Mist Net

[Leo]

A young black-haired lad pulls up the scarf entangled around his neck to cover half of his face, coughing and hacking out the polluted air he seemed to have breathed in for the past hour here. And here he was, thinking the technology in Evnae City may be more advanced with Gradia's...so far, the steam and mist got the poor boy lost.

He's walking in between two very large buildings apparently, maybe through a narrow alley, he's not sure. The smoke blinded his sense of direction, so it's no wonder he had banged himself to the walls a few times. Steam pipes are everywhere, bursting out smoke and dust in his way.

Leo sighed, finding a wall for him to lean on for a quick while as a temporary sanctuary to think at...which is an easy task since he just bumped his nose onto it seconds ago. He has to admit, he found some unwanted scraps of metals on the path he walked on, and even those scratched bent pieces astounded him. Naturally, being a novice inventor, Leo collected it inside that large brown bag of his for further investigation later.

As the lad leaned on his desired wall, a burst of steam and smoke suddenly wheezed a few distance away from him, startling Leo as he automatically sprint off from that noise. His quick steps then lessened and slowed after a good while...and finally he formed a conclusion in his head that...he's officially lost.

Inside a city that feels so alien to him, especially. When this happens, Leo would usually looked towards the only view that's familiar to him everywhere he goes - the sky.

And so, the young artist raised his chin to take a glance of the sky. It's darkening, fast. And the mist only makes it hard for the boy to search his way around and backtrack his tracks.

Yep, it's almost night-time and he's lost inside some city he has no clue of. Great, he's a traveler, and yet he doesn't plan to even buy a map of this place. Leo's just great at going with the flow. ...Even when it almost costs him his life more than once.

"Oh! Hey!! Excuse me!" Spotting a silhouette of a person standing static there beyond the mist, Leo rushed into the mist towards that figure, hoping whoever it is is a townsfolk here. "Hey! Can you direct me to the nearest non-metal part of the city so my compass could work properly?"

Genius as he is, the simplest idea to ask the person directly on where to find a place to stay didn't even occur to him.

[NPC: Male]

"Hmm...?" A big-boned man responded when he heard someone calling. Turning around, he scratched his beard covered chin before answering, "Non-metal part of town...?" The stranger went silent for a while, filling the air with an awkward silence on top of Evnae's infamous pollution. Then, like a boom of thunder, the man laughed loudly taking so much amusement from the young man's naive question.

"There is no such thing here, kid. Ye breathe metal in this city. There is no place where ye can use that lil toy of yers." It was quite stupid to even ask such a thing but he didn't say that to the young lad. It was obvious that he was new to Evnae, most of the travelers that wandered in here always found themselves lost under all the smog and within the winding pathways and roads of the steam city. Evnae's government was lax and full of corrupted officials that sat under the Regent's rule. As a result, city care was always neglected and that included proper street posts and directions.

"Where did ye come from anyway, lad? Why did ye come 'ere? Not a place fer ye."

[Leo]

Leo swore the laughter of this stranger almost blew him off the ground, and bursting his eardrums too. Literally, he dropped the compass out of his grip as soon as the booming laughter reached his range of hearing. Really, the lad grows in a peaceful quiet surrounding...so these types of people are exactly the type he would steer clear off.

"Huh. Well, that 'little toy' of mine won't work anyway?" He stated in monotonously, trailing his blue eyes towards his now broken-compass near the wall. Its glass has cracked, it was so clear he can spot it from afar. Heaving a sigh, the black-haired lad then turned his attention back to this large man, adjusting the strap of his large bag on his shoulder.

"Gradia." Leo quickly answered the man, unaware of the rival both countries has...or have. "I heard there's a lot of terne-type metals here. You know, that special alloy that's resistant to corrosion..? I really need that." He explained with the tiniest smile on his lips.

And then came the sarcastic remark. "Who knows. Maybe I can build a machine that can filter the polluted air around here. Less babies are going to die if I do."

[NPC: Male]

"Bwahahahaha! That would be great lad! And I meant ye lil compass. Who uses compasses nowadays, eh?" The man twitched his fuzzy mustache as he watched the young man fetched his contraption from the ground. A number of young inventors travel to Evnae for similar reasons that this traveler gave. Metals. God knew Evnae was the city to go when metal was a primary objective. The tension between Evnae and Gradia started with metals. Gradia, being a floating city, did not have ore reserves. Even the territory that Gradia controlled did not have the metals that the city needed when it was still developing so it sought to invade Evnae and its rich ore deposits. The war between two superpowers came and went but the tension remains. The more powerful Gradia became, so did Evnae.

"Terne-type, eh? Hmm..." The man thought deeply. In his advanced age, it was difficult to recall things sometimes. "Those are heavily guarded by the Regent's Guard. I don't think ye will get a hefty amount without pleading with that scumbag. The Regent rules this place with an iron fist, see? Too bad he don't care about the people here or else he would clean the smog out. Yer better of digging for them yerself outside the mines."

