Her father owned a store in Orchidia centre, which was closed during the midday hours and evenings because they would have a stall on the festival where Phoebe since her return home would work as well. She leaned on the stand to see the fireworks. It was beautiful to watch, they would close soon but she had given her father time to talk to Mary and she would wait with closing until they were back, it was better that way, not that many people got eyes for the stores but it was not a problem for the nature mage. She and Persephone were okay with calm days lately. Persephone had to prepare because of Lucifer being around and Phoebe had to get over another failure that Phoebe had called upon herself.

While daydreaming and having an intern conversation, she heard a scream and turned to look at it, but the stall wooden walls were in the way. She quickly got out of the wooden house and looked at three stalls next to hers on the right and saw the fire. She looked around if she saw Victor somewhere but even they couldn't believe they would do it. She looked at a blonde that seemed to be calling for aid and she ran back into the little stall that was her own and emptied a bucket that they used for other things, "Quick, we need to get water," she held up the bucket for the mage, she could try to kill some of the fire with her magic and hoped the blonde would get the bucket, there were some bars close by as well as the lake that could help, if he didn't, she would place the bucket next to her feet and move up her hands to use the roots that Persephone had taught her. To let the fire die because of lack of oxygen and so on. As it was magic it wouldn't be able to catch fire too soon. But her magic wasn't very well meant for this either.

 

RI BRIGHTE Ri's hands were on top of his head, as he panickedly- is that a word?- thought about what to do. Most of the people around him were running away, and it would take too much time for any authority to get there and douse the flames. His eyes darted around the street, looking for both a bucket and a way to fill it, were he to find one. The lake. It wasn't that far, he'd just have to slide down a slope to get to it. His miracle arrived just in time when he was handed an empty bucket by a seemingly random person. As the shock settled in, he stood with the thing in his hands for a solid five seconds, before bolting to the nearby lake. With quite the dexterity, he managed to not trip and fall on his face, thus making the situation worse, and he soon reached the body of water, giving the area around him one last glance. It seemed other people had the same ideas, running from the lake, and climbing the short slope to get back to the shops. He even saw another mage, using what looked like to be molding magic to try and create more buckets for people to carry the water in. Seeing that more people joined in to help, Ri didn't bother to get another bucket. This one was already tricky enough to carry over the slope. Knowing him, most of the water would be spilled, were he to get two buckets. At least with just one, he knew he could somehow control it with both of his hands. Once he reached the small market area, the mage's eyes widened. The fire, even with the girl's supposed help, continued to spread, reaching the next shop. The owner quickly fled, from what Ri could see. The boy's hands still gripped the bucket, and in a last-ditch effort to stop its spread, he ran right towards the shop, soon slamming his foot in the ground. His electricity sent him upwards, allowing him to reach the roof of the building- and with the bucket still somewhat full, be able to douse the incoming flames. "More water! We need more water!" He yelled, covering his face from the bright flames.

One bucket was clearly not enough but to be fair, the Goddess was satisfied to see how more people would work out, these monkeys could do literally something and while she was working on protecting the shops next by covering them in her magical roots and thus trying to get the fire to die as the pulled the roots back into the ground as soon as the caught fire and wrap the little wooden stores back into the roots again. But it didn't work immediately as a second shop, which she wasn't working on, caught fire. She groaned a little but Phoebe bit her lip. She had been a fire starter, a fire mage but now she had Nature and it hurt her to use so much magic as it obviously didn't work. She couldn't make water and the buckets weren't enough. They needed a fire mage to stop it or a water mage or for example a Earth mage that could block the whole fire wall to continue. She had to find a plan, she only didn't know too many people that were capable of that, she found her father and sister running towards her.

Her sister was a fire mage, perhaps she could calm the flames but she wasn't very confident in her magic but she tried, also to save others their shops and Phoebe was glad that she wouldn't rebel about it right now. As the guy who she gave their bucket yelled for water, she decided to see if she could do something too, with one last look at the roots that she placed for protection, she followed the blonde, "Are there any more buckets?" she asked him hoping he would hear her in the hysteria that was going around. But she found the mage that was using the molding magic to make more and she took a bucket from him, just like her father. As the blonde had called out for more help with water, more people showed up to help, thank god he seemed to be loud enough and inviting enough for them to come. There was quite a group running with water and she had seen him use his well magic, she wasn't sure if she had seen lightning correctly as she had been focused on her own but it was a good start. Perhaps he should do that more often and they would bring him the buckets?

She wasn't sure if there was time to discuss that.

