[Open] A Visit to a City on the Sea

[vela_nova]

Who: Blaze, Visitors
What: Blaze allows visitors to see her dimension, and her world's version of Soleanna
Where: The Sol Dimension, Capitol City of Soleanna
When: October 24-28

This wasn't the first time she tried to bring people with her to her home dimension, but last time it happened, things were... not so pleasant. They had arrived in the middle of an attack by Dr. Eggman Nega's forces, and thankfully were able to repel him. This time, however, things were different. All was peaceful and calm. She had talked with Jon some time ago about letting people visit, and now seemed as good a time as any. The shadow bugs were hardly a problem now, and the opportunity was there.

And so with a stable portal in place thanks to the Sol Emeralds, Blaze was allowing people to visit her home dimension, and its capitol city of Soleanna.



Visitors were free to explore to their heart's content, so long as they didin't interfere with the regular goings-on around town. And any trouble would be dealt with personally by Blaze. She had her eye on everyone, although not at all times, and certainly more focused on the known troublemakers who happened to visit...

((Feel free to start your own threads! Soleanna in Blaze's dimension is very much like a Venetian town, with all the shops and amenities you'd expect. Most of the population are koalas. Have fun!))

Comments

[mach_n_roll]

The world about to end...? Well, you know me! Never a dull moment.

[But no srsly what did she mean by that? He'd ask, but her smile is so damn rare that he'd rather it stick around instead of become sacrificed for the sake of an explanation.]

Your city's amazing, by the way! I mean, I knew you were a princess, but man...

[He fidgets.]

For some reason I never put together that you'd rule over a whole kingdom, let alone one like this!

[vela_nova]

[Blaze was definitely embarrassed by that, and blushed a bit. She coughed to recompose herself.]

I... Thank you, Sonic. I suppose I may not be the most... traditional ruler out there.

I know there's a similar city in your world... I read about it in the library. I suppose it's fitting that such a place might exist in two dimensions. I rarely get to just... admire it.

[mach_n_roll]

He coughs in an echo to hers. Yeah, the situation is awkward now... how'd that happen?

"...Because you spend a lot of time out at the school, right?"

[vela_nova]

"Even before I was sent there," she said. "Being princess... Watching the Sol Emeralds... It consumes so much of my life. It wasn't until recently that I've been forced to... stop and smell the roses, as it were."

"It feels like such a long time though. I've missed you."

[mach_n_roll]

"...Say, uh, what d'you say we head out and enjoy the city together?" Sonic finally asks, jerking a thumb out the open balcony doors. He isn't avoiding what she's just said, just... getting a good look at it from a distance. She missed him... Well, she probably missed a lot of her friends, right? Still, it's really nice to hear her say that.

"We can go for a run around the harbor, maybe grab some food, and you can show me all the parts of the town you've build up and I'm not familiar with! So how about it?"

[vela_nova]

Suddenly realizing how that could have sounded, Blaze was quiet until Sonic decided to finally break the tension and change the subject. Glad for that, she nodded. "Fine by me," she replied. With a small grin, she added, "We'll see if you're still as fast as I remember."

[mach_n_roll]

A matching grin comes with the answer. "Nope. I'm even faster."

He hops onto the edge of the balcony and beckons. Blaze is one of the few that come close to keeping up with him, so he has no intention on taking off like a shot. At least not yet.

Below than lie the curving columnades of the palace, a perfect ramp to launch off of. Sonic leaps off with that as his destination.

[vela_nova]

Blaze didn't say anything else. She simply ran for the balcony and kicked off, a trail of flames leaving her feet as she dove down to race next to him, launching off the curved architecture and to the street.

Their race took them through city streets, careful to dodge any passers by, down towards the pier. Paths of stone gave way to wood, and eventually to dirt and sand. They raced through woods and clearings, eventually catching sight of something that Sonic might have been very familiar with...

Kingdom Valley. In his world, a flooded ruin that doubled as one of Eggman's bases. But here, it was pristine, intact.

[mach_n_roll]

Stone walls curved all the way to the sky, and cathedrals towered over wide waterfalls. Sonic had thought the place was amazing even when in ruins. Now? It looked spectacular.

The feeling of deja-vu has even relaxed. Maybe it's the fact that this is a different Kingdom Valley then the one he'd seen. It's liberating, really.

