here he comes [ squall and 3 open threads ]

[awall]

WHO: Squall Leonhart
WHERE: South Village (fountain, then inn, then house 16)
WHEN: Oct. 31st (morning, late morning, early afternoon)
OPEN TO: Any!
WARNINGS: None now!

---

Fountain Foundation / Morning

Water. Again.

At first, Squall could only register that annoyance. He was taken out of his familiar settings again and tossed into water again. If it wasn’t one thing, it was another. His actions were mechanical at first, and he refused to think about the consequences of this new setting. He had to swim towards the light. He had to pull himself out of the wet fountain to the cold fall air. He had to search in the backpack for a coat.

But once his immediate survival was secure, he looked around himself with a little more interior trepidation. It didn’t look like a dangerous landscape, but that was about the only good mark. He didn’t have his gunblade or his clothes…or Griever.

It was when he noticed the loss of his necklace that he really paid attention to his magenta clothes. They were far from his normal blacks and greys, and he didn’t like them at all. Nor did he have a good feeling about the device around his wrist that he couldn’t remove.

But with typical determination, he leaned back on his heels, crouched, and stared at the buildings and the cornfield.

Well, Leonheart. What’s it going to be this time? he thought to himself, trying to keep his thoughts away from his friends and family. He had to understand his surroundings. Then he could worry about where they were…and whether he would see them again.

When he noticed someone nearing the fountain, he rose to his feet and made eye contact—he should probably say something, but verbalizing wasn’t his strong suit, even now.

INNformation / Late Morning

An important job for both SeeD and…whatever he was in Traverse Town and Hollow Bastian…was information gathering. A mercenary and a member of a restoration committee could not succeed without having as many details as possible.

Thankfully, the first step for information was not very many steps. He went into the hotel—inn—and looked through the Public Records. Things that had happened, people and what they could do…

It was a lot of information to take in. It reminded him of the SeeD classroom, with lesson after lesson after lesson. Still, it would take him more than one reading to remember this without knowing more context.

He leaned back against the wall and rubbed his forehead. No sign of his comrades. No sign of anyone he had even heard of. Hyne, this is starting all over again.

House Hunting / Early Afternoon

Squall knew he could stay at the Inn, but he didn’t entertain that thought very long. He was prepared to make relationships and form those teams to do good with this village, but it was something completely different to want to live right next door to someone he didn’t know.

A part of him was also drawn to something a little…larger. Nothing would be as large and well designed as Garden, and he didn’t really mind not being in charge of that, but the house in Traverse Town wasn’t big enough. Merlin’s house was a much better base, roomier, and he wanted to find something that could be like that again. He wanted not just a place to sleep, but a place his team could meet.

Not that he had a team, but sooner or later, he would have one. It would be difficult and depressing at first, because he could never replace his friends, but this wasn’t about replacing them. It certainly wasn’t about forgetting them.

He didn’t wander far to choose a house that seemed abandoned, judging from all the dust. Keeping the door open, he started to sort through all the rooms to check for any problems.

Comments

House Hunting

[connatural]

Ty has done a lot of work on getting their house ready, but Ashley isn't willing to let him be the only one making sure they're ready and set for the upcoming winter that some warn her can be bad.

So with the windows open, and still in her modified scrub top cut into more of a crop top and a pair of leggings she scrounged from the Inn, she sets to work with a few things they've discussed.

Clearing a space on the side of the house for a garden come spring, working on ideas for a pen in the backyard so they can bring in those cute ass purple llamas, and she's thinking maybe a kirin because it's a unicorn, dammit! But for now it's working the land, and working on cutting down some of the logs they've gathered for fire wood, and doing her best to try and get things finished around the house so they have a home.

It's in the process of working all of that she notices someone else heading into the house across the lane. A woman raised to be both wary of the unknown as well as accepting of those that are different.

Brushing stray hairs back from her brow, Ashley heads across the street and up onto the porch, tapping on the door frame.

"Knock knock," she says in time with her own knocking. "Hi. Neighbor visiting," she calls, making a face. "Or however social things happen between people in the suburbs. I have no clue."

Re: House Hunting

[awall]

Setting up a garden (a little garden, that is) or pens for animals were so far outside Squall's current mindset. He just needed a place to safely rest his head. Eventually, he might think about really settling in. He had some practice in the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee, but even that was more about infrastructure and buildings. Personalizing his own space was something foreign.

So was the idea of neighbors. Of all the terms he had used for the people he had lived and worked with over the years, neighbors was not even on the list. So her comment made him give a perplexed look himself as he considered things like neighbors, suburbs (what was a suburb? He hadn't been on Earth long enough for that term), and whatever that meant for his new life.

He was probably silent with his own thoughts for longer than was comfortable, but he eventually acknowledged her with a nod. "I'm...Squall. Squall Leonhart." It was still a little strange to go back to his real name, but it was a decision that came naturally at the inn. "What's a suburb?"

That was maybe not the most important question, but for all he knew, it might be! It could be a very important codeword. But if it had something to do with 'social things,' it probably wasn't that important.

[connatural]

"Squall? Huh, okay that's pretty cool. Never known that name before," she admits, leaning against the door jamb, just not one to be uncertain and at least show that uncertainty. Not raised as she was, and living among so much more than the world that most know of. "I'm Ashley Magnus."

Arching a brow at that question though, considering how to answer that. She's never known someone that didn't know the term. "It's a neighborhood where all the houses are together, but just outside of a city. Now, no city here, I know, but there's something about this that makes me think of things we see with neighbors and white picket fences and all. Never grew up with it myself, and guessing you didn't either," she points out since he didn't know the word.

"Mostly just me being nosy about whoever is living across from me. I'm used to living in places more fortified than this, so it is just an excuse to check you out and see who you are," she admits, shrugging. "So hi, there's that.

[awall]

Cool? He had never thought of his name as cool or...anything really. He looked at her blankly, but at least she gave him her name, too. He had never heard of any 'Ashley' before, either, but who knew what sort of world she was from. Clearly, they weren't from the same world or even similar ones.

He looked more interested in 'suburbs.' "No, I don't think I've seen anything like that. We just have towns, like this, or cities. This reminds me of the rural towns, although there are more houses here than the towns I know." So maybe that was a suburb. He would concede that to Ashley, then.

He nodded at her explanation. He might not use words like 'nosy,' but knowing ones surroundings was necessary. Someone dangerous could be living next door. She could be dangerous. "I just arrived. I've noticed a lack of town walls or anything. I'm not used to that, either." And even with city walls, monsters still could run amuck.

[connatural]

"Yeah, technically suburbs are like that in between place. Not farm land and country, and not the city. Mostly where people that work in the cities live," she says, making a face. "I always lived in the city myself, so not a lot of experience with them."

"Really?" She arches a brow at that, considering. "The cities I know are all just open, but where I lived was a fortress unto itself. All manner of defenses. Been considering what I can do for our place without the gadgets and all I'm used to but I think we can make it work."

She holds up a hand as she says it. "Not that I'm saying I've seen much dangerous near the city. A ways out I saw what may have been a large cat, might have been one of the elk though I saw though." She hadn't gone out to investigate either. Not as unarmed as she is.

House Hunting

[to_defend]

7 isn't house-hunting so much as she is momentarily squatting while she wraps her head around this place. Still, it's important to know thy neighbor, and when she sees someone moving into a house near to the one she's briefly inhabiting, she'll sneak out and steal closer for a better look.

Do you ever get that feeling, Squall, that you're being watched?

Because this time you are.

Crouched by a window, peering in, learning to abate her breath to diminish her presence in this moment, 7 watches.

Re: House Hunting

[awall]

His survival in part demanded being aware of his surroundings. Although he thought the house was empty, he was still prepared for it not to be. There could be Heartless, or monsters, or just stray animals. So as he made his new bed, he did sense that he wasn't quite alone.

It might only be a figment of his imagination, but he knew he better recheck the room. If he intended to sleep here later that night, he had to be sure it was completely secure. Tucking in the corner sheet tightly--military corners--he went to one window in order to open it more for more light.

The fact that she was sneaking behind that very window was an unintended bonus in getting answers more answers about this new world.

[to_defend]

7's curious with what he's doing with the bed. What do humans do with beds?She had some vague idea but, honestly, she hadn't been too focused on them or their habits while she and the other dolls were running for their lives.

She watches longer than is safe to keep her stealth, and realizes belatedly that he's headed right to her window. She darts back, pressing against the side of the house, hoping that her last minute dodge was enough to keep herself hidden. Her breathing isn't exactly something she's learned to still, yet.

[awall]

He opened the window wide and pulled back the shades as much as possible to let in the light. Living without electricity and without fire magic to start lights was going to be an adjustment.

But when he did that, he heard something. It was a faint but distinct sound of...breathing? He might be weaponless at the moment, but he nevertheless leaned out the window to catch sight of the spy.

"Who...are you?" And was she a friend or foe?

[to_defend]

She eyes him without moving, but when he doesn't immediately attack she edges away from the wall.

"7." Her eyes dart from him to the window, inside the house, "You ... live here?"

It hadn't been her plan to actually engage in conversation, and now she's wondering if it'd be feasible to just cut and run.

inn

[oorah]

[ frank is sat in front of the fire transcribing something. there's a mug of coffee in front of him that's long gone cold and a croc-dog curled up on his lap. it's curious because there's no coffee in the inn or any writing supplies and yet here he is. hearing sharpened by the silent village he hails from, frank hears someone crack the tome of history that's finally been pieced together. it feels good to be a part of something going forward this way, to record events so that new people will know and that even people who have been here as long as he has won't give up. it's given him something to work towards, at least, which is something he didn't have for a while there. he doesn't intend to speak up, but when squall changes to the census book he clenches his teeth, craning his neck to watch the man over and behind the sofa from his spot on the floor by the hearth. he doesn't look like much this way: long hair and beard obscuring the bruising on his face and an oversized (bright teal) athletic hoodie concealing just how big he is. he knows he's down in that book though, at least a dozen times over. he thinks about erasing his name every time someone looks at it, the itch of self-consciousness starting to creep up the back of his skull. ] Weird that someone drew a hotdog on every page of that thing, huh? [ he's not sweating shut up. ]

Re: inn

[awall]

Squall definitely appreciated the records. Even just the census--the list of people here, remembered, touched his heart. This wasn't some heartless town (or Heartless, for that matter). People worked together here. People cared. And even if people left, they would be remembered.

There was something very comforting about that, and made him more assured about using his real name. He had taken on 'Leon' for a while because he felt he had lost his home and his very self, failing his family and friends. He didn't deserve to be called Squall Leonhart, or maybe he didn't want people he didn't really know to call him by his name. His motivations were mixed, but this was a new world, and he would be Squall again.

He turned his attention to the writing man, and there was a slight exhale of breath that sounded amused. Squall's manners were usually understated like that. "Some people have weird tastes like that." He immediately thought of Zell who could never get enough of Balamb's famous hot dogs. The rest of the student body wasn't much better. What was so great about hot dogs, though?

[oorah]

Once Squall is here a while, he'll realize it isn't so community-oriented. People mostly keep to themselves, which is why Frank hasn't had the smoothest of experiences here in the Villages despite his prior experience in a place much worse than this. In Reims, people truly rallied around one another, as is human nature in a crisis. Perhaps things just don't seem dire enough here, or maybe that's all part of the set-up. Bringing just enough real people to clone ratio? Frank doesn't like thinking about that but even he doesn't have a better explanation. "Liking hotdogs isn't weird," he mumbles, and it isn't Squall's imagination if he sounds defensive, even as he turns back to his paper to keep scrawling notes. "...I'm from New York." They really like hotdogs there!!! Shut up.

[awall]

It would be a disappointment to learn that Squall had higher expectations than this place would deliver, but it would also give him something to work towards. Communities didn't build themselves.

But hopefully there would be some others willing to lead.

Squall wondered if he might have offended the stranger, but it was over something so small that he would have laughed if he were more prone to wearing his emotions openly. But he shared his amusement in his own Squall way--he closed the records and went over to Frank to engage in actual conversation.

He leaned against the wall closer to the man and crossed his arms. "New York?" He might have heard of that, but not enough to know anything about it. "The Balamb Garden Cafeteria was famous for hotdogs," he offered his own experience.

But it was still weird to draw hotdogs on every page and obsess over the food. It was one of those things Squall never did understand.

[oorah]

It was his name in another place. Mayor Hotdog. It feels even sillier to tell someone than to defend hotdogs, but for the most part he just wishes he could erase what passed for his name in that book. And that he could take back talking to this kid. Frank looks back down at the notebook he's transcribing and rubs his eyes. Okay, maybe it was time he took a break, but still. Bruno the croc-dog climbs off his leg to go nudge against Squall's ankle.

"I guess I could make some out of those weird vampire deer." He doesn't sound super enthused about the idea, but he'd still do it. Story of his life.

Fountain

[championofsnark]

Hawke's pretty sure she's reached a point where the fountain was her second home. At first she kept coming back just in case someone she knew came through, and that did end up happening once. Eventually it seemed like the nice thing to do for someone who crawled out wondering what the fuck was going on. She's about ready to go on a hunting mission so her arrows are mostly done, but she likes cutting them out by the fountain. It's peaceful there, most of the time.

She long ago dropped the yellow clothing, although she did enjoy wearing a little color for a few days. Now she's back to her blacks and grays, dull but familiar. Occasionally a spot of red in there. She'd wear it when hunting in case of the blood stains. Anyway, she was on her way there and spotted someone coming out from a distance. Another newbie! How fun! She was only there a few weeks herself, so she was cheery as she walked up to him, a flash of a smile in greeting. "Hello! Welcome to a land that still doesn't have a name as far as I know!"

Re: Fountain

[awall]

If Squall had better manners, he would be grateful that his stare didn't insult the woman walking towards him. She had a smile that would probably be at ease no matter what was happening. It wasn't quite like Selphie's or Yuffie's smile. There was something just slightly different about it, and he couldn't put his finger on what.