"What's yer name, lad? Me name is Gus."

[Leo]

Leo's jaw clenched tightly as the man startled him again with that bellowing laughter. The artist stared blankly at the old guy, replaying what he said about the compass in his head. All the while as Leo picks up his broken compass, the idea of inventing a better compass-like item played around in his mind.

Almost immediately, the lad pulls out his journal(from an easily-reached section of his large packed bag, by the way), opens to a particular page where a slightly thick bookmark-like thing save the page he last written on( which turns out to be a pencil too), Leo scribbled the idea quick. Too quick that the man probably didn't even noticed he did. Then stashed back his book back in the bag in the blink of an eye.

"Regent's Guard??" Leo rephrased, surprised that metals as simple as that could need such a guard. It's just an alloy with several other metal coatings on it. He can make it on his own with electroplating, but then finding all the metal ores is such a drag.. That's when he remembers about his pockets.

"Do you think I can bribe him into giving me those metals?" Leo questioned, shrugging slightly as he tries to remember when was the last time he went in a bank to withdraw some cash. There's still an awfully lot of money in his account, and Leo can't figure out how to blow it out when it keeps on coming. ...Strange how people wants the result of his experiments. Those are just the outcome of the things he played with after all.

"Wait...mines?? Oh, come on.." Leo heaved another sigh, annoyed that it's taking so much work just to obtain a simple type of metal. He held the side of his head with a hand, trying to think the best possible way to acquire such a thing...without doing too much work.

"What? Ah, pleasure to meet you, Gus. I'm Leonard." He threw in inconsciously in between of his contemplation, half of his mind is occupied by how he's going to force that metal into his posession while using as little energy as possible. If it's too much of a work, he better left his project unfinished like that and just move on to another less active task.

If he's in Gradia right now, even the passer-bys will pause of hearing that name...then crowd him with wishes and requirements they expect him to do. Leo's one of those people that can't even say no, so burdening such a huge responsibility annoys him. ...That's why he's out of Gradia now.

Hopefully, his fame didn't reach the neighboring country he's stepping on at the moment.

[NPC: Male]

"Not with money ye can't." Gus retorted when Leonard mentioned bribes. "Money means little to the Guards, they're paid very well by the scumbag, ye see. The only payment I can fathom they will accept are dragon scales, especially the rarer colors." The merchant said without thinking. "Ianne dragons, ye know of them?" While Ianne was quite peaceful, Evnae was still paranoid of the magical dragons that Ianne had at it disposal. This paranoia triggered a nationwide hunt to capture dragons for Evnae's alchemists to experiment on. Dragon scales became some sort of promotion tokens for Evnae soldiers.

"Lenard, eh? Hmph." Gus snorted. "Hah! Ye can't be that Lenard. Unless ye drank one of them alchemist concoctions." The only Leonard Gus knew was the old but truly brilliant alchemist that lived above the smog. Leonard the alchemist would sometimes comes down into the smog towns to experiment. He was eccentric in Gus' opinion, flaky but likeable.

[Leo]

Leo heaved out another annoyed sigh. He had blocked any words from entering his head after the old guy stated money won't save the requirement of the metals. The lad just reached for his brown hat and pulled it off of his head, slightly disappointed. He faintly heard the word 'scales' though, but not the rest. It's too troublesome for him to search that far... Unless there's a source of motivation for him.

The lad was caught by surprise of Gus's sudden affirmation, but refuse to let the fact that the old man said his name wrong. Truthfully, it does sounded like a 'Lenard' but that's his mother's call-name for him, and he feels uneasy if anybody addressed him by that.

"It's Leonard. LEOnard." He put much emphasis over that, and decided to repeat it again. "Leo. Just Leo. Please." The artist placed his hat in his bag ever so carefully, believing the hat was once his late father's. "And of course I'm Leonard, it's my NAME."

Leo shifts his weight on one of his legs as he stood with his hands holding his elbows. The smoke suddenly gets thicker as the boy draw in to breath, then ended up hacking and wheezing violently. Coughing loudly while patting his chest, Leo desperately tries to get that messed up air out of his system. ...This place is too much for his lungs, Leo affirmed in his head.

"Mister, do you know any inns I could stay in?? ...With fresh air, if at all possible?" He asks in between his coughing.

[Deleted]

The sound of coughing rang through the air and Mitsuko heard it as she flew through the polluted skies. It was a shame that the environment in this area was extremely poor. The polluted air made people sick and made them want fresh clean air that was breathable.

Even the angel had a hard time breathing in this air. The inn that she now lived at was environmentally friendly and she was fortunate enough to find a home that had breathable air, and now she had the opportunity to share it with someone, who needed it. Mitsuko isn't the type of person to brag, or take things for granted instead she would share it with others. This included her successes, and everything that was good in her life she would share that joy.

Worried that the sound of coughing would become a lot worse then it is now, she picked up speed as she flew through the skies to get to the person that needed help, when she arrived she saw the man that she had met before at the diner was in trouble. There he was struggling to breathe and she overheard Leo asking the other man that was there with him, if there was an inn that had fresh air.

