[PRP] Long way down.. {Complete}

[X Purple--Platypus X]

|| Long way down.. ||

Who; Inge & Rose. (plus respective bottles)
When; Later afternoon, about 5/6pm.
Where; Cliffs to the northwest of Aimes.

The weather today wasn't as pleasant as it had been earlier in the week. Rather than clear sky and a pleasant ocean, the clouds had drawn in, bruising the sky in shades of grey and the winds had whipped up the sea into a churning mass of white tipped waves. Inge and his father had dared the crossing from the floating portion of Aimes over to the land so that Jeremiah could meet and talk with an old friend. Inge had escaped this meeting - which was sure to be fuelled by drinking and smoking now that they were staying on the mainland till the storm passed - and had chosen to talk a long walk along the cliff tops to the Northwest of Aimes to pass the time till supper.

The path was well trodden and Inge had no difficulty reaching the top of the chalky cliffs. Wind ruffled his hair as he stood, a sentinel looking out over the sea and across to the floating part of Aimes. From this high up the city was certainly an interesting sight, a floating hub of activity. He could spy Aimes circle and a smile twisted his lips; even in this foul windy weather there were people gathered around the noticeboard - though to him they looked like pinheads.

He sighed, the peace and quiet was pleasant up here - despite the chilly winds. He patted the bottle which hung in a sling-like bag at his side.. He still had no clue what the use of the weird thing was. There had been no changes in it's state since the bizarre aura had formed, but the intensity of the erosion it caused was still a nuisance.. "What am I to do with it...?" He mumbled, before smiling again. Who was he talking to? The wind was definitely likely to provide answers.. If his father could hear him mumbling to himself he would be scolded for being mad... But only after being scolded at for keeping the magical little a bottle in the first place.

It was quite the dilemma..  

[Thornless Rose]

The cliffs had always brought change.

Whether it had been that bit of inspiration to a camera lens or those small colored bottles she had found a bit back, the cliffs to the northwest of the city had always been a great source of inspiration. The bottles in question had been tied gently in a pouch together, though the girl still didn't understand the reasoning why she had even kept them to this point. Today though wasn't really about the bottles.

She had brought her art supplies today; camera, sketchpad and pastels to hopefully find a bit of inspiration like she had found many a time before. However, inspiration seemed to be in a mischevious mood and it only made the starving artist all the more maddened because of it. So, sketchbook and supplies aside, she pulled out the two bottles she had from their cloth pouch and looked through them in the waning light.

The wind whistled as a gust blew through, lifting a bottle from her outstretched hands. Eyes widening, she leapt for the small container just as the wind dropped its fierce gale. The wiry female then quickly crashed to the ground, both bottles now held even more tightly as she turned and raised her gaze. Even with the dimming light, she could make out a figure, someone young it seemed. She stumbled for a flashlight and turned it in the direction of the young man, illuminating the dulled sky and scenery around them.

"H-Hello?" she managed to get out of her mouth, one hand clasped around the light with the other tightly cradling the bottles.  

[X Purple--Platypus X]

The wind certainly seemed to be plucking up and Inge rested a hand cautiously against the bottle hanging at his side - he didn't want it blowing out of it's resting place and smashing. Despite the confusing effects that it had it's mystery was so alluring that he felt quite attached to the strange object. However, a crash from behind him made him turn around on the spot, baffled by what could be making such a noise. To his surprise a lady was lying face down on the floor; her arm outstretched a bottle clasped in her hand. It was bizarre enough that he hadn't noticed the presence of another person on the quiet cliff top, but even weirder that the person who had stumbled also happened to have a bottle.

She seemed to be scrambling to find something and within a few seconds she'd pulled out a torch from somewhere and was shining the bright beam at him. Inge scrunched up his eyes and shielded his vision with a hand. "Uh, hello there?" He responded when she greeted him. With the light of her torch he could spy her muddied knees where she'd fallen. "Are you all right? You just fell.." Always the gentleman, putting his concerns out to strangers... His father said it would be his downfall - best just to look out for yourself lad - but Inge couldn't quite help his caring nature.

However, he found that his gaze was diverted from her knees to the bottles held tightly in her grasp. She had two and now that he could see them together and in the bright light of the torch it was evident that just like his bottle there was something strange about them - a pair of translucent wings hung about them, just like the rust particles hung about his own bottle. However he realised it was rude to stare and returned his concerned look to her face... She'd certainly crashed to the floor with quite a force.  

[Thornless Rose]

With the voice she heard, she moved the light away from blinding the unknown child and began to straighten herself up. She held the bottles carefully in her one hand, setting the light on the ground as she wiped the mud off of her knees. When she had finished she replied back to the young boy. "H-Hello. Sorry that you caught me at such a clutzy time." Rose swept the light back over the two before it caught something that very much caught her eye....was that a bottle?

She thought to herself for a moment...was it truly a hand of fate that let another person with a bottle into her view? Well, either way, she'd definately want to know about this bottle-holder as well. She came out of her half-thoughtful state and smiled back at him. "A Bottle...you have another bottle as well?" she asked quietly, before holding out her two bottles into the dim light. His looked a bit rusted, though with a closer look she saw that rust seemed to hang off of it, much like her own bottles had a pair of wings...

She watched his glances with care, while she didn't want to seem too eager, it was a pleasure to finally meet someone with another bottle...it at least proved that she wasn't crazy for having 2 bottles herself!  

[X Purple--Platypus X]

A chuckled escaped Inge, a clutzy time? He was glad that he didn't have 'clutzy times' like her - he'd constantly be falling off the boat and into the sea, the extent of his clumsiness was the occasional dropped fish, which were wet and normally writhing; attempting to get out of his grasp anyway. However, despite his amusement he moved to her side, making sure that she really was ok.. If she was still clutzy so close to the edge of the cliff it made Inge nervous, he would hate her to topple over the edge if she tripped again.. "So long as you're ok now.. It's a long drop down there." He motioned to the cliff's edge, "And I wouldn't want to see you tripping to a long fall.."

At her mention of his bottle Inge placed a hand to the place it rested at his side. She'd spotted his bottle just as he'd spotted her's. "Uh, yes.. It's a bottle.." He replied, taking it from where he was keeping it and holding it fully visible in the light. Now that they were placed next to each other Inge couldn't help noticing more similarities between the bottles. Not only did her pair have something strange emanating from them but on closer inspection they appeared to be almost exactly the same shape as his and, yes, they had the same internal glimmer.

His mouth formed a small 'o' as these similarities registered fully. Maybe her bottles actually were the same as his and he rushed to find out more.

"Awfully similar aren't they! Where did you find yours?"  

[Thornless Rose]

Rose looked over the edge and gasped before stepping away a bit. "Yeah...wouldn't want to be taking that drop for sure..." she added, turning back to the boy. "Yeah, I'm alright, but thank you very much for asking." she replied with a bow.

She watched him put his bottle next to hers and looked at the three bottles with interest. His had a sort of rust surrounding the bottle's rim and form, while hers had those transparent wings. Perhaps the bottles did have something in common, like that glitter within it that swirled and twisted like the wind.

"My bottles?" She asked before smiling. "Actually, I found them right here on this very cliff. Or cliff range, I should say." Rose nodded, pointing to a spot near the cliff's edge. "It was a day a lot different then this one, where the wind blew, the sun shown and the bottles sat together, illuminated by everything around them." She let her thoughts move back to that day before she turned back to him and repeated the question he had asked her.

"What about yours? Where did you find your bottle at?" she asked quietly, before holding out a hand. "I'm Rose, by the way."  

[X Purple--Platypus X]

Taking her hand and shaking it the teen introduced himself; "Inge Lekan. Nice to meet you."

She found them on the cliff? That definitely wasn't similar to how Inge had received his own bottle.. "Sounds so mysterious and magical.." He sighed, picturing the bottles neatly placed on the cliff-top, glittering the in sun and singing in the wind. It sounded like something a bard would describe; mystical and alluring.. "I'm afraid the way that I got this thing isn't so like a fairytale." He winced, glancing at the bottles. Perhaps it could be considered almost fitting - her fantasy winged bottles were deserving of a graceful way of entering someone's possession. But his rusty old thing..? Well, it also seemed about right. "I found mine tucked away in the cupboard, I was just looking for some fishing gear and I stumbled across it..." He tapped a finger on it's side, the aura of rust tingling against his skin.

"It didn't always have this rust stuff." He explained, running a hand absent mindedly through the brown oxidised shroud that surrounded the bottle. "It just suddenly appeared - the insides flashed and... then it got this... rusty mist?" He frowned, recalling the event quite clearly as it had not been long ago at all. He'd been sitting with the bottle, watching it and holding it casually - then totally unprovoked, it'd decided to step up the corrosion power alongside looking slightly different. "Did your bottles always have those wings?" He asked.. Trying to piece together the evidence they had to form some answers.  

[Thornless Rose]

Rose laughed after shaking his hand and hearing him call it a fairytale. "Actually, it wasn't as glamorous as it sounds. I almost flew off of that cliff trying to get those bottles!" She listened to his words with care nodding and shaking her head when appropriate. His tale was equally fascinating to her, especially the fact that he hadn't almost died trying to claim his bottle!

"Yeah, mine didn't always have this glittering substance through them either really. One day, while I was cleaning out my apartment the sun shone through the windows and then...poof! Instant flowing glitter." She put a finger to her lip. "Well, maybe not poof, but you get the idea." She held out her bottles next to his again and shook her head.

"Well, now that you mention it, the bottles did have wings on them but I really couldn't tell very much at the time. Once the glitter started to swirl though, it was much easier to take a look at them." Rose glanced up at the growing clouds and back down to Inge. "Looks like a storm may be coming in...are you needed somewhere anytime soon?" she looked at him with inquistive eyes. "If you aren't, and don't mind a bit more research with these bottles, I'll treat you to a snack at the local cafe. Plus, who knows...maybe we'll find out a bit more why we have these bottles in the first place."  

[X Purple--Platypus X]

Inge chuckled slightly at the picture Rose had described, the humorous notion of her lurching after two windswept bottle replaying inside his head. "Ahhh, I suppose I should be glad I didn't have to make any death defying leaps for my bottle.." He joked, his lips twisted into a wry smile. The information he received on her bottle's sudden change also interested him and the promise of further discussion on the matter of the bottles was one that he would've loved to pursue. However, the niggling thought of his father worried the teen and his forehead crinkled into a little frown.

"As much as I would love to take you up on that offer.. My father might not appreciate not knowing my whereabouts.." He sighed, shaking his head sullenly and looking out at the clouds brewing over the sea. Already a thin drizzle of raindrops was wetting the air and he knew full well that soon the heavens would open and the pair of them would get drenched in the downpour.

"Perhaps another time?" He suggested before motioning towards her art equipment. "If you want, I could give you my address and maybe we can arrange to meet up some time?"  

[Thornless Rose]

Rose nodded back to the teen. "Yeah, the wind is definately picking up and I can understand about not wanting to stay out too long, a storm looks to be coming in for sure." She picked up her parcel and held out her art book for him, turning to a blank page. "Yeah, I'd love that. Let's definately keep in touch and see what we can learn from these bottles of ours." She grabbed a felt-tipped pen and handed it over to him, along with the book.

"Plus...if I made you late for meeting with your father, I'd be very sorry to cause any trouble." She held the bottles in her hands with a tight grasp. She'd finally found a breakthrough on these small creations in her care, perhaps with this boy's help, she'd be able to leap on forward and find the truth behind the circumstances that lead to their arrival in her life.  

[X Purple--Platypus X]

Nodding at all that she said Inge took the pen and pad. He grasped the writing equipment rather awkwardly as he scrawled his name, making jagged peaks and dips out of the simple address. His writing was scruffy and his spelling was poor due to his general lack of formal education; he'd spent the most part of his life in an orphanage and now he worked with Jeremiah who didn't seem to show the faintest trace of letting his adopted son avoid manual work on the boat to get some help with his reading and writing. Never the less, Inge managed to produce a messily scribed address plus a quickly drawn map.

"Thank you for the company. It's been pleasant chatting with you." Inge said, nodding his head appreciatively. "Goodbye, I hope to hear from you soon." He called as he turned and made his way back down the path to the house where his father would be waiting - the rain drizzling down, dampening his straw coloured hair to his head.