Rocking, Ironing

[Zero]

Veyyard isn't what you call the perfect place to live in. It doesn't even have an open fields of grasses like the Grasslands in Sougen or the Training Grounds in Ianne, or even a dojo like from Kumo. So where does a hardworking soul head off to train in the miserable lands of Veyyard?

The Iron-Maw.

"HA, top that!" A young man's voice echoes in the mines, followed by the rhythmical sound of his gunshots. It would almost be close to a melody...perhaps to the ears of a fellow Veyyard townsfolk.

Zero had been down in the mines way too many times since its the best place to shoot at things and hear the melodious blaring of his gunshots beautifully. Usually, there would be one of the fellow hunters joining and helping him with his training, but the man preferred to nap outside of the mines for a while, only waking up if Zero's finished with his playtime and called out his name.

Zero had resorted that the rocks in the mines are much tougher than normal rocks on the roadsides. It all depends on what he's in the mood for, either precision training or strength training. If his bullet hits a rock he had thrown in mid-air, then its precision. If the rock explodes into ashes by his multiple shots, then its strength.

This time, Zero prefers to do both. He tossed rocks in mid-air, then attempted to shoot it precisely, and makes it explode. The tougher the challenge, the more Zero enjoys himself. So far, every rock he has thrown has crumbled to pieces.

"One last round," he's getting bored at it, so he picks up a stone as big as his head, and tosses it in the air as high as he could. Nimbly flipping his handguns, Zero then shoots towards the rock with such speed and power, the rock crumbled a bit by every shot.

Too bad that rock has an ore in it and it won't break into fragments no matter how Zero shoots, and gravity decides to tease the bounty hunter by bringing the rock right back down on his head.

"OWW!!"

[Open]

[Rika]

Rika was wandering around wherever she could to find new and interesting or rare herbs and minerals for her medicine pouch. She bought a larger messenger style bag for excavating purposes a while back and used it for collecting samples in one area then moving them to a safer area for inspection and testing.

She carefully made her way down into the mines, curious at what she might possibly be able to find here. It scared her almost out of her skin when she first heard the gunshots that she almost screamed. The scare made her slip and fall which knocked the wind out of her, making her unable to utter a cry at the exact moment of fright.

She turned over to her side to find her breath then sat up and tried to recover from the fall. She moved her hands over the impact areas of her body - head, back, buttocks - to make sure there were no cuts of other injuries she would need to attend right away. Before she stood up she heard another round of shots that made her jump somewhat. She stood to her feet and continued making her way around a bend to find the source of the noise.

She finally spotted a boy shooting at rocks in the air. She hid in the shadow for a minute as he spoke to himself prior to lifting a fairly large rock and throwing it in the air. Rika watched as he blasted away at it with his gun then right before impact she could tell it was aiming for him too. She tried to call "Watch out!" in time but it came down upon him before she could finish uttering it.

Rika ran towards him with her hands ready to inspect his head if he agreed to let her do so. "Are you okay? I just came around the corner and saw. If you're hurt, I can help treat it." She offered immediately, a worried look on her face as she looked up at the boy.

[Zero]

Everything dropped on him; the rock, the pain, his balance, gravity pulling him down. Everything except his guns. Zero has trained too much to never loose his grip of his guns, even when he's unconscious. He swore he heard something ringing in his ears, but he was too busy countering the migraine in his head.

His vision turned blurry once he tried to open his eyes in the middle of finding his balance, he could see a shadow approaching him. Albeit the pain, Zero pointed the gun at the stranger in reflex, but then fails to holds himself up as he fell down in a sitting position with one hand on his head, and the other still pointing the gun to the person approaching him.

It's strange how his body takes control on its own when his mind is temporarily useless.

As he expected, he could feel blood rushing down at the side of his forehead. Grunting at the pain, Zero whispered a cuss before pulling the trigger of his gun to show that he does not like it when people look down on him. "Back off," he warned, though still dizzy of the impact on his head.

The blood had oozed down his face and on his jacket, Zero could tell this is a fairly serious injury. So he knows his best bet is to get back to the infirmary in the headquarter, thus he tries standing up, but his head's spinning so wildly, he fell right back down pathetically.

Even after all that, his gun is still amazingly pointing to the stranger perfectly well.

[Rika]

Rika stopped immediately when she saw him pointing a gun towards her. She stood there frozen as she waited for him to recover a little before trying to talk to him again. She then noticed him seeming to become serious with the gun and warning her to back off. However, she also noticed the blood dripping from a gash on his head.

"P..please... Let me help you." Rika tried to urge with her words, while remaining perfectly still so long as the gun remained pointing at her. "I can attend to your injury with bandages and various herbs I've collected then when you're able to I can assist you someplace else if you wish." A worried look remained on her face, tied between fearing that he might actually shoot her yet wanting to help this injured man.

[Zero]

Zero knows he can easily loose his consciousness if he kept pushing people away like this, yet he really doesn't want anyone to help him. It's not that he doesn't trust this stranger's words, it's just... Perhaps his rotten personality haven't really healed yet.

It's especially difficult for him to rely on others. And yet he promised himself that he'd turn a new leaf if given the chance. He opens one of his eyes, looking straight at this girl. There's a chance right in front of him, so why does he refuse to take it?

Zero lowered down his gun, and places his weapon back into its holster. He didn't say a word at first, and just merely looked on the ground where his blood spots are. After a while, he shoots her a question, "I can kill you. Do you still want to help?"

[Rika]

Rika felt her heart pounding a little heavy as the gun was pointed at her. She watched him, anxious to help him and slightly fearful of being shot. When he finally lowered his gun, she relaxed slightly and exhaled a deep breath.

Rika stared at the boy, a little hesitant to approach him until he actually agreed to accept her help. When she was just about to take a step towards him, he stopped her with his first words that felt like they shot straight through her heart and almost paralyzed her. Rika stared at the boy and looked at his injury, calming herself back down. "Yes." She replied after a moment. "I want to help you. Will you let me?"

[Zero]

"Good," Zero merely huffed, "I don't want cowards to help me." Knowing that this girl would risk her life to help a stranger proves that she genuinely wishes to assist, perhaps its her second nature. Perhaps she has a good heart.

"Yeah..sure," his blood is pouring out from his head, he can't even open his eyes now. Zero reached his hand up towards the girl, in hope that she's not too scared to reach out for him, so he'll know where exactly is she. Being temporarily blind isn't really in his strong suit, snipers like him depends on their eyes.

"Am I...bleeding too much?"

[Rika]

As soon as Zero accepted her help, Rika paused a brief moment and smiled before rushing towards him and taking hold of the hand that reached out for her. "It's okay, I'm right here." she said gently with a smile. Rika knelt down on her knees and gently moved her hands to take hold of his head, careful to avoid his wounds. "Please rest on my lap while I clean this up." She said gently as she tried to guide him to rest his head on her legs.

"My name is Rika. I specialize in medicinal herbal mixes." She said while she pulled out a container and a small cloth. She opened the container which held a bit of water and dipped the cloth in it then held the cloth gently against his wound to help clean a bit of the blood and help slow more blood flow. "I will make you a mixture that will help to heal this wound faster and also incite your body to restore your lost blood cells at a faster rate for a short period of time so that any dizzyness you feel with go away soon after."

Rika lifted the cloth to dip it once more in the water and smiled while she inspected the wound briefly before placing the cloth back on his head and gently holding it down for a moment." You will be fine." She said in a gentle and encouraging voice.

[Zero]

Zero reluctantly complied to her order and made his way to lay down wherever she guided him to. He was actually confused at first on how he's going to rest his head on her lap, everywhere seemed to throb no matter how he turned his head, but then he thought to hell with it and just lay down so he can get this over with.

While she explained to him on what does her herb mixture do, Zero sighed, "Look, Rika, I can barely hear you with the walls of this cave bounding your voice with the echo-- Wait. What are you doing in here, anyway?" Now that he thought about it, why would a girl specializing in herbs doing in a mine?

He flinched a bit when she sets back the wet cloth on his wound and responded with a nod of her encouragement, "Yea, yeah, whatever. Thanks." Only Zero could squeeze his appreciation in between a bored tone and an ungrateful facade. "You're not a Veyyard local, aren't you." His tone sounded as if he's not really questioning her, but rather stating it out.

[Rika]

Rika's face flushed slightly in embarrassment as he stated he couldn't hear her well with the echo then was a bit surprised that he asked her another question even though he couldn't understand what she said well enough. Rika smiled and responded anyway. "I like to look in various different places for any chance of finding some kind of plant or soil or other natural item that could be tested for possible health and healing benefits."

After cleaning off the blood, Rika pulled out a small mixing bowl and a bunch of small containers, taking a little bit of ground herbs from various containers. She knew which was which and what she was mixing together, but to anyone else, it might seem more random than anything. She added a little bit of water to the mix and took out a blunt mixer and blended it together.

She smiled at him again as she heard his statement of her not being a Veyyard local. "I came from a small mountain village a long ways away from here." she said with a sad look in her eyes. "Right now, I live between Evnae and Fijion. Whenever I don't have work in either place, I'll travel to see what I can find and discover."

