She was so beautiful.
Every little bit of her was simply too much for the muddy, dour beaches of Rock Village. Even the dark clouds that always seemed to hang over it were no match for the sunlight her face was when she beamed with curiosity. Oh, and that darling little way her ears perked up when one of her little self-conversations came to a startling discovery! That way her coppery red hair cascaded down her back in thick braids, as practical as they were elegant. The way the cold sea breeze made her pale skin go pink at the nose and eartips. The way her hips would sway as she hummed to herself while she worked. How she just stood out from everything in the rainy little village!
"Maia? ... Maia, dear?"
Maia didn't respond with anything more than an absent-minded, wistful sigh. "Hmmm~?"
Of course, then her happy thoughts were then immediately interrupted by her twin snorting out a loud laugh, "Dear sister, you stare any longer and you'll know more about that woman's backside than dark eco!"
Maia's eyes shot wide and her bronze cheeks went a deep red where there wasn't tattoo ink to hide it, and she scrunched up frantically against the rock she was leaning past. Of all the times for Gol to actually be done with packing uncharacteristically early! She threw a furious gaze over her shoulder at her brother's snickering, her dark eco stained ears shooting straight up and back. "I beg your pardon!?"
"Oh, please don't look that way," he tried to reason through a chuckle. "You become utterly fascinated with her every time we're down here, I'm surprised she hasn't noticed herself!" He raised his hands in a friendly play-surrender, all while still wearing that cheeky, knowing smirk. "I never knew someone could stare and sigh longingly for ten minutes straight!"
Well, none of that was the key to lessening Maia's irritation, and she pursed her lips at Gol. "Well, dear brother, I think it's absolutely none of your business! And that you assume too much. Those sighs are... they're thoughtful at the most." Ah yes, a defense like wet paper. She wasn't quite on her comeback game at the moment, mostly because her mind was still swimming with thoughts of the pretty geologist at the other side of the shore.
Gol reiterated the gesture, quickly raising his hands even higher and trying not to chuckle this time, at least. "No, no, you're quite right! It isn't. ... But surely you can't keep staring at her like that- so thoughtfully. It's a little–"
"A little what, exactly?" Maia narrowed her eyes in warning.
"It's a little strange," he retorted to the look, "ogling her from the shore like that for so many months, not even knowing her name. The dumber villagers probably think you're a witch from the mountains, planning on eating her! You know, literally."
Maia felt her face flush red-hot again and she looked squarely at him, giving him a harmless if blatantly annoyed smack on his good arm. "Oh, by the Precusors, be quiet, you."
Gol raised a brow, prodding a little further at his sister's stubbornness. "Come now, you know what I mean. Since when do you ever hold you tongue?" He smirked at the slow side-eye that got him. "Why not use that ever-so-wonderful way with words of yours, but with her?"
There was a pause, and Maia simply crossed her arms and turned away. She knew that her twin had long since caught on to exactly what she was feeling, and that- perhaps, in retrospect- she may have looked a tad obvious even to those she wasn't related to. It wasn't that she didn't want to speak to the beauty, or that Gol wasn't obviously being a cheeky little snot on purpose to goad her in that very direction, but... well, staring was bizarrely easy. For some reason, 'she who always made herself heard' just couldn't... figure out what in the world she was supposed to say exactly.
So she turned the implied dare back on him with logic. "... And what do you suggest I do, exactly? Simply walk up and start speaking? What business do I have with her?" She spun to look at him again, setting her hands on her hips. "I don't even know if she... ugh, well, you know what I mean!" She flailed her hand about in the air as a substitute for actual words, and Gol yet again had to resist giggling. "It's not as simple as simply speaking to her, which I'm plenty capable of, I assure you." She put her chin up.
Gol simply scoffed and rolled his eyes as the excuse. "I don't know, she obviously enjoys rocks. Talk to her about rocks. Shiny and rare ones, even." He opened his travel pack and handed her one of the small inert dark eco crystal formations from their recent haul. "Or, perhaps- and forgive my boldness!-" he teased with a flippant little grin, "you could simply say hello and ask her name. Like a normal person."
Maia gave his teasing a sharp look, but snatched up the crystal with a defeated sigh. She knew he was only nudging because he very much wanted to help her, as he always did, and she still appreciated that he noticed. "Fine. Easy enough." She stared at the little crystal, trying to attach some decent words to it's presence, even if they might all just be purely analytical. It was a fine specimen, beautifully faceted and easily handled even by those not gifted with their same eco affinity. It was a normal sight for her by now, but to anyone else it would be a sparkling wonder. And certainly a woman of such obvious intelligence would find interest in it, and not the typical uneducated fear...
A few minutes of increasingly awkward silence passed. "... Is this another thoughtful sigh building," Gol's ears perked curiously,"or would you care for me to invit–"
"No! Just simple thought!" She huffed, and clasped her hand around the crystal with unnecessary force. "I can speak on my own quite fine, thank you." She spun on her heel, only to look back over her shoulder, "Especially to women!" And with that firm assertation, she began trekking towards the other side of the shore.
"Never a doubt in my mind, dear sister!" Gol snickered as he half-hid behind one of the nearby rocks to give her some privacy.
There she was, the far too gorgeous geologist, minding her business and examining the large seaside rock formations that were laced with glimmers of eco residue, with those eyes of hers so entranced they looked like they were reading the most exciting book she'd ever seen. Maia felt her heart begin to pound in her chest as her feet sped up on their own. Far too maddeningly beautiful, especially when she was excited about research. That was fine. This was fine. She could do this. Her hand tightened fiercely around the poor tiny crystal, her conviction burning strong. She looked over her shoulder one last time to make sure Gol could see just how easy this would be for her, only to find him conspicuously missing.
