come_sailaway | I Was Looking for a Breath of Life

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I Was Looking for a Breath of Life

Who: Valdis and Open!
What: New Arrival tries to cope with being dropped into a new place after a massive bloodbath
When: November
Where: All over
Warnings: Headaches, grumpiness, will warn if it gets worse than that.

1) Arrival: Her head screamed at her, sharp pain cutting into her vision with every breath. Eyes closed tightly, Valdis does her best to breathe. The heavy death in the air, filled with lingering desperation and trauma tightened her chest. Of all the times to fall into a new world, it would be just after a massacre. With her head in her hands, her black hair hiding her face, she leaned against the railing of the walkway, trying to drown out the pain. This was definitely where it all happened. The pain was worse here.
"Haven't felt this bad since the last war," she muttered. "How many people died?"

2) Revelations: Valdis worked her way through the ship, avoiding her cabin as much as possible, seeking to memorize the layout of the ship and maximize her ability to move quickly should it be necessary. The Void is silent, a fact she should be grateful for, and in some ways, very much is. But now the silence is simply silence, and the feeling that the dead are around every corner sits in her gut. She can’t see them, except maybe flitting out of the corner of her eyes from time to time, but she can sense that they aren’t alone. Footsteps sounded from behind her, she’d been so focused on the dead that she hadn’t paid attention to the living. She turns around, hand on the hilt of the rather impressive sword hanging on her hip.

"Hello?"

3)Buffet: Without the ability to draw on the dead, Valdis must find something to soothe the very human feeling of hunger. She’d known the feeling from home, before her memories had begun to return, but now she found it highly annoying.

“What’s the best thing here?”

Second Week of November and Onwards

4) Library: Valdis has finally taken Erin's advice and found the black binder in the library. She is not thrilled with what she's reading and the tension is visible in her usually elegant jawline and the glowing red in her eyes. Fear isn't found anywhere in her demeanor or soul, but rather a thoughtful, yet tense, aura radiates from where she sits. She's so focused that almost anyone not touched by death could approach without her noticing. If they are touched by death, she may react poorly, so tread carefully.

5) Hurikane: She can't get drunk, but she sure is trying her best with pure vodka and whatever else she can find that's strong. She's not even really trying to taste it, just downing it as fast as the invisible bartender can deliver, and exhausting her healing abilities as she goes. It's still not enough to even give her a buzz though. Disappointing.

6)Wildcard round: Your turn!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"No that's pokemon," the first part, "And I don't have any of the cards or whatever yet. You'd have to ask Pratt more about that." And then he just whines about riding and jousting. "I wish. I never knew I'd miss horses? I miss horses." A HUFF. "I've been riding since I was studying swords and knives. I was probably on horse before I could walk. And it's not that I'm some pampered prince who's never marched anywhere. You can't know the speed of your infantry without marching it yourself, but since this whole cruise ship farce is fake anyway, it's not truly sailing. At first I was excited because finally A METAL SHIP!" Deep breath. "I told Akechi, we could absolutely do ships this size, and he kept being like, 'My lord, could is not the same as should. The amount of metal needed--' and he's right, so we went with smaller ones for a fleet, but still! What's the fun if you never do any of the sailing process?!"

He's okay. "I misses horses."

He's okay. "Oh, but there's cars sometimes on the expeditions? So I'm told. I've never seen a car yet. Maybe next time."

Nobunaga loves wrestling the most after guns, swords, trivia, and sugar. Wrestling is his favorite sport. It is ancient actually. And he promoted it as a sport in the 16th century. But he's not sure about challenging women to beat the shit out of him in wrestling. Not because he wouldn't enjoy that, just ask Pollux -- but because he'd enjoy it, maybe too much.

"Do you prefer productivity or high stakes?"

She definitely wasn't thinking of pokemon, or any kind of modern game, but it's funny he made that connection, so she just continues to smile. The horse thing she can't really relate to, many prey animals dislike her out of instinct and she can't really blame them. She's sure they know, just like the wolves do, that she is not human. Nobunaga is continuing on however, infantry, ships, cars. Oh, he finally takes a breath. Certainly long winded.

"I'm beginning to think there aren't any games I enjoy." She hums, "I do enjoy wordplay, battles involving wit. It's amazing how many kingdoms fall due to the misuse of words." Would that be both? "So I suppose both wouldn't be out of the question."

"I love wordplay." After all they both did poetry! But yeah, that's probably obvious from his amount of talking.

"Perhaps we need to make a game or contest out of poetry. I'm most familiar with haiku," of course, "But I'm a pretty quick study on other forms. The Portuguese Cantigas de Amigos I'm familiar with, and though I've never written one, I could probably do it. Got a preference on styles?"

