Mjrn had noticed the sky as well, and held much the same attitude about it. Another odd phenomenon of Gaia...and as long as it didn't herald another round of violence and trauma, she didn't mind. There were much greater things to worry about than the shade of the sky above her.
Of course, that was until the pink glow overtook everything. She stumbled a bit as the light faded, then peered around in utter confusion. The area around her was not only not where she had been a moment ago, but completely unfamiliar. The various devices, the decor...all was alien.
Upon hearing the voice, she turned and spotted...what was his name? Wait, hadn't he been the man with the questionable magazine? Yet, he seemed harmless enough, and just as confused. "Zanarkand? You know this place? Why are we here?"
Why they were 'here', or where 'here' was, was at the moment unimportant to Faris. The pirate had been enjoying a good old nap-- sleeping off a hangover, really-- when the dreams that danced through 'er head had suddenly been replaced with a brilliant pink color. So quickly, so violently, Faris was pulled from her sound rest by strange voices.
And then, when her eyes opened, she stopped. Blinked. Rubbed blood-shot eyes, and looked around again. "Dear Gods, how much a'that did I drink?" muttered under her breathe. "Don't remember this place at all..."
A glance over at the source of those voices --some punk kid with flipped hair, and what looked like... some strange cross between a rabbit and an exotic dancer. "...I ain't still dreamin,' am I?"
Even though the girls spoke, Tidus didn't hear them. He was already being drawn into the experience, almost as if the past year and a half hadn't happened - he was home, in Zanarkand, where his things and all his friends were, and the sound gradually filtered into his hearing from the screens floating in the air. There was a lot of yelling and what sounded like sports coverage; the message crawl on the bottom of one of them fed the words "Abes pull off miracle win! New superstar emerges!" And a lot of the pictures on those screens were of him.
He started to grin, slowly, his entire face just lighting up as he realized what this was. His first professional game - yeah! Sixteen and the youngest player out there and he'd gone out and kicked their asses! Especially that last shot, taking out the goalie by rebounding the ball off his head-
The whole city loved him now! He'd showed he had his own talent, not like the old man at all
( ... )
Mjrn stared, not knowing what to make of any of this. She wanted to call out to the man, but realized she hadn't learned or remembered his name. All that came to mind was that magazine.
She started forward, then paused to look at the purple-haired man. Her brow furrowed. "I am not quite certain. It is very vivid, for a dream...and rather odd." To say the least. The young viera returned her gaze back to the blond man, puzzled as to his cheering when she could see nothing of his exploits.
Despite being engrossed in...something...he was the only one so far who seemed to know of their location. Therefore, Mjrn stepped forward and tried to get his attention again. "Excuse me...might you be able to tell us what was happened?"
Faris scrubbed a hand through already tousled hair, watching the rabbit-gal and her attempts to get the attention of the crazy blonde. Lost cause, Faris reckoned -- he seemed pretty into whatever it was that was goin' through his head. Then, she chuckled dryly.
"Seems like I ain't the only one a little looped out here. But I don't think talkin' to him is gonna get you anywhere, lass." A few swaggering steps, and Faris came up alongside the Viera. "I ain't never seen the likes a' you before, but it looks like we're in the same boat here, so introductions'd probably be in order. The names Faris. 'Nyou are?"
Sorry, the fake blond was unavailable at the moment.
Sound came, too, from the floating screens - cheering, a lot of cheering, even his own voice being interviewed after the game. He grinned even wider as he heard his own words again. "Yeah, I knew it was gonna be tough, but sometimes you just gotta jump in and give it all you got, you know?"
And the door behind them opened. Tidus spun at the sound, watching the steps as a pair of booted feet and the hem of a swinging red coat came into view. "Auron! Did you see? Did you see that shot?! I made it from halfway across the sphere and no one could even get close to blocking it! And that intercept when Jann tried to get around our defense, he shouldn't've even tried! We wiped the floor with them!"
Tidus was riding high, so very high on the win. But even he fell silent when Auron gave a small "heh," adjusting his collar and pushing his sunglasses up his nose once more. "Impressive... you should be proud of your accomplishment." A pause. "I know I am."
