Galbadia Garden Here we come!

[notathiefcole.livejournal.com]

Characters: Forgotten Continent Team
Progress: Ongoing
Summary: They found Garden
Location: Galbadia
Date: November, 1803
Warnings: None

Locke and Rinoa had been walking most of the day, but Moguo had assured them that the Galbadia Garden was over in the southeast corner of the continent.  Locke spied a metal glint over the crest of the next hill. Pointing in the direction of the Garden, Locke assured Rinoa that they had almost arrived at their location.

As they rounded the top of the last hill, Locke stopped cold as the familar form of Tidus walked in front of the Garden, relaxing only when he spied the familiar head of green hair.

Comments

[notathiefcole.livejournal.com]

He turned down one of the hallways towards the cafeteria. While he wasn't going to admit it to the group, he was beginning to get a little hungry as the trip in Zanarkand did not lend itself to any good meals.

"I wonder what we'll find in this cafeteria?", he said all the while hoping that monsters and oglops would not be present.

[eidolon-soul.livejournal.com]

"Hopefully food that hasn't rotted away, by now. This place is definitely more advanced than Troia or most of Gaia, though, so we probably stand a good chance of that. If anything was attracted to the food, we'll deal with it." Rydia peered around as they walked down the hallway. "I'm not sure I could live in a place like this. It's too...sterile. Which isn't to say that I'm not grateful if it gets us all out of here."

[notathiefcole.livejournal.com]

"Considering the rest of this place, It wouldn't surprise me to find out the food is just fine."

Taking in the rather bland hallway as they continued along its path, "Everything here looks...the same. I've seen more variety in cave formations than in here."

[eidolon-soul.livejournal.com]

Rydia chuckles at that. "So have I. At least it's stable--whatever's happened hasn't affected it much at all." And at this point, some stability was good for all of them.

She made a turn where she thought she was supposed to, hoping that she wasn't getting them lost. "Do you know a place called Jidoor? That's where Eiko and a friend of mine from home are located."

[notathiefcole.livejournal.com]

"That city made it here?", he remarked as they continued along the hallways. He's not too fond of the city because of the strict class structure.

"I've been there a few times in my adventures. It's not one of my favorite places back home, but the auction house is fine when that kid's father isn't buying everything in sight.

[eidolon-soul.livejournal.com]

"Oh, so it's like Treno?" Rydia automatically associated it with that, since her world didn't have auction houses. "Maybe it'll give Treno some competition. That can't hurt."

She paused and made another turn. They weren't too far from the cafeteria, so she thought. "I wouldn't have minded staying in Troia, to be honest. At least, if it was how I remembered it. But with Kefka on the loose and not knowing what's happened to Cecil...there's no point in staying, at least not yet."

[notathiefcole.livejournal.com]

Locke thought about Treno a bit, before responding, "You could say that, but more sunlight and less thieves. They kicked out the poor working people a long time ago."

Staying in one place may have been an option, but Rydia had to bring up the subject of Kefka. His mood immediately turned somber as he walked right past the cafeteria, "He won't stop...ever"

"And neither will I"

[eidolon-soul.livejournal.com]

She nodded, equally somber. "Whether or not Cecil's alive, neither will I. Attacking Da-Garnet and all those people at the ball, not to mention Mysidia...he has to be stopped. I wonder if there's a way to drain his power, since he's too powerful as he is now. Maybe--"

Rydia paused and peered around, finally paying more attention to their surroundings again. "Um...are we still going the right way?"

[notathiefcole.livejournal.com]

Turning around and seeing hallway in all directions, "I'm surprised we aren't there yet."

He wanted to forget all about Kefka, but it seemed the mad man had followed him to Gaia. "In the past, I just wailed on him, until he would teleport away, but now...I can barely even hit him."

[eidolon-soul.livejournal.com]

"If only Gaia had seen fit to take him from a point in time where he was easier defeated. We'll find a way, though. He can't...." Rydia trailed off as she turned around, frowning in thought.

"I think we overshot. Shouldn't it be back that way, a bit? This place is confusing."

[notathiefcole.livejournal.com]

Going back the way they came and trying to open a few doors, "We could just check all the doors."

"I...We won't allow him to defeat us. If only we could find a way to slow him down."

[eidolon-soul.livejournal.com]

"We might have to seek Doctor Tot, after all. Maybe he knows enough lore about Gaia to give us a clue on something that could help with that. It's worth a shot, assuming he's returned to Treno."

Rydia started opening doors with him, though classrooms and closet space were all that she was finding so far. Then she spotted a pair of double doors that they had passed. "Let's try those."

[notathiefcole.livejournal.com]

"Do you think he might be able to help? Then let's go find him."

He nodded as they opened the doors revealing table after table. He shouldn't have been surprised to see so large a place considering the size of the Garden, but he hadn't quite expected this. "It must take a lot of food to feed this many people."

[eidolon-soul.livejournal.com]

"Once everyone's retrieved, I'm all for that." Rydia peered around at the cafeteria, nodding. She headed toward the back, where some packaged food could be seen on shelves next to the serving area, ready for people to grab. The food within those serving trays had obviously since rotted and Rydia wrinkled her nose, giving it a wide berth. "The sealed food looks alright, from what I can tell. Maybe there's more in the back."

[notathiefcole.livejournal.com]

"Did you think I'd leave Eiko here after searching for her like that?" He also wondered what the Regent would do to them, if they left his daughter alone here. All he knew was that whatever it would be, wouldn't be good.

Finding something that resembled a trashcan, he tried to not breathe as he protected the lady from rotten food.

"If you want to look, I'll"

He stops speaking abruptly as his face turns green from the stench.

[eidolon-soul.livejournal.com]

"Of course not not, but...Locke?" Rydia turned to face him and grew alarmed. "Do you want to wait further back? I don't mind checking it out myself."

There was no point in him continuing if he couldn't handle the stench. She was hardly immune to it, but a near-empty stomach helped. "Or use one of your bandanas to cover your nose. It might block out the smell a little."

[notathiefcole.livejournal.com]

Pulling his bandanna down over his nose, he shooed Rydia back. He wasn't about to allow her to experience the aroma from close by.

Muffled through the bandanna, "It won't be too much longer now."

Finishing collecting the trays, he began to look for someplace to stash them. Spying a closet, he tossed everything in there - food, trays, and receptacle.

[eidolon-soul.livejournal.com]

"As long as you're sure...." Rydia held back, since Locke seemed so insistent, moving forward after the rotted food was trashed. Some of the scent lingered, but at least it wasn't as bad now.

After that, she moved forward and into the kitchen area. Shelves were lined with various dry goods; sugar, ground coffee, tea packets, pasta, oatmeal, etc. There was plenty of canned soup, as well. From what she could tell, all of it was sealed and in fine condition. She opened a refrigerator, though wrinkled her nose--some of the contents had already spoiled. Well, back to that in a moment. "There's the freezer...though without power for months, I'm wondering if there's anything salvageable within."

[notathiefcole.livejournal.com]

Seeing all the ingredients Rydia had found, "Do you know what to do with those?" He did not know what to do with such fine ingredients. He thought back to his travels. If he wasn't eating in a local tavern, he was cooking a small beast like a leafer over the fire. On a good day, he could remove most of the hair.

Turning towards the freezer, he simply stared. "Opening that door is not an adventure I'm looking forward to. Are you sure we can't leave it for Rinoa's friends?"

[eidolon-soul.livejournal.com]

"They're busy figuring out how to pilot the Garden, so I'm sure they're too busy. Besides, we volunteered." Rydia paused by the freezer door to answer his other questions first. "Honestly, my cooking skills are minimal. I could probably make something edible, but I can't say it would be a culinary delight."

She shook her head, then opened the freezer. Immediately, she wrinkled her nose and closed it. "I think anything in there is a lost cause. Dry goods and soup, it is."

[notathiefcole.livejournal.com]

"Looks like we found our trash can."

Surveying the goods and remembering the night in Zanarkand, "Perhaps, soup might be the best thing anyway. Ashe is looking a little run down, and I'm not sure we want to risk anything heavier with her for the moment."

[eidolon-soul.livejournal.com]

"Good point." Rydia paused and rested her hands on her hips, brow furrowed. "At least we have a general idea of what's edible now. I'm not doing a thorough inventory, since we probably won't be here long enough to need one."

She walked away from the freezer door, thoughtful. "Do you know how these appliances work? We don't have anything like them in Alexandria or my world. Not that we need to get started right now...." The summoner wasn't sure who would want to try her meager culinary skills. On the other hand, heating soup didn't take much effort.

[notathiefcole.livejournal.com]

Spying what could have been a blender, "Hmm, I wonder what this thing is?"

Pressing a button caused the leftover contents of the blender to fly out in all directions. A quick dive was the only difference between Locke remaining clean and needing a bath.

[eidolon-soul.livejournal.com]

Rydia wasn't quite as swift or lucky, and some of the content splattered on one long sleeve. She wrinkled her nose at the stench and looked around for something to wipe it off. "...I think that ought to be left alone. We don't really need it, anyway."

[notathiefcole.livejournal.com]

As Locke stood back up, noticing the splatters he couldn't believe that Rydia had been hit by his foolishness. Frantically searching through drawers and cabinets, he found a stack of rags to hand over.

"I won't touch anything else."