@theartofmadeline
No title available
YOU ARE THE REASON
he wasn't even looking at me and he found me
Kaledo Art
cherry valley forever
Love Begins
todays bird
oozey mess
hello vonnie
Misplaced Lens Cap
blake kathryn
DEAR READER
Stranger Things
No title available
Origami Around
祝日 / Permanent Vacation
ojovivo
dirt enthusiast
No title available
seen from Dominican Republic
seen from United States
seen from Ukraine
seen from Brazil
seen from Honduras
seen from Brazil
seen from Malaysia
seen from Belgium
seen from China
seen from Brazil
seen from United States
seen from Malaysia
seen from Belgium
seen from Türkiye
seen from Italy
seen from Azerbaijan
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Germany
seen from United States
@astralcook
"Wait, omg I'm so sorry! I thought you were just goin for like, the most casual look! I was into it! You go and get changed and I'll let my friends know I'm on my way with a new cool friend!" Tomiko's hand was released and Yumi stepped off to the side to text her friends.
"Um, it's okay. I just tend to dress down after I clean up after dinner," she said with a laugh. "Give me a bit and I'll look more like I'm ready to go out."
"Well we gotta fix that then! You look like a party animal waiting to happen!" Yumi took Tomiko's hand and pulled her along behind her. "You'll loooooove my party friends! The party scene on Planarcadia is cr-a-zy!"
"Uh, wait, like, right now? I'm not really dressed for..." She was, in fact, currently wearing pajama pants and an oversized graphic t-shirt with a picture of a cat.
"Now that getting a place to sleep is taken care of, who wants to party? There's a rager going on at this big hole in the wall place in Dovebrook. My friend said there's some kind of guy there that's reduced gravity on the dance floor so people are just kind of floating around! Gotta give that a shot, right?"
"...it's been a while since I went to an actual party or club." They held things on the Express, but considering it was usually just the crew and maybe one or two visitors, it wasn't exactly a party.
"N-no, just..." She managed to lift her gaze so she was looking at Evie, though not right in the eye. "I didn't expect to see you is all." Her cheeks were red.
"No drinking tonight, sorry."
That got a good laugh out of her. "Aww, all that courage really came from the liquor huh? So does that mean you don't wanna have another night of fun?" Evie winked and gave a small pat to Tomiko's shoulder. "Don't worry, I'll only tease you about it a little. I'm mostly here to get an in for a Luofu visit."
She averted her eyes at that. “I wouldn’t mind, actually…”
At the mention of the Luofu, she tilted her head. “We got invited by the general since it’s his birthday soon. I’m guessing you’re not going for Jing Yuan’s 824th birthday.”
It was impossible to hide the smirk on her face. "Hey chef cutie~." Placing her hand on her hip, she looked down. "Did you drop something or is the ground really interesting today?"
"N-no, just..." She managed to lift her gaze so she was looking at Evie, though not right in the eye. "I didn't expect to see you is all." Her cheeks were red.
"No drinking tonight, sorry."
@stealthsleuth
She hadn't been expecting the Express to pick up any passengers on the way to visit the Luofu before they went to Amphoreus, so when she left her room and nearly ran right into Evie, all she could do at first was let out a high-pitched squeak.
"Um. Hi." Her eyes were pointed to the floor.
Mnemosyne took the bottle, gratefully, and took a swig, her eyes lighting up at the flavor, the total opposite of her reaction to their soup earlier.
Her mention of "Abundance" brought Mnemosyne's drinking to a pause.
"Path? Abundance?" Could those be her people's words for the Titans and their gifts? If the gods were what made such a delicious drink then she'd not make any fuss about it. "If you say so, Miko." She finished off the whole bottle, looking down at her various cuts and bruises, noticing they were much fewer in number.
"Hey! That's a pretty nice gift you've got. Much nicer to go through than Cinie's healing, a lot less judgy scolding."
She couldn't help but laugh at that, ignoring, for now, that she didn't seem to know what she meant by 'path' or 'Abundance.' They'd been told Amphoreus followed four paths, but everything about her visit so far had been a bit strange.
"I wouldn't be judging of a stranger, at least," she said. "But now that you say it... I hope Caelus is okay." Dan Heng could only do so much on his own to reign him in.
"You're so cute worrying over me, like Cinie but less scary." She had to resist the urge to squeeze her cheeks, it felt a little inappropriate since they'd just met. "I assure you, I feel completely fine. My gift makes sure that I am always able to see my flock to safety. So something silly like falling from a tree isn't going to affect me."
If she really was someone from beyond the sky, would she even understand the Chrysos Heir gifts? Should she leave that to someone else to explain? Might be better for now if she just gives a basic explanation.
"I can't feel pain, so even if I'm injured, it won't affect my capabilities. So don't worry about a thing."
"Still..." She reached into her backpack and produced a water bottle filled with apple juice. "Here, since you helped me. I have more." A pause. "It probably seems strange. I um, follow the path of Abundance. One of my abilities is putting healing properties in food and drink." It came in handy when her companions tended to go headlong into things.
She was back on her feet as quickly as she'd fallen. "Yep! I'm fine, taken worse tumbles." despite saying so, she was covered in a few new scratches, no doubt she'd have a few new bruises, given enough time.
