sixthiterationlogs | Nida, With A Shiny White Band

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Nida, With A Shiny White Band - Open and Closed Prompts

WHO: Nida
WHERE: (Where the post takes place)
WHEN: February 5th - 15th, Closed Mingle on February 9th
OPEN TO: OTA, one Closed Post for now
WARNINGS: Possible Mentions of Self-Harm

OTA - Dojo - Taking Over

He was asleep when it happened. Somewhere in the night of the fourth the change happened, a screen that made no sense, the band on the device at his wrist turning white. OF course as it was one of those rare nights lately where Nida had gotten some sleep, he hadn't noticed. Instead, when he'd woken up he'd just found himself... moving. He couldn't stand being still anymore, not with all these people who needed a bit of something to keep them moving after those visions. He skipped breakfast that morning ~~not a mistake he'd make another day~~ and headed over to the empty dojo.

Most of his days are spent in the dojo for the next chunk of days. When he's not actively out talking to others, trying to serve as a support network, he's in the dojo from just before sun up to just after sunset. Sometimes he's sitting on a chair, a knife working over a piece of wood as he cut out the general shape of some practice daggers. Other times he limps ~~damn him for spraining his ankle, it wasn't what he'd meant to do~~ around the edges of the mats to check for any tears or splits he needs to repair. Still other times he regards the empty spaces, mind already building up the ways he can make this place better.

And always, always he calls out a bit cheerfully if someone enters while he's there. Because this space, he has resolved, will welcome all comers. No matter what.

OTA - Around South Village - A Little Luck

You can't always be at the dojo.

Nida had stared at Seifer when he had been told that. Clearly it was not true. Clearly he was more than capable of doing just that. But... Well, he got the point. Being holed up in two places isn't much better than being holed up in one.

So a bit of time every day, usually around the lunch hours, were spent with Nida wandering the village. There were rounds to be made, friends to be found, help to be supplied. And, whenever there was a chance of skin to skin contact, a hand reaching out to touch. Not like people here couldn't use a bit of extra luck.

Closed Mingle - Because You Miss Them - Closed to Seifer, Rinoa, Sam, Billy, Tommy

The boxes show up that morning, just sitting in the kitchen when Nida hobbles in at an ungodly hour. He moves immediately to grab a kitchen knife to cut the first one open. Despite his name being on it, it's full of yarn. He smiles and shakes his head, moving that one aside because he can talk to the others about it later. The next is a larger box, but strangely light for its size. With another few cuts he finds himself pulling out a wok. What in the world could that be...

Somehow he knows what the last box will be. With a quick cut it's open and he starts unloading ingredients into the fridge. Curry. Seems like he had the answer he needed for when and what to cook.

A quick message goes out to the others over the network. He doesn't care how early it is.

Hey nerds, dinner at my house tonight. Red Lamb Curry. Eat at six, come by earlier if you want to help cook. Someone please help cook, I don't want to mess this up.

[OOC: Please see first comment for Mingle, everyone can post their own things under that if they want to interact.]

[OOC: If anyone would like their own closed starter for the first half of this month, please let me know. This is mostly meant to cover Nida through the White part of his Off-Color time.]

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Rosa... you may just be a woman after Nida's own heart. Metaphorically.

"It really does make you more capable in a fight, doesn't it? I took a lot of acrobatics training as part of combat instruction at my academy. Among other things. I've found it's more useful than a lot of people give it credit for. Mix it with a martial style, like I do with polearms, and you get more out of a weapon than people dare to expect. And isn't that always an edge..."

Swords. That's an issue. But he crosses his arms over his chest thoughtfully. Will have to figure that one out.

"What's your name? I'll reach out over the network if I can find someone to teach you swords. I'm sure there are a few around town, I just haven't met them yet. I'd suggest Seifer, but he was more gunblade, and that isn't a full translation. And he might be a terrible teacher. As for hand to hand, if you can handle boxing, I can probably put you in touch with a few people."

He watches her spin the sword a bit before answering. Just going with the simple and mostly the truth answer. Which he gives as an easily delivered lie with a properly bashful smile.

"Was doing some rooftop stuff to stay in practice. Combination of slickness and an unfortunately placed rock when I fell. I mean, nothing else was hurt, just a sprain. But I sure managed that pretty impressively. Frankly I'm not supposed to be on my feet right now but..."

Well, he shrugs and gives one of those 'what can you do' smiles.

"This place was too important to just leave empty for so long. In the days it took me to get mobile to come evaluate it, someone's already moved in to the upper level. Nice enough guy, but the downstairs and upstairs are separate. You're welcome down here any time you want from when he unlocks the door in the mornings to when I close it up in the evenings. Normally I suggest someone with a green power around if you're going to do heavy action, just because it can be good for your health."

