2019-06-20: Extreme Lazycamping in the Farplane
- Log: Extreme Lazycamping in the Farplane
- Cast: Lunata Croze, Shalune Amira, Marivel Armitage
- Where: Farplane
- Date: 20th June 2019
- Summary: Do I even need to say anything else?? It's lazycamping. And blasphemy. Comfy blasphemy.
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Lunata and Shalune visited the Farplane with Gon Guado the other day.
There, Gon explained to them of the nature of the Farplane... and beyond all that, they also experienced it firsthand -- and how it affected Lunata. Which is to say... extremely tiring, like getting a vacuum stuck to your face, but ultimately unable to affect her in a permanent manner.
It, after all, seeks souls. And there is no soul to be had there.
Lunata's seated at one of the outcroppings outside of the Farplane in rest for a moment. She thinks a little about setting up camp, but... that'd be kind of blasphemous... and as a part of Yevon, she should tamp down on the blasphemy.
Shalune is kind of taking up her quota, after all.
"Hey... Lunie... I was thinking--" Lunata frowns. "... things are probably going to get heated with the Guard. If you don't want to get involved in what might be outright fighting..."
This might be something that Marivel just happens to walk into.
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
Shalune's obviously having similar thoughts in regards to camping on the Farplane, though the way she repeatedly glances back towards the cave entrance includes a remarkably subdued look on her face and a chewing at her lips. She's been rather quiet up until now; whatever's on her mind, it doesn't take much to pinpoint it as something related to her parents. Spira kind of has that effect of dragging up memories.
She comes back to herself in time to blink at the other girl, her eyebrows raising up in muted surprise. "Ah..." Once upon a time, she might have blustered her way right into her reply, but she's a little more careful these days - especially with Lunata's situation, and what a call to fight might mean for her in this place where she can't die but can't regenerate terribly well either.
"... mm... I was wondering about that. I don't really know a whole lot about what's going on in Kilika, honestly, but it doesn't sound like the Guard's being all that fair about things," she thinks aloud, idly leaning against Lunata's side as she does so. "I mean, from where I'm sitting they can have their beef with Yevon, sure. But at this point they've kind of got a track record of smashing into cities and going 'this is ours now', and it's kind of getting to me."
She pauses - and breaks into a light, lopsided grin as she makes a show of puffing her cheeks out. "Besides, someone's gotta watch out for you if you lose an arm again. After everything the last few weeks, do you really think I'd just skip off--" she adds, and then catches herself to scratch at her mess of hair. "... maybe I should stop wording that that way."
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
GON TODAY HERE GUADO.
Marivel is carting what looks like to be camping supplies across her back because she's punk as fuck. she is bobbing her head up and down to some music that only she can hear because it's in her head and singing one of many, many, many punk anti-war songs from the zeboim era. It's got a similar sound to Zombie from the Cranberries since that's just Marivel's style but hard to know the actual lyrics without being from the period. It just sounds like catchy gibberish. She even headbangs along while holding her microphone up to her mouth like she were ported straight here from the karaoke booth.
She pauses her singing about when she sees Shalune and Lunata.
"Well if it isn't Lunie and her friend Lunie." Marivel says, smiling faintly. "Tis been hardly any time at all Lunata. I take it the Farplane was not so welcoming? It seems meant for those that die on Spira's shores."
She turns her gaze to Shalune and smiles, "Tiring, is it?" She looks back to Lunata. "Are you ready for the crusades?"
She holds her position for the moment.
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
"... ... I'm just saying that ..." Lunata glances aside. "Well, having an arm fall apart is one thing, but dying in a faraway land for something..." There's just a little bit of a scowl, as she glances to the portal.
"... I wouldn't want to get stuck seeing you in the Farplane."
She sags for a moment, frowning. She's not sure why she's trying to send Shalune away from an imagined frontline -- she's been there through Mother, she knows what she's doing.
... and just when Lunata thought camping might be blasphemous, here comes another person with the exact same thought! Ugh, at least Gon Guado isn't around or any of the other minders... surely they won't mind too much?
"Hmm. Marivel?"
She raises her eyebrows, then frowns quietly. "... it looks like the Farplane won't accept me. Neither Maester Seymour or I are surprised. It wants souls. I lack that."
