pulseof_life | Oerba, Gran Pulse, Wednesday

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Oerba, Gran Pulse, Wednesday

Rather than remain in New Bodhum for the day, though they would return there for the night, Caius teleported them all to the ruins of a village. The buildings were made of metal (heavily rusted) and wood, which had held up surprisingly well under the ravages of time. Inside the buildings, personal things could be found: combs left on dressers, a few ancient photographs, and neatly folded blankets forgotten on the ends of beds.

A wide road cut through the village and a broad staircase led down to a murky beach. On top of one of the buildings, an overgrown fountain and the remnants of a garden could be found.

Powered crystal, which looked like snow from far away, and like sand close up, choked the side streets and surrounded the village.

"Welcome," Yeul said softly, "to Oerba."

[NFB and for them that have been invited. The theme songs for Oerba are: Dust to Dust and Ruined Hometown.]

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"It's really something else, isn't it?" Evan tried a little smile on for size. Getting away from the island was something that he'd desperately needed himself. But it was going to take more than a walk around some ruins to get his mind off of what had been eating at him. "It's nothing quite like anything I've ever seen."

Er... not that he'd actually seen all that much in his life, admittedly.

In fairness, neither had Sholeh, so she wasn't going to hold it against him. She patted a spot next to her, inviting him to come sit down.

"Can you swim?" she asked, looking back out to the ocean. "We can't. We brought a suit because Yeul asked us to, but we don't really know how to swim. She might get someone to teach us."

She gave a soft laugh. "I bet Caius knows. But I also bet he doesn't ever swim for fun."

"You know... I don't know?" Evan sat down next to Sholeh, leaning sideways a little to rest his shoulder against hers. "I brought a swimsuit along too, and for the same reason, but I've never really gone swimming. Not really. Not so deep that I couldn't touch the bottom, anyway."

And he had to go very, very deep in order to no longer be able to reach the bottom.

Well, Evan was much fancier than Sholeh was. She didn't have to go very far at all.

"You don't want to go too far out!" she said, looking at him with worried eyes. "There are monsters further out. Yeul said so."

Evan nodded a tiny bit, looking out toward the water.

"And monsters on the other side of the gate. This world really isn't a safe one, is it?" He glanced at Sholeh, gave her a little smile. "I don't have any intention of picking fights with the local wildlife, anyhow. I've had enough of that already so far this break."

"We can leave that to Zeela anyhow," Sholeh said with a resigned sigh. "She's already started."

But she hadn't heard that Evan had gotten into a fight on pulse yet, which probably meant...

"Did you go back?" she asked. "To your other school, I mean."

Where else did Evan get into fights?

Nowhere else! Of course!

"Yeah," he replied, frowning a little. "Professor Logan asked me to give another field trip a try. I think maybe they're just not for me."

Since every field trip he'd been on, something had tried to kill him.

"You didn't...I mean, no one tried to..." How did one politely ask, 'no one kidnapped you, tortured you, and subjected you to hours spent with the mutilated corpse of someone you cared about, right'?

Sholeh had no idea, so eventually she gave up trying to dance around it and just asked, "What happened?"

"We all got stranded in the jungle, and Professor Logan's crazy brother tried to get us to use guns against a bunch of robots and cowboys and cavemen that he dragged through time, in order to... I don't know. Get revenge on Professor Logan for being the favorite brother or for killing their father or something"

Evan hadn't been hugely clear on that point. He shrugged.

"Plus the other kids were awful. Like always."

Sholeh blinked, tried to make sense of that, and blinked again.

"I afraid I don't really understand how dragging robots and cowboys and cavemen through time is all that vengeful," she said, also not entirely certain what those things were. "But I'm sorry someone tried to make you hurt people."

The 'again' went unsaid.

"And that people hurt you."

Again with the 'again.'

For what it was worth, Evan was kind of getting used to it. That didn't make it better, but it made it easier, somehow.

"How about you?" He glanced at her, putting a little smile on, though it was weak. "How are you holding up, after today?"

The ruins had been pretty intense.

"I'm okay," Sholeh said, inching a little closer to him. "The ruins themselves weren't so bad, but the sand makes me think of home. That was a little depressing."

But rather get into that again, she added, "And then Zeela picked a fight with a rock. She won, but it was a close fight."

"... A rock? Was it one of the monsters, or does Zeela just not like granite?"

From what Evan had seen of Zeela, either was totally plausible.

=Tell him to go suck eggs.=

Sholeh was going to do no such thing, thank you, Zeela.

"It was a monster," she explained, amused. "Picture a disembodied arm made out of rock."

"An arm?" Evan blinked. "This place keeps getting weirder and weirder."

And weirder still.

"It's pretty here," Sholeh offered, trying to be diplomatic. "But Zeela liked the monsters best and Liara seemed to like the ruins. I guess it's just different tastes."

"I like it here," Evan offered, softly. "Looking out over the water, where you can almost forget how wild it is out there."

There was a pause, and then he turned a quiet smile toward her.

"Keeping good company."

Sholeh's blush was less visible in the moonlight, but the way she ducked her shoulders and hid behind her hair for a moment suggested she was doing so anyway. "I'm very glad you're along," she said, her hand sliding along the ground until it reached his. She wasn't sure of herself enough to take it, so she settled for brushing his pinky with hers. "It wouldn't be half as nice without you."

These two.

These two. They were functionally boyfriend and girlfriend, and she was still too shy to take his hand, and he was still too bashful to lean over and kiss her. But he did finish reaching, taking her hand in his.

"Would you like to go for a walk with me? Just along the beach, where it's still safe?"

They needed a chaperone. Not to keep them from doing anything promiscuous, but to give them permission to do more than exchange shy glances from time to time.

"You want to walk with me under the moonlight?" Sholeh asked, face going redder.

*Ooooooooooooooooooooooooh!* Her sisters weren't above a little good-natured teasing.

"That would be...very nice, yes."

Oh. Oh, she was blushing? And when she put it like that... Well, Evan was going to blush a little more, himself.

"Then... um..." He pulled himself to his feet, crouching over so that he wasn't dragging her to hers. "Shall we?"

"Let's," Sholeh said, letting him help her up, too. They stood there for a moment, very close together, almost close enough for a kiss. Her mouth opened slightly and she breathed deep...

And started coughing, choking on a strand of hair that had gotten into her mouth when she'd inhaled.

These two were the worst.

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Oerba, Gran Pulse, Wednesday

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