A Long Long Way From Home. [Mae]

Traveling was the worst... Traeh had been traveling all day with her brother to get here but finally they were on the last train to the city. She couldn't decide to whether she was happy to be here or not, maybe it'll work out. Who knows. At least it was a fresh start in a new place, no memories, no one that knows her. A new slate to try and make something of herself. Although this was enough thought for now, the long trek here had really done a number on her. Staring out the window Traeh managed to lose herself in dream world.

"Hey." Traeh was awoken from her slumber by her brother nudging her back. "Look over there." Yawning herself awake, Traeh wearily glanced over in the direction her brother was pointing. Sure enough the city was now in sight and they were pulling into the station! Shoved from pillar to post by the seemingly endless sea of people, Traeh had a hard time keeping her balance. Exiting the train was even worse, there were people EVERYWHERE! Suddenly some guy in a rush to get on the train shoved poor Traeh right out of his way, leaving her to tumble backwards into whoever was behind her. Causing them both to topple over into a heap.

Well... Things certainly had taken an interesting turn for Mae. After the whole school incident, the pinkette had not alot of things to do on her freetime now, and hanging around San Malarus, as fun as it could be, it grew stale from time to time. The girl needed to get out of town every now and again, if only to get aquainted with the other islands. She had only been to Penecia and San Malarus extensively , and Lunapa only once, when she helped Quinn and the others awaken. Hence why Mae wanted to go give Ayane a suprise visit on Malstu. Her friend lived there now instead of the dorms now that the whole school was basically out of commission.

She arrived at the station, and was just about to get to the platform when some fellow in a hurry decided it was a very good idea to push people out of his way, disregarding safety completely. This resulted in him pushing a passerby straight into Mae, causing them both to fall straight to the ground, face first. "Ow! GEEZ! WHAT'S YOUR PRO-" Mae started yelling at the man, still on the ground, but before she could finish her sentence, he was gone. "Hey... You okay there?" Mae asked the other girl, as she slowly stood up, brushing off dust from her clothes before offering a helping hand.

Urgh, the nerve of some people. Not even being here for more than ten seconds Traeh is instantly introduced to the station floor. Well, that and whoever she had happened to fall onto. It wasn't her fault in the slightest but she still felt guilty for possibly hurting this other person, worst of all they had started yelling... Already making enemies are we? Keeping her head down and avoiding eye contact, Traeh suddenly realised she wasn't the one who was being shouted at. In fact quite the opposite, this person was trying to defend her.

Rolling out of the way to let the other fallen victim get up and dust themselves off, Traeh finally got a first look at the person she had collapsed into. It was another girl, and they were staring right back at her with one hand held outstretched and was asking if she was okay. Traeh gratefully accepted the hand and was pulled back to her feet by the other pink haired girl. "Yes, I'm okay." Almost forgetting, Traeh quickly added "T-thank you... Are people always like that?" The question was more rhetorical and added as she couldn't think of what else to say, she hadn't really talked to another girl around her age in a long time. Noticing some dust and marks still scaring the other girls clothing, Traeh felt a deep and sudden guilt. "S-sorry about your clothes... and I hope your not hurt either." Genuinely concerned she looked down at the ground feeling timid and shy as she waited for a response.

"Not... really. It's rare for people to be this rude around here. At least people usually apologize." Mae shrugged. "Don't worry about it. It's not your fault. And, just like you, I'm okay." the pinkette would say with a refreshing smile. "What's your name by the way? I'm Mae Iharu, nice to meet you."

"Are you new around here?" Mae asked as the train from Malstu screeched to a halt on the platform in front of her. What she didn't expect however, was that Ayane exited one of the carts. The person she was just about to visit was here. That was... an interesting turn of events. And just like Mae suspected, it didn't take her pigtailed friend very long before she noticed Mae as well. "Hey~! Mae!" Her friend rushed over to Mae with a big smile on her face. "Wha- What are you doing here?" Mae said, confused. "I was just on my way to visit you!"

Feeling glad that the other girl was okay Traeh let out a huge sigh of relieve "Mae Iharu?" pausing to smile at Mae she continued "That's a pretty name, I like it. My names Traeh Flow." Taking a moment to look down at the state of her own clothing she started dusting herself off, this wasn't quite what she had in mind for the first thing to happen in this new life of hers but... It was still going better than expected. At least Mae here seemed friendly enough, it was reassuring to know that there were people around that wouldn't just instantly put the blame on someone for something that clearly wasn't intentional nor their fault.

