Coins for the Boatman (open)

[Arc]

A soft “thud” accompanied the impact of the discarded volume hitting the rotting floors, stirring up a cloud of dust that Arc’s own occupation of the room had not yet disturbed. He might feel bad about carelessly handling a book like that; he rather enjoyed him, and it hurt to see one destroyed by misuse. Now was not the time for that though. Someone’s life was on the line, and if he hoped to tip it in a certain direction he needed knowledge. The library was vast enough, and Arc was sure that he would find the answer he sought somewhere within its collection.

Arc sat cross-legged in the great room of books below the Shinra Mansion. Presently in Scholar mode, he adjusted his half-rim glasses and pulled another book from the stack of writings he had gathered next to him. The books found here were quite old, but were still far beyond the science of his world. They spoke of concepts that even Scholar could not help him fully grasp. Yet they were his best bet. This assortment of medical texts he had gathered from the shelves were loaded with information that could only help. So far the scraps contained within had allowed him to treat the patient this long. He was no doctor though, and without the proper research Arc would surely reach a stumbling block again. He could not allow that to happen.

“Hey kid….I think it’s coming…..back….”

Arc looked up and over at the man nearby. Stretched out on a mattress he had dragged downstairs, with a blanked over his bare body and a warm towel over the topmost portion of his face, lay the individual he had been treating for several days now. He knew only three things about the man: his name was Edihn, he was a natural-born citizen of the world so many had been dumped in, and he was deathly ill. The virus that people like Arc had been accused of spreading had reached him. What he was doing way out here was unknown, but the studious young man had found him collapsed in the streets and did his best to help. So far Edihn was fairing well considering the deep stage of his disease, but to Arc it felt as if he were only delaying the inevitable.

Standing, the boy made his way to the bedside. In mid-step a green flash overtook him, and suddenly his attire had changed. He now wore a pure white cloak, with the hood down, and held a cloudy blue staff in one hand. The glasses of the Scholar were long gone to make way for the White Mage. Concentrating, Arc waived his staff just above the man’s torso. A single word was calmly uttered.: Cura.” Soft sparks of green wavered around Edihn, and the edge seemed to leave his body as the coolness of the cure spell washed through his veins.

“Thanks kid. They say you’re responsible for this…..but you’ve done so much for me….” Arc softly smiled in return.

“I have not succeeded yet. Now please, try to avoid speaking when it isn’t necessary. My magic’s relief is temporary, and you may speed up a rebound if you waste too much energy.” Edihn gave his best attempt at a nod, grateful, and seemed to settle inward. Arc’s smile became one of mild sorrow. Could he help this man in time? How long would his magic hold against the disease?

[Quistis Trepe]

Quistis felt ... uncomfortable here.

The primary reason for this was because she was in unfamiliar territory. However, it was lively enough; houses lined the whole of the small town, and there were many townspeople wandering around and chatting to their neighbours. She felt lost: as helpless and feeble as a small kitten, despite the fact that she had been training so long in Garden; quickly progressing through the ranks to make SeeD.

And, to think, all that seemed to do her no good in other worlds.

She frowned. 'Worlds?'

The blonde looked around and absorbed her surroundings once again. Of course ... she had been through many places, due to her status as a member of SeeD, but yet, never, had she set foot in this little town.

Her eyebrows creased together, as if she was contemplating something. 'Amazing ...'

Nevertheless, she wanted to know exactly where she was and proceeded, at once, to an elderly resident here. After he informed her that she was in 'Nibelheim', she nodded and thanked him, storing the name in her memory bank for future reference.

Her steps seemed to be unfocussed; even finding out where she was did her not much good, so she proceeded to explore this place for herself. However, not long after she thought this, a huge mansion caught her attention.

'Interesting ...' Her childish curiosity (which had been locked away by herself a couple of years back) seemed to release itself; she desperately wanted to see what was inside.

And, with that thought, the blonde opened the gate and made her way up the path.

[Arc]

Arc returned to Scholar as he returned to his study area. He knew he couldn’t keep swapping Jobs for much longer. He was working entirely off of lingering power from the Crystals, and constant use of it would only wear him out in the end. It wasn’t like back then, when he had a wider selection and could change between them as he wished. He had never thought he would need such power after they had returned balance to their world. This new world had proved him very wrong.