"People think it's all pirouettes and shit." Yeah, this guy gets it, and Rosa appreciates it. While some brute strength is needed when it comes to taking down perps, she's found that it's a combination of the two that has proved to be especially beneficial for her. Sometimes you gotta clothesline someone, but sometimes you've gotta curl your legs around their neck and take them down with a twist of your torso. She likes both, so long as the perp's caught in the end.

She hesitates for a second when she's so directly asked her name, but she assesses the situation. One, the guy's in no condition to go after her, and she's fairly certain she could at least hold her own if it came down to it. Two, it doesn't seem like anyone in the village is chomping at the proverbial bit to get a taste of blood; if anything, it's like a fucking Mister Rogers situation here with everyone helping each other out with all of their various shit. Three, her tightness with the squad over the last handful of years has, despite her protests, changed her. She still falls back into her old ways of distrust and suspicion, but no overt alarms are going off in her head, and the squad's made her softer than she used to be.

"Rosa," she replies, though it's fairly obvious she isn't too pleased about sharing her name with someone she barely knows. When she'd first arrived, she'd considered using an alias, because who the fuck would know if it was the truth? It didn't make sense, though, in the long run .. so here she is, handing out her real name like fucking candy.

She folds her arm across her chest and looks like she doesn't believe his tale. That's because .. she doesn't. Years on the Force have taught her to read lies in people's faces. But the fact of the matter is .. she doesn't really care whether it's the truth or not. If this guy's got his reasons for withholding information, then she's not going to stop him.

"Yeah, what the fuck is with these "powers" and all that bullshit? Do you know what the others are?" She's vying to ask about red, specifically, but that's giving too much away. She'll keep it vague for now. Also, "thanks, for offering to talk to people for me." A pause. "It's not exactly a strong suit."

"Nice to meet you, Rosa. And people who don't respect how dance can make you better in a fight is just silly."

Don't worry, his tale of injury didn't mean anything, right. She doesn't know enough about him to care about what he did and why he did it. Instead he moves along to her real question. Powers. That one is a bit more complicated.

"Dig back into the network stuff a bit more. There are discussions of what powers do. For instance, green which I was before, I could provide durability to the body. Now with the white I'm able to provide a boost to confidence and luck for twelve hours at a time."

"You're ..?" Rosa asks, quirking a single brow in moderate curiosity. It's unclear whether that curiosity is feigned or not, but even she knows well enough that people usually do a mutual exchange of names. Otherwise, she looks and feels like an idiot for giving her name up so easily, even if her assessment of the situation made it seem harmless.

"Why'd you switch?" The prospect of having some superhuman abilities is pretty damn dope, though there's nothing on her face to betray that feeling. "And by the the network, you mean this thing?" She holds up the wrist with the weird, perma-clasped FitBit thing. "These things seem out of place here, don't they? It's like we're in A Room With a View, but we've got these things on?"

"Nida," he smiles and looks about ready to laugh at himself. "I didn't even think of it. Sorry. I've got so much going on that I didn't think of that. Geez, I have to seem like a cad, right?"

He does consider her other comments, of course, and when she asks why he switched, he just shrugs. It wasn't like it was a conscious choice.

"Just woke up different. Feeling different. But the watch lets you access something like message boards, you can do video calls, audio and video recordings, a lot of functions. But so far as I know these and the Bunker are the highest tech we have. Oh, and I'm guessing that's a pop culture reference. Those aren't great to use, not everyone is from the same place."

"I mean," Rosa starts, but she doesn't continue. The guy's been pretty nice to her so far, and she's not stupid enough to bite the hand that feeds, so to speak. Even if she thinks that saying is dumb as fuck. But she's also not going to lie to him about how that looked, just to soothe his ego or make him feel better. That's not really her style. Not with strangers, at least.

"... It's a super famous movie." Out of all the things to get upset over, Rosa .. "Like, super famous. Who the hell doesn't — whatever, not important." Is this how Jake feels when no one gets his Die Hard references? Man, it kind of sucks. "So you're saying there's basically .. nothing modern here, aside from these things and whatever the Bunker is. I came through the fountain. I don't remember being in a bug-out prepper Bunker."

"Not from whatever world you're from," Nida answered quite readily, even with an amused smile. Sorry, but he doesn't get your cultural references. Unless you talk about Star Wars. That he's learned about. A lot about.

But when she asks, he nods. Yeah, that's what he is saying. That things are pretty messed up. They're beyond messed up and he accepts that as a thing that is happening. He's moved on.

"People here come from a lot of places, Rosa. Which means that we won't always get what is going on. Well, a lot of people seem like they're from a place called 'Earth'."

That last comment has Rosa staring. Her stare is somewhat vacant, like she's temporarily checked out of her brain and hung up a "Gone Leavin'" sign a la Gina. It takes her a few seconds to come back to herself, and she blinks as she settles back into her skin after her tiny vacation.

"Where the fuck else would people be from? What, you're saying you're not from Earth? Oh god, are you like that kid who thought he was a wolf in all ways but physical? Except it's with being an Earthling instead of being a wolf?"

Okay, first, he has no idea what you're talking about. Second, wow, does he have to be the one to explain it? Oh well, here goes. He offers a soft smile, though. Perhaps it's best to try and break this to her easily. Maybe not go into the whole monsters thing. Or at least downplay them. This was all clearly going to be a trip.

"The planet I'm from didn't really have a name as we thought of it. Me and the two people from there have chosen to call it 'Hyne', after the god of legends that made our world. It's a place with magic and creatures that would easily be considered outside of the realm of normal. There are Sorceresses whose magic can alter the fabric of reality itself. There are dragons, people like to hear that one. There are mercenaries and knights. But there is also space ships and television and movies. I just didn't watch many. And I don't really understand a majority of the cultural references thrown about. I'm only just learning chatspeak from a young man from an Earth with 'superheroes' with unbelievable powers that make even me nervous."

Rosa's eyes sort of glaze over. It's not that she isn't listening, it's more that .. it's all a lot to take in. Especially all at once, and especially so soon after she's arrived in the village. Maybe it shouldn't surprise her that there are people — creatures? — from other worlds here. Hell, she met that weird Terry-if-he-was-a-Minotaur thing, and for some reason, he was less strange than what Nida's saying now.

Maybe it's because with The Iron Bull, it's obvious that he isn't human, and that he isn't from Earth. But Nida looks .. like an average guy. He looks human. She wouldn't know him from the next guy in a lineup in terms of his genetic makeup and his humanity. That's what's freaking her the fuck out, listening to him talk about this far off nameless planet. It's like she bit into a Skittle, expecting it to be an M&M. She'll adjust, she'll figure it out, but holy fuck, give her a fucking second.

"Uh." That's all she can manage after he's finished explaining. "Huh." She's trying, Nida. She really is. "Advice I can give you is don't be obnoxious in group chats. Don't send like, twenty messages all in a row." She could use a bit of Boyle's idiosyncrasies right about now. "This is — just a lot of shit to take in. I mean. Dragons are pretty dope? If Jake were here, he'd freak the fuck out about that. Sarge, too, I think." After a few seconds, she relents with, "Earth sucks, anyway. It was a fucking mess the last I was there."

"Yeah, from what I understand that has been the state of things for a while on your world," Nida chuckles. There is only so much he can do to make it all seem less than the troublesome situation it was. "If it helps, there are always people trained to deal with the less than friendly creatures. Like me. Which is why I'm here, reopening the dojo. Seems to me a lot of the Earth people aren't fully prepared to protect themselves. So trying to get people together to train combat techniques useful here."

But there is also fitness and exercise and health. He's good with both results.

"Since humans decided to evolve and show up, yeah. We've been fucking everything up pretty spectacularly, but it's gotten worse over the last few years." Rosa's grateful to live somewhere like Brooklyn, but even that's got its issues. Not that she wants to delve into all of them now — or ever, really. "Less friendly creatures meaning non-humans. I mean, I can take down a mope pretty easily. It's part of the job — chasing rabbits, tackling perps to take 'em in, that sorta shit. But if a fucking dragon showed up, I'd be fucked."

"I'm not exactly good against dragons myself, not solo," Nida admits, his hand coming to his side to touch where he had a bit of scarring from almost being eaten by a Trexuar as a kid.

Dragons were always a pain.

"I'd less use the term 'non-humans' and more... monsters."

Well, maybe after the bit he gave her earlier, it will be okay to use that term now.

"You battle one before?" Rosa asks, flicking her chin towards where he'd touched his side. Her tone suggests that he doesn't have to answer if he'd rather not share battle stories, but she wouldn't be against hearing them if he's willing to share. "Most exciting thing I ever fought recently was a guy who was caught humping his laptop and charged with public indecency while wearing a fox costume," she adds with an unimpressed air.

"More than a few," Nida shrugged, like it wasn't much of a question. "This is from, you're Earth, what was the word again..."

He thinks for a while before it comes back to him. "There's a creature in my world like a Tyranosaurus-Rex. One tried to eat me when I was, what, thirteen or so? I'm apparently tasty."

Wait, humping his... He's thrown off by that, especially since that story wasn't an impressive one.

"Why would... Okay, context here please. What is a fox?"

"Kinda sucks that you almost got eaten, but also kinda dope that you destroyed a fucking T-Rex dragon thing." Jake would be freaking the fuck out right about now, talking to this guy. Rosa can practically feel the vibrations of his second-hand nerdiness traveling through space and time to reach her, and it almost makes her roll her eyes. Because that's exactly what she would do if Jake were here and geeking out.

Of course, he's not. And fuck, does that suck.

"Oh, uh," Rosa starts, brows knitting together. She's never had to think about how to describe a fox before. "It's this — animal. Kind of looks like a dog, but — kinda small. There are different types, I think, but the one that he was dressed as is usually — orange, copper in color. Pointed, triangle ears. white muzzle and chest. Black paws and legs that make it look like it's wearing stockings. Furry, pointed oval kinda tail with white at the tip. But he was dressed as like, a cartoon version of that, and — you know, human sized."

"Yeah, don't have anything like that. I can't imagine why someone would dress like that, but you know, people do what people do."

Doesn't even know this could be a kink and yet still doesn't kink shame. Give him credit, he's a good kid. But he doesn't correct the idea that he killed the Trexsaur. It hadn't been him, he'd needed saving. But since then he'd taken on a good number of things since then.

"Well, I'm glad you took care of the issue the person created."

"Beats the fuck outta me. I've been doing the detective thing for a while, and I still don't get why people do almost anything." Rosa's grateful that she's not involved in the Sex Crimes Unit; they really see the worst of humanity. Sure, her squad has to solve murders and shit, but those are the things she can deal with. The real fucked up cases? Nah, she'll pass. Even she has her limits.

"As far as I know the guy hasn't done it again — or hasn't gotten caught, at least. I think he was just trashed out of his mind, didn't even really realize what he was doing. I dunno. Like I said, I don't get why people do anything."

"Well, we're going to teach you to adapt to a place like this. Once my ankle is good again. Until I can find someone good with swords for you, I'll be able to start you on basic stances. I tried them when I was younger, but... Well, I'm better the way I am."

With that he gestures to where the punching bag and mats are. "For now, those are all available. We're open sunup to sundown unless power comes on in this place. If you get hurt there's a guy with a gray band that lives here, upstairs. If he's in, he can pull some of the pain."

"Question is: do I really want to adapt to a place like this?" More specifically, Rosa thinks, doesn't that signal a general sense of planning to stay here for a while? Or at least long enough to have to adapt? She's still clinging to the faint hope that she'll get out of here sooner rather than later, but with each passing day, that hope gets dimmer and dimmer.

Confirming it out loud, however, would be like a boot to an ember; it'd extinguish the hope all together.

She glances to where he gestures, eyeing the bag and mats. They're not the best she's ever seen, but they'll do in the meanwhile. She holds them in her gaze for a few extra moments before looking back to Nida. She clenches her jaw in preparation of the words that come awkwardly fumbling out afterwards, like she had to push them out of her mouth:

"Thanks. You've been — uh. Just. Thanks."

"I admit, my life is a little bit better here not serving as a mercenary," he shrugs. So yeah, adapting to this place, accepting it as the gift it can be, as the place that has Billy, he's not going to hesitate over that. However, there's more to his concern than that. "People have died here, Rosa. Adapt, or run the risk of dying."

He watches her eye the facilities, and trust him, he thinks they are lacking too. He's still got to figure out where he's going to get good sand to go into the bag. It's all a work in progress. At the most generous.

"You're welcome," he says, and his tone says he gets it. How hard that was for her to say. Because she reminds him of his brother, and anything resembling those words were hard one.

Rosa's attention snaps back to him, and though there's some interest in her expression, it's mostly something like .. concern. Did the guy just say 'mercenary?' Her eyes flick over his face for a second, but she doesn't say anything. It's information to be brought up at a later time — maybe when he's healed up.

Her gaze drops a bit when he talks about the people who've died. It doesn't take much for her to surmise that he's speaking from experience.

"How long you been here?"

Actually, he hasn't had experience with people dying here, yet. But he's read the records, and he's concerned. Better to prepare people for the worst.

"Since December. So not long at all. There are people who have been here for years. There's records in the inn, they cover details like that. I refuse to be a loss in that book."

No, that's not long at all. Interesting that the guy seems fairly well-adjusted for having been in the village for a couple of months.

"The other villagers keep the records?" Sounds like something she might want to check out next time she's at the Inn. She's no stranger to loss herself, personal and professional. She's surrounded by it all the time — homicides, suicides, whatever. She kind of forgets that not everyone's as steeled to the gruesome shit as she and the other detectives are. "Not a bad goal to have."

Not well adjusted. Just great at faking it.

"Don't know who fills out the book, but it's there. Talks about the history of this place, as far as people have been keeping records. Since the beginning of this 'iteration' or whatever.

"I'm a trained survivor, so it's not a concern."

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