He takes to the curved wall, sprinting along beside Blaze at right-angle, close enough to smile at her. As the path curves away, he hops from one side to the other, showing off, and ultimately joins her on the ground as the path reaches up to the spire of the cathedral.

[vela_nova]

Blaze grinned as the hedgehog just had to show off his skills to her. That was the Sonic she remembered. Feeling more carefree than she had in a long time, she responded in kind. With a burst of flames she launched herself into the air, kicking off of one pillar towards another. She triangle jumped between them a good distance, before grabbing on to a small flagpole and flinging herself towards Sonic. With a short flame boost to cover the distance, she landed and took off next to him again.

"Two can play that game."

[mach_n_roll]

"Oh yeah? Then time to take it to the next level!"

With that, Sonic reaches the spire of the cathedral and leaps off. He skydives for several stories, landing on a length of mossy buttress below. He grinds along the stone rail, around the building and eventually under a natural break in the waterfall.

Under those falls, the caverns carved out by years of weathering are draped with a curtain of water on one side, and lit by luminescent mushrooms all along the path. It made a perfect track for them to chase each other in for a little while.

"I wonder how far down this goes!" He muses in a rather loud shout, to be heard over the wind and water.

[vela_nova]

"Far enough!" Blaze called out back, keeping pace with him through the tunnel.

She made her move there, boosting a bit to just slightly overtake him. He was faster than her, no question. But if she tried, she could hold her own against him.

[mach_n_roll]

Sonic hangs back for a moment, vaulting stalagmites and sliding along the rims of cave pools with Blaze's fire lighting the way.

Then with a dull WHUDD he boosts forward, leaving a bluish cone of a shock wave behind that wraps around the stone formations and avoids Blaze's path with a convenience that can't not be engineered.

"WHAHOOO!"

[vela_nova]

While it was true that Sonic had her beat in pure speed, as he did most people, Blaze had her own ways to catch up. She jumped, burst hovering towards another wall, kicking off to cut some distance off of her route. If she couldn't run as fast as him, she could at least take a path that would help her catch up.

"You can't escape me!"

[mach_n_roll]

"I didn't realize we were chasin' each other!" His voice echoes back playfully. He leaps and spins through a weathered ring of stone made of stalagmites and stalactites. If he knew how close to flirting he was starting to sound, he would have probably smacked into it.

Further ahead they find a massive chasm with a monolithic gem-covered pillar. Ledges spiral around it, both up and down.

"Wow...!"

He decides to climb, hopping the crystal outcroppings and eager to see what's up there.

[vela_nova]

Blaze thought nothing of following him, climbing just behind him, hopping nimbly between ledges. "We're getting pretty... high up..."

She almost slipped at the thought. She didn't do heights all that well, and the pillar was getting pretty tall...

[mach_n_roll]

He actually has no idea she has a thing about heights. In fact, it's the furthest thing from his mind right now.

"I know! Isn't it great? Look at the view!"

He actually stops to perch on a huge bridge crystal and glances down to her to see her reaction.

[vela_nova]

Unfortunately, when he looked down it became readily apparent that her earlier confidence was waning, as she tried desperately not to look down and continue her ascent. But it was getting harder, and she slipped a few times on the way.

"I'll take your word on it," she said, voice wavering.

[mach_n_roll]

Wait, something was wrong... He even happens to see her slip the last time. Sonic turns and kneels down on his upward crystal, offering a hand.

"Blaze? What's the matter?"

[vela_nova]

"It's fine!" she said defensively, frustrated by her own perceived weakness. She almost didn't accept the hand at first, and when she finally did, it was very begrudgingly.

"...I don't like heights, okay?" she said quietly after she was on solid ground again.

[mach_n_roll]

"Oh man! Sorry! I, I didn't know."

He steps a little closer, to monopolize her focus and keep it away from the dark pit of the cavern below their crystalline perch. Were they ever this high up together before? No, now that he thinks of it! Oh man oh man, this was a puzzle. Solid ground or not, they were still pretty high up, and she might not be able to make it back down...

"Okay, do you think you can get down again? If you don't want to do that--and its okay if you don't--you can just close your eyes and I'll get us both outta here."

[vela_nova]

She nodded quickly. "I can get down," she assured him, squeezing his hand unconsciously. Sky Babylon was a while ago, but at least there she could try not to focus on what was down below. When she had things like Whisker's robots to content with. "Sorry..."