The Queen and the Scientist // Hope

[Garnet Til Alexandros XVII]

A forest city, sort of like Cleyra but not. To think that people could actually build houses on top of trees like this was almost silly... but here she was. It was a wonderful place, with lots of friendly monsters about. The locals called them Pokemon, but they referred to each one by a different name. She'd understand it eventually, but for now Princess Garnet was happy to share what she knew of the world with these folks. She was amazed to learn that they had no town guard, and that most of the townsfolk had a monster companion held in a red and white ball that she didn't believe anything could fit inside. Some form of magic, but not one she'd seen before.

But at the same time, this little town felt familiar. Almost homely. The people were so friendly that you could walk in to their houses and they would give you a warm greeting, which Dagger found a bit ridiculous. The stranger thing was that they seemed to think she was ridiculous for thinking such. She almost envied the world they came from; if it was this peaceful everywhere, it must have been a wonderful place to live.

All the same, the disguised princess felt she'd spent more than enough time here for now. It was high time she got back to Alexandria and perhaps get back at Zidane for his similar stunt the year before. She was dressed in light armor styled after her mentor's own, with white and red cloth plainly visible in most places and a sword at her side. It had taken quite a while to get used to wearing armor, but from a year's worth of training it felt more comfortable than the dresses she had to wear as queen. But then, everything felt more comfortable than a strangling corset and fifty pounds of cloth.

Dagger had turned around to look at the little town in the trees one last time, walking backwards, when she ran in to someone behind her, knocking both herself and the unfortunate second party over. She picked herself up as quickly as possible and helped up the other person, an older man with silver hair. "I'm terribly sorry sir, I should pay more attention while I'm walking. Are you injured?"

[Hope Estheim]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=valign,bottom][atrb=cellspacing,0,bTable][atrb=cellpadding,0,bTable][atrb=style,background-image: url(http://i.imgur.com/mBgMc.png); background-position: bottom right;background-repeat: no-repeat;background-color: #040404;][atrb=width,421px,true] [STYLE=margin: 10px 20px 0px 20px; width: 381px; background-color: #040404; opacity: .7;filter:alpha(opacity=70);color: #eeeeee;font-size: 10px; text-align: justify; padding: 5px;]Interesting... Casting an inquisitive eye over the scenery, Hope Estheim reached up to loosen his tie slightly as he walked. The climate here was warmer than he had expected, and - if he wasn't mistaken - he thought he might smell rain on the air. However, the sight that drew the most attention from the young scientist, as he came closer to the small city, were the buildings perched haphazardly on the crowns of the trees. Or... rather, that detail garnered the second most attention. The most attention was given to the... small indigenous animals of the area. The silver-haired man glanced up, and saw a flock of strange birds crossing the wide bluish-gray expanse above. Behind him something rustled, and his gaze flew back to see a strange creature of black and white that somewhat resembled a silver lobo disappearing into the woods. There was all kinds of strange life around him, and he had absolutely no idea what to make of it. Unsurprisingly, this discovery caused the scientist in him - which was not all of him, to be sure, but it was damn well close - to work double-time in the back of his mind, putting these strange creatures into a contextually-workable "dictionary" of comparisons to wildlife he was familiar with. Staring back up at the tree-borne buildings, Hope wondered if there were people within with whom he could discuss these unusual animals. Granted, they could be some "originless" collection of creatures born from a space-time distortion (which wouldn't be surprising, given the world he had been thrust into), but he thought it more than likely that the people to be found here were in some way connected to the creatures. Stuck in his thoughts, Hope failed to notice the other individual heading in his direction, also not paying attention to where she was going. The sudden collision of their bodies pulled a surprised "oh!" from the young man, who stumbled backwards - tripped on a protruding root - and fell unceremoniously flat on his back. A pale hand entered his view, reaching to help him up. He took it with little trepidation, appreciating the response but not much needing it, especially considering the young woman's small frame (this he noted as he glanced up at her just briefly, before standing and dusting himself off). "You and I both, then," he said with a hint of amusement to his voice, but still apologetic; he ought to have been the one to help her up. "No need to apologise, I'm perfectly fine. Are you alright?" He blinked suddenly. "Oh, excuse my rudeness. I didn't introduce myself." He held his gloved hand out for the young woman to shake, with a friendly smile. "Hope Estheim, at your service."[/style] [STYLE=margin: 25px 0px 10px 20px;width: 335px;color: #e2e2e2;background-color: #040404;opacity: .9; filter: alpha(opacity=90);padding: 5px;font-size: 10px;][style=float: left;height: 100px;width: 100px;-webkit-border-radius: 100px;-moz-border-radius: 100px;border-radius: 100px;background-image:url(http://i.imgur.com/9ysmA.png);margin: -20px 5px 20px 5px;][/style] Music: shadow of valhalla - xiii-2 ost Notes: don't worry, he does that spacing-out thing a lot. Words: 475 Tagged: dagger![/style]

[atrb=style,background-image: url(http://i.imgur.com/A1TMr.png);background-position: bottom right; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-color: #e2e2e2;][atrb=width,79px,true][STYLE=width: 79px;][/style]

[rs=2] template by pianissimo of btn and ote

[/td][/tr][/table][/center]