firacrux (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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sixthiterationlogs2018-12-07 01:09 pm
firacrux) wrote in sixthiterationlogs2018-12-07 01:09 pm
(OTA) A not so warm welcome
WHO: Seifer Almasy
WHERE: South Village Park fountain; Around town
WHEN: December 7th - 8thish
OPEN TO: Anyone
WARNINGS: Swearing. Usually lots of swearing.
WHERE: South Village Park fountain; Around town
WHEN: December 7th - 8thish
OPEN TO: Anyone
WARNINGS: Swearing. Usually lots of swearing.
Fountain Arrival:
One good thing about growing up near the ocean your entire life was that it's very uncommon to not know how to swim. The downside being the water was never this cold. It felt like a dream, no, worse, it felt like clawing through Time Compression all over again as he breached the darkness into blinding daylight with gasping breaths. The shock of icy air was in many ways worse than the water, chilling him straight to the core as he flopped gracelessly in a sopping pile on the ground, coughing water out of his lungs. Hyne, what a terrible way to wake up.
After spending a few moments laying on the ground spluttering water out of his lungs and wondering what his life had come to Seifer finally pushed himself up, shivering. Miserable. It was cold, he didn't know where he was, and he had no idea who he'd pissed off this time. Whoever it was he must have really done it to find himself tossed, presumably drunk, into a fountain in the middle of winter. Wait.
"...When the hell did it turn winter?" He glanced down at himself then, finally realizing that his clothing didn't feel right. "And why the hell am I dressed like this?" He looked like a mental patient. Did he have a psychotic break? If so, who the hell throws mental patients in fountains? Even giant assholes like Seifer. Not that he could blame them, but still! That's just screwed up. With no one immediately around to hear him talking to himself, he presumed, Seifer decided to shuffle off toward the nearest building he could find. Maybe someone would take mercy on him and give him a towel before he froze to death.
Out and about the town:
This place had a serious rodent problem. He'd never been anywhere with mice just running around out in the open like it was nothing. They could really use some of Timber's cats here, or a truckload of traps. So far in his wanderings Seifer had managed to dodge stepping on any of the bold little creatures though it was quickly becoming increasingly hazardous to explore. Everywhere he went was a minefield of mice darting around, chewing on things, skittering right at him as though he weren't large enough to step on them and make them into tiny mice pancakes. Although, something was weird, anywhere the mice went was covered in thick ice. Which didn't make much sense to him at all, were they that hungry they were trying to eat ice? Or was he missing something?
Wait, no, crazy, of course. Just one big hallucination that was the obvious answer to all of this. He never expected he'd go this crazy, and yet the evidence couldn't be denied. One such piece of evidence was a small evergreen shrub of some kind he'd just witnessed a mouse go skittering out from beneath that was now a very intricate ice sculpture. Idly he meandered over to tug at one of the frozen over branches in wonder. "Guess I have a vivid imagination." He mumbled to himself, now more certain than ever that he was just lost in his own delusion. Probably meandering down the street somewhere screaming at himself. Or locked up in an institution.
no subject
"Yeah, experimented on us. The bunker's some space away. I guess you have to walk really far, but there's a pod that takes you immediately but you have to swim in the cold water." She went the latter way since she and Squall didn't want to spend 7 hours walking back when she was so exhausted. "I can show you where the pod is? We can go, if you want. I'm not sure you want to go alone, it's possible someone will need help down there and it's good to have a second person in an emergency." Squall was down there alone and she still didn't know why, but probably searching for answers the same way Seifer did.
Rinoa was a very social person so people thought that meant she was good at making friends, but being trained to socialize at events wasn't the same thing as making lasting connections. She was a lonely child and a lonely young woman, and she was trying to make friends here too. So far so good. She loved everyone from the SeeD team, but they all had connections to each other. The orphanage, the Garden. She often felt like the one left out, although she didn't say as much out loud. They were all so kind and welcoming to her. And they came and rescued her.
