(no subject)

[whataprettyname]

[There's a new girl in the gardens today.

It's probably easy enough to see that she's new. She's still wearing the white shift she'd awoken in, after all, apparently electing to carry her own clothes in her arms. The only change is that her hair is now tied back with a band that sparkles strangely in the light, and a battered pair of yellow sneakers protect her feet. She has her school uniform bundled under one arm, and with the other, she holds a scroll in front of her face, reading closely and determinedly as she walks through the grass and the flowers without any obvious destination in mind but a clear determination to get there.

But every so often she pauses, looks up, looks around. She sees an orchard with crisp autumn leaves in the ground, and she wants to go and jump in them. She sees a field of glistening snow, and stops herself from going to make snow angels. She comes across a riverbank heavy with the heat of summer, and shakes off the drowsy impulse to take a nap, despite the fact that traveling dimensions is hard on a kid.

And she is just a kid, still just a kid. However, she resists the temptation to play like one and, after one last look of longing towards the beauty around her, instead trudges on, reading as she walks, having no clue where she's going but determined to get there all the same.]


((ooc: Chihiro's most likely to be found not walking at the "season change" areas of the garden, but otherwise, there's a small girl still in her shift and reading her scrolls and heading somewhere. Bother?))

Comments

[fionna_time]

[Walks over, actually bored, when she spots someone new in the Gardens. By now she was pretty familiar with the people around here, so she knew when someone was just coming here. That understood, she also knew that it helped to have someone lead you through this kind of place].

Hey dude, what's up? You look a little lost!

[whataprettyname]

Huh? [Chihiro looked up from her note, blinking a bit as though coming out of a daze. When she spotted Fionna, she waved.] Hi! Y-Yeah, um...I guess I am. I'm not supposed to be here at all. I was just going to go looking for the Queen, to ask her to show me the way home.

[fionna_time]

[Fionna sighed. This part wasn't going to be easy].

It doesn't really work that way. See, if you're here, you're here to stay and that's it. It's also kinda hard to even get to the Queen. You only go home when she decides it, and well, that's usually not when you ask.

[whataprettyname]

[This is the face of a girl who is trying not to show how utterly freaked out she is by this news.]

So...she kidnapped us? But, but she can't do that! The police might find her, or what about the people looking for us? My parents would be looking for me!

[fionna_time]

Uh, no. No police. We're kinda in a different world, you saw that right?

Your parents...they can't really find you.

[whataprettyname]

...yeah, I saw it. [She kicks moodily at a twig in the grass.] I guess I was just hoping it wasn't true. Hoping really hard. That was dumb of me.

...they're going to be really worried about me. My parents, I mean. Not the police.

[fionna_time]

Sorry. It's just the sad fact. We're stuck. It's not so bad though.

From what they say, you go back to the exact time you left, so they might not be worried at all!

[mother_of_god]

[A stranger in a blue dress stands a bit further down at the river. She watches Chihiro's approach with wary curiosity, frozen like a deer.]

[whataprettyname]

[Chihiro, for her part, keeps right on walking down the river until Alessa's shadow starts to creep over the edge of the scroll. Then she stops, frowns, looks up, and only then realizes that someone else is there.]

Oh. Um, hello there. Do you know where the Queen is?

[mother_of_god]

[She shakes her head. Then, after a few moments of struggle, speaks:]

i think she lives... [She tries to wrangle a strange concept into words, then concludes unhelpfully] somewhere else.

[whataprettyname]

[Chihiro holds up the scroll she'd been reading, frowning.]

Was I really asleep that long? I mean, if she brought me here, she can't be that far away. So, who left me all these notes? I mean...besides the cat. Does the cat belong to you?

[mother_of_god]

[She shakes her head.] They live here.

It's magic.

[whataprettyname]

The cats are magic?

[...that actually doesn't sound impossible, although she knows it probably should. Chihiro begins anxiously chewing on the nail of her thumb, her frown growing more pronounced.]

Is...is how we got here magic? Because a place like this...it seems like it could be magic, and there's no place like this around my house.

[disillusionment]

[In the orchard, the girl will spot Kyoko, resting against the trunk of a tree and munching on an apple. She seems nonchalant and possibly a bit bored.]

[whataprettyname]

[...

...

...this is a far more disturbing sight than it should be. Chihiro just...stops and stares at Kyouko for several seconds, wondering just why the sight is bothering her so much but unable to deny that it is.]

E-Excuse me? [She finally musters up the courage to cal out, twisting her hands in her shirt.] D-Does this orchard belong to you?

[disillusionment]

Huh? Nah, it's just a place I like a lot. Plenty to eat for everyone.

[Kyoko is completely unphased by this.]

You new here?

[whataprettyname]

Um, yeah. I guess I'm new here. I just woke up, with all these scrolls explaining things. I haven't read them all, though.

...so, um, I also don't know where anything is. Or what belongs to anyone. Just about the Queen.

[disillusionment]

Ah. Most stuff like food is free. People make stuff they can't find here usually with this dirt out in the far edges of the Garden. It can be kinda dangerous to get to, though.

[whataprettyname]

...dirt?

[Chihiro knows she's missing something here, and so presses on.] What do you mean, "dirt"? What kind of dirt? And what kind of stuff can we make with it?

[histrionic]

[Kuja has settled herself in one of the Garden's warmer areas, a bright summer spot. She's reclining on a velvet cushion along with a large, silvery egg, her hands settled on the surface of it. Her fingers gleam a faint but noticeable blue.

She doesn't fail to notice Chihiro's approach, looking up without bestirring herself. An unfamiliar girl is hardly a strange sight in the Gardens. Kuja inclines her head.]

Child.

[whataprettyname]

Hm?

[Chihiro looks up, sees Kuja sitting in the warm sunshine with her silvery egg. The woman looks so regal - along with a bit preoccupied, both hands on that silvery egg - that Chihiro gives her a proper bow as a silent apology for interrupting whatever it was she might have been interrupting.] M-Ma'am. Hi. Sorry to bother you.

[histrionic]

[Well, here's someone who shows the proper respect. Kuja wasn't particularly irritated by the intrusion, even in this less-frequented part of the Gardens, but if she had been, that would have mollified her.]

There's no need to ask my pardon.

[Caring for a dragon egg takes a great deal of time but isn't particularly entertaining, so in truth, she's a bit glad of the interruption (not that she'd admit it), as it breaks the tedium.]

I don't believe I've seen you before.

[Not that that necessarily means she's a newcomer. Kuja can be reclusive at times.]

[whataprettyname]

Um, well, I-I don't think you would have. You see, I think I only just got here. I woke up with all these notes, and this cat, and my clothes all folded up.

[She still hasn't changed back into the clothes from her world, besides her shoes.]

My name is Chihiro.

[histrionic]

I thought you might have, and that that would be the reason I hadn't seen you, but one never knows.

[It had been the most likely possibility, though someone might easily have elected to continue wearing the shift, or that could be their usual style of clothing, or the Queen could be performing another of her tricks; anything's possible.

Most people's garb doesn't attract her notice, regardless. So plain. Much of her attention remains focused on the egg, as her powers aren't yet back to full strength. She nods.]

That is the common experience. Some novelty would be pleasant.

I am Kuja.

[whataprettyname]

It's nice to meet you, Miss Kuja. [Another bow, just for good measure - can't go wrong with politeness.]

I don't mind. I mean...at least it means there are people who can explain it to me. Besides the scroll. [She's not sure she can trust the scroll, especially if it was written by the Queen.]

I guess it's kind of like school. [There, that seems like a...nice, safe, familiar analogy for an impossible or possibly not-so-impossible situation.] The older students can explain where everything is to the younger students.