sixthiterationlogs | facing the ghosts that decide }{ OTA

Entry tags:

facing the ghosts that decide }{ OTA

WHO: Oerba Dia Vanille
WHERE: House 38, around
WHEN: early February
OPEN TO: All! With a closed section for Ashley
WARNINGS: TBD

OTA

As soon as Vanille got back from the long hike, she threw herself into her daily routine. The pups were happy to see her back and she was equally happy to see them. She was also happy to see her bed again and the comfort of her home away from home.

So, in an effort to avoid thinking about everything she saw for as long as possible, she spends the majority of her time with the animals. Sometimes she can be found in the pen with the larger ones, sometimes she's outside the pen playing fetch with the quickly growing puppy and the reptilian dog. Other times, she takes the whole group for a walk outside. She's discovered that it's really a lot easier to guide the herd if she's on the back of one of the kirin. Given how responsive they are to her, it hasn't been hard to train them to obey her weight changes, rather than anything around their heads. They are still a bit flightier than her others, but as long as she remains calm, so do they.

Unfortunately, this doesn't always help the other kirin. Sometimes it spooks and then Vanille has to command Raine to stay with the llamas while she rides off to fetch the loner. She always returns with the other kirin trailing behind her.

"There's a good girl," she says soothingly, releasing the renegade kirin back into the herd. "See? Not bad at all."

CR - anyone she has at all spoken to, even over the network

Vanille gives it a couple of days before she starts her rounds of checking on everyone. She doesn't know what all everyone had broadcast and how that affected them all. What she does know is that her group hadn't fared too well. If any of the others had bad memories or uncertain futures play out, she wants to at least be there for them, even if they don't really address the issues.

So she spends time knocking on doors and bothering her friends at the Inn or anywhere else she might see them. "Hi!" she chirps brightly, with the tone of someone who thinks there's nothing wrong at all. "What are you doing today?"

Ashley

Ashley is one she saves for last, mostly because she has a feeling she's going to need some intervention here. Vanille knows the right door to approach and does so with purpose, knocking firmly on the door. "Ashley? It's Vanille! Open up!"

Open up, Ashley, or Vanille might just come right on in.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

What are they, North?

It's a question that has left the blond here by the side of the pen for almost half an hour as he watches the myriad animals in the pen. Sure, there are some that he can sorta understand. There were things that almost looked like alpacas, but he's never really seen one, so he can't be sure. And there are the 'horses' with horns, and scales. It's all very hard to decide whether that makes sense or not. Theories of evolution don't account for this, do they?

Earth had animals sort of like that. But they were armadillos and pangolins. Which isn't a horse.

"Yeah, T. I know. But I don't know what to say about this."

It's about that time that Vanille takes notice of someone else by the pen. Admittedly, most of this is because Raine starts barking in an alerting kind of way and the kirin meander away from the newcomer. Throwing the stick for Raine to catch again, she makes her way over.

"Hi!" she chirps. "They're mostly friendly, if you want a closer look."

Mostly, because the kirin are too flighty to be considered friendly. Not like the llamas.

"I'd love to. Mind if I come in?" North asks. Because Theta definitely wants to get closer, and North is a bit intrigued too. Plus the dog, that matters to Theta at least.

"They are they? They look like horses with horns. Like... a legendary unicorn."

"Sure!" she chirps happily. "The purple ones will probably come over to sniff you. The white ones will... probably do the opposite and run off to the other end of the pen. They're really shy."

Given some time Crystal and Diamond might get used to the general population. They're doing better now with the average passerby than when she first brought them back, but their nature seems to be much more skittish than the llamas. The dogs, on the other hand, are more than friendly enough to make up for it.

"I don't really know what species any of them are, but they all have names!" She glances down at the puppy and reptilian dog and giggles. "Watch out for these two. They'll steal your attention any chance they can get!"

Steal his attention is right. The first dog earns a small smile. The other, closer... a brief and hardly rational flash of fear. Of nausea and itching hands and not enough time.

It isn’t. You’re okay. It isn’t. It’s just... well, ugly.

The reassurance actually does something. So does the sense of concern from his AI, the compassion. After a moment he gets his breath and smiles at the young woman.

“Is there a gate I should use or can I just climb right on over?”

"You can climb in if you want," Vanille says, though she does gesture towards the far side of the fence, where a gate large enough for the four legged animals stands. While she waits for him to make his way into the pen, she heads over to the four purple ones, picking up some of their fruit to have the newcomer feed to them. All four turn to watch, clearly more interested than the flightier white ones.

