Mei-Lien (Guan Yu)

[Tiffanian]

Re: Mei-Lien (KakkaHousu)

"Alright. We'll have some time to kill when we get there, so think about what you might like to do in the city" Hannah replied, starting back out of the building. The forest was strangely quiet for this time of day, and they saw not a single bird or animal on their way back. That made it an uneventful trip; Hannah was fairly quiet, seemingly lost in thought. The gates finally came into view in the early afternoon.

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Mei-Lien (KakkaHousu)

After getting Hannah's agreement, Mei started to leave the building behind and eventually the two of them were going towards the city along the forest paths. The place had fallen silent, no random birdcalls or little critters crossing their path. Even the mage was lost in her thoughts, possibly still jealousy, the guardian's prophecies or something else altogether. "You thinking about the prophecies?" the redhead finally asked as the gates were in sight.

 

[Tiffanian]

Re: Mei-Lien (KakkaHousu)

"Among other things" Hannah replied, stopping at the edge of the forest and looking around a bit. "Doesn't it feel weird here now? In this forest?" she asked. "Maybe the animals sense something we can't... After what we saw in the barracks, and what I've seen in the city, I don't doubt that the Gods are angry." Slowly she started out for the gates, thinking again. The two were let into the gates by a group of humorless, silent guards, and into the city at what was probably about 2 or 3pm by Mei-Lien's judgment of time.

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Mei-Lien (KakkaHousu)

"Animals are like that in my lands. They can somehow detect coming uneasy times and seem to fade into their natural homes to hide from the incoming strife. Maybe all animals do this." the fighter shared her thoughts, not saying anything about gods or such.

They reached the gates eventually and were let in by two no-nonsense type guards, who Mei found herself respecting for their no fucking around approach. It seemed to be afternoon when they were inside. "What to do...?" the redhead thought out loud, not quite sure about what to spend time on in the city

 

[Tiffanian]

Re: Mei-Lien (KakkaHousu)

"There's a lot of things to do in the city, just not a lot I can think of you enjoying. There are places to shop, drink, have sex, gamble. There are places for fights that are gambled on, but I wouldn't suggest that, I've been to one of those 'fights' before" Hannah replied, cringing as she mentioned the last bit. "So I'm not sure. Though... if you wanted we could go to the harbor, and I could take you sailing. So, what do you want to do?"

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Mei-Lien (KakkaHousu)

"What is she gonna do, confess her love?" were Mei's thoughts about the sailing thing. She could remember it being a thing in real world to take your love out on a park pond in a rowboat and do a confession there. Nonetheless, she decided to agree with the proposal, asking about the "fights" along the way. Those had aroused her curiousity, being fights and all.

 

[Tiffanian]

Re: Mei-Lien (KakkaHousu)

"The fights?" Hannah asked as she led Mei-Lien through the city towards the harbor. "They're ugly things. You'd get a better fistfight out of me than half your opponents there. The other half... Those are dangerous. The fighting is dirty and underhanded, and losing means death." Their path passed through the straight, orderly streets of the rich part of town and then down a steep decline to an even richer part of town, simply massive homes lining the street and a few side streets, until the streets started to narrow and begin to twist around, leading them through the parts of town where the fishermen and dockworkers lived. The homes were just as large, but blocky and simple, and Mei-Lien could tell that they were multi-family apartments, albeit fairly nice ones from the outside. All the while their path steadily declined until they reached a relatively small natural harbor, a number of long docks stretching out into the ocean. Hannah led Mei-Lien down one of them, past a lot of personal boats of various sizes, until they came to a small sailboat. Hannah quickly set about checking up on the little boat, making sure the rigging was all set and such.

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Mei-Lien (KakkaHousu)

"Hmph... even the most rough fighting pits I've fought at didn't have actual death in them..." Mei gave a remark, not sure about wanting to visit those kinds of places. Going past all the houses, both rich and poor varieties, the pair soon got into a pier. Carrying on down said pier, they soon got to a relatively small sailboat. Hopping on board, the fighter sat down as Hannah looked over the ropes and all that. "You've sailed these things before? Looks like you know what you're doing."

 

[Tiffanian]

Re: Mei-Lien (KakkaHousu)

"Mhm. A few years ago my dad bought me this boat for my birthday and taught me to sail. He doesn't normally spend much time with me, so it was a really nice gift" Hannah replied, making the last of her checks and then unmooring the boat from the dock and stepping into it, picking up a paddle and slowly paddling the boat out past the docks. Once they had gotten a suitable distance out to sea she put down the paddle and set the sails, taking to the tiller and sailing them around through the small waves. It was a beautiful afternoon, and a cool sea breeze propelled them along as the bright sun kept them warm. "You haven't told me much about where you come from. What's it like?" Hannah asked quietly as she steered the boat.

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Mei-Lien (KakkaHousu)

The girls departed from the shore, making it some distance away from the pier. Hannah explained that she had indeed piloted a sailboat before, which brought some assurance to Mei as she sat on the boat. As she admired the sea, the mage fired a question at her. It was something she would be hard-pressed to answer, not knowing anything about the geography of the game world. "The East..." she replied, unsure what the answer would do.