There's a faint scowl about the mention of the crusades. "I've been taking care of the waylaid Crusaders and those displaced in Kilika as part of my duties in Yevon. But it isn't pretty. It won't be pretty."
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
The pink-haired girl hums to herself - but at the same time, loops her arms around one of Lunata's, tugging her childhood friend close enough to trap her in a hug.
"I'll be careful," she promises with a puff of air and an understanding smile; she knows full well how much value Lunata places in her and Jay's safety nowadays. "If it'll make you feel better, I won't even go on the front lines - I'll hang back and patch people up, or something like that. Okay?"
She lets that hang in the air for a moment, then snorts as she viciously pokes the other girl in the side, aiming for something she dimly remembers as a ticklist spot. "Besides, I want to be there with you when everything's-- done. That hasn't changed," she grumbles good-naturedly, before clinging a little tighter.
Shalune being Shalune, she doesn't /stop/ clinging when Lunata is addressed. She certainly would have if it were a Yevonite doing the calling, but Marivel looks like anything but, especially given the way she's bopping along. Having not met Rikku or seen any of Jecht's Memory Spheres, the mechanic is pretty prepared to swear blind that no penitent Guardian has ever, ever bopped.
But Shalune also being Shalune, she defaults to politeness, and sits up in surprise as she's named. "Ma'am? Um, hi!" she grins sheepishly, reassured by Lunata's recognition as she scratches at one cheek. "'Welcoming' isn't the word. I mean, it's beautiful - but it's really hard to get my head around. Kinda feels wrong to just-- peek into the afterlife like that," she adds, a little halting as she tries to figure out the right way to word her thoughts.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
"There you go again, valkyrie, with your lost soul." Marivel says warmly. "I believe I asked before but never received a satisfactory answer. What is a soul?" She doesn't comment on Seymour herself.
Marivel seems like the sort of person to boogie, to pop, and yes even to bop. She is kind of boogieing in place right now even, swaying from side to side to some song that only lives within her head. Shalune would readily recognize that she's wearing the goggles of an ARMsmeister so they likely have SOMETHING in common at least.
She considers Shalune's words further and admits, "Wrong? I don't know about that. There is a magic portal that takes you directly there. Thanks to capitalism we can now bombard the dead with ads. How exciting."
She is being a little sassy there but it seems to be directed towards the concept of the Farplane rathert than Shalune herself. Instead she turns her gaze back to Lunata.
"Tis good war is so unpleasant. We get comfortable enough as it is with all the murder. Are you still intent on walking into the sun?"
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
"... let's see how it goes. I'm not exactly in a position to be proactive, given that'd just incite more aggression..." Lunata admits as she picks away at an errant fleck of her hair. She raises her eyebrows just for a moment.
"But... yes. I haven't exactly forgotten," Lunata mumbles at Shalune as she clings to her. "Thank you."
Marivel comments about the nature of souls.
"... does what I think a soul is matter, in this case? Spira seems to have one idea, and the Wheel of Spirits that took mine, another," Lunata comments gently.
She lowers her head with a deeper furrow to say, "I tried to walk into their sun. But their sun would not receive me. And now I seem to have just gone in a circle, because I'm embroiled in another war, for a different land, for different reasons."
Her lips are thinner. "I tried to run away from my problems, and I just wound up in the same place."
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
Shalune doesn't seem like she really knows what to make of the new woman just yet. The fact she's strolling around with something you could charitably call machina makes her think of the Al Bhed, but the mechanic kind of reserves judgement for the time being, especially when the conversation immediately turns towards lost and missing souls.
"No, well-- okay, 'wrong' isn't the word I should use," she frowns as she pats Lunata's hand in a mixture of thought and affection. "The best way I can put it is... the Yevonites say it helps people move on, right? And that's fine, whatever works for them. But I'm pretty sure that, if I'd lived in Spira when my mom died, I'd be sat here every single day. Even now."
It's a bit much to say to a stranger, and she turns sheepish the very next moment, rubbing at her hair. "Ah, um, sorry. I dunno, I feel kind of strongly about it, I guess?"
She hesitates when Lunata's mood shifts - and then frowns gently, furrowing her brow. "... you don't have to fight," she notes firmly. "Same goes for me as it does you. They've helped us get settled here, sure, and we owe them for that - but that doesn't mean having to go off like this. If you want to help them, that's okay. ... like you said, let's see how it goes," she adds with a quieter smile, settling back down.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
"I would think it matters the most in this case," Marivel says, though not unkindly. She unshoulders the bag and lets it drop in midair only for a Nob to float out from behind her and grab ahold of the comically large camping bag with its teeth. Its bobs up and down in the air.