But her comment at least answered a few important questions--this wasn't a world, like Earth, but more like Traverse Town. It was someplace where nobody belonged, for good or ill. So did they end up here because their worlds were destroyed? Massive plans for world domination? Dark forces?

The list could go on and on, and he was clearly pondering the options. Eventually, he returned, "How long has this world been here?"

Not exactly a warm introduction, but at least he wasn't ignoring her!

Re: Fountain

[championofsnark]

Hawke was very used to the strong and silent type. Granted most of her friends were mouthy, but there was Fenris, always Fenris. He could go weeks refusing to talk to anyone, and she'd normally show up at the house and talk to him until he snorted or responded in some way. She could tell he's processing so she tilted her head and waited, rather than just rush all over him with more observations. He's young and pretty and that was quite and impressive scar on his face. Definitely a blade. Ouch. Don't ask about the scar, Hawke, it's rude.

"No idea. There's information at the inn, a whole history of sorts written down. Seems like it's been a few years at least, but the place itself? Can't really be that young. Too much alive and evolved on it, I'd say." It was possible, sure, but unlikely. More likely that it existed and they were simply put into it, but she's not the sort of person to find proof on that or care too much about it. This wasn't the Fade, so it was fine. "There's dryer clothes in the bag they gave you, and there's rooms at the inn or houses you can just basically claim."

And then she had to ask. "That's an impressive scar. Looks like a blade. This one ...." She pointed at the scar on her eyebrow, old and healed by now. "Nearly took my eye out."

[awall]

A history at the inn. Long enough, then, for people to feel a need to make records lest anyone forget. That's...good. Considering he could have been taken to any sort of dark land, it was very good again. If people took effort to remember one another, that was an important start.

Whether the land itself was here longer was another question. People were capable of manipulating environments in all sorts of ways, but he would have to investigate and judge for himself. "Maybe." That was better than his former 'whatever,' believe it or not.

He made a mental note about the houses, though. Changing into dry clothes sounded very nice.

He was surprised she asked about the scar, and it showed on his face for a moment. "Yes, gunblade. From a training--" He was about to say 'accident,' but there was nothing accidental about what Seifer and he had done to one another. He decided not to finish that statement and glanced at her own scar instead. "That's the risk."

[championofsnark]

"Oh yeah, training can be a one-way stop to injuries too. I saw someone lose a hand while training. Zigged when they should've zagged. Very bloody. But he got a great hook out of it. So much better with that than with his actual ziggy hand, you know?" Yep Hawke could take just about anything and chatter away at it. She peered at the scar, thinking it was very lucky he was so pretty that it only seemed to make him better looking. That was a skill!

"Gunblade? What's that? Sounds fantastic." She clapped her hands and then gestured at him. "C'mon, pretty boy, let's walk and talk, I'll get you to the inn."

inn

[morphogenia]

Kamala is here to cook as usual. That doesn't mean she can't spare a minute for someone who is very clearly new here. It certainly doesn't escape her notice that he seems a little sad. Unfortunately her kind intentions translate to a lot of staring. Kamala quickly has to catch herself.

"Sorry for staring. You just seem super overwhelmed!" She offers a friendly smile. "I'm Kamala. Is there something I can help you with?"

[awall]

As a quiet introvert, Squall stared a fair amount himself, and he wasn't particularly bothered when someone else did. He was still drying off, after all, and wearing a weird magenta outfit.

Of course people were staring at him.

Do I look so overwhelmed?, he thought to himself. But he knew he did. He felt more overwhelmed than he looked, too. "Squall," he gave his name to Kamala. "I'm new, so I don't know." It was hard to ask for help when he was just getting oriented.

[morphogenia]

That's not helpful. Kamala is sympathetic. She came to this place as a traumatized mess.
The last thing she needs to is judge someone else for not being the model kidnapee/maybe a cloe. She claps her hands together and tries to be positive. "Oh... well let's start off with basics! Are you hungry, Squall? Thirsty? Do you need me to tell you life will somehow be okay? A hug? Just you know... think small. What would help right now?"

[awall]

Squall smirked when Kamala clapped her hands and got ready to really get started. It reminded him of all those optimistic heroic types he had met, people like Rinoa and Sora. They were ready to help, no matter what. They would force themselves to be helpful if they had to.

"I know my life will be okay," he assured, steering her away from thinking he was that needy. Or that he needed a hug. He definitely did not need a hug. No hugs for Squall. "But food would be good before I explore more."

[morphogenia]

She's reassured for the time being. This is an easy problem with an easy solution. Kamala always loves those. "Awesome! I can actually help with that." She pauses to think over which easy fix she wants to select. "What do you like to eat? I can basically cook anything here."