"Yeah, I just moved here today with my older brother. We've came quite along way and have been traveling all day, it kinda sucked." Traeh suddenly looked around realising that her brother was no where to be seen. She had gotten off of the train with him and he had told her to keep up, but with being knocked over and all she had completely lost track of him. By this point she had been standing around so long another train had pulled into the station. "We came here becau-" Traeh was suddenly cut off by another girls voice that came running up to Mae excitedly, it seemed to be another friend of hers. It became clear that Mae was about to go and see this girl herself, so maybe holding her up this long actually benefited her in the end? At least now they haven't missed each other traveling in opposite directions and completely unknowingly dodging each others paths. After the girls initial talk with Mae she turned and looked at Traeh. "Uhh... Hi?"

"Traeh Flow, huh? I could say the same about yours. It has this... mysterious air about it..." Mae took a closer look at the girl in front of her. She looked friendly enough. She couldn't be much younger than Mae herself. "You're a transfer student?" Sounds about right... Considering the large trunk she was carrying with her, Mae assumed she was going to stay here for a longer period of time. "Where did you transfer from?" The pinkette asked cheerfully. It was always nice to see new students rolling in. Although... the state of the school... well, Traeh couldn't have transfered at a worse (better?) time...

"Your older brother? Was he...?" Mae pointed in the direction Traeh's brother had gone. "Oh, sorry. I guess I must've distracted you from your brother... Don't worry, I'll make it up to you, 'kay?" She smiled apologetically at Traeh. It was kind of her fault that this girl got separated from her brother...

"Ah, I guess I should introduce you two. Ayane, this is Traeh Flow." Mae gestured towards Traeh, after which Ayane replied with a cheerful "Hiii~! I'm Ayane Masuo! Nice to meetcha!" The pigtailed girl then turned over to Mae. "So, what are you doing?"

"Yeah, that's right. I'm actually from England, things weren't going so well there so we..." Traeh's voice trails off as she loses herself back in thought of the memory of past events. "Uh... Me and my brother that is, decided to move to a new location to get a fresh start." She was confused why she was even bothering to bring all this up. We had came here to get away from all that, there's no point in telling the very first person you meet about it. Leave it all in the past, if this goes well now her life may be better than her previous already!... Maybe? Traeh decided to just stop thinking about it and let whatever happens happen and just smiled back at Mae.

"No, no it's fine. He probably hasn't even realised I'm gone yet." Traeh then looked around again to see if she could make out her brother in the crowd then whispers to herself. "And I wish I'm not around when he does..." She wasn't too fond of her brother... Not anymore at least, he turned weird after everything that happened. He's always angry, moody or just drunk. Wasn't the kinda guy you wanted to be around when something goes wrong... Which it already has.

"Hello Ayana, nice to meet you too." Smiling at the pigtailed girl Traeh seriously started to worry where her brother had gone off to. Being new to this place if they lost each other it could take all day before they meet up again. "Wait... you want to help me? Thank you so much." She never expected them to help, she would of never asked to begin with but if they're offering... Why not? It could be fun! He couldn't of gotten far, with help this'll be like a game of hide and seek! It shouldn't be too hard to find him...

"From England, huh? Well, Europeans aren't that common around here, for some reason, but regardless, welcome to Azores, Traeh." Mae smiled happily. It was always nice to greet new people. "Trust me, you're gonna love it here." Indeed. Mae certainly loved Azores. Sure, it had been a little bit difficult for her to get used to this place at first, but now, Mae felt just like home here.

"Really? That's odd. I sure would've been worried sick... Different strokes for different folks I suppose." She followed Traeh's gaze and checked around.

"Well, we can't just sit around doing nothing." Ayane replied with a lopsided grin. "Indeed. Now, where do you think your brother might've run off to?"

Hopefully Mae was right, it would be lovely to actually enjoy the place your living at, have friends and just do what any girl her age should be doing. Plus the fact that apparently Europeans are rare around here means a high chance of meeting weird yet wonderful people all who take a different approach on a day to day life style. It was exciting! As such Traeh was determined to make sure this all went well. Let's find her brother quickly before he even realises she's gone and there will be nothing to worry about, the rest can just follow and be taken in however it chooses to play out.

