[OTA] Better Than The Lifestream

[plate_builder]

WHO: Reeve Tuesti
WHERE: South Village Fountain, Inn, Around Town
WHEN: 12/10 for Arrival and Inn, 12/11 - 12/13 for Around Town
OPEN TO: All
WARNINGS: None

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Fountain Arrival - Can't Swim Well - OTA
They say that when one died they returned to the Lifestream. This was a story Reeve had even more reason to believe these days. That upon death one would float within the waters until their consciousness parted into it, melting like butter into water, flowing and mingling until it became new life. Reeve, himself, though he would like to be a cat if possible. Was it wrong to imagine that he could be a cat, Reeve thought as he felt himself weightless and rising in the water. Hope that as he scattered back into the Lifestream that he'd get to be a cat? Because he couldn't begin to imagine what else suddenly coming conscious in the water could be. Yes, it was colder than he'd imagined, and he felt like he was moving and heavy but... Well, none of Reeve's work or travel had any reason for him to be near water. He didn't swim because he was bad at it, he wasn't flying to Wutai until next week, and the last he remembered he was regarding the ruins of his Headquarters with some disappointment. So water didn't make any sense.
Which of course made this the perfect moment for the strain to really set in on his lungs, because whether his mind was willing to admit what was going on or not, Reeve's body at least handled being submerged in the right way. He was holding his breath and his lungs hurt and that more than anything got him kicking belatedly toward the surface as his eyes opened.

Too bad he was a terrible swimmer. The more he tried, the more it felt like he was just sinking back. Maybe he wasn't in the Lifestream yet, but as he flailed toward the surface with little real hope of making it on his own, it wasn't beyond reason to think he might be there soon anyway.

At The Inn - A Bit Like Home - OTA

It's beautiful, in its own way. In a way that some from Gaia might not appreciate. The structure is old fashioned by Midgar and even Edge's standards, but there was something about the exposed wood, the stone of the fireplace and the hearth, that made Reeve feel almost at home. Not in his suite at the WRO headquarters, or the apartment he had maintained for himself in Midgar, or even his mother's house in Sector Five. No, it was like his childhood, and even with all the strangeness of this place, Reeve felt oddly safe here. He could close his eyes and smell the rich stews his mother made when he was little and drew pictures of fairy cat kings and listened to his father tell the old tales about the spirits of the world and the will of the Lifestream. It was far simpler than the life he had afforded himself, but perhaps this inn made it more comfortable to be in this strange place.

"Now if only there was a hot cup of coffee," he mused as he stared into the fire he was sitting near. "Maybe a nice rasher with a side of beans and some stewed greens."

Or just company. That could work too.

Around Town - When All Else Fails: Plan - OTA

There was no point in letting himself stagnate. A bit of time spent in the Inn appreciating it for the shelter it provided and the warmth, and a lovely meal or two, had been more than enough. This, Reeve was given to understand, was the new way of things. Perhaps he had died in the final acts of Omega and Chaos, but he didn't think so. Perhaps he'd gone to Mideel and fallen into the Lifestream and come out somewhere completely different, though that seemed unlikely too. Or perhaps it was just another one of those strange things that seemed to scatter through life. Would lingering on the impossibility of it really serve any value end?

No. Never had and never would. So Reeve had pushed himself off of his rear and headed out into the village to walk the paths. He considered them as he went, carefully measuring each pace off in his mind, trying to create an image of the arrangement of the place. This many paces between the Inn and the fountain park. This far down the road to a house. A house of so many paces wide, calculated to actual scale in his head because really the math wasn't hard. At each house Reeve paused and allowed himself a bit of an arch of the front. Rude to truly traipse around his new neighbor's properties, but he wanted an idea of each house. And he marveled over how each had not only a distinctive look, but how well it all fit together.

"Interesting, an old fashioned style evocative of something along the lines of Kalm or Nibelheim, and yet with its own style. I wonder what sort of team they got in to build such structures. How did they transport in sufficient materials for construction, or was this all clear-cut for production?"

