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[It had been like sleeping, but not. Quicker, easier, and softer. Without pain. Thoughts like bubbles to be examined at leisure, and time meant nothing. She had touched it before, but never like that, never like it had been. How long, she would not ask or tell. The Vine was ignored in favour of thought.

It should have kept her. She was an aimless drifter now, one without a city, without a cause, a woman with a heavy arm and a former name. Pathetic, and nothing worthy of being chosen. That solitude, that serenity accepted all, she had a place there. Here, it was attempting to fit an oddly shaped rod into a regular slot. The difference was, could she learn to understand it?

It called for a cigarette and walking, she thought. So Jill grabbed her coat, lit one, and began to take her steps around the Gardens, trying to recall that softness, seeing if it eased anything, or if mental scolding and chiding would do better.]

[[ooc: She can be found anywhere you'd like!]]

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[Zenobia was just getting something to eat at the orchard. She doesn't have to eat to live, but now that food's available to her again, she's damn well going to enjoy it! She takes a bite of an apple and then notices someone walking nearby. A few moments later she approaches...]

Oh hi! [Zenobia pauses for a moment, thinking.] We spoke before, over the vine, I think. Though I don't think we exchanged names. I'm Zenobia.

[She remembers this one. She'd been rather cheery about the whole thing until they'd mentioned a brief bit of their pasts and then it had devolved into seriousness.]

We did, I recall you. My name is Jill, and it's good to meet you properly

Yes, it's a pleasure to meet you face to face.

So, what brings you here? Looking for food? These apples are really good.

More or less contemplation. But now that you mention it...I don't recall the last time I've tried an apple.

[Zenobia picks one and offers it to her with a smile.]

I'm not sure what you're thinking about, but if you're looking for someone to lend an ear, I'm willing.

[She takes the cigarette, tossing it down and crushing it before picking up the stub and putting it in her pocket-littering is bad, but more than that, leaving one in the past could be a sign for anyone looking for you. So she was a little paranoid.]

How important is the past?

[Zenobia has to think for a moment. A lot of bad things have happened in the past. But without it, what does she have? ...Hmm.]

I guess I'd say that the past is something to learn from, but not something you have to worry a lot about. You take things from it for use now, and memories can be painful, but you can always make new, better ones. At least, that's what I think.

[Jill stares at the apple in her left hand, taking in those words. Not something you have to worry about. What a rather...radical way of thinking to her. And sometimes radical was the way to go. Why was she moping about it?]

That sounds like a healthier line of thinking than most I've come across.

[Taking a bite of the apple, she forced herself to only think about the fruit and how it tasted.]

You're right about these apples. Better than anything I've tried in a while.

Well, it is much easier said than done, but it's pretty much how I look at the past. ...and I've had a long time to think about mine. I think this outlook is working okay for me.

Yeah. I'm going to have to try making a pie with these apples. That should be fantastic.

We've got a good deal of time to try various ideas, if so far is any indication...It's been maybe six months? I suppose trying out new lines of thinking can happen without too much difficulty.

Is it easy to bake? [Always an oddly domestic skill she had no desire to learn]

Wow. I've only been here a little over a month. But yeah, if you put your mind to it, I'm sure you can tweak your outlook. I'm certainly a different person now, in terms of how I think, than I was when I was younger. [She had a looooong time to think about it.]

Well, a friend of mine named Amy was the person I knew who always baked pies, and I just kind of watched and picked things up from her. With pies, the preparation is the hard part. It's really irritating to do all that work and then burn them or find that too much of the filling has gooped out. As far as the actual baking, it's always been a trial-and-error thing for me, looking for when the crust is just the right color.

It seems to have left you for the positive.

Pies always looked simple in construction...but as far as putting the pieces together, you have to have the pieces, and that's where I keep getting lost. The colour...it has to be a sort of golden brown, right?

Thank you very much! I've still got my flaws but I think I'm doing well.

Yeah. Assembling the pieces can be tricky, too, like for me it was always a little hard to keep the dough from tearing when I put it in the pan. The insides are mainly about proportions, and also can be fiddled with a lot. And yeah, golden-brown's the sweet-spot, though I like to err on having it a little lighter than darker. Which may just be leftover from when I would burn everything because I didn't know better.

Flaws keep you interesting. No one should be a perfect little doll.

Do you have to do anything in particular for sweet pies as opposed to savoury? [Trying to secretly pick her brain so she can try to make a pie, what?] Lighter would be easier to measure...

Yep!

Well, you can do little things. Like for a meat pie, you can mix in some nutmeg when mixing the dough. If you wanted to go for sweet instead, you can sprinkle sugar and cinnamon on the crust.

I see...thank you for your advice.

Oh, no problem. But like I said, I'm not an expert on it or anything. I learned everything secondhand. There are probably better ways to do it.

Not seen many earth-crawling humans in this particular place.

[The one who had just spoken up was a woman sitting nearby, in the air, on a floating rock. She had a somewhat bored look on her face as she looked down, but then suddenly a startled expression formed on her face as she spotted the arm.]

Wait, no, you're a youkai, aren't you? Not a very strong one, I bet.

[She looks up at the floating rock woman, taking a long drag before replying.]

Never heard the word "youkai" before. I'm a human, if you count Remades among them. [Which many people didn't. They saw them as less than human, and so she had to make an allowance for them.]

Really? Only a human? [She seemed to be somewhat disappointed.]

Are you sure you aren't a youkai...er...a demon? I mean, you got that arm there.

What's a Remades?

Quite sure. I haven't always had it, and I doubt I'd be this calm about being ripped from my realm if I was a daemon.

[How to succinctly explain...] A Remade is someone who has been altered by thaumaturgy-or "magic", as I've heard it called-either biologically or mechanically for some reason, mainly punishment. The vast majority of regular humans hold bias against them for that reason, and treat them as a separate class of citizens-thus why I label myself as one rather than simply saying human.

Or to place it even more concisely, we've been made different for various reasons.

Huh, those from Gensokyo are pretty calm. Like the spider demoness, she just built her spider web in the forest. Didn't freak out.

I understand. You're magically altered. I don't really see why it's something to complain about, I'm technically magically altered as well, or more spiritually, to be precise, and I don't really see a problem. All it means is that I got to beat up the grim reaper every few decades so I don't die. No problem. People shouldn't complain about it.

Though, I guess they're fine attacking me for it, if they want. Wouldn't mind.

You've got a kinder society than the one I come from. Being altered is a stigma, there. I broke the law, so I gained the arm. Only difference is that I don't let it define me in their way.

Oh, I like people who don't let custom or law define them. I'm a celestial, for example. A tennin. Tennin are holy beings who are expected to pray all day, meditate, and the like. I prefer not to, though. It gets boring.

It really does. I don't know if we've got an equivalent to you in my world, but the principle is the same.

If you don't mind the question, are you a holy being from a certain sect, or does your home have an overlying religion?

Gensokyo has several religions, technically, buddhism and shintoism, which are somewhat connected. But I'm not really from a sect of either of them, I'm basically like those old mountain sages who practice ascetism and eventually, if they manage to not die, become a holy being that way. Except I didn't do all that stuff, it's rather overrated, in my opinion.

I get along well with the main shrine maiden our world, though, she's probably Shintoist. Haven't really met a buddhist specifically, but heard of one.

Could they really avoid death for that long? It sounds fantastical, but then again...I say that when we've all been pulled here.

Regardless, thank you for humouring me. It's interesting to see what exactly others place their faith in, whether it be their own talents or some divine force.

Well, obviously some could, since I've met them, old bores that they are.

You're welcome.

...My second question is going to sound stupid, but the rock flying...that's a kind of magic from you being a holy type, right?

Yes, that's true. My family's in charge of earthquakes, causing them so they don't build up too much, so that's where the kind of power comes from.

So science in one realm is magic in another... [And now she's wondering what exactly in science can be thaumaturgy in the next.]

Why did you say that you were surprised to see humans here? I don't see why they would be warded off, it's rather beautiful here.

Probably. Some even combine science and magic, you'd have to ask the kappa for the details though, it's what they do. ...that said, I don't think there's any kappa here.

Oh, mostly since it's ruins, and a lot of people seemed to be scared that stuff would crawl out from under the ruins to eat them. That's all.

Kappa. I'll remember that in case any going by that title come along here.

[She smiles briefly.] And before long they'll come out from under their ruined home, deprived of brave souls who came to venture near such cursed structures. Rumour can be an amusing thing.

[ If Jill wanders in the vicinity of the ocean, she'll find Caprica there, dressed in a white sundress (http://www.bluefly.com/Free-People-ice-cotton-lace-halter-dress/cat60019/314486901/detail.fly) she found in her wardrobe — she never wore anything like this even when she was pretending to be human, but the fabric is light and smooth on her skin and she appreciates the way it feels.

She has been isolating herself from the others for now, deliberately, but being cooped up in Gaius's house with so many memories attendant there has made her feel restless and frustrated. Imprisoned as much as if she were still in Galactica's brig. The whole of the Gardens is a cage, but it is a broad enough one that she does not always feel the urge to beat on the invisible bars. The house she can get away from, even if she will always, inevitably, go back, tethered to it by necessity and by love.

The air smells of salt and is full of the susurrus of the waves lapping at the shore. Caprica longs to go walking through the surf, but she has come under the impression that contact with the water is perhaps not the best idea. So she contents herself with watching from a short distance, perched on a large, flat rock nearby, the sea breeze pulling at her skirt and ruffling her hair. Sunlight glitters on the surface of the water like a reflection from the surface of thousands of tiny diamonds or shards of broken glass.

She feels Jill approach before she sees her, and finally glances up when she catches movement from the corner of her eye. Her only response to the other woman's presence is a slight smile — though she does catch that mantis-claw arm and there's a flicker of surprise and curiosity through her gaze. But despite the urge to ask questions, she doesn't speak yet. Perhaps this woman is like her, and would rather be left alone with her thoughts. ]

[By now, her mind has soothed itself, thoughts coming one at a time as they should, as they used to. The more desperate of her thoughts have been dismissed as irrational and childish-like cutting off the arm and pretending not to be Jill anymore. For better or worse, these Gardens had restored it, and her life, and for the moment, figuring out why seemed to be the best option.

Her steps lead her to the ocean, the one she has heard cautions for and invitations in varying amounts. How long has it been since she saw an ocean, or even a port? Not since she came to the Gardens, or for months beforehand. Captivity wasn't kind to such idle wishes as the waterside. Still, it feels clean here, and she pauses to breathe the air deep into her lungs, a sharp change from the smoke of earlier.

Jill notices the other woman, but doesn't return the smile quite yet. She sees the curiosity, and is silently grateful that she says nothing at the moment. Still, it is a matter that needs to be addressed at some point, and so after waiting what she feels is an appropriate length of time, she raises the point, with a small smile of her own.]

It's completely real.

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sixth

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How about the ruins? If not just pick any unusual place!

Ruins work fine!

Re: Ruins work fine!

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Slightly different set of morals and worries, alas.

Actually she's extremely happy about that

Re: Actually she's extremely happy about that

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