 

RI BRIGHTE "Damnit!" Were the next words coming out of the mage's mouth as the thin roof broke under his left foot's pressure. "Shit, shit, shi-" As he tried to regain his balance, and pull his leg out of the rough situation, the flames completely nullifying the water's earlier job. Even if the water had dampened the wooden area, even if for a little, that didn't mean that the flames couldn't find a way around it. Another string of curses came from Ri's mouth as he still struggled to pull his leg free. Those who gathered water in buckets weren't even paying attention to him, given that a) He was on the roof of one of the shops, and b) They had better things to do. Like stopping the flames from moving further on. The mage gave a quick, scared glance at his surroundings. He didn't see anything to help him escape this situation. Well, there was one way out. Two, really, if he counted staying there and burning alive- Which was not really an option. With that said, he slammed his other foot into the wooden surface, and began pulling his stuck leg up and down, to try and weaken the roof, so that he'd be able to fall inside the shop. It was already doomed, so why should he care more about it, than his own life? Then again, the man might be able to salvage something from it... A sudden yell might have captured the other's attention, as the roof gave in, and allowed the mage to land inside the shop, falling for at least 2 meters. Thankfully, there were no nails that might have hurt him. Although, he might find out that after the adrenaline rush this whole ordeal gave him, that he has most of his body covered in splinters. He quickly pushed himself up, and looked around, for a way out. The door, now mostly nonexistent, was covered in flames, along with most of the wall. He'll have to pass through that if he doesn't want to die. He muttered two words to himself, to prep himself, before launching himself outside, his magical properties allowing him to speed himself up, so that he has a lower chance of catching on fire. He caught himself just in time, only the front of his tank-top managing to get singed by the roaring fire. As he raised a hand to pat what was left of the flames, he had an obvious idea, given by the expression on his face. "Forget the water!" He suddenly yelled, "We need something to smother the thing! Anything!" He continued, quickly looking around. This shop, the one from which he escaped from, was doomed to the same fate as the first one, it seemed, and if they didn't act fast, the others would soon follow.

Right she thought she recognized the same guy but she didn't. However Phoebe believed there was no time to waste on simply finding a guy that had taken the lead before and was now gone for a few minutes, it was easily happening that you would miss someone in the chaos of a fire. She found her family, as they found her which was already a miracle, she wasn't the easiest person to spot and if it was because of her looks it would be the pale skin.

The water that was brought to the stall was not enough, as it caught the one on either side of it on fire as well. They would be a few stalls between their own and she had to make sure that they wouldn't reach that and they would have to protect the remaining stalls as well, she gave the bucket to Mary who had tried to get the fire to subdue thanks to her fire magic but nothing worked, "Leave it to me." The Goddess said in her mind and Phoebe gave a short nod, the two of them looked up as the man that had taken the lead before would show up again, saying that water was no need, but they needed something to smother the fire. That's where the Goddess would take a step in, Phoebe muttered the spell that locked Persephone to her body but behind in her mind, now her eyes changed after the word, from lilac to bright green, magic swirled around her, dancing like the little fairies and leaves that would show up as a representative of the Goddess but only she would be able to see.

"Anthos."

She closed her eyes shortly and walked closer towards the fire, she heard her father yell for her, "I need some space," She said not very loud but the wind would carry her voice, this was going to be dangerous but she didn't tell Phoebe how dangerous. What Phoebe had tried before was not strong enough but now she would do it herself, she raised up both her hands, using her own magic to instruct the plants from Orchidia to help her and roots to be pulled from the ground to smother as the man had suggested, she would instruct it to wrap around in layers and layers of leaves, roots and so on to go around the stalls. Because there was mud, and enough live and water within the leaves and roots, they didn't easily catch fire.

But it took so much magic, that she felt her knees wobble, but Phoebe her body would have to hold on while Persephone performed her magic trick, she would have to hurry or she would collapse from using too much magic at the same time.

 

At his words, he could already see people running here and there to get something to smother the fire with. Some came back with mud. More came back with water. Some even brought flour. But, Ri's eyes remained glued to the fire. He was watching it, intensely to see where it would spread next. The house that he fell through was beginning to get completely swallowed by flames. The house next to it, where the fire had began, was by now just rubble and charcoal. There were more houses, of course, and if this were to go on, they would end the festival sooner than it has to end. And then, the mage- which he had found out she was at that point- began to cover the flames with her own magic, to snuff them out. Given that she was using live nature, it wouldn't take long until they were all over with, but at this rate, it was either the fire or her- and he didn't want to make that choice. And so, his attention moved back to the other people, who were now coming back with either flower, or mud-filled buckets. Or water, but those were last, running like their lives depended on it. Which they somewhat did, given that if the festival burns down, their stalls will go down with it as well. "Cover the areas uncovered by the girl! Come on!" He yelled, before running over to a little girl, and her brother, who were both trying to help however they could. They were both carrying a bucket, much larger than they were- trudging themselves through the street. The electrical mage quickly ran to them, and gave them a friendly smile, for he didn't know how to offer any other comfort at the moment, and he took their bucket. In as much hurry, he ran back to the scene, his eyes setting on the somewhat aflame house. The girl seemed to have done a pretty good job, but the other shop-keepers were having a hard time snuffing out the flames the girl missed. And that's when Ri jumped in. He used the same ability as before, jumping on top of the roof, to look around for somewhere to throw the bucket at. This time, he was careful to not step into any almost-fallen piece of wood. He threw the bucket, spraying most of the roof in water, and not allowing any flames to get any higher. He huffed, and coughed, his lungs starting to get filled with the poisonous fumes the fire emitted, and with one last look back, he leapt back on the ground, leaving the bucket on the roof. It was metal, so it wasn't like it was going to catch on fire anytime soon. "Over here! Over here!" Were the next voices he heard. More mages, about three or four of them, rushing over to the still-lit shop. They all nodded to each other, before all of them, in unison, pointed their two fingers at the shop, and began muttering. A bright, blue light shone, before from their direction, water began spraying in the shop's direction. Nothing but ash was left behind, but nothing more was caught aflame. It was done.