"Here. Hold this out to them, palm up, hand flat. They'll really love you then!"

Climb? That seems inefficient. North puts his hands on the top railing and with a bit of a push and a hop he's clearing the thing with surprising ease. Nice part of being his size and fit, really. Then he's moving to cross to her to take the fruit. He looks at it thoughtfully before holding it out as directed.

"And this will get them to come closer to me?"

Or leaping over works, too. Vanille would if she still had her l'Cie powers. They could jump pretty high. Not as high as a chocobo, but high enough. She grins as he does as directed and almost immediately, all four of the purple ones make their way over. Mulberry gets there first, shoving his nose towards the offered hand before delicately mouthing the fruit and eating it.

"Just like that!" she chirps happily. "They love food and they love people who give them food." Getting into the thick of the llamas, Vanille starts guiding them away so they aren't swamping him entirely, though they don't seem keen to leave entirely. They stand aside and watch, looking for more yummy goodness. "They're always happy to have new friends. Aren't you? They also like being petted. They'll really let you touch them, if you want to now."

"I am," he agrees, reaching up to stroke the neck of Mulberry. What a lovely creature, and with a soft coat. "What are they called? They look a bit like alpacas but I've never seen some with the stripes on the back. That's more like an okapi."

Of course those were extinct.

"Do they?" she asks curiously. "We don't have anything close to these where I'm from. Closest thing I know of are sheep. I don't actually know what their species name is. I just call them purple llamas."

Mulberry leans his head down so the man has better access to his ears and head. He seems to like the attention.

"Alpacas are like... larger sheep that you stretched the neck out of. And gave them thicker, longer legs."

He strokes Mulberry between the ears and smiles warmly at her.

"I don't suppose I can help you feed them, can I? They're just so sweet."

Vanille grins up at that question. "Of course! I can always use help with them and they won't turn down food!" Given the way they are all crowding around already, it's probably easy enough to see that they wouldn't mind more food. The kirin would mind a stranger and the way they hang back with nostrils flared says enough.

"How about tonight?" she suggests. "I can show you where I get their food and then how to feed them. I'd do it now, but I don't want to overfeed them. You can stay as long as you want now, though."

Edited 2019-03-05 02:55 (UTC)

"I'd like that very much," North agrees, trying to keep his hands moving between the animals to stroke their necks. He definitely seems pleased where he is, his smile as much his own as it is that of his AI. This was good. "I could probably use the animal TLC. And I'd be really glad to help you feed them later."

"Great!" she chirps happily, clapping her hands together. "I'll teach you everything you need. It'll be great!"

From the outside the house there is very little to show that anyone is living there. There's some patches on the roof, a small hint of smoke from the chimney, but there's no other signs as many of the other houses show.

In truth there's silence for a time before the door opens, and Ashley can't help but to smile to see Vanille standing there.

"Oh, hey. Hi. How are you?" She backs up suddenly. "And also, come in."

Vanille isn't planning on staying for long, mostly because she thinks she might need to drag Ashley out for a while, but coming in out of the cold is probably a good idea. So she smiles and heads on in, just for a little warmth.

"I came to check on you," she says simply. "Seifer was using my wristband so he could talk to people or I would've asked you about your vision and your group." Which doesn't explain why she wasn't at Ashley's door right away when they got back. Being just a little late is still understandable, she hopes.

"How are you?" she asks pointedly, peering up at her friend with a knowing sort of look.

"What happened to Seifer's?" Not that it's likely meant to be the first question, but it's all that she could think of in that moment. "Did he somehow come through the fountain without one?"

And what did that mean, she wonders, glad for her mother to encourage her to look into these things.

She winces though at that point. "I didn't have one. Not this time. My... Druitt did though, as well as a few others."

She takes a breath, sighing it out. "Damned if I know, if I'm honest," she admits. "Surviving. Getting on. You?"

"I don't really know. I think he lost it somehow." Vanille had a whole lot of questions about how that was possible, but the time just wasn't right to ask. They'd all had plenty of other things on their minds.

"You're not living alone, are you?" she asks, glancing around a bit. To be honest, she'd been worried that Ashley was living alone for a while. This seems to confirm it. Making up her mind, she reaches for one of Ashley's hands, wrapping both of hers around it and giving a tug. "Come on; we should go for a ride. We can have a nice long talk while we do!"