Traeh started heading off in the direction her brother most likely went. She was glad to have the company of Mae and her friend, it made for a nice change in atmosphere. "Well... Due to the fact this is our first time here... He's most likely doing the smart thing and looking for a map of the area, or a information booth... Maybe a tour guide? Is there anything like that around her-" Traeh was suddenly cut off her sentence as she was cracked in the back of the head by an outraged man. "Can I not turn my sight away from you for five second before you disappear on me! Can I not trust you with a simple command such as follow!? Why do you insist on being so useless?" Well... He had noticed, and clearly wasn't too pleased about it either. By this point Traeh had already dropped to the ground holding onto her head, the blow wasn't particularly hard but the sudden shock of it still left her dazed. Her brother then glared around to face Mae and Ayane.

"Wow... You really need to fix that attitude of yours, man." Ayane said carelessly, giving the older brother an annoyed look. It was too late to stop her now. Her friend did not take kindly to people being rude like that, especially not towards her friend. "Ayane... I think you should sto-" But she was cut off by her pigtailed friend. "What gives you a reason to act like that, Huh Bucko?" While she went on her little "crusade" against the rude older brother, Mae dragged Traeh off to the side, whispering. "Sorry about all this. Once Ayane gets going... it's almost impossible to stop her... Your brother's not violent, is he?"

The older brother grunted and spat out the contents of his mouth onto the ungrateful floor below. He had already been ticked off by the disappearance of his sister, now what? He's being questioned by some school girls? What gives them the right to tell him how to treat his sister, he was the one who had to look after her, pay for their food, pay for their rent and everything else for that matter. So why should she get the luxury of wandering off whenever she pleases. "Yeah? Well what gives you the right to come and question me about it!? I don't even know who you are!" His shouts and bellows at this point had attracted the attention of others on the station that stared at the scene in disgust. His temper was long gone by now, and Traeh knew perfectly well it wouldn't come back in a hurry if things continued like this.

"Don't worry about it... It's not your fault." Traeh looked around noticing the performance act her brother was putting on and the attention it had bought. "He can be so embarrassing sometimes... Oh and, ehm. You might want to get your friend to ease up a bit though... I've never seen someone stand up to him like this before, I have no idea what he might do..." Traeh whispered this almost to an unaudioable level over all the shouting that was going on in fear that her brother would hear. However she knew she had to do something, get her brother away from here before anything bad happens to Ayane, or he gets arrested for public disturbance... Or worse? "We should probably try to break this up before it gets out of hand..."

"Um... Ayane? It's okay. Please, calm down before he beats you up..." Mae looked nervously at her pigtailed friend... Ayane's mood was always quick to change. And she wasn't going to back down from the older brother, no matter what was being said. "I'm not gonna tell ya, you c-Mrphurhph" Mae had run up to her friend and covered her mouth before she could finish that sentence. "Sorry, sir... She's quick to fight. I swear she didn't mean anything." Mae's tone was apologetic, as she dragged the angered Ayane away from the older brother. "Contain yourself, geez... I don't want him to beat you up!" She whispered into her friends ear.

"Well, I'm glad we could help out Traeh! Hope you'll enjoy your stay here in Azores! Oh yeah, before I forget." grabbed Traeh's hand and scribbled down her cellphone number on the back of traeh's left hand with a pencil. "In case you wanna hang out or something. You can always reach me on this number. Just send me a text, and I'll be there in a flash."

And with that, the two girls (one of them reluctantly so) left the station...

[Mae and Ayane have left the scene]

Traeh, still in an concerned state, wasn't very much of a help in the situation. She had managed to get herself off of the ground by this point but that was about it. Only able to observe the scene that was going on in front of her, of which Mae had now gotten involved with too. However she did seem to manage to break up any fight that may of occurred and dragged her friend away from Traehs brother, who at this point was pouting and turned away in annoyance.

"Oh! Yeah, thanks for everything Mae." She smiled the best she could considering the situation, then noticing that Mae had started writing something on her hand. "Heh, will do. Hopefully it'll turned out better next time." Just after saying this her brother caught hold of her wrist and started dragging her off. "Cyah!" She managed to shout before being pulled out of audible range.

[Traeh left the scene]