[Mingle] The First Official Meeting of the Young Adult Club

[skyward_eyes]

WHO: Nida
WHERE: House 16
WHEN: Evening/Night Monday the 14th
OPEN TO: Mingle: Open too all young adults (22 and younger); Older may show up but expect a testy Nida.
WARNINGS: Young Adults Partying, Possible: Underaged drinking if people bring stuff. If your thread changes ratings, in subject line and DM me so I can update.

---

The message goes out over the Network Sunday evening.

'Young Adult Club, First Meet-Up/Party Monday night. First house after the Jail/Barn. Bring Snacks If You've Got Them To Spare.'

Invitation sent in general, The rest, now, came down to Nida. Good thing he had someone who knew how parties worked was right there too. Rinoa turned out to be a pretty good resource. He learned there were a few important things to do for a party. Three major things were needed: music, treats and games. Unfortunately they couldn't do much about the former, so instead Nida employed his housemates in trying to make sure the latter two were covered.



The Nibbles

The easiest person to go to about food turned out to be Seifer. Of the three of them the blonde had somehow ended up as the defacto chef of their house when it came to important things like this. What this meant was a variety of easily made food, things like a plate of half-dollar sized pancakes for easy munching or dipping into other things, fried potato edges, even a quiche that Seifer had managed to whip up, not that Nida even recognized what the whole thing was. While it wasn't as impressive a spread as the New Year Eve party had (or perhaps even the forge gathering) it was clear that the three had done the best they could with the skills two mercenaries and a formerly sheltered young woman had between them. Hopefully treats from other people would help with the spread. Personally, Nida was hoping to steal some of the fritatta Seifer had made in their cast iron skillet, but guests came first of course.



The Games

Games. What even were party games? For that one the center spotlight had gone to Rinoa's planning efforts. Nida had scrounged in the inn's shared supplies, borrowing a set of playing cards and a Jenga set. Not that he really knew what the latter was. The cards went to the dining room table with some extra chairs borrowed from an unoccupied house, the Jenga onto the coffee table, and Rinoa's peakitten Julia got shuffled into her room to prevent her from knocking over the wooden blocks yet again. Nida was tired of rebuilding.




Introductions

They're all new here, they don't all know each other, so Nida and Rinoa encourage people upon arrival to start out simple. And all you have to do is say your name and three facts about yourself. Or, if you're feeling mischievous, two truths and a lie. Can people guess the truth of the matter about you? Or do they already know you well?



Quite Spaces

Frankly Nida wasn't sure how he felt about opening their house to so many people, and with the living room, dining room and kitchen all prepped for use, he realized there was one other thing people could need. A place to talk quietly or just have group games. As he was the only one of the three of them that didn't have much in the way of property and could give up the whole concept of privacy for a bit, the back bedroom ended up having a note pinned on it with a kitchen knife.

'Quiet Space for Your Use - Do not have sex in my bed please'

With his staff stored in the basement and his tiny journal and pencils stored out of sight on top of the standing wardrobe, the room was perfect for anyone who just needed to cool down. Or have a private conversation. Good thing the house has electricity because that could be used long into the night.

Comments

vanille | ota

[tosavecocoon]

two truths and a lie

For someone so well-versed in lying to literally everyone, even the one person she'd grown up with, a game of two truths and a lie should have been extremely easy. For some reason, it really isn't. Two lies and a truth might have been easier and for all that she realizes the game is supposed to be for fun, all she can think about is related to her l'Cie brand. So she thinks, one hand on her hip, and the other curled under her chin.

"Okay. Let's try this." She lets her arms fall back to her sides and holds up a finger for each point. "My name means I'm Vanille of the Dia clan from the village of Oerba. I was turned into a crystal and slept in stasis for hundreds of years." She could be mean with that one, but decides not to be tricky with anything this time. "When Fang and I woke from being crystal, we were still on Gran Pulse. It was after we woke up that we were taken to Cocoon."

General

Vanille spends a lot of time flitting around, trying to be social. For those she knows, she approaches with a bright smile and a greeting. Those she doesn't know, she will soon enough.

"So, are you enjoying the party?" she asks brightly. "We didn't have anything like the recent one or like this back home. I didn't know what to expect."

But she's having a good time and she's more than happy to make sure everyone else is, too.

Two Truths and A Lie

[skyward_eyes]

Nida smiles as he sits there for a moment, considering the options Vanille has given him. Apparently he takes his games really seriously.

"I'm going to say that the lie is the third," he said after a moment and before a sip of water. Best to explain why. "In that you said that you woke from being crystal, and since you can't get two lies, that means that being crystal had to be true. So it's either the first or the third and... Well, the third sounds more interesting?"

That's the best argument he's got for this. Nida told himself he was going to close his eyes and listen to the people's statements, not watch them. Too much spy training for watching not to be sorta like cheating.

[tosavecocoon]

Vanille giggles at the way Nida takes it all apart. He seems to be the analytical type and this just proves it. Fang would've liked him, she thinks.

"Hey!" she huffs dramatically. "Are you saying my name isn't interesting?"

She isn't offended in the least. She just has a tendency to tease people she thinks of as friends. As evidenced by the way she lets the huffy look fall into a smile a few moments later.

"You're right, though. We were transported up to Cocoon before we woke up."

[skyward_eyes]

If nothing else, they could have talked weapons like civilized people with actual weapon taste.