"Huh. Now that's weird," she says, giving hers a bit of a tug. Yeah, she had tried often in her first weeks there to remove the device and hadn't found a means of doing so. "Wonder how he managed that. Wouldn't mind losing mine for a bit," she admits, if only that she's wondering about places maybe they shouldn't be and she considers they're being followed.

Ashley shrugs, glancing around. "It was Ty's place when I arrived and I moved in with him because I wasn't comfortable in the inn. He disappeared though so..." Again a shrug. She hadn't really thought much about it. "But sure, that sounds good."

A ride actually did. She's been wondering about riding a unicorn. How could she not? Grinning at Vanille though, finding her excitement infectious.

Vanille shrugs. It would be nice to know how Seifer had managed it or if that was something the Observers had done for some reason. She still isn't convinced that they aren't fal'Cie. They certainly act like it sometimes.

She gives another tug on Ashley's arm, leading the way out of this house and down the lane towards hers. "No good. You shouldn't be living alone. It's not good for people like us." People like Vanille don't do well being alone and she won't be letting someone as important as Ashley be so isolated. "We have a free room in my house. Phryne won't mind. And then we can ride any time we want."

They could go galloping around the villages and have a lot more fun than right now. Surely Ashley couldn't say no to that.

"Huh. I may have to look into that. I mean, I've figured all along that they're tracking devices, and not having them means we might find a clue about what's going on here." Not that Ashley is nearly as eager as she once was to return. If she's dead, then her life here is all that she has. No matter how they've managed all of this and the oddities that come with it.

Following along with a smile, finding Vanille warm and kind and enjoying that she's made a friend like that.

"I..." She starts to object, but in truth, she's not sure she wants to. She's lived her entire life with others around, surrounded by them in fact, and it has been lonelier than she might have imagined. Even as populated as the village is becoming. "I mean, if you're sure Phryne won't mind? I don't think we've met, but I would like that," she admits. Things between herself and Druitt may be better, but she's not sure she's ready for singular building with him.

"I don't want to intrude though. I mean, there is always the inn? I'm just... My dad's here in the village and we're not close." Understatements are a wonderful thing.

"Yeah," Vanille says with a nod. "You could ask him. Maybe he'll have something else to say about it. I didn't want to ask him at the time. We were a little distracted." The whole memory experience was not exactly... pleasant for any of them and Vanille had enough trouble getting Seifer to talk after that. She hadn't wanted to ask anything else.

"You're staying with us," she insists. "I did the same thing with Phryne, so I'm sure she won't mind. Besides, one more person to help with the animals won't be a bad thing." It'll give Ashley something to do, too.

Happy that this is working out so well, Vanille leads the way back to her house. Ducking between the planks on the fence, she heads into the pen. "Just approach slowly from the side. They should remember you since you helped me catch and bring them back. Like this."

Ready to stand in as an example again, Vanille slowly approaches Diamond, keeping her head lowered and her body language relaxed. The kirin flares her nostrils and watches, but otherwise doesn't seem concerned. Slowly Vanille makes her way over, reaching up to rub Diamond's neck. The kirin nudges her before turning to watch Ashley, still seeming much less concerned than she has with most every other visitor so far.

"A lot of life around this place comes down to being distracted. I think it's the goal of the place. The less time we have to look into things and investigate, the little we're going to find. It definitely benefits them if we have no time to look into things.

"I should argue but honestly? Thank you. I think it's just gotten easy to wallow in loneliness, rather than doing anything about it." Which is a sad realization but at least she's being honest about what she's been through, and what she's let happen. "I'm glad to get dragged back into people and life."

And she is, even as she follows directions. So she waits, watching what Vanille does. Smiling as the kirin responds and then copying suit as she comes closer, lightly petting his side.

"It's still so amazing to me. I mean, there's a lot of creatures in my world I've dealt with, but never unicorns."

"More reason for you to stay with us!" Vanille points out happily. She sees no reason for Ashley to be alone, especially if being alone is just going to make her lonely and sad. Vanille will make sure Ashley won't have a chance to be lonely while she's living with Vanille and Phryne.

She is pleased to see how Ashley does with the kirin. That is a good sign, how both kirin still remember her. The other one makes her way over, also clearly remembering Ashley. Vanille gives her a light rub on her neck.

"We could ride anytime you want," she says, wrapping her arms around Crystal's neck happily. "Or we can always just hang out with them. The others might get a little jealous if we spend too much time with them." A giggle accompanies that as she looks over the kirin's back to see the purple ones watching them.

