paixaorpg | Sometimes a dream turns into a dream [Complete]

Entry tags:

Sometimes a dream turns into a dream [Complete]

Character(s): Lenne! And Scar...
Content: Lenne finds herself in a familiar place... and might actually be happy about it.
Setting: Niflheim gate
Time: Late morning
Warnings: None yet... ;D

She didn’t notice the change. The return to actual consciousness, to actual existence… It was as if no time had passed at all, her memories of the void faded almost instantly. There was nothing but life. And there was something hauntingly familiar about it.

Lenne opened her eyes to gaze out into the fields, the breeze warmer than she remembered, something told her; but while familiar, she was unsure why. She remained sprawled out in the grass, just marveling in the feel of it all. A few lazy minutes later, sound began to register and she turned slowly, seeing the familiar sight of lines of people entering a great domed city. ’Paixao’ a voice whispered in the back of her mind. She felt inclined to join the lines and enter the city along with them. So she did.

It all felt so familiar, but she couldn’t help but notice a change in the air. She was missing something. Something big. Her eyes scanned the crowds for a familiar face, something to strike a memory. She knew she'd been here before, but the rest of her memories were beneath a fog, out of reach. She let out a loud sigh and flopped into one of the myriad benches with a huff. Tossing her hair out of her way, she decided to dig through the newest reading material she'd been given at the gate.

Here's hoping this entrance would remain less eventful than her first...

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Well now, that was certainly an interesting outfit. Scar hadn't seen any human female walking around wearing clothes quite like that in his whole time here. though, he did make some attempt to avoid the outsiders in general most of the time, they had a terrible habit of being suspicious of him if they met him face to face first. But something a bout this one gave him the feeling he had less to be concerned about. And even if he did, the Heartless could always be used as a scapegoat. Thy were proving to be almost the perfect tool.

He approached the bench the woman had chosen silently, drawing as little attention from the crowd that tried to part around him as he could. He stood out well enough already, so it would be of no use to try to approach without being noticed, but at the very least he could attempt to mitigate the fervor of the crowd to get away from him. He was a lion, after all, but they did tend to try to give him a wider berth than was absolutely necessary.

"Is everything all right, miss?" he asked serenely, sounding the perfect gentleman.

Lenne's perception of the happenings around her had always been finely honed, however, she felt at ease for the moment, and her guard was down. As such, she was completely oblivious to Scar's approach, his own efforts to avoid notice very much effective.

Lenne looked up, expecting to find the gentleman such a voice would have belonged to... and was very much momentarily startled to find herself face to face with the oddest, talking coeurl she had ever seen. She let out a brief gasp, then laughed nervously.

"Sorry, you startled me," she apologized, keeping as neutral a friendly face as possible, her mind still trying to make sense of the talking cat. Something was very familiar about him, though. Familiar, but very different.

"Yes... everything is alright," she answered truthfully. "I've been here before, but..." she wasn't sure how to continue to explain. She had no idea when or how she left, or the circumstances of how she had returned. She made a motion with her hands, splaying them out as if to show how she had no words to explain what she meant.

"I have no idea how I came back... or how I left in the first place. I'm feeling a bit lost, truthfully," she added after a moment, not sure why she was sharing these thoughts, but Scar was the ~~unfortunate~~ first person(?) to speak to her upon her re-arrival, and women had a quota of words that needed to be used in a day.

This female's particular face did not bring a name to Scar's mind, but then, he'd been rather good at drawing attention to himself--though thankfully most of his actions had still slipped past even the most keen of the city's extraordinary residents. If only he could say the same for his mate...

"Would it not be wise, then, to see if anyone remembers you?" Why, exactly, Scar was deciding to make this wretched creature think he was friendly he wasn't quite certain, but it did seem like he would need to collect a few more..."allies" if things were to go as smoothly as he hoped. There was already quite a lot of dissent stirring up around him, and it was getting rather vexing as time went on. "You were given a journal to use at the gate, correct? Do you remember how to use it?" His voice took on a strangely sincere tone. It wasn't the patriarchal care that he gave that girl Terra, or the disgustingly amiable fatherliness that reminded him of his brother he treated the young Alice with, but nonetheless, it sounded like he was truly interested only in trying to help this woman. She was, after all, much older than the other two girls--or so it seemed--and treating her like a child would do little to endear him to her.

He had only to hope that his mate would not ruin things.

Lenne pondered that for a moment, wondering if, in fact, it might not make things worse to find someone who remembered her, if she couldn't remember them. That could end up hurting someone, and that was the last thing she would want to do. She couldn't imagine having offended someone enough to have left behind enemies, but something told her she should be more cautious than to wander too much, at this point.

"I believe that I'd like to get my bearings a bit first before I start trying to find anyone who remembers me," she told him decidedly. "I would hate to not remember them, or worse," she added, with sigh, wondering to herself if her old apartment would still be available...

When Scar mentioned the journals, that broke her from her reveries. His tone was so sincere, she was able to push away entirely the uneasy feeling, and held up her journal device that she'd been given at the gate. It was the same one she'd had on her last journey, she realized. How very strange.

"Yes, I do remember this," she told him. "It's... it's even the exact same one. Isn't that amazing." Her face was scrunched up in deep thought as she waded through the journal entries only briefly, not wanting to appear rude.

She took another long look at Scar, once again registering that she was, in fact, not talking to a fellow human. She also realized she hadn't any idea who he was.

"I'm Lenne," she offered after a moment, a sincere smile on her face. "Have you been in Paixao very long?"

It took a moment of thought before Scar decided that telling her his name would be all right. If she didn't remember anyone, then she would have no reason to trust them, whatever they might say to her about is past deeds. That thought brought a new idea to his scheming mind, which found itself displayed on his face in a rather malicious grin--though it was just as brief as it was alarming.

"I am Scar," he answered, the evil glint in his eye all but erased in favor of a theatrically overindulgent introduction. He sat on his hind paws and brought a paw to his chest to point to himself. The action was rather comical--and, Scar hoped, off-putting. "I have yet to speak at length with anyone aside from yourself who has had the unfortunate luck to be brought here after finally being allowed to go home. But I do agree; to be given the very same journal you remember using last time is nothing short of marvelous."

The theatrics died down as he continued. "However...as to your question. What may seem like a long time to a lion may in fact feel rather short to one of your species. But by my own measure, yes, I have been here for far longer than I would have liked. Though...to be honest, I would have liked to have never come here at all."

Things really had been going well in the Pride Lands. The hyenas and lionesses were getting along so well, and his brutish brother was no longer there to try to hog all the glory. Neither was his brat of a son.

Lenne had just enough tact not to ask if Scar had earned that name before or after the tell-tale mark over his eye. That must have been painful to receive, and if his moniker was indeed added after the fact, well... yeah, too rude to ask about.

"Well, nice to meet you, Scar," she told him after his introduction, leaving out her speculation on its etymology and replacing it with a bright smile, and also choosing to believe she imagined the maliciousness behind his grin. Surely she was just misinterpreting cat-like expressions.

When he mentioned his time here, she understood all too well how he seemed to feel. To most... well, probably to anyone but her... this place was a prison... for her? It was a chance to live. Even if it was in somebody's fish bowl, as it were.

"I can't blame you... it's not easy to leave home behind, never knowing if you'll ever get back... I take it no one has made any progress, then," she stated more than asked. She took another brief look at her journal, scoping out the map to get a good idea of her desired path, then stood, stretching out her arms a bit.

"I'd like to start taking a look around," she explained, glancing around 'til she found the sign she was looking for. "Maybe see if I can find my old apartment, or something," she added after a moment.

"I won't force you to come along," she joked lightly. "If you have somewhere else you need to be, I think I can find my way..." It wasn't quite a lie, but even with a map... Lenne's sense of direction was tragic.

"I could come along, if you would like the company," Scar answered, looking somehow a little bored and a little rejected at the same time. It felt much the same as it had with Alice, though it was nice that this woman didn't have such an annoying sense of curiosity as the girl did. Lenne wasn't asking any sorts of foolish questions, which made her far easier to stand.

"I don't have anything planned, so I can stay with you for as long as you like. At least...until I have to return to my mate. She wouldn't like it if I was away for too long." Considering Zira, that really was quite the understatement. She would be terribly displeased if he left her alone all day, and shutting her up was far more of a headache than he really wanted to deal with.

