towerofanimus | 002. Runaway Bride

Characters: Francis and YOU.
Setting: Floor Six
Format: Either is fine. I’ll match.
Summary: Francis needed a bit of nature. Francis got a bit more than what he asked for.
Warnings: CRACK! Oh… Maybe language?

Six: the Forest

The first time he’d visited the sixth floor, he’d stumbled across it by mistake. A forest with lush foliage had greeted him and as much as he’d craned his neck he couldn’t see the end of it. It seemed impossible to have something that large confined indoors. So, like any good man he had explored without much consequence. In regards to tower-based activities he’d been lucky.

Considering his impaired urge to seduce everything under the age of 35 in the tower and all, he had an unsettling amount of free time on his hands. The sketchbook tucked away in his chest hadn’t been touched since he arrived at the Tower, so Francis, in his brilliant (naïve) mind, had gone back to the forest.

To be promptly run deeper in than he’d ever thought possible. The creature that had approached him immediately looked like a rabbit. On steroids out of a child’s nightmare. He’d lost the beastie but was now stuck wandering through underbrush with no recollection of where the exit was. This was not the forest he’d experienced the first time and admittedly, he was concerned.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

He abandoned his line of trees to head over to stand closer to her, lips curving into a bit of a smirk when she stood on her tiptoes. A sign of youth that surpassed the blue hair and smooth skin - hell, he wouldn't place her too far out of her teenaged years. Filing that away for later use (or none at all, he really didn't know), he stared ahead at the never-ending group of trees that hid much more than a lone staircase.

"Training," he repeated. It wasn't truly a question, though his attention was brought back to the keyblade. So that thing was a weapon. Well, more than he'd originally thought. "With that? It's rather ornate, very pretty." What Francis didn't want to say about Stormfall was that it looked highly impractical as far as weaponry went. Then again, he would say the same for any keyblade. "I suppose I cannot talk having left my protection back in my trunk. So-" Francis paused and pushed off past her with a teasing smile. "Have you ever seen creatures like the one here before? Does that sword work for them?"

A tiny bit of question there on the sword part.

The grass didn't seem to yield anything interesting to Aqua, so she straightened again, turning her face to the canopy of the trees instead. She had doubts that there would be anything useful to finding a respite from the woods that far up, but it was always best to be thorough. If nothing else, it ensured that there were no demonic creatures of an avian nature in the immediate vicinity.

"Yes," came the confirmation to the nature of her training, as her focus was drawn away from the high-up leaves to the blade in her hand. The Keyblade didn't respond, seeming even sleepier than it normally was in its dormant state.

Her hopes for the forest had been that she would be able to draw magic more easily from lush, natural surroundings, as she'd discovered was the case very early on in her training under the Master. But, to the contrary, this place actually seemed to take her further away from magical energy, and buffer it completely when the monsters approached.

Aqua inclined her head to look at the Frenchman. "No, I've never seen anything like them," she denied, "but my weapon works just fine." It wasn't exactly the same as slaying Unversed, but a Keyblade was charged with enough innate magic (and commonly had enough sharp metal, failing that) to raze nearly any enemy it was presented with. "If you can't protect yourself, maybe we should stay together," she eventually suggested. "I can handle the monsters."

A glance down to her Keyblade was punctuated with a knowing smile. "I promise it's more powerful than it looks," assured the mage, a lightly playful edge to her voice as her gaze returned to the other.

It would be just like the Tower to throw a wrench in the cogs of its inhabitants' daily lives. Summon magic for strength? No, not anymore you don't! But good try anyway. Luckily for France he was completely and blissfully unaware of the evils she'd gone up against with said ornate blade.

That didn't matter at the moment. A bird called out overhead and he looked toward the tops of the otherwise lush trees with a worried grimace. "I am guessing that the birds are just as intimidating as the rabbits, ouais? This sucks," came the quiet complaint. She'd sounded amused almost...

"It is not everyday a damsel does the protecting; however I cannot say I am against it. Once we're out I will find some way to express my gratitude." A smirk that looked a little tighter than normal met his lips. "What's your name, savior?"

[ooc: I am so sorry for the wait. I can't brain things.]

Aqua turned quickly in the direction of the bird call when it sounded, raising the Keyblade to a more maneuverable height. After a few tense moments passed and nothing decided to swoop down for lunch on the go, the magician narrowed her eyes in slight suspicion. "Yeah," she affirmed. "I think they have teeth."

Mutant rabbits were bad enough without the threat of toothy birds -- Snow White would turn in her glass box at the sight of these things. Despite Aqua's stance, her side of the conversation was delivered as coolly as ever. "You don't need to do that. I'm just doing my job." Slowly, she relaxed back into propriety to look at her companion, offering a friendly smile. She wasn't completely familiar with all the words he used (another language, she assumed), but he seemed nice, or harmless enough that it wouldn't be too dangerous to escort him.

"My name is Aqua, sir." Absently, she began to weigh their directional options, as far as path-picking went, though her eyes didn't stray from the man as she introduced herself; that would be terribly rude. "It's nice to meet you."

After the formalities were concluded, however, it seemed fair game to break eye contact. She looked away again -- specifically, once more towards where the sound of birds originated. The woman pondered casting a Thunder spell to flush them out, while she was out of range of their strange magic absorbance, but she wasn't sure if it would work to scare these animals like it would normal ones. "Can you remember anything you might have noticed near the stairs?" Aqua prodded. "Like a land mark?"

She'd never picked out anything in particular sans the stairs themselves, but maybe she was just missing something.

[ooc: it's okay! i've been busy anyways, so no worries.]

002. Runaway Bride

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