The young brunet sat back down to continue his research, taking hold of the next medical journal in the stack. Some time back Arc had decided that an out-and-out cure would not be found in these texts. They were too old, and this sickness was too advanced. He thus concerned himself with treatment of individual symptoms for the moment. If he could bring relief for an extended period of time, he might be able to work out a long-term solution.

He had just barely began flipping through the pages when he heard something above. The slightest shift. Arc glanced skyward, curious. Had something happened in the mansion above him? It might have been nothing. Or it might have been the ghastly monsters he had encountered earlier returning. If the latter was the case there could be trouble. He adjusted his glasses out of anxiety and got to his feet, turning to Edihn before leaving. “I’m going to check something out upstairs....I won’t be long, ok?” The ill man made only the slightest grunt in response.

With a sigh, Arc began his trek up the spiraling staircase….

[Quistis Trepe]

Upon entering the mansion, Quistis absorbed the fact that it was pretty much run-down and must have been abandoned for a while: which gave off the impression of it being haunted, with ghosts lurking around downstairs. She was lucky she still had her whip with her upon arriving here; it would help her fend off most of the threats lying around in here.

The weak floorboards creaked beneath her feet, only increasing her awareness and causing her to look around swiftly, in case there was a fiend sneaking around. When she found the mansion as empty as when she had first entered, she continued to explore the creepy-looking mansion. The blonde's curiosity had been triggered due to the fact that this building stuck out like a sore thumb alongside the other residential houses, complete with residents occupying them. However, as she had been intrigued by the mansion, she had decided to ask the other residents about it. Surprisingly, they had averted their eyes and shook their heads, warning her against the dangers that lurked in there.

Looking around now, she wondered why she had not heeded their advice.

She shook her head. 'Pull yourself together, Quistis. There's nothing to fear from here.'

The blonde tried, with all her might, to believe herself.

She stopped pacing when her feet hit a dead end; there was a pillar standing erect in front of her, and she crossed her arms. 'Huh, if this is it-'

Suddenly, Quistis heard footsteps. With no idea where they could be coming from, she looked around, and ...

Wait ... were those footsteps coming from behind the pillar?

'That could explain it,' she thought to herself. 'Well then ...'

With whip coiled around her hand, she stood straight beside the pillar, hoping that her reaction would be fast enough to trap the ... thing coming from behind the pillar.

She heard the secret passageway behind the pillar open ...

And jerked her arm, causing her whip to snap at the unknown entity, hoping that she had left a mark.

[Arc]

Arc made his way up cautiously. The further up he went the more obvious it became that someone was above him somewhere. The gap between him and his mysterious visitor was great, but the mansion was older than sin; the place creaked up a symphony at so much as a breath. Thing is, that also worked against him. Yeah the rotting structure acted as a manmade snitch, but he would be unable to tell where this person or thing was until he was actually up there. If he wasn’t careful it could get the drop on him. Thankfully the staircase was hidden, so in that sense he had the edge, but it was still a hazardous situation to be in.

Finally, the young teen had reached the top. He stood before the portal out, his ear pressed against it so as to attempt to spy out the newcomer. He continued to hear the creaks, but it did him no good. Silently cursing his misfortune, Arc held his breath and, slowly, pushed open the secret door….to be struck in the face with some unknown projectile.

He was unable to so much as detect what had hit him. His eyes could not follow its path and it did not leave a trace that it was ever there. The force came hard though, making contact square on the bridge of his nose and snapping his Scholar-produced spectacles in half. Arc tumbled back out of surprise more than anything, rolling a total of four times down the stairs before catching his footing once more. As he lay crouched on the stairway a green glow overtook him, transforming his garments into those of the Black Mage.

He became aware of his injuries during the brief moment of lull time. The attack had drawn some amount of blood, but the wound was mostly superficial and stung more than anything. His fall down the stairs had probably inflicted more damage. Nonetheless, whatever was up there was hostile. He had not seen what it was, but he could not allow it to reach Edihn now that it knew of the stairs. Arc raised his bejeweled stave to the doorway above, focusing upon the magic he wished to so mold upon reality. He could not presently see his foe, but he did not have to for this to work.

"Blizzara!"

The torrent of wind and ice came forth, channeled into the door above and outwards like some sort of arctic shotgun. With any luck he could at least catch whatever was up there off guard.

[Quistis Trepe]

Quistis felt some sort of satisfaction as she felt her whip hit the target: at least she was still as accurate as ever. The whip coiled back around her hands, and she bravely advanced on, her body inside the secret passageway. Nothing else greeted her but stairs - nothing else but stairs and her foe.

'Wait a minute, was that a-?'

Her thought was cancelled, however, when the Blizzara spell hit her. Stung with cold, she screamed in surprise, her body tumbling back. She then raised herself on a sitting position and held her chest, which was still cold due to the aftermath of the spell. How stupid of her - it wasn't a monster, but a boy. A boy who was exceptionally trained in magic. Well, now that she knew that the young male wasn't (exactly) dangerous, she had to convince him that she was no-one suspicous. So, with a slight grunt in pain, she got up from her seated position and made her way inside the secret passageway, where she glimpsed the boy again.

After placing her whip away, she held her hands up, in a gesture of surrender. "Hey, I - uh - listen, I'm sorry about the mark, ok?" She distinctly noticed that his nose had gone pink from pain and immediately felt guilty.

"I - I thought you were a fiend ..." Pretty lame, but true; she wanted to explain why she had acted like she had: it was not exactly like Quistis Trepe to feel so vulnerable and instinctive, but in a place like this ...

She just hoped he understood ...

[Arc]

(Eh, sorry I keep waiting for years before I post. >__<)

Arc lay on the steps a moment longer, catching his breath. He had used too much energy that day, switching between Jobs freely and casting spells all the while. At the rate he was going he would exhaust himself. Already his muscles felt limp, as though made from paper. That was why he hoped his spell had defeated whatever attacked him up there. Should the enemy have survived, he would not be able to participate in full-on combat for very long. But something bothered him about the events that transpired above.

Up there I thought I heard….was that a scream? What monster screams?

An obvious answer came to mind, but Arc did not enjoy thinking of it. Had it been a person? It was true that this newcomer had struck first, but he could have been under the same misunderstanding as Arc; that the other was a monster of some kind. Even the projectile, whatever it had been, would make more sense under the use of a person than some sort of beast. So what exactly had he hit….?

And that was when she appeared in the doorway above. It took Arc a moment to realize it was a woman, lost in his thoughts as he was. But there she was, hands elevated to signify she wanted no more violence between them. Were he more attentive, the youth would have noticed that she was just as guilty about momentarily trading blows as he was. Such was not the case, and his eyes widened as shock overtook him. ”You were……ACK!” He got to his feet with an almost unnatural haste and approached, nervous and flustered.

”I-I’m so sorry! I’ve been on edge and creatures sometimes appear here and….Did I hurt you? Oh god, I hurt you didn’t I? Tell me if you’re injured! I’ll heal it!” His words came out in a near jumble, but he did not notice. He was only intent on making peace.

[Quistis Trepe]

(No worries. ^^)

Quistis was taken aback by the boy's haste to rectify his mistake, although she tried not to show it. Her eyes widened a fraction, she attempted to answer atop his worried rambling.

"No, really, I'm fine. I can heal it myself, thanks." Truthfully, she was intrigued as to how he was so experienced with magic. Someone his age ... maybe his natural affinity with magic ran through his blood? But, that was nothing compared to the sudden exposure of other worlds; there must be lots of people - all from various worlds - that had the same experience with magic.

She extended her right hand out, waiting for him to shake it. By the way, I'm Quistis. Quistis Trepe." She felt that her full name wasn't exactly necessary, yet she wanted to be recognised in some form - not just as an ex-Instructor who had failed in her duties.

Looking down at the stairs, seeing nothing but the endless darkness, she asked, "If you don't mind me asking, what exactly were you doing down here, anyway? It seems pretty dangerous, even for a Mage like yourself."