Edited 2019-03-19 01:52 (UTC)

Ashely smiles, kind of amazed by the animals reaction to her. She knows here she hasn't been a hunter, hasn't done the things she has back home, but there's a part of her that knows it's in her blood and so she fears that animals might sense it. What is it they say? How animals and kids can sense those things? She's glad in this case though that they don't.

That makes Ashley smile, glancing at the alpaca things. "Not our fault they're not ridable, and might spit," she teases, chuckling. "It's weird. I never had pets or anything, and the animals around me growing up that weren't as sentient as humans were usually deadly. I like how it is here," she admits.

Vanille smiles up at Ashley as they stand there, surrounded by animals. The purple ones don't let the kirin take all the attention, making their way over after another minute. One even shoves her head into Vanille's arms, making her laugh. All six of them seem fairly happy and content to share the attention from the two girls.

"We had a lot of deadly animals on Gran Pulse, too," Vanille comments, rubbing a couple of necks as the animals shift. "But we also had domestic ones. I'll show you how to handle them. You'll be great."

"The one time I thought I could have a pet?" She begins, scritching and petting as she thinks about it. "It was called a nubbin, and they kind of look like bunnies, right? Except turns out they put out pheromones that make everyone want to get it on, and they multiple and destroy everything around them. So we had to... kill them all," she says, her nose wrinkling.

"Much happier with the animals here, even if it's weird. I'm usually the herd them up and destroy type," she says, smiling as one of the zalpacas nudges her.

"More reason for you to get used to these!" she chirps happily, glad to see her friend getting along so well with her animals. Those animals Ashley describes don't sound so great, but Vanille knows very well what it's like to have to do something like that. Still, at least they won't have to do that with these.

For now, though, they can stay outside with the menagerie of animals and just enjoy the peace for as long as it lasts.

Anne's still working through her color change, settling into a more sedate routine. Instead of a morning jog, though, she's at least able to convince herself to get out for an afternoon stroll.

So it is that she sees a random herd of llamas and what looks like an Australian Shepherd, until Vanille comes riding back into view on a kirin with another in view.

Anne gives a way and walks up, "Vanille! Hi, looks like you've got quite the crowd here!"

Vanille's mount gives a wary snort, head up, and balks slightly at the newcomer. Vanille leans over to rub Diamond's neck soothingly. "You're all right," she says to the animal before straightening and waving at Anne.

"Yep!" she says with a laugh just as Bhakti, the reptilian dog, finally joins them, too. He'd been wandering around the house mostly, she thinks, until he got tired of being alone. The rest of her menagerie is at least used to him and his different looks. He's still more than friendly enough. "You wanna say hi to them? The purple ones are the friendliest of the large ones, but the dogs will steal you all for themselves if you let them."

By now she's been thoroughly introduced to croc-dogs after her recent hike with Seifer to collect one for him, and she greets Bhakti with a smile, and then moves to turn her attention to the zalpacas.

"So - what's it like taking of this many animals?"

"Pretty normal to me," Vanille says with a shrug, stroking her mount's neck to help calm it. "You get into a routine. Up in the morning to feed them all. Time during the day to train or exercise or graze them. Feeding in the evening. You kinda have to build your whole day around them."

People in her village had done this and she'd always been interested in animals. If given time, she probably would've been a herder and had at least a couple of chocobos.

The purple ones seem interested in the newcomer, one even going so far as to approach. Vanille smiles encouragingly.

Edited 2019-02-23 00:08 (UTC)

Anne holds her hand out for the zalpacas. She's not intimately experienced with animal husbandry the way it sounds like Vanille is, but she's got a certain amount of common sense not to make any sudden movements and to appear non-threatening in general.

"I'm going to hazard a guess you've some experience raising animals at home?"

Orchid is the one to reach Anne first, curiously sniffing her hand before leaning over to sniff any pockets she might have, clearly looking for treats. Vanille giggles as one of the others gets in on it, too.

"Yep, they like you already," she declares happily. "Yeah, home was a lot closer to living like this. I think I'm in the minority there. Most people seem to come from places that are... more advanced with technology. Like Cocoon. I'm teaching Raine how to herd, so we can take all of them out further away from the village."

It's been slow going, mostly because of Raine's age, but the puppy is quickly growing into a dog and he's learning at a rapid pace. Vanille is very, very proud of him.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

facing the ghosts that decide }{ OTA

By The Pen

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

A good ftb point?

works for me!

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

good end point?

Animals

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject