[001]

[willing-sheath.livejournal.com]

For anyone wandering into this dream they would find simple countryside, dirt roads passing through rice patties and wooded areas, the surroundings hazy and implied but coming into more distinct clarity the closer they came to a small house. The weather was chilly, the wind bringing a bit of a bite when it came through the trees now and then, taking leaves with it on each gust.

Tomoe was cleaning, a simple broom in hand as she swept in front of the small house. Her expression, as always, was markedly blank, at least for anyone who wasn't used to her. In truth there was a faint note of unease in her frame and the way her brows were subtly drawing now and then as she worked--but the list of those who would pick up on that were few and far between. She had misplaced something. Forgotten something. She was well aware of it, but no matter how hard she thought on it or looked she could not find it. She couldn't even remember what she was looking for, only that 'it' was missing.

It was then that she noticed someone approaching and moved carefully to the path leading up to the house, watching the newcomer owlishly. They certainly didn't look like they had traveled from Otsu.

"Are you looking for the medicine seller...?"



[ooc; I'm going to do something a bit weird with Tomoe. She subconsciously remembers dying, but the greater part of her mind is trying to suppress it... so I'm going to try to bring that out in weird subtle things in the background or with her (i.e. snow falling inside a building or in the middle of 80 degree weather, spots of blood appearing on her clothing only to disappear again when attention is called to it, maybe sudden but brief phantom pains in her right side, who knows /o/) SO if I write something weird in a tag, that's what I'm going for. I don't know how long the memories will stay repressed, probably a few weeks at least. 8D; tl;dr intro note is tl;dr...]

Comments

[auncyenhalig.livejournal.com]

"No. I'm just taking a walk," Aerith answers, with a mild shake of her head. "I've never seen a house like this before. ... This isn't Wutai, is it?" Tomoe's clothing was vaguely more familiar to the girl, since sometimes Wutaian items were imported to Midgar. She made no effort to hide her curiosity, knowing she probably looked like a fish out of water, city girl like her out in the country. Even if she'd always wanted to be in the country. Someday ... it would be more than just dreams.

[willing-sheath.livejournal.com]

"Wutai...?" Tomoe repeated carefully. She had never heard of it, and while it didn't wholly sound normal to her it didn't strike her as so odd that it couldn't be a town somewhere--the thought that the newcomer meant a different country never occurred to her... though the woman's appearance could have convinced her of such. She shook her head. "I'm not familiar with it... the village of Otsu is back the way you came."

The comment about the house... seemed baffling to her. It was the most simple of houses, nearly every building out in the country would look similar. Even if she was a foreigner coming from a port, she would have had to seen many such buildings by the time she was this far inland.

"Where... have you come from...?"

[auncyenhalig.livejournal.com]

"Just now? Not Otsu. I was talking with Willow." But, wait, if this woman thought she had come from a village, she must not be aware they were dreaming. Or maybe she was part of the dream. That was the oddest thing about what was going on; just the other day, curiosity had reared its head and she'd asked Elmyra if she remembered a dream Aerith had had with her, only to get an utterly baffled look from her mother. Telling what was supposedly shared and what wasn't was ... hard.

She wipes the mildly puzzled look off her face and starts again. "Sorry. Got a little mixed up there. I'm from a city. Its name is Midgar, and all the houses are very different from this one. A lot of them are made out of steel." And scrap, and rust.

[willing-sheath.livejournal.com]

Midgar sounded foreign to her, much more so than Wutai. The strangeness of the person in front of her only seemed to grow, as did the unsettled feeling that had been hanging about her that day.

She lifted her chin just a bit. Buildings made of steel? That seemed... exceedingly difficult to picture. "Are you... from the West...?" she had to generalize, while she had heard some names of countries in passing she couldn't remember any specifically.

[auncyenhalig.livejournal.com]

The way the question was asked, something about Tomoe's face, made Aerith think she might be making Tomoe uncomfortable. So she nodded. "You could say that." 'The West' was awfully vague, anyway. Maybe Gaia was west of this place, if you started from the right spot ...

... but, that was a silly thought.

"My name's Aerith," she says, inclining her head slightly. Gaia's culture didn't fit strictly into an Eastern-Western divide. "It's nice to meet you, miss." She hoped a show of manners would help smooth things over.

[willing-sheath.livejournal.com]

She watched silently for several more seconds before continuing, "My name is Tomoe. Himura Tomoe. It is nice to meet you as well, Aerith-san." Tomoe gave a slight bow with the introduction--though in truth her tone seemed detached, following formality first and foremost.

"Are you traveling alone...?" she asked simply. "This isn't a safe time in general... least of all for foreigners..." Especially with the shogunate taking back power. She couldn't help but wonder how the woman had gotten so far inland without incident.

[auncyenhalig.livejournal.com]

"Tomoe? What a pretty name. I'll be all right. I can protect myself." She might seem unarmed, yet suddenly when she tilts her hands behind her back, a plain metal staff peeps out at an angle. Now that she knew there might be danger in this dream, she wouldn't leave herself defenseless. "Will you be okay? It doesn't look like you have neighbors." The slums had shown just how risky living by yourself could be when there were riots or other kinds of chaos.

[willing-sheath.livejournal.com]

Tomoe straightened ever so slightly when the staff became visible--but Aerith seemed anything but threatening so she didn't react beyond the initial surprise.

"My husband will return soon, I am not alone," she answered. "Were you going to the capitol...? It's another day's walk from here--you would do well to wait to continue until morning if that is the case."

[auncyenhalig.livejournal.com]

"You're right... it is getting colder." Even with her red jacket on, Aerith could easily feel the chill. "Where should I stay? I don't know the area -- as I'm sure you could tell."

[willing-sheath.livejournal.com]

Tomoe paused, watching her. If she thought the woman would easily find shelter in Otsu she would direct her there, but she knew for a fact there was no inn there and thus no guarantee of finding a roof for the night.

Her lips pressed to a thin line for a moment. She certainly didn't want to make any sort of promise without first speaking to her husband... but at the same time she knew what it was to be a woman traveling alone, even if Aerith insisted that she could protect herself.

She finally sighed, the later point convincing her, "I will need to speak with my husband regarding the matter... but if there is no where else we could possibly allow you to stay here..." Not that it would be particularly comfortable, but it would be better than being outside when night fell.

[auncyenhalig.livejournal.com]

"Thank you, Miss Tomoe." Even if it was made somewhat reluctantly, it was not an offer Tomoe had had to make at all. And Aerith thought things would turn out okay anyway, this being a dream -- still, she didn't fully understand the Passing, and who wanted to wander alone and risk a nightmare when there was a comfortable (if quaint) home and polite host? So the offer was fully appreciated. "Is he here now?"

[willing-sheath.livejournal.com]

She gave Aerith a nod in answer. At her inquiry over Kenshin, however, that feeling of unease returned and for a moment Tomoe felt a creeping pain along the right side of her back, enough that she visibly rolled her shoulder in reaction to it.

And then it was gone again...

Tomoe's brows knit slightly and she shook her head. "He went into the town... but he should be back soon."

[auncyenhalig.livejournal.com]

She noticed the roll, but without knowing the reason behind it, she thought it was simply a stiff shoulder. A little funny that someone would get stiff in a dream, but she supposed it could happen. Maybe this woman wasn't sleeping very comfortably. (And she was kind of right, even if she didn't know how morbidly so.)

"Okay, I'll wait. Don't let me distract you from what you were doing." She simply got closer to the entrance, looking for a place to rest her staff -- and then her feet, if she could.

Though she was curious about this dream. Was it really as mundane as it seemed? One woman in a lonely house ...

"Don't other people pass through here, to get to town?" she called. "I haven't seen anyone."

[willing-sheath.livejournal.com]

Tomoe paused a moment before taking a step back, moving to set the broom against the outer wall of the building. "I would not be a good host if I did not invite you in," she said.

"Others pass by, but mostly people come from Otsu to see my husband. I'm surprised that none of the children have come..."

bah, sorry for slow

[auncyenhalig.livejournal.com]

"But you'd be careful. I know I must look pretty strange," Aerith answered, still taking the opening offered to come inside. She carefully placed her staff in a corner so it would stand upright without hitting anything. "Maybe they'll come by soon? But..." Her forehead wrinkled with thought before she turned to Tomoe. "It seems like such a sad day, in a strange way. Do you feel it too? ... Are you feeling all right?" Especially since she was the one dreaming this ... a dream where you were all alone ... for Aerith, such a quiet dream would always feel a bit strange. No crowds, no voice of the Planet, nothing but a quaint house. Nothing was happening. Wasn't that kind of weird for a dream?

no prob, I've been a zombie myself XD;

[willing-sheath.livejournal.com]

"You are clearly not Japanese," Tomoe answered bluntly even as she made room for the self-proclaimed strange guest to enter the genkan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genkan) of the small one-room dwelling. 'Quaint' certainly described it well. The furnishings were sparse but there was still a homey feel to it, though that atmosphere was cut by that lingering unease.