Her head picked up to look at him and almost wished he hadn't noticed that particular word. "They can do things. Hunt, fight, engineer weapons, carpentry, be doctors, garden, cook. People have a lot of skills here that are useful. I'm trying to learn some of them." So she can be useful. Because she wasn't useful, as she is.
no subject
"I'd like to see it. There might be some answers down there if we look around long enough." Why they're there, how they got there, the reason they were here at all. She knew them well enough to guess their motivations. Ever digging for answers. No matter the situation Seifer wanted to understand it. There had to be a purpose behind all this, and he didn't know about Rinoa but he wasn't exactly keen on being used by someone again. Had enough of a taste of all that.
Then that was something they had in common. While Rinoa was better at socializing, Seifer was still bad at making friends and overall rather lonely. He had his posse, and without them? He was lost. They were his family and only real connection. Unlike the others he couldn't really remember the orphanage. Only the bits and pieces that had been useful to Ultimecia. Enough to maintain her hold. Enough to twist. If Rinoa was left out, Seifer was the black sheep. Always had been.
She should know better than to expect anything would slip past his notice. He might not be world wise like some, but Seifer was sharp. He didn't like missing things. As she spoke, his shoulders slumped some with the realization of what she was saying. It dawned on him that as far as useful skills went his were very specialized. "...Don't suppose there's a monster problem around?" He could at least put himself to work there. Right? As it turned out neither of them were useful in normal ways.
no subject
Rinoa hated the idea of being used for the purpose of someone else. Even before Ultimecia got a hold of her, she had a very controlling parent who would have picked everything she did, said, and wore if he could. She knew her father loved her, but he also wanted to call all the shots. This was to a higher level, yeah, but it was the same rebellious streak in her that fought back against that control that wanted to know why they were there. And how they could get home. "Then we'll go check it out, once you're settled in more."
Rinoa smiled thinly at him. "Animals seem to be for hunting, not needed defense against." So no, no hunting monsters. But Seifer always seemed useful to her. At least he and Nida were trained by the SeeD. It was easier to see the good and use in someone else than in herself. "I know they are working on some watchtowers to help protect the village? We can probably offer some help there. I've been organizing fountain arrival patrols, like you saw." She did something. That was primarily it. "You could talk to Mr. Stark, he's in the forge. He always seems to have projects he needs help with."
She glanced at him though. "We can talk about this tomorrow. Maybe you'd like to rest for now. It's a lot, coming here."
no subject
She had a controlling father and Seifer had a military school. They made quite the unfortunate pair in that regard. Living for themselves was a far out of reach dream. More than they could have ever imagined. "Alright." He sounds satisfied that at least there's a course of action. Something to aim toward after he'd had some time to find his footing.
Her confirmation was met with a frown. No monsters, little active need for defense. What use was a mercenary without a weapon or a purpose? Much less a Knight. At least Rinoa had some experience in her brief stint leading the Forest Owls. Surely some skills came out of that that would be useful in a situation like this. Problem solving, unique planning methods, and all in all she's really good at keeping up morale. Maybe she didn't realize how important and difficult that latter task really was.
As for work he's going to have to have a look around. "The forge, huh? Yeah I could probably lift boxes or something." Undignified to think he'd be going into menial labor but... hell. His pride had taken enough of a beating why not a little more? Who knows, maybe he'll like forge work once he actually got in there and stopped being petulant. Pride wasn't going to keep him fed.
She must have read his face. All this worrying, thinking, and freezing had worn him out, and he looked it. Not to mention on top of everything else they'd just come out of, he hadn't even truly recovered from the war yet. Really wasn't prepared to handle any of this. Wearily he nodded, where he'd been lost at staring into the fire. "Probably a good idea. If I'm still here tomorrow, guess I'll know this isn't a delusion for sure." Which would mean really putting himself to work on sorting out what he was going to do with himself.
One step at a time. Right now sleep sounded like the best one to take. Slowly he gathered himself to his feet, offering Rinoa one final glance. "Goodnight." The weirdness of staying in a strange old house with Rinoa in the same building wasn't lost on him. Just another piece to add to the pile.