damned_institute | Day 35: The Pet Supply Place

Before walking into the building, Yuna noticed the corral area off to the side with a handful of animals leisurely enjoying their time. A blue haired girl was feeding something to one of the horses, so Yuna assumed she could at least go over and look at the animals as well.

She made her way over next to the girl and rested her head and arms on the top rung of the fence, staring at the brown horse up close. "She's really beautiful," Yuna said out loud, continuing to stare deep into the horse's eyes.

[jumping in with Senna-mun's permission from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/446761.html?thread=36447529#t36447529)!]

As she got closer, Meche found herself closing in behind a young brunette; both of them were making the obvious beeline toward the mare corralled to one side of the store. Meche didn't know all that much about horses--not too many of them ever turned up at the animal shelters she'd worked at--but she knew she liked them, and she knew the other two women around her looked friendly. She headed toward them.

"It's nice to see animals around here," she said softly by way of introduction. "I get a feeling there aren't a lot of them at Landel's."

Senna turned her head to watch the two women mingle over to her. "Unless you count monsters as animals, right?" She fed the last apple slice to the mare, then ran her fingers through her forelock, gently smiling. "She is pretty...."

She jumped off the fence, accenting the fact that she was only five foot. Interlacing her fingers behind her back, she grinned. "I'm Senna! How's you guys' day going?"

Yuna was pleasantly surprised when she turned her head back momentarily to see another woman behind her. She seemed nice enough, and if she was an animal lover, that just indicated that she was very caring in Yuna's mind.

She gently giggled at Senna's comment, although half of it was simply to conceal her discomfort at the topic of monsters at Landel's. Seeing the horse attend once again to her own businesses, Yuna picked herself up from the rung and faced the two girls directly.

"Fine, thank you," Yuna answered, tilting her head as she smiled at the two. "I am Yuna. It's nice to meet you two." Yuna finished her introduction with a Yevon prayer motion but stopped abruptly in the middle, the pain of Yevon's betrayal returning to affect her usually pleasant demeanour.

There it was: monsters again. Well, she could always hold out hope for its being a mass delusion, but that was looking less likely with every person she talked to. And something told Meche that everyday, run-of-the-mill fights between patients probably weren't enough to have caused all the shouting they'd heard last night.

Yuna didn't look like she was any happier to hear about monsters than Meche was. Great time for a change of subject. "My name is Meche," she said, deciding to go for just her first name too. "I'm a little new around here. Have either of you been into town before?"

Both of them seemed nice enough. But... both of them seemed pretty new, too. She wouldn't be able to get a bigger picture of what was going here until she found someone to talk to. But still... it wouldn't hurt to be friendly. "It's nice to meet you," she said, smiling at Yuna.

"Nope! I'm new, too. I woke up here yesterday, and then slept through all these monsters I've been hearing about. When'd you guys get here?" She stretched her arms up over her head.

Yuna shook her head. "I've been here for about four days, but I was sick during most of the last 3 days, so I don't know much either."

So they were new as well. At least she found someone else she could relate to. They were all going through the shock of not being home and being attacked by monsters together. It helped to have someone to go through things with after all.

Well, so much for her plan of asking for shopping recommendations. Meche wanted to ask what they knew, if anything, about Landel and those monsters, but shop talk didn't seem like the best way of getting to know people here. Somehow, "Hey, ever been dead?" wasn't sounding much better as a conversational gambit.

"So I guess you're not really locals either," she said instead with a smile. "Where are you from?"

Senna leaned back on the fence. If Meche had asked her question she would have got a surprised yes from Senna, but as it were.... "Not local from what I know. Though I've got no idea where we are. I'm from a few places. Karakura town, Soul Society...." The Dangai.... "A few places."

Senna wasn't interested in where, she was more interested in what. "What are you guys' homes like? Anything exciting there?"

Home... Both the first and the last thing Yuna wanted to think about. She wanted so badly to think of how to release Spira from the calamity of Sin, but at the same time, she didn't want to fully face the pain of being betrayed by Yevon. Were her friends all right? Did they find a way to beat Sin once and for all? She took a deep breath before answering, choosing instead to tell of the positive side of her world.

"I come from the Island of Besaid in Spira. All of Spira is just beautiful and we even play a fun game called Blitzball!" Yuna answered with elaborate hand gestures, beginning to become excited. "How about your home, Lady Meche?"

Soul Society? Spira? "Lady Meche" (and really, what was going on there?) was pretty sure her world geography hadn't gotten that out-of-date in the last ten years. (She'd never heard of Blitzball either, but then again, she wasn't much of an athlete and they were always adding crazy sports to the Olympics.) Could those two nice girls really be from the other worlds Donna's doctor was always supposed to be hopping around to in his spaceship? They looked so normal.

Well, she guessed she'd seen stranger things.

Meche thought about trying to tell them about her home before she died, but the habit she'd picked up in the Eighth Underworld was still with her: don't talk about your life. Anyway, the truth couldn't possibly sound any stranger than what they'd just told her.

"Actually," she began, trying to collect her thoughts. "I've been traveling for the last four years. Where I've been--there are big cities, and forests...ocean liners..." Oh, the hell with it. "And everybody's dead," she burst out.

Senna was nodding along, smiling politely when Meche said what she said. She raised an eyebrow. "Huh. And you don't come from Soul Society? 'Cause we..." Hey, there was Alita! Senna had to apologize to her for falling asleep last night.

"Hey, I have to go talk to my roommate. But I'll come back in a bit if you guys are still here." She smiled and threw the victory sign to the two. "We should talk." And then without anything more, she ran off towards the park.

[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/446761.html?thread=36287529#t36287529)] (Her plans got canceled after she talks to Alita so if you guys are still here Senna will wander back to you. ^_^)

"Dead?" Yuna repeated in disbelief. "What do you mean?"

How could everyone in her world be dead? Did that mean she was dead too? But she looked so normal. However, Senna seemed much less shocked at the matter, and it didn't help that Senna decided to spontaneously run off. Perhaps it was normal in her world? After all, everyone she had met so far had come from very different worlds apart from Spira.

[I don't have any plans either, but we can head to a restaurant if you like.]

Meche sighed. There really wasn't any easy way to explain this, but she was gonna have to give it a shot. "All right," she said. "Four years ago--well, ten years from when we are now, but it felt like four years to me--I became ill and died. Since then, I've been in...I guess you could call it the afterlife. The Land of the Dead. People are supposed to travel through it for four years before they finally get to...heaven, basically. That was what I thought this place was." She grimaced. "Until I got a chance to look around, anyway."

She was watching Yuna's face intensely, trying to gauge how much of her story the girl was willing to buy. Probably not much; she certainly wouldn't have when she was alive.

"I know it sounds hard to believe. But while I was there, there was a lot of corruption going on among the people in charge of people's fates. I'm trying to figure out if anyone else here might have been dead before they came here and had their destinies stolen from them."

Even though Yuna absorbed most of the information, it took her quite a while to process it. Luckily for Meche, Yuna's world had a similar phenomenon.

"Actually it's not that different from my world. In Spira, everyone who dies becomes pyreflies and wander around until a Summoner sends them to the Farplane for eternal rest," she answered, happy she could make some sort of connection to her own world. "But I've never heard of stealing someone's destiny."

[Okay, I'll cruise us on down to Twin Pines!]

The terminology in that last exchange sailed right over Meche's head, but she could work with this. "All right, then think of it like this: someone lived a good life--or made up somehow for living a bad one, at least--and their soul was supposed to go on to eternal rest. But instead, someone is forcing them to wander around as a firefly. That was what was happening in the Land of the Dead, and I think it's what's happening here. At least, that's the best theory I have to go on at the moment."

She might've kept going if she hadn't been interrupted by a sudden rumble in her stomach. How long had they been standing outside chatting? She hadn't realized how late it was getting, but hunger and chills were suddenly propelling Meche toward someplace warm.

"Why don't we talk about this over some lunch?" she suggested, waving her coupon booklet. The cross street looked pretty big--one of the restaurants in the coupons almost had to be on it.

[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/446999.html?thread=36668695#t36668695)]

Lucky him. There was a horse. Now the question is how do I coax him over here? Archer suddenly remembered the apple slices he had in his bag. He held one out to the horse, and it worked. The animal trotted over slowly, almost cautiously. Maybe it could sense the death reeking from Archer. It seemed like getting a new body didn't help, or at least that's what he thought. The guy's demeanor completely changed after eating that first slice, depositing some slobber on Archer's hand in exchange. The horse became much more cheerful. "Ugh... that's nice..."

Turning to his little friend, he wondered if she liked animals. Handing her the bag he asked, "Do you want to feed him?"

A horse?

Hanyuu tilted her head slightly, watching as Archer offered the creature an apple slice. It seemed nice enough, but she was still rather... wary. She'd seen plenty of animals throughout her years of existence, but it wasn't as though she'd been able to actually interact with them. No, the only animals she’d encountered recently were the ones from the hospital, and those weren't really ones you wanted to spend time with.

...wait a minute, wasn't the town a part of Landel's in a way? It was true that things typically waited until after dark before becoming dangerous, but who said it was always that way? If Doyleton and Landel's were connected, then knowing Hanyuu’s luck, the seemingly gentle horse would likely decide it'd rather eat her than the apple slices...

Then again, it hadn't tried to eat Archer when he fed it. But then Archer was bigger than she was, and things seemed to have knack for going after people that were smaller...

"Auauau..." The spirit glanced between Archer and the horse, before settling her attention on her companion. "I-it's not going to try and eat me... is it?"

"No," Archer chuckled softly. He could almost imagine Hanyuu's thought process and found it terribly amusing. "Don't worry. He won't try to eat you. Probably."

"This guy's not like the things at the Institute," he said in a slightly less humorous tone, but having said his peace, he returned to a more light-hearted voice. "Besides, the scary things only seem to come out at night."

He had enough experience with those things, and this guy was pretty normal in comparison. He supposed the horse was almost nice, except for the slobber.

"This guy is as gentle as they come," Archer said, stroking its mane. He looked down at Hanyuu with a gentle expression. "Don't worry, I'll protect you from the big, bad horse. I promise."

"Right... okay." Hanyuu nodded slowly, feeling a little relieved that Archer's thoughts mirrored her own; at least when it came to when the bad things happened. Plus, despite her initial fears, she knew Archer wouldn't let anything bad happen.

After pushing her sleeves back up and digging out an apple slice, Hanyuu inched closer to the fence, eventually moving close enough for the horse to take the offered food. She immediately pulled her arm back afterwards, just in case, but she smiled as she turned back to Archer.

"It didn't try to bite me!" It seemed the horse really was more interested in the apple slices, which was a very good thing in Hanyuu's mind. Still grinning, she offered the creature another slice.

The edge his lips turned up even higher than before. He was truly glad for Hanyuu's jovial mood. It was a truly genuine response.

"See, it's okay," Archer replied, content to simply watch Hanyuu feed the horse, and it's what he did for a while, merely soaking the good mood in. Peaceful moments like this were few and far in between. "It's a welcome change after all the fighting."

Fighting... Hanyuu didn't think he'd meant the comment as anything more than a simple observation, but it was still one of the worst things anyone could've said.

"But everyone's still fighting now, aren't they?" she asked suddenly, petting the horse's nose as it nibbled the last of the apple slices. "It may not be the same as fighting monsters, but pretending that everything's okay is a way of fighting too. It proves that people aren't ready to give up jsut yet." She paused, then shook her head and added in a quieter tone, "Or maybe some have given up, and are simply trying to enjoy life before it's taken from them."

Her sudden depression didn't escape his notice, and he was slightly disheartened to know he said something wrong, but being a friend didn't mean just fun and games. It also meant helping them through the dark times.

"That's true. Keeping your spirits up is also a way of fighting," he answered. From Hanyuu's reply, he deduced she was putting on a facade for the sake of others, but beneath that, perhaps she was tired of the endless fighting, which made things seem pointless.

"I don't think that way of living is wrong. Regardless, people should try enjoying life to its fullest because no one really knows when they'll die. It could be today, tomorrow, or years from now." After she made that last comment, he stepped closer and placed his hand around Hanyuu's shoulder, pulling her closer in a comforting way. "I'm not going to let you die."

You're wrong, Hanyuu thought, unable to look at Archer as he spoke. Rika had known when she was going to die. Or at least she had when they were in Hinamizawa. But the comment about not knowing when they were going to die wasn’t the only thing that caught her attention.

'I'm not going to let you die.' That was becoming a familiar phrase to her. It was often said or implied differently, but Hanyuu had heard that a lot lately. Arlene had said something similar earlier in the day, and now Archer had said it... And it had only been days earlier when Hanyuu had made a similar promise to Rika. Now Rika was gone, and Hanyuu was waiting to die. Despite anything Arlene, or Archer, or anyone said, they were all waiting to die.

"That's not true, I am going to die. You're going to die. Arlene, Rena, Mion--everyone is going to die, and... and... I'm sorry!" She'd previously kept her voice steady, but what little resolve she'd managed to hold onto broke at those last two words, and the spirit buried her face in her hands. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

"Shh, It's okay. No one is going to die right now at least, so there's nothing for you to be sorry about," Archer said soothingly, dropping to Hanyuu's level to envelope her in his arms, slowly pulling her into a hug, softly stroking her hair. "Just let it out."

Archer had seen plenty of people cry, but he couldn't recall the last time he had cried, probably before that conflagration consumed his neighborhood.

"Here. Just listen to my breathing. I'm alive right now, and so are you because I can hear your breathing too." He just held her like that for some time, whispering comforting words into her ear, ignoring any on lookers. They didn't matter for now, only his friend did. "I won't say something irresponsible like everything will be alright. That's why I can only say that I'll protect you."

He wished he could say so much more, but he didn't want to distress her any further. And sometimes words weren't needed.

Apologizing, crying; neither ever did any good, and she would know since she had done both plenty of times throughout the years. What was she even apologizing for? What had happened to Rika? What was going to inevitably happen to them all? Starting this cruel game with Fate all those years ago? Hanyuu wasn't sure herself at the moment, but it was just the release she needed right then.

The spirit dropped her hands and clung to Archer, the repeated apologies giving way to hiccups and quiet sobs. Eventually the crying subsided completely and, after allowing herself to rest a moment in his embrace, Hanyuu pulled back slightly, rubbing a hand over her eyes.

"S-sorry, I-I didn't," she hiccupped and closed her eyes, taking a few seconds to try and regain her composure. "Th-thank you..."

"Shhh... No problem. Us former spirits have to stick together," Archer mumbled into her hair, allowing them both to just enjoy a moment of comfort. The Heroic Spirit of the Bow understood that helpless feeling, that insurmountable mountain of despair, which seemed you could do nothing about.

Given Hanyuu's youthful appearance, Archer sometimes forgot she was older than she looked and had probably seen her fair share of tragedies. "Other people, the living, just don't understand death the way we do. The fear of the inevitable end and the actually facing the horror, itself, are completely different. So don't worry, I understand. I understand the fighting seems pointless, but the here and now is what matters. If we can preserve our lives just for another day it's another chance to do something meaningful for ourselves."

Pulling away slightly, he looked down into her eyes. "That's something no one has the right to take away."

That was right; Archer had been a spirit too. Hanyuu wasn't used to knowing others like her in that regard, so it was easy to forget that fact. She loved Rika dearly and no one would ever be able to take the girls place, but sometimes it was so much better to talk to someone who knew what life, or existence, as a spirit was like. Just knowing that there was someone else who understood was a great comfort.

Taking a deep breath, Hanyuu nodded slightly. "Y-you're right... We're alive now, a-and... And that's what matters. As long as there's a chance, that's what's important." Hadn't that been what Arlene had been saying the previous day, too?

Hanyuu would've said something more, but her stomach chose that moment to speak for her. She hadn't eaten much in the past couple of days, and it seemed her stomach was trying to remind her of that. "A-auauauu... Sorry," she said, blushing slightly as she ducked her head.

"Haha," he chuckled lightly in response to her stomach. She really was an adorable spirit. "Well, I guess we should head to lunch."

[From here]

As Scar approached this particular location, he noticed where the remarkable scent had come from. It's source was a creature living close to the construction; an animal at that. Feline eyes observed her as he moved over to the fence, resting his hands on the top rung. She looked similar to a zebra, though there were plenty of differences to conclude she was a different species altogether. Maybe a distant family? Like the cheetah and the lion were both felines?

He realized this was the first time ever since arriving here that he had the pleasure of meeting an animal.

Or one that he knew about, at least. Toboe sniffed at the air as he stepped into the store. "Oh, it's a horse! Hi!" Toboe jumped up onto the fence. When the horse didn't respond, Toboe tilted his head, confused. "Why won't you talk?"

Now that was a very good question. The horse was in a possession of a mouth, so why did she refuse to use it? "Possibly, she has failed to hear you." Scar answered, frowning. Maybe these animals - horses - had bad hearing? Though if horses were anything like zebras, the feline didn't see how that could be convenient. Or possible, for that matter. Their striped cousins fled at the mere sound of a breaking twig.

"Excuse me." he called out as polite as he could possibly manage to what was supposed to be a prey, a little louder than Toboe just had. "I would like to ask a question."

