escordvi | closed 🪶 so many birds of so many feathers

[ One would think Betsy would just be used to ending up in a strange place and might adjust quickly to it. That's not precisely proven to be the case, at least not entirely. She's certainly trying to keep it all together, pretend that she's just fine with how weird this all is. Just another Tuesday. But damn if she isn't a bit tired of her life being this...mess. One weird thing after another with no end in sight.

Her mind wanders to Otherworld, to her brothers, and the memories stick to her like quicksand, dragging her down below. The Starlight Citadel, the last place she saw her oldest brother alive, comes to vivid life in her mind and her thoughts sink down into wishful thinking about different paths she could have taken. How much she wishes she could just go back and maybe change how things turned out. She's so lost in her thoughts that she doesn't immediately notice when a rift opens near her, one that reflects the fairytale world of Otherworld, Avalon in the distance and the Starlight Citadel in the sky. Before she knows it she's going to it and then --

falling.

She's barely able to put up a bright magenta shield around herself as she falls into a gryphon's nest. On the bright side that means she's temporarily avoided the mess that comes in a nest. On the negative side there's some real shocked gryphons that aren't taking too kindly their new visitor. ]

Bloody hell. Why... [ the British accent is thick, exhasperated more than irritated. Quickly she throws her hands up as her shield comes down. ]

Now look, I didn't mean to land here. No need for us to have any hard feelings.

[There are several loud squawks, the furious beating of wings, and the scrape of talons on the rocks that all has Benedikta turning around, searching for the source of this new and unfamiliar voice. Her hand immediately rushes to her sword mostly out of instinct to protect the flock because what else is she to do when a mysterious woman just drops out of nowhere and lands in a nest?

Betsy's surrendering motions do little to ease the shock of her arrival amongst the beasts, and Benedikta can hear their panicked words beneath their cries. The Matriarch herself, identified by her bright, gold feathers in her wings approaches, but she's stayed by Benedikta, who rushes in to grab a fistful of her plumes and tug her back before things can get too far out of hand.

One hand in the feathers and the other on her sword, Benedikta eyes her with just as much wariness as the birds, all of whom calm when she steps forward, her voice hissing at them to be quiet.]

How did you land here?

[ Something prickles at her, under her skin, unease that she's picking up from the gryphons around her. Not that she can blame them. Sympathy toys at her expression until Benedikta and her eyes flicker to thee woman's hand drifting to her sword. Betsy tenses for a moment there, fights with herself ever so slightly on if she should risk going on the defensive more or not. Ultimately, she chooses not if only to keep from further upsetting the beasts.

They didn't ask for her to fall on them. Here she's the invader and she recognizes that. Perhaps because she's spent so much of her life fighting off invaders of her own. Like senses like. Or something like that. Her parents truly would be proud at the self-control she learned from her sheep herding days, wouldn't they?

She keeps her hands out, up, and stays relatively still. An observant person might notice she's a little too still in her movements, slowing even her heartrate down in an attempt to seem as unthreatening to the beasts as possible. While also keeping purple eyes on the other woman. Slowly she offers something of a sheepish smile. ]

Excellent question. Some sort of rift opened up and spit me out here. I thought I was free from portals and rifts. [ The last sentence holds just a bit of exasperation in it. Tiredness. Alas, they don't seem to be tired of her. ]

[While the gryphons still remain restless, Benedikta can at least sense it. It's not as if she thinks the woman is at fault for falling into the nest—as much as she loves the birds herself, she would not wish it upon herself either, especially seeing how they react to a stranger suddenly in their midst.

Her fingers at her sword relax, but her grip on the larger gryphon's feathers remains, as intrigue sparks in her eyes.

A few more moments of tense silence passes with the only sounds being the still restless squawks and chirps throughout the caves, before Benedikta steps forward and offers her hand.]

You mentioned rifts?

[She tries to mask the desperation in her voice.]

You have just landed here from another world?

[Someone has yet to fill her in on this whole portal thing.]

[ Betsy keeps her eyes on the bird, though she does attempt to not make direct eye contact with it. Suggesting she might be challenging it isn't something anyone here wants.

She lets out a tiny sigh as the silence stretches on and then nods ever so slightly in response. ] Mm, I assume that's what they're called? It's what we called them where I was from.

[ And might as well stick to what one knows, right? Even if she does recognize it might be slightly narrowminded of her. There's always slight variations in how things work in different worlds. ]

I have. Honestly, I'm still trying to gain my footing here. [ There's a hesitation in her voice, almost like she's not certain if she should mention either of these things. One shows weakness while one may just say too much about herself. ] Been to other worlds and realities before but there's always an adjustment. Things to learn.

[ At least this one isn't filled with alternate versions of people she knows, it gets points for that. She hesitates for a few seconds before asking the question that comes right to her mind: ]

Is this place unstable in some way? Is that why I got unceremoniously teleported over here?

[ Look, she's just going to assume someone who looks like Benedikta and who seems settled with these creatures must know more than her. ]

Not that I am aware of.

[Yeah, she's just going to reach down and hoist Betsy to her feet. Her sitting in that nest is not going to do her or the gryphons any good.

She has questions, many of them swimming in her gaze as she looks the other woman over, a few sitting on the tip of her tongue, desperate to fly out. Any mention of rifts and world hopping is of interest to her, and she says that she has been to many? Might she know about how to control them or, better yet, close them...? Not that she's going to ask the latter, but she nearly does as she opens her mouth, thinks better of it, and then closes it again.

But there is something else very interesting about what she's said, and she narrows her eyes. The gryphon squawks and snaps her beak at Benedikta when she squeezes her feathers, and she pulls her hand free, shoving the bristling bird gently.]

Wait, you are not quite so new... and yet you were somehow teleported here? From someplace else in this world? Most often than not, you are dumped in the ocean or upon the deck of the Armada's ships.

[She had mentioned finding her footing, so it's the logical conclusion to make.]

[ At last she doesn't flinch at that. Even if she does feel a bit embarrassed at the help. She'll get over it. ]

Thanks. You're good with them.

[ Makes her wonder how long she's been around gryphons. Or if she's natively from here in general. Not really the most important question to ask now. Instead she turns her attention to brushing herself off, trying to keep herself from huffing about the indignity of the entire situation. No need to make an even worse impression than she probably already has. ]

Yeah, this was different than that. I was going to meet a teammate of mine at a cafe. Obviously I didn't make it to the cafe. [ The teammate will understand though, most likely. Or he'll simply think she stood him up, which is just as fine by her. Not that she'll voice that, not when she knows how cruel it'd sound. ]

I guess that means sudden random teleportation isn't commonplace here. That doesn't seem good.

[ At least not in her experience. ]

No, it is not...

[She isn't sure whether she should feel relieved or... disappointed about that answer. It was foolish of her to even get her hopes up at all, really. She needs to remind herself again to stop doing that.]

Even worse that you are dumped atop one of the highest cliffs within an ocean's span of the leviathans... Ought to count your blessings there.

[It could have been far worse, but anyway—]

This rift... was there anything special about it?

At least I've never been afraid of heights. [ Despite it being a joke she doesn't really...smile. At least not more than a tiny half quirk of her lips. It's something though she supposes. ]

Mm, actually now that you mention it there was. I think it was showing me images from a place from my own world. Embarrassingly, that's why I went even closer.

[Stranger and stranger this is becoming, and if it were not for the gryphons bumping the back of her head now with their beaks because how dare she stop giving them attention, she would be all over this. As it stands, however...]

A good thing you are not afraid of heights... but...

[She turns around and flicks the gold-feathered bird in the beak, and she snaps back.]

Would you mind assisting with something? I've a few more questions I would like to ask.

[ Okay, well, now it's time for her to take full advantage of the gryphons bumping Benedikta to stretch out some and move a few inches further away from the nest.

Look it smells bad. She can't be blamed. ]

Of course, I drop in uninvited. Seems only fair I assist in whatever you'd like me to. Or answer whatever questions you may have.

[The chocobo stables are far worse in terms of smell—

But Benedikta motions to the garlands that she had been fixing—a string connected from one end of the cave to the other, draped along the walls, and from it, feathers dangle and sway in the wind.]

I was in the middle of attaching new feathers to their decorations when you showed up. The old ones get a bit worn out after some time, and we change them each season.

[ Despite her best attempts she can't actually hide that the smell is pretty terrible. She's doing her best to not be too overdramatic about it, she's been around sheep and their pens before, it's also not that great smell wise.

There's a quick glance to them all and then a nod. ]

I'm sorry for interrupting. But I think I might be able to handle attaching a few feathers here and there. At least I hope I can.

[Benedikta shakes her head and shows Betsy over to the wall, and a few of the gryphons trot behind them, the little ones more curious than anything about their new visitor that one walks right up to her and sniffs at her.]

Mind your manners.

[The bird squawks and continues on with sating that childlike wonder.]

And do not be sorry. I am sorry that you have wound up here, of all places. I cannot imagine it was a very pleasant surprise when you did not end up... back home?

I'm going to take the sniff to mean I smell intriguing.

[ Not that it's also the gryphon trying to tell her that she stinks and will need eight showers to rid herself of it all. She does risk dropping her fingers down to run along it's feather's as it continues on away from her. ]

Trust me when I say there are worst worlds to end up in. [ But she does try to smile, to act like she's not bothered by it all. Everything's something of an act at some point, isn't it? ] It's probably for the best I didn't end up back home anyway, things are a bit complicated there at the moment. Not that I'm hearing this place is any better.

[ Seems like it has a lot of complicated parts to it ]

closed 🪶 so many birds of so many feathers

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