Reinholdt's Repository

[Shadowcaller]

[Milton Island Assault]

The angel tilts its head in confusion as they clarify but doesn't remark on it.
Instead she addresses Ilpholin's question. "Avians are the animals that come closest to the divine." She gestures towards the sky. "That's why we assume their form and the draachi are a product of us. Simple as that."

Her gaze turns to Damon. "But as a master of the sky, I have nothing against an aerial assault. In fact, it was a tactic I was already considering."

At this point they're close enough to tell just what kind of people around the vehicle they're supposed to be traveling in. Their faces resemble barn owls with a white coat of feathers covering most of their faces and bodies. But unlike owls they don't have wings, instead possessing long, perhaps unnervingly so, arms that end in long black fingers that seem anything but soft in contrast to the rest of their bodies. Their legs are mostly hidden by their feather coat and clothes but end in rigid three toed feet that end in blunt claws.

While not as tall as Cerabella or Damon in his gaunt form, they could still be described as tall compared to your average humanoid. Tall and gaunt even with the soft layer of feathers and clothes they're covered in.

They're dressed in what appears to be ceremonial gear. A mix of sky blue robes and gold tinted armor that's likely some kind of iron alloy. As the group approach they have positioned themselves in two rows along each side of the opening within the uforian chariot and all bow down as they get closer.

Two of the owl people will approach Ilpholin and Damon carrying silver necklaces which they hold up in the air, seemingly offering to put them on them. The angel stops and turns to them, shifting her gaze between the two expectingly.

[Reinholdt]

[Milton Island Assault]

"What? They're just physically closest? That's... ok." What a horrendous measurement! Wholly inaccurate. It's like asking which color is closest to blue and deciding based on the music playing in the store at the time.

It's especially distressing because every good drow knows the divine rests at the center of the world, deep within the planet's core. So these people are completely backwards even with the standards they're using! How dreadful.

For the sake of not seeming rude, however, Ilpholin doesn't correct their dogma. Even if seeing these owl people was weirdly distressful.

As they are approached, Ilpholin stops and inclines her head. "Your gift is most gracious of you. I gladly accept your kindness." She moves closer and tilts her neck to allow them to place the silver necklace upon her, maintaining poise and dignity, as if a queen accepting her royal jewelry.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Milton Island Assault]

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Damon's thoughts dwell on how useful it would be to have this owl creature form accessible to him. Perhaps later, if one of them dies along the way, he can salvage the corpse as a meal.

Having a diverse range of forms available is vital for a shapeshifter. He's probably thought about doing the same thing if something happens to Ilpholin.

When the gifts are brought over, Damon is a little slower to react, hesitating and glancing across at Ilpholin first, before mimicking her gesture, shifting down on one knee to match her height. All this ceremonial stuff feels a little pointless to him, but if this is what is required to avoid offending their allies in this endeavour, so be it.

[Shadowcaller]

[Milton Island Assault]

The necklaces are put on and the owlfolk quickly back away once they're done.

"Is that hesitation I hear?" A new voice butts in.
Descending from the stairs leading into the uforian chariot is another avian humanoid. This one's facial features look more akin to a vulture than an owl however with a longer neck covered with just a thin layer of grey feathers.
Their proportions are closer in line with your average human, being about Ilpholin's height and with shorter arms that currently are folded together. Their mono white robes obscuring the appearance of its hands and feet.

Their beak is opened in what seems to be a smile, its feather shroud forming into what appears to be two eyebrows which also gives their face some more human expression. "Of another faith are you?" They continue, seemingly speaking to Ilpholin as they look at her.
They raise their hands, revealing claws similar to the owlfolks but again closer to one of a human's. "Don't worry, I am speaker Ir-vi-sid and as speaker it's my calling to study the faith's of other races." He stops and turns to Cerabella. "And as I understand it, we're going to need all the divine help we can on this mission, won't we?"

