sixthiterationlogs

Entry tags:

OTA

WHO: 7
WHERE: About the village and surrounding forest
WHEN: Month of January prior to One Man Show
OPEN TO: OTA, prompt for Wanda
WARNINGS: N/A, will update as needed

It had taken a bit for 7 to get over her first hangover, which wasn't as bad as when she'd been legitimately ill yet was the experience was possessed of horrors of its own and it would be too soon a thing to revisit. The moment she's feeling slightly better, she's up and out.

The schedule she maintains is more active in the late afternoon and evening, stopping by the Inn for lunch and again for dinner before heading out to do her Patrols, partnering with however she'd been assigned, or if it's an off-night just doing some general Exploring.

It's cold out, and she's never exactly dressed for it, but she makes up for that by keeping active; always moving, scaling trees, hoping from roof to roof. Being human sized in a human world - especially one as sparsely populated as this - meant there was a severe lack of things for her to spring off of or to or about, but she makes do with what she had.

Bathed in moonlight, she can most easily be found as a spectre darting among the shadows, spear in hand, bola hanging from her belt, and her cave wolf skull-mask obscuring her face.

Closed to Wanda

7's a late sleeper, so the knocking at the door catches her just as she's starting to rouse for the day. Eddie's out, wherever it is he went to, so it fell to her to answer the door.

She opens it and blinks in the daytime light, clothes rumpled from sleeping, hair falling out of its braid.

"Hey?"

Closed to Kat

It's been a few months since 7 has first arrived in the village. She's starting to get used to being surrounded by what she considers is a crush of people, and while she appreciates her solitude still she has found it's been nice to have friends; people she searches out for their companionship and that human connection that wasn't too far removed from the close friendships she'd formed with the other dolls.

She and Kat had talked on New Year's, but then again they were both pretty ... sloshed. Now that 7's recovered from the epic awful hangover that resulted from that night, she wanted to check on her friend and hang out when they were both of a clearer head.

There's a sharp knock at Kat's door.

"Kat, are you in? It's 7."

Closed to Venom

It was a highlight of her day - or nights, rather - after she'd had dinner and when most people are settling down for the night, when she's not scheduled for patrol she goes out hunting with Venom. He doesn't need her there; he's more than capable of taking down his own meals, but 7 appreciated being allowed to join in. It was a rush; riding along his back as he bounded through the woods, helping to herd quarry toward him, playing lookout and looking for the next target.

It's always been one of her favorite parts of living here, even from their earliest tussle before she knew who he really was, but now there's this odd extra layer; seeing him makes her smile, holding onto his back and feeling the wind against her cheek brings her the purest joy.

She finds him, fitting her skull mask over her braid and preparing for the night. "So, what are you in the mood for?"

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"Hello." She smiled and didn't look all that worried that someone else had opened the door.

Wanda knew that Eddie had a roommate though this was her first time meeting 7. "Sorry if I woke you. I'm Wanda. I was looking for Eddie." A dog sat at Wanda's side looking like he wanted to lick 7's face but was holding himself back.

"Is he home?"

7's eyeing the dog back. She doesn't have much experience with pets, none at all before she came here, and generally she kept her distance.

One of her earliest memories is hunting and being hunted by a machine with a cat-skull for a head.

But she's been here long enough to understand the concept of pets and know it's not really a threat - hopefully. She steps back and motions them in with her head, because it's cold outside and she wanted to get a fire going.

"I haven't seen him yet but if you want to come in I could take a look."

Arado was well trained and well behaved. He stayed at Wanda's side even though he looked like he was eager to sniff this new person. Wanda knew that not everyone liked dogs and she only gave Arado the command to relax when she was sure that everyone was okay with that.

"Thank you." She stepped inside and Arado followed at her side, sniffing curiously at the ground for Eddie and Venom's scent. "I don't mean to interrupt anything."

Her head tilted to the side and long fiery red-brown hair fell over her shoulder. "You're Seven right?" She didn't know if it'd be alarming for her to know her name so she quickly added. "Eddie told me."

