sixthiterationlogs | shine a little light on everything around you

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shine a little light on everything around you

WHO: Oerba Dia Vanille
WHERE: Fountain, Inn, edges of the 6I village, outside the village
WHEN: June 1st through 4th
OPEN TO: Everyone! - Helen for the arrival part, but everything else is completely open
WARNINGS: might be a general death and people turning into monsters/crystal zombies warning in her narratives about Oerba and l'Cie, but TBD otherwise

June 1st - arrival ~~FIRST COME FIRST SERVED~~ HELEN

They had all made a promise. To not let anything happen to Cocoon. Every single one of them wants to try to change their fates. The crystal or Cie'th choice is clear, but so is the choice to defy that fate and save the world. They stand at the end of the path to Orphan's Cradle, ready, minds made up. Vanille is ready to face her fate, for once. Her promise is the strongest. Cocoon is important to her new family and, through her travels with them and everything that had happened to her since she woke up in the vestige, Cocoon became important to her as well. She grips her weapon with both hands, nodding. She is more than ready to end this. Taking a deep breath, she opens her eyes.

And finds herself no longer standing at the door to Orphan. Instead, water surrounds her and beyond that stone walls. It takes every shred of willpower she has not to scream or thrash. She'd lived near water long enough to know how to swim and what not to do when suddenly submerged. For all she knows this could be another fal'Cie trick anyway. Kicking her feet, she reaches for the surface, held back by whatever is around her shoulders. She'll figure that out later. The important thing is not drowning.

It feels like forever before her head breaks the surface of the water and she practically throws herself against the edge of the wall, clinging to it as she sucks in as much air as she can. For a few minutes, she'll stay here, trying to catch her breath, and then she'll figure out how to climb out of this. There's no bottom that she can see and she doesn't think she can dive far enough to find out, so up it will be.

Later. Once she's caught her breath.

June 1st to 4th - outside/Inn

She feels a bit strange, almost as though she doesn't belong, but that's mostly due to being so new. The village itself reminds her so much of Oerba that it hurts. There are no Cie'th wandering the town streets, no crystal ash falling from the sky. No Cocoon as a backdrop to everything. She stops along the street for a moment, shading her eyes against the sun so she can see as far as possible. She's been kidnapped somehow and dropped here in this village that is so similar to Gran Pulse that she half expects to see an oretoise in the distance. Or a chocobo flock. At this point, she might even take a behemoth just for the memories.

Sighing to herself, she continues on her way, eventually making it to the Inn and stepping inside. She doesn't really know how things work here, even with an explanation or two, so she makes her way into the kitchen, mostly looking at what's available. One hand lifts to rub her chin thoughtfully before she lets it fall, pointing a finger at a soup bowl.

"So... do I have to contribute something to be able to take food?" she asks the nearest person. It wasn't like that in Oerba, but from her experiences on Cocoon, the few days she'd spent in Bodhum, she'd learned that not everything was communal. Sometimes a person had to work for something or have credit chips or gil to be able to buy anything. Either that or someone's good will would provide.

On the 2nd and 3rd days, she comes back like clockwork, mostly to eat and meet the people. She's very friendly, taking a seat out in the middle for the specific purpose of being able to ask questions. She does her best to fit in, but so far it hasn't been a bad thing to be new. It's not like Cocoon where people are afraid of the l'Cie shadow. Even so... she hasn't exactly brought that up and isn't planning to for a while.

On the 4th, she stops coming and indeed it might seem as though she has vanished entirely. In reality, she's gathered a few supplies and decided to take a trek outside the village to see what she might find. She'll be happy to have company if anyone wants to join her, but she isn't expecting it. Honestly, she doesn't know quite where she'll end up. She just knows that she's following one of the river branches out towards the southwest. Who knows what she'll find?

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Helen made a habit of actually checking the fountain and the surrounding park a few times per day, even in this new version of the village with so much more to explore and do. She was a little late today, though, because she'd had soap she was setting into molds and she'd simply lost track of time; that was, naturally, more easy to do in a place like this where you set your own schedule versus going based on the rhythms of the technological world.