So much magic dancing around her, used only because Persephone stepped in, but she felt it, draining her, making it so difficult to concentrate if she had been alone but thank god she wasn't thank god there was Persephone who could do all this with a snap of her fingers but only she needed was her body to have help with that and Phoebe felt so tired. Black spots dancing in front of her vision, she had seen people help her, more mages came and she believed she saw water magic. Water mages, where the hell had they been, was their magic so rare that no one seemed to have or use it, that would be a shame but boy was she glad that they were..

She fainted, it was only for a matter of seconds that her knees collapsed and that she felt backwards, because her legs couldn't carry her anymore, thank god there was no fire, no little pieces of anything anymore and that there was grass for else she might have hurt herself pretty darn well, too many people ere were still focused on the ash and other issues with the previous stores or the one that got burned for little patches, so when she got back into the here and now, it seemed that not many perhaps no one at all had noticed, but she felt bad, empty, hungry perhaps and she needed to sit down for a minute or longer, which was the reason why she didn't got up. With her fainting which was the sign of the limit of her magic, the roots had pulled back and her eyes had switched back to lilac, Persephone was in the back of her mind again instead of holding the reigns but that was okay. If only she felt okay.

 

He panted, his eyes set on the extinguishing flames. One part of him was so glad for this whole ordeal to be over. The other, couldn't believe it. They had just saved an entire area of at least one kilometer. Well, he was exaggerating. But they did save the businesses of a lot of merchants, and allowed them to have something to eat, or to bring their children, this night. And just as serene and quiet as it had been before- mostly because of the adrenaline running through him, which was shutting off all of the noise- it had become louder and louder, and after just a few seconds, he could clearly hear what was going on around him. Yells, of troubled parents trying to find their children. Screams of pain, as they tried to get some of the fallen rubble of of others. Ri shut his eyes, and tried to tune the noise out, and think. He gave the world around him one last quick glance, before his eyes fell on the tired girl. This one helped them not die. She helped them not burn alive, and now people were running around her, to try and find their way off of the premises. No one even tried to give her a hand. The mage quickly walked towards the girl, his walk turning into a brisk pace, and then into a run, as he soon reached her side and bent over. With a groan, mostly of pain, given that he now felt the splinters covering his legs and arms, he took hold of her arm, and slung it around his shoulders. Swiftly, his other hand moved to her hip, to further prop her against him, and to allow him to more easily carry her to safety. Of course, that wouldn't last long, given that his own legs were starting to buckle under the girl's sheer weight alone. That wasn't to say she was overweight. But, Ri's state of being didn't favor her at the present. Getting the girl away from what remained of the house's fumes was a first, and so, he decided to slide down the little hill that got them to the lake. He almost lost his grip on her twice, but each time, he'd grunt and pull her closer, reaching the ground with a small thud. Ri took a deep breath, and released a sigh, as he let her go, and rested her against the hill, letting himself fall back on the grass behind him. Truth be told, he could barely move from the pain he was in. The wooden splinters were all over his legs and arms, missing his chest merely because of his tank top. He turned to glance at her, before his eyes set back to the sky. "Shit."

Something was pulling on her, mentally, physically. There was for those short amount of seconds no here or now, there was nothing, no gravity and only darkness. Something Phoebe surely disliked, it wasn't the dark alone, she could handle that but it was everything that it was hiding, the truth, the feelings, everything. Persephone was pulling on her, trying to get her back into the here and now because of the use of magic, it was perhaps that the Goddess thought it was her fault and that she screwed up the vessel she liked the most but at this point Phoebe was exhausted. However when she woke up, not sure if she fainted again or if it was the first time, there was no clock and no minutes or even seconds in her mind. Everything felt like an eternity.

She expected to find her father, carrying her, but it was someone else and she couldn't lift up herself enough to see the person next to her, but she simply knew it wasn't her family, not her father, not her sister Mary obviously and not her half-brother Silver. She wanted to say a thank you but she couldn't yet, she had not found the energy, everything felt so heavy but she was very grateful to not be left on the ground anymore, no matter the no fire, it was very busy there and probably dangerous and much more. She didn't want to think about it, she tried to help as much as she could, take small steps because obviously this person was hurt as well, not like her by exhaustion, she remembered that someone had come out of the fire, the fallen building, she stared at her legs, his legs, clearly masculine.

Phoebe wondered shortly where they were going, but lost her track of thoughts shortly again, her eyes closed and it felt as if she was falling asleep. Just not connecting to her own brain and only hearing Persephone usher her to open her eyes and focus on her energy and breathing, she wasn't dying that would be exaggerating but Persephone could care for her only like this, if she would be safer by the Goddess taking over the body, the Nature being would have done that, but she wasn't capable, her mana was simply done for at this point and it would take a day maybe even more to restore it. She opened her eyes again and this time it had been longer than she originally had thought, what normally had been seconds had her now missed the fact that they slipped down the hill and that she was dropped there in the grass. She couldn't sit up yet but she heard the person next to her and turned her face, her lilac eyes to look at him, while he cursed she couldn't help but smile a little,

"Thank you."

 

RI BRIGHTE Ri could only huff a quick laugh as he heard her words. "Thank you", she says. As if he was the one who saved these people. All he did was bark orders, and not even that was done right. The boy took a deep breath, and sighed, as he turned to look at her. From that action alone, he knew he'd have sores all over his body after this night. "I should be thanking you, you know." He began, a smile spreading over his face, "You were the one who saved us. Well." He paused, as his eyes set back to the sky, watching over the fading smoke, "Until the water mages arrived." He let out a coughed chuckle, his lungs burning with what remained of the ash above them. "You know." He started, as his eyes set back to her, "You were doing quite well, until, you know, you fell unconscious." Another coughed chuckle, and he brought his hand to the soil next to him, to push himself in a sitting position. As he did that, he couldn't help but starting muttering his yelps, as the splinters only continued to move around his skin. He grunted something, and brought his other hand, slowly- for it hurt just as much- and began pulling at whichever he could find. Which, was not much. Most of the splinters were small, and in the dark, they were hard to be seen. The mage gave a defeated sigh, and let himself fall back on the grass, his arms dropping by his side. Another "ow" escaped him as that happened. "So." He began, not even moving his head to look at her, "Can you move, or do I need to call someone?" Truth be told, he didn't actually know who to call. He was only joking. There was no one near the lake, and the people above them began cheering. It was quite doubtful that they will be found. But, even so, he wanted to make the girl feel better. She was a hero, damnit. Too bad everyone was congratulating the other guys, the ones who stole the glory.

She didn't know him, but what she did know that he had taken her away from the busy place where people were now celebrating, her father was perhaps looking for her but she was too exhausted to move to be fair. She smiled and turned her lilac eyes to the sky, the stars were still a bit covered by clouds of smoke and probably ashes. She turned to look back at her saviour when he said he should be thanking her and she of course understood what he meant because of what she and Persephone had done but that didn't matter, she wanted to wave it away but lifting up her arm already felt like lead and she frowned a little, "Well," she started as he said the same with the water mages, "If you had not yelled that there was a fire, it would have taken minutes longer before others would have noticed and besides, those water mages didn't take me away from the crowded place, so let me thank you." She grinned a little, before she noticed that he must be in pain, of course with the fire so close, she had no healing magic and it was too dark to do something herself by finding bandages if she could only get the energy to move.


She didn't say anything as he sat upstraight and watched, "It's too much magic but now I get something to work on." she said far more positive than she felt, this was not a part of the game the Goddess had in mind for her and she wasn't sure if she even could do that much but there would be a point. There were enough other things that the Nature Take-over vessel had to work on but that wasn't important right now. "Are you alright, need we find a healer?" Which was a very dumb question and asked at the same time that he, after all she still didn't know his name, asked her if she could move. She was glad for the darkness, which was a rare thing to say for Phoebe but she blushed a little, "I'm exhausted, my body feels so heavy but I bet I can move if I wait a little." she looked back at the sky, where finally the clouds of the previous smoke disappeared mostly and she could see the stars that tried their best to shine as brightly as they could, "It is a nice spot here." she muttered softly.

 

RI BRIGHTE At her first words, Ri paused. Truth be told, he was too tired to even realize that she was right. She might be, though. He wasn't in the mood to be stubborn, now. If he could, he'd just fall asleep on this nice, wet grass. He closed his eyes, if only briefly, to take in the yells of joy that resounded from above them. "In that case." He began, as the smile already present on his face turned into a small smirk, "Your welcome." His attention turned to her as he saw that she was able to move. That was good. It meant that he didn't have to carry her again. Not that he didn't enjoy it, but it was more a matter of her weight against his tired and hurt self. When he heard her next words, he was quick to answer with a "No, no, no." and a lazy wave of his hand- raising it just as much as he could without sending the small shocks of pain through the limb, yet again. "Let's not hurry. I mean, the sky is pretty pretty." As he said that, his gaze turned back to that, which by now would have cleared. The small stars began making their appearance, battling each other over who was the brightest. "Yeah..." Was the only thing that he said, in return to her words. He huffed, gently, before starting to shift his head, as to look around. With a small, but quick pout, he turned back to her, a raised eyebrow given, in confusion, "So, I guess you came here alone?" He suddenly asked, in hopes of making conversation. If they were stuck there, they might as well talk about something. It wasn't that interesting, but it was better than silence. Or maybe he should have just kept his mouth shut and let the silence be itself. The stars -were- pretty, and he was just as content with watching them, but he felt like he needed to start a conversation. Almost like his entire being depended on that. Or, he might just be starved for socialization. That was probably the true reason.

Phoebe explained why she thanked him, not that she was good at taking compliments herself but she was thankful to this guy, the shop from her father was saved as well, she turned towards him and grinned as he said you're welcome. She needed to make sure he was alright, in the storm of ash and smoke, including the fire she had not seen what everyone did and so on, she had tried her very best herself to save the compound and she believed that he had been hit pretty well, the coughing, the cursing from before and well perhaps there were splinters and blisters and she wanted to make sure he was alright. But he waved it away as she had wanted to do before but couldn't without feeling that her arm felt like lead.

As they both concluded that the spot where they were was nice and quiet, she smiled again. It was nice to be able to look at the stars, sure she heard the sounds and music from above them, from the place where the other shops were now saved and people seemed to party because of that, but here, it was like it waved over them, didn't really touch them and yet was there. She looked from left to right to find any star signs that she knew but she was actually too tired to really focus and simply stared at the beauty of the shining stars.

She turned her lilac eyes to her saviour as he asked her a question if she came alone and she had to think about it, basically she came alone now that her father and sister needed some distance from her, which was alright and exactly going according to plan but that meant; she wasn't really alone. "I did or well I came alone, my father he is a shop owner in Orchidia itself, so we have a stand. I think they went home." Which was a lie, she had seen them, but she didn't want to be pushed away to a family that didn't embrace her with open arms. She rather stayed here for a while. "Are you from around?"

 

At her words, Ri gave a small nod, his eyes still set on the sky. Truth be told, his mind kept on wandering, either to what will happen now- that the threat was gone- or to other places, such as where he would head next. After all, he can't just stay in Orchidia for so long. He has to go, to explore, to find new, uncharted lands. His eyes closed, before her next question captured his attention. "Hmm..." He began, as if he was thinking this question through. He was not. He just wanted to seem like his background was more complicated, more philosophical, or full of despair and hope. Finally, after a few seconds of mere silence, he turned to look at her, and answered, "I'm from Baska, originally." He spoke, giving the girl a smile, "I just happened to find a flyer with the festival's name in it. With that said, I also wanted to come back to the town." As he continued to look at her, for another few seconds, before his next question came, he realized that the girl was actually quite beautiful. Now, he wouldn't mention that, because even this fool knew that, that would make things awkward and make this whole friendly conversation go down the drain. Instead, he shifted his gaze back to the sky, hoping that the night's lack of light would hide his growing blush. He cleared his throat, more-so to alleviate the silence that had gathered, while he thought of the girl next to him. "I suppose you're from here, then." He spoke, as his usual, friendly demeanor came back, "I kind of envy you. You don't have to make the road back home, if you want to see your family, or anything like that." "Was the city always like this? So...Floral." He then asked, as he glanced at the girl, only for his eyes to then wander to the lake before them. The moonlight shone on the water, giving it a beautiful glow.

She felt like this conversation was something she would rather avoid in the future. Not because of her saviour but because it started to hurt, knowing very well the future that the tarot reader had given her and the future that would come because of the decisions that she would make based on that. The thing was that she didn't really like the decision, she also didn't hate it, but it was quite an effort to leave your family but it was as if her destiny was already working on that by not giving her the happy welcome home that she had hoped for. Another reason why she wanted to avoid the topic.

Her lilac eyes scanned over the stars, if only one would pick her up, let her become a star in the far galaxy that they were looking upon or let her become something far away, no longer hurt by human feelings, even with a Goddess in her mind, it wasn't something she could easily shut off. Frankly she just wanted to have people care about her too, but she would become a nothing, a vague memory that people wouldn't seem to care about. As he spoke, she turned to look at him, biting her lip softly as she listened, Baska, she had been there once, very shortly because an elf had promised her help, help in hargeon but later in Orchidia, she had not seen him after their short meeting in Hargeon and Persephone seemed to be rather glad about that. She smiled at him shortly as their eyes met and quickly looked back at the stars that still had the contest for which one would shine the brightest.

It was silent and she thought she heard the crickets from the lake, the little frogs and she smiled, it was nice to be here, she felt calmer, which was strange after what happened first but that was over now, she had not to forget that he was a bit hurt and if only she could, she would heal him. But she wasn't like that, she didn't had the ability. She couldn't help but let out a short giggle, "That might be true, but I don't want to stay here, I am here to help for the festival." which was half a lie, because she was here to introduce her half sibling, Silver and to tell about the death of her mother to her father and sister, "I am not feeling very welcome here, I want to see more of Fiore of the whole world but I don't know where to start." So even if she was close to her home, she felt very far away from it.

"Ah yes Orchidia has always been this green, or well for a long time already, nature took back what belonged to her and it works very well with Orchidia's citizen." She said a smile on her face, it brought happiness to Persephone and thus to her.