"Leo..." She flew down beside him and answered. "Yes there is an inn that has fresh air... I live there." Before they left however Mitsuko gave him some first aid with her healing powers in order for Leo to catch his breath- with Mitsuko's power she was able to purify the air around them for a while. It wasn't permanent but it was enough to help Leo to buy him some time to regain his stamina and composure.

[Leo]

"Geh..." Leo staggered towards the nearest wall he could find, just to lean on it. 'I can't take it here...' he decided, noting in his head to wear a mask instead the next time he walks around here. Though, he didn't expect to see somebody suddenly flew down from thin air,a nd it's someone he recognized, especially.

"You can fly??" was his first question, instead of making sure that it's truly Mitsuko there by calling her name. He didn't noticed what the angel did to him and the air around them, but he did feel a lot fresher, and that strikes as odd to him.

"Is it just me, or is it that your presence is enough to make me breathe properly?" He sounded sarcastic on saying that, but he did mean well. "But that does sounds nice for a place to stay for a while. ...Alright. Show me the way." The lad then turned to Gus, and nodded at him, "Thanks."

[Deleted]

Mitsuko put a hand around Leo supporting him in order for him to gain stability. She gave him a gentle smile to let him know he was going to be okay and that the place that she now resided at was peaceful, clean, welcoming, as well as he would get the best care possible. She also took his hand gently and held onto it- she couldn't put Leo on her back since that would be too much for her so she just held his hand as they took off.

She giggled when he asked her if she can fly. "Heheh of course I can fly... I'm an angel, hold on tight. But then again I wouldn't let you fall, you can trust me."

They went into the air however since they were still in the area of the pollution so Mitsuko kept that air breathable for as long as she could, and in doing so she was glowing and the thick clouds that were dark because of the pollution began to disperse.

[Leo]

His logical brain could never comprehend the sight in front of his eyes at all. "Well, how should I know you're supposed to be an angel?" His voice doesn't seem to lack his natural sarcasm at all, but he is slightly faltered by all the carbon monoxide he had taken in his lungs.

What made him even more wavered however, is when Mitsuko floats off-- no, flew off with him in tow. Fact states that Leo was never any good in flying, even if he has any experience on it. "C-can you hold me up long enough through this??" Flying is starting to get into his chills, and he couldn't understand how Mitsuko is able to fly him up by only holding a hand.

"Not that I don't trust you, but I think I'm developing a fear of heights now..."

[Deleted]

Mitsuko just smiled. "Yes, I can hold you long enough through this flight. You'll be okay Leo." They both were slowly leaving behind the polluted area as the breath of fresh air was cleaner and more breathable.

"When we get to the inn I'll get you some food and water. I bet your hungry and thirsty right? And to answer your previous question how can you tell that I am angel? Well I have wings, I glow, I heal, and my mom came from heaven."

[Leo]

Leo gulped at Mitsuko's reassurance. She's not one of those types that would let anyone in harm's way, in fact, she seemed like the other way around. "But...but this defy physics by a long mile," he would end that sentence with a slight half-yell by the fright of heights, but then again, when does physics applied for angels, anyway?

Leo could feel his eyebrows quirked at her last statement. He was brought up with stories of angels and demons as his bedtime stories from his mother...but then he would read up on architecture and quantum physics right after he was left alone in his room with only a candle as his source of light.

So in short, his mind is naturally logical, yet adorned with imagination unrestricted by reality. It's an odd mix, but it made Leo a rather intriguing person by most people who had known at least a bit of how his curious mind works.

"I thought angels can't be seen by humans. They're believed to be made of light and come down to Earth not to physically assist humans..." he stated with a clear tone, remembering one of his late mother's last words before she passed away, "...but to only guide them."

[Deleted]

"Angels are unique just like human beings. each of them has their own special ability. Some are guardian angels, some are like you said just guides that are unseen. I for one come from a mother that is a guardian angel and was sent from heaven for a reason, to heal the sick. There are a lot of stories about angels that are told from generation to generation, and you have a right to believe in what you believe in. It's okay to believe that angels are just a pillar of light to guide humans. I won't hold it against you just because I'm an angel."

They continued to soar through the sky pretty soon they were in a much more cleaner area.

[Leo]

Leo took consideration of her every word. It's not everyday he learns things outside of this world. Plus, Leo's always open to hear for any sound explanations from anyone. He doesn't reply to her though, afraid if he ended up in a chain of coughs if he did.

The artist already had his eyes closed, his chest rose and fall, almost like he suffered from asthma. The poisonous air had gotten inside his lungs far too much for the poor lad to take, it seems. So, after a while, he coughed a bit, and then it grows more violent and continuous.

His eyebrows wrinkled at the pain, then finally after that long chain of coughs and wheezes, the artisan took a deep breath to calm his breathing, never wanting to start that painful string of coughs again, if possible.