Seeking Refuge (pun intended)

[wishingalone]

Who: Mami and Yosuke
Where: On the way to Refuge, then at Refuge.
When: Week 78
What: Travel! Adventure! And Mami doesn't want to admit that they're totally flirting, too!

"Holding up fine down there?"

Mami has checked, routinely, on Yosuke as they travel. She is more than capable of moving across long distances quickly. With her ribbons and her limited flight powers, courtesy of being a Child of the Howling Gale, she is able to leap from landmark to landmark. She can carry Yosuke with her easily enough; she has another ribbon around him, with loops for him to hold onto. The loops end in elegant bows, to tie them together, because Mami is a little ridiculous sometimes. She made sure that he practiced moving with her, just the same. Despite appearances, it takes some balance and focus on on his part.

But she has it down to a rote movement, ribbons flying to keep them moving. At the moment, they are moving through a wooded area, and nearing Refuge. They probably have a few more hours, at least by Mami's best recknoning.

"I told you that it would be fine!" she calls back down. Mami winks when she does, before she looks back up, and casts her ribbon for the next tree.

Comments

[punchesyu]

He'd kept in mind the little practicing they'd done before they left. It wasn't the easiest thing he'd ever done, but he had managed to be able to keep his center while they'd swung from some trees back outside of Union a bit. The whole moving by ribbon thing was pretty cool. How it looked was not.

"Yeah, but did you have to make it look so girly-!" The pretty ribbon tied in a fashionable knot around him was really embarrassing. He mutters to himself as they swing through the trees-

"I'm so glad no one can see this right now..."

[wishingalone]

Mami winks down at him. She uses some of her Fairy-type powers to make the wink stand out with a few sparkles, before she looks back up. She can't afford long glances; it wouldn't due to mistime a burst of air or a ribbon toss, and send them both crashing to the earth.

But she could still talk while she did that.

"Of course!" she replies, with a smile in her voice; it matches the one he can't see on her face. "If you can't do it with style, it isn't worth doing."

[punchesyu]

He'd be lying if he didn't find it cute when she winked like that, appreciating the view he had of her too from where he was positioned. It's pretty distracting, actually, and he feels himself wobble a little bit when he loses his focus on what he was doing. A little too much of a wobble, but he tries to compensate for it- which doesn't seem to be helping any.

He doesn't say anything right away, because he doesn't want to screw this up after they'd already gone through it before they left. Yosuke had assured her he would be fine, that it was a piece of cake. But as she threw out another ribbon to another tree, he can feel himself swing out too far.

"Mami.....!"

1/2

[wishingalone]

She didn't realize until it was too late.

Mami threw the next ribbon, snapping it against a distant tree trunk. That was when she realized that Yosuke's balance slipped. She turns her head quickly, staring down at him with widened eyes as she yanks in the other direction -- and he swings out too far, and loses his grip. The rest follows in slow motion from her perspective: those carefully tied notes loosen with the twist, and he begins to come loose.

Everything hits her at once, then. She is moving away from him; changing course is hard, because she needs a ribbon to do it. She already is turning, making a new ribbon and abandoning the old. It shoots to the tree behind her, so she can swoop in. But she is too late.

She is stuck watching him fall. She moves fast, but not quite fast enough.

2/2

[wishingalone]

She realizes that it's her fault. She promised that she would get him there safely; that sentiment feels utterly foolish now. She still speeds up, driving her Enlightened powers as fast as she can, as she swings down towards him.

Memories rush through her mind. Her parents' bodies flying, as the Spiritomb plowed into them and sent them all screaming into the air with a flash of power. Lying on the floor of the forest, broken and bloodied, until help came. She hasn't remembered that powerless feeling in ages, or all of the guilt that comes with it, but it comes back full force now as she watches him plummet.

Her eyes widen and she throws a hand out. Her fingertips are almost close enough to touch his, her outstretched hand almost near enough to grasp.

But only almost.