So many considerations, and he didn't know where to start!

Comments

[plate_builder]

"Thank you for the warning. I think the last time I had caffeine withdrawal was in the nineties," he sighed. It had been the first week after getting his undergraduate degree. He'd slept for half a week just to clear his head before prepping for graduate work.

Now, though, he could actually slow down. At least for the moment. Sitting by the fire and enjoying it, had he done that since he was a kid? Perhaps not. It was nice, to smell the smoke and the wood. And to appreciate a well working flue.

Apparently he couldn't help but notice it.

"How long have you been here, Ms. Stephanie?"

[spoileralert]

But how long ago was the 90s for him? That was the real question.

She hummed thoughtfully at the question. She hadn't really been paying attention to the passage of time except as it related to her friends and the weather.

"Something like 6 months, I think. It was the middle of summer when I got here."

[plate_builder]

Not so long in the grand scheme of things, thought it could feel like an eternity he supposed. Reeve nodded his thanks over the question answered and turned his attention back to the fire for a long moment. When he spoke next even a brief glance at his expression would say that the question was one he would just as soon not ask. But the need was there and he could not keep himself from the words.

“And have many people died here, to your knowledge?”

[spoileralert]

Time had been blurry for Steph between the depression, the sleep problems, the lack of caffeine and the overall change in a daily schedule she’d kept for two years. It didn’t seem like long to her, but at the same time it felt like she had always been here.

She turned to rest her head more comfortably on the chair back, watching the fire almost sleepily. There was nothing better on a cold winter day. His question did nothing to shake her calm.

“More than one, I know. The one died maybe a week or two after I arrived. People have disappeared since then, but nobody’s died that I know of. I hear the disappearing thing happens kind of a lot.” She shrugged without moving her head.

[plate_builder]

There is a difference between death and disappearing? Interesting. That had him pondering things for a bit longer. Made him think of what Deepground had done, what the Turks regularly did back in the day. And, of course, about the stigma of magic users when Shinra had been in power.

"These people who disappear, it is assumed they have not just died somewhere in the wilds?"

Because yes, this is information and he cannot live without that. Information is required to make appropriate plans for the future. Including ensuring there is a way to prevent the latter if that was what was really going on.

[spoileralert]

Steph let the silence stand, luxuriating in the atmospheric warmth. When he speaks up again she gives a quiet hmm.

"That does seem to be the consensus. But then some of us are pretty sure we're dead, so everything's a little... iffy."

[plate_builder]

"Yes, this place does have a but of a purgatory feel to it, I suppose. Of course there is an inherent issue with that," Reeve observed, a small smile curling his lips. "I cannot agree with that conclusion at all. For the simple fact of the matter that I believe you would not recognize my name. Or that of other people from my world. If that is true, then we are not in the Lifestream."

His name had become a common enough one, tied to the WRO efforts. Of course Cloud's was more famous and he thought if he floated that now, it would mean nothing to the woman.

[spoileralert]

“What’s the Lifestream,” Steph asked with real if idle curiosity. “Is that like the river Styx?” If she had to ask he probably didn’t know that reference. “Like a road to the afterlife?”

She cut off his answer before he could give it, though. They were having a different conversation right now in which there had been a misunderstanding.

“I’m not saying everybody is dead back home. But a few are, for sure. Me, for example.”

[plate_builder]

"What's the River Styx," Reeve returned, because it meant as much to him as the Lifestream clearly did to him. "If you have not heard of the Lifestream, then by logic, this isn't the Lifestream. Which means I'm not dead. The lifestream is where the energy of all that lives returns when it passes, the very life force of Gaia. In the end it is one vast organism, and we are but a part of it. And the Lifestream is focused within Gaia, so if you don't know it, you aren't of Gaia."

To him it makes sense. It's just... well, it's an application of logic.

Which might be a bit hard to follow for others.

[spoileralert]

She listened, but she wasn’t very impressed by the logic. She shrugged in response.

“Sure, whatever. Pretty sure we’re from different planets anyway. I don’t know what this place is. What I do know is that I died six months ago.”

[plate_builder]

Well that was an interesting bit of information to work with. Reeve frowned, considering it.

"And you remember your death?"

Reeve, of course, did not. He was certain he was alive.

[spoileralert]

“Vividly,” she confirmed with very artificial enthusiasm.

[plate_builder]

Oh dear. Reeve's expression fell, truly looked pained. She looked young, and to remember that was...

"I am sorry," Reeve said, his voice quiet. "I did not know. Here I am talking about the way my own world works, and not being sensitive to your situation. Please, I ask your forgiveness."

[spoileralert]

She made a face of her own. His reaction felt a whole lot like pity, but she was aware of how sensitive she could be to that sort of thing.

“It’s fine. I don’t really care, you know? How death works, how life works, how my being here now works. It does, and it sucks less than home, and the only real choice I have is to work from there.”

She shifted in her seat so she was pointed just a little more away from him.

“I know it matters to other people. I just... forget.” There were a whole lot of things she forgot to care about. Sometimes that included who she should and shouldn’t direct her anger at.

[plate_builder]

"And, if nothing else, a new lease on life," Reeve shrugged. "Perhaps not the one you would have wanted, and not in a means you would seek to thank our captors for, but there is something to be celebrated in life itself. Or so I feel."

Still didn't think he was dead, this was something else entirely.

The fact that she wouldn't look at him meant he probably was making her uncomfortable.

"If you wish, I could be quiet."

[spoileralert]

"I'm not-" She huffs a sigh and runs a hand over her face, then makes a conscious effort to settle herself in the chair like a normal human person.

"That's not what I want. I think a few of my social skills might've gotten lost in the fountain, that's all."

[plate_builder]

"Perhaps mine are not nearly as polished as I would like either."

He had gotten quite caught up in his work, and now he had to take some time to reconsider himself. Instead he considered the fire.

"Would you like to start the conversation over? Pretend we both manage to act as civil people?"

[spoileralert]

She chuckled quietly, a wry smile playing on her lips.

“Sure. Hello, normal person. I too am a normal person with normal problems.” It naturally came out a little silly, but it was a genuine effort.

[plate_builder]

Well Reeve has to bite his lip. Oh no. That was too funny. He reached across to offer his hand.

"Hello normal person, I appreciate your normalness and normal problems. Like being abducted by strange powers."

There you have it, better start.

[spoileralert]

She shook his hand very seriously, nodding her agreement to the point about abduction.

"Well, my mother always said that a good abduction every now and then bolsters the spirit and puts a spring in the step."

[plate_builder]

"Sounds like a very wise woman," Reeve chuckled, unable to help but being amused. If the woman actually said that it would be distressing. He would rather assume it had not happened often.

"A spring in the step might be interesting. I hope you don't bounce too much."

[spoileralert]

She sat back in the chair, back straight, hands folded in her lap like a proper lady. She can always pretend for the sake of fun.

“I understand that it depends on your natural elasticity. I’m a gymnast, so too many abductions may well have me cartwheeling up the walls.”

[plate_builder]

"Which would be quite the mess, would it not?" he smiled. "Hand prints on walls and ceilings. Quite a mess to clean up."

[spoileralert]

She snorted a laugh at the image.

"Don't forget the shoe prints! You can only get your shoes so clean on a welcome mat."

[plate_builder]

"Oh absolutely. And here we don't seem to have nice metal ladders to let us get up quickly. Or pre-made brooms. Mops. Cleaning sprays. Don't you dare get your feet on the walls," Reeve smiled.

In a way she reminded him of Yuffie. Energy when she wanted it, but when her mind went to dark places, they went there deeply. What she needed, no doubt, was purpose. And until then, distraction.