"7, yeah." She shuts the door and pads over to the fireplace and starts stocking it with wood. "Eddie ... hasn't told me anything about you."

She looks over, more curious than anything, "Is he with you when he's not here?" She didn't really keep tabs on him, it was more Venom where her focus lay, and that was a nightly endeavor.

"Sometimes." She walked over towards the fire and stood as 7 stoked the wood back into a steady flame. "We've been spending a fair amount of time together recently." Wanda didn't know how close 7 and Eddie were but she didn't want to press upon their relationship.

"If he's not here I can come back. I don't want to be a bother."

At least not to 7. Wanda believed that everyone should feel comfortable in their own homes.

"I don't mind." It was an odd dynamic; 7 and Venom were ... close ... but Eddie was pretty much just a friend and roommate. But, she's grown used enough to people that she's willing to put some effort into getting to know someone who was apparently important to Eddie.

"Do you want something to drink?"

Eddie's sleeping deep tonight and Venom is feeling a little lethargic. Finding 7 he grins, long teeth and fangs gleaming in the white light. His tongue lolls out.

Something that'll wake us up. Venom considers her, Maybe something of a moderate size that we can share with Eddie and the others. Something we can bring back that will make them proud of us.

The creature nods, You look well

She smiles a little brighter, despite herself. "So do you." He's big and powerful, he may move like the Beast but it's cooperative, it's challenging, and she feels small and swift in comparison. She hesitates another moment before pulling the mask over her face and making sure her bola is secured.

"Do you want to try for a gruffalo?"

Interesting.

The mud is soft beneath his claws and he tilts his head to stare down at her, I'll manage it. I'll find something smaller to eat before we get started in finding one.

He pauses, pacing out into the cold night air, Where can we find one?

"They're up north, in the grasslands? Sometimes you can get lucky and they come a little further south, though."

She steps into the crook of his elbow and pushes off to vault onto his back and get settled in for the ride. "I'll keep an eye out for anything else as we go." She pats his head. "I'm ready when you are."

Let's run.

Eddie doesn't run. He's getting better at it, but human bodies are weak and strange. He bares his teeth at that. Eddie should be thicker and more capable instead of just...useless and small but that's why he's here.

Let me know if you need me to carry you.

"I think I'll be alright." She's got one hand on his shoulder, the other holding tight to her spear, and she's poised for movement. There's an odd flutter in her stomach for a moment, not at all related to her current height or even the anticipation of the run,

"Unless," Her tone goes a little soft, a little more unsure, but there's a hesitant warmth to it. "you want to?"

Leonardo is still adjusting to this strange and fascinating place, and once he gets properly dressed for the cold far worse than what he's used to, he is out and about regularly. Exploring each village and curiously noting their similarities, venturing out to the wilderness areas but not so foolish as to go too far. He is not equipped to handle dangerous beasts, after all, and he tries to heed warnings.

He is bundled up more than most people would be, but he can't seem to get warm. Still, his eyes are bright as they move over everything they can see, and then he spies someone jumping from roof to roof. It sets off a fire in him, because her grace makes him think of a very particular person, so Leonardo starts running around the houses. He can't climb up, no, but he can try to follow along.

"Hello!" he calls out from down below, trying not to trip over himself. "You wouldn't happen to be from the Order, would you? The Brotherhood?" It is wishful thinking.

The moment she gets the sense that someone is following her, naturally she speeds up, ducking into the center to keep out of sight of whoever's on the ground.

At least they haven't joined her up here.

Eventually she reminds herself that no one here has ever done her harm, and stops to peer over the edge.

"Brotherhood?" She thinks back for a moment, pushing her mask up onto her braided head and then resting her arms on the rooftop, nestling her chin on her wrist. "No, I don't think I have." She drops an arm over the edge and gives him a little motion. "I don't think I've seen you around before, are you new?"

Leonard is out of breath from trying to chase her. He is healthy, but he does not have such stamina, so he is grateful when she stops. He breathes heavily, looking up at her from where she's leaning over the edge. He waves in a way he hopes comes off as friendly. It doesn't occur to him how strange it might be, to follow someone in this way, but it reminds him so much of Ezio and is companions.

