xistentia | (no subject)

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Characters: Era Ra & Amanda Perry & OPEN
Summary: beautiful ladies sunbathing ok come join
Date(s): 08/24
Warnings/Notes: n/a unless bikinis count!

While the main beach on Xistentia has nothing on the beaches of La Noscea - Costa de Sol in particular - it's still of acceptably nice quality. The sand is fine and warm, the water crisp and clear. There's enough of a breeze to stay comfortable, ample shade if one were to seek it out, and yalms of sun to bask in.

Originally Era and Amanda had planned to meet up the week previous, but for various reasons had to be postponed until today. Which hasn't turned out to be a problem, given that the weather is currently looking to be perfect for a long day on the shoreline.

She has set up a large red cotton blanket on the sand (made a few days ago for just this purpose), corners held down with some rocks. An umbrella she liberated from the city shadows a corner of the blanket where she has a basket of fruits and pastries and a few bottles of water. Era can't think of what else they might need, but doesn't fret over it - she imagines that Amanda will be bringing some things along as well.

Peki is eating some Gyshal Greens nearby, and Emeraldd has curled up like a cat half in the shade of the umbrella, long tails brushing against Era's thighs as she sprawls out in a particularly warm spot on the soft cotton. The give of the sand under her back takes her back to festivals days in Eastern La Noscea. If she's translated the Earth months correctly then it should still be the Moonfire Faire back in Eorzea. Perhaps she should set off some fireworks later in celebration?

For now though, she'll just enjoy basking in the sun while waiting for her friend to arrive.

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Era can understand self-consciousness, as she herself suffered from it for the first few years of her memory. It was less about thinking she was unattractive and more that she was disinclined to let herself be seen as an oddity and freak show. Once more Au Ra started seeking refuge in Eorzea it became easier; she no longer felt the need to hide under cowls and long skirts (which in turn made adventuring easier as well), and a whole new world of fashion was available to her.

There are occasions where she feels it prudent to show less scales and make her tail less prominent, but those are few and far between now. It helps that Amanda is someone she trusts not to look at her with prejudice despite not having met in person yet.

When her newfound friend arrived Era offered an enthusiastic - albeit soft spoken - greeting, along with a compliment on her bathing suit. She had considered wearing her one piece suit as well but had settled on her bikini instead. Because it was more comfortable and not because she knew that Aymeric would inevitably tag along, of course.

The Eevee caught her attention rather quickly, for she initially thought it may have been a new form of Carbuncle. It is, quite frankly, adorable, and had she been in Eorzea she would likely have searched for one of her own.

"Who is this?" Era asks finally, waiting for Amanda's laughter to abate somewhat. She stretches her hand out for the Eevee to sniff should it decide to now that Peki has given his full attention back to his own food.

Having spent time learning about aliens--even if she'd never met any before leaving her first home--Amanda barely registered Era's appearance as being out of the ordinary. She appreciated the way her scales caught the sun, and overall it did make her feel a little less awkward about her own body which in itself wasn't odd, but its past is even if no one but her can really see it anymore unless they know what they're looking for.

She grins as Heddy bounds back over, beaming in a way Amanda never even saw a dog do and squeaking an enthusiastic 'eee!' as she leans her small nose towards Era's hand,

"Heddy. She's an Eevee. A kind of Pokemon, a creature from...a different world from mine, actually. I got her when I was living in the place I was when we all arrived here. She'll probably jump on you if she gets the chance, but she doesn't bite or anything." At the sound of her name, Heddy squeaks again in acknowledgement, then goes back to sniffing Era. Amanda's own gray parrot daemon is resting on her shoulder, as it usually does, and she's moving a hand against it habitually. She's felt a little closer to it lately, which she is sure is due to her powers, trying to see how much she can glean from and do with it.

"How fascinating. She reminds me of a wolf pup I cared for," Era muses with a laugh. "It is good to meet you, Heddy." She tentatively rubs her fingers against the creature's cheekbones like she would with the pup.

