Back in the Golden Sands (Social/Open)

Nova couldn't believe how much she had missed the humid city of Heliohapt, a place she had once called home, once upon a time.
The heat in the air that felt so naturally warming, the buzz of people talking excitedly, and the comfort of seeing golden hair and tanned skin on the people around her made Nova smile contently.
Of course, her preferred way of getting around the city hadn't changed, since she was sitting on top of a roof, observing people in the city as they went on their business.
High places calmed her since no one could see her, a strange habit that had developed over the years.
It was better not to be seen, therefore not heard as Nova listened in on lots of conversations that most people would kill for if they had known she was there.
No pun intended. Seriously.
She decided she wouldn't try to meet her parents on this particular visit, and surveyed the streets below, waiting for something to happen. It was Heliohapt, afte all. It would be weirder if something wasn't happening.

Heliohapt was hot and humid as usual and the amount of the people who was strolling on the street made it worst. Tenma couldn’t say he hated it, but he just couldn’t really stand the increasing heat even though he already wore Heliohaptan attire that was supposed to match the climate. After staying in the country of sun for a while didn’t seem make the black haired man adapted to the heat, it did increased his stamina but his body was still not having any resistance to the hot weather. He would then look at the sky and thinking it would be nice if he could float and lay down on the sky to get some air but probably it was a bad idea since it was much closer to the sun. Just when he looked up at the sky, he noticed something on the roof and quickly looked down; tilting his head while wondering what was on the roof. He thought to himself and guessed that it might be a poor kitten that couldn’t climb down after attempting to get some rest there, so he thought that he could try to see if his guess was right.

When he was climbing and able to see what was there, Tenma smiled to himself for having a wrong guess but it wouldn’t hurt to talk to this lady who was sitting on the roof. “Ahh, I thought you are a trapped kitten. Good day…” Tenma said to the girl with a friendly smile as he climbed to the roof.

Nova was only slightly surprised that someone had seen her- she recovered quickly as the man climbed up to meet her.

He looked oddly out of place in somewhere like Heliohapt, though he wore the nation's clothes like they were a second skin. And he was beautiful.

Any other girl in the city would agree with her- the rare color of gold enraptured in a glowing orb, and a slightly roguish look with this eyepatch on.

But he looked kind, and he seemed to be honest, so of course, Nova smiled back and decided not to feel shy in front of this man, crossing her legs a little and almost forgetting the heat.

She almost considered replying in a sarcastic manner just to see if she could scare him off, but decided to be friendly (for once) and attempted to make small talk, something she rarely did.

"It is a very nice day, though a little too hot to be comfortable for you, traveler. You don't look like you're from around here. What's your name?"

Nova said carefully, the only indication that the dialogue hadn't come out the way she wanted it to in a slight twitch of her brows and a exasperated flash in her violet eyes.

“Whoops…” Tenma brought himself to the roof and started to approach the girl who was sitting on the roof, hoping that she would stay for a friendly conversation while he took the opportunity to make himself refreshed again. After the girl said something to him, the swordsman would sit on the roof right next to the girl. “Yeah, I still can’t get used to the weather sadly… but here is pretty good.” He would look up to the sky before inhaling as much air as he could to his lungs before looking at the girl with his bright golden eye. “My name is Mikazuki Tenma, please call me Tenma, it is a pleasure to meet you my lady. May I know your name?” Judging from her attire, this girl must be a native from Heliohapt although she did a great job to take care of her skin that looked smooth and somewhat fair.

Nova smiled lightly, his friendly response making her happy that there were some decent people in the world after all. And he was oddly polite, too. A real change from the boys she usually came into contact with.

"My name is Nova, Nova Aldine. Likewise, you can just call me Nova. Why are you here in Heliohapt on such a lovely humid day?"

The girl knew that giving out her real name to some random stranger probably wasn't the smartest thing to do in the world, but today she wasn't feeling very cunning, and just wanted to laze about like the kitten that Tenma had mistaken her for.

“You really have a pretty name, milady.” Tenma said it without any intention to flirt with girl as it was out because of his own nature to respect woman and being honest was a must. The swordsman would keep showing his smile to make sure that he didn’t mean any harm by suddenly popping up and holding a conversation with the girl who was sitting near to him. He simply wanted to have a companion to have a conversation with to kill the time as well as to see if he could get her to tell her story that might have some kind of good information contained inside. “I was admiring the beauty of this country of sun and taking a walk surely gives me a lot of insight about the environment here.” He would give a soft chuckle before trying to ask about the girl. “How about you, Miss Nova? Why are you here on the roof top?”