When it was mixed well, Rika put the cloth that had cleaned his blood back in the little water container and gently spread the herbal mix on the wound. When she finished, she lifted the cloth again, rung out the water and placed it on top, holding it gently but firmly together.

"This will heal up in no time." Rika said finally with a cheerful smile, glad to have been able to help him.

[Zero]

Why is he being so unapproachable to this girl? Well for starters, his head is bleeding. And he's in a bad mood because of that. And Zero doesn't trust random gestures of kindness from others, especially since he's in Veyyard. He cannot afford to be taken advantage of again.

"Speak...slowly." He stressed in reply of her explanation of why she's here. A woman can never be found alone in Veyyard, it would look too strange to have a woman walking alone in this darkness of a country. Before he could think any more, Zero's head throbs so hard his eyebrows are scrunching in layers.

On hearing that she's not a local, Zero released a heavy sigh. 'No wonder she's alone. She knows nothing of this place as of yet..' Zero winced slightly when he felt a cooling sensation on his head, and then finally could ease himself down with a grunt.

"Yeah. Thanks." Staying still there, he closes his eyes to calm his throbbing head. "..You know, you can't travel alone in Veyyard. Never travel alone in Veyyard. Lots of thieves and bandits here." He explained what's important first before moving on to something else other than formalities.

"After you gather whatever you're collecting here, we'll get you to gate so you can pass safely." We as in, he and his partner. Zero's sense of direction is so horrible, he needs someone to guide him to wherever he's going.

[Rika]

Upon hearing his request to talk slower, she complied. She held the cloth still against the wounds as the herbal mix under it began to work on cleaning and healing him.

Rika's eyes opened a bit in surprise as he told her she should never be traveling alone in Veyyard due to thieves and bandits. She then smiled in reply at the warning and his follow up offer to escort her to safety. "Thank you." She said in reply.

"I tend to be a bit of a clutz at times and sometimes end up in awkward or dangerous situations because I usually act on instinct from time to time before thinking about possible consequences." She admitted a bit sheepishly. "I had heard about places here in Veyyard that may have special herbs or soils that can't be found elsewhere. I usually don't think to ask about possible dangers once I get excited about checking some places out."

[Zero]

Laying there on her lap, Zero has a chance now to take a closer and clearer look of this strange girl. As she explained that she's usually very clumsy and accident-prone, Zero's eyebrows wrinkled more and more deeply. He gets even more concerned when all she had heard about Veyyard is apparently about special herbs rather than the very high crime rates here.

"What-- When someone even talk about Veyyard, the first thing to mention about this country is how dangerous it is, not about its soil or plants," he blinked his eyes incredulously to Rika. Her words doesn't just surprise him, her way of thinking shocked him too.

"If your excitement brings in ignorance, you can't possibly survive here." He said seriously to stress how important it is to always be mindful and alert. "And you're not bad to look at too, lucky you made it in one piece here without any accidents.."

Zero wants to hold his head so badly right now at how utterly worrisome this girl is. He'll have to inform Hunter outside the mines to help him get this girl out of here before they start their bounty hunting. "How old are you, Rika?"

If she happens to be underaged, then they have got to stop by the headquarters first.

[Rika]

Rika giggled a bit sheepishly as he pointed out the first thing to say about Veyyard is the danger, not the plants. Her smile fell a little as he went on, but a tiny bit of blushing at his talk of her appearance saved her smile from disappearing. She knows that she should be thinking more before just jumping into potentially dangerous situation, but she tends to be rather impulsive when she gets excited. He definitely wasn't the first person to explain that kind of thing to her, just the first to do so in terms of the dangers of Veyyard.

At his question of her age, Rika's eyes opened a bit more and a slightly surprised look showed on her face. "Hm?" She questioned then smiled again. "I'm seventeen. Why do you ask?" She stated then tilted her head to the side a bit with her question in response.

[Zero]

"Seventeen...." Zero wiped a hand over his face as he repeated her answer. 'She's freaking 17 years old, oh god..' He was then overcame with a wave of relief that he managed to found her before any sort of misfortune befalls on her. He can't believe his luck, if he didn't decided to train her, then he would meet up with her dead body rather than this girl in person.

Once he's done wiping his face, he looked at this girl again, a serious and worried look intercepted together in his facial expression. "Rika, before we get you to the borders, I might have to take you to our headquarters in Arthera to have a quick checkup. Is that okay?" He asked as politely as he could.

He hopes so hard she said yes or he would have to knock her unconscious and drag her all the way to HQ.