The angel only reply is a stare, but that seems to be enough for Ir-vi-sid to address Ilpholin once more. "Do you believe there is any way your faith could aid us in this? A ritual conducted before battle perhaps?" He turns to look at Damon, not adding anything but clearly considering asking him the same thing.

[Reinholdt]

[Milton Island Assault]

Ilpholin quirks an eyebrow and crosses her arms in front of her. "Well I don't worship the sky if that's what you're asking." Though she suspects that particular question was rhetorical.

She's certain that this Ir-vi-sid is making some kind of power play with this show, but she could honestly care less about bird politics, so long as they focus on killing the demons. And Ilpholin has no intention to start questioning her own faith at this vulture's behest.

"I am not of the proper caste to perform such rituals," Ilpholin replies bitterly. "Any attempt to do so will surely backfire." And Lolth's ire is not to be taken lightly.

"You'll just have to put your faith in our skills and experience instead," the nymph adds with a thin veneer of a smirk.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Milton Island Assault]

Damon watches this curious little exchange unfold. All this talk of faith is weird to him.

In fact, maybe he ought to say as much.

"I have no faith to offer. Nor do I ssee how any I did have would be of value."

The divine have not exactly been a great source of help for him in the past, and he has his doubts about all these bird-people.

[Meowmai]

[Fey and Falcon Escapades]

Oh! The door moved when she pushed it! This could be very useful, she might just be able to force it open and not bother even for a moment with this stupid puzzle. It was a little bit confusing to her about how much older it looked than the vases, but hey, she could worry about what that means later. So Kestrel began to press and push at the door, seeing if she could manage to shift it in any way further. Getting it to open would probably help fitting a boat in as well, to answer Reinholdt's question. She watched him sit down with a bewildered expression. When she had first met him he had seemed so cool, but in his current state she had no idea what to do with him. Though if she managed to handle this by herself, she'd in turn look really cool to him, right? When he recovered from whatever this was. How awesome would that be, to have Reinholdt- the Treasure Hunter Extraordinaire himself, which she assumed was probably a big deal despite never having heard of it before- find her to be cool!

[Shadowcaller]

[Milton Island Assault]

Ir-vi-sid let's out a croaky laugh. "Tough crowd, but I see your point. We know better than anyone that the divine can be fickle. It only helps those that help themselves." He glances at Cerabella. "With a few exceptions." Then the vulturefolk steps aside and bows curtly as he gestures towards the chariot.
"But light's wasting, why don't we get this crusade in the air?"

"Thu' are." The angel agrees as she turns to the owlfolk. "We're departing right away. Get this off the ground."

They all bow and hurries to obey as Ir-Vi-Sid seems to wait for Damon and Ilpholin to enter the chariot first.
As one might expect, it's very bright onboard. The ladder as well as the interior is made of well-polished marble with glowing stones inserted into the ceiling tiles.

The ship is mostly occupied by marble adorned stone seats that might remind Ilpholin of torture chairs (or air plane seats) considering the number of straps attached to them.
The owlfolk are currently strapping themselves to the marble chairs, seemingly unbothered by the lack of cushion on their seats.
"While we're waiting for the preparations to finish, I feel the need to correct you. We don't worship the sky but what dwells in the sky. The sun, or more accurately, our sun is a manifestation of the divine. I don't know what your sun is made up of however." Ir-Vi-Sid remarks as they hear him coming up behind them.

[Reinholdt]

[Fey and Falcon Escapades]

Kestrel can not only move the door further, she'll find it readily opens all the way! While the door supposedly has a locking mechanism, inspection will show that it's completely fallen apart from age and is quite ineffective at keeping the door locked. Shame really. It had one job. ONE JOB!

Beyond is just another hallway, so no massive treasure room or anything of note. But there's probably something further down the way. If Kes gets too distracted peering into the next area, however, she'll be snuck up on by Reinholdt who is quite suddenly there as he claps his hands together loudly. "AH-HAH! You solved the riddle! Good job." Solving the riddle is pretty much the opposite of what happened, but discovering alternative solutions to a problem is a valuable adventurer skill anyways.

