Journey to the West[Travel]

The salty sea air wafted over Balbadd's docks on a clear sunny day, but it was far from warm. A crisp and cool winter wind blew across the harbor with asserting force. Ships in dock rocked to and fro even with their sails raised and furled. Unbothered by the chill, Yakuroro stood firm against the strong winds waiting at the end of a pier. A long plank was leading from the dock up to a sizable vessel made for trade and ferrying alike. Yakuroro had struck a bargain with the captain for a nice deal on a room. Alas, he could only manage to secure one for journey as much of the ship was being dedicated to cargo for this voyage. Yakuroro would defer the room to Noir and her beasts and spend his nights in the crows nest or something else along those lines. The girl likely needed her privacy far more than he.

The Imuchakk magician was waiting patiently for his traveling companion to Reim. Noir should have been arriving any moment but had yet to show up. Yakuroro wasn't worried that she wouldn't show, so instead of concerns his mind was pondering over possibilities as he waited. He had come to the conclusion that it would be best to handle her training in the use of a djinn equip once they actually arrived in Reim. Doing so on the ship would leave far more witnesses to a djinn's power and the fact that he held it himself than Yakuroro would prefer. He still felt sour about the fact that he had shown a mere three people inside the dungeon. That was something he could forgive however as the most influential of those three would be joining him soon...

WC: 291/400

The black haired girl looked down while she mounting her liger, remembering all the things happened in the country as Haku lead the way to the dock. They would meet someone who they promised to meet there, hopefully she was not too late to meet him even thought she was a little bit stressed over what had happened in the day before. This country had given her a lot of thing to be remembered and it varies from a pleasant one to the sad one, yet the sad one was affecting her at the moment and made her mind a little bit cloudy.   She met Lance, her dear friend in Balbadd and helped him to encounter his father even though she ended up killing his father. He even mention the word of love to her and went as far as saying that she was the one that he loved, something that Noir didnt understand even now. Then an encounter with a man named Klaus who turned out was the one, who killed her family. He was a man with full of question, a mysterious one if she could say. She wanted to find him and asked a lot of question, especially about what he would kill her family...and probably the one who sold her into the slavery. However, even she knew that her current strength was not enough if she wanted to confront Klaus as she was very weak compared to him at the moment. So by holding a hope that she could find him again in the future, she would deal with the matter that was her first priority, becoming stronger and at that time, she would be ready.  

Yet the saddest thing happened to her, involving a farewell with her dearest mentor. That was unpredictable and surprising for Noir as her mentor clearly said that he didnt want to meet her anymore and that he suffered because of her. Another word of love came from him and made Noir became confused than ever about love. So love could make someone suffer... She shook her head and tried to focusing herself to finish dealing with the Shrouded Isle knowledge first before she tried to think about other things .

Her liger would growl and it snapped her from her cloudy mind. In front of her, the giant Imuchakk already stood tall near the dock, possibly waiting for her arrival. "Greetings, Mr. Yakuroro... I apologize to make you wait..." if the man noticed, he could see the girl's puffy eyes which was resulted from her cry. It was not a very pleasant sigh to see but the girl didnt really care about how she looked at the moment... Or rather just didnt notice about it.

WC: 455/400

Yakuroro's gaze caught Noir as she approached but the magician from the northlands did nothing aside from patiently await her. Or at least he appeared to be doing nothing. In actuality, Yakuroro was observing her body language, her stride, her demeanor, and her expression. It was always a gamble when making assumptions about individuals, but the socially devious Imuchakk felt sure of his ability to measure and gauge the state of an individual. The girl seemed to be run ragged by all accounts. Yakuroro didn't know what had happened during the week wait she had asked for but based on her appearance he was sure that it was little good. She looked to have been crying recently...whatever the cause, Yakuroro hoped it would not interfere with his agenda.

