Sitting in a Tree

[Reji]

"Don't worry," she said, smiling. "We didn't go anywhere except underground." She sighed contentedly. "Sometimes I come back here to stay for a while. Any person could live here for the rest of their life." She stood and reached up, pulling a few apples from the largest tree. "Well, I guess it's be possible to live off of fruit, but then you'd be the healthiest person in the world." She held up one of the apples, which was as big as a bear's head. "You can eat a whole one, right?" she said, laughing.

[Michael]

Michael raised his eyebrows as he looked at the massive apple in Reji's hands. These must be the healthiest trees in all Spira. "Well, I've never tried to eat a fruit that large." he said. "But yeah, I think I could eat the whole thing." Michael then looked to his right, and from there continued to look around at other areas of this underground forest. "How come you don't just stay here, Reji? This place looks safe, and no one would likely find you here."

[Reji]

Reji sighed sadly. "Because...My uncle found this place before I did. He was a scientist, really, and he came here one day while my parents were still alive. He drew pictures of it and wrote about it, but no one believed him. He didn't want me to know, but I found out when I was left home alone. This was after my parents died." She sat back on the rock, head lowered.

"When he realized I had found out, he beat me and warned me never to come here. But when I ran away, I looked for it. At first I could't find it, but as I mentioned earlier, I fell in it. He could come back at any time, and he said if I went near it, he'd kill me. And I believed him. He wants to make this place a civilazation, but it's perfect the way it is." Reji looked toward the tunnel. "So...I just don't want to die."

[Michael]

Reji's words were quite depressing. The smile immediately faded from Michael's face. She was quite open with him, which had been a good thing up to this point. He couldn't have been prepared to deal with that, but he would do so anyway. He took in a deep breath, exhaled, and walked over to Reji. "I'm sorry I reminded you of that." he said, bowing his head and looking at her out of the top of his eyes. "Those memories must be very painful for you."

Suddenly, Michael's face lit up a bit, a gentle smile appearing on his face. "Actually, part of me is glad that I brought this up." he said. "I think it's time that you got over this fear of your uncle. He may have had control over you before, but look at you now. You're a grown woman. You've got an awesome sword, which I assume you know how to use. You're your own person now, and you don't have to rely on him for anything, so you don't owe him anything. There's no reason for you to be afraid of him anymore."

[Reji]

Reji managed a smile of her own despite the sadness in her. "Yeah," she said, looking up. "I guess you're right." She felt better because she had gotten that off her chest. She hadn't been able to tell anyone for years. Her smile broadened, and she stood up, pretending to be mad. "And of course I know how to use a sword!"

[Michael]

Michael's smile widened. It appeared that he had managed to cheer Reji up. Usually he ended up making things worse, if anything at all. "Hah. Looks like I can cheer people up after all." he thought to himself. "Oh? Very good then." he said. "If you couldn't, then you wouldn't be able to survive out here in the wild. Of course, there's always a difference between some beast and an actual trained swordsman." Michael turned his head away, watching Reji from the corner of his eyes with a smirk.

[Reji]

"True." She stood and went over to the pond. "Man, my feet hurt..." Reji pulled off her boots and stepped into the water. "Heh. Much better. You know, I wouldn't advise drinking too much of this water at one time. It's so good, a person could easily drink it all. But then they could wait the rest of their lives to do so."

[Michael]

"Hm. That'd be a lot of water." Michael said, approaching the pond himself. He got to his knees and scooped up a handful of water, staring at it as it seeped through the cracks between his fingers. "Anything special in it that makes it so good? Some kind of magic or naturally occuring material?" After most of the water drained from his hand, Michael licked his palm. He only got a small taste of the water, but it was unbelievably sweet. "Wow." he whispered.

[Reji]

"I don't know if it's magic, but it's got to be something." Reji frowned, thinking. "It's sweeter than sugar, and it's so...clean. But I guess some things of the world don't need to be figured out." She shrugged and sat on a rock with her feet in the water. "It's nice and cold though. Good for painful feet."

[Michael]

"Hmph. I don't like cold water." Michael said, sticking his right arm into the water to get a feel for it. "It's no good for swimming at all. Way too uncomfortable. It's good to drink though." Michael was a very cold-natured person. It took a lot to get him hot, but he got cold pretty easily. Hence, he tried to avoid anything that would make him uneccesarily cold.

[Reji]

Reji nodded. "Yeah, if you keep your body parts in it for more than thirty minutes, they start to turn blue." She walked back to the grass. "You know, I'm curious. Where do you live?" She picked up one of the huge apples, with some difficulty, and took a small bite.

[Michael]

"What? Blue?" Michael repeated in disbelief. "Heh. That's real wierd." He pulled his arm out of the water, now feeling a little bit unsafe about keeping it in the water. "Where do I live?" he echoed, narrowing his eyes a little bit. He looked back at Reji with a gentle smile. "I live wherever I have to to get a job done. Right now, that's Youth League headquarters. That's why I was on the Highroad."

[Reji]

"Ah." Reji smiled. "Sounds like me." She yawned quietly and slumped down next to a bush. "Man, I'm sleepy. There aren't enough hours in the day ." She put her head back and closed her eyes. "But then, if day lasted forever, we'd all die of lack of sleep." She chuckled a bit at her almost-logical statement.

[Michael]

"Hm. Well, we might." Michael said. "Though we could just learn to sleep while the sun was still up. But then there wouldn't be any night life, right?" He smirked at Reji, after which he turned his attention back to the glistening pond. "Are you tired? We have been out and about for a while. I can leave now, if you're ready to find a place to sleep."

[Reji]

Reji smiled. "Eh, a little tired." She sat up a bit, looking at him through blurry eyes. "What place did you have in mind?"

(sorry short))