"And Cocoon was the moon thing?" Nida asks, making sure what he remembered was right. Vanille's story about her world, what little he had gotten, had been a bit much and mostly he just retained the fact that they had monsters in ways that sounded cool. And then there had been interacting with animals and he had forgotten most of the rest.

[tosavecocoon]

"Kind of," she muses, trying to figure out how best to describe it. "Cocoon was closer, like it was just floating up in the sky." She really only knows this because of all the crystal ash it was dropping onto Oerba and the rest of Gran Pulse. "You could see it from almost anywhere on Gran Pulse, all brown dirt with this big green scar on one side. It was closest near Oerba. But Cocoon is its own world. You can only get from Cocoon to Gran Pulse through a gate. Or... that's the only way I know of."

The fal'Cie had done it somehow, though given they'd had to transport the vestige, too, she doubts they'd gone any other way but through a gate. Then again, if Barthandelus could make his own airships and turn himself human, why not have teleporting capabilities, too?

[skyward_eyes]

"Sounds like your world is even stranger than mine," Nida smiled, shaking his head. He liked hearing about it though. It made him feel... Like his world wasn't all that bad. And people liked to tell him it was.

"Almost sounds like it might be beautiful."

[tosavecocoon]

"It is," Vanille says with a proud smile. Even though most of the color is now gone from Oerba and the people have all been turned to Cie'th, there are still patches of beauty. Going back had been bittersweet. It looked so familiar and yet so foreign.

"Gran Pulse is beautiful and wild and full of nature. Cocoon is a lot more... advanced, I guess. There's more technology and more humans, but there's not a lot of wild nature. I guess that's its own beauty, if you like that." For those who had grown up there, it wasn't bad. Vanille didn't think she'd ever get used to it. "What's your world like?" Outside of the animals they've already talked about.

[skyward_eyes]

"Oh man," Nida sighs, how do you even describe a whole world? "Lots of scattered towns and cities. Nothing too remarkable. Well, there is Esthar. It glows due to way they constructed it. The material that makes it up has lights inside. And it glows, all through the day and night."

It was beautiful. It hummed and gave him a headache sometimes.

[tosavecocoon]

"Esthar sounds a lot like Cocoon," Vanille muses. "Lots of people and technology. Though I guess some places are spread out, it's nothing like Gran Pulse. That sounds interesting. Did you ever get a chance to see a lot of your world?"

[skyward_eyes]

"I was a mercenary, so yeah," Nida agreed. "I have seen more of my world than a lot of people. I've been to a number of different cities and villages, I've been to deserts and jungles and even the island closest to hell."

Which was a place that wouldn't really make sense to a lot of people he supposed.

[tosavecocoon]

"Island closest to hell?" she asks curiously, wondering if it was anything like what the Cocoon people used to think of Gran Pulse as. "What was that like?"

[skyward_eyes]

"Hellish," Nida grins, because well, it's in the title. "Some of the hardest monsters in the world live there, and you can access some of the most potent magics. It's got five species of dragons and lesser-dragons, Malboros, and places to tap into spells like Ultima, Flare, Holy."

Surely she'd get how dangerous that would be.

[tosavecocoon]

Yep, she gets it. Gran Pulse had its own place like that. It wasn't an island all its own, but the fal'Cie Titan's trials were a bit on the hellish side. "One of the fal'Cie had a set of trials on Gran Pulse. It was supposed to be a way to make us stronger. Each of those Marks sounds a lot like they could have been on that island. Ochus, Neochus, Tonberries, Zirnitra. Even a couple of Oretoises."

[skyward_eyes]

"Tonberries," Nida winces, his hand going unthinkingly to his side. Yeah, he's got a few scars. "Those are in a different place from the Island for us. And Oretoises are probably like Admantoises given how similar our worlds sound. Those live up in the mountains. They're pretty seriously hunted for the ores in their shells."

But seriously, a place where those things exist deliberately to train you? That's terrifying.

"We don't know why the Islands Closest to Heaven and Hell have the monsters they do. They're just pretty damn intense."

[tosavecocoon]

Tonberries are no one's friend, especially in her world. If they didn't go into that area with deceptisol on so they could get the jump on the three tonberries, it was lights out for them. Vanille definitely understands that wince.

"Adamantoise is a species of oretoise. They're one of the strongest out on the Steppe. Only the baby Shaolong Gui and the adult Long Gui are stronger. They were once used as transportation, but now..." She lets her voice trail off and shrugs lightly, like it's no big deal. "Now they have the run of the Steppe. You can see them from one end to the other and their size makes them easy to avoid. You don't want to tangle with an oretoise until you're strong enough to survive. So... no one hunts them for their shells."

He should know that she isn't being dramatic. If she says they're strong enough to kill people, then they really are.

[skyward_eyes]

No, she doesn't kid, and believes in that.

"Maybe they aren't nearly as strong on my world as they are on yours. I'm starting to think you might be able to kick my ass Vanille. That's sort of awesome."

Because being a badass is always worth it.

[tosavecocoon]

She giggles. "Maybe!" She probably could have with all of her l'Cie powers. Now that she's just a normal human again, she's pretty squishy and not very strong. "But no one ever goes into a fight with any of those alone. So, I'm stronger with my friends as support."

[skyward_eyes]

"I mean, I've known some people who probably could," Nida shrugged. But that wasn't him. That wasn't his job. But still, he's a bit proud of her and what she can do.