"This is why I do not usually get involved in human wars." Marivel admits to Lunata. "It gets tiring after a while. Best to let mortals settle their own business and look after that which speaks to you and those you have come to love."
She pats Lunata on the arm once. "I am sorry it has been difficult. I was dead myself before I was alive but i was led to warmth eventually. I am speaking metaphorically there."
She has learned thanks to Xantia that sometimes you have to clarify that you are not speaking purely literally. She looksbackover to Shalune as she explains her feelings on the Farplane. She cups her chin thoughtfully, frorwning especially when Shalune mentions she'd be there every day if her mother was there.
"MM... your butt would get sore, but I suppose I too would be loathe to leave my mother behind if she was there. Simply seeing her again would do a demon a kindness."
She raises a handto adjust the goggles on top of her head. She has made her own decision regarding the Crusades but the truth is she is hardly excited for them.
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
"I just realised I haven't introduced you two," Lunata murmurs in recollection. "Though you seem to know her anyway, but this is Shalune Amira. She's a lifelong friend... and puts up with me way more than any one person should," she remarks with remarkable confidence despite the fact that she's putting herself down.
There's a longer period of silence, before she murmurs, "There's... a bit more to it than that," she admits to Shalune. "Not Yevon, not even helping those that've been excommunicated, just..."
She scratches her cheek.
"Something about the Maester, Seymour... reminds me so much of myself. But I can't put my finger on it."
She doesn't think he's an Unsent, though. Yet... she puts that thought aside for now, then looks to Marivel as she comments again. ... and with Marivel as the lynchpin of their blasphemy, starts unravelling their own camping supplies as she silently makes the executive decision:
Yes, Lazy-Camping at the Farplane is On.
"I can't say I know for sure, Marivel," she speaks on the topic of souls. "I've expressed to Shalune how wrong many things feel on a day to day basis with myself. Realising that your stomach never churns, realising that you don't breathe or sweat or blush or cast dead skin cells in favour of new ones and all kinds of other little things people take for granted."
She bobs her head one way. "It's like what amputees say about phantom pain. Is that what it's like to have no soul? I don't know. I can't know. But it feels related."
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
The mechanic doesn't miss the way that Lunata addresses the newcomer, and the way they both seem to refer to immortality, and the way that Marivel calls herself a demon near the end of her comments. Her eyebrows shoot up - but she's as adaptable as ever, especially because Lunata seems to be on good terms with her. "Right? I guess it's the fact that I /didn't/ grow up here that clinches it, but it's hard to think of the place as a means to move on. More like-- a constant reminder."
Deep religious thoughts with Shalune Amira. Speaking of, she furrows her brow, tapping at her lips. "I feel like... every religion seems to have different ideas on what souls are and what happens to them. I don't think it's anything set in stone. I mean, I've met actual Guardians. And I've stared at the Farplane. I can't call either of them 'wrong' even if they've got completely different ideas about stuff. Maybe what you believe has somethin' to do with it?"
She looks absolutely lost at this point, but rallies well as she bobs her head in response to Lunata's introduction, grinning sheepishly. "Aww. Maybe I'm famous? Nice to meet you, ma'am!" she adds with a grin, rather overdue as she quips: "I do machina and moral support, and occasionally I even manage to sell something. Lunie's not wrong, but I love her for it somehow."
Her ears are a little pink, but she grins to herself through her bluster, perking up as Lunata starts to set up the tent. "... so long as it's something you want to do, that's okay," she adds, softer this time, and covers it immediately by kneeling to grab a couple of telescoping poles she snuck into the kit to make it easier.
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
And then drops one of them again with a clatter as Nob bobbles out from behind Marivel to help her. "Wah!" blurts the pink-haired girl as she points gleefully, because a very distinct part of her is still approximately twelve years old.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Marivel looks back to Lunata and smiles faintly. "I don't exactly know her, no," Lunata mentions the Crusaders or perhaps the Al Bhed here, could be either she supposes, but she imagines the bulk of the Crusaders went back to Church but most isn't neccessarily all of them. She knows of at least one who didn't. But she isn't of a mind to dwell on a man she cannot yet help when there are people before her eyes who she can, at least, try to listen to.
