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Post by Chime on Nov 25, 2019 23:31:34 GMT -6
Chime's PL: 100 (Set from 112,000)
The beginnings of the sunset was just beginning to creep over the top of Fukorou Forest, and far above it all, at the top of the tower that stuck out of the woods and into the clouds, was Chime, alone. He stood in the middle section of the round building atop the tower, leaned against the railing and looking out at the yellow and orange autumn-colored forest beneath him. With the concentrated light of the sunset slowly hitting the leaves and making them a brilliant gold, Fukurou seemed even more otherworldly than usual.
Held in both hands was the new dragon radar he'd gotten from Carro. There was enough charge in it for a single scan right now, and it was in his best interest to hurry, but Chime hesitated. He'd told his friends of his plan to hunt after the Dragon Balls, of course, but hadn't told them exactly when he'd be leaving. He intended to hunt alone. It wasn't out of a foolish sense of pride, not entirely. Some of it was guilt and responsibility; he'd been the one to create these wish orbs that had caused so much trouble, after all, so he should be the one to set it right. But he also had a plan. It was a vague plan, but it was better than nothing, and it worked best if he was alone. It was easiest to keep up a ruse if only one person had to keep the details straight, after all.
His antennae twitched once, and he was pulled from his musings by an approaching energy. It was decently strong, and he momentarily feared it was the killer returned to the scene of the crime, but they were also approaching slowly. They seemed to be going the old fashioned way. That is to say, climbing the tower. The murderer wouldn't bother with that, so this had to be someone else. Chime straightened himself up and tucked the radar into the red sash around his waist. Whoever this was, he might as well greet them, since there was no one else there to do so. He stood poised with his hands folded behind his back, watching the spot where it seemed the visitor would climb up.
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Post by Safe on Nov 27, 2019 1:55:23 GMT -6
Starting PL: 100,000 PL
It was the last leg of her climb! She had broken through the clouds, and each foot she got higher made her entire body scream in agony. Her breath was ragged, she was sweating bullets, but in her head she was on her victory lap. This was the glory at the end, the light, the reward for persevering through a perilous challenge. All of that pain and soreness had gone to the back of her mind as she overcame her desperate and hopeless spell about midway to the last third of the climb. Reaching up higher and higher, her head eventually touched the bottom of the dome. Leaning backwards, she was almost scared that she'd have to climb upside down up a ladder with a... Many, many mile drop below her.
Though she had to do this, the longer she waited, the more it would get to her head! Grabbing the ladder, one step at a time she pulled herself up like traversing monkey bars. Until finally, her hands gripped the lip of the lookout. Pulling with all of her might she let out a groan before entering the dome, rolling onto the floor next to the entrance and laying on her back. Her breathing was ragged, she wasn't even focusing on her energy sensing. She just took a moment to gather her breath, eyes eventually opening to stare at the ceiling. She had to get these clothes off!
Peeling off the wrist bands and the baggy weighted gi she'd been climbing with to reveal clothes she was wearing underneath, a tank top for starters, they both hit the ground with surprising slams indicating their weight. She just continued to heave, but with the weight off of her she started to recover. That's when her eye twitched, and her head span around to the source of the energy- even if it was small.
"O-oh! Hello, so sorry for my rude intrusion." She scurried around and put her hands and knees on the ground, bowing towards Chime. These people were like Earth gods right? She had to be super duper mega ultra respectful! "I'm Safe, I thought the tower was super duper cool and an awesome challenge so I put on some super heavy clothes and gave it a shot! I'm so happy I made it..." She said, the bow persisting only because it was super comfy after all the pain she'd just endured. Though she at least sat back up after a moment more.
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Post by Chime on Dec 1, 2019 4:48:13 GMT -6
A grey, gi-clad figure pulled themself up over the edge of the tower, clearly exhausted. Chime was surprised; someone of such stature and obvious physical strength, and the tower climb was a struggle even for them? All the more reason to avoid ever having to do it himself. The reason for their-- or rather, her-- exhausted state, was clear after a second: heavy weighted clothing that fell like stones onto the floor. He was surprised the tiles didn't crack beneath them. So this woman was some sort of training junky, then.
She seemed too caught up in her own world to even notice Chime, so he was about to clear his throat and introduce himself, when suddenly she spun around. She immediately fell down onto her hands and knees to bow, and Chime had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. It had been a while since he'd been faced with someone who took the whole 'divine guardians of the Earth' thing literally, and he still wasn't used to it. If he could ever meet the first person to take up watch on the Lookout and effectively call themself 'God', he was going to give them a piece of his mind. ...Though he had to admit, the clout of the title could be good for intimidation, but this wasn't one of those times.
"Oh stop groveling like that, you can get up. ...Or not, if you prefer, but you don't need to bow." Chime waved a hand at the grey visitor, indicating she could do what she liked. The woman introduced herself as Safe, and the name struck him as a bit odd. He couldn't place where it was from. It didn't sound Earthen, or Saiyan, or Arcosian, or...anywhere else he knew, really. Interesting. "Well, it's good to meet you, Safe. I'm--" but there he paused, briefly. He recalled a day not too long ago when a violent intruder came to the Lookout, and Chime called himself by a different name to trick them. Safe wasn't a danger, as far as he could tell, but the thought of being someone else, just briefly, had its appeal. So the next words out of his mouth were, "--Jingle. Not like the village, before you ask." And he chuckled easily, as if that was something he heard all the time, "I'm an attendant of this tower, I'm keeping watch while the Senbyo is...away." He could lie about his name and his role as if it was nothing, but he couldn't stop the genuine frown that came to his face at the thought of his fallen friend.
