Farmer Paradise

[Drake Lugosi Blake]

Out of the castle, through the woods, and passed some fields. Kao always has hated these long walks. When you see Shin, you would think that going anywhere would take forever, he looks old and worn, would need a break for every mile that they walk. But no, the old coot seems to never stop moving once he gets going. Perhaps it's because he's not exactly human, but all Kao knew for the matter is that his feet hurt, and they had left far too early in the morning.

Not to mention, Kao isn't exactly sure if Shin knew where he's going. The geezer doesn't have a map of any sorts, so who knew where the heck they were going. "Hey! Are we there yet?" Where 'there' is Kao doesn't particularly care, he just wants to stop and rest his feet. For the past hour Shin had just been marching up front, talking to himself about nothing in particular, with words that Kao couldn't follow. Actually, they may not have been words but merely sounds.

"Oh!" Shin stopped as he reached the top of the hill he had them marching up. He gave a jump of excitement and point down, "Yes, yes. See see? There! I see it!" He announces to the group.

"Ugh..." Kao used the last bit of strength he had left to give a burst of speed up the hill so he could see what exactly had gotten Shin so excited to begin with. When he reached the top he followed where Shin was pointing with his eyes. "Whoa! That's a big farmland." He said out loud.

[Brother Afgero Bzal]

“Oh, farmland! I’m so damn glad I followed you all here to stare at crops from a hill.” Meaning didn’t mind all the walking they did to get where they were, wherever that was, but the fact that it was farmland that Gravebait (still hadn’t picked up the old man’s name) wanted to get to was a big letdown. Then again, that addled-mind of man probably saw something amazing here. Why not? A sparking rock sent him into a inspired frenzy. “So, now that we’re here, what’s so grand about this place?”

[Drake Lugosi Blake]

"I dunno." Kao said as he scratched the back of his head in thought. "Why are we here Shin?"

"Oooh! Ooh!" Shin tilted his head to the side, a moment of complete confusion etched across his face before he jumped up and down repeatedly. "Oh oh oh! Yes yes. Shin's treasure!" He pulled the treasure he had shown them before out from under his shirt and pointed at the name again on it. "See see? Shin found it here! Over there. There is where Shin found it, amongst a pile of ash. He was here. Here is where he lived, and here is where Shin will begin!" With that said, he began marching down the hill once more, heading towards the village.

Kao watched him go for a few moments before turning to the man, "So... in short. It's a place to rest for the day." He gave a shrug of his shoulders, already completely forgetting or simply not caring what Shin had said.

[Brother Afgero Bzal]

Meaning nodded about Shin’s treasure. “Oh, ok. That’s great, that really is. But, uh, who gives a damn? It ain’t leading us anywhere.” He took a few looks around, taking in the scene. Clean air, no crowds, no metal wards. “Is nice out here, though. Seems like Gravebait actually lead us somewhere worth staying at for awhile.”

As the old man made off towards the town, Meaning stared off, wondering out loud, “The man never runs out of energy, does he?”

[Drake Lugosi Blake]

Kao turned around and offered a shrug of his shoulders, "Only after he actually finds something that requires his energy."


"Oh... Means nothing? No no! This path will lead us to a man of great power, yes yes. And with that power he will bring forth judgment to an evil ruler. The golden gates shall open upon his return, a new age will rise and people will bow." Shin's march was awkward and playful to say the least. His feet kicking up high and his arms matching the tempo of his steps, much like a rigid soldier march.

Kao mimics the walk behind him, going so far as to hunch his own back a little to further match Shin. "That sounds nice, I guess we march."

[Chuzuka Miya]

Chuzuka felt her uneasiness grow as she left the woods; her wide sapphire hues darting around unfamiliar land. She clutched the strings to her cloak tightly, the brown hood shadowing her face. To make matters worse, she was alone! Well technically not since she was with the group of strangers she had met, but her sister completely left her. Feeling her lower lip curl out into a small pout, she dropped her gaze to her feet which were slightly sore.

Where are you? ...

Kao's young voice echoed through the air and distracted her from her thoughts. Unknowing to her, her lips curled into a small smile. Such an amusing child. Glancing out from under her hood, Chuzuka gasped before catching up to Shin, spinning around with her arms stretched.

" it's so ..... spacious and really pretty! " She commented lightly with a smile before turning to the other man who was accompanying them, " Oh cheer up and enjoy the scenery! " She said between giggles. She turned to face Shin again and folded her hands behind her back while she watched him talk about his treasure. he was so full of enthusiasm, Chuzuka couldn't help but chuckle. Chuzuka followed in silence, listening to Shins excited babble and occasionally smiling in reaction. She was starting to get really hungry... Raising a brow at Shin's talk about the new age, she glanced at Kao. " What's he talking about? "

[Drake Lugosi Blake]

"Um...." Was Kao's immediate reply as he continued to march behind Shin. "He is basically talking nonsense. He never really does say anything remotely important, you have to remember, he's senile. I doubt even he knows what he's talking about half the time." He gave a light shrug of his shoulders, "I don't really make it my job to understand the geezer, I just follow him."

Kao turned his attention back towards their other companion, "The pace you are walking, Shin is liable to leave you in the dust, a task that's really really hard to do." He stretched his arms above his head, "Anyways! I never been here before, then again, I haven't been a lot of places! Did you know that there's more countries out there aside from ours and Methoa's? I don't know how many though, it could be an endless amount. Could you imagine trying to go to all of them? You would have to do it in two lifetimes... no! Three!"

[Brother Afgero Bzal]

Meaning shrugged. So what if he was moving slow? It may not be showing on his face, but he was actually liking the farmland. He was quite disappointed that Shin didn’t want to stop. Not that it looked like Shin knew what he was doing or if he knew what he wanted. Of course, Meaning didn’t know what he wanted, either, so following around a tiny old man and his slave kid with an abandoned sister of some other person in tow was better then what he was doing.

The kid was saying something about traveling the world. Meaning never really thought about it, but maybe the rest of the world wasn’t at war. Not like there was much news coming in from the rest of the world, in fact, he couldn’t remember any news in quite some time. “Not a bad idea, Kid. If we can get out of these countries alive, we should just keep going.” It was probably the most optimistic thing he ever said.

[Drake Lugosi Blake]

Kao stopped and turned around to look over to the man, ".... You're weird. You know that." He turned around once more and kept on going. "Shiiiin! You old geezer! My feet are hurting, can you please just pick a rock, stick, blade of grass, ANYTHING and distract yourself so we can rest?"

"Youth has endless energy!" Shin exclaimed happily as he trotted to the village. At least they were off the hill now. "This way, this way. Yes yes. Almost there, there is where we much be!" He pointed towards ruined house that looked to have been burned to the ground.

"It's just a stupid building." Kao complained once again.

"No no no! This is a house of a great man!" Shin suddenly stopped and turned around to face the group. His eyes going wide with sudden interest.

"What now?"

Shin's head tilted to the side curiously, "Who was the man who lived here?" As if Shin had already forgotten the very purpose that he made them travel this far.

"I'm not sure, maybe we could ask-- wait a second!" Kao's brows twitched as he was close to throwing a tantrum, "What do you mean 'who lived here?' you're the one who dragged us out here!"

"Here?" Shin looked around, "Where are we? Are we in a town, oooh. I wonder if they have any chum, ah yes yes. Chum would make a good stew, old wise men once said that the more chum you eat, the more your knowledge grows."

Kao let out a sound that resembled a 'squeak' "Are you.. why? Why must the Gods be against me?" He fell to his knees and looked to the skies. "Is this my punishment for being a thief?" He turned around to face his other two companions, "One of you should kill him!"

[Chuzuka Miya]

After Chuzuka received her answer, she fell silent once more. Going up the hill was horrible, so she was relieved when they were descending the mound and heading towards the village. Hearing Kao complain, she had to agree. The group has been walking for a while now and it's an amazement that Shin was able to keep going. Immediately blushing, Chuzuka scolded herself for assuming all elders were weak. She was barely paying attention to the conversation until she noticed Shin looking at them with a wide-eyed expression.
Immediately frowning she looked around, just in case, before settling her hues on the old man. " What are you--- ? "
Chuzuka was immediately cut off by the young man's answer. Reaching up to pull her hood down, she revealed a blank face; devoid of all emotions as she stared at the two. Annoyance flashed through her gaze before a small smile touched her lips.

" Kao! Stop complaining. Lets just rest here, or we can continue and find an inn or a bakery or..something. " She murmered softly, trying to be helpful. She looked at the other man for suggestions.

[Brother Afgero Bzal]

Meaning looked at the girl’s slightly smiling face. She rather looked like a doll given life with a face like that. It was off-putting, but then dolls were always somewhat creepy to him. He could only shrug to anything that was going on in that instant, though. For once, he felt like he didn’t have to say anything. All he was doing was thinking. What if he was born here instead in the city, what if this and what if that.

“So, what are we doing for food, anyway?” Ok, he didn’t feel a need to talk, but sometimes words just escape for the sake of being said.

[Drake Lugosi Blake]

"Food!" Kao announced happily before bouncing (yes bouncing) over to their stoic companion. "You're getting us food?" Of course, he hadn't heard the question, only the mention of 'food'. Which made the boy ever-so happy.