Even if she can't help but grin as Lunata starts preparing her own BLASPHEMOUS?? lazycamp. Hey nobody told Marivel it was against the rules.
Though maybe it is the sort of thing you shouldn't need to be told. Nob makes a confused chirpoing noise..
"Hm," Marivel mulls on Lunata's answer. A fair number of those things Marivel doesn't do either but she wouldn't claim herself to be soulless. She cups her chin, mulling over it. If she could snap her fingers and return those lost traits she would. She can't! But she hoped to be able to ease the torment of it all at least.
"For me," She says. "A soul is very different from that, but if that is what you miss--I cannot blame you. There's a joy to the little things that are easy to miss until you are bereft of them. Like an amputee sounds correct from my understanding. A pain for something you no longer have, or need, but nonetheless feels connected to you."
She mulls a bit more before turning to Shalune and explains, "I'm a blood sucking monster. But don't worry i am a friendly blood sucking monster."
She nods slowly to Shalune's understanding that even the very definition of what a 'soul' is can be very different between two religions, or frankly two individuals.
"You are a machinist too, then?" Marivel asks. "How lovely. We should talk shop sometime."
She looks to Lunata and smiles back at her. "You are lucky to have her, then. I--"
Whatever profound or faux profound thing she was going to say is interrupted by 'Wah!'
Nob drops MArivel's camping gear onto the floor as it's pointed out and it says, "Wah!" back to Shalune or maybe it's more like a chirp that kinda has a similar cadence? It hovers towards Shalune because Nob is basically a flying puppy bat and is easily swayed by positive attention.
Marivel gives the robot a deadpan look.
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
"... ... I feel like I missed out, only becoming a lich, having no craving for blood or any kind of cool monstrous craving that sets one apart in a crowd," Lunata comments glibly, in an obvious attempt to joke and yet perhaps she wants that extra coolness factor because she already identified herself as a Disaster Girl.
"But I have a feeling you talk about what I would consider one's spirit. One's drive in life. What motivates you to go forward, and not make you walk into the sun. And maybe that has been lost on me too, and maybe I am conflating the two."
There is the quietest of shrugs as Lunata takes attention to putting up the pitons for her tent.
She picks at her hair again, as she watches Shalune natter over Nob.
"I am indeed lucky."
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
Shalune pauses from helping set up the tent to pat the hovering robot on the head. "Aww, aren't you cute, aren't you cute? You're not Veruni, so I guess you're Zeboim era, maybe? I don't think you're being attuned to or anything, more like you're totally autonomous, maybe like a mini golem--" the mechanic natters to herself eagerly, letting a heartmark wobble up as she just reaches forward and gloms the orb into a momentary hug. "--Lunie! Look how cute this little guy is!"
When she turns back to Marivel's glib statement... it doesn't exactly have the intended effect, because instead her eyebrows raise up in realization. "Oh! If you're a Crimson Noble, that does actually kinda make sense. The other one had little pods like this too. Is it some kinda tradition-- uh, hmm, but that'd make you a Hyadean in disguise, right?" she wonders. Noeline still has a great deal to answer for.
She lets the poor sphere go, grinning lopsidedly. "Honestly, I'm not very good at talking shop. I'm better at showing - but that kind of tends to be a bit of a bad idea around here. I don't mind showing you some stuff I've got on me, but Big Shal's kind of-- in hiding, I think."
She doesn't elaborate more, because she hasn't quite missed all of Lunata's quiet despair; she glances over in her direction, then puffs out her cheeks. "/I/ think you're cool," she says with deep conviction. "And I think a monstrous craving for comfort soup is perfectly fine."
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Nob decides that Shalune is great because Marivel hasn't been pampering him nearly enough to make up for a lack of Hob or Kamui around. It makes a oD face as it bobs about excitedly, chirping repeatedly at Shalune until she finally up and hugs it. "chrrrrrrr..." The one eyed orb says before halff lidding its eye and snuggling into Shalune's arms. Marivel's expression gets more deadpan with every moment. The traitor!
"I suppose it is now." Marivel admits. "But I've had an ARMsmeister friend once and she made these guys for me so I wouldn't--ahhh..." She pauses as moment before adding, "Well Hob is on loan to a friend right now since I thought she could use the company a bit more than I could. This guy's name is Nob."
She laughs a bit, "But no. I am not Hyadean." She considers Shalune for a moment.
Maybe she is looking at this from the wrong angle here. What would Anastasia do when looking at Lunata here? Well she already has an answer doesn't she?
"I understand. I'm a bit the same way." She looks around as if for Big Shal before adding, "Maybe you could create some company for your friend here, much like Ana had if you haven't already but..." Big Shal as a name does sort of suggest that Shalune may have already done so.
Marivel is not surprised by this. She's heard stories of humans who also wanted that 'coolness' factor even well before they were dead. She isn't sure she can vampirize a lich but at the same time she isn't sure she couldn't.
"That is closer to what a 'soul' is to me. The way I see it, even trees and rocks have souls of a kind." Marivel admits. "I can undersatand, though. Even for me there were times when I felt like I was in a living death. T'was only thanks to those closest to me that I was able to stand on my own two feet and open the door to adventure. Even now that they are gone, for the most part, their memories sustain me. No matter where I go..." She is never alone.
EVen if sometimes she considers that phrase to be a lie.
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
"... I would say that one is different, but honestly, without hindsight, what difference is 'this person turned out to be a Hyadean, a race thought to be myth not seen for ages' and 'this person turned out to be a Crimson Noble, a race thought to be myth not seen for ages'?" Lunata is feeling extra wry today, perhaps. But the sight of Shalune playing with Nob alleviates her a bit.
"... but, mind yourself, Lunie, Big Shal might get lonely. Is she still stuck on that island?"
She picks at her hair again as she pulls the tent tarp over the construction frame and ties it to its hinges. Marivel suggests making a friend for her so that she doesn't get lonely.
"It won't be any good. The only machine I'm halfway decent at is a Gear, and Shalune says I'm better at tearing it to shreds than my enemies."
Then Marivel speaks more of what she considers to be a 'soul'.
"Perhaps people walk into the sun when the spark inside their heart is truly gone, because we all crave some light in the dark."
Her lips flatten further as she murmurs, "You are strong, Marivel. You can hold memories and find strength out of them. Not... everyone can do that."
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
"Ohh," Shalune hums again. The building blocks in her brain shuffle around. If Noeline's pods aren't a Hyadean thing then they must be a Crimson Noble thing instead, and thus part of her disguise. It's a turnabout in the case! "Well, um, it's nice to meet you regardless! ... if I don't seem surprised enough, I guess it's cause it's sorta been one thing after another for the last couple years now," she admits sheepishly, scratching again at her cheek. "But I swear I don't mean that in a bad way."
She tilts her head towards Lunata's explanation, determined to stay grounded and upbeat for Lunata's sake. "Well, like Lunie says, I don't think a mechanical pet would really help her out. She's not really into mechanics the same way, and while I could teach her - I don't think it'd be the same, you know? Maybe a little baby shoopuf or something. But I'd really rather stick by her myself."
She glances at the ex-waitress, starting to work around her in a practised fashion. "I mean, I could look to try to teach you some stuff," she adds amicably, before pouting. "But it'd be tricky on Spira, and I don't know if you'd like it. And jeez, I only said that 'cause the poor Rephaim gets beat up so much! If I could only get that shielding working I'm sure it'd be a lot more reliable."
The sigh she makes a show of letting out softens quickly; for a moment, one of her hands steals towards Lunata's uncertainly, before she bites at her lip and nudges against her in some sort of support instead, preferring to get their lazycamp built first.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
"Fair point," Marivel admits to Lunata. "I have often wondered what the difference was between humans and cattle, both races that are incredibly delicious."
She lets that hang for a moment-- And then she laughs and says, "Just kidding. I know what you mean. Still, I am proud of my heritage even through its complexities. If I claimed to be Hyadean I would feel I was doing two peoples a disservice."
She does not seem to mind the wryness though. Sassback is often one of the things that helps Marivel feel alive and Lunata correctly divines Marivel's hopes here after a fashion. She wishes to help Lunata acclimate to her new life more than she wishes to help Lunata seize back her old one.
She isn't even sure if the former is wholly possible. The door to adventure is open and sometimes you get shoved through before you can walk.
"Well I had to learn too." Marivel admits. "If you show care even basic maintenance can last a long while."