 

The mage gently hummed to himself as the girl spoke. Truth be told, he already thought that the girl helped tremendously. She saved most of the shops, for goodness' sake. Now people will be able to go and eat their breakfast, lunch and dinner to the place they always went- for the duration of the festival, of course. He turned a confused gaze towards her, at her next words, and waited for her to finish before speaking up himself, "Not welcome? You just saved the festival!" He laughed, before his eyes set back on the sky. "Stars don't know where to start either." He mused, "They just...Do their job, shining down onto the ground. They don't know where they'll go, or where they are, or where they began from, but they just..." He paused, "Do it." By now, it seemed that Ri's tiredness began to get to him, with his philosophical ramblings starting to overcome his usual careless self. He raised a hand, as if wishing to touch said stars, letting it then fall gently on his face, mostly as an effort to not bring any more pain to his "spiky" limb. "There's no where to start from, really. You just-" Pausing, yet again, he gathered his thoughts, "You just pack your things and go wherever the wind takes you." As the silence began to settle in, Ri's mind wandered to his own journey. He just told the girl what he did. Packed his things, said goodbye to his father, and went on to find himself. He wasn't sure if she was able to do the same thing, if she had the same supportive parents, but he knew that she at least had to try. If not, she could always just sneak out in the middle of the night. But, he wouldn't voice that thought. Yet. Finally, he took his hand off of his face, and let it fall beside him, his eyes now set back to the girl, "We need to get up, sooner or later, you know. I bet they've already forgotten about us." He chuckled, pushing himself with his left hand, to stand in a sitting position. "Huh. The lake really is beautiful." He spoke, mostly to himself. "And, we may need a healer. My feet are starting to go numb."

She didn't dare to look at him because at this point, she didn't feel like it was so nice from her to say that she didn't feel welcome here. However it was multiple reasons to why not. Also the idea of what she had to do, distance herself from her two living relatives made it rather unfortunate and yet easy as they seemed to not be really happy that she was here. She let out a sarcastic chuckle. "And yet I'm the bearer of bad news for my family, they rather had I didn't return and they could live in their happy bubble of perfection." Which was perhaps exaggerating, she knew her father loved her, Mary perhaps not so much with the news and all as well as her stealing her clothing but somewhere they were siblings, that rivalry came from love at some point right?

She wondered why Persephone was so quiet but because of their amount, their surge of magic, Phoebe could believe she lay low at this point; nothing was really happening afterall. She turned to look at Ri again and gave a faint smile, "Stars just do, perhaps I should follow their advice and just go on." She was not sure if she would be a bright little star but she was already the main player of this one game with no other contestance but life. She wondered where the wind would guide her, if she lived like that it would probably be a lot easier without coming to really harm like that, "That sounds wonderful, as well as the idea of a star, nothing to worry about, just to shine bright, enchant people with simply a reflection of light, be a wonderful idea that people want to reach out to." she said as she had watched how he reached for the stars.

She felt like standing up now and walk away, but even if her limbs would react now, she wouldn't make it far anymore. She looked up as she heard the sound of the leaves, the ground, the things that indicated that he moved, so she turned and got up herself, moving her long black hair over her shoulders to get any possible twigs and leaves out. "I wouldn't mind to be forgotten, for an evening that is. But yes perhaps it is good to find a healer." She wasn't sure if she should introduce herself or of the mystery of just being two heroes was wonderful enough.

 

RI BRIGHTE The bearer of bad news? That sounded awful, in Ri's mind. This wonderful girl could only do good in his eyes. She had just given her all, and almost killed herself just to save a few shops. How could this person ever do something bad? Then again, not all are perfect. And yet, she seemed like she did her best to reach that point. His eyes shifted from the lake, to the girl, and then back towards it, merely shrugging at her next words, "Hell, it's your life. You should do whatever you want to do with it. To not be bound by anything." Truth be told, by now, he was only holding her down. He didn't really want to get up. The laughs and shouts of joy actually proved quite therapeutic to the young mage, and he closed his eyes to take it all in. To think that if he didn't come today, he might have missed all of this. Meeting a pretty friendly gal, saving a festival. Getting indirectly praised by people, the usual. Once she began speaking about being forgotten, he immediately turned his head towards her, a small frown starting to form, only to then disappear as she finished her sentence. He gave a small chuckle afterwards, placing his good hand on the ground, and trying to push himself to his feet. He grunted, and shifted his weight so as to not put much pressure on his left leg, which was worse off than the other. After a series of continuous "ow's", he finally stood tall, extending a hand for the girl to take, "Can you stand, or do you want to wait more? I won't mind if we stay around a bit longer, honestly." He spoke, giving her a grin. If she took it or not, for now it didn't matter, for he looked around, searching for anyone in their vicinity who could aid them. Mostly, in getting them back up to the festival grounds- as beautiful as the lake and the stars were, he was in no actual mood of sleeping in the cold, outside.

Orchidia had always been welcoming, flowers no matter the season and so on. She couldn't say that she had not missed that when she was away. Orchidia was warm, people knew her, happy to see her before she left more than a year ago. She had returned once to figure things out and to see how everything was going. To get rid of being homesick. And after the issue with Persephone she had wanted to go home but took the wrong train and through that a whole story of happenings had been going on and here she was again. This time not so happy with the reunion in Orchidia, the warm welcoming atmosphere that the town had was not reaching her and she wanted to leave.

"That might sound easier than it really is." She had not only herself to look after but the Goddess within her, and that made it rather complicated. "It is rather lonely to travel by yourself." She couldn't help but mutter, even with Persephone, it felt bad that everyone kept leaving her. Was she not good enough? Not beautiful enough in this world that would.. it didn't matter what it would. She didn't want to think about it, she shouldn't think about it in a way of despair as she did now. She had still enough to see, or to consider the beautiful nature that Persephone wanted to see and help.

