enter the wanderer - open - balamb

[SAILA WEI]

Today was just like any other day for Onyveth; there are never two days that were ever alike, thus in turn made it just like any other day, in a matter of speaking. She had seen some strange things this past year which only made her recent days more exciting - she had seen rabbit-women (Vieras), lizard-men (Baangas) and even tall scary tree-like men or so Ony would call them (Guados). There are even days when she'd wonder even to herself what else she could possibly encounter and add to her enthusiasm. On this particular day, Onyveth had stow-awayed on a fishing boat that was about to make port at an island said to be so small, only a single town was situated on it. Ony could've sworn to have known the whole of Gaia better than the back of her hand, but ever since the event they called the ''Merge'', the raven-haired young woman found herself looking at maps and asking for directions... Not exactly her style, she thought bitterly.

It had been hours since she had moved from her hiding place. She was cramped, bored and hungry. It was dark, damp and the whole room reeked of fresh fish! Maybe hiding out here wasn't such a great idea after all... Every now and then she would stifle a yawn and stretcg her legs a bit to relieve herself - sitting still wasn't her style either but it beats getting caught. She leaned against the cold wall, getting the feeling she was about to doze off until something translucent and slimy dripped on her hand.

''Oh God, what is this?'' she moaned out of disgust, wiping her hand across the wall. Fish-goo, she thought morbidly. She refrained from investigating any further but knew in her heart it was fish-goo. She soon felt the boat slowing down to a halt. There were footsteps overhead and muffled voices - Onyveth knew it was time to make her leave. There was one way in or out from below the deck, and that was through the main doorway, where the fishermen would haul out their catches of the day. But she had no intention of passing through that way; unbeknownst to the fishermen, there was a faulty port window. There was a broken window-pane with an opening of seventeen-to-twenty inches in diameter - roughly a tight squeeze or so Onyveth would like to believe. But what she had discovered is that the wooden pane itself was so deteriorated, it could be removed with a simple lift and pull, creating a whole that was nearly twice the size! Without wasting any time, Ony pulled herself through the hole and plugged the wooden pane back in place before getting noticed. She then shimmied on the ledge, jumped into the harbor before making her way into town.

''The next time I stowaway on a boat, I'm gonna make sure it's a cruise line!'' she murmured to herself out loud as she aired out her favorite leather jacket. She swore to herself to make sure she never looked upon another fish for as long as she lived. So this was Balamb, she looked around for the first time. There seemed to be a train station down one road and some sort of hotel or inn at the opposite side. It seemed like a quiet little town by the sea, like a cross between Kalm and Costa del Sol she thought. She could smell the saltwater from afar and it tickled her nose in a pleasant way (compared to her fishy experience earlier...). While walking down the residential area, there were a group boys hanging about, probably her age range or younger. Some of them wore casual garments, but of them them wore a sort of dark or black tunic and gold-like trimmings on the hems. A rather formal ensemble, she thought, that almost vaguely reminded her of ShinRa for some odd reason. They all seemed to be picking on the youngest of the group, because he, from what Onyveth could make out, ''wasn't a SeeD''... whatever the Hell that meant. Ony had the urge to intervene in her own unique way again.

''Hey! I was wondering if I could bother you gents for a second...'' Onyveth had unceremoniously barged into their company, making her way next to the so-called bullies of the group. ''I'm kinda new in town and I was wondering if anybody could read this map since I'm just plain lousy at it... Is there a good sushi bar in town?... Oh nah, I don't eat it, I was just curious if there are any, that's all...''

As Onyveth chatted away, hoping to be more of a bother than to make a big scene, she discreetly pick pocketed them. She stood side-by-side to a taller man about her age presumably, dirty-blonde hair, not really a looker for Ony's tastes; with one hand she flashed him with the map she had been caring about with her right in front of his face, distracting him, whilst with the other she gently lifted his wallet from his back pocket from the right-hand side. The trick was to just use two fingers - the middle and the ring fingers - and use them lightly like a pair of tweezers so the person whom you're stealing from doesn't feel a thing! She repeated the process with the rest of the boys save for the one who was getting bullied, and soon left their company just as quick as she joined them. Once she turned a corner and was out of sight, she examined her winnings - four wallets, a couple of ID cards for some school of the same name as the town, and some cash.

"This is your ID picture? Heh, now I know I'm doing you a favor. Get a new one, bud!" and with that, Onyveth threw the wallets and the identification cards once she reached the coast overlooking the sea - serves them right for picking on that boy, she thought to herself with a mischievous grin. The money, however, Ony didn't know what to do with it. When she was with her former guardian, Natsuki, and whenever they stole things, they always gave it to the ones in need; people who were down in their luck, orphans, widows or the afflicted... Onyveth was convinced she would probably give the cash to whoever came across her path, or if she found a good restaurant that she came across after realizing she hadn't eaten today... Whichever situation came first.