000 [Action] 4th Walled

[aerialassault]

[The mass influx of wingless people doesn't throw Cliff off his game. After the last few weeks of cleaning up messes and dealing with the natural fallout of the Malnosso's influences within the village, the flood of new faces is somewhat relaxing for a laid back guy.

He set's his sights primarily on helping out in the Welcome Center for the weekend, planning on spending his time pestering his friends while he was on the lookout for familir faces that he hadn't seen for a while. When he's not there he spends his time hanging out in the Battle Dome or Good Spirits in the evenings before returning to his apartment in the Ground Building at night.

All in all, it's a pretty normal day.]

Comments

Welcome Center

[ahappylie]

[Busy at the Welcome Center is the nice way to put it. Souji has been up since the newcomers started pouring in at midnight, making more maps and writing up information pamphlets, trying to figure out where people could stay if they were staying, and trying to update the housing lists. It's insane, even with the extra help, and after awhile, the work just gets to him.

So rather than work, he takes a minute, crumples a map that he'd made a mistake on into a small compact paper ball and - as Cliff walks by - launches it right at the back of his head.]

Welcome Center

[aerialassault]

[Thwap.

The paper ball harmlessly hit his head and fell to the floor, only to be retrieved moments later as the Klausian himself stooped to pick it up.

He glanced over at Souji, grinning.]

Got something you wanna say?

Welcome Center

[ahappylie]

[When it connected, he hid back behind the desk, peering up over the edge like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar.]

I don't like drawing maps - my hand is stiff and I think my eyes might explode.

[And - give him a moment to think.]

Oh, and hi.

Welcome Center

[aerialassault]

[In that moment, Souji was the perfect picture of a bratty kid trying to get out of his homework or shirk his classroom duties. Hands on his hips, Cliff just shook his head when he heard these words.]

Are you trying to say that you wanna take a break and get outta this place for a bit?

[Because that was the message he was getting here.]

Welcome Center

[ahappylie]

[Souji slid down behind the desk entirely and let out a loud sigh, dropping to the ground with a soft thud.]

Are there still new people out there?

Welcome Center

[aerialassault]

[Cliff moved closer and peered over the desk to level with Souji.]

No, not yet. I dunno what's up with this place right now.

Welcome Center

[ahappylie]

[All new people, no familiar faces. He closes his eyes for a moment, reminding himself not to get his hopes up - a mantra done every month now that the Newfeather arrival is so constant. When his time is up, he tilts his head back and looks up at Cliff, the plaintive whine of a child clear on his face.]

I think making so many maps and pamphlets has broken me. Do you think a person can go crazy from drawing too many of the same things?

Welcome Center

[aerialassault]

[Cliff himself had stumbled upon a couple of familiar faces throughout the rush, but their naked, wingless shoulders was almost unnerving for him to observe after spending a year among the 'angels'. He had a hunch that Nel and Amena-- especially Ameena, weren't going to be staying for very long in this world.

His hunches were rarely wrong.]

...Actually, I think they can. [Cliff replied to Souji's question, in complete seriousness.] There's a reason that repetitive actions can be used as a form or torture.

[He offered a hand.]

C'mon. Let's get you outta here and into the fresh air.

[tocompleteawish]

[ Cliff may notice one particularly familiar face entering the building toward the evening, but she seems a bit hesitant in her steps coming in and her face is rather pale. ]

Um, excuse me. If someone could help me, please?

OMG I LOVE YOU

[aerialassault]

[Sophia?

That was Cliff's first thought when he saw that face and heard that voice, but the way the young woman carried herself and the way she phrased her question was wholly different from the young woman he had left behind in 4D space.]

...Ameena?

[After the disaster that was the battle in the Aire Hills and it's aftermath, he had never expected to see this Ameena again.]

Happy to please!

[tocompleteawish]

Huh? [ The sound of her name startles her, even if the voice is familiar. She had just heard it, and so she looks around quickly until she sees Cliff, her relief instant if certainly confused.

Even if she only knows him in passing and because of Fayt, any familiar face was welcome right now. ] Mr. Fittir! I thought you had left with the others to Aquios.

XD

[aerialassault]

We, uh, kinda did. A while back.

[Headscratch. The girl's bright smile was going to be tricky to reconcile with what he knew of her fate, but this was also an example of Luceti's odd form of kindness.

After over a year, it was nice to see a face from home.]

It's something of a long story, actually. Right now, we're not anywhere near Aquios or Peterney if you can believe that.

[tocompleteawish]

No, I believe you. There are things here that I have never seen in my life, in Airyglyph or Peterny. [ This place wasn't familiar at all, and it made her nervous when she could have sworn she was just in bed, watching them leave through the door.

Speaking of, it seems the long story will have to wait. Now that she's found someone, the stress of her disease is creeping up on her again. ]

[aerialassault]

Whoa, take it easy.

[Cliff hurried over and offered her a supportive arm to hold onto.]

Let's get you somewhere to sit, and then I'll see if I can get Fayt on over here. How's that sound?

[tocompleteawish]

[ Ameena grabs hold of his arm without really thinking about it, waiting for the episode to subside enough. Once it does she looks to Cliff apologetically, shaking her head. ] I'm sorry, to think I would be asking for your help so soon after you already did. I really can't thank you enough.

But if Fayt is here... why isn't he with you? Is Ms. Zelpher here, too?

[aerialassault]

It's all right, you don't need to worry about a thing.

[Cliff guided her over to one of the more comfortable chairs to sit on and, on a hunch that the two of them could be at it for a little while, pulled one over for himself.]

Fayt's off doing something else right now, [He answered easily-- the two of them stayed in an apartment together, but they weren't with eachother 24/7.] And Nel...she was here for a while, but she went back to Aquios a few months back. People come and go around here.

[And that was the simple version.]

[crimsonblade]

[Well, wasn't this interesting? She didn't expect to wind up back in this place. And it was cold. Not cold like it sometimes got in Aquaria. No, it was like Airyglyph cold. She huddled against her scarf and walked over to the bar. Considering the time of day, she was sure she could find at least one of her companions there.

Especially since the Klausian was so predictable.

And, there he was, at the bar, drinking what looked like a beer without a care in the world.]

It looks like you grew sloppy in my absence.

[aerialassault]

[Sloppy? Maybe that was one word for the ease in his actions that he wasn't willing to give up at all since Fayt had left the Clinic. After spending the better part of the last three months in confusing situations, he was going to seize every moment of peace that he could.

He grinned into his drink when he heard the teasing voice. Of all the times for her to return...]

Hey, Nel. Is that all you've gotta say to me after... how many months?

battle dome!

[positivelycharged]

[Whatever Cliff might be doing in there, he might want to watch out for the basketball that's currently flying towards his head. Or the kid currently chasing after said ball...]

Wait! Come back!

battle dome!

[aerialassault]

[A quick side step and the bouncing basketball was dodged and caught, no problem.

Cliff grinned when he saw the kid. There were too many cases of people with similar faces and voices at the moment, but there was only one greenhead he knew who would be chaing a basketball.]

Hey, Florian! [He said, balancing the orange ball on a hand.] What are you doing here?!

battle dome!

[positivelycharged]

[Oh was that--it was!

He grinned right back as he came to a stop in front of Cliff, bouncing up and down with unspent energy.]

Hi Cliff! I came back here somehow, so I was gonna go visit everybody but then I saw this ball and I thought I'd play a little bit before looking for people and then I found you so it worked!!

battle dome!

[aerialassault]

Yea-- looks like it did!

[If the plan was to have fun and coincidentally run into friends while doing that, then it couldn't have worked out better. Considering that Florian was Florian, that was the only plan that mattered anyway.]

So tell me, kid. [He tossed the ball between both of his hands as he spoke, before passing it to his first and most lively student with a gentle bounce.] How well can ya play?

battle dome!

[positivelycharged]

[The question, surprisingly(?), makes him pause for a moment. Play what? Um, wait, he's pretty sure he knows this......the vague memory pops up of somebody telling him this particular ball was for a game called basketball, but other than that it's all a blank.

Darn.]

....I'm good at playing catch!

battle dome!

[aerialassault]

[Cliff laughed at that. Maybe the memories just weren't coming back that quickly for the young man.]

Catch is a good place to start. What do you say about learning how to play another game with this kinda ball?

battle dome!

[positivelycharged]

[Oh are we gonna learn basketball again are we are we--he nods enthusiastically.]

Okay! What game are we playing?