Enter Quistis. [Completed]

[blondeprodigy.livejournal.com]

Character(s): Quistis Trepe, Rei Ayanami
Content: Quistis enters the city of Paixao, and meets a stranger. Mass confusion ensues.
Setting: Vanaheim. [F3]
Time: Monday evening.
Warnings: Notta one.


Quistis inhaled, telling herself that this was not the end of the world. The Garden faculty could be calling this "emergency meeting" for a billion reasons other than her students' recent SeeD exam scores. There were more important things.

She shook her head at the mirror she stood before and watched her own reflection for a bit, meanwhile mentally preparing herself. She could do this, she could do this, she could stand up to the staff and tell them that it wasn't her fault they threw every problem student into her classroom. She could tell them that she did everything in her power to save these kids, that most times she actually managed to do it, but that some are just so beyond help...

Quistis leaned forward. Or at least, she thought she did, but her reflection didn't seem to want to. Rather, it leaned slightly back and crossed its arms, smiling in a manner all too familiar to the non-reflection-Quistis. The real thing placed a hand to the mirror and, with wide eyes, realized that it was not glass as she expected, but somewhat pliable. The harder she pushed, the more the reflective material beneath her palm gave way.

And her reflection just nodded at her, stepping backwards and beckoning for its originator to continue.

This was probably a bad idea. She'd been trained on how to handle weird, unexpected things similar to this -- but never, well, this. She thought about calling for help, that would be the logical thing to do, but her reflection looked so inviting. And if she could trust anyone, it was herself.

...right?

Squeezing her eyes shut, Quistis promised herself that this wasn't a mistake. She placed both her hands on the not-exactly-a-mirror-anymore mirror, and pushed.





Hardly a split second later, Quistis walked into someone. The person twitched a little and murmured a less-than-sincere apology, leaving Quistis to stare at her surroundings -- decidedly not Balamb Garden's 2F Bathroom.

What on earth...

Quistis raised her hands, palms facing the sky, and blinked dumbly. What just happened -- very obviously -- could not have happened at all. Which meant that she was hallucinating(rather vividly) or that the mirror-that-wasn't really was a mistake. Someone nudged her and politely asked her to move forward. She blinked slowly at him, then turned in the other direction to see a long line. Nodding absently, she closed the distance between her and the next person, quite without thinking. She felt like she had no other option but to just go with it.

Because really, what else could she do?

She reached the front of the line before she could formulate a plausible answer to that question, and a man at a booth there rather briskly requested her name.

After a moment's hesitation, she offered, "Quistis Trepe."

In the same brusque manner, the man handed her a plethora of pamphlets and one particularly bulky item, and then he ushered her in, with a curt, "Keep the line moving, ma'am."

So she entered the gates, staring in amazement at the world before her. Everything about it made her think that perhaps she was merely trapped in a particularly life-like dream. But no, this was too real. The weight of the things in her hand, the ground beneath her feet, the scent of the place were most certainly there. She was in touch enough with her senses to know that this had to be real.

And that was so much more frightening than the alternative.

She stepped forward uncertainly and began to walk -- to who knows where. Not until she found a bench did she stop and begin to fumble through the things the man handed her. She was bothered by the presence of several colorful pamphlets, like this was some sort of a vacation! The bulky item, however, she took an acute interest in. When she opened it, she was surprised to find a screen and keyboard. Experimentally, she plunked on a few keys and tried to get it to respond. Nothing happened, of course, so she simply closed it and tucked it under her arm.

Resignedly, she tilted her head back. She slid her eyes closed and said aloud, to anyone or anything at all, "Help?"

Comments

[seconddoll.livejournal.com]

Rei’s feet padded softly but surely on the ground as she went to the back of the line, as instructed. Orders were orders, and these seemed harmless enough. Usually she would have hesitated, but her mind was working furiously. How did she get here?

I have no memories of death. I am still the second.

She looked down at her bandaged arm to confirm the fact. She had not died in that plug. Her arm was broken, still in a cast and bandaged, and her head was wrapped and her eye was covered with countless bandages. The pain still felt fresh. Thinking that this was some sort of afterlife didn’t even cross Rei’s mind – no such thing existed for her. She knew it and accepted it.

Her crimson eyes lowered to the ground as all of the possibilities for her being in this strange place tumbled through her head. She kept returning to one conclusion:

Am I no longer of use to him? Did I fail so horribly... ?