"Yosuke!"

1/?

[punchesyu]

He should of known this was a bad idea.

That maybe traveling by ribbon this high up might not of been the smartest decision he'd ever made. It had worked so well in practice though, but it seems his panicked wriggling trying to right himself ended up working against him. His hands slip, and he feels himself start to fall. He cries out in surprise, watching her try to divert her own course to come back and grab him-

"Help me!"

And his hand shoots out to grab hers.

Only to miss it by centimeters as she swung above him.

The realization that he is going either get severely hurt or possibly die washing over him. He's not sure if he can handle a fall from this high, the ground rushing up at him a lot faster than he ever wanted anything to rush at him, really. He makes the mistake of looking down, eyes widening in fear, suddenly wishing he hadn't. Yosuke starts to scream, hoping and praying for anything right now that could save him, because he needs it, or he'll die, he's sure of it. Looking back up, all he can see is Mami's face, growing smaller and smaller in his field of vision, so all he can do now is close his eyes and wait for impact...

2/?

[punchesyu]

The wind rushes by his ears, swirling all around his body as he fell, thoughts drifting toward doing anything for a miracle. He'll even give up all the dirty mags he has, if something up there can like him for just five seconds and spare his sorry life.

It's like something snaps inside of him, and his body starts to shimmer with a strange power- the winds kick up harder, and his descent seems to slow. Eyes still squeezed shut, he doesn't notice he's begun to glide downwards at a much slower pace, and certainly doesn't see the low hanging tree branch he's about to run into as he comes closer and closer to the ground.

That is, until the wind carrying him downwards guides him right into it, stomach first.

3/3

[punchesyu]

"Ooooooof!" He cries, as his eyes open and widen with pain. He is bent over the branch, but doesn't stay hanging there, sliding off of it and falling right onto his back with a thud on the forest floor.

"Uuuugghhhhhhh......" Groaning, he lies in a bed of vegetation, wondering if he'd dead or not. He needs a minute on the ground.

[wishingalone]

Mami watches as he falls, out of her grasp. Her descent doesn't stop, but it feels as though it does. She can't move to catch up to him and he falls further and further. She knows how it ends; her anguished expression turns aside at the end, to not see him hit the ground. Except, from the corner of her eyes, she sees the shimmer of light. Motes of light rise up in the wake of his fall, which makes her look back at him.

She covers a hand with her mouth. Unlike Yosuke, she knows precisely what that is. She has seen many a Valkyrie take to the skies, after all; she expects that she will see many more do so.

Mami drops down, diving towards him. She knows that he is safe, then; his fall was arrested enough that he won't hit the ground at terminal velocity. She does wince when he strikes the tree branch, though. Then she comes down next to him, falling to the ground next to him. She kneels, dispelling her ribbons, and then she looks down at him. Her eyes are widened.

"Yosuke...?"

[punchesyu]

It's hard to open his eyes, but he manages to creak them open just slightly. The sun shines down on the both of them, and he's uncertain of what the silhouette is above him. It looks like a pretty girl. He must be dead, did he go to heaven?

"So they do have angels in Heaven...who woulda thought..." He laughs, coughing. The coughing earns another groan, pain shooting through his body. "I thought this wasn't supposed to hurt when you die...even the afterlife sucks ass..."

[wishingalone]

"You're... you're not dead," Mami answers, though her voice is hesitant. She leans down closer to him, blocking out more of the sun. Her shadowed and worried face becomes clearer, with her amber eyes shining down at him.

"You hit a branch," she says. She hears the remark about being an angel -- despite the gravity of the situation, her cheeks turn pink -- but then the worry sets back in. The blush is gone and her eyes widen. She bites her lower lip, before she clarifies: "After you started to fly. Are--are you okay? Is anything broken? I can heal you."

[punchesyu]

His head is spinning, but now he sees that it's Mami above him. So he is alive, because there's no way a girl like her could ever die to something dumb like that. Relief floods through him, and he opens his eyes a little farther. He stares up dreamily at her while she spoke, because he's glad that she's so concerned about him, even if any normal person would probably be just as concerned.

"That would explain the pain then-!" He manages through gritted teeth, and he lies still for a second before gathering the will to try to sit up. It hurts, a lot, and the pain is very evident on his features as he sits up.

"I think I'm okay, probably just a little bruis- what?" He looks to her, incredulous. "What did you just say I did...?"

[wishingalone]

She moves backward, enough to let Yosuke sit up. Mami's expression begins to even out. She is no less concerned, but he is clearly capable of sitting up, and looking so utterly distraught is unbecoming of her. Besides, while she was rightfully scared, this led to a wonderful discovery. The smile creeps onto her face slowly.

She repeats: "You flew."

[punchesyu]

"No way, you sure you didn't hit your head or something?" It comes out of his mouth without thinking, disbelief coating his words. "Only Windblessed can do that. I'm just a normal joe."

It hurts to stand, but he manages it. His arm covers his stomach, holding it to deal with the pain shooting through his body. It doesn't hurt to breathe, so that's a good sign. He glances back up at the trees, terrified to think about going back up via ribbon. It hits him now, that he could have died, that a little screw up like that almost cost him a lot.

"Yeah, we're not traveling by ribbon anymore. I thought I was a goner! Man, I thought you said that was going to be safe!" It's callous, letting his emotions get the better of him, upset about what had just happened.

Later, This Time With Dancing!

[wishingalone]

Mami hasn't seen a place like Refuge before. It's left her feeling a little claustrophobic, actually. She is used to flying in the sky -- something that Yosuke can now take part in! -- and the underground city has none of that. The young lady has still enjoyed seeing it, even if she left Yosuke to his own devices for part of it. The powers that be in Citadel had her speak to a few people on strictly Valkyrie business. But after it was done, she found him.

It seems a festival is on. It was a natural sight to see, and thus they headed there. Mami leads the way through the tunnel, coming to a stop in a large cavern. It is proof that caverns can, truly, be as spacious as anything outside.

But the more eye-drawing thing is the bonfire in the middle. Some flute band is providing lively music, while a number of Refuge's people dance excitedly to the music. Mami looks at it for a moment, remembering the confusion of the recent Calderan Day of Fire. She tilts her head, before she looks sideways at Yosuke. She smiles, then.

"They seem to he having fun," she says.

[punchesyu]

At first, when they'd arrived, he'd been a little apprehensive about going inside. It was so closed in, something far different from the open plains around Citadel that he was used to. But he wasn't going to act like a sissy in front of Mami, so inside he went either way. At least he'd grown a little more comfortable with it when he'd gotten to explore the place on his own a little. It wasn't so bad, and he'd poked around in shops while Mami had been on business.

It was all a little weird, but he was glad when she'd shown back up after taking care of her Valkyrie duties. Walking down the tunnel with her, his eyes widen at the sight of the cavern. It was truly huge, and the sight of a festival down towards the center of it was as welcome of a sight as any.

"They sure do. Hey, why don't we go check it out? It'll be a nice break from working all day, right?"

[wishingalone]

"Mm-hm," Mami murmurs. "I think that's a fine idea."

She walks down closer to the festival, but she stays at the back of the crowd at first. Mami has a sterling reputation... as a fighter. Her loyalty, her dedication, her skill, and her leadership are often praised. The Valkyrie ace is often mentioned as a fantastic warrior, sure to one day make a good accounting of herself for her tribe. What never works its way into the rumors is her social life. There are never rumors and whispers about her behavior at the festivals that Citadelians have.

No, nothing is said about her social life.

The reason is because, outside of the Valkyries, she doesn't have much of one. Mami stops at the edge of the crowd and stares at it, the way she always does: as an outsider looking in. She idly adjusts the barette in her hair, trying to hide that she doesn't have the foggiest about how to join in a group of strangers' celebrations. Mami Tomoe actually looks awkward, like something of a wallflower.

Because she is.

[punchesyu]

"Great! Let's go." He happily leads the way, excited to see the party. This is the kind of place he wants to be at, surrounded by people, having fun. It's his security blanket, where he feels more at home than anything else. Without people around him all the time, he gets lonely, and this was a great escape from that horrible feeling. He thinks that Mami is right behind him, walking right into the crowd, when he realizes that she's not behind him. Cracking a smile, he turns around and comes back to her.

"What are you waiting for? Come on, the party's this way!" He laughs, trying to lighten the mood. "You aren't going to be able to enjoy anything hanging out over here."

[wishingalone]

She turns to look at Yosuke, realizing that she fell behind a few moments later. She stares at the crowd, before she looks back at him. She smiles, then, and jogs quickly to catch up with him. "Oh, yes," she says. "I suppose I was just... taking it all in."

Mami stares at the party-goers for a moment, before she walks next to him. It takes her a moment, though, before she says quieter: "What are we supposed to do? I've never seen this kind of celebration before," she says. Nevermind that it's hardly so different from festivals in Citadel, which she has been at. "I wouldn't want to offend the locals by doing something... silly..."

[punchesyu]

"What do you mean by that? C'mon, they have stuff like this in Citadel all the time. You're not scared, are you?" He says with a light-hearted tone, teasing her only a little as they walk through the crowd to where the music was. He figures now that maybe she hasn't really had a whole lot of time to go out and enjoy things like this, being who she was in Citadel and all. It doesn't bother him in the slightest to tell her.

"You just join the crowd! Do what they do. Look." He points to a bunch of people who've decided to take some space up for dancing. "You want me to show you the ropes?"

[wishingalone]

"What they do? Hmm." Mami tries to sound confident, but it isn't quite in her voice. She smiles, though, as she looks around. It seems fun enough; it's also hard to associate it with something that she would do. She pauses a moment, as she takes it in, and looks at those people dancing.

It sounds nice, she thinks.

She looks up at Yosuke and blinks at him. Her expression becomes curious. "Dancing, you mean?" she asks. She glances again at the people, then back at him. "...Certainly, we can."

[punchesyu]

"Yeah, sure!" He walks confidently forward. Now he gets to show off his skills, stepping into the small area where everyone was having a good time. He waits for her though, to join him, holding out a hand.

"If I may, madam?" He says in the most gentlemanly voice he can muster, bowing first.

this holding her hand out icon is way more useful than I ever expected

[wishingalone]

Her confidence increases ever-so-slightly when she steps out on the dance floor. Mami takes the offered hand in her own and steps closer. She smiles, her expression radiant and only slightly hesitant. She hasn't danced in years; not since her parents...

That thought hangs there for a moment in her mind, before it flickers away. What could it hurt to try now?

"I'll follow your lead."

good i'm glad because it's a nice icon!

[punchesyu]

Yosuke is secretly glad his little cheesy move worked out, taking her hand and suddenly trying to figure out how to dance with another person. He's never actually danced with someone else before, so he awkwardly puts his other hand on her hip, hoping that's where it's supposed to go. The beat is a little too fast for a slow dance, so he leads off with a little footwork, stepping back and forth quickly while swinging their arms just slightly.

"Ha ha, better keep up, Mami!"

[wishingalone]

This is equally new ground for Mami. She danced with people when she was a little girl, but those were her parents, rather than someone her own age. Someone that she is, perhaps, rather fond of. That prompts a blush, when he puts his hand on her hip. She puts her hand into his and the other on his shoulder, after checking a nearby couple to check. She takes a couple of steps, haltingly.

Dancing, though, isn't so different than how she fights. Her feet find the movements quickly, and she keeps up with him easily. She beams back at him, laughing despite her earlier uncertainty.

"I think you'll find that I can do more than keep up!" she says. "It's been a long time since I've danced, but I've not lost my balance."