Just Another Day [Open]

[Nicolette Van-Houseton]

    She walked slowly, breathing deeply, taking in her surroundings. It may have been cold, but the beach was still beautiful. The sand beneath her feet crunching softly with each step, the waves pounding against the shore, rhythmic and calming. Today was just like any other, quiet, uneventful. Any other day was boring, nothing to do, nobody to play with. Sigh. What to do? What to do? I can't go swimming, too cold, can't play in the lighthouse, too dangerous. There's nothing to do. A pout formed on her lips and she sat down, leaning her back against the rough, worn, stone of the lighthouse. Her eyes absentmindedly tracing the horizon. This wasn't turning out like she thought it would. The grey sky dimmed her mood even more and she traced lines in the sand with her finger. A picture began to take form, a stick family running along the beach, enjoying themselves, having fun, playing, laughing. But that never happened, not here. People were too afraid of being attacked to come to the beach, they didn't even realize that darkness most often kept to the wilderness. The Forest, the Field, Mountains, Abandoned Village. They didn't realize that they were perfectly safe here, to have fun and enjoy the ocean. She hadn't heard of a single person being attacked on the beach, so why was it always so empty?

    A lock of hair fell in her eyes and she blew out a breath, pushing it away and creating a cloud of mist."Heh, it's so nice out today, not as cold as usual. That's good, I hate the cold." She rambled on, her voice barely a whisper. The clouds parted for a short moment and the sun shone down on her, the yellow orb radiating heat."How does one stay inside on a day like this?" She picked up a rock and threw it out into the water, watching as it skipped over the surface, creating small ripples before plunging into the icy darkness. There seemed to be no one else there but her, though she didn't mind, she hated to see the beach's beauty wasted. She skipped another rock, and then another, but she soon tired of this and decided to draw instead.
Pulling out her sketchpad, she scanned the area,standing up, turning in circles, and squinting at every angle before finally finding the perfect area to sketch. She grabbed her "Adventure Kit" and scooted backwards until she had the perfect angle and then began to draw. Meticulously adding every small detail she could find, the dents in the aged stone, the cracks in the door, even the hole near the roof. She would get this one right, she would make it perfect.

    She worked for an hour or so, glancing up to gather more details and only stopping to sharpen her pencil. Her hand became cramped, but she pushed on, working her hardest to make the drawing seem life-like. When her hand could take no more, she took a break. Rubbing the sore joints and breathing on her hands to warm them. She was almost finished, she just needed a better look at the left side of the building. "Hmm, maybe I should move, just slightly to the left and... perfect." She picked up the pencil and turned to her drawing, when the writing utensil was only centimeters from the paper, she felt a chill go up her spine. "Wha-?" The sketchpad flew gracefully through the air, landing next to her adventure pack and she leaned forward to stand up, when a wave of water crashed over her. "Ah!" She shrieked and fell on her stomach. Frick, the tide is coming in. She stood up and was immediately tripped by another wave. Aww jeez that's c-cold. Another wave hit her and she sat up quickly, pushing herself up and running towards the lighthouse. She coughed a couple times, expelling the water from her lungs and laughed. "How stupid of me, I forgot all about the water." She started giggling uncontrollably and bent over, clutching her stomach. "That was actually kinda fun."

    She wiped her hands off as best she could and gathered her things, shoving them into her bag and rummaging through it. Here we go. She pulled out the sleeping bag she had packed instead of a blanket and unzipped it all the way, wrapping it around herself. "Aww come on!" She yelled at nobody in particular as the wind picked up. "Best day ever." She grumbled. Suddenly, lightning flashed across the sky, a crash of thunder quickly following suite. She rolled her eyes "Yeah, yeah, I get it, it's gonna rain." She walked over to the lighthouse and pushed on the door, which swung open easily. "Perfect." She walked in and made her way to the opposite wall. She then zipped her sleeping bag back together and laid it out against the cracked stone wall. A fire might be nice, would help me dry faster and keep me warm. Better get the supplies before it starts to rain. She dashed up the steps and looked around. " Hmm, looks like someone was here kind of recently, that's good, they have sticks I can use for my fire."She walked over to the hole in the wall and peered over the side, the wind whipping her hair into her face. She held her hand by her face, acting as a barrier so she could see better. "Awesome." She reached out with her mind, stretching across the distance an grabbing hold of sticks, leaves, dry grass, anything flammable. She carefully began pulling them towards her, cautious of her unstable power, and the elements that could easily have a negative affect on her focus.

    Nicolette shouted in triumph when she safely brought the flammable items into the shelter of the lighthouse, dropping them on the floor. She gathered them into a pile and, making multiple trips, brought them down to the ground floor. After rummaging around in her bag for a couple moments, she dug out a pack of matches and lit a small fire. "Well, this is a lot like camping right? It shouldn't be too bad." She smiled and rubbed her hands together in front of the dancing flames, this was weird, but not terrible. She would live, I mean, it's not like it can rain forever, right? She peeled her jacket off and hung it over the crumbling, almost non-existent, railing, then moved closer.

    After 25 minutes of staring at the fire and wishing she would dry faster, she decided she was dry enough and crawled inside the sleeping bag, using her arms as pillows. "I can just spend the night here and go home in the morning. I don't even have cell reception, so I can't exactly call Mom, Dad, or Isidore to tell them about my situation. Oh boy are they gonna be pissed." She snuggled deeper into the sleeping bag and closed her eyes, drifting into a half-sleep daze. Becoming completely oblivious to the storm raging outside. She breathed quietly, the warm air helping to heat the inside of the sleeping bag.

[Ichinose Hachirou]

Su...ha...su...ha

A sudden downpour had started halfway through Hachirou's routine workout. Having not expected this to happen, he was simply wearing a set of cloth sweats. Unsurprisingly, they were soaked all the way through. Every movement was making an annoying squishing sort of sound. It didn't help that today was endurance training, so underneath the water-logged clothes, he was also wearing a full-body set of weights. As he breathed laboriously through the oxygen-deprivation mask, Hachirou wearily made his way up to the lighthouse marking his usual finishing point. However, as he neared the door, he noticed something out of place.

That's...odd.

The area by the lighthouse was usually fairly secluded, mainly due to the public misconception that Darkness attacks were prevalent anywhere remotely secluded. However, not only was the slightly open door a sign that someone had come by sometime between the time he started and now, the slightly flickering light from inside indicated that perhaps that same someone was still here. His brows furrowed as he finally slowed his pace to a stop in front of the door.

Should I go in...?

Hachirou glanced down at his clothes, before feeling the slight warmth that leaked out from inside the room. Honestly, in his current condition, he would prefer to rest. Furthermore, if he simply rested outside or somewhere else he would be increasing the chance for him to get a cold! Since someone had already lighted up the fire inside, he might as well take advantage of it. Besides, he was the one who had put the firewood in there in the first place! Plus, he had his own stash of food and supplies hidden inside; he only bought the most expensive stuff from the market, so it'd be a great loss if that someone inside had stolen his food! Convincing himself in this manner, Hachirou gingerly opened the door while letting out a greeting.

"Ojamashimasu..."

Wait, why was even apologizing for the bother when this was a public area? Thus, he stepped boldly in, his clothes and shoes squishing cacophonously against the calming backdrop of the small campfire. However, once he noticed the person swaddled comfortably inside the sleeping bag, he decided to keep quiet once more. If they were sleeping, there was obviously no need to startle them. Quietly closing the door behind him to keep the heat enclosed, Hachirou began stripping off his sweatshirt while moving towards his stash for a change of clothes. 

[Nicolette Van-Houseton]

    Nicolette stirred at the sound of footsteps. They came near her and then departed, rustling sound was heard, as if someone was rummaging through a bag. There was a split second of silence and she sat up,blinking through the haze of sleep. Who else could possibly be here? Did they get caught in the storm too? She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and peered into the semi-darkness of the small room. The flickering light of the fire illuminated the figure in the corner and cast a large shadow dancing across the wall in front of them. There was little sound except for the crackling of the fire and the rustle of the sleeping bag as it slid off Nicolette's shoulder, settling gently on the ground. She raised her arms above her head and stretched, leaning back so the the tips of her fingers touched the wall behind her. She then slid her legs out from under her and stretched them out, leaning forward and touching her toes.

