A Starlit Paris [Caroline, Jericho, Nadia]

[Ain_Soph_Aur]

Still the same day, time goes slow these days.
July 26 2010(Night)

The sun had long since fallen over the horizon of the city, Paris. The streets were silent but some music could be heard along with settle steps of dance and the clanks of armored soldiers walking the streets. It was night and most folk had already tucked there selves in for a good rest until the morning where the city would again turn alive and beautiful. It was kind of cold out but for those that lived here it wasn't a worry at all, even some didn't mind hanging out by the waters. The many stars above served as the only true light source aside from torches that were placed around town and held by guards as they made their rounds.

Even the heartless that normally moved to strike at the people seemed to take break for now and all was silent.

In the small graveyard to the east of the giant cathedral, Notre Dame, was a gummi ship hidden behind the brush. Inside was quiet as everyone within was fast asleep, with the smell of a apple pie cooling on the table. It was a perfect time to rest for on the ground was Ain still out cold from his efforts hours before, his dreams of family and home fresh in his mind he opened his eyes and sat up. His expression unblinking as it were showed a hint of sadness as a single tear shed while he was sleeping rolled down his cheek, quickly he wiped it away.

Ain jumped to his feet and checked the time. It was 10:12PM, it had been several hours and he had not meant to sleep until later so he would not disrupt his normal sleeping habits. Adjusting his jacket and pulling his increasingly long hair to the side he walked into the bathroom to get washed. He was actually pretty well rested for a change, though a bit embarrassed he couldn't handle a pie but could fight heartless so easily. A few more hours and they would take off from this world with Caroline in order to return her to her home world....

[Oathkeeper Emi]

What a terrible night...
--

Caroline finally came out of her fitful sleep and sat up. She was still very shaky, weak and exhausted. There hadn't been as much sleeping as tossing, turning and coughing going on. So, in the end Ain's plan to make her rest had failed. She had no idea what time it was and she was curious to see how things with that pie had turned out, so she almost literally fell out of bed and shuffled barefoot to the kitchen.

The state of the room nearly knocked her off her feet. It was a wreck, but somehow her pie was sitting there on the table, perfectly fine and uneaten. Caroline's mouth fell open. She didn't even know to respond to this. She didn't have the strength in her to clean the room, but she wanted to.

"Oh, my goodness,[/color]" she said after a moment, hoarsely. She went a little farther into the kitchen. Where was Ain, anyway, and why hadn't that pie been eaten? She hoped the man had at least had something to eat and she agreed pie was a sometimes food and not a meal. He did seem the type to skip meals though.

She supported herself against the counter and swept blond hair out of her eyes, waiting for him.

[Ain_Soph_Aur]

Caroline, what are you doing up!?

Ain finished his second shower in a day and threw on his clothing. It was better then showing his burnt body to Caroline or she might think he was a klutz(which he probably was while cooking anyway and only cooking for some reason), and he should clean up the kitchen before she gets up, too. Looking in the mirror his eyes narrowed as he pushed up his cheek a bit to make it look like he was smiling before lightly sighing and walking out of the bathroom. His steps were light and quiet, he didn't really notice that Caroline was in the room. Looking up he saw her and felt like he had to make excuses but didn't.

"Caroline, did you sleep well." he stated, though his face was serious enough there was a drip of sweat on his face like he was nervous.

Walking in to the room he stepped next to Caroline and looked down at her. Was she feeling any better? He couldn't really tell, he didn't really take much notice of her until now. He tended to do only things that were absolutely necessary at times, or most of the time anyway. Emotions included, but he wasn't a cold-hearted machine as most people thought about him. He wondered if Caroline thought he was cold blooded machine....

[Oathkeeper Emi]

I thought I smelled something burning...
--

Caroline turned around and looked at him with this devastated, shocked look on her face. "I slept awful,[/color]" she said weakly. She covered her mouth and coughed. "I've only been asleep for a few hours though, haven't I?[/color]"

Truthfully, she'd like to go back to bed but... this mess... this needed an explanation. Normally, she would have put her hands on her hips and stared him down until she'd gotten the explanation she wanted but that wasn't an option now. So she just hung her head wearily, sighed and asked "What happened in here, Mr. Ain? It looks like somethin' burned the whole place up. But the pie looks okay... how did that happen?[/color]"

She coughed again. It didn't sound good. No doubt she still had a fever. The worst was yet to come. Somehow though, she was more worried about him. "You didn't hurt yourself, did you? And did you actually eat dinner? See, I knew I shouldn't have gone to bed, now look what's happened...[/color]" she whined.

[Slash]

Spending time in a graveyard? Better check that off of the evil things-to-do list.

[/center]

It was dark, and he was in a graveyard. It was incredibly cheesy, but sort of cool in a hokey way. He wished he had some sort of evil getup- perhaps a large top hat combined with a monocle would be a good wardrobe for this paticular world.