Her shoulders slumped as the man took no notice of her. So much for getting vital information about their surroundings. His enthusiastic retelling of some sports event made her smile a little, even though it was odd to see him explain it to...thin air. Or someone she couldn't see. The entire situation was confusing.
Turning to the person she could communicate with, Mjrn nodded dejectedly. "I am Mjrn...a Viera. I would introduce the man with us, if I could but remember his name. He might be of aid...if only he were to emerge from his vision. Zanarkand...." Her brow furrowed as she echoed the name Tidus had given. "I thought it lay in ruin."
"Ruin?" Faris glanced around, out the windows. The city was strange, unlike anything she'd ever seen, but Ruined? Definitely not. "Doesn't look like Ruins to me."
Hands on hips, Faris turned in the direction of their babbling companion. Corner of her mouth quirking up, she marched over to him. "Maybe we gotta be more direct."
Grasping firmly to his shoulder, she shouted, "HEY! YOU! Quit'cher babblin'! What is this place?"
There was a moment after Auron spoke that Tidus looked almost frozen, not sure how to react - but then he grinned again at his guardian, looking happier than he ever had. "...Thanks, Auron."
The older man gave another slight laugh and moved down the stairs, through the center of the room and towards the kitchen extension. Tidus turned to watch him, still grinning - and then the scene dissolved, ending abruptly. For a moment he still had that infectious grin, then it slowly fell as he came back to whatever reality this was.
Right as Faris smacked her hand on his shoulder and yelled in his face.
And that got a startled yell as Tidus jumped back, getting out of the pirate's grip and looking back and forth at the two now with him in shock, one of whom was slightly familiar, the other of whom was nothing like. "What the- What's going on?! How'd you two get here?!" And he looked around quickly, as if looking for his houseboat. "That was Zanarkand, what was that?!"
Mjrn shook her head, relieved that he had snapped out of whatever trance he had taken. "I am also confused. A pink light dominated all vision...and then we arrived at your Zanarkand. I had hoped you might be able to explain, but you were conversing with one I could not see."
As she spoke, the landscaped changed. Mjrn gasped as the Wood surrounded her once more, a dense jungle which she knew by heart. The change in light-levels was not a problem for the sharp-eyed Viera, though. She just stood there for a moment, adjusting to the familiar noises...and yet, her ears did not hear the Wood as they ought. Her shoulders slumped, for all she expected it. An exile could not expect to hear the Wood as a true Viera.
"I saw the light, but then it was my home... Auron was there..." And neither of those things existed anymore. Zanarkand lay in ruins, Auron was dead in Spira, and gone from Gaia as well - the man who'd raised him had finally left him for good. It still kind of hurt to think of that.
But then everything was different - Tidus was reminded forcefully of the jungle of Kilika Island, but with some of the same feel of Macalania, even if the trees weren't at all similar: that feeling of being somewhere that had a lot of power, that waited for something. Almost overwhelming, in a quiet way.
"Uhh..." He looked around again, confused. "This is your home?"
"It is my home, no longer." Mjrn headed into the foliage as though she knew where she was going, though there was no notable pathway in this area. It didn't matter; she knew what was ahead
( ... )
"I'm Tidus, but I don't know-" Too late. Mjrn was off like a shot, and Tidus looked after her briefly in confusion before taking off himself, pushing through the leaves and branches with more difficult than the viera. Wherever they were, she was obviously more familiar with it than he was.
He arrived at the clearing a little behind her, and just stopped in his tracks as he saw her jumping around - and giggling. Why was she giggling? She didn't seem that giddy... "Mjrn? Hey, Mjrn, what's going on?" He followed her as she crossed the open space, speaking to thin air - was she caught like he'd been? Whatever this was, it was weird.
"Let her fly free, Mjrn. Then we may all enjoy her light." At Fran's suggestion, Mjrn peered at the firefly for a moment longer, then released it. She smiled, watching it go. It was the chase she enjoyed, more than possessing the light itself.
Then she yawned, unable to stop herself. It didn't go unnoticed. Jote paused in her handiwork. "Mjrn, come. It is time to rest."
