[Action] 04 - Setting aside that really weird dream... >_>

[souhi_no_arashi]

Kurogane stalked ahead of his traveling companions how the hell had he ended up with those anyway?! and wondered how much further that bird was going to continue leading them through a now somewhat thinning forest.

Actually, they hadn't traveled much more than a day and a half and had already seemed to reach nearly the other side of the central forest that supposedly split this land in half. He'd been expecting it to be bigger, honestly. Perhaps the bird had taken a path that passed through a narrower section of the woods. There wasn't really any way to know without a map or some exploration and Kurogane didn't care that badly to find out either way though. At the very least, they seemed to be reaching the end of the forest with little incident. Which both relieved him and pissed him off. He didn't particularly want to look out for that kid and would have had to if they'd come across any trouble, but at the same time, he was bored out of his mind and just itching for something to happen.

His dreams the previous night had only proved that too true. Shaking his head, bits and pieces of the dreams lingering still with him, he tried to clear them out. Fighting side by side with a "Princess of Dolls?" Tch. And that girl with the wings on her feet and that grinning idiot... standing around while he was chained down... He developed a twitch just thinking about it. He'd wanted to smash in that guy's face just to make him stop grinning and looking so damned smug and happy!

Kurogane was finally pulled out of his musings about the bizarre dreams when he realized he had lost sight of the damn bird again. He lifted his eyes to an increasingly cloudy sky, not thinking much of the fact that it had been sunny only minutes before, he wasn't going to complain. He spotted the creature circling in the sky before taking off toward what appeared to be a tower or castle not far ahead, peeking over clumps of tall trees. He paused and turned back to the others, eyes falling on Taiki, "That it, kid?"


(( OOC: So! Taiki, Mokona and Sakura if she uhhh tailed them (though they have been walking for about a day and half since the river meeting, so she'd have been gone from home that long too, but please feel free to have her following them!) - we are arriving at Fay's tower after following Windam! I figure the dream event happened the previous night when they made camp. ))

Comments

[blackkirin.livejournal.com]

Taiki looked up from where he was stepping very carefully stepping over a seedling so he wouldn't hurt it and then looked over to where the dark man was pointing. He was still jumpy around Kurogane since the man just had an overwhelming sense of presence, but it wasn't quite as bad as it had been to begin with. There was a rather tall tower ahead of them but Taiki couldn't make out much other than it looked rather sturdy and it was made out of stone. After a few moments of thought he looked up at Kurogane.
"I... don't know?" Taiki answered honestly. He hadn't left the temple in over a year, much less explored much. "I never visited Fai-san." He glanced down awkwardly at the admission.

[souhi-no-arashi.livejournal.com]

"You've never even met this guy?" he repeated increduously. This kid was beyond hopeless. There went the plan to just dump him here and have him wait for the temple people to come find him. Unless this guy, whoever he was, turned out to be even less a threat than the kid did. He wasn't sure how that was going to be possible.

Rolling his eyes he just shook his head at the boy. "Fine fine, we'll check it out then."

The bird was now circling the tower, so it was likely this was indeed where it was leading them. Kurogane supposed the only way to make sure was to go there directly and talk to this "Fay." He then continued on toward the rising tower. Soon the trio stepped out of the trees and found themselves at the tower's base. Craning his neck to look up first, he then swept crimson eyes around the area.

He didn't see a house anywhere... just the tower. He scowled in irritation as he started to circle it looking for a door or something at least.

[soel-ofthe-lamp.livejournal.com]

Mokona looked up, and further up, and finally rolled over onto her back so she could see the very top of the tower.

"Uwaa~ It's so tall!"

Taiki's friend Fay sure lived in a strange place! Mokona had had a strange dream about someone named Fay last night, and Mokona usually didn't dream, so it must have meant something exciting was going to happen! Mokona wondered if Taiki's friend Fay liked word games as much as Mokona's dream Fay. It would be nice to play more games; and with two more people there, they could have that much more fun!

[blackkirin.livejournal.com]

Taiki smiled at how cute Mokona looked rolling on her back. Gently he reached down and gently rocked her back and forth with his fingers a few times. Then he walked around the base of the tower curiously... twice. Then he looked over at the others with wide eyes. "There isn't a door to knock on..." He looked up again at the gathering clouds and wondered if it was going to rain.

[souhi-no-arashi.livejournal.com]

Kurogane had come to the same conclusion as Taiki had. There was no door. What was wrong with that bird then? He lifted his eyes upward once more searching for it and spotted a window set high up on the tower. So no doors, but it had a window? He didn't see the bird any longer however.

Damnit.

The man cleared his throat and called out, standing far down below the window, "OI! Does anyone even live here?"

If no one answered, they had just wasted time and energy in following that dumb thing here and then they'd have to go find a town anyhow. This was beginning to become much more of a chore than it would be worth, possible test or not...

[fluorite-flux.livejournal.com]

The shout stirred Fay from his sleep and his eyes opened slowly and adjusted slowly. He pushed a heavy curtain of hair away from his face and pushed himself up, cascades of blonde falling everywhere around him. That hadn't been part of the dream... Was someone outside...?

[soel-ofthe-lamp.livejournal.com]

Mokona giggled, then hopped to her feet to circle the tower like the other two.

"Silly Kurogane. If nobody lives here, then was nobody writing to Taiki?"

[souhi-no-arashi.livejournal.com]

Kurogane twitched and glared down at Mokona as she hopped out of sight around the tower.

"Then why are there no doors or a house or anything," he grumbled. "Maybe the bird just got lost," he said louder by way of explanation. "Just cause this tower is here doesn't mean this is where that guy lives. The kid's never been here or anything."

[blackkirin.livejournal.com]

Taiki watched Mokona bounce around the tower and then looked thoughtfully at the tower. Maybe there was a secret door? Taiki started feeling along the stones and cracks to see if there were any switches or hooks. He shook his head firmly and looked at where Kurogane was standing. "Windam brought us here, right Kurogane-san? Fay-san said Windam was a special kind of bird, so she doesn't get lost."

After searching all around the base as far as he could reach, Taiki sat dejectedly on a rock. Maybe Fay had left somewhere, or maybe they were just supposed to wait here for someone to come. Taiki wanted to go HOME, and he tried hard to keep himself from crying.

[fluorite-flux.livejournal.com]

Now he was certain there were without a doubt voices below his tower, aside from the fact that it seemed to be disturbing the young swallows above his window. He gathered up his hair quickly, pinning the heaviest parts up with deft practice and wrapping the ends of it around one arm to ease the trip across the room.

He stretched luxuriously before finally getting off his mattress and heading to the window, sticking his head out.

"Hello~ down there," he called.

[soel-ofthe-lamp.livejournal.com]

Noticing Taiki's crestfallen posture, Mokona abandoned her tower-circling and was just about to leap onto his shoulder and make him feel better when a person appeared in the window. Change of plan! She still leaped, but instead of nuzzling or patting him on the cheek, she waved up at the top of the tower and shouted.

"Hello, hello~! Taiki's much smarter than Kurogane, huh?" She would have normally whispered the last sentence, or at least stage-whispered, but the person who was probably Taiki's friend Fay or Mokona's dream-friend Fay was up so high, shouting made more sense. It would have been rude not to let him hear, too.

[souhi-no-arashi.livejournal.com]

Kurogane tensed and held his hand ready over the sword as someone called down and lifted his gaze upward and...

"It can't be... that... that...." But his realization of just who "Fay" was was cut short by Mokona cheerfully calling back.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" he growled, immediately lunging for the creature, abandoning the poised position over the hilt of Souhi.

[blackkirin.livejournal.com]

Taiki was surprised out of his dejected mood by the yelling, and he stood up just in time for Kurogane to bellow and start charging towards Mokona. He had witnessed this a few times, but it still fascinated him how nimble Mokona was. He wasn't afraid of Kurogane hurting Mokona anymore so he just watched and tried not to giggle at the antics. A full grown man chasing around a bouncing ball with ears while yelling at the top of his lungs. He thought it would be fun to play chase with Mokona too sometime, but he wasn't about to get in Kurogane's way.

[fluorite-flux.livejournal.com]

Fay was at first surprised, and then delighted to see the little band of travelers below him.

"And what brings you all here this fine morning? Though... it seems I've seen some of you somewhere before..." he said, his tone thoughtful.

[souhi-no-arashi.livejournal.com]

Kurogane continued to try and snatch and grab at Mokona as she bounced from place to place, only infuriating him further, "STAY STILL YOU MEAT BUN!"

But it was fairly obvious that it wasn't going to just let him catch it and do whatever his violent tendencies provoked him to with it, so he finally just snarled and gave up, turning away from it in annoyance. Just a big game to it anyway. Tch.

He then turned his attentions back up to the tower, not giving much of a second thought to his behaviour only moments before or how it may have made him look. Instead he tried to figure out how it could be possible that someone he'd not yet met had been in his dream last night.

Narrowed eyes stared at Fay, high up in the tower suspiciously. "At the ocean," he said gruffly, testing the man's words about familiarity.

[fluorite-flux.livejournal.com]

Fay chuckled.

"That's right," he said, leaning his head in his hands on the window's edge, "though, I really should say 'thank you.' That was the first time I had ever seen the ocean in my life."

[souhi-no-arashi.livejournal.com]

Red eyes widened a little bit. "So it was you!" he exclaimed, glaring accusingly up. But how?! It had been nothing but a dream, the blonde had even said so!

"Are you some sort of dream seer or shaman or something?" he demanded to know from the man above.

He didn't like the idea of someone invading his dreams, not one bit. Though, the other strange people... he'd never seen them before or anyone like them either. What if they too had been real people? Or maybe that guy up there had done all of it, toying with Kurogane in his sleep. The very idea was enough to piss him off! He looked to Taiki once more, eyes narrowing just slightly. It had been Kurogane's idea to come here, but the kid was the one who knew this guy supposedly. Just what kind of people did he associate with, huh? Then again, he was so trusting of complete strangers he'd probably make friends with even a kappa. Tch.

[blackkirin.livejournal.com]

"Dream seer? Shaman?" Taiki repeated curiously to himself. He looked at Mokona to see if she knew what those were. Since the oddly familiar man was talking with Kurogane it would be rude to interrupt so he waited patiently for them to finish. Taiki blinked as Kurogane looked his way with narrow eyes and the boy wondered if he had done something wrong. Had he spoken out of turn or was he supposed to introduce himself? Taiki froze like a deer in front of a lion as he tried to figure out what he'd done wrong.

[fluorite-flux.livejournal.com]

"Ahaha, I am sorry to say that I am neither," said Fay, waving a hand dismissively. "I am only skilled at controling my own dreams. It seems it was a small blessing for me the other night that everyone seemed to be dreaming the same way..."

He smiled again, his face suddenly lit with understanding, "You're Taiki, aren't you! And hello again, Mokona! We should play more games!"

[soel-ofthe-lamp.livejournal.com]

Mokona beamed.

"So Taiki's friend Fay and Mokona's dream-friend Fay really are the same person, and Kurogane knows Fay, too! We should all play a game together!"

[souhi-no-arashi.livejournal.com]

Kurogane rolled his eyes after a moment, the child looking bewildered and rather jumpy, and looked away, lifting his eyes to the suspicious tower-dweller once again.

So he claimed he could only control his own dreams then, huh? And it did seem that this was indeed who Taiki kept in contact with as the man recognized him in turn. But how did he know the manjuu too then?

"Wait a second, you know this guy too!? From a dream?" the man demanded of the white bouncy blob. If that was the case then they all must have had their dreams run together! "How is that even possible - that we all dreamed the same dreams?" he grouched. It had certainly never happened to him before now, that was for sure.

[blackkirin.livejournal.com]

"Hello, it's nice to meet you Fay!" Taiki responded to Fay with a shy smile of his own and a polite nod. He'd been told he shouldn't bow to people even when greeting them, so even though it felt odd he tried to remember not to do anything improper. "How did you know who I was?" He asked curiously. He remembered Fay in the dream about Kurogane being chained to a rock.

[fluorite-flux.livejournal.com]

Fay shrugged a little, his smile only deepening before answering the shouted questions.

"I cannot say for certain why it happened. It certainly was strange, but very fun for me!"

Fay then turned back to Taiki.

"It is nice to meet you face-to-face for me as well, Taiki! I knew you from a picture your sages sent to me in order to help me search for you. They are quite worried."

[souhi-no-arashi.livejournal.com]

Kurogane just stared up at the tower in disbelief. They really had all dreamed the same things? Then this guy... had seen that dream...?

Gah, that pissed him off! And that weird blonde only grinned like an idiot and claimed it was "fun?" What the hell was wrong with him? Tch. However as he spoke with Taiki, something he said caught the kami's attention.

Your sages sent to me, - Just what he wanted to hear. "So they know where you are and they are looking for him. He can just stay here," he called back, not expecting an argument. Finally, he could leave this helpless kid here without worrying about what sort of trouble he'd get himself into. Not his problem anymore, hmph.

[blackkirin.livejournal.com]

Taiki hung his head and looked distressed at the thought of the sages getting so worried about him. Though it had been an accident it was his fault he'd upset them, so they were probably mad at him too. He wasn't supposed to go outside the walls yet, at least not without taming a protector first.
"Were they mad?" He called up at Fay with obvious worry.