"Seems like a very low risk and enjoyable endeavor."

Poetry is also in the eye of the beholder, like many forms of art. It's not exactly what she means by wordplay, but it's definitely a mild and worthwhile hobby.

"I suppose you probably aren't familiar with iambic pentameter, we may also not have the time to dedicate to it too closely," she replies,"I can do a haiku."

Besides, a haiku is an excellent challenge.

"Even a warrior can appreciate art."

She does love to dance too.

If it comes to dancing and music, that almost exhausts the end of his versatility. He's a big fan of both, singing as well.

Normally he can haiku without even thinking about it. When he's flustered or even the slightest bit unbalanced, he starts doing haiku. Even in the middle of sex if he feels like it. But his brain hasn't fully transitioned, so he just goes where his focus still lies.

"Katana cut through
Most ev'rything they desire
But still not gunfire

A young maiden's heart
Cannot be won by most things
But serenades might."

Two for the price of one.

If he's going to offer two, she might as well match it. Though a haiku battle in the middle of the buffet isn't exactly the most appropriate place.

"Bright Holy Blade strikes true
Once undying breath falls silent
God only dies once

The last light fades
A soul swiftly torn from life
Consumed by death’s Void."

Whereas his were lighthearted, hers decidedly are not. She laughs at the end though, eyes bright with amusement.

Holy fucking shit.

Nobuanga now knows why he was a little caught up on his words more than usual. Right now, it's the same time as when he completely lost his mind with Klaus, and there was just one steady note in his head/heart.

SHE JUST HAIKU'D ABOUT SWORDS AND DEATH AND THE VOID!!!!!!!!!!!! HOLY FUCKING SHIT!

Is this nirvana?!

HE CANNOT MAKE WORDS!!!!

And if anything, he's reluctant to make any sound or it will just come out as one long steady screaming note of EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE of unbridled enthusiasm.

Valdis now has a fanboy forever, congratulations.

He will just hand over his club leader's title. Holy fucking shit!!!!!

He keeps trying, for what it's worth, but the more he tries, the more he tumbles it in his head with fanboy enthusiasm.

There is a mental note that it should be The gods only die once, or The God to get the syllables right, but his brain translates to Kami anyway, so it's all MOOT.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

"I need this painted on a wall scroll!"

Can eyes sparkle?! HIS MIGHT BE.

He doesn't even know about blue screen of death, but that's approximately what he's embarrassing.

He just does the unthinkable. Valdis has no idea Nobuanga usually only dances for special occasions, but that's fine, this is now one. He then echoes her own haiku transforming it into song, via singing it.

Over the top? HE HAS NOT BEGUN TO FLY LOW ENOUGH TO EVER LAND BWAHAHAHAHAHAH! or something.

Mind you.

All this, the fan dance, the singing--

Yeah, they're still in Windjammer.

GOD ONLY DIES ONCE. *Consumed by death's void!* AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Valdis watches his reaction with amusement, and she's probably not the only one staring, but at least she has context. She assumes by his reaction that she's won this round. But he's going way over the top, in the way that those anime people react to things they like.

Oh, he's singing and dancing now. How embarrassing.

He'll calm the fuck down eventually, and notice her cringing expression, sort of like how he felt when Crichton was doing disco dancing. Crichton is his best friend, but god, it was embarrassing. Yeah.

"I can't compete with that right away. We might have to pick a word game that requires me to sit still," he just admits blandly. HONESTLY, at least.

"No need to admit defeat, I know I've won," she says teasingly, setting her gaze back to the food. "Perhaps after some food we can sit down and find another game. Aside from sushi and ice cream, I've heard the curry is decent. Have you tried that?"

"They have curry?" Nobunaga perked up. "Not yet. I didn't know. Pratt's been teaching me modern snack foods, so I've been trying things I don't recognize, but it's nice to know curry is still a future staple."

"And what is your favorite 'modern' snack food?"

She's now moving along the buffet, trying to find said curry, or anything else that looks appetizing.

Ice cream sandwiches don't count. Waffles and ice cream neither.

"Pop rocks. Like eating fireworks."

He is a five year old with the body and experience of a dirty old man. Somehow.

"How about you?"

Valdis isn't sure she'd count pop rocks as a 'snack', to her it's more of a candy. But based on his previous recommendation and what was on his plate earlier, she's not surprised that's his choice.

"I enjoy a good charcuterie board. Meats, cheeses, bread, perhaps some fig spread."