Her own daemon is still sprawled out nearby, sparkling in the sunlight and probably feigning sleep. It's made up of some strange mix of aether and technology now so Era is positive it doesn't actually sleep, but she isn't exactly positive. There are a lot of things she isn't exactly sure about anymore with regard to her Carbuncle. She still regards it fondly despite its mischievousness, and watching Amanda with her strange bird makes her wonder at the relationships people have with each of their unique daemons.

From a moderate distance behind her Era hears Peki kweh happily, forcing her to turn and watch her beloved Chocobo trot off to trail after Aymeric. The man is not dressed for the beach whatsoever, but he at least made the effort to roll his sleeves up somewhat if nothing else. It actually gives her some relief to know Peki will follow him since if he succumbs to heat stroke her loyal companion will undoubtedly alert her.

"His propriety will make him ill one day." Her tone is a mixture of annoyed and unbearably fond. Era hadn't meant for him to come with her to the beach today but she hadn't the heart to make him stay behind (and he would have if she asked it of him). "Perhaps you will get the chance to meet him today."

Aymeric is considerate enough to give her and Amanda space to enjoy their girl's day at the beach, so it isn't a guaranteed chance that her two friends will be properly introduced.

In the meantime, Era will simply enjoy basking in the sun; scales absorbing heat, leaving her warm and drowsy. There is much she could discuss with the other woman - more questions about her work and the worlds she's visited - but despite all her chatter on the network she is not the most talkative of people face-to-face under most circumstances.

Amanda smiles as Heddy makes light, happy noises. She didn't think she would have cared more about a pet than her electronics before, but now she knows if she had been forced to choose between her tablet and Heddy instead of grabbing both in those last moments before Eudio fell apart, that glorious piece of technology would have fallen through the cracks without a second thought.

She raises a brow at Era's remark though. "A wolf? Did you raise it to adulthood?" People did that in her world, but they were usually very well trained. Or overly cocky.

She raises her head at the large birds noise as well, laughing a little at Era's commentary. "I'm pretty sure Nick would have worn jeans and an oxford in this kind of weather too. And that's assuming you could get him out of his office to go out in the first place." It's said fondly, too. She knows one reason she hadn't felt awkward with Nick--well, as awkward--was that he was so enraptured with his work to the point of almost isolating himself, so being alone with him and not having to withstand other people's stares was easy.

She enjoys everything in silence herself for awhile--the sun on limbs that even after a year are a bit shocked at the sensation, Heddy's curious noises, the wind against her skin. She's used to not talking, because the hiss of her ventilator used to make people uncomfortable, and really she has no idea where to start asking Era about her world and life just yet. Maybe she would have bubbled over with the questions before Eudio, but now--well, she's run into so many people from other places that it really doesn't seem to matter the way it did before.

The noises are a delight - so different from the sounds she accustomed to, but equally as adorable - and so Era continues massaging the strange little Eevee.

"Yes. I believe he roams the central highlands of Coerthas now that he's grown. I have also raised a Coeurl from a kitten and a Griffon from a hatchling. Both will come to me when I call for them and let me ride them."

Era doesn't know why, but usually when a hunter stumbles across some orphaned young they'll leave it in her hands (or occasionally steal the Kaiser Behemoth's baby on a dare and then hand it over to her to return...)

She has a vague recollection of jeans from her time in the Prison World, but doesn't have the slightest idea of what an oxford is. "An oxford is a sweater?"

The expression on her face can be read easily enough - definitely an 'are all men so ridiculous?' one.

Amanda can't help but keep smiling at Hedy's unwavering enthusasism in exploring new things. She wonders if that's why the little creature picked her--because she's very sure that's what happened, and not just from the talk everyone who had acquired a pokemon that day had been given. That Hedy had seen a bit of her own curious nature, even if the Eevee was much less cautious about it.

Or at least, less cautious than Amanda used to be. She'd been bolder, recently, and she deifnitely wasn't bothered by that even if it was taking some getting used to like so many changes in her life in the last year.

She cocks her head at Era, both shocked and delighted by her stories. "Wow. Is that what you do for a living back home, caring for orphaned creatures? Or is just a passion?" She'd respect both in different ways, honestly. And she wants to know about Era's life and world, instead of just dumping all of her own passions on the other woman. Although, one particular passion is sure to spill out, even if it's central focus isn't here.

She laughs, shrugging a bit. "Not exactly. It's a button up shirt, although some of them can be made of heavy material. Nick's always been partial to ones made of denim. He's one of the few I've seen who can pull it off on such a regular basis." She's biased, she knows. She doesn't see him the way she sees anyone else, which may have been some of her trouble in Eudio. It had often felt like she was forcing herself to try to do more with men than hand holding or platonic hugs and chaste kisses. It wasn't like they hadn't been nice, all of them had, and they'd been aesthetically pleasing, but none of them could quite come close to a Scotsman approaching his fifties who smoked too much and often forgot to shave.

"I am an adventurer," Era explains, purposefully leaving out any mention of being 'the savior of Eorzea' and such nonsense. "I am a member of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, a group dedicated to unbiased assistance to Eorzea as a whole rather than specific city-states. When a Primal god is summoned we are informed, and I am sent to kill it."

She doesn't consider this an amazing feat only she is capable of - anyone with the Echo is immune to how a Primal will temper their minds. It just seems that there is a shortage of capable adventurers with the Echo...

"I often find animals on my travels that will follow me. I have also been given creatures by people who find them and are unable to care for them. Usually hunters who slay a mother and haven't the heart to kill the child as well."

Era can't really blame them - she is not fond of slaying innocent beasts. It is only the dangerous ones that she hunts.

"Denim would offer ample protection for day-to-day life in a sanctuary," she considers. "It tends to be in shades of blue, correct?"

It sounds like something Aymeric may like. And denim is common enough she imagines it wouldn't be difficult to acquire some to craft with.

Okay, that just about makes 'I work with a super secret government agency with wormhole technology' sound boring. It's probably just the fact that Era's phrasing sounds...well, for lack of any better comparison, like something out of a book Amanda thinks she would have read as a teenager. She sits up, resting her arms on her legs without much regard for how that angle might be showing her chest if anyone with an interest walks by.

"I don't know if that just sounds really impressive from my perspective since ninety-nine percent of the time I was just in an office trying to make machines do what I wanted them to do with math, but...that sounds really impressive." She laughs at herself, shaking her head. "Did you choose to do that? Or--ah, if I'm really crossing some cultural boundaries, tell me to shut up or change the topic, okay?" She doesn't have the same training all the field teams in SGC did, so she still feels like she's a step away from being that naive idiot who sticks their foot in the mouth and upsets the being who could rip her apart without blinking. But oddly, it's not as terrifying as it would have been before. Just embarassing.

She nods thoughtfully, watching as Hedy bounces away a bit, happily pattering through the sand. "I don't think I could do that; I try to be really..rational, but I think I'd probably get too attached." Considering how stupid she as back on Destiny, she doesn't think that's a stretch. She'd been there to work, not...what she'd done. "It's a good thing there's...people like you who can."

She does manage a laugh though, nodding. "Yeah. It's ridiculous, he would--he'll wear things like that with a vest when it's sweltering out. I guess it's a good thing, since it means he had layers on when he got stranded, but it's still crazy. But," she grins, a bit self depretiating. "The kinds of people who want to spend their lives studying a culture most of the world doesn't even know existed knowing they can't tell anyone who doesn't have security clearance tend to be just a little...eccentric. And that includes me, I guess."

"The Mothercrystal, Hydaelyn chose me to be her champion. I suppose you could say she is our world's God, for she is the one who created our world and ones like it." That is the simplest way to phrase it, which is just as well since Era isn't entirely sure on all that Hydaelyn is. "I have her Blessing and her gift of the Echo, which protects my mind from being tempered by the Primals and allows me to slay them on her behalf. I use myself as a weapon to keep all the people of Eorzea safe - I cannot say I am not attached. I suppose we Scions are neutral in the sense that we care for all of Eorzea equally."