Tomoe moved to work with the fire at the center hearth, pausing to remove her geta first. "It is getting colder," she answered. "Most people feel as such as the season changes..."

Even as the words left her lips that unease filled her, like pressure behind her eyes, a high pitched whine filling her ears and as if from a memory she heard Kenshin's voice in the back of her head No wonder it's so cold. It's snowing. She abruptly shook her head, the movement making both the pain and the empty noise recede. It was odd, downright disturbing--but she didn't want to acknowledge it. Whatever it was... something was telling her not to give it any attention.

[auncyenhalig.livejournal.com]

"I can't help that," Aerith murmured at the blunt declaration. She almost moved further into the house, but then noticed Tomoe's care to remove her footwear. The flower girl did the same with her boots, wriggling one socked foot's toes on a whim; how strange it seemed, watching one's manners in a dream.

She looked up just in time to see that moment of unease, the shake of the head. She pursed her lips. Something was bothering Tomoe. But if the other woman wasn't talking about it, maybe it was better left alone. This was a dream. Maybe if she could get her to think of nice things, it would turn better ... and she would rest better. Being well-rested was always important for facing troubles.

"Even when winter comes, it means we've got spring to look forward to," Aerith said, standing up. "Those days will be much brighter. I'm going to plant more flowers in my garden." That topic for Aerith was nearly automatic, tried and true, something that always made her happy and seemed to at least interest others. Even if most were just astonished something actually grew in Midgar. It was worth a try. "Do you do anything special for spring?"

[willing-sheath.livejournal.com]

"We only came to Otsu a few months ago," she answered, reaching to set some water to boil. "We haven't begun any traditions yet." She tried to take Aerith's other words to heart, but there still seemed something so utterly permanent about the upcoming winter.

If Tomoe was aware of the change she didn't show any sign, but the interior of the house seemed to cool, both in temperature and in atmosphere.

"We started a garden here... I imagine we will plant another..."

[auncyenhalig.livejournal.com]

Aerith wrapped her arms around herself as the temperature lowered, but she didn't press them tight together or make it too obvious she was doing it out of cold -- it wasn't too bad, maybe it was a draft. Still strange, though, and she paused before answering.

"Do you like it? Gardening, I mean."

[willing-sheath.livejournal.com]

"It is peaceful, certainly," she answered, looking back to her. "You are welcome to sit, Aerith-san." She motioned to the area catty cornered to her at the small hearth.

[auncyenhalig.livejournal.com]

"Okay. Thanks." She sat, crossing her legs at the ankles as she did so. "I've always found it relaxing myself. I grow a lot of flowers, and I sell some of them too." There was a discreet glance at the water, wondering if it would boil as it normally did. She had already seen tea waterfalls in another dream.

[willing-sheath.livejournal.com]

The water indeed boiled--perhaps faster than it physically should have, and like much of the other inconsistencies of the dream, Tomoe seemed unaware. "I see," she answered, moving to add the tea leaves to the water to let it steep. "I have done some ikebana*."


[ooc; Japanese flower arranging]

[auncyenhalig.livejournal.com]

The word--like so many others Tomoe had spoken, actually--was not in sounds that Aerith understood, yet somehow she got the meaning anyway. Like bouquets, yet ... different, somehow. Different just like the house Tomoe lived in was much different from hers in Midgar.

"I'd love to see that," Aerith said, momentarily distracted from the tea and the fact that Tomoe didn't know they were dreaming. "In fact, how about you show me something you've done, and I'll show you some of my flowers?"

In real life, the distances were insurmountable. But in a dream, the possibilities were only limited by imagination.

[willing-sheath.livejournal.com]

"I'm afraid that will need to wait until spring, Aerith-san, I haven't had flowers to arrange for several weeks now," Tomoe answered. "I'm fond of purple irises..."

[auncyenhalig.livejournal.com]

"Yellow is my favorite for flowers," Aerith said, "but the two colors can make a nice contrast. But we really don't have to wait. We're dreaming, you know." She put that information out there impulsively -- it didn't really matter, right? Tomoe would have realized she'd been dreaming once she woke up, anyway.