Nadia moved alongside him. She might have been unnerved, might not. Personally, he found the isolation very calming. They wouldn't be disturbed in such a depressing place, especially at night. Jericho figured that there were probably some superstitions floating around this world.

[Aerith]

This seems a bit overdone, but okay.
--------
[Yes, I'm trying out this colored dialogue thing. Shock and awe.]

Coming down from the cathedral was a disappointing but necessary action. At least, being night, there were not as many people milling about in the streets. Still, Nadia made sure to stay close to Jericho. Any city at night was not the safest place to be caught alone.

They ended up in the middle of an unfamiliar sight for Nadia. Or at least, this particular type of graveyard was an unfamiliar sight. So much ornateness was a tad overwhelming. But it was to be expected if the decor in that cathedral was any indication.

It was eerily silent. But she found she didn't mind it too much. The faint stirrings of uneasiness fluttered somewhere in her chest, but she managed to brush those off.

"I've never seen anything like this before. The dead here seem to be treated more royally than many of the living."

[Ain_Soph_Aur]

Is being sick that bad?

"I had a bit of trouble, I don't know the first thing about cooking." he stated in all seriousness, which was the best answer he could give to Caroline, in the past he could only manage a badly cooked grilled fish. It never tasted good but it filled his stomach at the very least.

Ain lowered his head, his expression much of the same but his body language spoke embarrassment but his long hair obstructed the sight of his eyes. It was true that he was useless in the kitchen but he had other strengths like fighting ability. Through Caroline's questioning he decided to answer honestly and looked up at her. "A few burns here and there, but I'm fine. I managed to save the pie though." he answered dryly as he gestured his slightly burned finger, picking up the kitchen chair he moved it back to the table.

"You slept for a few hours."

Standing tall he looked around at the mess he made, surely she wouldn't be mad, this was his ship after all. Looking at her carefully he payed slightly more attention then he did before, mostly to her coughing. Walking past her he poured her a glass of water and handed it to her. "Are you sure you should be up, you look terrible." he stated, looking at her carefully he saw that she was still weak from sickness. "Can you walk?"

[Oathkeeper Emi]

AHH SPIDER.
--

"Oh, well you didn't have to go and do all of that,[/color]" Caroline said. She felt a little bad now because he had hurt himself while he was trying to finish her pie. She took the glass offered to her and sipped it but her throat hurt so it made it hard to swallow. She ended up putting the water aside and sitting down in a kitchen chair.

"Oh, well, I'm fine,[/color]" she said. It was obvious she was not. She was about to answer his other question but she was suddenly frozen in fear. There was a huge spider on the wall. Caroline hated spiders. She hated spiders. No matter how sick she was, she was always going to get up and run away from spiders. Which is exactly what she did.

She stood up abruptly, knocking the chair off it's feet. She pointed at the spider on the wall, shrieked and ran out of the room. She didn't stop running up she had burst out of the door and ran out into the graveyard. That was no good, either. It was either return to the spider or stay in the graveyard with all the corpses.

[Slash]

Okay, who the hell is this?

[/center]

Jericho nodded. "Perhaps honoring the dead is a way to amend for past sins without having to do anything serious."

And then he was interrupted by a very high, very shrill screaming. While a ghost would have been an interesting diversion, the reality of the sound's source was much more disappointing.

Some chick ran out of...was that a ship hidden in the bushes? Really? Jericho wasn't prepared to deal with anyone, and had absolutely no reserve of fake kindness. He looked at her with a mixture of annoyance and scorn.

"What is it?" he asked her. If Nadia was here he wouldn't have even bothered saying anything- just would have cut her throat with Corruption and resumed his business. As it stood, he was seriously considering doing that anyway.

[Oathkeeper Emi]

Must mind my manners.
--

Oh, goodness. There were people out here. She knew that nothing good could come out of talking to strange people in a graveyard, but she didn't want to see rude. However, her first impressions of them were pretty much set in stone. There was a very tall man with glasses looking at her like he was angry, and a darker skinned woman standing next to him. She took a moment to catch her breath, cough, and whine a little before answering quite plainly "There was a spider in there. I ran away[/color]" in her Southern drawl.

She would have held out a hand to introduce herself but didn't want to spread germs. Instead, she tried to make herself look presentable, smoothing her hair pulled back into a pony tail and her dress rumpled from sleeping. "I'm sorry, where are my manners? My name is Caroline.[/color]"

And I really shouldn't be outside with you strange people right now. It's cold out here.

She forced a smile. "I'm so sorry if I've interrupted something, I just got scared so I ran out. It's a little chilly out here.[/color]"

[Aerith]

More strange girls? ...Okay.
--------

Nadia might have responded to Jericho had not a strange girl run screaming out into the open. Jericho quickly made it clear that he was not interested in indulging this girl's antics. Nadia, however, noted that at least this girl wasn't trying to throw herself off a building. Neither did she seem particularly depressed. In fact, she was quite polite and... spunky.

