"Great, just great." Nightblossom muttered to herself as she tried to pull herself up a little a quickly stopped as she felt her hands start to slip. Of course it wasn't like just hanging there without moving was going to keep that from happening for long.  She would have cursed her fate more but her body had decided it needed all the air it could get at the moment and there was none left over for even under the breath muttering. The idiot beside her wasn't all that vocal either, but he sure was noisy. Heavy breathing, grunts, and some wonderfully pathetic whines kept Nightblossom constant company as he too struggled to pull himself up from the cliffside. Sheesh, poor footwork, terrible upper body strength, what was this guy even thinking trying to kidnap her? Not that she was all that in great a fighter, in fact she despised fighting with her body and would rather use destructive vocabulary than a fist, but she was the damsel in distress here. She wasn't supposed to be buff. This guy who wanted to be the 'most powerful person in the world' should have started with the bar a little lower and do some push ups first before entering a fight to the death for her hand. Idiot.

"Haaaaaaallo." A new voice rang out down to the unlucky pair on the cliff. Looking up they were rewarded to a head poking over the side, staring down at them. Nightblossom felt like the seriousness of her situation (Forget the other guy, he was an idiot. She wasn't going to bother caring about him any more. ... Not that she really had at all to start with.) was being mocked by this country bumbkin's totaly relaxed expression as he looked at them. Messy brown hair poked everywhere, heavily tanned rough skin with a touch of freckling, and he was definitely chewing something like some kind of cow chewing cud. Using her anger to draw some strength Nightblossom started to call up to him but was quite quickly interrupted by the idiot.

"Good god help us!" The moron shrieked hurting Nightblossom's ears. If they was going to have to die from falling off this cliff she hoped she went first so she didn't have to listen to this dumbbell screaming the whole way down. How did a full grown man even reach that high a pitch? Ugh.

Now by this point you might think she was being too calm herself, making snide comments about wanting to die first as she clung for life to a cliff. Well then guess what? You try living the past 3 years bouncing from ridiculous situation to ridiculous situation and not develop a little snarky morbid humor. While the cliff was a first it was hardly the first time since she ran away from home that she ended up in a sack full of trouble. All of which could be blamed on her global fame, thank you stupid old geezer.

So anyway back to the cliff side, bumpkin boy continued to look at them and chew without even a wince at that high pitched squeal. Finally, after apparent consideration he finally opened his mouth. Nightblossom twitched reflexively expecting whatever he chewed on to fall onto her in a gross drool blob but nothing fell down. Well other than maybe some jaws as he responded. "Why should I?"

The two of them stared at him dumbfounded. He continued, accompanying his words with lazy hand movements. "I mean I came over here thinking something wild pig was digging at something with all the grunting and wheezing-" Yeah that was a fairly good description. "-but instead I find you two. I can't eat you two. What a waste of time." The boy sighed scratching his head.

"You have to help me!" The man screamed again. Ah, it had already turned to me. Wow. Well Nightblossom didn't expect much anyway from this trash.

"Whatever, I'm so hungry..." The boy said and started to leave, head disappearing from over the edge.

"Chicken and garlic dumplings!" Nightblossom suddenly shouted as loud as she could. The man beside her, who had started crying, stared at her confused. Ugh, there was snot running out his nose into his mustache too. Eeeeew. But he wasn't whose attention she needed right now. Sure enough half a face peeked over and Nightblossom couldn't contain her victorious smile. "In my bag I've got on, I bought them last town over. All yours if you get me up." She puffed, it was really hard talking loudly and hanging off the cliff after all.

There wasn't even a moment of consideration before a long staff reached down and skillfully hooked the bag on her back and began to lift her up. It was a little terrifying, since with the curve of the lift she got pulled away from the cliff side and for a moment just dangled over empty air. Terrifying visions of the staff shattering and her falling to her death plagued Nightblossom for a moment, as well as the satisfying knowledge that if she was going down she was taking her dumplings with her, but she was quickly pulled over to the ground without mishap.

"Thanks-" She started but was stopped my a suddenly outstretched hand by her savior.

"Dumplings." Was all he said, eyes riveted on her bag and mouth open and watering. This guy really had been hungry. As Nightblossom began to fish them out though the other moron started screaming again.

"What about me! Pull me up!" The fellow cried out and while it was a relief to no longer be right next to him distance had not made it any less annoying. Nightblossom ignored him and handed over the three fist sized dumplings to her paid for savior. "Help meeeee!"

"Youth goth anry fhood?" The young man asked already devouring one of the dumplings.

"SAVE ME!" Was the only reply.

"I'd take that as a no." Nightblossom said flatly pulling her bag back onto her shoulders. "And I'm not wasting any more of my supplies on an idiot like him."

"What?!" Oh he heard that. Oops, so sorry. No really she just felt soooo bad to be the cause of your emotional distress.

"You have more food?" The young man ignored the cries for help and focused on Nightblossom with a glint in his eyes. He seemed to have already completely finished the dumplings.

"Some, but it's mine." She said sternly and the boy looked disheartened. Well least he was an honest idiot rather than a ruthless thief.

"Alright, what were you even doing down there anyway." He said putting his staff lazily over his shoulders  as he  stood. Unlike Nightblossom it seemed he didn't have any kind of bag or supplies. Just the black staff. His clothes were ratty and dust covered, a pair of faded gray pants, a bright orange sash wrapped around his waist, and a tan shirt which he wore open showing off his equally dirty chest. He definitely had to have been on the road awhile.

"Ugh, it was a stupid fight." Nightblossom said waving a hand dismissively. She obviously wasn't going to tell him the why of the fight though.

"A fight?" His voice was excited again and looking over at him this time he had a different glint in those blue eyes of his. "You and him?" He nodded back at the sobbing sounds coming from the cliff.

"Psh no, him and the dead guy. I was an unfortunate bystander." Nightblossom said sneering. She felt shocked though when all of a sudden the boy turned around and just as he had for her pulled up the other man. Lacking a pack he instead hooked his staff on the shirt the man wore and propelled him up onto the ground.

"Oh thank you, thank you." The man sobbed shaking as he pushed himself off from the ground he'd been thrown. His sobbing gratitude was cut off though when suddenly the young man thumped the end of his staff down hard right in front of the man's nose.

"Fight me." He said staring down at the other man with a possessed smile.