[MINGLE] One-Man Show

[sixthiteration]

WHERE: Inari Shrine and elsewhere
WHEN: 25 January 2019 through ?
OPEN TO: All opted in characters
WARNINGS: Please warn in the subject line of your comment as needed, and remember to move anything turning adult to a new post.
IMPORTANT NOTES: Final reminders and informational links are here. Please label all top-levels clearly so that there is no confusion who they are open to and what they are for, and DON'T FORGET TO ADD YOUR TAG!
Have fun and ask questions here!

Comments

[tosavecocoon]

Vanille agrees with his statement. It really is a terrible way to go about things. They could have so many other ways and yet they've chosen this one. It's kind of sad, to Vanille. Sad that they're so miserable they want to end everything, including themselves.

The other questions are a little harder to answer. Cocoon is easy enough, but it's tied into the l'Cie explanation in some ways. She sighs, starting with the easy parts.

"Cocoon is its own world. When you're on Gran Pulse, you can see Cocoon hanging in the sky. It's really close to Oerba, so we've always had the biggest view of it. But... think of a giant ball of dirt hanging in the air. It's like... a world within a world, but all you can see from the outside is the dirt shell. Inside, I think the fal'Cie control the weather and the sunlight, since the sun we know can't penetrate through Cocoon's shell. And... the stars you see when you look into the sky on Cocoon... I think those are city lights, from the other side of the world. But the people have their own culture and history, even though part of it is entwined with ours."

Okay, so maybe Cocoon wasn't the easy part. She winces a little.

"A fal'Cie chooses a human to become a l'Cie. They give the human a brand, a Focus to complete, and a lot of raw magic and power to use to complete that Focus. So... we have the fal'Cie to thank for giving us the power to even try to stop them." It's a little ironic if she stops to think about it, but it is what it is and they'll use that power no matter what.

[firacrux]

One can only imagine their existence must be miserable if they wanted to cease to exist so badly. Locked in eternal servitude to one task and one task only had to get dreadfully boring after a point. Seifer doesn't think he'd be any happier if he were a fal'Cie.

"So it's within the atmosphere, is what you're saying? Not like a moon?" A moon would orbit outside, trapped in the gravity of the planet. Not... just hovering in the sky by magic. "And it's a hollow planet to boot? Hyne, sounds cool." He's not sure he'd want to be up there though, sounded alarming as well.

"So why do you follow it, when you get the brand? Can't you just tell 'em to fuck off and go do your own thing?" He had to wonder if there was a compulsion behind their actions. Sazh didn't seem too happy to be there. Of course in a way it makes sense that the fal'Cie gave them the power to defeat them, it's what they wanted in the first place. Even though it wasn't really specified. "How did she turn into a Guardian Force?" That's what he's calling Ragnarok.

[tosavecocoon]

"Yep. It's like... if someone took a tent and set it up inside out. It still serves the same purpose, but the inside is now on the outside. And the people of Cocoon don't really know any better." They don't know what it looks like on the outside. They just know that Pulse is the "world below," though to them "below" might just mean... below the ground. Still, it felt normal being on Cocoon. Vanille just knew that it wasn't.

Seifer's next few questions bring about a different reaction. Vanille's face falls, painful memory clouding her features. "You could decide not to complete your Focus. But... the brand is like a timer. It grows over time. Once the eye in the center fully opens, it's game over. You turn Cie'th, one of those blue and purple monsters that everyone else turned into for a while in my vision. Once that happens... you aren't yourself. You're a monster, cursed to walk the earth for eternity, and there's no turning back." No known way to turn back anyway. Which does, of course, beg the question of how Lightning, Sazh, Snow, and Hope did. Or will do, if this really is Vanille's future.

"I don't really know how Fang did it. I think something in her despair must have triggered it, but... I've never done it, never wanted to, so I don't know. If she comes back, I'll see if she can answer that."

[firacrux]

An inside-out tent didn't quite do the image justice. A hollow world, with gravity that worked opposite that of a normal world, hanging within the atmosphere of another. It was completely impossible as far as he knew, and yet it sounded amazing. "That had to be some intense magic to pull that off. The fal'Cie?" It must be. Only thing that would make sense. Something like that couldn't exist within the bounds of normal nature.

Oh. Now he feels bad, didn't want to drudge up more painful memories. "Hyne... So you're stuck. Whether you want to or not." He frowns deeply, eyes casting back up to where the visions had been. Horrifying. To be stuck a mindless monster forever, presumably until someone killed you. If they could kill you.

A slow nod, then he turns to regard her again. "Was she here before?"

[tosavecocoon]

It was the strangest thing to imagine and Vanille might not have believed it if she hadn't seen it every day of her life and then actually traveled there. From the inside, it really looked exactly the same. It was impossible to tell the difference.