[Milton Island Assault]

Ilpholin nods respectfully to Ir-Vi-Sid before climbs aboard the shining chariot. Oof, it was brighter than expected and if necessary, she'll take Damon's hand to help lead him since he said he'd be mostly blinded aboard. "Hmm..." She frowned at the hard seats. She could handle it. But there's no reason she should. "I'm sitting on your lap." Ilpholin informs Damon.

"Mostly fire," Ilpholin tells Ir-Vi-Sid. "But there's a lot of people around here who worship the sun anyways. I'm just not one of them. Too garish for my tastes."

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Milton Island Assault]

Damon is not best pleased with the general brightness levels of this chariot. Not at all.

Ilpholin's statement that she'll sit on his lap is a pleasant silver lining to this cloud, though.

"Thank you for your asssisstance, Ilpholin. You are of coursse welcome to ssshare a sseat, but you may find it a little unpleasssant sssitting on my lap asss I am now. Let me ssslip into sssomething more comfortable."

That was probably intentional.

And then he shifts to a rather tall, muscular male form that may be familiar from a certain previous encounter in a fairy mountain (though with clothes this time).

That was definitely intentional.

"There. This should prove plenty comfortable for you." He remarks with a wry smile, sitting down. An astute observer will no doubt be able to tell that, while the effect is lessened, Damon's vision is definitely still suffering somewhat for the light. He would probably still coat his face in flames, but that's not really an option if he's playing the role of cushion for Ilpholin.

[Shadowcaller]

[Milton Island Assault]

The ownmen pause a moment as Damon suddenly changes his form and spends a moment to simply stare at him before going back to work again.
Ir-Vi-Sid too seem curious though by contrast the angel simply walks by the two without a second glance and enters what seems to be the cockpit of the chariot.
"As I said earlier I could offer some equipment to help you endure the, ah, brightness." He offers with a gesture at the glowing stones above. "But, if I may correct you again, we don't really worship the sun itself. It's simply a manifestation of the divine, it's not divinity itself. It's just the closest conduite of faith that exist in the physical world."

One of the owlfolk then comes and hands Ir-Vi-Sid a black hood which looks more like a burlap sack. "Ah, right, it's a bit... Maybe some kind of shade would work better? The pilots have something like that..." He glances towards the cockpit.

[Meowmai]

[Fey and Falcon Escapades]

Kestrel had not been expecting to make much headway with the door, but to her absolute surprise she found that she could force it all the way open! She let out a cheer of celebration. Boring, it's just another lame hallway! Hopefully it leads her somewhere more interesting.

She was indeed far too distracted to hear Reinholdt creeping up on her. The birdgirl visibly jumped at the sudden loud noise, before spinning around to face him. AAH! Oh. Uh, yeah, sure, that's I did." She peered around him to look over at the vases. "So we gonna take those? Seem annoying to carry. Maybe we'll find some better treasure further in?" By 'better', she was thinking along the lines of stuff she usually thought of treasure. Vases were for old people. Gold and jewels were what real treasure was in her mind.

[Reinholdt]

[Fey and Falcon Escapades]

The real treasure... is the gold and jewels you get from the old people who want the vases. That said, Kes had a point. "Oh yeah, you're right. We should leave them here. We don't have a boat." The most difficult part of any vase robbery is getting the boat inside.

With that decision behind them, Rein immediately starts moving forward, following the path to its completion! Or the hallway to the final chamber anyways. It's pretty clearly the central part of the temple at least, given its size and the almost reverent nature of its architecture. It's one gregorian chorus away from a boss room.

Alas, no music plays. There are a few other ways into this room, meaning a probable way out through one of them. The only other thing of note that isn't decoration is the altar, whereupon a glass jar sits. Within is a speck of light sitting on the bottom, faded and forlorn. At least until the duo enter, at which point it perks up and swirls around within its confines, trying to get their attention.

[Milton Island Assault]

Ilpholin takes a moment to run her fingers along Damon's familiar chest, even if clothed this time. "MUCH appreciated." Ilpholin turns around and backs up into him, making sure they're both seated comfortably before strapping them in. The straps are probably a little tight, as to be expected even with her smaller stature, but this only means she has to really squeeze up next to Damon and she doesn't mind that at all.

"Ooh yes! If you guys have Aviator glasses for him, that would be just Perfect!" It would honestly probably look terrible, but that's what makes it so fun. She personally expects that bird people aviator glasses are even more 'fashionable' than usual.

She as personally finds the difference between sun as a conduit for worship beyond and worshipping the sun itself to be generally insignificant. But she also wishes to avoid antagonizing them in any particular way. "I see. I shall be more discerning with my descriptions in the future."

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Milton Island Assault]

"As I am now, the situation is tolerable." Probably mostly on account of Ilpholin being perched on his lap. Speaking of which, he slips his arms round her waist - for lack of anywhere else to put them, of course.

"But if you had something to shade my eyes, I would not mind."

[Shadowcaller]

[Milton Island Assault]

Ir-Vi-Sid appears to smile, though his his avian features it's hard to tell. You can't really bend a beak into any human-like expression. "Of course. There's just one issue though, I would prefer if you were both strapped down in one seat as while the chariot flies quite smoothly if we are forced to abruptly stop for any reason whoever. These seats are made for one person you know?" He knocks on one of the metal seats. "And you don't want to thrust your head into one of these at the speed we're going to be going, trust me."

The rest of the crew are taking their seats and preparing for take off. Notably a lot of seats are being left empty.
"But if I may suggest a course of action before our esteemed angel returns? I know it's going to sound craven but we should consider letting our foe surrender if possible. They're servants of demons, not demons themselves. They at least deserve a trial to deem their degree of guilt. Besides, we might need any kind of information they might have to offer. Cerbella is not as harsh as some of her kind but she will show little mercy when it comes to those associated to demons and in this case I believe that's both impractical and amoral. Not intentionally so but... you understand don't you?"

[Reinholdt]

[Milton Island Assault]

"We're both strapped down to this seat. It's good enough," Ilpholin assures him as her hands wander to the arms around her waist, comfortably holding them in return.

As Ir-Vi-Sid makes his plea, her eyes narrow. "I do not," Ilpholin replies coldly. "It would be one thing if these creatures were cowardly performing menial tasks for the demons. But we're talking about a group who summoned the demons here in the course of their own ambition - for their petty power squabbles. If I see a gnoll, I am cutting them down. We can interrogate one of the ones who actually manages to survive their injuries. Or, if you're so intent on inefficient bureaucracy, you can capture some yourself to put on trial and call those the lucky ones."

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Milton Island Assault]

"I am mostly in agreement with Ilpolin." Damon adds, settling in to enjoy the ride, as best as he can anyway. "For the rank and file at least, I see no reason to spare their lives. If they have summoned demons, they are already guilty and deserve punishment. The only ones I would consider sparing are any that seem like ringleaders, that might have something useful to say."

Hopefully Ilpholin can tolerate that much dissent. She surely knows Damon will kill any they interrogate as soon as they've dragged any useful information out of them, right?

"And I also agree with her that we are fine sharing this one seat. Don't worry, I have a firm hold of her, she won't go flying off anywhere."

[Meowmai]

[Fey and Falcon Escapades]

Blinking in confusion, Kestrel let Reinholdt push past her into the next chamber. She still had no clue how her expression of speech had led him to be convinced on the necessity of a boat, but well, by now it was clear Rein would not be making a lot of sense. Kestrel hoped that it would clear up soon.

Following Rein, she moved into the large chamber, and looked around in fascination. This place was really big, and cool! And there was a weird moving speck of light in a jar. What wasn't to love? Kestrel began to approach the altar, looking to examine the jar.

[Shadowcaller]

[Milton Island Assault]

"I will remind you that we don't know these creatures relationship with the demons and-" He pauses and looks to Ilpholin and then at Damon. "But on the other hand you seem to know more about this situation so I will refrain to your expertise. It's just that the matters of morality is extremely important to us and especially to me as a speaker." Ir-Vi-Sid shrugs. "Who else can act the higher consciousness, hm?" He gestures with his open palms to them. "But that's why we need people like you. People who can make the difficult decisions."

Then Cerabella comes back out of from the cockpit. "Our crusade begins. We shall set out into the sky and cleanse these demons in the name of Divinity!" Her wings extend to her side and there single but united response from the owl soldiers.

"AVEN!"

"Right, I should get you those glasses and take a seat myself. If you excuse me..." Ir-Vi-Sid bows away and sneaks past Cerabella into the cockpit as she is addressing the soldiers.

[Reinholdt]

[Fey and Falcon Escapades]

"Ooooh, you know what this place needs?" Reinholdt asks, looking around. "Benches!"

Any quizzical looks will receive a swift explanation. "That way you can go- Pew Pew Pew!" He adds finger guns for emphasis. "PEW PEW PEW!!"

The jar looks to be a standard glass jar, with a removable cork in the top and what appears to be a few holes for air. It is not entirely unlike a firefly jar, except the 'firefly' is moderately bigger than a firefly. And at least prescient of company as it zips around in a circle upon Kes' approach and bumps up against the bottom of the cork. Unfortunately, it's too bright in comparison to the surrounding area's darkness and it's quite difficult to naturally make out any of the creature's features.

[Milton Island Assault]

"Maybe you don't, but I have spent an extended amount of time with these heretics. I shall even point out one of these ringleaders for you. Rest assured your morality is in the right place." Ilpholin says with a thin attempt at a smile. "But do remember our goal is the Pith. All else is secondary."

She nods as Ir-Vi-Sid heads out. She considers hissing discontent to Damon about how indecisive mercy seekers allow evil to fester, but decides against it at the last possible moment. "Aven. Huh. I guess they really are more divine than anything we have to offer." She shakes her head, appreciating some untold irony.

"I considered flirtatiously complimenting your strong, manly arms, but they're anything you want them to be, aren't they?" Ilpholin questions Damon. "It feels like complimenting a printer for the book it wrote."

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Milton Island Assault]

"They remind me a little of dragons. And not in a good way." Damon mutters, watching Ir-Vi-Sid walk off. He can't say he's particularly fond of what he's seen so far, but he's seen far worse before.

One might argue that he is far worse.

"And not exactly." He answers Ilpholin, with a shrug. "If I was like a shapeshifter able to create their own forms, I might argue that I'm more like an artist or something, sculpting a form to suit your needs. But I'm not. I can't turn into anything. So it's more like I'm picking options out of a catalogue. Whatever's the best fit."

[Meowmai]

[Fey and Falcon Escapades]

Poor Reinholdt. Another joke that Kestrel simply wouldn't understand, thanks to only being new to the Nexus. It didn't help that she had never really hung out at churches enough to get the 'pew' pun fast enough, but she also had no idea what finger guns were. Or the association of the "pew" sound with them. Her old home had bows and crossbows, but no guns. So all he gets is an extremely quizzical look from the birdgirl, who thought that this recent outburst was nothing but nonsense.

Unable to make out any proper details in the dark, Kestrel decides to try get a better look at whatever the glowing creature was. And what better way to find out then release it! That didn't really make sense, but she didn't realise that. She takes hold of the jar, tugging on the cork... and tugging on it further. And a bit more. Oh, this was embarrassing. It was really stuck in there, wasn't it? "Um... Reinholdt? Can you help me get this jar open?"

[Reinholdt]

[Fey and Falcon Escapades]

Ugh! Philistine! Rein's over here dishing out comedy gold to someone who still thinks bronze is the most valuable element!

He doesn't even get time to sulk too. Sulking is less important than helping out. "Yeah, yeah," Reinholdt heads over to her to help.

Though how much help he'll be is questionable. For starters, rather than taking the jar off Kes' hands to do himself or pulling from the other side, he slides in behind her. Reinholdt doesn't hesitate to pull up until his body is in full contact with hers. He reaches around Kes to take hold of the jar in his hands and gripping it tightly, whispering in her ear a simple command, "Pull."

