Jan and Mikel

The desert was something that he really didn't like. It was the heat and the sand. They were used to clothing for the cold, or, for aesthetic purposes - especially Anisette, as she was of noble blood.

But even in casual clothing, not of their norms, the heat was unbearable. And the sand was just irritating.

Anisette was just finishing up with tying her hair.Just a messy bun worked well; they weren't about to tell who they are so might as well play the role well.

"Zane!" she chirped, calling his attention.

Zane looked at her. "Anisette," he said in acknowledgement more than anything. His voice was rough, due to the irritation he felt, not wanting to speak and because of that, he didn't pursue a conversation.

"Teehee, you really aren't fond of the heat, aren't you?" she smiled, trying to cheer up the atmosphere. They were near town, if she remembered right. "It's not so long aways, isn't it? Hang in there!"

"I know," he said, keeping his cool for whatever it was worth. "And I'm not; I dislike this kind of weather."

He looked at her finally. "Are you all right?"

"Oh, I'm fine, really," she said. It was really hot and she didn't like the weather and she wasn't used to it and she just really didn't want to add to the irate that was Zane's wrath.

"Why?" she asked, blinking. "Do I look not okay?"

"You sure?" she was red all over. Maybe it was just the heat. Or her skin's burning. After all, she wasn't used to be in this kind of a situation. "Truly, if you need assistance, I am here, you know. I am your butler."

His eyesight trailed down to the sand and saw some sort of movement beneath the sand.

"Yes, I'm quite sure," she hastily replied. "It is hot, of course, I mean, both of us - we really should just get moving, don't we?" she grinned sheepishly, not even wanting to know how she probably looks like at the time.

When he looked down, she looked down and something pinched her shoe. "Kya!" she screamed in surprise and kicked her foot up a bit, waving it off.

"I see," he said. "Yes, well --," all the time, he spoke while looking down, trying to make sense of what was behind that sand. An animal? And sure enough, it was. It latched itself on Anisette's shoe and when she kicked upwards, it soared up before bouncing on the sand.

It was a crab. Sort of. It looked like one.

"Whaaaaaaaaaaaat," she squealed. "Is that? A crab? In the desert?!" she panicked. Maybe the heat got to her after all and she just did an uber awesome job at hiding it from itself. But now that something caught her off guard, she just went boom!

"A crab," he replied. "At least I think so. A sand crab - ever heard of it, Anisette?"

He looked at her before watching the crab scuttle away and dive into the sand. "They live in deserts; they don't really need water."

"My, that's fascinating," she said, quite amused and surprised and a little bewildered. She watched it dive into the sand and found it weird how they don't need water when the common crabs she was most aware of needed much of it.

"Quite," he replied. "There are a lot more weird organisms in the desert. And I suggest we get to town before we encounter more of them."

He started walking, tugging her hand just to get her to start walking.

She nodded, agreeing almost instantaneously and cooperated without a single struggle when he dragged her.

"I don't want to see any more of them. What if the next we see are flesh-eating worms? Or cacti?" she blinked. That was a scary thought.

"Ah," he nodded, keeping his sight directly in front, believing that was the right direction.

"Flesh-eating worms, I might consider. But flesh-eating cacti? That, my lady, is quite a feat for your imagination."

They walked in a good pace, considering the sand slowing them down. She was glad she had boots.

"Come on, Zane! You can't rule them out, they~," she stopped as a furry animal passed them and a cactus ran after it, devouring it and buried itself in the sand.

She looked at Zane. "You were saying?"

He raised an eyebrow at the sudden events. This place was weirder than he thought. Maybe the heat was to blame. Hallucinating?

"I was saying that the lady Anisette should keep quiet from now on lest what she says come true again and we won't be so lucky then."

"That... that's so mean," she said, complaining but ended up with giggles. "But! I never imagined we'd ever get stuck in a desert, Zane."

She looked around. All sand. All sand. A few cacti but she decided to stay away from them. "This is kinda cool!"

"We're not stuck," he said, adamant. "We're walking towards the town. How are we stuck? We have a direction, Anisette."

He was calm but the idea of getting stuck in the desert wasn't appealing at all.

She giggled again. "Don't worry! I'm not thinking any less of your skills and capabilities, dear butler!" she grinned, hoping it would calm him down.

"Just saying! I'd be stuck here if it weren't for you, after all," she said. :3

He shook his head and shrugged, still tugging her by the hand and hastening his pace. He could feel a slight tremor in the ground, although really faint. The sand must be to blame for that.

He suddenly turned quiet but that wasn't something new. He must be thinking or trying to make sense of something. She wasn't sure what - he never really tell those things outright or on his own. Pressing him is important and that was what she did. "What's wrong?"

He wasn't sure if he wanted to say it or not. It was just a suspicion and he didn't want to fluster her more than she was already. The heat suddenly became rather unbearable more than earlier.

"Something's moving in the sand," he ended up saying. "I'm not sure what. Or if I'm just imagining it."

Anisette looked around and on the ground, somewhere, trying to feel for anything unusual.

There was nothing and she looked at Zane. "Hopefully it doesn't happen again. That was rather scary a thought."

"My apologies, I didn't want to scare you," he said. "But I thought I had to tell you just so you are prepared, to whatever extent it may entail. I have yet to understand what's going on."

But the good thing was, the city's outline finally appeared. Albeit it was a long, long ways to go.

Bad thing was, something shook beneath them.