She sat up next to him and looked, the lights from above, the little fireflights of the lake and the bits of the moon. She leaned with her head to the left, her long black hair falling over her shoulder, "Was it difficult for you to leave?" She couldn't help but ask, even if she had to point out that right now she didn't mind them forgetting about the two of them and just stay here. She turned to look at him, "I have a better idea, how about, we find you a healer and take a walk around the lake after that? I bet it would be pleasant to be rid of any burns and splinters." She herself still felt tired but it would be good to move, else she would have a lot of muscle pain tomorrow.

 

RI BRIGHTE She traveled by herself? Hard to believe. Ri gave her a confused look, but only for a few brief moments, before setting his gaze back to the area around them. Truth be told, he traveled alone, himself, but he didn't realize it until now. He didn't have many people who he could call "friend", just- acquaintances. He remembered them, of course, but the question was: Did they remember him? He hoped they did, since they seemed like nice people. Then again, to him, all were nice unless proven otherwise. "I'm surprised." He'd suddenly say, as his attention went back to the girl, "I would have expected people to want to travel with you. Since, you know, you seem like a nice person to be friends with." He shrugged. And, truth be told, she -did- seem like a very nice person to be friends with. She wasn't full of herself, and she enjoyed talking. At least, from the little that Ri had seen. He hoped that this was something that she showed to strangers. He always wished for people to be themselves. This world needed more sincere men and women. The question caught him off-guard. -Was- it difficult? He couldn't remember. He was excited, and couldn't wait to find the truth about the world around him, but he can't remember being homesick (ever), or actually having any trouble leaving his childhood home behind. Perhaps, it was also because of his old man's support. He truly loved the calm wizard, that is true, but he just didn't feel him as being far away. He was always with him, in his heart, if not in person. That reminded him, he -should- visit him some day. Maybe after the festival was over. And, so, at the question he just shrugged, not quite sure of what answer to give the girl, "So-So. I do love my dad, but I guess- I and him never had a problem being apart." Another shrug, before her next words came, and took him by surprise. "Sure." Was the only thing he said, "But, are you sure that you can walk? I can walk you home, if you want." He gave a sheepish smile, still holding out his hand for her to take it.

Phoebe looked up to the confused look and she laughed, "I can travel on my own." She didn't want to say that he thought her incapable, and to be fair she wasn't offended, she actually laughed about it. It was a sad thing to do, but perhaps she didn't deserve that happy thing with other people, especially not considering what the future with Persephone told her to do, "I do get homesick every now and then though." she admitted fairly but she wanted to know how it had been for him. But she was surprised by her saviour his answer, "Oh well not everyone wants to go into the same direction or they have something else to do.." or some- no let's not go there, that wasn't even true. Sometimes people simply disappeared and she wanted to go somewhere else. Or they had other jobs to do and she had simply given up, "Basically given up to find a travel partner, it might be easier like this. I can go wherever I want whenever I want." That didn't mean she would say no if someone offered, she doubted only that someone would.

She was a nice person, that's what he had said and she simply didn't want to freeze in her handlings but at this point it was perhaps hurting her more to be nice, not that she could simply stop doing that but perhaps she should get a bit more selfish at some point. But she got her own question first now, if it had been difficult for him? Perhaps what he had was nicer, she had left to find her mother, maybe it had hurt her father's feelings when she had said that. Considering he could take it as if he wasn't good enough. But now that had never been the point, Phoebe was only more angry with her mother now.

She offered to take a walk around the lake with him, if he was fine with that after finding a healer, she took his hand and helped herself to get up because of that, "I rather not go home yet. I'm Phoebe, I realized I haven't given you my name yet." She had given up on the whole super story that they wouldn't know the other their name, it was something that she just say.

 

RI BRIGHTE The mage was a tad relieved when she took his hand and stood. That meant that she was well enough to stand, and that she accepted his help. Before she stood, he had thought over her words, after she spoke them, wondering if he should ask his question. He wouldn't be too sure of the answer, if it was negative, it might make the night awkward, and that was the last thing the mage wanted. And so, at her words, he only shrugged, and a gave a quick, "Ah, pity.", before moving on. Once the girl was well and on her feet, Ri took a step forwards. And stopped. Pain shot right through his body, and he had to bite his tongue as to not yell. The worst part? It wasn't even that bad. It was mainly the sting caused by the abundance of splinters stuck in his leg. And now, if the girl were to see his sudden stop, he'd probably think of him as a weakling. Or, not. The latter was most likely to happen, but this mage ain't taking any chances, no sir-ee. And so, he steeled himself, and took another step forwards, and then another, thus painfully walking over towards the road circling the lake. If they were lucky, they wouldn't have to climb any stairs to find an actual healer, but knowing Ri's luck, they might as well just go back to the hill and climb it, for it would be the only way out. But, it wasn't. As they walked, the mage's eyes could spot the set of stairs, and the group of men, waiting for their turn on...Something. Ri hoped against hope that they were waiting on the healer, or a doctor to take a look at them, and it wouldn't be just a magician doing his tricks or something. "Phoebe?" He suddenly asked, as his eyes turned to her, "Never heard that one before." A smile grew on his face, "I'm Ri. Can't go letting you give your name while I remain anonymous, right?" As they came closer to the group of men, one could see a bright light enveloping the one in the middle, as he, thankfully, seemed to be healing some of the others' wounds. The mage gave a sigh of relief, and decided to step forwards, leaving the girl a tad behind, only to then turn his attention back to her, and beckon her to get ahead of him, "I forgot you needed this as well." He spoke, sincerity clear in his tone. Truth be told, with the stinging pain that shot through his legs and body every time he took a step, he didn't actually think well anymore. That, and well, it was rather late. "I'll be fine for a few more minutes." He continued, as he then stubbornly held his place, unless the girl went ahead of him.

