Splash Splash Splash

Rain fell pitilessly over Orchidia, casting a mischievous sleepy spell over the small, green city, and gathering the worn down streets into a drawn silence over which the ominous rhythm of rainfall echoed. Betwixt the enveloping coldness and the looming darkness, the foggy night awakened with sound of hasty footsteps over pooling water. Faye, the young puppeteer of Blue Pegasus, held one hand over her head and another wound tightly over the doll, Hana, as she ran down the street wishing to find shelter under the weeping night. It had started as a small drizzle whilst Faye was still busy welcoming travelers into the city earlier in the day. Dacol, one of the main figures in Orch, noticed the gathering rain clouds and had let her off with an advice to get home quickly. Yet, Faye being the obsessed little puppeteer she was, had to linger around the hardware store and the fabric store for a long time in search of materials. By the time she was done, it was raining heavily and the streets had suddenly gotten empty with everyone seeking the comfort of their homes.

Faye convinced herself she could get back to her lodging before the rain picked up when she left the store, however, as she was halfway there, it started falling so heavily that she couldn’t even clearly see anything past a couple of steps in front of her anymore. The lack in sense of direction combined with the biting chill creeping up her back made Faye stop and look around for any sort of shelter; Anything as long as she could escape the sudden assault of rain. Finally, it was a comforting silver light that caught her fluttering eyes. There was no way to tell where it was coming from but seeing as there was some sort of direction she could follow, Faye hurried towards the source of it, running a good five minutes before finally realizing where this light had taken her.

During the day she had walked past this building numerous times without casting so much of a glance - being somewhat of an atheist had given her enough reason not to- at it. But in that night, the towering religious structure had somehow become a source of comfort for the young puppeteer. This giant edifice of white stone was nothing but the much famous church of Illumin in Orchidia. Located right at the center of the city –not a single person could get anywhere in Orch without passing it- in the middle of a grand moat, it connected to the streets with a white marbled bridge. A glass dome, other embellishments, and the blue tiles over the tower roofs gave the whole structure a holy, mystic, angelic vibe. It commanded magnificence and respect off every inhabitant of Orch.

Faye had somehow ended up exactly in this place whereupon she quickened her pace and crossed over the bridge listening to the sound of rain splashing on the moat’s water surface. Lack of lighting except for the single silver light over the church’s tower illuminating a little part of the waters, gave the whole scenario a dangerous and foreboding, devilish charm; an ironic description for the holy place that it was. Perhaps, Faye mused, in that night, anything could have looked awfully demonic.

She stopped right before the locked church door. The narrow space between the wooden entrance and the steps were barely safe enough to keep Faye from the rain. It was better than nothing but that did not mean Faye was pleased. Thinking of herself to be alone, Faye broke her usual silence to mutter something about the weather while wringing parts of her white shirt and gray, button-less coat to get some water off –a futile attempt- and took off her shoes. Standing on her tiptoes, she threw the water collected in her white canvas shoes off and dropped them back down to slip her feet back into them. She made an irritated noise, flinging her arms around under the clinging white shirt. “What a disaster.”

Oh boy Caius was in for a trip this time. He was testing out Ianthe's new experimental drug called 'sparkle' to see how much he would be able to handle. That way he would be able to deduce the volume of how much he should sell. His demon body normally could withstand it more than an average human but this batch was more potent than the last. The drug rejuvenated his body and gave him an excess of energy but at the same time dulled his senses. Stumbling through the streets of Orchidia he looked for anywhere where something to drink to flush it out for his system. It seemed like the gods themselves heard him as rain started to pour down on him. Removing the hood of his red hoodie, he opened up his mouth to catch the raindrops. They splashed off his face and mouth but that wasn't going to be enough. There had to be a building nearby that had something to drink. He was far from the market district so he started to scan the area.

While looking around, he spotted the local church shining in the center of the town. He always tried to stay away from them. Religious people were crazy in this country and he had an irrational fear of bursting into flames if he walked into one. He was part demon after all. However, the drug at this time overpowered any fears he had and compelled him towards the doors. They had a ritual in there where the faithful would eat crackers and drink wine stating that they were the blood and body of the lord. Well Caius was going to find that wine and use the 'blood' of the lord to purge the drug inside of him. As he walked across the white marble bridge, the raindrops seemed to start forming rainbows as they splashed against the ground. He was starting to hallucinate His vision started to get blurry as he shambled forward. "Not good.....getting worse..." He focused on the light of the church to guide him as he finally arrived at the door.