When she spoke, though, it was in a strange twanging voice Nadia had never heard before. She couldn't help but arch an eyebrow.

"A spider? You ran out here like an army of bloodthirsty men were behind you."

Caroline was certainly a strange one. She also didn't sound like she was a denizen of this world. Was she alone?

No reason not to be polite in return. "My name is Nadia. And you didn't interrupt anything. Right?" She glanced up at Jericho.

[Ain_Soph_Aur]

More strangers, stranger still, why would they come here?

Ain stood there for a bit as Caroline burst out of the kitchen like demons were chasing her, she didn't even look back and soon the ship fell silent. What was that all about, did he perhaps say something wrong without realizing it. After a moment he stepped out of the kitchen and looked around, maybe she went back to his room, but why run? He thought carefully as he walked down the hall and into the vacant room, taking a quick look around he saw that she wasn't there and her shoes. It occurred to him that she wasn't on the ship and without her shoes to boot.

Taking the shoes off the bed, he walked rather slowly out of the ship to the open door leading to the outside. He was right to assume she left, sighing lightly he stepped out as well.

Seeing Caroline with a few strangers, he flatly walked over. His unblinking serious expression revealing nothing of his intentions, he saw anger in the man, Jericho, but the girl, Nadia seemed calm enough. "Caroline, your shoes." he stated as he threw them by her feet, not yet acknowledging the two strangers.

[Slash]

WHY DID YOU PARK YOUR SHIP IN THE GRAVEYARD?

[/center]

At least she was kind of polite. It didn't change the fact that she existed and was talking, enough of a reason for Jericho to hate anyone not named Nadia right now.

A man walked out of the graveyard ship, probably fresh from screwing the little spider-hating Southern princess. Hate spiders? How appalling. If Nadia wasn't here he'd have taken on his other appearance in a heartbeat. Oh, how she'd scream then. Scream in her annoying little drawling voice.

Nadia was a lot less hostile, though, and out of obligation to her he put on the facade of having cooled down a bit (even though on the inside he was still incredibly irritated).

"No, you didn't interrupt anything." He looked at her for a bit, then studied the man.

ANOTHER emotional blank. REALLY. After Clive and those men in the cloaks, here was another one. Ffffffffffff- At least with the girl he could mess with her when he got bored. What the hell was he supposed to do with another blank slate and god damn this was the worst day ever.

He kept his thoughts behind a cool exterior. "My name is Jericho," he told Caroline, then turned to the other man. "And you are?"

[Oathkeeper Emi]

I hope they don't get sick because of me..
--

"Oh, thank you.[/color]

Caroline was momentarily distracted by Ain coming out of the ship and tossing her shoes at her. Of course, it was a little bit late. Her feet were already muddy. The rain had turned the dirt in the graveyard into mud... as much as Caroline didn't want to put dirty feet in her shoes, she didn't like the idea of standing in corpse mud very much either.

With her shoes on, she waited patiently while a conversation formed in front of her. She was happy she hadn't been interrupting anything- she didn't want to be rude, of course- but she got the feeling something else was going on. She didn't like the way this Jericho man was looking at her. First impressions count for a lot after all, and her first impression was that whoever he was, he didn't like her very much.

Caroline frowned. Maybe she should just go back in the ship and beat the spider down with a broom or, better yet, get Ain to kill it. It was cold out here and she just wanted to go back to bed. She tried her best to supress it in front of these strangers, but she couldn't hold the coughs in anymore. "Excuse me,[/color]" she manged to say, but it sounded strangled. She turned around and made a terrible sounding wheezing noise.

[Ain_Soph_Aur]

Too polite for someone traveling at night.

"Caroline, You ran from something right, some times you face what you are afraid of." he flatly said, almost looking like he ignored Jericho outright. He was accustomed to ignoring others, people that would pose troubles on him, and dangerous people. He had no idea who they were but it was never anything positive when it came to off-world travelers with the exception of King Mickey perhaps.

Ain stepped forward slowly without a word, after all he didn't really need to say anything. He had talked way too much these days, but it was probably necessary to talk to Caroline since they are traveling together. This situation, these strangers had seen his ship that he carefully hidden in the graveyard, it was also noted that they spoke English so they were not from this world, and among most of his thoughts he was untrusting of them both. What would a strange man and girl be doing in the graveyard at night(Yes, I'm aware of the irony), his reason was to stay out of sight but why would they. Looking down the man with the glasses and beard, he was now acting politely, he didn't know Jericho enough to come to any conclusions. The girl however was short-haired and wore earings, he had nothing to think about Nadia.

Looking ahead at the two, he decided to answer them.

"I'm Ain, this is my ship." he said as he glanced back at the white vessel. Then came his line of questioning. "You are not from this world, what is your business in a graveyard at night."