"I think so," she says. "They crafted Cocoon just for our Focus. But we won't let them destroy it." Not anymore. Thinking back to how far she and Fang have come, it's amazing. Incredible that they have a new family made up entirely of the enemy. Never would she have imagined it possible.

"Yep. Fang was here for a little while. I guess she's back on Cocoon now." At least, that's the hope.

She nods at that. They're stuck all right. "You either complete your Focus and turn into a crystal statue for eternity or you don't and you go Cie'th. Except... Fang and I were turned into crystal once, after failing our Focus the first time. We woke up on Cocoon hundreds of years later. So... maybe there's a chance we can defy our Focus this time. We want to save Cocoon. We just have to figure out how."

[firacrux]

"Seems like a lot of trouble to go through just to force some people to off 'em," He observed, brows knitted in confusion. It didn't make much sense to him to manufacture an entire false world just to dictate that some of the people inside should work for them. Weird, is all, very weird.

Seifer just nods, for once deciding on the tactful route of not asking for certainty as to whether or not that's the case when they're taken away. It's a question he doesn't have the energy for right now. Very likely no one here does.

"Great, so it's a lose lose. Play their game get fucked, don't play their game get fucked. Shit." What an awful circumstance. The only other option he could think of would be offing yourself, but that wasn't a good outcome either. "I hope you do," He says honestly. "That's fucked up, all of it. Maybe you can break the cycle." He can be hopeful for someone else.

[tosavecocoon]

"Yeah. We don't really understand it, either," Vanille admits, clasping her hands behind her back. The fal'Cie definitely always have had a different way of looking at things. "That parade I saw on Nautilus with Sazh? It was a parade about the war of Transgression, when Fang became Ragnarok and cracked Cocoon's shell. Gran Pulse and Cocoon were created separately, kept apart from each other, and the fal'Cie spread so many lies about each that it wasn't hard to create panic in Cocoon. Not after what we did."

Maybe now Seifer can start to really understand what Vanille has been through and what made her the way she is. Somehow, she still manages to keep her cheerful and upbeat personality, which is the real feat of her life.

"Yeah." She manages a smile, despite everything. "Thanks. Guess I'll have to let you know how it goes."

[firacrux]

"Hyne, what a mess. So they orchestrated the whole conflict between everyone from the start." He shakes his head. Victims of a fate out of their own control, does he ever know that feeling. "Well... I can't say I'm great at advice. Or comfort for that matter, but if you ever want an ear and just need to get shit off your chest I know a thing or two about how shitty fate can be." Having grown up as a mercenary he knows a thing or two about doing the necessary that people would judge you for, as well.

He's getting the picture. Doesn't fully understand it, but he knows what it's like to be the enemy of the people. To have done something so awful it nearly destroyed the world. He gets it. That weight is a lot to carry. Somehow Vanille has remained cheerful and positive, he'd be envious but Seifer's never been either of those things.

"Yeah," A faint smirk. "You will. Say, what do you think we start figurin' out where the hell we are?"

[tosavecocoon]

A lot of her cheer is sheer stubbornness, to be honest, but Vanille clings to it like a lifeline. Serah had given her the advice to "face it later" and it had helped in the short term. It never did much for the long term, but at least it had given Vanille the space to sort herself out.

Now, though, she understands the weight of it and how she really should have dealt with everything to begin with. At least on this planet, whatever it is, she doesn't have to worry about any of that l'Cie drama. She's just Vanille here. Nothing more. Nothing less.

"Yeah. Thanks."

Whether he likes it or not, she quickly wraps her arms around him and gives him a brief hug. He doesn't seem to be the type to spend a lot of time hugging people, but given this is how she shows emotion, this is what he gets. She keeps it brief, so she doesn't make him completely uncomfortable, pulling away and dropping her arms.

"That sounds like a plan!" she chirps, smiling up at him. "Let's go!"

wrap?

[firacrux]

Sheer stubbornness is something he can appreciate. Sometimes there's no real choice other than moving forward. Especially with all those bridges in flames behind you. Cheer wasn't the easiest method to hold on to, but he couldn't blame Vanille for it if it was working for her. Not like Seifer knew the first thing about healthy approaches and coping mechanisms.

True. It was a nice vacation from themselves and their baggage here. A fresh start. Seifer wasn't the Sorceress' lapdog, Vanille wasn't a l'Cie, they're just them. People all in a strange situation trying to make the best of things together.

While not necessarily the first to offer a hug, Seifer wasn't against them. Didn't know what to do with them, but he wasn't against them. Vanille's reaction even managed to shock an almost shy smile out of him. Something a little baffled and unsure, but genuine enough. He even manages an awkward return to that hug before she slips away.

"Great," With a determined nod he glances around then back to her, offering a lopsided grin. "Let's go." Might as well get on that moving forward thing.