☣ third story. (video)

[thinkbrave.livejournal.com]

( Ellie's just sort of lying down by the vine, playing with a tiny tiny fruitknife. It looks blunt and useless, and like it's seen better days, but Ellie is just unfolding and refolding it. )

I've been thinking. ( A bit of a pause, and her voice drops, something like self mockery. ) Big shock, there.

So, if we're all here, and we're all... stuck. That means all our friends and people, they're either home, or they might just wind up here too, right? ( Hmm. Either she's got extremely muted enthusiasm, or she's confused by the idea. Or maybe both. ) Does anyone have friends here? Friends not from here, I mean, the sort that are imports from home.
( Again, with the dry side commentary. ) Like... wine, or something. ( . . . Well. There's Homer. ) Or cheap beer.

( Ellie shakes her head, brushing her hair out of her face. )
The point was... if you do, or if you don't-- do you wish your friends were here? Is it wrong, wishing that? Wishing that people you love where here, with you, when it means there'd also be... some sort of sci-fi-fantasy nightmare with... killer plants, or if... having them here, you being here meant that you weren't doing whatever stupid, important things you had to get done back home?

Or... ( she clears her throat ) something.


( ooc:: I have to zip out to work shortly, but I will backtag forever when I get home! )

Comments

video;

[howaverage.livejournal.com]

[ The vine had poked restlessly at Em; it's like these things know when someone of interest is broadcasting. She's at the library - no surprise there - with a mini tower of books by her side as she sits on the floor. She smiles a little to Ellie, as if encouraging. Again, while she's not an excessively good reader of people, she recognizes that tone. It's a tone of someone missing their friends. ]

I would rather wish I was back there, not that they were here. If anything, I would like them to know I'm alive. That I am here against my will and that I miss them. [ There's a substantial pause. ] I wouldn't mind my baby to be here.

[ She means her dog, but it surely sounds like she's talking about a kid (which is not that much of a stretch, all things considered). ]

video;

[thinkbrave.livejournal.com]

( Ellie glances over, and then eyes the books with some interest. Delicious, delicious books. It takes a second, but she snaps back into what Em is saying, and nods, rolling onto her belly. )

Mm. Makes sense. ( Oh, what a deep and thoughtful expression this is. Or maybe it's just slightly different from her usual lineface. But-- wait a second. ) You have a kid?

( Her mind. It is boggled. )

video;

[thesamename.livejournal.com]

I didn't want her here.



Killer plants are too ridiculous to wish on anyone.

video;

[thinkbrave.livejournal.com]

( Her attention is back on her absurdly useless knife, though her gaze flickers over to the video. ) You don't think you should want her here, or you actually don't want her here?

I agree on that last part, but it doesn't keep me from wanting them around.

[no-hometown.livejournal.com]

I'm alone here. I've heard that others from our own worlds could appear at any moment, but they might be from a different point in time than the one we come from, and they will always be female, even if you remember them as male.

My primary wish is to return home, but I'd rather be here with my friends than here without them. [Is that selfish of her to wish, during wartime? Well, they could easily be Angeal and Genesis from different worlds, different times. There's no telling with this place.] Maybe if we were here together, we'd have a greater chance of finding a way back.

[thinkbrave.livejournal.com]

Different point in time? But that's-- ( stop. deep breath. This place doesn't really pay much mind to what is and is not possible, does it? ) It just another of those 'Garden Things', isn't it? This bloody place--(So much a sigh. )

I hadn't thought of that. ( It does make her feel a little better, at least. ) Too bad none of my friends and I are really on top of this whole... superpowered, magic game. Maybe if we could tunnel our way out, or something.

[video]

[welljustwatchme.livejournal.com]

I have people I know here. Some family and the Italy sisters. Austria just showed up the other day, too.

A-and... I have to say there are people I'd like to have around, too, if I can't go home to them.

[video]

[thinkbrave.livejournal.com]

( A dry laugh, if such a thing is possible. More countries, huh? ) Does it make it easier, do you think?

Oz, England. That old lot? ( Commonwealth... represent?)

[sheroic.livejournal.com]

I want Japan to be here! Canada's here, though, so I guess it's OK. Because I know I can protect them both if anything happens!

[thinkbrave.livejournal.com]

Oh. Are you another... ( ... politically organized body of people under a single government? ) uh. Friend of Maggie's?

But if they're not here, it means you don't have to protect them from whatever they could run into in this place, right? They might be safer... back home.

[lovelikelight.livejournal.com]

I've been thinking about that myself.

There's no one else here that I know. Not that I've seen. I miss my family very much, but I wouldn't want them to come here. It's too dangerous. I couldn't bear to see them hurt or frightened.

As for my friends, I'd love to have one of them here. [Maybe they weren't all exactly her friends, but it would be so good to see any one of the others again. She'd been thrilled to learn that someone from an earlier time might appear in the Gardens.] I know they can protect themselves.

[thinkbrave.livejournal.com]

( She sits up, and scratches her shoulder a bit before replying. She's just thinking it over, and buying herself time to do it - not that it's all that necessary, here. )

What's your home like? It sounds like it can't be half bad, if you're happy for your people to be there instead've here.

[yakuza-otaku.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's stupid? I don't know anybody here from back home... and I'd like it if some of them were here.

[thinkbrave.livejournal.com]

Mm. It's hard. If there's people you spend your life around, have every day invested in them-- suddenly not having them around feels like having no oxygen.

( And she flicks the knife open. Closed. Open-- and then frowns. ) Do you think you'd be happier if they were, or that you'd feel guilty?

video;

[mellifluently.livejournal.com]

My sister is here. She's safer here than she was, back home, so I see that as good.

But... I miss a lot of people, and I wish they were here, often. But I wouldn't wish them to be trapped like this. I would rather wish to be home, myself.

video;

[thinkbrave.livejournal.com]

Yeah. ( Ellie almost smiles, but it falls flat. ) I keep wondering about going home. If what they say about this place is true, and that you can't leave-- if it's really worth thinking that you'll be cut off from the people you love forever, and being okay with that because they're far away. At least if they're here, you know they're here, and how they're doing. You're not stuck... wondering.

[bel-donna.livejournal.com]

[It took Tsukasa a few minutes to reply to that particular question. It was hard for her to tell if this world or the one she left behind was worse.]

My home is actually quite a bit worse then this place, if you can believe that. So, I think it would be nice for some of my friends to catch their breath here before we try to do the whole "Save the World" thing.

But, I have a girl I like here to. I'm not sure how my friends from home would take that...

[thinkbrave.livejournal.com]

( A quiet sound. It might've been a laugh. Maybe. ) I can believe there are worse places. Somehow.

Huh. ( A long pause. Looong pause. ) So you and you're friends are trying to save the things that are important to you, but you're... worried they'll care about something like that?

( To be fair, Ellie isn't sure what she thinks about that, what she'd think if... Homer and Kevin liked each other. But, sometimes, she just likes to like questions. )

voice;

[ofthepromise.livejournal.com]

I... know one person here, from home. [There's a thoughtful pause.] But there's people I wish were here, too.

voice;

[thinkbrave.livejournal.com]

Like who?

[sageofthewest.livejournal.com]

This isn't much different from anywhere else for me. And anyone I would have wished here is long gone, I'm afraid.

[two young ill-fated men, for one. Even if they had to become woman, they'd be happier here.]

[thinkbrave.livejournal.com]

( That gives her pause. She hadn't really considered that as an option. ) That sounds pretty shit.

( Which is like an awkward attempt at "I'm sorry".)

let's try this again ^^;;

[freemade-grace.livejournal.com]

I don't think that's wrong. You care about them, so you want them near. And if they're here you can keep an eye on them better than if they were gone.

sounds rad to me~

[thinkbrave.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I guess.

( But she frowns a bit. ) Wouldn't caring for them mean I don't want them in the Garden, though?

[border-phantasm.livejournal.com]

It's a hard decision isn't it? You want to be close to the people you care for, but to do so would be ultimately selfish.

[thinkbrave.livejournal.com]

Yeah. ( A pause, and she leans a little closer to the vine. ) It wouldn't even be worth seeing their reaction to this place, I reckon. The boys would freak out.

[heretolookhot.livejournal.com]

I had one. She's gone home now.

[thinkbrave.livejournal.com]

( There's a moment that might be hesitation before she replies. )

I saw. ( Didn't reply. She'd only spoken to this girl once-- maybe twice? -- before. Anything she said would've sounded stupid or insincere - better to keep her mouth shut, as far as she's concerned. )

Maybe it's better if they're just never here.

voice;

[headedforhope]

Mm, well..... [She knows that what she should say is yes, it's wrong- it's wrong and selfish to want others by your side at the expense of their safety. But Mami doesn't have any right to say so, no high ground to stand on; she's already guilty of that particular crime, and just remembering it hurts.]

I can understand why someone would wish for that.

voice;

[thinkbrave.livejournal.com]

( No video, huh? That almost gets Ellie's interest in and of itself, wondering the why's of it. Of course... maybe that sort of thing doesn't mean anything. Maybe it's whimsical and just depends on how the person feels about their hair or their skin that day.

There's an odd stream of thought that whips through her mind before she shakes her head at herself and replies. )

Have you wished for that?

[voice]

[catflavoured.livejournal.com]

Some of us don't have to worry about wannabe-killer plants. I know someone who could take them on easy if they tried anything.

[voice]

[thinkbrave.livejournal.com]

Lucky you, then. It isn't that easy for everyone else out there.

[hotshot-momma.livejournal.com]

I -

[Excuse Anna. She puts a hand to her forehead]

I'll admit it's a tempting thought, but I couldn't do that to her... to anyone back home. I wouldn't wish this prison on anyone.

[thinkbrave.livejournal.com]

A prison, huh?

( She glances up at the sky. ) Do you come from a nice place, then?

VIDEO.

[radiantbloom.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I do. [she pictures the smiling faces of wakka, tidus, selphie..

and riku, smirking wryly back at her as he tossed a log at sora. light, she misses them all. she curls her right hand into a fist and lays it over her heart.]

I do, and I don't. I miss them... a lot. But then, they're also able to go where they want to go.

They're not stuck in one place. I think.. as much as it hurts to miss them, they're lucky to be free.

Besides.. [a small smile tugs at her lips.] Our friends are always with us, so long as we remember them and cherish those memories within our hearts. Connections like that can't be broken, no matter how far apart friends are.

VIDEO.

[thinkbrave.livejournal.com]

If the connection isn't broken... it's still got to be stretched pretty thin by being in different worlds, don't you think?

( Then again, that other girl-- she was saying she could still feel her connection to others. Whatever that meant. She also said her blood was glittery, so Ellie wasn't quite sure how to process that information. Incredulously, most likely. )

I mean. Our stories and our memories keep us connected, but if... I don't know. I like to believe that people can watch over one another even when they aren't around, but if I'm not watching over them from here, I'm pretty sure they can't be watching over me from there.

( The knife flicks back and forth in her hands. )