New Kids On The Block (Caelan)

[Allison Kazim]

Why was he looking at her like that? She raised a brow, refusing to tell him a photo would last longer or anything else that encourage whatever this had suddenly become. Her hand lay on the hilt of her sword for a few moments before it dropped to her side as she gave a nod. The instant regret was evident beofre she shoved it back down and extended a hand to Caelan, instead.

"Well fought. We don't have many that fight the way you do back home."

[Caelan Xander]

He would take her hand in his giant mitts. His skin rough and calloused from years of blistering hard work in the blistering heat. His grip was tight, but not so tight that he'd crush her hand.

"Where I'm from you fight however you can to see the next day."

It was a... less formal experience.

[Allison Kazim]

Much like she had begun to suspect, he was very aware of his body and it strength. Impressive, all things considered. At least he wasn't a bull in a china shop. She shook his hand in turn, her own firm and confident. Her hands were calloused from work, though less so than his given teh size and what their different work probably entailed. He could fit both of hers in one of his easily and still have room for more.

"I'm beginning to see that, yes. Where are you from?"

[Caelan Xander]

"The deserts surrounding the trade city of Territory 1."

His village didn't have a name. It lived and died as a nameless husk, buried by the shifting sands.

[Allison Kazim]

Not the other side of the country then, but still a long way from home. A severe homeland where its people were more vicious than the land itself. Or so the rumor went. Caelan himself seemed quite the opposite, despite his appearance.

"Noted." Her hand fell back to her side, letting her eyes adjust and her equilibrium with it. The world wasn't spinning, but the sense of a slight tilt hadn't faded yet.

[Caelan Xander]

"What about you?"

[Allison Kazim]

"The main city of 260." The less glamorous parts of it, anyway, though that really didn't matter to most when you admitted you lived on a floating island run off of the world's innate energies. The kind where you had to wonder if you could afford medicine, food, and a roof over your head, but until recently, not so much in the department of invading attacks.

"Well, welcome to Cabal then, I suppose. I hope I didn't call you out on your first day."

[Caelan Xander]

"Never been there."

He had no clue what it was like. He'd shrug at her second question.

"It's fine. I didn't have plans anyway."

[Allison Kazim]

"Never been to Territory One, either," she pointed out, a slight smile on her face threatening to turn into an amused grin. "My home is up to the northwest from here, out on the ocean." Basically the opposite of what he knew.

"Well, it's quiet for now, though apparently that doesn't take much to change."

[Caelan Xander]

It was hard to imagine so much water. His face looked distant as he silently tried.

[Allison Kazim]

She noticed the distant look on his face and wondered if she'd bored him for a moment, but there was a blankness there that seemed almost like it was a struggle.

"There are pictures, of course, but it's not the same. I imagine it might be similar below the island to think of it as of your desert, just with water."

[Caelan Xander]

"It's hard to imagine."

[Allison Kazim]

"About as much as my seeing an endless ocean sand and stone." She nodded, amusement warming her voice a little.

Though, if you wanted, you could travel to the edge of 259; it's coast lets you see it, as well. Apparently people went there in the past for leisure." You know, before she was born.

[Caelan Xander]

"I might..."

[Allison Kazim]

"I'd recommend it. It wasn't something everyone got to see before the destruction, and you're already this close." She shrugged a single shoulder and shifted, preparing to leave Caelan to get acquainted with teh campus.

"Is there anything that comes to mind that you need before I go?"