    "Hello there, sorry to be so blunt, but who are you? Did you get stuck in the storm too? Are you okay?" She stood up quickly and stumbled a bit, but hastily righted herself and took a step forward. They didn't Seem dangerous, but you could never tell with people these days. Nicolette approached cautiously and stopped about 3 feet from the figure, studying them closely and looking for possible signs of danger. She didn't feel threatened, but she still used discretion when approaching. She stood patiently, watching them rummage through their things, pulling things out and setting them aside. She noticed that he was soaking wet and decided that her earlier hypothesis had been correct. He seemed to have gotten stuck in the storm just as she had and was only seeking shelter here, which seemed to be the only dry place around. "If you're hungry I have some snacks and a couple of water bottles. It should tide us over till the storm passes. Oh! By the way, my name is Nicolette, it's nice to meet you." She smiled and held her hand out, hoping to have a friendly encounter with this new person, after all, she didn't know very many people.

[Ichinose Hachirou]

Ch-chilly...


Hachirou changed out of his sweats as quickly as he could. Even with the fire crackling behind him, the moisture that clung to his body allowed him to acutely feel the sensation of the draft that filtered in through the cracks above. It occurred to him how lucky it was for them that those cracks weren't yet large enough to permit the downpour to come in as well. Hachirou started slightly as he heard the rustling from person stirring in the sleeping bag behind him. However, as they hadn't started screaming in a panic yet, it seemed that he had somewhat successfully made himself out to be someone unthreatening enough to someone leisurely taking a nap out in a secluded area.

"Hello there, sorry to be so blunt, but who are you? Did you get stuck in the storm too? Are you okay?"

Hachirou felt the presence of the person approaching from behind as he fished out a simple white undershirt. He turned around to face the girlish voice with a slight smile on his face. He knew the effect his face had on others, so for the sake of both his and this girl's normalcy he'd at least attempt to soften the initial shock. Thus, the plan was to present an affable expression on his face while trying to appear as non-threatening as possible.

"I'm fine - don't worry about it. This is my usual rest stop when training."

Damn, that was smooth! Good job, me!

By downplaying himself, he would make it out to her that he was somebody that she didn't need to be wary of! On the other hand, Hachirou wasn't particularly aware that, given the lighting and situation, it might have been better to be less enthusiastic about this whole spiel. The fierce, delinquent-like expression on his angled face, coupled with (what he thought to be) a smile that unknowingly could, depending on the angle with which you saw it at, easily appear like a snarl would undoubtedly cause some sort of misunderstanding. Completely oblivious to this and supremely confident that he had made a good impression, Hachirou turned back around to pull on the undershirt without waiting to see her reaction.

"If you're hungry I have some snacks and a couple of water bottles. It should tide us over till the storm passes. Oh! By the way, my name is Nicolette, it's nice to meet you."

Hachirou turned back around to face the girl, who was stretching her hand out good-naturedly to him. Seeing that there wasn't much reason to refuse the gesture, he reached out his own hand to complete the handshake.

"Ou, nice to meet you, Nicolette. Name's Hachirou."

Given her looks, he estimated that she was probably a young teenager. She had dirty-blonde hair, slightly frizzled due to just having woken up, and a pair of bright green eyes. He nearly turned his eyes away from how brightly and innocently they shone upwards at him, seemingly accusing him of even daring to think it was possible that she was anything but innocent. However, this Ichinose Hachirou knew better than that. Nicolette looked innocent enough, but having known both his sister and Sakuya, he knew that looks could be deceiving. Besides, innocent children her age generally did not pick this sort of secluded locale for an overnight visit - this one wandering alone couldn't be as purely innocent as the vibe she gave off.

Regardless, she was still a child to him; even Hachirou with his immense dislike for bothersome things wasn't one who would obsess over these issues while there was a child stuck outside in a place like this with this sort of weather. She had been nice enough to offer her snacks, which, from personal experience, could mean the world to a child. He shook one hand side-to-side, indicating that he wouldn't be needing her snacks.

"I usually cook myself something before heading home from here. If you'll share some of your water with me, I'll cook you up something too."

[Nicolette Van-Houseton]

    Nicolette waited patiently for the stranger to finish searching through his things and bounced up and down on her heels. This situation was interesting to say the least, but exciting as well. She hadn’t met many people in Argi and this was her chance to make a new friend or at least an acquaintance. He seemed cold and that was reasonable considering his clothing was wet and there was a hole in the wall not too far above them. A gust of air blew through and she shivered, wishing she had thought to bring extra clothes and regretting crawling out of the warm embrace of the sleeping bag. The stranger took his time, rooting through his things and pulling out a simple, white shirt which he then changed into. He seemed unsurprised by her presence and merely turned around with a strange smile on his face, giving the simple reply of

    “I’m fine- don’t worry about it. This is my usual rest stop when training.”

    Training? He must be a Chaser then. That’s pretty cool! She nodded and smiled at him, he seemed like a cool person. Her only problem was the fact that she had to lean her head back so far to look at him, after all, he was nine inches taller than her. This was a small dilemma, one that she could easily look past, as she had no control over others’ bodies. Her eyes scanned the room, the flickering light of the fire cast the shadows dancing across the walls and the heat produced by the flames warmed her back. She studied the man standing before her, noticing the slightly unkempt brown hair, red eyes, and sturdy frame. This man seemed built like a warrior, not uncommon in Argi, but not quite the type you’d normally see. Nicolette was intrigued as to how he could’ve become like this, whether through rigorous training or some kind of freak accident, she wanted to know. Sadly, as strong as her curiosity was, she didn’t want to be rude to a complete and total stranger.

    The stranger introduced himself as Hachirou and they shook hands. He seemed to be studying her and from his expression, her naive facade seemed to have no affect on him. Well, I’ll just have to do something about that I guess. He politely refused her offer for snacks and shrugged nonchalantly. At the mention of a cooked meal she perked up and nodded enthusiastically. She thought he was quite kind to offer to cook for her even though they had just met. She felt like a burden, another mouth for him to feed,but she figured it would help to eat something besides granola bars and candy. Hachirou was an interesting character, even though he seemed like a tough guy on the outside, he acted kind towards her, offering to cook for her and not immediately brushing her off like most adults did.

    “I’d be happy to share, I have plenty of water.” She spun on her heel and dug around in her bag for a moment before her hand hit something cold. “Jackpot.” She grasped the rough material and pulled out the vinyl lunchbox filled with water bottles. “Will this do?” She held it out in front of her, smiling up at him genuinely. She wondered if cold water bottles would work or maybe he’d need room temperature...if so. She set the lunchbox down and reached into the backpack once more, pulling out a couple of semi-warm bottles. “I never know what I’m going to need, so uh, I always come prepared. Heh.” She laughed nervously and set them down near the fire, awkwardly digging the toe of her sneaker into the stone floor.

[Ichinose Hachirou]

“I’d be happy to share, I have plenty of water...Jackpot. Will this do?”

Hachirou nodded. With that many, he wouldn't have to use too much of his own personal stock of wat-

“I never know what I’m going to need, so uh, I always come prepared. Heh.”

"Yosh, this'll be more than enough. Just sit tight."

Nevermind. It looked like he wouldn't have to use any of his own water at all. But really, why would she be carrying around so much water? Was she already planning on staying overnight in this place? If she wasn't, did she just make it a habit to carry all this water? Even for being 'prepared', this was almost borderline paranoid. However, before he could go too far down this rabbit hole, Hachirou managed to restrain himself. It would do him no good to be worrying too much about a situation he basically had no information on. It wasn't his business anyways.

Clearing his mind of these thoughts, Hachirou walked over to one of the seemingly abandoned crates. Gripping the top of the container with a hand, Hachirou lightly pulled the cover off, revealing a simple pot, some various cooking utensils, and various foodstuffs. Taking these all out, he mounted the pot over the fire, then poured in a good amount of the water that Nicolette had brought out.  As the water started heating up, Hachirou threw in some red-ish powder. Hopefully it wouldn't be too spicy for her. Flipping over the top of the container revealed that it was actually a modified chopping board. Using this, Hachirou quickly cut up some mushrooms and fresh vegetables, before throwing them into the now-boiling soup. By cooking it in this particular order, he'd ensure that the flavor of the soup will seep into the vegetables. As the vegetables almost finished cooking, Hachirou then threw in the dried ramen noodles while stirring the whole thing lightly with a ladle. When the noodles were finally finished cooking, he cracked two eggs and stirred them into the ramen. As a finishing touch, he drizzled some sesame oil onto the top, before putting three slices of processed cheese on top. All of this was completed with no wasted motion, testament to the sheer amount of times he had gone through this process.

"It's done. Don't mind the cheese, it's there to take a bit of the bite off the spiciness of the soup."

Spoken like a true gourmet.

Taking two bowls, Hachirou ladled generous portions of the spicy egg soup, ramen noodles, and vegetables into each, before offering one along with a set of cutlery to Nicolette.

"Hopefully it will suit your tastes."

[Nicolette Van-Houseton]

    The silence between them seemed endless, as she watched Hachirou prepare the food. The soft sizzling noises of the food as it cooked and the crackle of the fire were all that was heard. He seemed confident as he tossed each ingredient into the pot. Some weird powder (that she assumed was a spice of some sort), mushrooms, a variety of vegetables, ramen noodles, and eggs. This seemed like a weird combination, but the smell, oh the smell. It smelled absolutely amazing, the scent wafting out of the pot and drifting along with the wind, filling the lighthouse. The powerful smell filled her nose and she shivered with delight. Hopefully it tasted as good as it smelled. His movements were practiced and she came to the conclusion that he had done this many time before. This meant he was practiced at making this certain dish and Nicolette felt reassured that this would not end in disaster.

    Hachirou poured a bit of cooking oil into the concoction and dropped in a couple slices of cheese before taking out two bowls and portioning the soup into each. He offered one to her and she took it along with the utensils and smiled graciously. It looked delicious and she thanked him, then took her utensils and picked a small bite. Bringing it close to her face she could easily feel the heat rising from the soup and blew on it to cool it down. Taking a tentative bite, she closes her eyes and breathes out heavily. Holy heck, this tastes really fricken good. She takes another bite, and another, downing half of it quickly and forcing herself to stop before she makes herself sick from eating too fast.

    “This is amazing, how did you learn to make this?”

    Nicolette is intrigued and quietly watched Hachirou. Slowly starting to eat again and savoring each bite. She was going to have to get the recipe from him or something because this was the best thing she had ever tasted in her life besides Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream. Thunder rumbled overhead and lightning followed soon after, lighting up the dark sky. She was actually kind of glad for the storm, if not for the sudden downpour, then she might never have met Hachirou. She was very delighted that she had met him and she was hoping that maybe they could be friends, despite the obvious and semi-large age gap. At least that’s what she was assuming, as he looked to be in his early to mid twenties. She just sat quietly finishing her soup and set the bowl beside her. There was still a bit of broth left, but she would save that for a little later.

    “So, you said you usually stop here after training? Does that mean you’re a Chaser or something? I’ve always thought Chasers were pretty cool, getting paid to fight evil creatures. Kinda sounds like something out of a book. I wanna be a Chaser when I grow up, but I’m so impatient. I don’t wanna wait.”

    She laughed lightly and folded her hands in her lap. Some of the awkwardness seemed to be gone, at least for her, she couldn’t tell how Hachirou was feeling. It’s not like she could read minds or anything. He seemed pretty content for the most part though, enjoying his soup or whatever. She was very thankful to him for sharing his food because otherwise she would’ve had to eat candy and granola bars all night, which wouldn’t have been that great. She smiles at his kindness and stares off into space, looking at the wall.



(I was going to mention this earlier, but in my first post I mentioned that I found wood already in the lighthouse, right? And then in your reply, you mentioned that it was you who put it there. Well, I guess you couldn’t have known this, but I was referring to the only other thread in the lighthouse. Night Skies (Open) By Skye Jones. This was my first character and I was just making a reference to how she and Julian were hanging out and had made a fire. We never finished the thread ‘cause he hasn’t been on since June, but yeah. It’s all cool though.I was just kinda sitting there snickering at the reference to my own post. I know, lame, right?)