1st Leaf - [Voice]

[moontothetide]

Um...hi? Am I using this right? I mean...okay, s-sometimes I'd talk to plants, back home, but...th-they weren't such great listeners.

Okay. Um. I, I'm going to assume that I am. Just because...I-I don't know any better. So, um, hi. I'm Tara. I just woke up here. I think this place, um, kind of technically qualifies as the afterlife for me, at least if I'm remembering back home correctly, so...hope I'm in for a long stay.

It's nice to meet you all...whoever you are. I, I'll try not to get in anyone's way.

[Tara makes to hang up...but, after a beat, she hastily brings the vines back up again. After a moment of accidentally switching to text. What? Willow was the technologically inclined one in the relationship, after all.]

Okay. Um, so, this may be the afterlife, but I'm kind of tired from all this walking, so I guess I'll probably need a place to sleep. Does, um, does anyone know where I could look? I-I don't take up much space. Promise. I mean...can't be much worse than a dorm room, right?

I, I'm not that good with reading maps, so if I stumble into a private place...well, um, sorry about that. I'll leave, if I do, and you tell me. Just, y'know...telling would be good. Telling and not, um, attacking. Th-Thank you.

Comments

[spacejumping]

This isn't the afterlife.

[moontothetide]

...I think it might be for me. Um, s-suddenly getting shot, and waking up somewhere else? I, I can't think of anything else that might have happened.

And this place is really nice. [Certainly a place she wouldn't mind spending the rest of her afterlife in. Or so it seems from her admittedly rather limited perspective.]

[spacejumping]

What your injury fatal?

[cleaningstop]

Nice to meet you, Tara. My name is Hong Meiling!

You said you were looking for a place to stay?

[moontothetide]

Hi, Meiling. It's, it's nice to meet you, too.

And, um, yeah. I guess I am. I've slept outside before, and it was definitely in places that weren't quite this nice...but a, a place to stay, th-that'd be nice, too.

[cleaningstop]

If that's what you need, I'd be happy to help you look for one!

[fionna_time]

Hey, how's it going?

You are totes not in the afterlife! Because we're not dead!

[moontothetide]

That's nice. I, I'm glad someone actually lives here. I mean, um, heaven dimensions can't be just dead people. Nothing would ever get done or, um, or explained.

...I think I might be dead, though.

[fionna_time]

Yeah, that'd be weird. I don't know if we have an afterlife where I'm from.

Are you sure? You seem pretty alive to me!

[moontothetide]

...I guess I do.

[There's a remarkable lack of bleeding going on, considering that Tara was shot back in her world. Which is nice - she'd hate to stain the dress.]

I, I just thought all people in heaven seemed...alive. I-I just thought that was, um, was the point.

[fionna_time]

You sure do stammer and stutter a lot dude. Are you all right, or are you just scared?

[moontothetide]

[Tara blushes, just a bit. It's not often people take notice of her stammer. Okay, actually, it's probably the first thing people notice, but they don't generally comment.]

I-I'm okay. M-Maybe a bit scared but, um, it's m-mostly habit.

[fionna_time]

Aw heck, everyone is scared! It happens lots!

It's a habit? How come?

[rockpaperlightning]

H-Hello Tara. I-It's nice to meet you. Y-You aren't in the afterlife, d-definitely not! S-So I don't think you're dead.

[moontothetide]

[...Tara privately thinks she is, but this girl sounds very young, and she's stammering even worse than Tara usually does.

So, a change of tact:] M-Maybe not. Um, I mean, I-I hope not. [She could remember a searing pain in her chest, though, and the sharp smell of blood, and so couldn't really manage to come to any other conclusion.]

Does this place have a name, then? Um, besides "The Gardens"...

[rockpaperlightning]

Hmm...I-I don't really know...I-I haven't been here for that long. [She hopes at least the other girl isn't dead...that would be awful...]

I-I'm Y-Yayoi. Yayoi Kise. I was p-pretty nervous when I came here too...*giggles nervously* At first I thought I used the bookcase wrong. So...w-where are you from?

video;

[jemerite]

There are other dead, here.

[Zinc does not precisely smile, but she looks friendly enough. She also looks a bit dead, ashen-grey skin and sunken eyes, large brown in her drawn face. Her voice is a little hoarse, speaking in a somewhat labored way that suggests it's difficult for her.]

Hello, Tara.

Re: video;

[moontothetide]

There are? Wow...s-so many people were telling me they were still alive that I, I thought I might have been wrong...

[But Tara came from the sort of world where having the living in the land of the dead wouldn't be impossible. Especially since it would be more a case of "a" land of the dead.]

Hi. Um, what's your name?

Re: video;

[jemerite]

There are alive people, too. You might be alive. How is your pulse?

[The smile solidifies a little better.]

My name is Zinc.

Re: video;

[moontothetide]

[Tara actually does check her pulse. It's been that sort of day. Sure enough, it's racing away under her fingertips - faster than normal, since this many people in such a strange situation is a bit nervewracking.]

S-Still, um, pulsing. [Then a rather disconcerting thought strikes her, and she looks back at Zinc.] ...w-why?

Re: video;

[jemerite]

Not too dead, then.

[She glances off, considering how to answer. It takes her a moment, but she holds up her own wrist, a vague indicator that they are still talking about pulses,]

I don't.

Re: video;

[moontothetide]

[Tara stares blankly for a second, clearly not getting it...

