intraspective | ??????????, Gaia, Wednesday Late Afternoon

She was never, ever taking any portal that had stopovers ever again. Sure, their hosts had been great, she now played one hell of a mean game of croquet (it would have been two-time world champion except Reno had stolen one title from her on a technicality, damn him), but really, all being stuck in croquet hell for three years the local time had done was kill any momentum she'd had for saving the world.

Iris still came out of the portal swinging her mallet, just in case. (Look, before croquet hell there had been some much less friendly worlds out there and old habits died really hard.)

Nothing attacked her, though she did startle a man feeding his chickens as she stepped out into his yard. Ignoring his yelp, she glanced around their surroundings, her mind reaching out to judge any potential threats.

"Oh thank fuck," she said cheerfully. "We're someplace peaceful. I demand a shower!"

Sure, they'd have to figure out where and what reality they were in. But this was a start.

[For that title-stealing guy!

NOTE: The second thread has talk of torture, actual murder, torture, and blowing up a building in it.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

raspberryturk

"Ah, hell yeah," Reno said, leaning his head back and peering up to the sky. His phone had lost a charge and refused to play nicely for him for... about two years now. Had to get that replaced, right along with his EMR. Mental note.

In the meantime, hey, he wielded a mean croquet mallet.

"Ah, hell yeah," he said a moment later. "First thing I'm doin' is gettin' a frickin' shave, yo."

They could worry about whether they were even in the right world after their phones were charged again.

From:

intraspective

But, really, if time had passed the same way here that it had for them, Gaia was probably screwed already. Their priorities were good and sound.

And she desperately wanted a shower, new clothes, and food before she went looking for a way to charge her phone and figure out what the hell was going on.

"You," she said pleasantly, but pointing her mallet at the man who was gaping at him. "Where's the nearest excellent hotel?"

The man stammered his answer, picked up a chicken, and fled.

Iris glanced up at Reno, grinning. "Shall we?"

From:

raspberryturk

"Hell yeah," Reno agreed, looking toward what looked to be town, frowning thoughtfully. There was something familiar about that place, though he'd have to get closer to put a finger on it anyway. "There'll be a hotel there, wherever we landed, yo. We can do the shit, shave, an' shower thing, get a meal into us that ain't gummy candy, sleep for a friggin' week-" sorry, Gaia, the priorities got shuffled a bit in transit, "-and then make sure we're in the right place, right time."

From:

intraspective

"Let's go," she said, hopping the fence casually. "But, seriously, you tellin' me you're tired of gummy candy? The shame, the horror, imagine the headlines…"

Iris was never eating another gummy candy herself, but she wasn't going to say that.

From:

raspberryturk

"If I never see a friggin jujube again, it'll be too soon," Reno informed her, rolling his eyes and hopping the fence just as easily. "I wanna goddamn steak, yo. Hell, I'll eat a handful of gysahl greens, that's still a step up."

Anything. But. Candy.

From:

intraspective

"I'll lower myself to a potato chip at this point," Iris admitted. "Something salty, at least. I don't even want a hot chocolate and that's just tragic."

From:

raspberryturk

"Ugh, chocolate." Reno shook his head as he made his way toward town.

And squinted toward town.

"Huh," he grunted, mostly to himself. "Watertower."

From:

intraspective

"Yeah, that's a watertower," Iris said, keeping pace with him. "What, you recognize it?"

She didn't.

Though she was going to level a longer look at it, just in case.

From:

raspberryturk

"Yeah," Reno said, squinting up at it. "Yeah, I think I do."

His pace picked up slightly as he led her onward. If this was where he thought it was, Iris wasn't gonna like it.

"We're gonna spend the night at the inn. Then I'm gonna tell you where we are."

Then she could kick his ass or whatever.

Edited Date: 2019-04-10 11:14 pm (UTC)

From:

intraspective

"'Cause that ain't ominous at all," Iris muttered, shaking her head and then picking up her own pace. She had to work a bit harder to keep up with him, since his stride was longer. "But, you know what, I don't even care today."