"This is it, right? Unless some other unlucky traveler ended up with their pack in a tree." She handed over the bag, letting Tomiko look through the contents as she stretched. "Once you're all set to go, we can head out. It'll be a bit of a walk back to the light side of Amphoreus, but if we keep a steady pace we'll be there in a few days."
"Yes, this is it," she said with a nod. She looked Mnemosyne over, a frown on her lips. "Are you sure you're okay? I can help you out before we get going. Two days is a long time to be walking around like that..."
"I haven't checked the area for any belongings, my top priority was making sure you were safe. Stay here and I'll take a look around." she jumped up from her squat with ease, practically bouncing over the surrounding rubble.
Checking near the initial crash site, she spotted something caught in the branches of a tree. She was up it in no time, spotting Tomiko at the campsite. "I think I found it!" She waved her hands, the back pack securely in one of them. She stopped waving when she heard one of the branches beneath her snap, her body plummeting to the ground.
Tomiko managed to stand while Mnemosyne was looking. And just as she was stretching her arms up in the air, her new companion hit the ground.
"Ah!" She ran, ignoring any pain signals of her own to reach Mnemosyne. She cringed. "Uh, are you okay? That look like it hurt."
Huh, could the damage have rattled her brain? Forgetting such basic information like--
"Trailblazers...?" Like what she did or something else? Huh. Some things were starting to slowly click. Visitors from beyond the sky. Shit. Mnemosyne had to get this girl to Okhema as fast as possible.
She let out a hearty laugh as Tomiko apologized for insulting her home. "Hey, I live here. I know how awful it is. But I promise that the Holy City is better." Mnemosyne hasn't been on that side of Amphoreus for a good while, she wasn't even sure if the people in the Temple were still...well...there. but she needed to give this girl some kind of hope.
"Landing near the Temple of Janus puts them pretty close to where I'm going to be taking you. If we get there and your friends aren't there already, I will personally lead you to where I saw them craaashhh-- land. Where I saw them land."
Tomiko shook her head. "I know they would've crashed. But they're both, um, really sturdy, so they're probably fine." She put down the cup and looked around again.
"Did you see a backpack anywhere? I was wearing it when we were hit." Not that what it had was too important if there was civilization here, but it also had a few manga since she expected to have more downtime than the others.
She seemed cognizant, mentioning two others, however her mention of being shot out of the sky earned a small amused scoff.
"Looking to tick off Aquila themself? Bold." She continued her giggles as she got herself a cup of soup.
"You're the only one I spotted land here. The other ball of fire landed near Janusopolis. If your friends were in that ball of fire then they're over there." If they even made it out alive, but considering this girl was fine, they had a shot, right? "I'm going to assume you want to try and find them as soon as possible. If they landed where I think they did, then they were probably found by the people residing in the Temple. So let's assume they're safe for right now, alright?" She took a sip of her soup, grimacing, not a great batch this time around.
"My name is Mnemosyne, I'll be your shepherd to safety. Assuming you wanted to...you know...go to safety."
"Uh, tick off who?" She finally took a drink of the soup as well. Not a single expression on her face. She had mastered over the years how to keep her expression in place no matter how good or bad food was.
She paused, and then, "...my name is Tomiko," she finally said. "My friends and I are Trailblazers. We came here because none of our predecessors had and... now I see why." Someone hanging around, shooting people out of the sky, and the landscape around her looking a bit like a wasteland.
"Uh, I'm sorry! This is your home. It's just... we had a guide, and even she couldn't tell us much, so we didn't know what to expect. Would my friends be okay over there?"
Surveying some of the farther settlements, Mnemosyne had been surprised to see a giant ball of fire sail across the sky, followed by a smaller ball shooting off and landing not too far from her location.
When she approached the crash site, she found a girl in strange clothing. She appeared alive, a good bit banged up, but not anywhere near as injured as she should have been. While the girl was unconscious, Mnemosyne set up a small fire, placing a bedroll under the girl's head and covering her with her travel cloak.
She was in the middle of preparing something for the girl to eat when she was startled by a piercing scream. Mnemosyne's eyes wide, waiting for the girl to make any other moves.
"Ah. You're near Styxia. I don't know where you started out though." She poured a bit of the bare soup into a cup and handed it over. "Can you remember what you were doing in the sky?"
Tomiko let out a breath. At least the person who'd found her was friendly? Though she glanced at the cup she was handed.
She paused for a moment, closing her eyes. No poison.
"Uh, well..." She considered that. Was she supposed to say she came from space? She wasn't sure.
"I-I was with two of my friends, and we were just... shot out of the sky..." That was amazingly unspecific. But after mentioning the two other Trailblazers, she started twisting around. "D-did you see them? A guy with dark hair, carrying a spear. And a guy with grey hair and a baseball bat." A pause. "He might have been searching through trash cans if there are any around."
@honkaisteinrail
Tomiko had blacked out at some point while Dan Heng was trying to figure out just what had happened on their descent to Amphoreous. All she knew was that she'd gotten thrown from the train car.
And that when she finally came-to, the person leaning over her wasn't Caelus or Dan Heng. She let out a surprised shriek and bolted up.
"Where am I?" At least her glasses were intact, but the small backpack of supplies she'd brought was nowhere to be seen.
