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]

"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."

[eidolon-soul.livejournal.com]

Taking the rag, she turns on the sink and runs it under, then wipes down the offending area. "That's probably a good idea. Let's keep it simple. Hm, should we check out the living areas? I haven't seen them before. There must be plenty of space, but still...."

[notathiefcole.livejournal.com]

"I'm always interested in a little adventure. Besides, Rinoa won't be able to give everybody a tour."

The idea of sitting in an actual chair was very appealing to him after the craziness of the last couple of days.

"Rinoa and I have been running since we woke up. Did you have to wait for us too long here?"

[eidolon-soul.livejournal.com]

Glancing around and more or less satisfied that they had uncovered the state of the food, Rydia headed toward the door. The rotted effectively wiped away any appetite, but she knew it would return. "I suppose a brief break from here wouldn't hurt."

At his question, she shrugged. "Only a couple of days, really. I was more worried for Ashe than myself. We didn't really have much in the way of adequate food, and it might have gone very badly if we had been ambushed. At least I got Tidus to wear armor for a little while, though."

[notathiefcole.livejournal.com]

As he opened the door out of the cafeteria, Locke was relieved to have been able to escape without cooking.

"When I found Rinoa, she was running from a Behemoth. I almost had to fight it by myself."

[eidolon-soul.livejournal.com]

"A behemoth?" Rydia stopped and stared, wide-eyed. "And you two alone defeated it??" Either behemoths were much less threatening in this world or there was something she was missing. As much as she respected Locke's skill, to defeat one nearly alone was incredible.

[notathiefcole.livejournal.com]

Locke looked down at the ground. "We ran away from it."

"But once he went to sleep, we snuck past him. He didn't even wake up when I left Rinoa to check out that.."

He stops abruptly as he remembered how upset Rinoa had become with him.

[eidolon-soul.livejournal.com]

Well, that made much more sense. Rydia nodded, looking a bit relieved. "I'm glad you didn't attempt to fight it. If it's anything like those in my world, you need a lot more people to confront one."

His pause gave her pause. "Did something else happen?"

[notathiefcole.livejournal.com]

"He didn't wake up." was all Locke could really muster on the subject before becoming a little flustered.

"It was just so shiny that I couldn't leave it alone."

[eidolon-soul.livejournal.com]

Rydia chuckled and gently punched his arm. "Next time, try and restrain yourself, okay? I prefer for my friends to remain intact, if at all possible."

[notathiefcole.livejournal.com]

"I look intact to me" he grinned as he looked down at himself.

"Besides, I wouldn't have found this", he commented as he pulled out the shiny earring.

[eidolon-soul.livejournal.com]

That catches Rydia's eye and she peers at it. "Very nice. Going to sell it when we get back? Or is it a present?"

[notathiefcole.livejournal.com]

"Sell it? Why would I sell something I picked up for you?"

Presenting the earring out before her he added, "Unless of course you aren't interested."

[eidolon-soul.livejournal.com]

"Oh! Yes, I am." Now Rydia felt silly. She hadn't thought about it as a present for herself at all. Still, she smiled. "That's very considerate. Thank you."

[notathiefcole.livejournal.com]

"Oh... Your Welcome."

He quickly adjusted his bandanna, "Think you can convince Rinoa that I simply couldn't leave it for the Behemoth."