Mjrn's eyes grew large and pleading. She clasped her hands together. "Please, Jote? A few more moments, it is all I ask." Of course 'a few more moments' could likely stretch out for more than that with a child's manipulation at work, but Mjrn did her best to look innocent.
Fran, knowing what was at work, smiled a bit but didn't give her away. Jote suspected anyway, but she was in a rather mellow mood that night. There was a brief nod. "But when I say we are to leave, you will come."
"Yes, Jote! Thank you!" Mjrn smiled, then raced to catch another firefly.
Faris lingered to the back, several steps behind Tidus. That gap became even larger when Mjrn had leapt forward into whatever madness possessed her. Slowly, She came up beside the sputtering youth, though eyes were half-trained on the Viera.
"...This whole place is wrong, isn't it?" Faris offered, by way of explanation or consolation. Not that she knew any more about this place than they did. "What sort of place changes an' dissolves in seconds, and plays with the minds of those innit?"
For a moment, she was reminded of a time when spirits had tempted her and her companions with visions of their loved ones. A siren of sorts. The pirate's expression became grim.
"Could be some demon bewitching her; could be the same thing that got you."
"...A place that doesn't exist. A place made of memories." He actually had full experience with something like this, though it hadn't been this immersive - when Seymour had showed them the sphere recorded from the memories of the dead in the Farplane, he could've sworn he'd gone home at last, even as he knew, standing next to the rest of his companions, that them being there made it a complete and total lie. Tidus watched Mjrn cavort some more, speaking to another as he'd done - a friend, a relative? some kind of caregiver - a slight frown moving over his face and growing deeper the longer it did. "Spheres can't keep you trapped like that, though - so what's doing this? It's gotta be something from Gaia... maybe." Considering how much was crossing over from every world, maybe it was something from another world that didn't like whatever Gaia had done to it, and so they got screwed.
"I don't know - I can't tell anything with it throwing us around like that. Maybe we'll never figure it out."
Of course, that was until the pink glow overtook everything. She stumbled a bit as the light faded, then peered around in utter confusion. The area around her was not only not where she had been a moment ago, but completely unfamiliar. The various devices, the decor...all was alien.
Upon hearing the voice, she turned and spotted...what was his name? Wait, hadn't he been the man with the questionable magazine? Yet, he seemed harmless enough, and just as confused. "Zanarkand? You know this place? Why are we here?"
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And then, when her eyes opened, she stopped. Blinked. Rubbed blood-shot eyes, and looked around again. "Dear Gods, how much a'that did I drink?" muttered under her breathe. "Don't remember this place at all..."
A glance over at the source of those voices --some punk kid with flipped hair, and what looked like... some strange cross between a rabbit and an exotic dancer. "...I ain't still dreamin,' am I?"
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He started to grin, slowly, his entire face just lighting up as he realized what this was. His first professional game - yeah! Sixteen and the youngest player out there and he'd gone out and kicked their asses! Especially that last shot, taking out the goalie by rebounding the ball off his head-
The whole city loved him now! He'd showed he had his own talent, not like the old man at all ( ... )
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She started forward, then paused to look at the purple-haired man. Her brow furrowed. "I am not quite certain. It is very vivid, for a dream...and rather odd." To say the least. The young viera returned her gaze back to the blond man, puzzled as to his cheering when she could see nothing of his exploits.
Despite being engrossed in...something...he was the only one so far who seemed to know of their location. Therefore, Mjrn stepped forward and tried to get his attention again. "Excuse me...might you be able to tell us what was happened?"
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"Seems like I ain't the only one a little looped out here. But I don't think talkin' to him is gonna get you anywhere, lass." A few swaggering steps, and Faris came up alongside the Viera. "I ain't never seen the likes a' you before, but it looks like we're in the same boat here, so introductions'd probably be in order. The names Faris. 'Nyou are?"
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Sound came, too, from the floating screens - cheering, a lot of cheering, even his own voice being interviewed after the game. He grinned even wider as he heard his own words again. "Yeah, I knew it was gonna be tough, but sometimes you just gotta jump in and give it all you got, you know?"