But no, he is alone here, ah well. He is pleased to see her face, as that mask is somewhat unnerving. Leonardo doesn't hesitate before taking the offered arm. "Yes, I just arrived the other day. It is a fantastic place! Also disturbing, yes, but fascinating, beyond my wildest dreams." Leonardo speaks very animatedly. "I am Leonardo."

Oh, ah - she wasn't expecting him to shake her hand, but she doesn't shy from the gesture and gives a firm grip. "I'm 7."

She curls her hands around the edge and rolls over to drop on the ground next to him. "You dream of being in a place like this?" She gives him a bemused look, wondering what kind of world he left to make a place like this seem so fascinating.

It seemed like the only thing to do. He is still learning the customs of others. Everything is a learning curve at this point. "Hello Signorina 7, it is an honor to meet you. You run very well!" It is the first compliment he can think of.

He steps back to give her more room. "Ah, I do always dream of extraordinary places and things, yes. Usually it's just paintings and inventions, but far away lands and fantastical situations? Perhaps more than I should." Leonardo smiles sheepishly. "I have been accused of dreaming too much before."

She smiles brightly at him, "Thank you. I like to try to keep fresh."

He seems so happy, and it's somewhat infectious. She remembers seeing the paintings in her own world, lying about the rubble of the library, the scenes too fantastical and lively to imagine but here they were. She reaches out to put a hand on his shoulder and tilt her head at him. "Hey - nothing wrong with dreaming."

His enthusiasm reminded her of 2, and it's always a comfort to find her friends in unexpected places here.

Leonardo always manages to find a bright side. It is difficult to get him down for long, even if he is trapped and kidnapped by an unknown force. Perhaps if this place was dull it would be terrible, but instead he is surrounded by wonders. By genius. By beauty. Things could be far worse, he thought, somehow.

What a kind woman! Leonardo smiles warmly and pats her hand on his shoulder, affectionate even with strangers. "You are very right, little did I know wild dreams could in fact be true, if this place is any indication." He snaps his fingers, as she is here and might be able to help. "Can you tell me how to use this instrument?" He points to his wrist band. "I cannot understand what it is."

She's come a long way in the few months she's been here; had Leonardo met her when she'd first arrived, he would have found someone wary and distrustful. Now, she took her queues from the people she met, and Leonardo made it very easy to be very open.

She peers in to look at the wrist device. "Ah, yeah. It took me a little bit to figure it out, too." She reaches over to fiddle with it and show him the different settings. "Basically you can talk to anyone else that has one of these, or everyone at once. You can make little movie, or just voice, or text, like writing."

Leonardo watches her do that, but he openly gasps at her explanation. "What!" He cannot wrap his mind over something like this. "You can send a message to people without a pigeon?" How! He stares down at the wristband with open wonder and disbelief. This is so grand and exciting that even his mind could have never come up with an idea like that. Instant communication between people. No months in between, or letters delivered over the sea. He might very well lose his mind over the marvels of this place.

"You speak to this and it communicates to someone else as if they are speaking to you in person?" Mind blown. Leonardo wishes desperately he'd been born in this era, whatever it was. It had lights on without fire and machines that he'd never witnessed before. One that kept things cold, another that cleaned clothes, and it was astonishing. "There are not enough words to express how monumental an invention this is!"

7 laughs and gives him a bemused smile, "Pigeon?" She can't even begin to imagine what that would entail; the idea of living birds is a new thing.

"Here, let me show you." She settles back and fiddles with her own device for a moment, sending a quick text to Leonardo so he gets a real-time example.

Hello! :)

"Yes, they are trained messengers, they can fly over a distance to deliver messages. Not very far, which is when you have to send over water with a ship." Suffice to say, communicating in his world is not easy. It is nearly impossible at a reasonable speed. But that is simply as it is, not something he would have questioned before.

He looks down at his wristband to see the message and the smile on his face is like that of a child getting his first present. Pure joy. "Marvelous. I know it is strange to say so, but I am glad to be here, if only to witness such incredible things."

"You're definitely the first person I've met that's happy to be here.I don't mind it now but, it took a while."

And there are some things she's still not happy with. But, at least the people have been nice, and it seems Leonardo is fitting in with this trend. "So you know people who run on the rooftops?"

Leonardo laughs. "I am often accused of being able to find the positive in nearly everything. It is foolishness at times, but hard to shake. I do not want to be here forever, no, but I am here now."

He nods and glances up to the roof as if expecting someone to be there. "Ah, yes, my dearest friend is an eager rooftop chaser. You would not believe how high he can climb, higher than the trees." Leonardo has to stop being wistful about Ezio, he was happy back home no doubt. "I know that Malik and the great Altair are here."

"Well, I think there are worse ways to be."

7 listens, trying to imagine what that must have been like. There had been some remnants of trees among the remnants of buildings in her world, that were about equal, so she's imagining it's something like that. Then, her face brightens with a familiar name, "Altaïr? I know him!"

Leonardo's eyes widen and he claps in delight. "Do you? Ah, that is wonderful. He is truly an inspiration, I read all of his codex pages. I made several inventions off of his ideas." He knew very few minds as shrewd as the one behind those pages, and the fame just kept growing in his mind. The real man himself! Here!

He focuses on her. "What is he like?

She recoils somewhat, getting the full enthusiastic focus aimed at her, but doesn't step too far back.

"He's ... reliable. Steady. He's my unofficial father here. He teaches me about ..." Being Human, "being in a place crowded with people. There weren't a lot of people where I came from and it's been, an adjustment. Altaïr has helped me along."

Leonardo does try to tamp down some of his enthusiasm, but it is powerful when his mind is latching onto things. He'd be the very worst if they were talking of flying machines. "I am not surprised to hear that. After all, he was a father of a kind to his order, and the people within it. Or so the records say."

He tilts his head curiously. "You are from a smaller village then? I know many a person brought to my city of Firenze who were not prepared for the energy. My own apprentice-to-be Salaì, for example, although he is still too young to officially be brought in yet." Leonardo shakes his head. "I apologize, I am rambling.'

"There were less than ten of us." Which is not at all a lie. "This many people has been a lot to get used to."

She doesn't mind the rambling; it's better to let other people talk. "Firenze was a big city, then?"

"Less than ten?" Leonardo's astonished. He has no idea how a situation like that would be possible. How did they procreate? He wasn't going to just ask her that, because it is none of his business, but his mind naturally tries to wrap around such a small village or group of people. Perhaps they are a troop of some kind. "This is very difficult to get used to then, yes. You seem very comfortable now!"

He smiles and bobs his head. "Oh yes, it would be overwhelming for you. We have more than ten people to a given street at the least." He loves it so much and it's clear in his tone. "It is a center of art and music and innovation. A wonderful and busy place."

"It sounds wonderful." Going by his tone, even if that amount of people is hard to wrap her head around. "Everyone here has been so nice and helpful, letting me ... I guess, come to terms about it on my own time.

"It is. I am very biased, but I have been to other countries and none have truly compared." Leonardo glances around. "It is also warm. I have never been this consistently cold in my life. I nearly froze when I got out of the fountain." He had to be shooed off to the inn until he could feel his limbs again.

"May I ask where you lived before? I have heard of traveling companies or mercenaries in that small a number before, but not a village."

"I don't know what it was called, or where it was located. It was ... it had been a much bigger city once, but war had destroyed it and we were all that were left."

She's gotten pretty good about describing her world while dodging over the fact that it didn't actually involve any humans at all.

Leonardo turns grave at that information, his sympathy immediate. "I am sorry. That must be difficult to experience. I know I would be devastated to see so much destruction." There are so many people in this village with pain and darkness in their past, and he feels blessed every day to have escaped it in his own life.

"I am glad you survived at least. Are you pleased to be away from it, or do you miss your life there all the same?"

"It was hard, but I was only there for the tail end of it." Meaning she was only emotionally attached with the others that she was with as the rest of the city, the world, crumbled.

"I do miss it, though. I miss my friends." She misses being tiny in a large world that she could jump and run about.

"I love the world, despite its flaws and troubles, I would be very sad to see it damaged." It simply isn't something he's built for, destruction and devastation. He wouldn't have been as strong as her and her friends. He can tell she is very strong, she has a will power to her, it's impressive.

He smiles sadly and nods. "I already do, and it has been only a short time. I wish there was a way to choose to go back, and allow people who prefer this place to stay."

"Maybe seeing what men had become might have changed your mind."

That makes her stop and think for a moment, but even with the friends she's made here, there was too much she yearned for from home to spend much consideration with staying. "I think if I were given that choice, I'd go home. But, I am glad for the friends I've made here."

Leonardo's eyes flicker with some sorrow, because she clearly speaks of true experience there. And he cannot argue. The darkness in men's hearts can overturn their best instincts.

"I am certain they feel the same for you, and hope I can be added among them." Yes he imprints on people that quickly. Sorry, 7.

[maybe good for a wrap?]

There were the muted sounds of footsteps and a soft pleading meow from the other side of the thick oak door. Kat hadn't had to badly of a hangover but it had helped that Eva had climbed into her bed that night. The peacock kitten was still developing but the oil in its tails produced a euphoric effect that had lasted well past Kat's hangover. She usually kept the door to her room closed for that exact reason but it had ended well and she'd been grateful to the tiny creature for easing her headache.

She had planned to check on 7 as well but time had a way of slipping away from her when she wasn't firmly setting a schedule for herself. The winter made it more difficult since her daily tasks of gardening became less needed.

When she opened the door, Kat was dressed in her shorts and a tank top. Her home wasn't heated but there was a fire in the kitchen and it'd been too warm to wear more. "Seven. Please come up quickly." She ushered her friend in, holding back the kitten with a bare foot so she couldn't slip outside and run amuck. Eva was a good kitten, she loved Kat and her new home, but she was also fearless and at times reckless.

"I'll make us some tea. How are you feeling?"

"Thanks - I'm ... cold." She's quick to accept the invite in, chafing her arms. It hadn't been that long of a trek, but the air is getting colder everyday and she's ill-equipped to deal with it.

"I just wanted to check in; I felt pretty awful after the party. How did you fare?" Venom had to nurse her back from her first hangover, and here's hoping it was her last.

The door seals behind 7 and the warmth from the rest of the house swirls pleasantly around them. It wasn't very warm until they reached the kitchen but that was simply a by product of not having heat.

"I'm alright. It could have been worse." Kat looked down at Eva who was circling around 7's ankles. "That one there has some oil on its tail. I'm not sure how to describe it but she'd climbed into my bed that night and it'd helped."

It'd been very strange.

7 looks down at the cat and freezes, not wanting to accidentally step on it. "Venom sat with me, eventually got me some water, it was nice having him around. What do you mean some oil? Or are these those cats everyone is talking about?"

She's learning more each day about pets but it takes a moment before she leans over and gently pats the cat's head, although it's more the motion you'd do with a dog.

Eva purred softly and once she had what she wanted she started to ignore 7 and continue her random explorations of the house before curling up in a little patch of sunlight. Cat's were like that.

"I'm glad that he was there." Kat had spoken to him once over the network but that was it. "And yes. Possibly. Alex gave her to me. She is a peacock kitten and the natural oils in her feathers give off a euphoric effect."

She headed towards the kitchen and began to make them each some tea.

She watches Eva go, curious, but then turns to follow Kat into the kitchen.

"You've met Venom? He's my roommate, and ... well, he's a good friend." Friend being something of an understatement, but 7's still maneuvering around how to people.

Checking in on Kat was a result of her work in that department so far. "So the cat oils ... it's, is it like being drunk?" She'd felt pretty happy the other night, before things started spinning.

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OTA

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Sorry for the delay!

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Roof hopping

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Apologies for the delay!

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I am assuming this is before Kat got the Kirin

Oh! I guess? I wasn't sure!

cool

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