And just in time to walk right into the geologist, bent over.
"Oh!" The redheaded woman caught herself on one of the rocks before she could face-plant into the sand, and spun around quickly. "Oh my! Are you alright? I didn't hear you coming!"
Maia- now hands, arse, and feet deep in the sand- shook her head and looked up. Oh... she had never quite heard her voice up close before. It was so sweet, just as stupidly pretty as the rest of her. And that little accent! Oh, how it tickled her ears! So pleasant and gentle. She blinked, dumbfounded, then shot up to her feet. "Of course. Yes, I-I'm fine." She said, chin up and voice firm. She tried futilely to brush the sand off of herself before she realized then that she stood well over the geologist's head. The other woman looked so petite in comparison. "You... you are the village's geologist, are you not?" she asked with all the command in her voice that she'd use in sagely discussions.
The geologist knit her brows as she made sure with a glance that Maia was alright, and clearly noting the dark purple-blue color splotching all over the sage's ears, hands, and feet. But she didn't react with wariness, rather simply with surprise at Maia's height. "Why, yes, I am! At least, an aspiring one." She gestured towards her maps and notebooks scattered on the dry parts of the beach. "And you're one of the sages from the north, aren't you? Our sage mentioned you, but I'm afraid I've never met either of you. And he never mentioned you were a female sage!" Her face brightened with interest and she broke into an eagerly helpful smile. "Did you need my help for something?"
"No! I mean, no, I don't, thank you. I simply wanted to-" (Oh. Oh, no?) The words caught in her throat like they hit a wall, which was such a distinctly unfamiliar sensation for her that she spent a whole long second being startled by it. "Ahem, I just wanted to-" Well. Alright. This was... frustrating. She clenched her fists tight, only to find both were remarkably empty. Oh. That little crystal must've tumbled off on its own in the fall, and she couldn't force herself to look down from the geologist's round, rosy-cheeked face to find it.
"Is everything alright?" The geologist cocked her head curiously, causing one of her braids to fall over her shoulder in the most agonizingly graceful way. Maia felt her heart thump again, and her eyes widen a bit. She suddenly couldn't remember anything at all about eco crystals, rocks, or even words. So she just sat there, standing and wordless. (No, no, think of something!)
"I like- I-I like your... Your voice ni- accent is nice... I..." Maia felt her cheeks absolutely burn with heat at her own babbling, to the point that she was downright sure that dipping her face in the lava tube would not have provided even half the sensation. "Ahem! What I mean is-!" Her voice's commanding tone cracked. Was she sweating? What was this!? (Ugh!) She grit her teeth, and so determined was she not to be tongue-tied, that she forced all the words out at once, "Your voice is very nice!" (Oh, Precursors.) She stared for a solid, awkward second as the geologist blinked in surprise. "I have to go now, farewell," she sputtered curtly, then spun around on her heel again and marched off, leaving a very confused geologist behind her. Oh, her heartbeat was like a drum slamming in her ears!
"Brother, come, we're leaving!" Maia barked sharply, forcing her brother to zip out from behind his rock, trying his very damnedest not grin at the shade of bright red she was, unaware of just what exactly had his sister so very flustered.
"Well then, that was fast. Did you learn her name, at least?" He paused, then raised a brow. "... Alright, why are you positively covered in sand?"
"I-" She forgot to ask her name. And all she had to show for her efforts was a good layer of wet sand caked on her elbows and rear end, and one less eco crystal. Well, of all bloody things. She huffed and shook her head. "I said we're leaving! And," she swung her hand up to shush her brother's grinning lips preemptively, "don't you even dare think to start laughing." She grabbed her pack and started towards the Blue Sage's hut without another word.
"... It could not have possibly gone that bad." Gol blinked, looked out to the shore, and perked an ear in confusion before grabbing his cane and hiking up as quickly as he could manage after his sister. This required further investigation.
The geologist just stood there, still very confused as to what just happened and why, but as the jumble that was that interaction began to wear off, she found herself becoming dreadfully curious of the mysterious young sage. She started to walk towards where she thought she saw her stomp off to, but felt her foot graze something small and sharp that left a slight burning sting on her skin. "Ah!" She hopped backwards a few times and looked down at the glimmer of purple jutting out from the sand. "Oh, what are you...?" She pulled a cloth from her pack before reaching down and picking it up. A dark eco crystal? And what a marvelously beautiful specimen, too! The ebbing iridescent glow was still stunningly beautiful, despite the fact that it was clearly without a truly dangerous charge if she could hold it with no more than a rag. How rare it was to find a specimen stable enough to admire up close without the chance of an explosion, much less handle!
It was just a little too rare to find one here, however. They weren't common to the village or shoreline, and especially not in the exposed sunlight, however little Rock Village got during the rainy season. That rather shapely, garnet-eyed dark sage must have left it behind in their collision. Certainly, she would miss it if she meant to study it for her eco training! She quickly jogged up the shore a ways, just enough to see the door of the Sage's hut. "Excuse me! Sage! Come back, you left this," she called up as loud as she politely could, but there was no answer. "Sage!" After a few moments, she frowned. They must've already left.
"Oh... well, drat." She pouted before looking down at the delicate shard of darkness in her hand. "I didn't even get her name. And what to do with you, little friend..." She could go through the teleport gate if she asked the Blue Sage, she supposed. He wasn't stingy with its use. But, she still had so much work to do here. Perhaps she would just hold onto the crystal and keep it safe until its rightful owner came back on the next scheduled trip. Maybe studying it enough to be able to trade notes with the likes of a sage would warrant an actual conversation with her. Her lips took on a slightly sneaky, little smile.
Maybe, even yet, she could at least learn the name of that most intriguing, flustered lady sage...