Speaking of whom...Nashi usually did something when people made it this far, right? Some sort of reward? Chime honestly had no idea what it was. That was Senbyo business, not his. But he should do something, right? He couldn't just let people climb the tower and leave empty handed.
"Ahem! Climbing the tower is a great feat, and I'd like to offer you my congratulations. As is traditional, I'd also like to give you..." 'Jingle' snapped his fingers, and a red-orange star about an inch across materialized, pinned to Safe's shirt just above her heart. "...this Dragon Star. I know it looks simple, but it's a symbol of accomplishing such a difficult and ancient challenge. You won't see many people walking around with one of those, be proud!" Safe would see exactly nobody running around with one of those, because Chime was making this up as he went, but maybe it would make her feel good about herself or something.
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Post by Safe on Dec 4, 2019 14:59:48 GMT -6
Hearing Chime's- or rather Jingle's dismissal of her bowing, she lifted herself up to her knees then stood up to her full height. Still, she couldn't help but look incredibly tense with a nervous expression across her face. Looking them over, she actually tilted her head. For one of Earth's divine protectors, he didn't seem like an Earthling. She just nodded after standing up and quietly murmured.
"Sorry."
Her arms lightly crossed around her midriff and all became still when his name was to be introduced. The pause despite how brief it was could be noticed, but she didn't bother with the why. Perhaps his name held incredible worth in itself? Her expression shifted to puzzled as a brow lifted and her head tilted to the side. She was still half in her own reality, ten billion assumptions of how this was supposed to be colliding with a wave of very real facts that confused her. Then the name was shared, and her eyes widened in some semblance of joy and happiness. "Jingle. It's an honor to meet you." She said, despite being told not to bow she still did one from standing upright, lowering her upper half until she was nearly at a ninety degree angle before standing up fully again.
A finger then pressed to her chin as she looked up. What started as confusion lead to her spacing out and looking around the entire room. She hadn't actually taken a close look when she entered. Forgetting and finally snapping back to the conversation, she shook her head. "Sorry! I jus- I really am glad I made it. I just wish it could've been more authentic, I tried to give myself handicaps to make it the same as what most Earthling Warriors experienced, maybe it was enough? But right, uhm... Senbyo? I've never actually heard of a Senbyo before..." She said, rubbing the back of her neck and blinking once.
"I'm s-" She was could to say she was sure she'd meet them some day, but then the frown that came to Chime's face made her to fall silent, and share the same expression if not the same sorrow. The pause before he introduced himself, the delay before saying the Senbyo is away, and now a frown at the tail end of that statement. She was not as dumb as she sometimes acted, and as her head tilted downwards and tears formed at her eyes, she tried to wipe them away before it got out of hand. Sniffling, she looked back up with teary eyes. "Aha... Sorry, I just. It sounds like something terrible must've happened recently. I'm sorry for coming at a rough time. Really. If you- well, you're like a divine or something but if divines ever need to talk to people about their worries, I'm always willing to listen?" She questioned, tilting her head. It felt weird offering someone of such status an ear to listen. Her brows furrowed as she worried about sounding dumb.
Though the star she now wore on her chest, despite Chime's emotional recovery from his frown would stick with her forever. Even if she found out it didn't mean much, it truly was the thought that counts. "Thank you so much."
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Post by Chime on Dec 10, 2019 22:37:23 GMT -6
Despite his telling her not to, Safe still bowed again almost as soon as she stood up. Chime sighed through his nose. He supposed people were like this out of respect to the Tower, and the Lookout, and all the mystique and history that went with them, not to him individually as a person, and that made it feel a little better. He bent forward to bow to her in turn, so it was more of a mutual greeting and less awkward feeling.
Chime waved her apologies away, "Don't be sorry. The tower climb is as much a mental challenge as it is a physical one. You're obviously strong enough to do it, but the fact you didn't get bored halfway through and give up is a feat in itself. As for the Senbyo..." That sad look passed over his face again, but much more briefly. A blink and you'll miss it moment, "This is the Senbyo Tower, so the person who's in charge of it is the Senbyo. The Immortal Cat, though...I'm not actually sure if all of them have been cats." He'd never thought about that before, he'd have to ask-- ...yeah. "Anyway, as I'm obviously not a cat, I'm just the attendant."
What happened next caught Chime wholly by surprise. Safe looked down at him with tears in her eyes, and asked him if he needed to talk. He stared up at her for a long moment, baffled and unsure how to respond, just blinking. He thought he'd been hiding his true feelings fairly well, so either he was a worse liar than he imagined, or Safe was more perceptive than he'd given her credit for. At first glance, he'd taken her for just another musclehead, but he'd said it himself: the tower climb was a mental exercise, too. Still, crying over a stranger's troubles, when you don't even quite know what they are... that was a level of sympathy Chime didn't know how to deal with. He was the Guardian, he was supposed to protect everyone, they weren't supposed to... feel sorry for him.
It took an awkwardly long moment, but Chime pulled himself together and cleared his throat, "Ah, no! Please don't be upset. Here--" Another wave of his hand, and a white handkerchief appeared, which he offered out to Safe, "Everything is alright. ...Well. Not entirely. Defenders of the Earth and all, things happen sometimes. But don't worry! It's nothing we can't fix." Chime forced a big smile. He certainly hoped they could fix it. "As for me...I'm nothing divine. I just keep this place clean, make sure kids aren't painting graffiti on the tower, make sure the people looking to meet with the Senbyo and the Kami won't waste their time, that sort of thing. So...more like a secretary and a janitor, nothing holy about that." He laughed at his own (false) description of himself, but then his expression softened into something more genuine, "...Thank you for the thought, though." |
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