This World is Wild, But is Not the Forest

[Erza Scarlet]

The green anomaly had been unresponsive, arms crossed, for the duration of her impromptu presentation, likely having been more confused than informed by it all. Well, I didn't exactly have long to prepare the lesson plan... Erza stood back up from the bench on the magical carriage and bent over forward to give her a hand. Emerald reluctantly accepted.

Look, I didn't get much of what you said, but as long as you know where we're headed, let's just do that then. Every time I try to think about this... Omni? Ow! Yeah, headaches happen." She again took Erza's calloused hand, hoisting herself upward and momentarily losing her balance on the slippery step. Emerald's eyes went wide for a split second before her instincts kicked in and her foot swung forwards to catch her only inches before a collision with Erza would have occurred, leaving the two staring at each other, frozen and uncomfortably close.

After a brief moment of eye contact, Erza rather forcefully let go of her companion's hand and plopped herself down on the center of the bench, nodding emphatically. "Let's be going, then!" The nature-lover took her seat slightly more judiciously, and the recent incident disappeared quickly and completely from Erza's mind as the magical carriage kicked into gear, shooting off towards the Tangled Green as it bounced, skidded and flew about, careening wildly and leaving a trail of dust and befuddled civilians in its wake.

There were no roads in the Nexus - Only white. White floor, white ceiling, dragging on and on in all directions but for the center. Erza had tried making small talk for the first few minutes, but the green woman was unresponsive. In hindsight, it was likely a combination of her complete concentration on holding tight to the seat to stay in the carriage and the shear of the wind passing at 80 miles per hour making polite conversation all but imposssible. Had she taken the time to look, she would have noticed Emerald's white knuckles and terrified expression, that same demeanor common to most who would ride with Erza as the driver, but that would certainly have contributed to that recklessness in her driving that caused her passengers' terror in the first place. As it was, to Erza at least, the trip ended up being overall pretty peaceful, considering.

It was as she was musing as to the state of her travel arrangements that she again glanced forwards and noted a small gathering about the stone pillars marking their destination - and she was coming up on them fast. Panicking, yanked the steering joystick to the left, pulling the stout vehicle into a skid that ended only a few feet from the quickly-retreating crowd with the carriage nearly tipping over onto them, precariously balancing on its right wheels for a very long couple of seconds before slamming back to the ground.

"Good, glad that worked out. What's everyone doing here?" Erza hopped off of her wheeled creation, seemingly unfazed by the aftermath of her nearly-fatal mistake and taking in the sweet scents of a carnival on the first day, before the tang of vomit and piss had infiltrated the euphoric getup. A few of those in the crowd, those more used to the antics of new primes and who hadn't already fled or fainted, halfheartedly gestured towards a gathering of booths to the side of the gate. Most of them seemed to be selling refreshments and snacks or dinky plastic toys, but the largest one in the center, which seemed to be the hub of most of the activity, was surrounded by more dangerous-looking folks, most carrying weapons and bantering back and forth as they filled out forms of some sort.

Erza turned to her companion. "Wanna check it out?" Not waiting for a response, she began to wade through the thick of excited Primes towards the center booth.