Thankfully Noir spoke a greeting which didn't seem to indicate that she was backing out at the last second or otherwise reconsidering their arrangement. Casual eyes closed shut for a slight bow before opening to be accompanied by a smooth and polite smile, "It's fine, I haven't been waiting long and it took me about a week to get the best deal on a ship anyways." The magician gestured towards the plank leading up to the ship's deck. "After you." The Imuchakk would wait for Noir to collect herself and begin boarding along with her beasts before following on behind her.

"The arrangement I've made with this ship's captain is that we will work to earn our way to Reim. Swabbing the deck, hoisting the sails, whatever they need, we'll be helping out. Well, I'll be helping. You can enjoy some rest in the room if you wish, but the sea air and some healthy labor might be good for you. It's your choice."

Yakuroro stopped speaking as he stopped walking, halted on the deck just past the plank. "I'm sorry but training will have to wait till we get to Reim. I'll be quite busy during our voyage. I hope you understand." Yaku gave another bow, one of an apologetic tone this time.

Word Count:
400+/400

When Noir saw Yakuroro’s smile, the black haired girl sighed in relief. She was grateful that the man was a very understanding one and bowed to him politely before nod at him and board the ship after motioning Haku to come along. She wondered if such a kind attitude was something that he learned from somewhere, it felt so kind and warm and full of respect based from what she saw. When she heard Yakuroro’s suggestion, she couldn’t help but to answer directly after he finished his words, knowing exactly what she wanted to do. She was grateful enough to be able to get her own room, considering she never had any kind of “decent” room when she was a slave back then, her room was just a cage that usually being used for animals. “I will help as well, I am quite experienced to do ship’s duty.”

Seeing the Imuchakk’s apologetic smile was not something that she wanted to see, so with a small smile in her face, she shook her head and said that it was alright and that she would also work in the ship. Perhaps that would make her forget about the sad things happened in Balbadd…

[EXIT]

Once they were finally on the ship and ready for departure, Yakuroro and Noir would have to wait another hour before the vessel set sail. The Imuchakk spent most of that time helping the crew load the ship's cargo, his muscular body being well suited to the task. Regardless of whether Noir and her beasts helped with this task or not, Yakuroro would pay her little attention. This is the tone that the entire six week voyage would take for the two. The entire time, the magician kept his distance from Noir and insisted on working or taking solitude in the crow's nest. It wasn't a rude distance as the man would exchange pleasantries with her and maintained a friendly demeanor. However any attempts to talk and get to know each other further would have all been skillfully deflected by some excuse or another.

The reason for this was nothing Yakuroro held personally against the girl. He simply needed time to think. The weeks spent on the ship were a good chance for him to really sit down and consider his next steps from here. Going back to Reim was honestly not something Yakuroro wanted to do. That wretched place was where fate had toyed with Yakuroro. He may have been martyred in Kou, but Reim was the cause of that entire event. Fate sentenced him to death the moment he had set foot in that country. But now the Imuchakk magician had risen from his ashes like a black pheonix. He felt renewed and invincible. Fate would no longer guide his hand. "There is nothing to fear...Nothing..." Yakuroro would chant these words to himself late at night while he was alone in the crows nest with only the moon to keep him sweet company. A madman's mantra made in vain. Its purpose was to convince himself that he didn't worry that his downfall would come in Reim once more.

Things changed however once they were a week out from Reim's port city. That inner fear had been drowned out by another force in Yakuroro's mind. A resentment and hatred so deep that they rotted the very core of Yakuroro's unfeeling heart. No longer would fate make Yakuroro's decisions for him. While in Reim he will gather more strength and funds. Then, he would go to Heliohapt where secrets of the blank djinn, fellow fate antagonists, might lie. Those abominations would prove useful in Yakuroro's quest but it was the only place he had seen once appear. After that investigation, his travels would take him back to Magnostadt...the place where this had all began with the first dungeon, Marax. There, Yakuroro would become a King beyond fate's reach. But first...there was much to do.

The last night spent on the ship would see the masts swarming with black rukh. Their attention swirling around the crows nest as Yakuroro pondered on his insane plan for conquest.