The lure of a shower was way, way stronger than a mystery she wasn't going to like much.

"I ain't even gonna pry into other minds 'bout it--'less you think there's a real threat?"

From:

raspberryturk

"Nah. If we are where I think we are, this is our turf anyway."

Reno shrugged and walked into town, heading his way straight to the inn.

He might have kicked a fencepost on the way.

"Two rooms? Ain't like we don't got money. Or we can be chatty teenage girls an' spend all night gossipin' after we get all prettied up, yo."

From:

intraspective

"Fuck yeah, Gaia!"

Shit, it had be forever.

"I ain't sayin' it's the last few years that make my first thought go 'but what would the tabloids think' but it's totally the last few years that do that."

Iris considered that.

"S'up to you, I guess. I don't care."

From:

From:

raspberryturk - Date: 2019-04-11 12:25 am (UTC) - Expand

From:

intraspective

"Okay," Iris said, frowning at the mansion. "I'm getting some seriously unfriendly vibes from that."

The fact that she hadn't yet been able to pinpoint a person giving off those vibes was more than a little freaky. The sun shone, the birds chirped, they had spent the night before getting their pretty princess on…

And the mansion was just this ugly blight to her senses.

Ugly, and sad.

Neither really made her want to go anywhere near it.

From:

raspberryturk

"You shouldn't," Reno replied, staring up at it, lips drawn into a tight frown. "Whole friggin' town should give you the heebies, Rookie."

He swallowed and glanced her way. Hell. Better to just say it and get it over with.

"This is Nibelheim."

From:

intraspective

It was a testament to their long, long association that she didn't just turn around and punch him. He was still faster than her, but she was fast enough to get a punch off on him if she really wanted to.

He was really lucky that she loved him.

Her eyes narrowed, her mouth flattening as she pressed her lips together. Iris sent her mind out around the village.

"Okay," she said, after a long, long moment. "But it ain't nothing but a normal village so far. Those ain't ShinRa operatives we've got in the town."

They were just… normal people. Living their lives.

From:

raspberryturk

"Yeah," Reno agreed, glancing sidelong at her. "I ain't recognized a single one of 'em as anyone livin' in Nibelheim in our time. Town looks around right, though..."

He looked around quietly. Didn't like the way this all sat in his guts.

"You got your PHS charged? Check the date."

From:

intraspective

"It's the day after your birthday," she grumbled, more out of habit than anything else as she dug her PHS out. Iris frowned at it.

Then frowned harder at it.

"Huh."

From:

raspberryturk

Reno didn't even have to check his PHS. That 'huh' was enough to confirm what he was afraid of, right there.

The date was one thing.

Yesterday, they hadn't thought to check the year.

"How much time we got?"

From:

intraspective

Curling her fingers protectively around her PHS, Iris kept on frowning.

"Not as much as we'd like, but shit ain't going down, like, right now."

From:

raspberryturk

Reno gave a small nod. Pulled out his own PHS. Frowned at it.

"Figure we hit the right one, wrong time? Or are we in someone else's bullshit reality about to go nuclear?"

From:

intraspective

"Ain't sure," she admitted, "though I ain't inclined to just leave without seein' what's up either."

The question, really, was what was the best way to go about…

"No such thing as a sure thing but a way to narrow it is to find a Turk and see if they know me," Iris admitted reluctantly. "I were one, already, by this point."

From:

raspberryturk

Reno nodded a little, glanced again at her PHS.

"Call Tseng?"

Was as good a solution as any, really. Easier than making a trek all the way to Midgar, at least.

From:

intraspective

"He's going to love this," Iris said, amused. "Whether or not he knows me."

Honestly, she couldn't decide which scenario would irritate him more.

Still, she was calling him.

"Here goes?"

From:

raspberryturk

"Gods-speed, Rookie," Reno replied, smiling wryly and firing off a sloppy salute.

The phone rang.

There is no meaning to a flower unless it blooms.

??????????, Gaia, Wednesday Late Afternoon

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags