take time, take all the time you need.

[whipshots]

WHO: Brigitte Lindholm
WHERE: Southern village
WHEN: All of March kinda
OPEN TO: OTA, with sections for Seifer & Pepper
WARNINGS: Sads over villager disappearance; otherwise nah

---

around the village | seifer (early march, post take-two)
The supplies that she and Jane had scraped the desert for had been salamanders. Not a common occurrence in the area around the village itself, though she’d then grown used to stuffing the things into jars, their skin oddly warm to the touch. After dropping them off in the village supplies, she’d secretly squirreled one of them away to become the smithy’s new pet-slash-mascot, just like Seifer had been wistfully wanting for a while. It was a little bit of a silver lining, and it had gone well for a few days.

But then the slippery little bastard got away.

Which is how the pair wound up spending their pre-lunch hour wandering the village, checking under bushes and porches, both of them carrying oversized jars and squinting for that tell-tale glimpse of red.

“I feel like I should be putting up a lost pet poster,” she sighs.


at the forge | pepper (after they realise tony’s gone /handwaves)
Brigitte hadn’t really experienced the disappearance of someone she knew. She’d heard of it happening, of course, whether it was longstanding residents vanishing or Jacob’s sister being whisked away shortly after arrival. But she hadn’t undergone it herself.

Until the morning when she came into the forge and found that, for once, the fires hadn’t been lit. She was so accustomed to Tony’s brand of early-morning workaholicism that it jarred her, sent her immediately wondering: Another kidnapping? Another mysterious teleportation across the island? It almost felt routine by now: logging into the network, going to check around, maybe receive his marching orders from afar like he’d done back in January.

And then nothing, and then nothing.

The days crept on, with that odd uncomfortable lack of resolution — was this what happened ? you just kind of… assumed that they were gone? — and Brigitte trying to come to terms with it. Which is when Pepper Potts finally enters the forge and finds Brigitte sitting there on a barrel, the kiln unfired and the young woman clutching a pile of papers filled with the man’s hurried scrawl of a shorthand. She’s staring down at it, at a loss.


around the village | OTA (anytime march)
In Tony’s absence, Brigitte steps up her presence at the forge even more and is trying to keep the place running in some kind of order. She still lives at the inn and can be found there for communal meals and relaxing in the evenings, though she’s starting to doze off in the common room too now — pot, kettle, black. She’s spending more time in the library, reading up on the local flora, brushing up on her notes from Bev’s first aid classes. Learning all the little things that she never paid much attention to before: the teas which can ease headaches, others which ease cramps or nausea. It’s the little things.

[ WILDCARD: pretty much anywhere’s fair game! she goes jogging in the mornings, and can be sporadically found in the infirmary/dojo too, though less often now. ]

Comments

[firacrux]

If things weren't so dire he'd think there was something wrong with Brig for not fawning on the crocdog, as it was it only made sense. They had far too much to be concerned about chasing an elusive amphibian through the village. Wait, were these salamanders amphibians? Somehow he didn't think they'd like water. "Unless someone's got a stockpile they weren't telling us about," It was an outlandish idea. He still said it anyway.

"Maybe your taking it out of the desert gave it wanderlust." Oh Hyne, maybe her taking it out of the desert made it want to try to go home? But the forge was so nice and warm, he didn't understand. "Wanna try the fireplace at the inn?"

[whipshots]

She laughed again at that idea. "We should name him Marco Polo. Orrrr Leif Eriksson, that's even better. You probably don't have any of those people in your world, huh?"

Then, upon his suggesting the inn, Brig perked up. "Oh, that's a good idea!" It was, typically, the warmest place outside of the forge (which was why she drifted there so often for her meals, cozily warming her feet by the fire). Even body heat kept it going, too, with so many people crammed into one space. The inn was a hub, the closest thing to community in the village.

So she started hustling, striding towards her home like an unstoppable bulldozer, only slowing for the crocdog to catch up. She glanced down then, with a wry smile. "Have you named that one?"

[firacrux]

"Sure don't, but I think I like the sound of Leif Eriksson. Guessin' they were explorers of some kind?" Easy enough assumption to reach, given the subject at hand. Of course they didn't share people across their worlds, very different places after all, even if they did share a few similar concepts here and there.

With that agreement made Seifer shook himself free of a thorny bush he was digging in having thought he spied a bright skin. It was only a dried leaf. "Great, I could use a warm up anyway." It's cold out there, alright? Might as well have a check. Maybe they could grab lunch while they were there as well, check under the stove, that sort of thing.

And before he knew it Brig was off like a shot, Seifer having to trot to catch back up. Then slow, because the crocdog for all his diligence was a little guy, and it was a bit cold out there for him. He grinned. "Yeah! Finally came up with somethin' better than 'Dog'. He's Eos."

[whipshots]

Speaking of similar concepts -- "Eos," she repeats approvingly, as she glances down at the little animal. The name sparks a bit of familiarity, and so she adds, "Greek goddess of the dawn. At least, in my world. Does it mean anything in yours?"

They've settled into a more comfortable pace now that they know where they're going, and Eos is patiently keeping up with them despite his squat, stubby legs. Brig still reaches the doorway of the inn first, and gallantly holds it open for the blond and the crocdog alike. The crocdog saunters in as if it owns the place, and she can't help but laugh a little as she follows them in. "Where did you even find one of these?"

[firacrux]

"Yeah! Well, not Greek, dunno what Greek is. It's Centran from back home." Very similar concepts still, old mythologies that had inspired him in a lot of ways. Seifer was secretly a huge nerd for ancient mythologies. "'Course they might have ties to Guardian Force there, dunno if you guys have anything like that?" Odin, for example, was a very real and physical being.

Until Seifer sliced him in half. Whoops.

Seifer can't help but grin at his antics. Easily as at home within the human settlement as along the riverbanks. "Followed the river down until we found some, then it was just a matter of tossin' fish until one came over to say hi. They're pretty friendly." As she can clearly see.

[whipshots]

"I should go out to the river and get one of my own. Except I-- do not really have the time for a pet," plus she'd lost her first one!! "and living in the inn isn't the best place for keeping one anyway. But still."

As they enter the inn, she casts a gaze around the room -- it's not as bustling as usual, which is good, since it makes it easier to search for the salamander without supplanting people from their meals.

"I don't know what guardian forces are? But if they are like our gods and goddesses, then they are like... old, very powerful beings, with special powers or strength or magical items. Thor from the smithy, actually, he is sort of like a guardian force from my world, I guess you could say. That was hard to wrap my mind around at first."

[firacrux]

"These guys are easy you can take 'em with you!" Which has been what Seifer's been doing. Eos has been at his side since he found the creature, so it made training and care infinitely easier. Just stop for a meal here and there, make sure there's a water dish any place they're going to be for a while. No problems whatsoever. It had been working out well enough for them so far.

"I guess you could kinda compare 'em to that, yeah. They're spirit beings, more or less, dunno how old they are or even really where they come from. You can stick 'em in your head and with their help use magic. Either directly or to greatly enhance certain abilities. Stamina, speed, how many hits you can take, reaction time. Stuff like that." Which probably sounded incredibly weird, he knew. "Yeah! It's crazy to think of Thor being like that, seemed like a pretty normal guy to me." Enjoyable to work around. Fascinating that he was effectively a god. He chuckled. "Yeah, I bet. I'm still havin' a hard time with it. The ones from my world don't look that human usually."

[whipshots]

Stick them in your head. That bit is new; she supposed some people believed in demonic possessions or channeling the gods back home, but the way Seifer discusses it, he sounds matter-of-fact. Like describing a bit of commonplace physics, rather than something mythical and unsubstantiated.

So Brigitte shoots Seifer a curious look, temporarily distracted from where she’d been peering into the fire and half-crawling under tables.

“Wait. Did you have a god in your head?”

[firacrux]

Possession was also a thing in his world, though it usually came in the form of Sorceresses. Much different, and yet still so horrifyingly real. On the subject of Guardian Force, however, Seifer did indeed sound very matter-of-fact, almost bored. Like he was merely talking about a workplace policy. Which in a lot of ways was true.

"'Course, it's Balamb Garden's big thing. Galbadia didn't practice it, Trabia did but they weren't big enough to host field exams so Trabian SeeD candidates would transfer to Balamb," He explained, gently shifting burning logs with a fire poker to try to get a look underneath. "I didn't use 'em as much as some of the others. Thought it was a crutch. Oh, we called the process Junctioning. So you pop 'em in your head, then using them alongside collected Paramagic you could enhance certain aspects of yourself depending on the GF's specialization."

Sometimes Seifer didn't realize just how insane it all sounded until people were looking at him funny.

[whipshots]

She wondered if this was what people felt like when she launched into her own engineering jargon and technobabble: hopelessly adrift, out of their depth, assailed by a swarm of unfamiliar terminology. (That's what you get, Brigitte!!)

But crawling out from under the table and dusting off her knees, she tried to focus right past all the terminology. Honed in on the more relevant detail, though he seemed so nonchalant about it: "What was it like, to junction one of those? What did it feel like?"

Because oh my god she just has to know, now.

[firacrux]

Yes, a little, Seifer often forgets that these things make absolutely no sense to anyone else. All these weird worlds not covered in monsters. He'll be happy to clarify any terms. She's lucky she got him talking about home at all, honestly.

"At first? Kinda fuzzy, like your head was full of static and a little too full. Eventually you get used to it and it stops bein' so distracting. The rest of the Junctioning process makes you feel powerful. Faster, stronger, more alert. You can even summon the GF you have Junctioned to fight for a time. That's always impressive." He grinned over at her, gesturing grandly.

Oh it was cool Brig he does wish he could better describe it.