Nightime Visitor

[Neki]

Shinrah looked up. The air had sudenly become crackly, charged. She hadn't felt this too many times before, only around blue eco users. it wasn't a feeling she liked too much, and she watched him carefully. He was fidgeting, more so than he had been earlier. She nodded, then realized that would do nothing.

"Yes. If you go down the hall about twenty steps and then turn to the right that door should be where you want to go." She said, measuring it in her mind. She didn't want to seem wierd, but she knew everything in her house by steps, having a bad habit of counting it out when she needed to calm her own frazzled nerves.

She leaned back, wondering what had upset him so. The thought of being out at night? There wasn't much she couldn't handle, but she had seen pictures of wasteland metal heads and she knew that was something not to be trifled with. It took her a moment to connect that to the fact it would be night. Oh! I can see where he has a point. Being out there at night? Well then we'd have to start out at sunrise and make sure to drive fast. She thought to herslef, thinking and calculating what they would need to make the trip. She scrawled down a few things on the plastic overlay then erased her route, putting it more towards the east like Leo had suggested. She could see that it was shorter than the way she had planned before, and was relieved by that in her own way.

[Altairas]

Leo gave a brisk nod, blinking open his milky blue eyes. With a shaking hand he reached for the table, using it as a guide to get onto his feet. Lifting his other hand he ran his fingers across the back of the chair that he was sitting in, maneuvering himself around it carefully. I'm not even going to bother with my staff. . . He thought to himself, walking forward, his right hand brushing ageist the wall.

Mentally he counted the steps he took to reach the door. 16,17, 18 His mind recited as his hand brushed up ageist the trim around the door. He let his shaking fingers float down the wooden surface until they rested upon the cool metal of the handle. Quickly he turned it and stepped in, feeling around for the counter top. As he grasped it, a spark erupted from his quivering arm, striking the metal of the sink.

Leo let out a grunt, reaching his hand forward and twisting the nob letting the sound of running water fill his ears. He took a deep breath and gingerly placed his hands under the water. For a moment his hands felt like they were on fire as the last ounces of his eco arched into the falling water. As the last bits of his eco drained from him, he felt relieved and almost normal. However normal I can feel. . . He corrected himself,closing his eyes and splashing a bit of water onto his face.

[Neki]

Shinrah watched him walk away, wondering what was on his mind. Her green grey eyes looked at the lines of the map, wondering what was out there that had yet to be seen. Maybe something wonderful. Or maybe something that wants to rip your face off and eat you alive. Wouldn't that just be lovely. She thought sarcasticly to herself. She knew that the desert was a dangerous place to be at nytime.

She closed her eyes and leaned back, ears straingin to hear the faucet, to hear anything. The quiet she normally foubnd peaceful was now invasive, as if it wished to blanket her and throttle everythought. She wanted to escape, but there was no where to go. Moving quickly with an amazing amount of grace she leapt from where she was sitting into movement, headed for the kitchen. She needed to open a window or something, get some water and air. The silence was just too suffocating.

The red an brown kitchen was smallish, just big enought to fit an island in the middle. She placed her hand on the cool metal faucet and turned on the water, letting it run over her hands. It was cool and refreshing. The woman splashed water over her face, trying to clear her thoughts.

Something zinged through her, almost electrical. She could taste lightining, the way one did before a heavy storm broke. It charged her, and she could feel it tingling in her fingers. For a moment her sight flashed red, then blue, then both as if something were battling for space inside of her. Then it was gone, only a slight tingling feeling left in her fingers as she stared at the running water.

What the Hell ?

[Altairas]

Leo sighed, his goatee dripping from the water on his face. In a lazy stroke he wiped his hand down his face, stroking his small amount of facial hair in order to disband and stray droplets. He let out a small snort at himself, he was being ridiculous. I just ran off to hide in the bathroom. . . He thought, brushing his long bangs out of in front of his face. With a deep breath and a bit of a mental pep talk he walked out of the bathroom. He stumbled a bit, reaching out blindly with his hand trying to make contact with the wall. As his fingers brushed up agenst the smooth surface he began counting down from 18.

2, 1. . . The wall disappeared from under Leo's fingers and his foot bumped into his chair. He smiled, wondering where exactly Shinrah was right now. " So uh. . . sorry about that." He said apologetically, waiting for her to respond so that he could try and pinpoint where exactly she was at.

[Neki]

She heard a bump down the hall way and turned starlted. Was he back already? Had she spent all that time thinking? In that moment Shinrah forgot all about the blue. She took in a deep breath, pushed the empty glass aside and thought for a moment longer. What was going to happen. What was she doing?

The what if's bounced in her head and she shook them off, walking into the other room. Leo was there, kind of standing there.
"Sorry. Went into the kitchen." She said in a clear voice that didn't betray her inner turmoil. She wasn't about to let him know he had her upset. Turned inside out and backwards is more like it. Jeeze, you're going to get yourself killed you stupid stupid idiot Her inner rumblings never left her head as she went to sit back down.

"So" She said slowly, not knowing what to talk about anymore. The desert trip was almost ready, and everything. What was left to tak about, wonderful weather? Yup, it was raining metalheads. She sighed

[Altairas]

Leo caught the sound of her voice, his head turning to accommodate for her movement. " Don't worry about it. " He replied to her, catching a small bit of unsureness in her voice. His brow furrowed for a moment as he thought about what would cause this woman to be unsure. Is she planning something. . . or . . . He quickly let the thought pass, unscrunching his face and reaching out to find his chair so he could sit down.

Grabbing the back of the chair he slid back into it, pacing his hands neatly on the table and smiling. " So uh. . . I guess there is the matter of whatever we find. Splitting it up fairly between us and hired hands. " Leo brought up, it could have been why the woman was so unsure. It was a very touchy topic. " As long as I get a chance to go over all the artifacts thoroughly you may take whatever interests you. "

[Neki]

Shinrah gave a slight nod. It sounded fair enough to her. She didn't really have any use for artifacts unless she was going to sell them. Then again Leo could probably get a better price is he sold them.

"It sounds good to me. As long as no one else who ends up on this little expedition tries to cheat us that is. I might have problems with them then. Big problems." Problems that I can easily sole with a gun and a few bullets anyway. She thought to herself acidly. She wasn't going to let some newbe come along and jip her out of everything. She had Jaythens book that would tell her where to go. In fact, the book said several things about different artifacts in the temple.

[Altairas]

Leo gave a slight but concerned smile at the thought of this woman having problems with people. Precursors. . . what would this girl do to them? He thought his mind thinking to the darker deeds that haunted haven's streets. He did a small mental head shake and spoke, hoping the silence was not as awkward as it seemed. " Well I'm sure they wouldn't get too far. Precursor artifacts have a bit of a affinity for me." He said light halfheartedly trying to break up the thick tenseness and awkwardness that prevalence in the room.

[Neki]

"Well that's good. No worries then." The tone which she took was completely playful now, not at all threatening like what she had said only five seconds ago. It seemed you could never tell what she was going to do next. Shinrah watched him for a moment, seeing how nervous he was. I might need to get a better handle on that. Like, yeah.

"Okay, so I kinda have an idea of what we're going to find. I know there is some armor and old weapons, and some power cells. There's also this other thing Jay wrote about here. He said its "a power source for all things blue eco." It looks kind of like a pillar of some kind where you could put power cells. There are pictures he drew here." She knew Leo couldn't see, so she took a moment to describe it to him. It sounded big and important, and like something he would know how to use. She certainly didn't/ Weapons were one thing, but artifacts where a whole 'nother ball game.

" It sounds like something you would be able to use Sparky." She said to him

[Altairas]

Leo nodded politely as she spoke, his hazy blue eyes shifting slightly as he imagined the layout of the hidden temple. As she spoke of some kind of power source he sat up a bit straighter, his attention glued to the description of the sketches. " I know what he is describing. " He said his mind reeling as he mentally shifted through all the ancient books and descriptions he had read forgetting instantly the small military trinkets. " Back in the old days people who could naturally let there bodies channel eco would use this vents to temporarily power themselves up on the stuff." He said holding his hand up to his chin and furrowing his brow.

" I have never, in my years as an artifact hunter, come across a source for one of the four colored ecos." He continued his hand rubbing roughly the scruff of his goatee. " It's very clever of them to hide these vents within secret tunnels . . . and who knows, this could only be part of what Jaythen had seen!" Leo's voice carried the tingle of excitement and so did his hands. Small blue sparks danced in and out of existence as he thought of all the secrets the temple held.

" Now Jay, he went directly inside the temple right? Does he naturally channel blue eco?"