...and then she does. Coming from Sunnydale makes you kick on the draw, in some small but very specific ways.]

O-Oh.

[And, of course, the thought that immediately jumps into her mind is "Oh my god help me it's a zombie!". Despite the fact that she's faced worse. Even killed worse, although only the once.]

That's, um...different.

Re: video;

[jemerite]

[She nods.]

Most are not... like me.

[moontothetide]

That's...

[Reassuring.]

...th-that's too bad. I mean...must get, um, kind of lonely.

[jemerite]

[She smiles faintly. It is lonely. She's always lonely. She was before, she is now.]

Sometimes. But the girls are nice. They will help you, me too, if I can.

[reverentresistance]

It's not the afterlife, nor would it probably be a good idea to treat it as one. The Queen's not God.

[moontothetide]

I, I-I think we're working from, um, a couple of different definitions. Heaven dimensions or, or hell dimensions... [Although she hopes to god this isn't one of those.] ...well, um, there's more than one. I didn't think the Goddess had to involve herself in all of them.

...but she, she is the Queen, right? So...has to have some power.

[reverentresistance]

There aren't multiple definitions to use.

[Which makes Tara's definition wrong, as far as Ky is concerned and naming a 'Goddess' really isn't helping Ky's opinion of that.]

Some power, yes, and she did kidnap us here. It's still nothing on the level of what He can do.

[moontothetide]

[...Tara tilts her head very slightly to one side as she realizes that, yes, she is having this conversation.

Then she shrugs, a little half shrug. Well, this attitude is hardly one she isn't used to.]

That's, um, still kind of a big gap. I mean... [She holds up her hands, spaced a few feet apart.] Us... [She waves the lower hand.] Miscellaneous Powers that Be... [She waves the higher hand.]

Lot of room for a Queen in the middle.

[reverentresistance]

There may be a power discrepancy even amongst "us". Actually, I already know that there is.

[For example, Dizzy could pretty much take Ky out without really having to think about it, if she wanted.]

You don't need to go comparing the Queen to God to acknowledge that she has the power to kidnap you here.

[Ky's always going to be pissy about that sort of thing, since her religion is very important to her and she doesn't see a whole lot of room there for discussing alternatives.]

[voice]

[mnementomori]

[the soft voice that replies is hesitant and a little worried, not unlike Tara's own.]

You need a place to stay? [she can't bring herself to address the "afterlife" bit just yet.] Um, I think we have an extra bedroom. But there are a lot of empty houses, too.

Re: [voice]

[moontothetide]

Oh, um, an empty room would be great. Or, um, or an empty house. Whatever's easier.

[Tara's not at all sure how she'd manage, in her current state, around people. She's been living on her own for a long while and, really, she'd started to miss waking up every day to the same people.

On the other hand, space would be nice to clear her thoughts.]

[voice]

[mnementomori]

Everyone else left, so...it's a little lonely. With just the two of us. Um, me and Sora. She's my friend. [much more than that, but the word "friend" means a lot when she says it.] I'll ask her.

Oh, I--I'm Xion. It's nice to meet you, Tara.

voice

[tosaveyou]

Hello. There's a lot of space here. A lot of buildings. I don't think anyone will mind. I can't help you, since I sleep outside, but you can have all the outside you want.

[She's rambling, a little.]

Tara. My name is Kariya.

[moontothetide]

[Tara will always sympathize with a rambler. Really, it warms her up a bit to Kariya right from the start.]

Well, um, a few people have offered. But, um, th-they all have to ask other people. I don't mind, but...well, um, there might be some sleeping outside. Or in empty places.

So, um, thank you. Nice of you to say so, and, and nice to have the space. I-I don't usually get a lot of space.

[tosaveyou]

Oh, well, I'm not in charge of anything. I meant there's no one to stop you. You can do whatever you want. Except-- you're right, some houses belong to people, so I don't go in them. I stay outside. I never used to sleep outside so much, and it's nice. Under the stars.

It's good to have space. I'm sure you'll find somewhere. People are friendly, here.

[moontothetide]

It really seems that way. I, I'm surprised by how many people are t-talking to me at all, not just offering me places to stay.

It's, um, it's good that you're sleeping outside because you like it, though. I mean...better than the alternative. Um, is it really dangerous out here at night? [Doing so would be pretty much unheard of, back home. Sunnydale has just about the lowest population on the planet solely due to mortality rate.]

[tosaveyou]

I haven't met anyone unkind, but I haven't been here long. There's nothing dangerous, not really... So you don't need to worry. I don't know why, but-- It's quiet here. It's a good place to rest.

[She does like it outside. The trees and grass remind her of playing in the park with Rin and Sakura, but it's also better for her to be alone, the way she is now.]

Yes, it's much better like this.

[pervy_elf_fancier]

"This resembles no afterlife spoken of in the temples of Aerisland. Though I suppose you may have been taken as you were killed, instead of to your destiny in those realms..."

[moontothetide]

"And, um, given a completely new body? Th-There isn't even a scar."

There's blood on her shirt, though, which is why Tara's still in the shift.

"I-I would have thought, m, only afterlives could do that. I, I mean it's possible...interdimensional travel is, um, s-supposed to be really complicated. So, um, I guess I wouldn't really know..."

[pervy_elf_fancier]

"I understand that manner of healing is well within our captor's power," the Duchess says, her mouth pursed in a tight line. "Still, I know little of planar travel, save what Falwythwr told me. And yes, it is SO. COMPLICATED."