All that being said, when she came to the fountain she was dismayed to see that she'd found a girl who clearly had just arrived and had come woefully unprepared for it. There was nothing so disorienting than arriving in this place, then or now, and she drew up close enough to talk to the new arrival.

"Are you injured at all? Or just startled from the fountain?"

The voice is almost familiar. Or rather the accent is almost familiar enough to be painful. Vanille blinks and glances up over the edge of the fountain. This isn't anyone she knows, none of the people she wants to see most and no fal'Cie she's ever met, but she still appreciates the concern. Shifting a little more, she pulls herself upwards until her arms and chest hang over the edge. Now she can see a bit more, but she's still unsure about any of this.

"I'm okay," she answers, trying to smile. "Just startled. I wasn't expecting to be submerged today."

The fact that she doesn't know where she is is left off for the moment. She probably doesn't need to say it.

"I don't think any of us ever expect a dunking in a fountain but we have all found ourselves there at least once in coming here," Helen said, giving the girl a bit of a broader smile now that she saw she was in high enough spirits in spite of having wound up in this place.

"Come, I can take you where you can dry off and change into new clothing," she said. "I'll take you along to the Inn. My name is Helen."

Finally heaving herself out of the fountain, and taking any help if it's presented to her, she eventually makes her way to her feet. This... outfit, is definitely not what she was wearing last she knew. It's strange, but there's no sign of her real clothes nor any of her jewelry, and that's a little sad.

"Vanille," she offers in return, managing a bright smile. "My name."

There's one more thing nagging at her and she cranes her neck around to see a corner of the pack on her back.

"Um..." She glances back at Helen almost apologetically. "I don't remember picking this up."

"No, you wouldn't have. We all arrive with a pack of some sort. It's possibly to help smooth over the ruffled feathers from arriving in a new place with none of your things," Helen said, voice a bit wry as she remembered her own ascent from that fountain nearly two years ago.

"It'll have a dry set of clothing in it for you, at least, and if you come to the Inn with me we can probably find something someone has left behind so you won't be relegated to scrubs."

"Well, it's not a very good try," Vanille huffs in mock irritation before she quickly drops the act and smiles. "It could be worse. At least they gave us something."

The fal'Cie would never have done something that nice. Not in her experience. She isn't entirely convinced that this... whatever and wherever it is isn't more fal'Cie hallucinations. But she can play along. Besides, maybe this is some other place on Gran Pulse that none of them have ever been to or heard of. Or somewhere on Cocoon. She wouldn't know and there's no reason to take chances until she can find out more.

"Thank you," Vanille says shyly, falling back on the act of being cheerful and innocent. "Are there a lot of people here?"

"There's a good number. Our population hovers around three dozen, give or take. It's no large city, by any means, but there's a good number of refugees here more or less like us." Helen had forgotten how much she did like doing the introductions; two centuries of seeking the impossible had girded her for this, certainly.

"Where are you from? I can see if I recall anyone from there to point out to you," she said helpfully.

The term refugees could mean anything. Refugees from the Purges maybe, but they would be no more welcoming of a Pulse l'Cie than anyone else. That question is answered by the briefest of pauses, as though she doesn't quite know what answer to give, but isn't going to spend time figuring it out.

"There aren't many people who know me," she answers honestly. "Have you met anyone named Fang, Lightning, Snow, Hope, or Sazh?"

It's curious that this woman hasn't recognized her as a l'Cie yet. Maybe there's hope still that she can avoid being hunted. She has, however, not answered the question of where she's from. That's a loaded question.

Helen ran the names over in her head, tumbling them past all the names and faces she'd met in the two years she'd been here. Of all the people she'd met and helped from this fountain, those names didn't seem to ping any familiarity.