Nova's effortless half-smile faded just slightly as she remembered her parents.

"Just visiting. I like traveling, and I haven't been to Heliohapt in a while. The rooftop just seemed like a nice place to watch the activity without being part of it."

It wasn't a total lie, she just left out the important things, because though Tenma was awfully nice and polite, she didn't make it a habit of going around telling everyone where she came from and who her family was.

And though the nice and kind were a gift to the world, she was always cautious with those who were too good. Too perfect.

The comforting hilt of her double blade on her back made her relax slightly and she crookedly smiled, knowing that it probably wouldn't do much good against him, radiating a calmly authoritative aura, but glad of it's presence none the less.

Steel could not betray you.

"Which country did you come from to get here? Are you here for any other specific reasons besides?"

That question was a little nosy. Oh well. Wouldn't hurt to ask.

Val walks down the street with his hat on his head. The sun was scorching, tanning the hero with sunburns. He sighs as he looks at the ground with confusion. For some reason, there are shadows, not normal bird shadows, but human looking shadows. The hero looks up to see two people, one looking like a girl and a man. However, Val knew that man, he remembered him from Reim. This could be the perfect time to apologize for lying to the warrior. However, it was to achieve his mission during this time.

He walks up the ladders to see them and bows down. "Hello my name is Val Achilles." He then salutes toward them. "I am from the Unity Corp, visiting Helio for the month."

When a strange man, half-naked, suddenly came up and interrupted the conversation between she and Tenma, she almost felt insulted, before she remembered that this man probably didn't even know they were having a conversation to begin with.

Another powerful one. He also radiated with energy less subtle than Tenma. For some reason, the term "Unity Corps" seemed awfully familiar.

She felt her cheeks warm at her own stupidity. The humidity was getting to her. Normally she would know this. Right now, her brain refused to work.

Oh well. Hopefully she would figure it out along the way. For now, she sent her regards to the stranger- Val, was it?- in a cheerful smile.

"Hello Val! Why are you coming on vacation here?"

The smile begged to vanish. She was no good at fake smiling.

When Nova’s smile faded, Tenma would quickly noticed it but didn’t bother to ask her about it, instead he just stayed quiet and listen to what Nova wanted to say. While listening to the girl’s voice, the swordsman would caress his Katana once in a while, keeping it close to him just in case he needed to use it. “I was from Reim before, was a pretty harsh journey but it was fun. My intention to visit this country is purely to know more about Heliohapt, nothing else.” That statement of his intention, of course, was a lie. But with his faked smile and confident tone, moreover with his long experience, the girl wouldn’t notice at all. It didn’t matter though as his intention had nothing to do with the girl and he just wanted to keep the conversation to be as casual as it could be, until he heard someone was climbing up by using the ladders.

He didn’t grip his Katana yet but if the person who was trying to climb up now was harmful, he had enough time to attack and knock him down before he could do anything. But it was someone that he recognized; he met him at Reim before, in the barracks right after Tenma’s coliseum match. This man, however, was leaving a weird impression in the swordsman’s mind. The moment he saluted towards them and said that he was a part of Unity Corp made Tenma couldn’t help himself and he chuckled unintentionally. “Ahh, I apologize… But it is a pleasure to meet you again, Val.” He said while waving in a friendly way to the soldier.

While waiting for Val to reply, Nova considered Tenma's unbelievably perfect answer and scoffed dryly.

He was from Reim, hmm? A harsh journey indeed. Heliohapt was not a place you could just waltz into with no traveling experience. It was surrounded with miles and miles of desert, and even with a tour guide's help, it was near impossible to make it here.

Her violet eyes narrowed. As she had thought, Tenma was not a normal man. However, it wasn't her business as to what this golden eyed charmer was doing here.

It was just.. Helpful, she supposed, to understand people's true intentions first before assuming anything about them. The perfection in which he carried out his smile, his tone, and even his wording suggested that he had done this many, many, times.

Lying back down on the roof and stretching a little bit, she looked up at the sky, masking her own quiet revelation with a dazzling smile that was known to shock people and leave them quite speechless.

Now that she understood the quiet workings of Mikazuchi Tenma, at least to a certain extent, she felt no need to doubt him and relaxed, sunbathing like a lazy cat.

Heat felt so nice, just like all those years ago.. Nostalgia crept into her gaze as violet met bright blue sky, and she felt content to just listen to the proceedings and not interfere.