The horse merely continued to ignore them and eat the grass. He wondered if it was the natural predatory scent that came from him. But if that had been the case, running off would make more sense than simply ignoring them.

Was she simply being ignorant, or was it something else?

"...but we're right in front of her." Toboe tilted his head at the horse. "Usually they can hear you just fine. Horses have good hearing, but their sight is better..."

He leaned over the fence slightly. "It's not nice to ignore people. You should at least say something!"

"My, isn't she the rude one?" Scar stated, beginning to grow annoyed at the horse's lack of response. If it couldn't be a possible bad hearing, what else could it be? She had a mouth, and he assumed she also had a tongue and vocal chords. So what, precisely, stopped her from speaking?

Even in the period his dear brother had been king, he had never been ignored to the extend he was experiencing right now. Lack of any deserved respect, yes, but at least the other animals had acknowledged his existence. This horse, however, failed horribly at even that.

"How could someone possibly be this ignorant?" He didn't care if the horse heared. She was the one being rude here.

Though he still couldn't quite shake the thought; was it something else? This was another world after all...

[lol sorry for inbox spammage. Typos again >>;]

The horse nickered softly, prompting another headtilt from Toboe. "Can't you talk?" he ventured again, rummaging in the brown bag he'd held onto from the bus. There were still apples left in the bottom, and he held one out over the fence, hand flat.

"...or maybe we just can't understand." Toboe didn't like that thought. They'd made it so he wasn't a wolf anymore...was he really human now? Completely? They never were able to understand other animals, only wolves could talk to people...

"Can't understand?!" Scar echoed, not liking the idea. How was it possible? How could it be that he no longer had the ability to understand animals?! He had been one himself!

Had been.

And it hit him. He was no longer a lion, but human. Could that be the reason? He watched the horse approach Toboe's hand and eat the apples, before directing his attention to the boy. He had to make sure, and his current companion seemed to know more of this.

"Is the inability to understand or speak with animals common among humans?"

"Yeah...it is." Toboe looked at the horse sadly. "At least where I'm from..." Humans could only understand wolves. There had to be communication there for them to hide among humans. Even then, it wasn't with their voices that they spoke.

He really wasn't a wolf anymore, was he?

He petted the mare's neck gently. She didn't even flinch, when she probably would have before. Even if Toboe was different than most wolves, he was still a wolf--a predator. Horses didn't like him very much before.

"I see." Scar answered, only to fall silent. He himself had no experience with humans, therefore he hadn't fully realized it yet before Toboe had mentioned it. It certainly didn't improve the situation now that he did know. He would like to think that he had enough on his plate already, and now this. He couldn't help it, but he felt cut off, somehow.

Not to mention that it only served to rub in that he no longer was a lion. Like the reflecting glass in the odd room last night. Along with the shower, the general sense of discomfort and his lack of understanding regarding human habits...

But he didn't want to think about this. It wouldn't be relevant once he returned home, now would it? So he focused on something else, something that the boy's comments definitely had been implying;

"I don't suppose you were something other than human before your arrival?"

Toboe glanced over at Scar. "...I'm a wolf." Even if he was a human right now. He really was a wolf.

This wouldn't last forever, and then he'd be back on his way to Paradise. This was just a delay.

"A...wolf?" Scar echoed. He had certainly never heard of that species before - the second one in a row today. Though with this one, he didn't have any example to compare it to. "What kind of species is a wolf?"

Though considering the way Toboe had addressed the horse, a wolf must be some kind of animal as well. Not that the King had kept his own species a secret, but for that reason he saw no harm in sharing his own. Or maybe it encouraged him, somehow.

"I am lion. Or maybe I should say 'had been'." He couldn't hide the annoyance in his voice as he said the last part.

"We're canines. Like dogs." Toboe scratched under the mare's forelock, then ran his hand lightly down her face. She felt warm, the hair slightly rough against his fingertips.

Toboe'd never seen a lion, but he knew of them through some of Grandmother's stories. Or at least...something like them. "Like a cougar," he murmured softly. But they'd been extinct for years where Toboe was from.

"Canines." Scar repeated. Like hyenas. He chose against voicing that thought, however; being compared to laughing lunatics couldn't possibly be some sort of compliment. And considering Toboe seemed a lot more sane, he supposed wolves were different from those useless creatures regardless.

"Lions are felines." he pointed out, as he certainly had no idea what a cougar was.

Day 35: The Pet Supply Place

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