Rei’s brows furrowed. That is, until she realized the line had moved. She quickly moved ahead, and was greeted by a blonde, pale skinned man. Rei greeted him with a look of indifference.

“Welcome to Paixao, miss. May I have your name?” It was as if he had said the line a thousand times before. Rei blinked before answering.

“Rei Ayanami.”

“Here you are,” he said, dropping a small computer and a brochure in her direction and trusting her to catch it. “Enjoy your stay, Rei.” The man was already repeating the welcome to the next person in line as Rei turned.

“What…” Rei trailed off, realizing the man would not listen to her. She pursed her lips, the only outward sign of her discomfort.

I could not have failed.

Walking away from the gate, she took note of how out of place she was in her plug suit. It was uncommon for her to wear it in public, and her wounds only made her stick out like a sore thumb. Nevertheless, she walked over to the least occupied bench in sight, which was next to a blonde woman.

She would have preferred the area to be empty, but she sat down and placed the computer on her lap, ready to examine it. Rei paid little attention to the woman, only glancing in her direction as she asked for help. It wasn’t her business.

[blondeprodigy.livejournal.com]

When Quistis opened her eyes, she almost flinched at the sight of the tiny thing sitting on the opposite side of the bench. To say she was odd-looking to Quistis would be an understatement -- from the blue hair to the bizarre clothing, she'd never really seen anyone like her.

And all those bandages. Quistis wondered where the injuries they covered came from... and hoped she wasn't anywhere near the place.

Clearing her throat quietly, Quistis turned her body on the bench to better face the stranger and asked, "Excuse me. Ahh, do you know what this is?"

She held up the boxy-thing with the computer screen and keyboard.

"I can't get it to do anything," she added, smiling in a hopefully inviting kind of way.

[seconddoll.livejournal.com]

Rei didn’t acknowledge the stranger at first, because there was no reason to do so. Yet when she was asked a question, Rei looked up from her own device with a look devoid of any indication of what she was thinking. It was difficult to tell whether this was because she wanted to look indifferent, or because she simply didn’t possess the ability to show otherwise.

“No.” The reply was flat and blunt, without title or formality. Until instructed or required, Rei had no desire to make contact with others here. She would wait for Commander Ikari.

But curiosity was not foreign to Rei. The girl looked at the stranger’s device – seemingly a handheld computer of sorts. Rei then opened hers, and noted that they seemed to be identical. She turned it on and began to try to figure it out.

[blondeprodigy.livejournal.com]

Well, that was productive.

Quistis blinked at the girl's curt response. She straightened up a little and stared ahead, contemplating what to do next. The woman beside her obviously didn't want to be bothered, but by the looks of things, she didn't know what the box-computer-like-thing was either.

And that might mean she was in the same boat as Quistis. New and lost and generally confused as hell.

She moved over just a little bit on the bench and pointedly looked at the other girl's computer-thing. She acknowledged that it was rude to act so nosily, but she didn't have a problem with that if it meant learning anything that could help her get out of this place. Or at least figure out where it was!

"They're almost identical," she said. Conversationally, she added, "Unfortunately, I'm not too computer savvy. Is yours doing anything?"

She plunked a few more keys on her own computer, more for the other girl's benefit then anything else.

[seconddoll.livejournal.com]

The blue haired girl continued to press buttons, watching what happened on the screen with undivided attention. She knew how to ignore others well, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t listening. It only looked that way.

Rei’s eyes narrowed slightly as the woman came closer. Not because of the invasion of personal space, but because of the text appearing on her screen. She quickly skimmed what she saw.

“People can post messages using these,” she surmised, but the way she spoke sounded as if she were talking to herself. She searched through the options and pressed a few keys, watching as they appeared on the screen. Rei wondered if this was Commander Ikari’s doing.

[blondeprodigy.livejournal.com]

Quistis winced at the deliberately icy response -- if you could call it that -- she received from the other woman. She glanced towards the sky a moment and then said tonelessly, "All right, point taken."

Shaking her head, she turned to her own little computer thing and started working with the options presented. She'd come to the same conclusion when the girl next to her declared, "People can post messages here," so Quistis nodded agreeably.

"But that's absolutely useless to me until I can find an explanation as to how I arrived here," she murmured, also to herself. She knew by now that there wasn't much of a point in attempting to make conversation with the girl beside her, even if she really wouldn't have minded a friend -- or just someone, didn't even have to be nice -- in this situation.

