deercountry | The Heart is a Bloom (Open)

Entry tags:

The Heart is a Bloom (Open)

Who: Luca and open
What: Catch all for the month
When: Throughout the month
Where: Behind the Disaster House, anywhere in the streets, the Archives

Content Warnings: Injured fish/fish gets killed for food

[Growing Pains: OTA]

It takes him a minute to decide what he wants to plant. Everything he came here with is a reminder of his past. The herding staff from when he used to live on the farm herding fish, though Luca realizes if he buries that, it's going to take a very long time to dig a hole large enough. Then there were the pictures Alberto drew, but he doesn't want to get rid of those. Alberto's not a part of his past he's ready to let go of yet, and there's always the chance he'll show up in this place. The sea monster village, however, is clearly and distinctly in his past. It's not a place he can go back to, and it's a place he was moving on from even in his own world. It's a place he's willing to let go of. He picks up his seagrass shorts, an article of clothing that's unmistakably 'sea monster', and takes them outside. He grabs a shovel and starts digging a hole behind the house.

It's not long before a flower emerges. Posidonia, a sea grass flower. Of course, that makes sense. He's fairly sure the shorts were sea grass in the first place, so what else would grow out of them?. But, of course, he knows that means he'll have to keep the plant in salt water.

"I'll have to find a tank or a vase to keep you in."

[Around Town: OTA]

Naturally, being new to this place, Luca wants to check it out. Sure, there are lamp locations and he can just teleport wherever he needs to go, but while Luca is more than happy to use them, he doesn't want to become dependent on them, which means he'll have to learn the lay of the land without them. Luckily for him, he arrived with his bike. It's incredibly rusted, but he's never had it in any other state, having gotten it the only way most sea monsters could get such a thing. By finding it in the Ligurean sea, not far from a steep cliff that dropped off into the water.

But, miraculously, despite all the rust his bike worked just fine, and he'd even been able to ride it well enough to win the biking portion of a triathlon once. Now he's riding through town, wearing the clothes he found in his bag on arrival, as well as his robes. The latter was mostly due to the weather. With all the rain, he wanted something water resistant so he wouldn't change in the middle of town. Sure, everyone who had seen him in his sea monster form so far had been fine with it, but that doesn't mean he doesn't want to take some precautions with how many people see him.

That's why, as the first few drops begin to fall, Luca stops his bike, putting one bare foot down so he can focus on pulling his robe over his head...only to put his foot right into a puddle.

"Gah!"

He pulled his foot (which was now green) out of the puddle, causing him to fall off his bike to the ground. Frantically, Luca pulls the robe over his head to keep his face human at least, before desperately trying to wipe the water off his foot...and now his leg as well after that fall, to try and force himself to change back.

Then, finally noticing that someone else is there, Luca looks up with a nervous laugh. "Oh, uh...hi."

[The Archaic Archives: OTA]

By the time Luca reaches the Gaze, he's given up all hope of holding onto his human form. The rain's just coming down too hard, and it's too difficult trying to keep all his skin covered and ride a bike at the same time. Eventually, he just accepts that he's going to have to be in his sea monster form for now, and that's just going to have to be okay. Still, he's on high alert the entire time, just in case someone might take issue with a sea monster biking through town.

And then he reaches his destination. The archives. Between this and the School of Mutter, it truly made the Gaze the most wonderful and happy place in the entire town in Luca's eyes.

He walks inside. Normally he'd shake himself dry, but he doesn't want to take any chances of getting even a drop of water on one of the books, so instead he waits to air dry naturally. Once that happens, his scales and fins begin slowly receding into his now human-looking skin. Now that he's dry, Luca begins to walk through the Archives, looking at the books as he passes.

"Wow, there's so much here! I wonder where I should even start."

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"And what do you want to learn?" she asked. He was so young. At an age when he could be just about anything. At least, that's the way it was supposed to be. When the universe was working the way it should.

He was in the multiverse, so that was a strike against him.

But that didn't mean he couldn't make the best of the situation.

"Do you have any idea about what you'd like to do with your life? A particular trade you're interested in?"

"I want to learn everything, but I especially want to learn about space. And how the world works. And how to make things."

What does he want to do with his life? Well, that's a bit harder. He's still so new to all this land stuff that it's hard to decide, but he has some ideas.

"I don't know. Being an astronaut would be really cool! But...I don't know if they have those in this place. Being an Arcane Scholar would be nice, too. Then I get to do research all the time!"

Ariadne blinked, her eyes bright as coins. It was impressive that Luca had so many answers, ready to go. She wasn't sure she could have committed quite as well at his age. If she was being honest, anyway.

She could lie like none other.

But one problem...

"What's an astronaut?"

"That's a person who goes to space."

Which the idea that someone could go to the moon is just too fascinating to Luca to ignore. He wants to see everything the universe has to offer.

She looked up, the corner of her mouth curling into a bit of a smile. "Space, huh? Well, if that's something that interests you, I have some friends you absolutely must meet. One of them is named Obi-Wan Kenobi. He's a kind of knight. And he travels to distant..." it only took her a moment to remember the word, this time, "...planets in some kind of flying ship."

Ariadne raised her hand, letting it flutter from star to star in the sky. For someone who'd never even been to sea, the idea of visiting places so far away--of places even existing out there--was truly magical.

Except, apparently, it wasn't magic at all.

"Wooow, that's so cool! I'd love to do that!"

Okay, so Luca is absolutely in no way qualified to be a knight, and if he joined Obi-Wan Kenobi on his adventures he'd just be there, being a nerd and taking note of everything and asking a million questions about how things work. Luca just isn't the type to focus on fighting, but he absolutely loves the idea of seeing new places.

"I'm not sure he has one of his star ships here," she cautioned Luca. "But at the very least, I'm sure you could ask him all about what it's like to fly. He might even be able to draw you some pictures."

She didn't know if Obi-Wan had any artistic aptitude, but she didn't want to disappoint Luca, who clearly was interested in learning.

"Oh, drawings would be great! Maybe he can show how the constellations look from other angles! I have a friend back home who loves to draw."

And if she saw what his friend back home drew, she'd likely feel confident that Obi-Wan's artistic aptitudes could meet that. Of course, Luca thinks Alberto's art is amazing, but really it's not much more than stick figures and Alberto often has to write what the things in his picture are so other people can figure it out. Still, Luca will always treasure the drawing of him and Alberton of a vespa together, and the drawing of Alberto on that giant pile of fish he caught will always remind Luca of home.

"Well, make sure you meet him, then," she said.

She considered offering to arrange the meeting, but decided that now probably wasn't the time. Obi-Wan had been through quite the ordeal on the boat. It was never easy to say goodbye, no matter how necessary.

He needed time.

And maybe she was feeling just a little protective of him.

"Yeah, I'll definitely keep an eye out for him! I have a million questions I'll want to ask!"

Because space is cool and amazing and he wants to learn everything.

And it was then that Ariadne realized it. What she truly had in common--more than green skin--was a passion for learning. It looked different on him, but at the core, it was the same: Curiosity, fascination, open-mindedness.

The multiverse wasn't always kind to people like that.

Ariadne decided right then and there that if anyone ever tried to hurt Luca, she was going to find them and hunt them down.

"Luca," she said quietly, keeping this rush of righteousness to herself, "are you here alone? Do you have anyone with you? Family or friends?"

"Well...there's no one else here from my world, but I've made friends since I showed up here! Some other kids and I all are living in a house together."

In case she's worried he's just been living on the streets. Of course, there is an adult in the house too, theoretically, but Luca never sees him around. Still, as a group of mostly unsupervised kids, Luca thinks they're doing pretty good.

"I mean, you've met Varian and Fern already, and there's also Luz. She's around my age."

A pity he didn't have anyone from his world. Ariadne knew how lonely that could be. Still, she was pleased that he had friends. That was a sort of protection that she knew she couldn't provide.

Well.

If Luca was someone she was going to be keeping an eye on, she supposed she ought to steer him in the direction of a particular family she knew would also keep him safe.

"There's a boy in Trench about your age that I'd love for you to meet. His name is Sam Winchester. He also loves books and learning new things. I think the two of you would get along."

"That sounds like a great idea! You should definitely introduce us." Then, considering how careful he'll have to be with his own secret with this new kid, Luca decides to feel things out. "So...does he know about you...um...the whole not human thing?"

Because if he doesn't, Luca might want to be careful to avoid water just in case. Who knows how the other boy would react, after all.

She nodded. "He knows." At least, she was pretty sure he did. There had been some memory loss, when he reverted to being a little boy. But Ariadne's secret wasn't exactly a secret. "A lot of people know, to be honest," she added. "If I've learned anything about the multiverse, it's that most people don't seem to care about what I am, the way they did back home."

Perhaps it was because they had more important things to worry about.

But she liked to think that maybe it was just proof about what she'd always know. That deep down, people were innately good.

That felt nice.

"Well, that's good to know. I mean, I still might not tell everyone right away, but...I'm glad to know people probably aren't going to try to harpoon me when they find out here."

Attempted harpoonings being something he had a lot of experience with.

"So I'm guessing you had issues with that kind of thing back home, too?"

Ariadne sucked in some air between her teeth, before giving him a small nod. The last thing she wanted to do was scare Luca, but she got the feeling that he wasn't looking for details so much as common ground. And that she could give him.

"Sometimes, people find it easier to believe the lies they're told than try to find out the truth for themselves."

Which was the most courteous way she could lay out blatant racism and cruelty.

"But I don't think most people are like that. I think they're smarter."

"Well...that's good. And I've noticed no one's really given me any trouble so far. And back home there were a lot of good people, too. It's just...there were also people who were afraid of sea monsters or wanted the reward for killing one."

And between fear and greed, it made things pretty dangerous.

Desperately, she wanted to promise him that things wouldn't be like that. But for all of her talent at lying, she couldn't bring herself to do it. Luca was young and sweet and kind. Which sadly meant that he deserved the truth, however ugly it might be.

"Listen, Luca," she said. "I'm not saying that anyone is going to give you trouble here. But if they do, I want you to let me know, okay?"

What she was going to do was...unclear. But she'd think of something.

"I will, yeah. Although at this point, with how many people have said that, I'll end up spending an entire day calling everyone if anything ever does happen."

It's kind of nice having so many people care, though. He hopes he'll never have to take them up on it.

Now that made her smile. It made her positively grin, in fact. So hard that it hurt her cheeks a little bit.

But it was a good kind of hurt.

"You see?" she said. "People are basically good. And we protect each other from the lies and slander."

"Yeah, I know. I mean, there were plenty of good people back home, too."

Sure, there were definitely people who wanted to kill him for the reward, but there were also people who interceded and stopped those people. He even ended up being okay showing his real self in Portorosso in the end...though that was only after Massimo interceded.

Ariadne nodded. "They're everywhere. Good people. You just gotta keep your eyes open for them."

With that, she stood up straight, letting her skin and hair ripple and change, returning to her humanoid form. Ultimately, she was just more comfortable in that skin. Nineteen years of training were hard to simply erase.

And she always heard her mother's voice in the back of her head, hissing and spitting and warning her she was in danger.

She shoved the voice to a corner of her thoughts.

"I'm glad I ran into you, Master Luca."

"Yeah, I think I'm pretty good at finding the good ones."

Considering the people he'd met both here and back home that looked out for him and kept him safe, even when other people might want to hurt him. He watches her change back, thinking it's so different from his own change, but still the same in a lot of ways.

"I'm glad I ran into you, too."

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The Heart is a Bloom (Open)

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