And the door behind them opened. Tidus spun at the sound, watching the steps as a pair of booted feet and the hem of a swinging red coat came into view. "Auron! Did you see? Did you see that shot?! I made it from halfway across the sphere and no one could even get close to blocking it! And that intercept when Jann tried to get around our defense, he shouldn't've even tried! We wiped the floor with them!"
Tidus was riding high, so very high on the win. But even he fell silent when Auron gave a small "heh," adjusting his collar and pushing his sunglasses up his nose once more. "Impressive... you should be proud of your accomplishment." A pause. "I know I am."
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Turning to the person she could communicate with, Mjrn nodded dejectedly. "I am Mjrn...a Viera. I would introduce the man with us, if I could but remember his name. He might be of aid...if only he were to emerge from his vision. Zanarkand...." Her brow furrowed as she echoed the name Tidus had given. "I thought it lay in ruin."
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Hands on hips, Faris turned in the direction of their babbling companion. Corner of her mouth quirking up, she marched over to him. "Maybe we gotta be more direct."
Grasping firmly to his shoulder, she shouted, "HEY! YOU! Quit'cher babblin'! What is this place?"
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The older man gave another slight laugh and moved down the stairs, through the center of the room and towards the kitchen extension. Tidus turned to watch him, still grinning - and then the scene dissolved, ending abruptly. For a moment he still had that infectious grin, then it slowly fell as he came back to whatever reality this was.
Right as Faris smacked her hand on his shoulder and yelled in his face.
And that got a startled yell as Tidus jumped back, getting out of the pirate's grip and looking back and forth at the two now with him in shock, one of whom was slightly familiar, the other of whom was nothing like. "What the- What's going on?! How'd you two get here?!" And he looked around quickly, as if looking for his houseboat. "That was Zanarkand, what was that?!"
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As she spoke, the landscaped changed. Mjrn gasped as the Wood surrounded her once more, a dense jungle which she knew by heart. The change in light-levels was not a problem for the sharp-eyed Viera, though. She just stood there for a moment, adjusting to the familiar noises...and yet, her ears did not hear the Wood as they ought. Her shoulders slumped, for all she expected it. An exile could not expect to hear the Wood as a true Viera.
"This is -was- my home...."
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But then everything was different - Tidus was reminded forcefully of the jungle of Kilika Island, but with some of the same feel of Macalania, even if the trees weren't at all similar: that feeling of being somewhere that had a lot of power, that waited for something. Almost overwhelming, in a quiet way.
"Uhh..." He looked around again, confused. "This is your home?"
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He arrived at the clearing a little behind her, and just stopped in his tracks as he saw her jumping around - and giggling. Why was she giggling? She didn't seem that giddy... "Mjrn? Hey, Mjrn, what's going on?" He followed her as she crossed the open space, speaking to thin air - was she caught like he'd been? Whatever this was, it was weird.
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Then she yawned, unable to stop herself. It didn't go unnoticed. Jote paused in her handiwork. "Mjrn, come. It is time to rest."
Mjrn's eyes grew large and pleading. She clasped her hands together. "Please, Jote? A few more moments, it is all I ask." Of course 'a few more moments' could likely stretch out for more than that with a child's manipulation at work, but Mjrn did her best to look innocent.
Fran, knowing what was at work, smiled a bit but didn't give her away. Jote suspected anyway, but she was in a rather mellow mood that night. There was a brief nod. "But when I say we are to leave, you will come."
"Yes, Jote! Thank you!" Mjrn smiled, then raced to catch another firefly.
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"...This whole place is wrong, isn't it?" Faris offered, by way of explanation or consolation. Not that she knew any more about this place than they did. "What sort of place changes an' dissolves in seconds, and plays with the minds of those innit?"
For a moment, she was reminded of a time when spirits had tempted her and her companions with visions of their loved ones. A siren of sorts. The pirate's expression became grim.
"Could be some demon bewitching her; could be the same thing that got you."
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"I don't know - I can't tell anything with it throwing us around like that. Maybe we'll never figure it out."
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