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 Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 11:04 am
As impossible as the feat sounded, It seems that villagers were able to build a town in the middle of the barren land known as the White Sand Desert. As odd as it sounds, this village thrives and lives peacefully in their desert homes and markets. Aware of the environment, the villagers avoid walking around in the open of the village at high noon and at night, even if they are protected by walls, mother nature knows how to get through it.
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Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 11:59 am
Nodding her head, Mori rubbed the back of her neck as she thought over all this. A crick had developed there from being in the saddle all day. Her thoughts went all over the place, from the city they were in to back at the Dawn Striders. A war was taking place there, and what was she doing but hiding away from it. If anyone died... She knew she would blame herself. It would happen because she had taken two soldiers from the Striders when they needed any man they could get. Her ears drooped slightly as she began to worry over the others, left back at the port...
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Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 12:15 pm
Jon smiled, "So.." He figured a little fresh air of the saddle might help the girl a bit, "do you want to explore the town with me tonight or not? I think there might be some things that you'll enjoy seeing, plus it'll cool you off." It wasn't a matter of not being alone, it was just that Jon wanted to spend some regular relaxation time with Mori. He hadn't realized it but every time he had been near Mori he had been working on something,
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Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 12:28 pm
"Oh... Oh, yes, of course," she answered, startled out of her thoughts. The smile Mori gave him, though, was weak at best. She couldn't help her worry and guilt, and it was tearing her up. Her heart was the part of her that was the most human, and as such was the most fragile. It took very little to excite her, but in the same breath it took equally as little to upset her. That, and her fear of Noah hung over her heavily like a dark shroud, making it hard for her to focus.
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Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 12:43 pm
"Good," Jon was happy to hear that. "You'll need your winter coat for tonight, I know it is hard to believe but it gets colder than your mountain out here." He leaned back against the stone wall and continued, "Then we can start working on your horse back riding in the mornings and after noons. You won't need my help after we leave here in order to ride, I'll just buy one of the desert stallions whenever it's time for us to go back home." Jon loved the wild stallions of the area and their proficiency once tamed, they ran faster, lasted longer, and Jon thought were more intelligent than any other horses he had ever seen.
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Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 12:59 pm
She did find it hard to believe it would be cold enough for her winter coat here, but Jon had never lied to her, so she took him for his word. The idea of being up on Coal alone made her nervous all over again, despite her close bond with the dark charger, but she didn't voice it. Mori adjusted her position to her prefered one, with her knees drawn up to her chest and her arms wrapped around her legs. Unknown to her, taking this position only made her seem more frail and lost than normal. "Go back home?" she finally mused. "When will we know its safe to do that? And how? We've seperated ourselves from the others so thoroughly I doubt they can find us. That is, of course, if they survive..." Even being in Jon's company couldn't completely change her personality. By nature, she was serious and a bit melancholy. Expecting the worst was all part of that, but it didn't stop her eyes turning glassy as tears formed.
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Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 1:15 pm
Jon shrugged slightly, "The captain has her ways, she would be the only person to figure I would bring you here and she is intelligent enough to do so, either way I'm sure we will find out." His gaze turned to the ceiling where a hole had been cut in order to allow a sense of time as well as to fill the well when it did rain. He could just see the orange shade of the sky through the hole, "The suns setting, so we'll be heading out to the city soon."
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Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 1:31 pm
Nodding her head in understanding, she stood and reached for her pack. She had to dig a bit to find her winter coat, but she did find it. Mori shrugged off the vest she wore just for the hood, draping it over the pack as she looped her coat over her arms for now. The half-demon leaned her back against the wall, her thoughts still heavy, though not as bad as before. Jon's reminder of the captain had helped ease her worries over staying isolated, though she wasn't free of her guilt yet.
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Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 1:41 pm
Jon pulled out his thick cloak and threw it over his shoulders. He could tell that the girl was skeptical and he could understand why. The weather really didn't make sense but it was the way it was and there was nothing that he could do about that. He slid on his boot and stood up ready to go, "You ready Mori." Jon's hope was that the guard wouldn't be that heavy that night. Anytime Ramses caught a glimpse of Jon he assumed that Jon was up to no good. He could at least get away alone. Mori wouldn't be that hard to being along, other people yes, but not Mori. Others would slow him down, but at most times it seemed that she moved at Jon's preferred pace so he couldn't complain. It was actually kind of nice to have a companion instead of being alone like he used to be when he travelled for the striders or himself.
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Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 1:50 pm
Slidding on her own boots, Mori nodded in her head in response to Jon's question. Already, she wished she could walk around barefoot, a habit of hers whenever she was left alone and could trust the surfaces she walked on. As it was now, her ears wiggled slightly as she picked up on some of Jon's concerns about the guard. While he worried about it, she would keep her mental "ear" out for trouble. A person's mental "voice" sounded the same as their physical, or close to it, and she had heard the guards from before. It would be simple to warn Jon if they came close. The only catch would be she would have to try and block out everyone else, a trying task for what little control she had, especially with her being with Jon. Her telepathy became stronger the longer she was in someone's prescense, and they had been together for weeks now. His thoughts were so common that she almost heard them as often as her own, always unintentional.
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Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 2:01 pm
Jon led the girl through the maze out of the room through the false wall, closing it tight behind them. The air outside was frigid. Too cold for most people who had not been born here, Jon pulled the cloak even more closed than it had been. When the emerged on the street there was barely anyone there. Most people had gone home before the cold had come but Jon had always preferred the cold over the heat. You could always put more clothes on but you never really looked right walking around naked. "Come on we're gonna go to the roof tops." The tops of the houses had been one of Jon's favorite places when he was younger, it had been the place he could escape to when he wanted to.
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Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 2:10 pm
The chill of the air took her by surprise at first, but at the same time it was a welcome relief. When he mentioned going to the rooftops, she was slightly confused at first. It took her a moment to remember that the roofs here were flat, and could serve as a second level to the complex city. She followed him willingly, sticking close to avoid getting lost. Eventually, she pulled on her coat to keep off the worst of the chill, though she left it unbuttoned and her hood down.
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Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 2:16 pm
He led her through the streets for a little while till Jon found the alley he was looking for. Once inside of the alley a small pile of rubble could be seen, or as Jon liked to think of it, a staircase. "Right this way," Jon reached out and helped the girl get to the first roof where you started to see the city from a different vantage. It started to look peaceful and asleep, something beautiful in the middle of a wasteland. Jon was pleased with the view, "It only gets better from here." He indicated the slow assent of roofs along the canyon wall.
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Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 2:25 pm
She was grateful for the help up the rubble, and was glad to be on a flat surface again. Mori paused once there, taking in the view with amazement. "It's like a different world up here..." she finally whispered, looking at Jon with bright, astonished eyes. When she looked to where he indicated, she asked curiously, "How high are we going?" This place was so different from what she was used to... It was a welcome distraction from her gloomy thoughts about the Striders and her confusing feelings towards Jon.
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Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 2:31 pm
Jon's smile and eyes became sly and playful, "You'll just have to keep up and find out." The jumps between houses were nothing that Mori couldn't handle with her height for a girl so Jon had no issue turning that point and starting to run along the roof tops just like when he had been a small street urchin. He jumped from roof to roof go ing higher with every calculated jump, looking back every now and then to check on Mori to see that she was indeed following behind him.
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