Hidden Side (Open)

[alastar]

It never cease to wonder why she was here, or what in the world she was eating and Alastar landed on the chocobo ranch to watch the chocobos being fed, and then all of the sudden she was "forced" to own one of the chocobos for her to used for the race, apparently mistaken her as someone else. Since she can't even decline an offer, more so too polite to do so, Alastar now owned a chocobo of her own in which she was glad to hear that they will take care of it for her while in a journey and she could visit it anytime she wanted, besides, that chocobo seemed too fond of her anyway.

"..."

This was her 5th visit, her eyes staring at the yellow-colored beast in which she named 'Wan' for no apparent reason, as Alastar reculantly patted the chocobo with her delicate hands in which the beast loved her gentle touch.

"Kweh~!" Wan chirped, lightly pecking the female's hand. For her, this was awkward, but not for Wan, Alastar's Chocobo. It won't be long until she was "asked" once more if she could participate in a upcoming chocobo race. The female could have just walked away and escape, or maybe kill it, but unfortunately she was soft-hearted to beasts and the weaker likes, like children, and her politeness and her gentle-like nature, despite the sufferings, made her vunerable for these things.

[belzee]

Sometime later, an elderly woman came out of the small home housed just in front of the chocobo ranch and not to far beside the large structure that held the rest of the ranch. He was accompanied by the female owner. It appeared they were conversing. He possessed a default expression but revealed a calm, self-controlled demeanor. “Thank you for the cup of tea,” he said properly before asking, “How is Deirdre?” The lady told him that his black chocobo was healthy.

Well actually, it really wasn’t his chocobo in the beginning. The original owner was a couple that was part of the traveling group he was with awhile back. They were part of the traveling group that had discovered him in the falls over the mountains found close to Fort Condor, however they had died some time ago. Before the couple died due to a late sickness, they gave this man their black chocobo which they road with through the journey.

The woman asked why they gave him the black chocobo. He told her, “It’s because I had protected them, and cared for their creature. That is all.” She nodded and brought him to the storage space where the black chocobo was located. He leaned onto the ledge face to face with the creature. It was interesting. Normally people were distant of him because of his eyes, including animals, however the couple and this squawking bird thought different of him.

He gently placed his palm on the side of the chocobo’s face. He slid his fingers through its soft feathers. “Are you okay Deirdre?” She came close to his face and rubbed her head on his right cheek. He wasn’t much of a responder, so his facial expression was still default, and then after fed it and began to make his farewell. Before he left he was asked if he would like to join a chocobo race. He simply turned away silently and continued to take his leave. However, he came to a halt just as he was passing a female with a red hood.

He looked down with his shaded yellow and maroon-pupil eyes. He sensed something weird about her. His katana was also in agreement seeing how it started to glow with mako. He simply tilted his head slowly. “Mako,” he simply stated in his calm yet deepening voice.

[alastar]

The female was about to turn around when she heard someone mentioning about Mako, which in fact has something to do with ShinRa, in her side of defense. The voice might have send shivers to anyone's spines upon hearing it, but not Alastar for she have been used to this; a common intuition of hers if she were to ask. Maybe this male just referred to someone else, so why bother knowing about it?

Sadly, the female know all too well that she was the one he was talking about, seeing that she was a Mako experimentation against her will.

Instead of turning around and comfronted the speaker, she just merely resumed patting at Wan as she replied in a blank monotone of hers.

"And what about it?" She asked in a hollow tone of hers, loud enough for him to hear.

[belzee]

The man slowly tilted his head backwards with his eyes still looking downwards. “You are interesting,” he complimented. When his attention focused even more, he had smelled the stench of mako, in addition the voices of the deceased. “I can hear the voices of the dead coming from within you.” Perhaps she knew something about him. Maybe she was just like him-a human that was engulfed by mako. However, was he even human? That didn’t cross his mind. What was the possibility of that? Would he take the chance of asking her? Now wouldn’t be the time, he thought to himself.

He approached the chocobo and looked directly into its eyes. It started to move strangely. Before the small hint of change in the behavior worsened, he brought his eyes away. “I apologize for being direct,” he stated as he shook his head, realizing that he was speaking rudely. “May I ask your name?” he asked respectfully with his eyes looking at the opposite side of where the girl was. Knowing the negative change in the atmosphere, the chances of introductions may have ended up being unsuccessful. He slowly brought his left hand over his head and started to scratch the left temple. “When I react to mako I tend to be rudely and awkwardly direct,” he stated in a slightly less tense tone.