 

[Tiffanian]

Re: Mei-Lien (KakkaHousu)

"Hmm..." Hannah frowned at the reply, and said "I suppose you don't want to talk about it." She sailed them out from the harbor and to the right, though there wasn't much of a view, except for the sheer cliff that ringed much of this part of the island. At the highest point of the cliff Mei-Lien could see the wall broken by an enormous castle, with turrets that seemed to go on forever. "It's a shame it isn't prettier here. They say there used to be all sorts of flowery plants growing up the sides of these cliffs, years ago. They're probably making it up, but still." She piloted the little sailboat around for a while, frowning off and on, clearly having trouble coming up with a topic of conversation.

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Mei-Lien (KakkaHousu)

Mei remained silent afterwards, not really able to tell anything convincing about her being there in the world. The mage would likely start considering her sanity not really being all there if she told her that it was a game.

"It's a shame... flowers are so much more beautiful to look at. That wall is just dull and disheartening..." she shared an opinion about the cliffs and castles. After a brief foray around the coast, the fighter picked up Hannah's difficulty at picking a topic to talk about. Maybe it was something she didn't dare to speak about, and was struggling with her mind. "Speak up. Surely you have something in your mind."

 

[Tiffanian]

Re: Mei-Lien (KakkaHousu)

"I'm sorry, I've just never been great with conversation" Hannah replied, steering them around so that she could peer out to sea, the small boat buffeted gently by the waves. She stared out for some time, seemingly calmed by the experience, and after a while she started "Mei-Lien..." before stopping, most likely confirming the redhead's suspicions. "I know... that we haven't... haven't known each other very long. But... you've become... really... important to me" she sputtered out, slowly and nervously. "I think that... that..." she just trailed off, and Mei-Lien could see the young mage's hand shaking as it rested in her lap, her face having turned red as she stared intently out to sea, unable to meet the redhead's eyes.

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Mei-Lien (KakkaHousu)

"I knew it, dammit I knew it... the fighter thought as the nervous, fidgeting semi-confession started coming. After Hannah started failing to continue, Mei moved next to her in an attempt to make her calm down. "I'm not sure what you see in a mean-spirited thug like myself... though I kinda like hanging around you, I cannot really return your feelings. At least not yet." she replied, placing a hand on the mage's head and petting her some. "We'll still continue going around together, so don't worry about me vanishing."

 

[Tiffanian]

Re: Mei-Lien (KakkaHousu)

Hannah let loose a few silent tears as Mei-Lien gently rejected her, petting her head a little. "That's... okay. I didn't expect that you would. I just... I needed to say it" she said quietly, drying her eyes. "Sorry about that. What now?"

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Mei-Lien (KakkaHousu)

"It's a good thing to let your feelings out once in a while. Better than holding them endlessly. And like I said, I'm not going away, at least with the way things are now." Mei gave out some more words, backing away to her proper spot as the mage pulled herself together. "What now? Enjoy the scenery for now, we are on a boat and all that. I'm not sure what we'll do once we get back to the shore though." she continued shortly, not seeing any noteworthy fun in the activities suggested by Hannah earlier.

 

[Tiffanian]

Re: Mei-Lien (KakkaHousu)

"Hmm... We probably shouldn't stay out here too late, the walk back supposedly gets dangerous at night. At least, that's what my parents led me to believe. It might just be them being overprotective" Hannah replied, steering them back towards and then past the docks, heading towards a specific part of the cliffs. At the bottom of the cliffs, a ways from the harbor is a small little island of sand and mud up against the cliffs. Most of it was lapped by saltwater, though nestled against the cliffs was a small raised area, with a few small purple flowers poking up tentatively from the dirt. "This is the only part of the cliffs around here that has anything like this, as far as I've found. There's a lot of pretty points on the island, but they're all pretty far away from the town."

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Mei-Lien (KakkaHousu)

"Sure, let's get back." Mei went along with Hannah's suggestion. The pair passed by the harbor, reaching a small shore on the cliff. A somewhat sad sight waited for them, a few purple flowers desperately clinging onto the remaining dirt higher up. They were fine now, but eventually the sea would wash them down too, or so the redhead thought. "Must be kind of depressing to live in such a place...." she replied, looking at the flowers with a pitying gaze

 

[Tiffanian]

Re: Mei-Lien (KakkaHousu)

"They always come back, though. Year after year. Maybe they like it there" Hannah mused, sitting there watching for a while before turning the boat back towards the harbor. "When we get back we should go find a backpack or something like it. You never know when we might need to carry a little more." She then piloted their way into the docks, mooring the boat and making sure it was set to go a while without being used.

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Mei-Lien (KakkaHousu)

"Tough things. Good that they manage to hold on so devotedly..." the fighter thought upon hearing about the flower's tenacity. The pair departed eventually, hitting the shore again soon after. "Should we go look for that now or later?"