[seconddoll.livejournal.com]

Rei looked down at the brochure she had been handed on her way through the gate. Paixao. It sounded incredibly foreign in her mind. Tokyo-3 was where Rei had grown up, and she knew little of the outside world, save that it was unsafe.

She looked up at the sky. They were in a dome. Her eyes then drifted to the scant patches of grass around them. As the light hit them, it was apparent that they were something different – Rei had never seen grass shine like glass. Was this some sort of shelter from angel attacks? If so, why did she and this woman not remember being brought to it?

Pausing in her examination, she looked at the woman. “Where are you from?”

[blondeprodigy.livejournal.com]

Quistis glanced up from the screen and inclined her head in the girl's direction. A breakthrough! Maybe.

Gesturing as she spoke, Quistis replied simply, "I'm an instructor at Balamb Garden."

It occured to her that the blue-haired woman might be from Esthar, given her strange dress. There'd been pictures in textbooks of their soldiers in uniform, and this girl was certainly dressed similarly. Esthar had been isolated for so long, perhaps she didn't even know where Balamb Garden was.

"It's near the center of the continent," she added helpfully. "On an island west of Esthar. And I --"

Could she just tell this stranger that she fell through a mirror and ended up here?

"I don't know how I got here," she finished.

[seconddoll.livejournal.com]

Balamb Garden, Esthar… other names she wasn’t familiar with. Her brows furrowed ever so slightly. This woman was an instructor… was this ‘Garden’ a part of NERV? If so, why didn’t the woman say as much? Certainly she would recognize the plug suit, if not Rei herself.

“Is Garden a branch a NERV?” She asked softly. There was always a chance that she didn't know all there was - in fact, Rei knew she didn't know everything about NERV. It didn't bother her. Yet if the woman also had no idea how she had gotten here, it was futile to ask for more information.

[blondeprodigy.livejournal.com]

"NERV?" she echoed. "No, no... Balamb Garden is a branch of... well, Garden. They train... SeeD?"

Quistis narrowed her eyes hopefully at the girl, but she already knew she wouldn't get the response she wanted.

"You... have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?" she asked with a heavy sigh. She leaned back against the bench, once more glancing to the sky.

Paixao, NERV... her "investigation" was creating more questions than answers.

[seconddoll.livejournal.com]

Rei shook her head slightly, stopping the motion when her head pounded. Rei was a quick healer, but she knew these wounds would take some time, even for her. Here they were a comfort – a reminder that she was still her. A reminder of Commander Ikari and her purpose.

“I’m afraid I don’t,” she said. “Where is it in relation to Tokyo-3?” Rei knew little of the organizations other than NERV. It was probable that there could be others out there. Garden might have been the mirror to their NERV.

[blondeprodigy.livejournal.com]

Quistis deflated, lowering her eyes to the space of the bench in between them. She glanced back up to the other woman after a moment, managing a weak smile, but she shook her head.

"I've never heard of a Tokyo-3," Quistis told her earnestly. And my geography lessons were complete enough for me to know that it just doesn't exist... Or did it? Perhaps in some unknown place, undiscovered?

"I -- I wish I had a map of the continent," she went on. "I could show you, but all I can seem to find is a map of this city."

Quistis ruffled through her pamphlets and withdrew the map of Paixao she was given upon entrance to the city. She ran her fingers along the outer edges of the city, observing with a slightly wrinkled nose, "It's as though this is all there is."

[seconddoll.livejournal.com]

Rei seemed to frown at this. Not know of Tokyo-3? Impossible. Unless… no. There wasn’t another impact. Rei would know. She would have remembered. And if there was another impact, she wouldn’t be around, nor would this city.

Looking over at the woman’s map, Rei brought up the same map on the computer. She examined it carefully before closing the computer and rising to her feet, looking ready to walk away. This woman did not know of NERV or Tokyo-3, so there was no reason to continue conversation.

[blondeprodigy.livejournal.com]

As the other woman got up, Quistis stared after her, a finger raised to gesture for her to hold on a moment.

"W--" she started, but the words fell silent as she watched the slender figure leave for the city.

Pursing her lips, Quistis arranged all the things she had with her -- it was a scary thought to think that this was all she owned -- and started a determined walk in another direction. Answers, they had to be somewhere.

(OOC: Thanks for the RP, missah! It was a great into to the game:D:D)