it was still not quite the same as jumping into a giant swimming pool. Perhaps he would return to Disney Castle after this little side trip was finished.

With thoughts of cool fountains in his head, Mickey shifted his focus to Lillian as she related news of the mysterious attacker. Unfortunately, she said nothing that he did not already know. He nodded, a grave expression on his face. "Yep, I already knew about Radiant Garden. I just came from there. The Restoration Committee's got a lot on their hands now." Normally, he would have stayed to help, but he felt that information was much more critical right now than the repair of some buildings. It might have sounded a bit cold had he said it out loud, so he didn't. Besides, the RGRC could handle the clean-up.

While he was thinking about this, a boy with wings approached them and asked if he could hitch a ride on a different ship. Apparently, he had been riding with Ain and was looking for a change of pace. Mickey couldn't help but chuckle a bit. "Is riding with Ain too boring? Not enough talking going on, is there?" He grinned, hoping that Ain would understand that it was merely a joke. "If you're that desperate for a ride, there might be room with me."

He then turned to Elrick, ready to explain his reasons for being here. "I'm here looking into the imbalance of light and darkness. I've noticed so far that the Heartless are pretty weak. When a Fat Bandit Heartless just falls over and vanishes, you know there's gotta be something wrong. The light's too strong. And I know that sounds like a good thing, but I don't really think it is. Too much of something can still hurt you, no matter how good it might be in moderation. But right now, I'm not too sure what to do about it."

[Lagunamov]

On second thought, I could use his feathers to restuff my pillow...

Sitting at the crate and taking full advantage of the shade, Elrick enjoyed having his body temperature return somewhat to normal. At least he was lucky enough to have gotten out of his clothes before the gold could burn and leave marks on his skin. He took the canter when offered, nodding as if to say thanks for it, and took a sip from it. The water inside was cooler than he expected, which was more than welcome. This prompted him to take off his beret, raising the canter above his head for a second and letting a couple streams of water fall on his head and body, helping to deal with the heat.

Radiant Garden was brought up, which he remembered Lillian mentioning before. If his memory served him right, that was the world she had left mostly to avoid restoration work, and he remembered an attack on the place being mentioned, but no specific details. This line of conversation helped fill him in somewhat, though not being present at the moment certainly left him wondering a few things, like who could have done so and such. The idea of someone using darkness as a weapon couldn’t help but make him remember Orpheus, but at the very least they weren’t the kind to attack people just because. At least not yet.

Soon after some kid with wings came up to them, who was apparently an acquaintance of Mr. Sociable. His sudden appearance sure helped derail the previous conversation, and it made Elrick think about how unusual it was that he wasn’t even fazed by the sight. Humor and the King had certainly made him accustomed to strange sights it seemed. He pretended not to listen when he asked for room in any of their ships. Elrick had plenty of room in his, since it was larger than the average one, but he wasn’t about to let a complete stranger get inside. Lillian was the first to offer a place, only to politely deny it with a hint, and whether it was true or not, it mattered very little. Next was Mickey, who took the chance to take a jab at Ain’s lack of social grace. Elrick was seriously starting to like this mouse. Which just made him wonder if something was wrong with him.

With the King now looking at him to answer his question, Elrick listened intently. Or as intently as someone who is half naked and with drops of water slipping through his body could listen. An imbalance between Light and Darkness seemed like an interesting subject, and the oversized mouse was certainly right about his point. “An exceeding amount of any of the two could pose a problem for most worlds, for either end of the spectrum could corrupt people. Finding a conventional solution for restoring balance could be a difficult task though,” he had seen something of the sort first hand, and in the most twisted way possible, so he could sympathize with his interest in it.

[Ain_Soph_Aur]

Wait, If the problem is balance doesn't that mean that if one side gets too strong then...

With everything said, and not a lot to say in return. He paid close attention to the bits about Radiant Garden, a world he never heard of and The restoration committee which he could only guess was a group that is trying to repair damage after a shit storm. Seeing as Mickey was part of this committee, it must have influence beyond the world that it had been founded and probably his the main reason Mickey is investigating the imbalance between darkness and light. His ability ended at this time at which he realized that someone else had approached them.

Ain turned to see Soren, though he only really know him as a unwanted hitchhiker. Mickey then made a joke about his personality, and how his lack of social skills might have made it boring to travel with but he didn't give it any mind. It probably was the closest thing to the truth, so he nodded to show his agreement. In actuality he had lost track of Soren, was he still on his ship or not. He wasn't really sure, but he went across the way and took a seat on a shipping crate.

"Please don't use my ship like a taxi." he stated quietly as stared ahead to the center of the space.

While continuing to listen he paid mind to the talk of a powerful guy using darkness, why would anyone be satisfied with such a corruption. To use it to gain power, wouldn't that have bad effects on the balance of light and dark? No matter how he thought of it though, the powerful 'guy' probably wasn't the reason for the imbalance. Taking a drink from his own canteen he let a idea slip away, one that might have been important to mention. Relaxing he listened more, his eyes void of emotion like every post. >.>

[Slash]

Overabundance of light?

He looked at Ain. Cold, man, cold. "Hey, don't worry about it. I'm not exactly cool with the idea of sitting in a corner, trying to talk to me while you ignore me for hours again.But if I have to..." He shrugged. "Besides, if I was using it as a taxi I'd have paid you. Just think of me as...oh, I dunno...a shipping crate or a crew member or something."

He looked at the others. Apparently they were having some big talk about light and darkness and such. The mouse dude was talking about how there was too much light, and there needed to be more darkness...wait, what?

"Now, I might not be the best with this sort of thing, but I don't see why too much light would be a bad thing, or how that would corrupt people. I mean, more light means weaker Heartless, and then they can't-" His jaw clamped shut. He still remembered that day perfectly. He tried again. "Then they can't-" He faltered and stopped. Oh, come on. It's a sentence, Soren. You're not going to lose it over a couple of words, right? Don't bring everyone down with your problems-that's never any good.

"Then they can't destroy any worlds," he said. He hated how weak his voice sounded, and followed it up immediately with a breezy, cheerful, "But I might be wrong, or whatever."