It was a nice day for Somarium and Ace was out and about, enjoying the good weather as he mentally compiled a list of things he needed to pick up over the course of the day if he planned to spend most of the next few days out on the lake, doing some uninterrupted fishing.
He was half-contemplating picking up a new hat seeing as his was lost at home and unlikely to ever be returned to him when he spotted the woman and smiled even as he raised an eyebrow at the rabbit ears. That was new; fishpeople and merpeople were more familiar to him and he tried to recall if he'd ever seen anyone like that in his own world but he was drawing a blank.
Almost as an afterthought, he reached into his pocket to pull out the Dreamberry and he sighed when he saw the date; he'd been here a few months now and it was hard not to notice things like the patterns of arrivals and so he slipped the device back in his pocket, strolling over with a friendly grin.
Her keen sense of smell had led Fran to edge of the field where it terminated in one of the many small roadways leading through the village itself. She was in the middle of clambering over a low stone wall when she heard the nearing footsteps. One ear swiveled sharply in Ace's direction. She paused, one foot planted in the walkway, her other knee tucked up against her chest: mid-step down from the wall. Fran tipped his head toward him, waited - this place, wherever it was and despite how it looked or how the air felt, might very well be dangerous.
That open grin and easy greeting were certainly the right sort of thing to put the viera at ease though. She was instantly reminded of a certain other smile she knew well; it was difficult be anything but comfortable. Fran let herself the rest of the way down from the wall and straightened smoothly, long limbs unfolding.
Strolling closer, hands in his pockets as was his custom, the friendly smile didn't fade even as he dropped into a bow; Makino had done a damn good job of drilling manners into him as a little boy.
"Portgas D. Ace, pleased to meet you," he straightened up again before he let out a sigh. "'Here' is Somarium. It's a dream world. This place is Espoir, the village, the city is called Somni and not too far away is Lake Meridian. For a dream world it could be a lot worse; it's pretty nice really." His hand went back to his pocket again to pull out the Dreamberry. "You should have one of these; it's how you keep in touch and keep up with what goes on around here."
So this - 'Somarium' - was indeed a dream. Perhaps in some other place she was laying asleep in the lovingly cramped quarters of the Strahl. Or perhaps they'd wandered into the web of some deep spell. Fran knew of no magic that might be capable of such a thing, but that didn't mean there was no possibility for it. It must be a very old enchantment indeed, to build this world and populate it so. "I am Fran," she said, easy and brief and plain - hume names were always so long.
She tipped her head at the gadget in his hand. It didn't look wholly dissimilar from the communication radios of Ivalice. She glanced down at herself. "I have?" There were very few places where something like that could hide, but after a very brief examination she made a small noise of surprise over the discovery of the Dreamberry at her hip. Evidently Somarium had seen fit to give it a clip and there it was, neatly hooked on to one of the many metal loops of her armor. "Ah, so it is. I must be no rarity in this place, if you're so quick to pick me out."
"It's a pleasure to meet you," he replied sincerely and it always was to him. It was one of the reasons that his time in Somarium never truly bothered him because there was always someone to talk to, something new to learn and enjoy and most importantly, it was an adventure unlike any he'd experienced at home and considering his travels along the Grand Line and the seas with his own crew and then as a Whitebeard Pirate, that was saying something.
"Everyone wakes up with one on their person; when I woke up here the very first time, I switched it on by accident before I even knew what I was doing." At her words, he smiled and rubbed the back of his head with a hand. "The first two weeks of every month, new arrivals show up so if I see anyone looking around intently about now and I don't recognise them, I usually ask if they're new. Doesn't hurt to be polite and make sure people know what's going on; waking up in a strange world can be a little jarring for some people."
Jarring was precisely the right word for it. Being physically lost was simply something that she'd ever seriously considered. Like waking up and suddenly speaking a foreign language fluently, like growing wings and learning to fly; these things simply didn't happen. Truthfully, this would be just her particular kind of luck: to get lost in a place that didn't exist. There was something funny to that. It was the sort of thing Balthier might smile and pester her for.
"Well that at least is a boon," Fran said. She unclipped the gadget from her hip and slid it open, examining the keyboard and the small dark screen. She turned it over, made a low noise in her throat and switched it on. It seemed straightforward enough, rudimentary even. "And fortunate for me, to stumble across someone so helpful. If nothing else, the Gods seem kind here." There at the corner of her mouth: a soft quirk, something that might have been a smile.
"I don't think there are any Gods here." Gods didn't mean much where he was from; too many islands that varied to greatly, the New World that had been explored so little with only one crew lead by a man he didn't care to think on having reach the place at the end of the world. The only name he ever really could remember hearing was the name of the Sea Devil who had made the Devil Fruits but even then, there were too many stories involving that one and he really hadn't cared all that much. He'd had his life, his ability and his nakama, that was all that mattered.
"I've heard talk of an Overlord, I think they're the one you'd have to thank for finding yourself here and maybe one of the explanations for the strange things that happen as the moon changes." At least she hadn't arrived when it seemed like most of the population had forgotten their homes and normal memories. Things like that would probably make the transition into living in the dream world harder.
A place with no Gods at all? Fran shot him a measuring look, as if to see whether he was toying with her. It would be easy to do. She hardly had much of a grasp on Somarium to protect against being run around in circles by anyone out for a bit of fun. But after a long look, she seemed confidant that Portgas D. Ace was telling the truth - or at least as much of it as he seemed to know. Fran made a low thoughtful noise; it was hardly unheard of for the gods to have turned away from their respective world. Still, she couldn't imagine that any place existed without some touch of the gods, whether or not they were one and the same here as at home
( ... )
"Something from your world?" He wasn't sure if the words were meant for his ears or not or if it was just one of those expressions people muttered, things that didn't ever really mean too much but were said and passed down through people. His own world had Overlords but not with this sort of magical power; the Gorosei were the heads of the World Government and had command over the Marines, Cipher Pol and made the pact with the Shichibukai and the World Nobles could behave as they wished.
At her question, he was quiet, thinking back to the date. His first week had been a blur of healing, of making sure he didn't say anything to Luffy about the circumstances of his arrival and then there was adding in the difference between the months from his world to this one.
"Not forward at all. It was February here so it's been about four months now," he sounded surprised when he said it, caught offguard about just how long it had been, "Time tends to fly a little in this world if you don't keep track of it."
"In a manner of speaking, yes." Fran was hardly sure that was quite correct though. The Occuria were hardly of Ivalice any more than the stars were, or a child with insects in a glass case was part of the insect's life. Perhaps technically they were - a child could shake the glass, rearrange the paths and destroy everything -, but it hardly seemed wholly truthful to consider them such. But it was hardly important. Not just yet. And she supposed that most places must have high powers, whether they be Gods or Overlords
( ... )
"What's your world like?" He was always curious about new places - that was half the reason so many pirates set out, to explore, to see what there was out there in the world - and with Luffy gone, he felt it was his duty to find out what he could about interesting places for the both of them because if Luffy ever appeared again, he'd be able to catch him up on everything he'd missed since he'd gone back home.
"Strange things happen here too...not so long ago, a lot of the people here lost their memories of their own world and believed they'd always lived here. So many things about them were totally different from their jobs to the people they called friends and family. I don't know if it'll happen again," he certainly hoped it would be a while and that he wouldn't be one of the ones who went through it, "but it's one of the stranger things that might happen."
Her world? How to even begin describing the Ivalice she knew, one which had changed so drastically from the time she had begun to learn it. Filled with mist, magic and every number of beasts eager to turn any adventurer into their next meal, the end of the war and the revelation of the Occuria had done nothing to change that. But it was different, she supposed, and it must have been quite so - though piracy in an age of peace was scarce different from that in time of war. Which, she supposed, was as good a point to speak to as any.
"Until recently, much of what I knew of Ivalice - as my world is called - was learned from the sky. In my world, airships are a primary form of transport. Ours was the Strahl; she is a very pretty ship, quite agile, and when there was still a war going on she was just the thing to run blockades in." Speaking about the ship brought a hint of warmth to her voice. The Strahl might be Balthier's pride and joy, but Fran had developed quite a fondness for the ship
( ... )
"You sail in the sky?" It took Ace a long time to try to think that one through because he'd heard of the Sky Island but he hadn't been there, had only heard stories of it and trying to picture any ship, let alone the Moby Dick, sailing through the sky was so bizarre. "You fought in a war though? I hope the Strahl came out of it okay." A hand rubbed over his chest. He'd been the cause of the war between Whitebeard and his allies and the Marines although that wasn't a true war in the way most would think of it. That had been more of a siege and Ace had still died and meant all that pain and loss suffered by others had been for absolutely nothing
( ... )
"No sails, but yes - in the sky." As for the war, disentangling the complications of what precisely they had fought was...complicated. Perhaps far too much so for what had otherwise been a light conversation. She hardly thought they had been 'in' the war so much as they had been chasing along its underbelly without its notice, stabbing away at it's vital spots until it could do nothing but fall. Less war, more rebellion (if peace treaties were to be trusted as anything more than paper). In the end, it was much of the same. "She is quite whole," she assured him, not without a note of pride in her voice.
"It can be," she said, thoughtful. "But it is a natural thing and nature some time is. Moreover, little in Ivalice would run without it. Much of our magicks and machinery are affected by its presence."
Ace needed a moment to try to picture that in his mind, as near impossible as it was because all ships had sails and a fairly traditional design if you stripped away all the extra little touches that made a ship personal to the captain and the crew although it would make sense; sails were bad enough to get down when you were in the water and the top of the rigging high enough as it was without adding being hundreds of feet in the air on top of it
( ... )
He was half-contemplating picking up a new hat seeing as his was lost at home and unlikely to ever be returned to him when he spotted the woman and smiled even as he raised an eyebrow at the rabbit ears. That was new; fishpeople and merpeople were more familiar to him and he tried to recall if he'd ever seen anyone like that in his own world but he was drawing a blank.
Almost as an afterthought, he reached into his pocket to pull out the Dreamberry and he sighed when he saw the date; he'd been here a few months now and it was hard not to notice things like the patterns of arrivals and so he slipped the device back in his pocket, strolling over with a friendly grin.
"Hello, are you new here?"
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That open grin and easy greeting were certainly the right sort of thing to put the viera at ease though. She was instantly reminded of a certain other smile she knew well; it was difficult be anything but comfortable. Fran let herself the rest of the way down from the wall and straightened smoothly, long limbs unfolding.
"Where ever 'here' is, I am new there."
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"Portgas D. Ace, pleased to meet you," he straightened up again before he let out a sigh. "'Here' is Somarium. It's a dream world. This place is Espoir, the village, the city is called Somni and not too far away is Lake Meridian. For a dream world it could be a lot worse; it's pretty nice really." His hand went back to his pocket again to pull out the Dreamberry. "You should have one of these; it's how you keep in touch and keep up with what goes on around here."
Reply
She tipped her head at the gadget in his hand. It didn't look wholly dissimilar from the communication radios of Ivalice. She glanced down at herself. "I have?" There were very few places where something like that could hide, but after a very brief examination she made a small noise of surprise over the discovery of the Dreamberry at her hip. Evidently Somarium had seen fit to give it a clip and there it was, neatly hooked on to one of the many metal loops of her armor. "Ah, so it is. I must be no rarity in this place, if you're so quick to pick me out."
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"Everyone wakes up with one on their person; when I woke up here the very first time, I switched it on by accident before I even knew what I was doing." At her words, he smiled and rubbed the back of his head with a hand. "The first two weeks of every month, new arrivals show up so if I see anyone looking around intently about now and I don't recognise them, I usually ask if they're new. Doesn't hurt to be polite and make sure people know what's going on; waking up in a strange world can be a little jarring for some people."
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"Well that at least is a boon," Fran said. She unclipped the gadget from her hip and slid it open, examining the keyboard and the small dark screen. She turned it over, made a low noise in her throat and switched it on. It seemed straightforward enough, rudimentary even. "And fortunate for me, to stumble across someone so helpful. If nothing else, the Gods seem kind here." There at the corner of her mouth: a soft quirk, something that might have been a smile.
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"I've heard talk of an Overlord, I think they're the one you'd have to thank for finding yourself here and maybe one of the explanations for the strange things that happen as the moon changes." At least she hadn't arrived when it seemed like most of the population had forgotten their homes and normal memories. Things like that would probably make the transition into living in the dream world harder.
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At her question, he was quiet, thinking back to the date. His first week had been a blur of healing, of making sure he didn't say anything to Luffy about the circumstances of his arrival and then there was adding in the difference between the months from his world to this one.
"Not forward at all. It was February here so it's been about four months now," he sounded surprised when he said it, caught offguard about just how long it had been, "Time tends to fly a little in this world if you don't keep track of it."
Reply
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"Strange things happen here too...not so long ago, a lot of the people here lost their memories of their own world and believed they'd always lived here. So many things about them were totally different from their jobs to the people they called friends and family. I don't know if it'll happen again," he certainly hoped it would be a while and that he wouldn't be one of the ones who went through it, "but it's one of the stranger things that might happen."
Reply
"Until recently, much of what I knew of Ivalice - as my world is called - was learned from the sky. In my world, airships are a primary form of transport. Ours was the Strahl; she is a very pretty ship, quite agile, and when there was still a war going on she was just the thing to run blockades in." Speaking about the ship brought a hint of warmth to her voice. The Strahl might be Balthier's pride and joy, but Fran had developed quite a fondness for the ship ( ... )
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"It can be," she said, thoughtful. "But it is a natural thing and nature some time is. Moreover, little in Ivalice would run without it. Much of our magicks and machinery are affected by its presence."
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