"Look missy! He's going to be all nice-like and get us food." He told her as he pointed towards the one that brought up the topic in the first place. "Ohhh what do they have around here?"


"Ah! Fish!" Even Shin seemed to collect some sanity at the mention of food, which is probably the only time he ever does. He walked up to the younger man and held both his hands up, making a series of sluggish movements while he spoke. "Fish is here, in this town. Town has fish. Fish is good. Shin would like fish from this town. It will be good to have, yes yes yes? Oooh! What's better then fish though? Two fish!" His lame joke was followed with a series of giggles from the old geezers part.

"Yeah! I want two fish as well!" Kao piped in. He pointed towards the docks, "They probably sell them over there."

[Brother Afgero Bzal]

The sudden outburst for food caught Meaning by surprise. All he wanted to know was what they were going to do; he didn’t think we was going to be the answer to that question. “What the hell do you want me to do? I couldn’t afford fish even if I were to work five months straight, and unless you can somehow pull a pole out of your ass, we ain’t fishing, either,” he said to Kao, not even bothering to talk to the old man. “You got the grubby little hands for stealing, anyway! Why don’t you go and do it?” He glanced over to the young girl. “And don’t forget to ask her what she wants.”

[Drake Lugosi Blake]

Kao glanced over to the docks then back towards the man. He blinked stupidly for a few moments before pointing over towards them "They aren't working for the ironhead scums. These are good people." He nodded his head several times, "So stealing is off limits. Besides, I'm sure if you just walked over there and asked to help in return for some fish, they would be more than happy to grant." He nodded his head several times.

Shin's eyes widened wide as a thought went through his senile mind. "He who grants aid returns with spades."

[Chuzuka Miya]

Chuzuka felt her lips twitch in an answering grin to the boy's enthusiasm. Hiding her lips behind her fingers, she glanced at the one who mentioned food and giggled. "Now look what you started." She teased. She watched Shin's comical way of expressing himself and found the man endearing. The mention of stealing once again brought her focus onto her sister whose aura was still undetected.
"I'm going to kill her..." Chuzuka muttered under her breath, her cheeks flaming with annoyance. Forcing a smile, she looked at Kao.
"Let us go ask." She said softly, playing with her blue curls absent-mindlessly.
"Should one of us stay and light fire? " She asked.

[WB]

[Brother Afgero Bzal]

Meaning just shrugged to everything. “Well,” he said to Kao, “why don’t we go ask? Besides the fact that they might be willing to give us fish, or money to pay for fish, or they might not even want out help. Face it, Kid, you’re a thief, plain and simple. No point in feeling that certain people are less deserving of theft. Besides, those ‘ironheads‘ believe they‘re good people, like you believe these are good people. Stop trying to play with morals and just do what you‘ve let yourself become.”

He looked at Chuzuka, but didn’t say anything. If she wants a fire, she can start one herself. And where did that bichty sister of hers go, anyway? Shouldn’t she be watching the girl?

[Drake Lugosi Blake]

"There's a difference jerk-O!" Kao stomped his foot on the ground, and was half tempted to kick the man in the leg for good measure but thought better of it. "The 'ironheads' think they are good. I don't. I think these people are good. That's what's important. I'm not stealing from people whom I think are good." Which in Kao's mind was all the logic in the world that needed to be said.

He moved towards Chuzuka and grabbed her hand before looking up towards her face and smiling, "I agree, lets ask." He looked over his shoulder and stuck his tongue out at his man. Kao at times, can truly show his childish nature.

[Chuzuka Miya]

Chuzuka smirked at Kao's words. She can already picture him as an adult. He was already old for his age but she was glad there was still the child in him. She gripped his hand gently and smiled.
"What do you suppose there going to say?" She asked, not sure to expect. She never really asked for something before.

[Brother Afgero Bzal]

“‘You want free fish? Well, sure, just as soon as you bring a fishing pole. Don’t have one? Go find someone who will give you a free one.’ That sounds about right,” Meaning said, giving his usually unwanted input. It wasn’t that he was trying to bring the situation down, he never tried to do that. Situations did that on their own. No, he said what said to make sure everyone at least knew what could happen. Cynicism was his way of saying, “Hey, people can be dicks. Get used to it.”

[Drake Lugosi Blake]

"Fishing pole?" Kao glanced over the the odd man and tilted his head to the side slightly, "Why would you need a fishing pole? You don't need to cast a line out, just drop one in. We're it's a river anyway." Kao released Chuzuka's hand and dug around in his pockets until he produced some line, "See? You don't need a fishing pole for anything." He waved the line in the man's face, well, tried to at least, Kao was considerably shorter than him. It wasn't very long though, only about three feet, half of it was still in Kao's pocket.