Lenne couldn't help but laugh, just a little, at Scar's expression. "I would enjoy your company a while longer, if I'm not boring you to death," she responded truthfully. Sure, they'd just met, and he was rather dangerous-looking, but he'd been nothing but helpful thus far, and had given her no reason to mistrust him. Besides, there was no telling what was lurking around, these days.

Lenne glanced around again, at the map, then at the buildings around her. Unfamiliar signs were everywhere, as well as the very unfamiliar face of... the Mayor? Interesting. That was definitely a new development, she realized.

"Hmm, I'll need to be heading due north, looks like," she said a few moments later, after mentally mapping out her route. "I used to stay in the Iriela Apartments between here and the Vanaheim gate," she explained. "If that'll take you too far from your mate, I completely understand," she added assuredly. "I'd hate to cause you any trouble after you've been so kind to me."

"Oh, don't worry, it's no trouble." Or so the lion said. "She's rather testy at the best of times anyway."

If it came down to it, Scar could simply order Zira to shut up. He needed more people in this city to trust him, and Zira's mere presence was already making that much more difficult than before. Zira's brats weren't doing anything to help the matter.

"That isn't so terribly far that I couldn't accompany you at least part of the way."

Lenne just smiled and nodded, but in an understanding way. Relationships were a special thing, no matter how you looked at it, and she honestly didn't feel like prying. "Say no more," she stated with a dismissive swish of her hand.

"I'm grateful for your company. It feels very strange here. Well... stranger than... usual?" Everything about Paixao was strange, and Lenne couldn't help but laugh a little once more at how comfortable she had once been here. Already, little bits and pieces were falling back into place. They had started walking, and Lenne took to observing the people around her, and some interesting signage she couldn't quite recall.

"Scar... can you tell me anything about the new Mayor?" she questioned after a few moments of thought. She got a very uncomfortable feeling about it the longer she pondered that development.

Scar paused before answering. "I...don't know very much about him, I'm afraid, other than his name. I haven't had to worry about most of what the humans are doing with themselves." For the most part, that was the truth. The residents of the city, thanks in no small part to his own actions, were rather easy for a lion to scare into doing whatever he wanted them too, regardless of whatever petty little laws the Mayor had come up with.

"Marcus Praetoris, if I'm not mistaken," he went on, after looking thoughtful for a moment. "He's enacted at least one rather silly new law, but again...lions have little to worry about when it comes to human customs."

Well there was a haughty politician's name if ever Lenne had heard one. It was almost too appropriate. As much as she hated to draw assumptions on name, only... her suspicions seemed to be correct, so far. She would definitely be doing some digging, though from the looks she was getting from the locals... her answers might just come to her before she was ready. She did not remember being looked at so disdainfully before. Oh, well.

"Hmmm... No, I'd imagine not," Lenne agreed as Scar mentioned the human laws wouldn't effect him all that much. "Thank you. Just wondering what I've gotten myself into," she added quietly. The signs she was noticing must have something to do with this law... but she couldn't quite figure them out. Hopefully she had time to do so.

They were making excellent time, as people seemed to clear the way when they saw the two coming. Or maybe it was Scar's presence that seemed to scatter the crowds. She really couldn't blame them, when she thought about it. But she also couldn't help but wonder just a little if it was more than just his appearance, and maybe a little reputation preceding them.

Scar could tell she was taking notice of the parting crowds. It might be best to warn her now about his mate. "Some members of my species can be rather...violent, I'm afraid. There was an...incident of sorts, not too long ago. I haven't been able to go anywhere without them doing this since."

Zira's murder of a citizen was rather convenient, for once. Lenne had no way of knowing that wasn't true, and no one would be likely to tell her that the crowds of mindless drones this city claimed as its citizens had been doing this with him for a very long time.

"You'll want to get used to seeing the crowds doing this, there are quite a few of us lions around now." Including a few he'd really much rather see dead, but giving any indication of that would rather ruin his chances for any sort of friendship.

That was... decidedly not comforting, though it appeared that Scar almost meant it to be so. He very much implied that he was not involved in the incident... but he also appeared vague with the details. However, her trusting nature got the better of her, as it usually did, and she nodded her understanding, giving the citizens around her a somewhat perplexed look.

"The citizens do seem to be extraordinarily single-minded," she mused aloud, just the slightest hint of annoyance in her tone, as if she was insulted they would judge an entire species based on one action, and yet not surprised.

Wait. Lion... That's right! She had met one before. But his name... she couldn't quite remember. But just in case the one she'd spoken to before was the aforementioned culprit... she kept that to herself.

"Aside from the prejudice," she gestured at the people, uncaring of their reaction, "It must be comforting to have other lions here, especially your mate?" The statement had turned into a question. She didn't want to appear rude, but she could only imagine how others reacting to a talking lion, if the citizens' reaction was the norm.

"That might not be the way I would put it. While the familiarity is nice, lions are rather...territorial." Any excuse for why the rest of them--besides Zira, of course--found Scar insufferable would be a good one for now. And at least that one was mostly true. Lenne would be able to find out on her own what the relationship between Kovu and Simba was like, though...Scar still planned to strain that one as much as he possibly could.

"Do you feel like you have a better idea of where you're going now?" He didn't ask out of irritation that he was still walking with her, but out of "concern" for her memory and her well-being.

Lenne nodded as Scar explained, understanding. Many creatures she remembered had such tendencies... well, even humans could be violent in their quest for territory. She knew that all too well.

His next question lifted her dark mood slightly, and she was grateful. "Hmm, let me check the map," she replied first, as she lifted her journal and pulled up the map once more. To her great surprise, she was actually on the right path, and they were more than half-way to the apartment. She couldn't help but laugh at her shock.

"I do, now," she explained. "Usually I have a terrible sense of direction, but we're almost there..." she added with a chuckle. "Must be your presence," she added, the wink only vocal.

The attempt at geniality from the human nearly made Scar sneer in disgust, but he kept himself from doing so outwardly.

"Oh, I doubt that. Perhaps you simply remember more than you think." The slightest suggestion of a friendly smile was on Scar's lips, and he gave the vaguest sort of short chuckle, just enough to let her think he was amused by her.

"I hope you're right." A few minutes later, Lenne sighed softly and checked the journal once more just to make sure her eyes hadn't tricked her the first time. Sure enough, as the pair turned the next corner, she could see the Iriela Apartment clearly. Amazing. She must truly remember the city better than she was giving herself credit for.

"Well, it appears I've made it here, safely enough," she said, smiling when the apartments came into view. Not too much had changed... except the rooftop loft appeared to have had a bit of a makeover. Interesting...

"I think I can make it from here, if you have to return to you mate," she said, stopping to gaze a while at her previous home, from a distance. She said this in a very friendly manner, if not a little apologetic. She was not trying to dismiss him, by any means, she'd just rather do the rest of the necessary exploring on her own.

It gave Scar the perfect chance to look just a little hurt--though not very much, he didn't want to overdo it and seem like he'd somehow gotten far more attached to her in these few short minutes than would make any sense for someone who would normally participate in such...social endeavors. "I understand," he said, tilting his head to the side just slightly and looking away just the barest noticeable amount.

"I suppose I'll see you around, then?" he asked, that pitiful expression softened, and nothing so close to it in his voice. He wasn't trying to make her feel more than just a touch guilty for dismissing him in that way. As frightfully annoyed with her for doing it as he was. He really couldn't understand why so many went through the trouble of acquiring "friends." It really was rather difficult.

Lenne couldn't help but feel a tinge guilty. It wasn't for lack of trust or enjoyment of his company, which really had been quite the comfort, it's just... she could feel a wave of emotion coming on that she was not comfortable having anyone else witness. She needed to be alone, even after so many years alone in whatever non-existence she'd just escaped from again. It wasn't something she could even begin to explain.

"Thank you for walking with me all this way, I'm glad you did," she said, just the slightest hint of guilt in her tone. She didn't want to sound sappy or insincere. She smiled at his question, then. "Of course! It really is a small world, Paixao," she agreed. "We'll run into each other again, I'm sure."

If Scar ever asked, Lenne would agree friendship was difficult, at times, but only because it required one to be flexible, understanding, and unselfish. To put somebody else's wants ahead of your own. It wasn't for everyone. But it was definitely worth it.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Sometimes a dream turns into a dream [Complete]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject