closed 🪶 so many birds of so many feathers

[garudas]

Who: Benedikta Harman & Others.
Status: Closed.
Where: The Roost.
What: Benedikta tries to fix up the chocobo stables that she broke last month, and she also gets a new visitor through the rifts.
Warnings: None for now.

Comments

[garudas]

[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.]

[serendipitously]

[ 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. ]

[garudas]

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.]

[serendipitously]

[ 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. ]

[garudas]

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?