She seemed familiar. Of course seeing how he possessed the memories of the dead, it was only understandable. Although, after he lost all his memories as to whom he was, he also lost touch with the spirits, and so he is unable to recognize her. At any point, she was very touchy when he mentioned mako.

[alastar]

Turning slightly around to meet his gaze with her own, blank stare, the female shook her head as she just replied in the same, hollow tone that she have used before. She wasn't angry at that, she just tend to act like that due to the way she speaks, but she is polite enough to compress those. She, did, shun her feelings.

"Alastar." Was all she said in a blank tone as she returned her gaze towards Wan as he approached her once more after the creature looked at the male.

[belzee]

“Is that right…” He slowly crouched down as he spoke. He took out a pouch and moved his fingers around. He then took his hand out and laid some mimett, tantal, phasana and curiel greens in front of the female. “Your chocobo appears to be very healthy and strong. This includes it’s affection for you. May I?” He said as he held a phasana and gently reached out with his opposite hand. He kept his eyes closed and began to slowly motion his fingers through the cheek of the chocobo with his face pointing downwards.

He didn’t know much about chocobos. Although he spoke plainly of them with others, he expressed a great sense of care for these creatures which he was naïve about. At this moment he had this sense that Alastar’s chocobo was somewhat hungry, by simply looking at it. Thoughts and feelings that weren’t originally his began to show. He revealed a gentle smile without noticing it himself and slowly he felt the bird lean closer to him. He then traced his index finger which held the phasana over the top beak. He felt it open its mouth and devour the food in his fingers.

He slowly took his hand away and opened his eyes. He watched as the chocobo began to chew the phasana. “So what’s the fellow’s name?” he asked somewhat softly while he continued to watch. A smile was still plastered on his face. He didn’t notice that or even the change in his tone of voice.

[alastar]

"Wan." The female said as the Chocobo chirped in reply before resuming eating his food the male gave him. He was grateful to find such nice humans beings, first being accepted by the hooded female who somewhat looked hostile at first but it turned out that she was nicer than she looks, and now this man seems kind of him. What more a chocobo can ask for, as Wan decided to trust them with all he can.

The female, Alastar, stepped backward a bit as she let him pet Wan however he likes to, for as long as not to harm the creature. There are times some of her emotions seep out from their prison, but most likely if this happens, she wouldn't show it, but they will know it on her actions. Her eyes might always be blank, but they can still tell a story about the female she was before and what she is now.

Without hesitation, she spoke once more, or more so questioned, at the male as she lowered her hood to reveal her youthful face of hers.

"If you don't mind me asking, who are you?" She asked in a still-hollow tone, although there's a hint of curiosity in it somewhere.

[belzee]

“Wan, how sweet,” he responded. He kept his eyes closed as he continued petting Wan by the cheek. He slowly motioned towards another green and brought it towards the chocobo. Once again he traced his index finger over its top beak and felt it bite the food. This was not his usual demeanor, but these were once the feelings and thoughts of a chocobo breeder. He was after all a manifestation of the deceased that appeared like any mere human, but was composed of purely mako. Of course he did not know that and he was naïve of what he was doing.

Alastar then asked him who he was. He had stopped petting the chocobo and there was a short moment of silence. He felt Wan’s head tilt as the chocobo moved closer to him. After that momentary silence he replied to Alastar while preceding his fingers through the soft strands of hair on Wan’s cheek. “I don’t know…” It was embarrassing to say, but it was the truth, and he spoke with honesty in his tone. He slowly shook his head with his eyes still closed. “I mean… I have no idea of my past, where I came from, and what my name is.”

[alastar]

The female nodded, accepting the answer he gave since she can't blame anyone for not knowing their identity. It was sad for people who doesn't know who or what they are, without an identity of their own as they were left unknown and in-existent towards the world, and Alastar knows about that too; she knows too much.

"It's alright, no need to push." She said, making a soft, clicking sound as she gestured the Chocobo to her and patted him in the beak before she let him go to the white-haired man once more.

[belzee]

The man couldn't tell what she was doing seeing how his eyes were closed. There was a moment of silence before she made a soft clicking sound. She was gesturing for the Chocobo to approach her. He slowly brought his arm hanging over his tigh while he crouched. It was amusing, he looked like a blind man. He then felt Wan's presence become stronger as he approached the man once more after being patted by Alastar. He slowly brought his arm towards Wan once again and began to trace his fingers through the chocobo's cheek. He then moved his hand behind Wan's head, playfully scratching it with the tip of his nails.

"I seek answers as to who I am, what my past was before I was discovered that day... a group of travelers found me lying in the falls over the mountains close to a Fortress known as Fort Condor." When he retracted his arm those feelings suddenly dissapeared, and that smile was now gone and replaced by his usual default expression. "The journey counts, not the destination. I live in the present, I look to the future but also to the past. But it appears I have a long way to go before my answers are satisfied." He slowly stood up and turned around with his eyes open. His tone of voice had returned to what it was in the beggining. He placed his thumb on the tip of his lip and later on tore the skin and revealed a green-blue substance seeping out. It wasn't blood, it was mako. He approached her and showed it to her. "Do you have any idea of what I am?"

[alastar]

She didn't answer his question after he spoke, as it only shows that she is quite interested and understood. Normally, when she doesn't answer, it usually means that either she was listening and reflecting on what the speaker said or she just understood, otherwise when she answered, that only means that she somehow not much interested, but understandable enough. It was quite complicated to read her mind which filled with nothing more than memories seen in her own eyes as a sole witness in the world.

Seeing the bluish-green substance seeping from them, the female began to remember all those tests and experiments done to her as she was infused more than once by mako. It was a miracle she haven't gone insane but what amazes them so is that her exposure is nothing compared to the other experiment the facilitator had once done, which she heard by passing. They didn't infuse her with a demon unlike the other one, but they infuse her with so much of the substance she have concider herself as one on how she fights, which she have in tremendious speed, agility and brute strenght, as well as her complicated mind working for her own good. Of course, there is a price to pay as she have to remain in what she looks and she would be living for a lot more years to come as well as insomniac nights due to the nightmare she have experienced. That was the price to pay and the punishment she gained just for bringing justice to her kin's death, which she witnessed one by one.

[belzee]

Although Alastar didn’t reply to his statement, she seemed to have understood him anyways. She might have been interested as well. Maybe it was her way of saying no, or that she was unsure. The azure-haired man simply pulled his hand back to his side, allowing the mako to pour onto the ground. He didn’t know it, but he was the manifestation of the overwhelming feelings produced by the deceased in the Lifestream. He appeared like any mere human and so taking the form of a male in the late teens, but his body’s composition was purely mako, even though he appeared flesh and bone. It was ironic, seeing how he was unable to sense the matter of mako that formed his body, including the liquid which was circulating throughout it.

“My journey really is far from over,” he stated in a laid back tone of voice. He couldn’t tell Alastar anything else about himself. The information that he had given her in hopes of discovering something was all he possessed. He then tilted his head slightly to the right when he saw her in a state of deep thought. “Is something the matter?” He asked with somewhat of a raised eyebrow. It was as if she was looking back at the past. He was capable of wondering all these by simply reading the silence around her.

[alastar]

"No," Alastar said blankly, not even averting her gaze back to him and somehow retained her distant look in her face. She have to admit, what he said was true, and she would not argue about it one bit so she decided just so say a single statement just like that. It might not be much of a statement, but it is self-explanatory enough for anyone to understand something about her. It was quite ironic how her pale face and far-off look of hers can tell a single story about a part of her, a girl of who she was before.

"Not at all." She ended with a silent tone.

[belzee]

The azure-haired man crouched down at eye level after Alastar spoke in a silent tone. He looked passed her distant expression and focused on her eyes. “You appear young; however, you seem to hold the eyes of those that have gained years of knowledge. Also, I sense the faint voices of the dead coming from within you, including the essence of mako, why is that?” He sighed before straightening his posture. “Never mind, I’m trailing off.”

He turned to look at Wan. It appeared the chocobo was attempting to reach for the pile of greens. The azure-haired man turned away and decided to take his leave. He didn’t feel human, and he didn’t feel that he belonged in this world at all. With the right hand in his pocket, he waved goodbye with his left without looking back while he was slowly taking his leave. “Perhaps we’ll see one another again Alastar,” he said in a deep yet laid-back tone. "If there's something you wish to tell me, now is your chance."

[alastar]

She just remained silent, only staring at the distance in which a wandered look etched in her delicate face. It took a few seconds before she, ever, did said something and it goes like this:

"You cannot judge everything by what they look at, there are some who are searching for a thing in which they once had and I am no different from those people who are searching. All I am looking for is my own freedom and I am satisfy once I found it, but it seems fate decided to bind me up in my shackles in which I am wearing."

With a few second's pause, she continued.

"I do not wish to be only a distant memory, and I know everyone does too. It's best if we do something worthwhile in our lives, anything to mark a scar in this world in which the Lifestream can see and be remember as a memento on who we are in this world. That is all."

Her words are as placid as always, even at the point of souless, but her words are as pure and as white as a snow. She doesn't mind if he leaves, they'll cross paths someday, and by that time, her journey in search of her freedom is still far off in which she have to travel a thousand steps more before finally be at rest.