She exhales faintly when Lunata calls her strong. She's been called that a lot as of late. It hasn't felt great yet. Most understand that power isn't strength but perhaps strength isn't what it's cracked up to be either.
"I am certain that is the origin of the phrase," Marivel admits. "Though there are as many reasons to make that journey as there are stars. I would be sad if you made the journey. I know we are not friends, of course, but I would like to be someday."
In her mind here, Shalune is the strong one here.
"Well hey now," She says smiling to the macahinist. "I don't mean for the creation to be a replacement or anything. Obviously you should stay with her." but she leaves the matter of mechanical pal aside for now.
Her eyes slant towars Shalune and Lunata's hands for a moment and says, "You know, we should finish making camp. What sorts of stories do you two like?"
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
"... ah, but that one I can't let go so easily, because as a cook, I heard often that humans are more like pigs than cows," Lunata remarks, before realising she'd better not chase down of this path of wanting to be a cool blood-sucker so much she jumps the shark and lands straight on cannibalism.
"I am also just kidding."
She's starting a campfire now. Starting a fire at the entranceway to the land of the dead has to be heretical on all kinds of levels, but the suggestion of having warm cocoa is too strong.
"A baby shoopuf would grow so big I wouldn't be able to go anywhere. ... maybe I would be happy just taking care of shoopufs for the rest of my life, though."
She bobs just for a moment as she admits, "... but, if you were to make something for me, of course I'd look after them. I'd learn." She notices Marivel's distress at being called strong, which she quietly reprimands herself about -- because she's sure she'd react the same way if someone called her strong too.
Maybe it's just a way of throwin gher problems on someone.
"... I guess I'm as much as the bottle I threw on that day. Just as much adrift. Ironic, maybe, because the Drifter life made me so upset and frustrated."
But Marivel asks about stories.
"Anything to do with food," is her immediate response as she takes out her cookpot.
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
At least Shalune's glum frown is obviously meant as some flavour of deadpan humour as she looks between the pair talking about what humans taste like. "You don't have a crockpot big enough to test, anyways. Aunt Hilda held onto that one," she puffs, folding her arms once they've got the tent fully set up.
She nudges said tent a few times, deciding that it seems stable enough. Rather than hammer tent pegs into the coral-like structure of Guadosalam - it would make her feel kind of bad, because she's still kind of awed at what it must have taken to build such a unique city - she's opted to just weight the guy ropes down to keep them taut.
After that she hesitates, and offers Lunata a warm smile. "... hmm... well, we'll see. It's a nice idea, right? And I mean it about teaching you!" she adds as she pumps her fists. "I'll pick non-greasy non-oily stuff for good measure. A little bird you can wind up and it'll hop about, or something." Knowing Shalune, feature creep is probably inevitable, but perhaps that's fine too.
There's another pause, and she worries quietly at her lip. Lunata's always talked about being adrift - which is why, to Shalune's rather practical mind, the obvious thing to do is to find a way home. But without Jay, and given how she is now, the mechanic's equally aware that might not be the best idea for her sense of self-worth.
Not knowing what to do, she sucks in a breath instead, and places her smile back on her face. "Lunie grew up as a waitress and a chef," she explains. "So learning about old or unique recipes is usually the ticket."
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Lunata's expression falls dead all of a sudden. "No little mechanical birds. Penelope is one too many already."
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
"Is that so?" Marivel asks. "Well, you are the expert so I bow to your expertise. Some humans take offense to being compared to pigs," but not COWS Marivel? "But in my opinion pigs are lovely friendly creatures."
Lunata comments that she too is kidding and Marivel laughs briefly. It's good to hear her joking.
Honestly raising shoopufs for the rest of your life is kind of tempting too. Even for Marivel. She figures she could at least do it for a century or two. They are so adorable, okay? Best creatures on Spira except maybe for the yellow cucco birds they have running around.
Marivel thinks Lunata totally missed her reaction to being called strong! Which is good because being strong is great! It's just that lately, well, it feels like it's taken a different meaning! That's ti!
Marivel sets up her own gear, some sort of matress that can fill itself up with air among other miscellaneous adorbs possibilities.
"Tis a tough life. Not for everyone. I always make sure to return home periodically to remind myself of who I am."