He'll hold the jar in place while she tugs the cork out! Easy.

[Meowmai]

[Fey and Falcon Escapades]

Oh huh, would you look at that? Seems like Reinholdt was actually readily going to try help her with this! She didn't think that in an insulting way, but it was a bit of relief knowing that she wouldn't have to deal with weird antics this time. Or so she thought initially. The birdgirl feels her companion press right up close into her back, arms wrapping around her to grip the jar, and his warm breath brushed her ear. For the second time that day she froze up in shyness, a blush quickly forming on her cheeks. "I-I, um, d-don't think t-this is the kind of help I, um, w-was asking for Reinholdt..." Looks like her stutter was back now too! Her thoughts raced in a panicked fluster. What should she do!? She wasn't ready for this! Well, surely she'd be able to extract herself from the situation if she just gets this stupid jar open, right? So, trying not to die from embarrassment, she continued to pull on the cork, now with both hands. But despite all her efforts, the damn thing stayed lodged in place! She thought she might be making progress, feeling the cork budge a couple times, but it still wouldn't come loose fast enough. Oh heck. Heck heck heck heck.

[Reinholdt]

[Fey and Falcon Escapades]

"You gotta pull on it harder," Rein whispers to Kes. She must be losing cool points with him! "Don't be afraid to be rough. I can handle it~" He says, the heat of his breath caressing her ear.

"Hmm... perhaps we should use some lube. Alas... I left the butter and whipped cream at home." Always bring butter on an expedition, every arctic explorer knows this!

If Kes still fails to get the jar open, Rein will gently touch her arm indicating to stop for a moment. "Here, try this." He'll fish a tool out of his jacket... a corkscrew! And offer it to the struggling bird. He keeps one on him because wine is a thing he partakes in quite a bit and thus it comes in surprisingly handy.

[5a Violista]

[Battle Creek Falls]

Battle Creek Falls is a really scenic trail up into the mountains with a nice waterfall at the end of the trail. Of course, you could keep on climbing up the waterfall and then up the stream after that, but most people aren't willing to climb up the slippery rope ladder to the top. Due to their being a hot springs farther up, the water coming off the waterfall is actually not freezing (in spite of the weather) but is still decently cold. Warm enough to not freeze over, but still not something you'd want to bathe in this time of year.

The locals know it by a few other names, like Bridal Veil Falls, and some think it's haunted by the local girl who fell in love with a mysterious stranger, eloped with him, and then was mysteriously found at the bottom of the waterfall. Nobody really knows what happened, but local legends say that some nights you can still see her waiting for her beloved to show up.

It's also a really pretty trail, especially at this time of year.


June, a redheaded freckled girl wearing warm athleticwear, has had a day off from waitressing and decided that this would be the perfect time to actually go for a jog outside of Inside. Find if there's any good trails around, and so on. Plus, she heard there's might be a ghost and she can actually see ghosts and wants to find out if . Not to mention, while she used to be flat as a pancake, something happened and she kind-of wants to, for the first time in her life, see what it's like needing to wear a sports bra. (...Well, it's not that she needs to but instead she tells herself that she needs to.) Not to mention, she wanted to try something out that she needed to be out in nature to test.

She runs up the trail.

It's a nice trail. Long easy stretches with intermittent difficult parts. If it were warmer out, for some parts you can also run through the stream itself but she really doesn't want to get her shoes wet - at least until the sun gets high enough to warm up the air.

[Reinholdt]

[Battle Creek Falls]

Another person has made it here ahead of June. Having finished his early morning exercise slash quarry boulder smashing job, Jedrek jogged up to the peak of the trail to the base of the waterfall. Not the coldest waterfall he could meditate under, but you don't meditate in the freezing waterfalls daily. That's more of a weekly thing. Jedrek removes his gi and royal purple belt, placing them over a nearby branch so it doesn't get wet. This leaves him in little more than a tightly bound loincloth before he takes his place under the waterfall, sitting on a rock in a lotus position.