She pulls her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around them and letting her tail curl around an ankle. Despite the distance between them Era can just about feel his presence on the edge of her senses. The smile it brings to her lips is hidden against her knees.

"I have no recollection of a life before being the Warrior of Light. It was not my choice, but it was my decision to do what the Mothercrystal asked of me."

It hits Era then that Hydaelyn is essentially her mother in all the ways that count. For all that she knows Hydaelyn could have created her the scant few years ago when her memory begins.

With some effort she manages to brush aside the thought. "The feats I have accomplished are considered quite impressive even by my allies... Though I am sure I would find your work impressive if I understood it."

She has always considered the work of those who support her to be much more impressive than her own feats. Her mind is not one for politics, and allies like Alphinaud and Aymeric being able to negotiate with others to allow her to do what needs to be done... Without the rest of the Scions and the Eorzean Alliance there would be no Warrior of Light.

She misses them all so dearly.

"I am sure Aymeric is incredibly uncomfortable but unwilling to go against his noble upbringing and remove his shirt."

And maybe her tail waggles a bit excitedly at the thought. Era can only imagine the number of scars he bears, and would not mind seeing if her healing magic could ease any lingering pain in them. Or, admittedly, just seeing how his training as a knight has sculpted his torso.

While she supposes many scientists would roll their eyes at people really believing in gods, having studied the Ancients who she knew had created so much of the life in the universe and who she might have even believed to be gods in some way, Amanda simply nods, attentive.

"That's really fascinating. I...that sounds a bit like some of the beings in my universe, they created us--well, they created some of our ancestors, most of us don't have anything in common with them anymore." She wasn't sure if she was jealous or not that she didn't have the ATA gene. "Some have seen them, learned from them. I haven't been that lucky yet."

She can see a little of what she supposes is probably homesickness in Era's face and makes an effort to turn the conversation away--she knows that feeling too well herself.

"I'd be happy to teach you whatever you wanted, although you'd probably have to stop me a lot to get me to simplify things. I was never a teacher for a reason." She grins, the expression broadening and actually breaking into a little giggle when Era mentions her own...crush? Lover? Amanda isn't sure what word would be applicable, what the other woman would be comfortable with.

"Hopefully he won't get to the point of getting heat stroke before he decides to give in to something a little more suitable."

"My universe has two 'Gods', one might say... Hydaelyn of the Light, and Zodiark of the Dark. Currently Zodiark is dormant, though it has its own warriors of sorts who seek to spread darkness and awaken it." She has no fondness for the Ascians, but immense compassion for those who are manipulated by them. The Warriors of Darkness immediately come to mind, and Era briefly prays that all is well with them in their world - that the balance of Light and Dark was restored with dear Minfilia there as Hydaelyn's avatar. "The Mothercrystal does not commonly interact directly with mortals, but my friends and I have had the privilege. Her realm between realms is peaceful beyond measure."

Given how it doesn't seem to be a supremely rare event to meet 'gods' in her world, it's hard for Era to imagine Amanda going through life without ever meeting one in hers. "Perhaps one day you may meet these beings of your universe."

The offer is very tempting and her tail stills quite suddenly as she considers it. "I don't even know what it is I do not know, so it would be quite difficult."

Amanda's giggle is a surprise, and though Era doesn't know what she is giggling about it is a most welcome sound.

"I crafted him a light shirt more suited to a warm clime but had expected him to be better prepared." Which is an oversight on her part, of course. "He had never been to a beach before arriving to Xistentia. Even before Coerthas' climate changed it was never a warm enough land for swimming."

Amanda takes in the information as well as she can without actually taking notes--she might be able to 'talk' to technology now, but she's not a computer, and she's actually used to recording things like this for a speech-to-text program to put down later--but even with only gleaning parts, it's still fascinating. She's never going to be religious, and that kind of black and white division--even setting aside the fact that a programmer has to think about binary--is impossible for her to comprehend, personally. But it's still amazing, maybe because it makes her think of people like Dr. Jackson, who knew what it was like to be among the Ascended

She shakes her head a bit though, not sure how to explain the Ancients, what they became, why they aren't here. "Our...ancestors isn't an entirely accurate word, if there's some combination of ancestor and god that would probably be it...they aren't so...easily split into good or bad camps, most of them. There's no...singular power among them. Which I guess is why I can just see them as fascinating history and not something I'd worship, because they are...incredible. They all went to another place without bodies, a long time ago. They transcended the need to have a form, and the knowledge they gained from that made most of them believe that they shouldn't interfered with our business unless it's really dire. And even then, they usually believe that it's not their place to stop us." Ascension is still something she almost aches for, though, in a very theoretical sense. The knowledge they get from that, the ability to live without a body...it sounds lonely, but maybe worth the price.

She actually smiles at Era's admission of ignorance. "That's okay. I'm one of those scientists who believes there's no such thing as a stupid question. So, even if it's something really basic to someone like me, I won't mock you for asking about it. I guess...I spent a lot of time with people assuming I was...not very bright just because of what I looked like, so I try not to put any of those assumptions on other people." She didn't know, based on what Era had told her about the power of healers in her world, if that would make sense to her. And she wasn't sure which would be worse, if Era's world knew that sort of prejudice or if it was a totally foreign concept.

She nods at that--she'd be unable to really explain her laugher properly, how smart people can be absolutely illogical about some practical things, and also how she can guess at Era's mind steering towards what the object of her affection might look like with less.. "When I...first went to the place I was before here, the place where I was healed...I wasn't really well prepared clothing wise either. I was used to...needing to wear really different clothing, so it took me awhile to adjust and figure out how to dress appropriately by myself. It took me weeks to figure out to put on a regular bra on the first try. It wasn't something I'd thought about, so it's not surprising someone who didn't live with much warm weather wouldn't consider that either."

"These ancestors... Separated the body from the soul?" Whilst trying to think of a comparison to the ancestors Amanda thinks of, Era can only come up with - the father of the dragons, old as the earth itself. "There is only one similarity in my world. Midgardsormr, father of the First Brood of dragons. He was killed not even a decade past, though when I journeyed to the head of his corpse there was life in it beyond the body."

Her expression is a mix of... fond and annoyed. "He is very enigmatic, and can give himself physical form if he wishes. He is powerful enough that he was able to remove the blessing of Hydaelyn from me and replace it with a new covenant so that he could observe my adventures. I eventually regained Hydaelyn's blessing despite his interference, yet his presence still stays with me in slumber back home. He is maddening in that he does not assist in most situations, but occasionally will offer input when I least expect.

Perhaps one day he will have the opportunity to meet with your transcended ancestors. I'm sure he would enjoy such a meeting."

Era considers the rest of what Amanda says. She knows that people in Eorzea judge based on appearance quite frequently. In her early days it was common for people to think she was an idiot before she even spoke a single word, if only because it was clear she was a foreigner even with her visible Auri traits kept hidden. Miqo'te are often stereotyped as being whores; Roegadyn are dumb brutes; Lalafell are nefarious; Hyur are plain; and Elezen are airheads. Au Ra are just assumed to be part-Dravanian by many. Dravanians were oft viewed as unintelligent animals.

"...That is a good way to be. Assumptions about others are almost never helpful in the end." At least Amanda has an easier time of it now. "I can relate to that. When I first awoke I had nothing but the clothes on my back, and realized quickly that I needed to keep my horns and scales hidden from sight. Once my kind became less of a rarity I was able to reveal more of myself... It was a difficult adjustment."

Putting that aside for now - "What is a bra?"

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I started writing this 8 hrs ago fff

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