There was another person outside the church doors. A pink haired woman that was trying to dry herself off under the small overhang. Caius paid her no mind and went to open the door. He bumped his shoulder into it but it wouldn't budge. Maybe it was a pull? He grabbed the handle and tried pulling the door open. Nothing. "Oh no I'm not turning back now." He said.. Caius held his hand out against the door and concentrated some dark purple void energy. Once he released it, the door would shatter inwards causing splinters of wood to scatter across the church floor. The door was still in tact but there was a hole about 5ft wide from the bottom up. Caius turned to the lady next to him and gave her a cheeky smile. "Door's open if you don't want to get wet." Looking inside,there was nobody in the church. Entering the hole in the door, he continued his quest for the wine.

Soft, unrhythmic sound of footsteps caused Faye to look up over the cuff of her shirt towards the foggy darkness. She hardly noticed his tall figure emerge up the church stairs, having to squint her eyes to make out any face at all to the bulky outline of the man. When the shadowy shape finally began to make sense, Faye quickly lost interest and gave him one impassive glance before letting her eyes fall back onto her clothes. Admittedly, she was quite taken aback. She did not expect another living being to be out and about under that punishing downpour. But then, she noticed he wasn’t exactly focusing on where he was going either. He looked, from their current distance, almost drunk? Faye wasn’t exactly sure what his situation was. She wasn’t going to care either. As comforting as it felt to not be left alone in the dark night, Faye couldn’t bring herself to strike up any conversation with anyone in that weather. The rain and lack of rest had downed her spirits somewhat. Hana, too, could not be used anymore for the night. Since the odds were already at such a cross, Faye decided she would quietly wait for the rain to stop and go back.

Thud

Such a sudden loud sound startled the young woman’s attention back onto him. Pure bewilderment -from what she was seeing- nearly got reflected in her crystal blue orbs. The man was bumping onto the church door with his muscular shoulders. The young mage would have told him it was locked, but even before she could do so, he had begun to use magic to put a gaping hole right in the middle of the wide door.

Across the dozens of tiny splinters illuminated by the church light, Faye watched him. She stood there rooted to the spot in shock. Did this man –whoever he was- just destroy the church door? And he had done it with no hesitation? Faye shook her head.‘No way,’ she couldn’t help from whispering the words. Illumin was the most widely preached and followed religion in all of Earthland. To have bravely trespassed into one of its churches –a famous one at that- using a magic that resembled darkness, Faye could tell this man was not simple. However, she was surprisingly not scared.

Rather, she was in between a curious contrast of alarming ring of warning bells and the thrilled chime of excitement from having met someone unusual. Lost in thoughts, Faye almost missed his invite into the church now that the door was “open”; open being the innocent word he chose to use after his outrageous actions. She took a deep breath and followed him inside.

Faye wasn’t a very religious person, so the prospect of God’s wrath upon disturbing his slumber was nothing compared to the nagging annoyance of trouble to come when the priests and others would find the door in such a state next day. She was especially not ready to deal with any Holy Knights; she found most of them to be just plain insufferable.

Despite the internal turmoil, Faye kept her face impassive. No more than a couple of steps down the long isle, she stopped and took a seat to the wooden pew on her left. “Excuse me,” She called after him, “but what are you doing?” The question came with a subtle tilt of her head to the side, spilling some bubblegum pink hair over her shoulder in the process. “You do realize this is going to be quite the scandal tomorrow, don’t you?” Faye pointed towards the huge hole in the middle of the church door. “Not afraid of any “divine punishment”?”

The grogginess was getting worse as he walked down the middle aisle. A few times he had to use the benches to hold himself from falling. It felt like an eternity but he finally reached the front of the church. It was elevated off the ground so he had to lift himself up. There was a table behind the podium where he found his salvation. A full bottle of red wine next to some scrolls and bread slices. Bingo. Walking over, he took both hands and threw everything off the table except the bottle. He grabbed the wine and ripped off the cork. The red wine was spilling all over the ground and his clothes but he didn't care. All that mattered was the liquid red goodness inside.  He poured the bottle down his throat and did not stop chugging until it was empty. That was a mistake. Caius quickly felt sick and looked around for something to expel himself in. The closest thing he found was a large bowl of holy water. Running over to the bowl, Caius quickly threw up everything in his system causing the holy water to get tainted. However once he finished, he felt refreshed. His body and mind were working clearly again.

A voice called out to him while he did his business. It was the same girl from earlier now seated in a pew in the middle rows. He ignored her while he got the wine and was able to respond now that he had his peace of mind.  Caius dropped down from the stage and stood at the front of the aisle. "Listen bubble gum." Caius said to get her attention. The nickname came from the bright color of her hair.  "The lord made people to fix doors for a reason.  The church has a large donation box. Those idiots will be fine." Walking closer to her he stood about a meter away from her now. He wanted to make his next point clear to her. "But just so we are clear we should keep this between us. I did get you out of the rain so you owe me. Are we cool?" Depending on her answer things could get a bit more complicated.

Faye was right in the middle of pulling wet strands of pink hair off her face when she noticed the large man running around the small raised platform like a headless chicken. With a stunned scoff, she paused to observe him pacing over the small space, first grabbing a bottle of wine and then downing it like a mad man. He was spilling it all over the floor, quickly coloring the white marbled floor in crimson red. Faye watched with a line spreading over her lips at the bearded man, at the absurdity of his whole action, and finally…

Bleh

“Fuck”She cursed out loud after making an immediate grab for Hana. There was no limit to the amount of peculiar characters Faye came across each day, but this person with the way he behaved had thoroughly managed to make an unsavory impression on her mind. She was at the very edge of gagging when he threw up all over the holy water. The atrocity of this scene playing a contrasting montage with the serenity of a church ceremony quickly helped Faye make up her mind that she did not want such a disgraceful figure among her puppets. Again, not to be misunderstood, Faye was not a religious person, but she was not someone who would disrespect another's beliefs either.

Minutes later, she was duly lost between what to think and say when the man finally took notice of her with what he found was a need to point out the color of her hair spilling over the back. With great difficulty, she managed to not let any irritation show and told him with a stoic, calm face, “Well let me guess, I suppose He was clearly out of reason when he decided to make you?”

She crossed her hands over her chest and stood up -a bad idea since standing up only seemed to highlight their height difference a lot more. But nonetheless, she kept her ground, giving him a half-hearted bow before preparing to head off. The tone he decided to take with her had got her so pissed that she being the peaceful fairy she was, decided she would rather be out in the rain than inside an empty church with him. Before she completely walked away, however, she decided to throw this off her shoulder. “Sure, I’ll keep it between us. The last thing I need is a Holy Knight questioning me about some silly buffoon whose vomit is all over the holy water.”

This woman had some lip on her.  After all the work he did to get the door open for her to get out of the rain she had the audacity to insult him. Not just once, but twice.  To top it off she gave a sarcastic bow at his request and was about to head out the door. Caius liked that she had a little fight in her. At the same time, she did make him a bit nervous. He didn't trust her comment that she wouldn't tell anyone. They had only known each other for a few minutes after all and it seemed like she hated him. Holy knights looking around for him would be problematic with the business he was trying to run in the city. Caius started to walk towards her at a fast pace. After he passed her, he would turn to face her placing himself between her in the door. The only way out right now was to be through him.

"I admit you caught me in a moment of weakness Bubble Gum but I'm level headed now. If the water is really holy, it will cleanse itself anyway. Let's rewind a bit here and start over as friends. You don't want to get wet again after just drying everything off right? My name is Caius. Mage and businessman. And who might you be pretty lady?" He had a friendly tone now and even thew in a compliment to help ease the tension a little bit. There was an attempt to say the least. It was kind of a contradiction that he stood in place firmly in front of her and would not move until he was satisfied with her. At this point it was kind of an ultimatum for her. She could do this the easy way or the hard way. The choice is hers.

When Caius walked past her to block the path, Faye drew in a long breath and raised an eyebrow. He neither let her leave nor let her stay in peace, she was quite furious at him until his introduction made her realize he may –just maybe- have been trying to make peace with her. ‘Hmm, why?’ She wondered, still staring at the man with a frozen, scrutinizing gaze. She didn’t know the man enough to make a solid reasoning but she guessed that it was either because he did not trust her or that he was afraid of the Holy Knights, or perhaps both. But in that case, why even do such crazy antics?

There was a disapproving sigh –she had realized his silent threat behind the sweet smile- and a shake of her head before Faye decided she could put in some effort to become somewhat friendly with him as well. After all, she did not want his insecurity to trap her in the church for the whole night. Besides, he seemed quite dangerous; as dangerous as someone brave enough to destroy a church door and make a mess on the altar did.

“Firstly, Mr, don’t call me Bubble Gum. My name is Faye. You can call me that,” Although she said so, the permission was given somewhat hesitantly. “I’m a mage and puppeteer,” she gestured towards Hana for clarification. “Also, I’m much less concerned about the rain than I’m with you…” she said that somewhat whisperingly but without making any more remarks on the matter, turned sharply back towards the altar and found her place back at the pew she was previously sitting on. “So, since you are so into becoming “friendly” with me, may I ask what brings you to Orch? Or are you a resident?”