Anything to do with food, she thinks. "Hmm... well, while I can do home cooking I doubt I can compare to a professional. But I do know of some stories that included recipes alongside them. A heartwarming story about a demon who enters a door to another world, specifically another world's restaurant where she is hired on as staff. Eventually she starts helping with the cooking as well and we see how the food in the restaurant builds bridges in the other world as well, bringing its people closer together as they bond over the common trait they all have with one another: Hunger."
She ... she is just talking about a light novel (and anime adaptation).
"When we return to Filgaia, I could dig around for the series if you'd like."
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
"I don't want to test that theory, so I'll let that one go," Lunata remarks to Shalune with a soft smile at her glum frown. But the topic of home does come up, from Shalune indirectly and Marivel directly both...
"Pigs are pretty great creatures. And I am sad so many people would prefer to eat them for their bacon," Lunata speaks, no doubt as someone who's seen very round, adorable pigs before.
She chews on her lip for a moment.
"... I have a responsibility to tell the Yggdrasil crew I'm okay. They've taken care of me very well... and they may well be as close to me as my family," Lunata admits. The fact that she's still wearing the Yggdrasil Alliance jacket speaks volumes, after all.
But soon it's time to listen to a story. About a restaurant at the end of the world.
And while Marivel is telling that story, she starts cooking too.
And at the end of it, she's written on her tiny blackboard:
TODAY'S SOUP
Fresh burdock root and bamboo shoot soup
with a mirepoix broth base, garnished with chives and sour cream served with a side of garlic baguette slices
"... it might be fun, cooking some of the food mentioned in it," Lunata admits. "It's about ready, so ladle up if you're hungry. Guadosalam's root vegetables are incredible compared to Filgaia's, I found."
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
"Hmm... ... that kind of feels like it's cutting out a whole lot of chapters," is Shalune's cautious thought on the topic at hand. "And without reading it, you wouldn't get all the cute chapters or the neat bits. I mean, I like the idea in general, but it's kinda barebones as stories go on their own, y'know?" she grins lightly as she sets up inside the tent now, manhandling two rolls of blankets and mats out of her bulging backpack.
She shuffles around inside of the tent while Lunata cooks, and by the time she's done she's peeking out from inside, watching with curiosity as Marivel inflates her mattress up. "Huh. I guess if you had a decent valve, you could do something like that..." she wonders, and pauses for a moment to scribble a few notes down.
With that, she shuffles out of the tent enough to ladle herself up some soup, and then cluster a few of the baguette sticks together - sure enough, dunking one into another as she settles back to sit where she was. "All the food here's been pretty amazing. It all just-- feels more alive than Filgaia. Less washed-out, I guess? Maybe that's just the climate and the water everywhere, or something like that."
She pats the spot next to her in the mouth of the tent, shuffling across to make space for Lunata to sit down as well.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
"Well unfortunately I haven't been able to save all of them." Marivel admits. "Maybe if we had fewer apocalypses life would be not quite so hard and we could read cute stories about chefs and waitresses all we'd like. But what I gave is but a summary. I do not wish to spoil, after all."
Wait is she just kind of cheating this in here to give more reason for Lunata to stay alive. so she can read cute light novels about cooking?? She is truly a monster though, of course, if Lunata wants to talk to the Yggdrasil she would have to go back to Filgaia anyway. Marivel considers the Fatima legacy for a moment before she cranes her head to look at the blackboard.
She marvels at it. "Impressive." Marivel says. "I have never heard of that one."
Well if it's a Lunar recipe that might not be unusual but she does acknowledge that there is rather more effort put in this recipe than there is in most diners. Or is that still true? She hasn't been to one in a while on Filgaia.
"I would never be able to chastize someone for eating meat, I fear--" She raises up a bowl and pours some soup into it. She--
"--Heeey.... are these /garlic/ baguette slices?"
Crimson Nobles are rumored to find garlic repellant.
She turns to Shalune and as she tries to get a feel for the soup's taste regardless. "Mm. Ever since the Collapse, I believe, it's been rather like that. Filgaia is a tough world but even its strength has its limits." Marivel admits. "Though it has always been harsh, even before the Conflagration."
She looks to Lunata. "Have you considered opening up your own restaurant?" She does not stop Shalune from taking notes.
She is an inquisitive girl who appreciates Nob. Shalune is basically the platonic ideal of a human as far as Marivel is concerned. She is finding a lot to admire in Shalune.
"When I get back home I'll give you the collection I have." Marivel adds.