She didn't know what she hoped, the pity indeed or some suggestion. She didn't know him, he was a saviour for today but again, she finally got to the point that she was no longer alone, never alone. There was Persephone who would be there and the two of them surely now got along. They were working on a plan and there was things that needed to be done, revenge to be made. No one simply dropped a Goddess without taking the fall for it. But that wasn't needed now, now Phoebe wanted to be just her Just Phoebe. Persephone had been quite ever since they protected the stores, they only knew how to play the good girl now as to get allies, make people do what they want. It was a part of their act and their game. But not tonight.

She wanted to take a step now that she stood and found her balance but she noticed Ri first and looked at him with worry, she was still human after all.. for now.. She placed her hand on his shoulder, "Take it easy." As she had thought before, there must be more pain after fighting of the fire like she did, although she had been far away enough. She followed him, taking slow steps, not only for his own speed, but her muscles all told her to simply sit down and move no longer for today. This was going to be an immense muscle pain tomorrow but she would just walk on right now, albeit slowly.

Phoebe was mostly focused on putting one foot in front of the other to work on getting forward and definitely having no idea where they were going as she wasn't looking forward. It surprised her when she suddenly heard her name. She gave a soft chuckle, "Depends if you wanted to remain a mystery but it's nice to meet you." She smiled at Ri and "Are you okay?" her eyes looked around shortly after she said that and she noticed the healer of some sorts, "You are almost there." She was actually relieved when Ri got closer to the healer, it took her a few seconds more to walk a bit faster. Pain had different functions, to her it was more a strain to walk fast but it would not go away anyway. She didn't meet a lot of selfless people, not before, not after, more at this festival to be fair and she was surprised by that and perhaps a bit flattered, "Oh no, no don't worry. Nothing that a bit of sleep won't fix. Go ahead." She wasn't even sure if a healer could help her restore some of her mana so the pain of the heaviness would go away. She stood next to Ri and looked up to him, "I doubt that this can be fixed by a healer."

 

RI BRIGHTE At her words of worry, Ri merely waved his hand to assure her that everything was alright. Well, not all was alright, but it was pretty close to that. Truth be told, he was a -bit- relieved when the girl didn't wish to go before him. He still wanted her to be healed as well, mind, but right now, he'd kill for someone to get rid of the blasted splinters stuck in his skin. "Sit down, then. Can't have you standing while I'm sitting, right?" A chuckle escaped him, before he glanced at the man, only to then turn towards the girl, "I'll be back, soon. You just- Sit down, and try to- I don't know. Relax, I suppose." A sheepish grin, and a shrug, and he started towards the healer, sitting down next to him, and telling him the tale of the brave and bold lightning-mage, who risked himself to save the festival. Well, not quite so. He was more modest about the whole ordeal. As he spoke, the man began to gently take out the wooden splinters, with a pair of tweezers, making the mage yelp every time the foreign object was extracted- and thus, interrupting his story. After about five minutes of constant "ow's", the mage was released, what remained of the wounds created by both the splinters and the fall he had taken, now healed. Walking over to his ally, he sat down next to her, wherever she might have chosen to rest, looking towards her before speaking, "You know, we could just stay like this. I mean, I doubt you want to walk right now." He raised his hand, gesturing to her whole body, mainly referring to her tired state. Given that he wasn't in constant pain, now, he wouldn't find a problem with either sitting down, or walking, but the girl, to him at least, seemed to be in worse condition than he was. He was actually a bit disappointed that she refused the healer's help. But, he decided to skip over that. It's her life, and her body, and she'll do whatever she sees fit with it. If she stood, he followed her, and if she didn't, he stayed on the ground. After a few silent seconds he let pass by, Ri finally decided to speak, "You said you didn't have anyone to travel with." And at that moment, he paused. What the hell was he thinking? He just said that he didn't want to make things awkward. Well, there it frickin' goes. Might as well finish the sentence if he started it. "I'm a pretty good ally." The mage continued, with a smile, and a shrug of his shoulders, "Plus, I don't have any destination in mind." Another pause, as he thought of his next words, "If you want. I don't really care for a 'no', or 'yes'. It's your decision." Another shrug, and he set his eyes on the healer, who continued his job. He was merely staring into nothingness.