Not exactly a 'snack food' but a snack, and she's not big on snack food in general. She sighs, perhaps she can find some of that around somewhere.

"Charcuterie." NEW WORD. "What kind of cheese? There is so much of it here. I tried some from the Portuguese once, but I didn't get all the passion about it. Candy is obviously better." He would say that.

Ah. There's some cheese. It looks to be cheddar, which can still be found on those lovely boards, now if she can find crackers at the very least.

"Any kind really," she replies, finally putting things on her plate. A little cheddar, a bit of what looks to be swiss. "Soft, fragrant cheeses, hard tart cheeses, crumbly blue cheeses..."

Ugh, she's really making herself hungry now.

Just a head tilt. "Do they really taste that different? Like ice cream flavors?"

Valdis smiles softly, an amused glint in her eyes, "Yes, like ice cream, but more savory than sweet. There are sweet cheeses though. There's a soft lemon cheese that a friend brought me once. It's a favorite."

Reminiscing about past friends, she really shouldn't feel this at ease, but then again he did just dance around like a fool singing the haiku she had come up with.

Yup, you can't get much more Fool of Owari than this guy.

"Sweet lemon cheese." He closes his eyes trying to imagine it, but truthfully he's at a loss. He'd need Masamune's chef instincts for this. "Have you ever had 'guac' or avocado? Samurai Pratt's very fond of it."

"Similar to cheesecake, but less sugar," she explains, hoping that might make a little more sense to him since he loves sweets.

She nods at his question, adding some fruit to her plate, "Yes, it's very popular where I'm from. People put it on toast and in smoothies..." Because he might not know what those are she adds, "Cold, sweet, thick, fruit-based drinks."

"I haven't had cheesecake, or if I did, I know what it was." Because if it's sweet looking? He will try it!

"I think I've had smoothies though. With alcohol. They give brain freeze if you drink too quickly."

Valdis tips her head, easily imagining Nobunaga having one too many of the sweet alcoholic smoothies by accident.

"Yes, there's different names for those, but they are essentially smoothies." a pause, "Do they not have a lot of sweets where you are from?"

Now now, he only got drunk on purpose during the drinking game, okay.

"Basically none. All sugar has to be imported, red bean paste and chestnut filling doesn't really compare to chocolate or peanut butter. And we have nothing frozen. I'm from 1582, and Hell can barely grow enough to survive. Nothing for luxuries like that. We dont have cows or sheep either. So no milk, cheese, and most meat is extremely discouraged by the cults."

Edited 2022-11-13 18:47 (UTC)

No cheese. That really does sound like Hell as Valdis isn't sure Lucifer has managed to import it in her world either. But she can't tell if Nobunaga means Hell, Hell, or...some other Hell.

"When you say Hell, I assume you don't mean the underworld. Lucifer's domain. The realm of demons from Christian mythology?"

Because Nobunaga isn't evil as she knows it, or a demon like those from her world, and she knows he has a soul, she can sense it.

This introduction meeting has run the entire gambit of Nobunaga's breadth of topics. Haikus about swords and death and killing god, joining his army, and food types and other hobbies, and singing and dancing. Now the demon king thing.

This needs a real seat. He gestures and -- fails at sitting again. Another thing Hell, whether how literal that is, even Nobunaga doesn't really know - severely lacks. Chairs.

Nobunaga rests his chin in a fist, pondering it, collecting everything from his life and the recent months he's learned about the concepts in all forms.

"I didn't used to believe in any of it, no matter what Luis Frois, Francisco, and the others said. I thought I'd sold my soul in exchange for power, did everything wrong that the Buddhists said would turn me into the Demon King of 6th Heaven. The more I learn about the future, the more it truly does seem like heaven. Out in the stars. Astronauts in space. And this is purgatory, a downgrade for the future, an upgrade for me." A head tilt. "Frois and the others often said I was waging a holy war against literal demons even though I let my reputation become that of Satan. How much is real or not, I do not know. My baby sister always thought Amaterasu favored me. I wonder. I've met her, and our goals seem much aligned, to lift up Japan out of Hell, but the cause of its descent..." a head shake.

"I do think Japan's in Hell now. In my time. And that somehow we, me and my generals, were able to drag it back to Earth. Somehow. I am constantly reminded here that things I take for granted are not true at all in the future. I know some things about Hell, mythology, magic, souls are real now, but that means Japan has truly sunk into hell sometime after or during the Ōnin War. How much that means to other timelines... I have no idea."

I Was Looking for a Breath of Life

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Funny...I KNOW wrestling is an old sport, and so does she, I just...forgot lol

XDDD No worries

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