"I'm afraid not, Vanille. I'm very sorry," she offered. "Sometimes you'll be the only one from a world that you know. I am the only one from mine, if it helps. Sometimes your friends come through soon after - I don't know how we get chosen."

Vanille's smile barely falters, only enough to show a very slight sadness before her mouth curls back up and she forces the cheerfulness again. This isn't the first time she's been alone and likely won't be the last, even if she wasn't expecting it this time.

"We were doing something important back home," she says firmly. "If they don't come here, that means there's still a chance they could... save the world." That doesn't give her away, does it? No, plenty of the Cavalry and PSICOM soldiers are trying to save the world, too. They just have a much smaller chance of succeeding. "I don't want them here if it means they can't save Cocoon."

"I don't know how time passes here in comparison to the rest of the world - or worlds, as it may be. In my previous experience, some realities cause time to pass slower or more swiftly than others. This one, though, I haven't been back and forth to be able to test it for myself."

It was something of a frustrating point for Helen, who based every decision she made upon scientific principle and very little on luck or blind guessing.

"Some of the others might know - they have those from home they can compare timelines with. I don't have anyone to do the same."

The idea of multiple worlds out there is a little hard to swallow, not just from the standpoint of someone who doesn't know space travel, but also and mostly because it means she might have a harder time fitting in. She can still pretend she's from Cocoon for now. If no one else is, and this theory of multiple worlds is really right, it'll be easier in the long run.

But she nods in response, taking it all in stride for now. She can work through it later. "Maybe someone you know will turn up someday," she says hopefully, trying to give Helen something brighter than the idea of being alone. "You can always make friends here, even if it's not the same."

She knows that from experience. Having Fang with her when she woke up on Cocoon was probably the only thing that kept her from making things even worse and when they were separated, it was the hardest time for her. She made a friend with Sazh, even with Hope, but they weren't people she had known in Oerba. They weren't Fang.

"So... is there any way for me to find you again? You've been kind to me. Maybe we could be friends here."

Helen tapped at the wristband on her left wrist, showing it to Vanille so she could look at her own. "You can send a short message to me. My full name is Helen Magnus, though I'm the only Helen in the village so I imagine it won't be difficult to find me there."

Helen tipped her head a bit back toward the general vicinity of the hospital. "And I'm usually in what counts for our hospital. It makes it rather easy to locate me."

The wristband was strange. It felt hard against her skin, though it also was something on her wrist like the bracelets and jewelry she used to wear. At least one of her arms feels a little more normal with something on it, though she would really like to be able to take this one off. She pries at it for a moment, but when nothing happens, she gives up and opts for smiling back at Helen.

"Thanks." She still has a question about where everyone lives, but at this point she's had enough of standing out too much. That she can probably find the answer to by herself. By looking and listening. "I guess I'll have to do some looking around after I change into some dry clothes, huh?"

"You'll want to look around, yes. Of course, if you need anything, I am more than happy to assist. There's nothing so pressing that I cannot step away unless it's because I'm actually making soap," Helen explained.

"So you won't ever be a bother, Vanille. I assure you of that."

"Thanks, Helen." If she weren't dripping wet right now, it would be very tempting to hug the other woman. But as it stands, Vanille just flashes her a grateful smile and lets it stand where it is. This is definitely a friendship she will make the most of. For now, though, she needs to find something else to change into and eventually somewhere to live.

As it turns out, Vanille isn't the only person who happens to be taking it on herself to do a bit of exploring. Admittedly, a fair deal of the sort of exploring Picard has been doing up to this point has been focused on places a little further out - and usually at the Observers' insistence, much to his chagrin - but he figures that's hardly any reason that he can't take a moment to explore a little closer in. To say nothing of the fact that there's still plenty more to explore beyond even what he already has done.

It's only chance that has his path crossing Vanille's path, and he stops short, blinking for a moment.

"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

He suspects not, to be fair. Especially given that it doesn't look like she'd been doing anything terribly involved. But he knows very well that just because it doesn't look like something's the case doesn't mean that it is.

She wasn't expecting anyone to come this far away from the village, even if it isn't all that far. From what she's seen so far, most people seem content to stay in the confines of the buildings or just on the outskirts. Not many venture further than that, but her curiosity has her wanting to see further than just all of this.

Still, for all that she hadn't advertised her idea or asked for companions, she isn't about to turn down a little company for however long it may last.

"No, of course not," she offers with a shake of her head. "I didn't know anyone else was out here."

She smiles, though, to show that she really doesn't mind having company.

"Vanille," is what she says next, head tilted with interest. "My name."

Edited 2018-06-19 00:20 (UTC)

If he has to guess it's likely familiarity and concern about the unknown that has most people staying near the village. But curiosity has always been something he's been prone to; enough so that it was part of what had driven him to Starfleet all those years ago. And now that there is a planet to explore, he means to at least have a general idea of what to expect from the local wildlife.

It is, admittedly, a bit of a shame to have to be doing everything by hand. But that's hardly enough to stop him all the same, even if it does make things significantly more difficult in the long run.

"Nor did I," he answers, with a wry smile of his own. "Although perhaps I should have guessed there would be others who'd be inclined to explore."

He pauses there, for a moment.

"Jean-Luc Picard."

"It can't hurt to know what's around, right?" Vanille asks, innocently tilting her head up at him as though to ask for his opinion. In reality, what she has seen so far doesn't seem nearly as dangerous as life on Gran Pulse. Maybe it is further out. Maybe this is like living in Oerba and once they leave the village things are different, but that uncertainty is part of why she wants to go looking around.

"Nice to meet you," she says brightly. "Have you been here long?"

"It doesn't," he agrees with a nod. True, he doesn't have even the slightest idea that she's used to rather more dangerous terrain that what he's so far encountered outside of the village. But even without that, he'd much prefer to know what to expect than not. Especially when he's already well aware of the fact that there are certain types of wildlife that can cause unusual effects by either touch or proximity. None that have proven terribly fatal, yet, but still. Having any idea of what it might be best to not run into is probably for the better, he figures.

"Nearly a year, at this point. Assuming the years here are the same length as the ones back home."

And admittedly, even then he's largely working based more on seasons than months. But that's at least something to go off of, even if it might be a little inaccurate.

"That's a long time," Vanille observes, head tilted slightly in thought. She finds the differences in lengths of time that people have been here curious. Helen's was longer than this and so many seem so familiar with their own routines. The idea makes Vanille wonder if any have been here longer than a few years. Long enough to have lived their entire lives here.

"The land out beyond the village almost looks like home," she offers quietly. It does look mostly like Gran Pulse, which is what she means, though she'll spin it towards Cocoon if he presses. No need to reveal that truth any sooner than necessary. "I wonder what kind of wildlife is out there?"

"It is."

There's a nod to go with his words. He's gotten mostly used to the idea of being in the village, but at the same time he's never going to stop missing the Enterprise. Missing home, and for all that there hasn't yet been any conclusive indication as a way out, neither has he he given up on finding one. He's just come to accept that it might take time.

Fortunately, he's willing to be patient. Sooner or later they'll have to stumble across something that'll offer suggestions as how to get out.

"I've only seen some of it," he answers with a shrug. "But it's certainly not like anything I'm familiar with."

And even the species that are similar to those of Earth can sometimes have a surprise or two.

It will likely help that this isn't the first time Vanille has been stranded away from home. This won't be a whole lot easier than waking up on Cocoon. She's alone this time and without a clear way to get back to either Cocoon or Gran Pulse. It'll be hard on her, but she'll manage. She always does.

"It almost looks like home," she offers, the closest she's come to talking about Gran Pulse rather than Cocoon. "It's not quite the same, but the village and the landscape are similar. I half expect to see some of the wildlife running over the next hill or something."

It should help, yes. And even if she is alone, he's found that most of the people in the village tend to be fairly friendly besides. True, it won't be the same as having anyone she knows from home around, but it should help to keep from being too lonely at the very least.

"I suppose it's not impossible that some could be here. I know I've seen creatures that are at least loosely similar to the ones I'm familiar with from back home."

Admittedly, that's no guarantee either. But it's not impossible either. Even if the only way to know for certain is going to be to make a complete survey of the local wildlife, but with any luck that should be feasible. If also rather time-consuming.

Vanille giggles softly at the thought of some Gran Pulse wildlife running around. Some of them would be fine. Others might actually flatten the villages. Still, Oerba had survived without too much trouble.

At least until everyone got turned Cie'th.

Shoving that truly depressing thought aside, Vanille smiles. "Maybe. Some of them you could see on the horizon, even above the trees! I don't think we've got any of those and the land out here isn't quite as flat as they like it."

Maybe a wild gorgonopsid pack might be roaming around here but not an oretoise. Thankfully. Vanille really doesn't think these people are equipped to deal with any of the oretoises.

"I'm fairly certain we would have noticed something that large by now, yes."

And at that size there really would be a risk to the village, to say nothing of the difficulty of dealing with a creature that size with the weapons they current have on hand. With the weapons he and Beverly are used to having easy access to it wouldn't be any great difficulty, of course. But given the current level of technology - such as it is - he rather imagines that it would be difficult at best to find some sort of solution to any problem presented by such sizable wildlife. Which raises some questions about the sort of things Vanille is used to having to deal with, but to be fair, he doesn't know much about the habits of the wildlife she's alluded to. For all he knows, they could be inclined to steer clear of people on the whole.

And given that they aren't present here in the first place, the point is largely moot besides.

"Although it's true that the landscape here isn't terribly flat, if that's the sort of terrain they prefer."

And with good reason, he suspects, at the sizes that Vanille has suggested they can reach.

Given the fact that her brand seems to have stopped and she can't access her l'Cie powers, Vanille really thinks that tackling an oretoise of any kind will be harder than any of them are prepared for. She knows what to expect and she doesn't even know if she'll be able to manage a small Adamanchelid, let alone an Adamantoise. Etro help them if they find a Long Gui...

"Yeah, it is," she confirms with a nod. "They used to be used as mounts but... that was a long time ago. I don't think they're quite as domesticated anymore."

That's what happens when the human population gets wiped out completely. Not that she really wants to think about that.

"I think I'm going to follow the river for a little while, just to see where it goes. I'll be back later."

There are... distinct questions in mind at Vanille's mention of them having been mounts, previously. Not because the idea of riding large creatures strikes him as odd, but because of the logistical problems of actually getting up onto a creature that size. Still, he doesn't get time enough to do more than raise an inquisitive eyebrow before Vanille mentions wanting to go follow the river for a while.

"You're sure you wouldn't rather some company?"

If she really does want to be alone, he won't press further. But at the same time neither can he let the moment go without offering. After all, there's nothing he's doing at the moment that he couldn't also do later.

Vanille shrugs a little bit in reply. It isn't that she would necessarily mind company. Maybe having someone around would be better than being alone with her thoughts, like in Cocoon. But at the same time, she's still getting used to everyone and how people react to l'Cie and the threat from Pulse. It might be better for her to stay away. For now.

"I'll be fine," she says brightly, trying to be as reassuring as possible. "I won't be gone long. I just want to look around."

Given that Picard hasn't even the slightest idea what Pulse is, much less that there are people who would consider it to be a threat, he's not concerned in the slightest. As far as he's concerned, Vanille is simply another person who's been dragged into the village and whatever game the Observers happen to be playing. And in any case, it's hardly as if she's worse than Q. Still, he doesn't push further. It's clear he is still concerned, but if her mind is made up, it's not his place to try and convince her to change it.

"Of course," he answers with a nod, instead. After all, he'd come out on his own to do very nearly the same thing; that Vanille should want to do so as well isn't that much of a surprise.

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shine a little light on everything around you

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