Jedrek is tall and the presence he exudes only amplifies that even though he doesn't tower. One of his most eyecatching features is the angular sweep of his chin, which cuts directly across your field of vision like the horizon whenever he turns to look you in the eye with his dark brown, intense gaze. His face is ruggedly distracting, from the dimpled chin to his perpetual growth of brown stubble. His hair sweeps forward over his wrinkled brow, slight bangs hiding the worry from his face. His teeth clench with an audible creak anytime he forces a smile. It sounds like he could crush a coconut with the pressure that jaw exerts.

The rest of his form is somehow just as impressively masculine as his face. A neck knotted with muscles that would make it as thick as his head were it not for his jaw. Pectorals covered in a mat of short, thick hair and arms used to lifting whole trees up onto the broad expanse of his shoulders. A search for abdominal muscles past the flowing water running down his chest would be fruitless, because visible abs are a sign of a vain being who commits to exercise merely for the sport of it. Instead, just above his waist, a strong flat stomach leads down into legs that are strong enough to support this exemplar of ruggedness and the burdens he carries.

If Paul Bunyan, Bruce Campbell, and Gaston were mixed into a blender and used to make a monster wrestling clone-child, this man would likely be taken for his smaller, more handsome twin.

[5a Violista]

[Battle Creek Falls]

June reaches the falls and slows down. She looks around to admire all the surroundings. Yeah, she noticed someone else. However, between the entirely new environment overwhelming her senses and assuming that nobody else would be up here at this time of year, she thinks that it's just one of the ghosts that's supposed to be up here.

Best way to deal with ghosts, of course, is to just ignore them. If they don't think you can see them, they tend to ignore you back. For a ghost, he's got a pretty impressive build, though. Must've been some kind of warrior or something in life. Probably why this place is called 'Battle Creek', she supposes.

June slows down, bends down by the water, refills her water bottle (with a water purifier!), and splashes her face with the water.

She stretches and starts to walk around the base of the waterfall, admiring it and its surroundings and making sure to stay in the sunlight when possible, which is when she spots the clothes.
Ghosts don't take off their clothes to keep them dry.
June freezes.

"Omigosh, I'm so sorry!" she suddenly exclaims, covering her eyes with her fingers and turning away. It doesn't really help; she doesn't need to be looking at something to see it. "I didn't see you there! I didn't think anyone else would be up here today."

[Reinholdt]

[Battle Creek Falls]

Jedrek, on the other hand, sensed her approach from a good ways away, but chose to ignore her for different reasons. For starters, that's part of meditating, even if it is a little rude. But mostly he ignored her because she didn't say anything when she approached. He is generally content allowing the other person to speak first, if for no other reason than not having any idea what to say if he did speak first. His studies rarely included conversation skills with random strangers in the woods.

Nor did they include a manual for what to do when someone who was ignoring you suddenly stops. Ah, she didn't see him. He mistook ignorance for mutual respectful silence. He was focusing too much inward and not enough on understanding the stranger in his surroundings. A failing on his part. Her chi felt... different. Even with the Nexus was full of unique people, she had been... touched? By something. He knows not what.

Without opening his eyes, Jedrek replies in an incredibly deep, smooth voice that played over the ears like rich velvet. "It is no trouble. I apologize for startling you."

[5a Violista]

[Battle Creek Falls]

"No, it's fine," June says, shaking her head. "It was my fault, anyway. Should've been paying more attention." If she had been paying more attention, she wouldn't have been rudely ignoring him for so long and gotten so close to him before noticing that he was actually there. At least she didn't start checking him out, too. That would have been mortifying.

Now that her burning face has calmed down, the redhead feels okay lowering her hands. They more more for covering her cheeks than covering her eyes, anyway. "So, do you normally come up here to bathe?" June asks. No, he's clearly not bathing. He's doing one of those macho sitting-under-a-waterfall things. She quickly corrects herself, saying, "I mean meditate."