13307/Home Again, again

Home Again, again
Date of Scene:	08 November 2022
Location:	Afterlife Settlement - Nepal
Synopsis:	Daisy and Kora head to Nepal, the former Afterlife. There Kora shows Daisy where she used to change her nappies and they discuss the family sword.
Cast of Characters:	Kora Johnson, Daisy Johnson

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Kora Johnson has posed:
Kora has gotten a bit more used to her sister a) being older than her and b) flying a fancy jet. Sitting up in the co-pilots seat but absolutely not touching anything she is observing the snow capped mountains. They look familiar. She knows the geography of Afterlife well. Fallen Afterlife.

As Afterlife itself comes in to view it is a mess of rubble mostly covered in snow now. Not much left remaining of the beautiful village that once existed. Kora's brow furrows. She was told the Inhumans of Afterlife had gone through a lot - she had been told they were attacked. The reality of it is taking her by surprise.

"Whoa..." she lets out a long gasp and rises up to look out the window better. "It's all gone." There's a sadness in her despite how she left the place. It also takes her by surprise. She expected to hate coming back here but it feels like coming home. Only, home got destroyed while she was away.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
It isn't the first time that Daisy is returning to this place after it's destruction. But even now there's a somber demeanor to her when she approaches, perhaps remembering the events that led to it's destruction. She has been strangely quiet during the trip but now they are getting closer she finally speaks up.

"The place is gone. But the spirit remains." She says back to Kora, the jet doing a slow circle of the place that was once called Afterlife. Most of it is buried by snow now but there's still a few houses seen here and there, or the top of them.

"This isn't our destination, but we will land here and go on foot the rest of the way." It was the best landing space before they got into the mountains.

The jet comes to land down on a clearing, engines dying off and Daisy getting up to her feet. "Hope you brought your mountain feet with you." she smiles faintly.

Kora Johnson has posed:
Kora grabs her backpack of supplies and equipment and pulls it on to her back. As the ramp goes down the cold of the mountain hits her. She shivers and rubs her arms, then heads out. The SHIELD issue pants and jacket are doing just fine. Though she's not too keen on the branding.

"Please. I grew up here. I'm part mountain goat," she jokes a little and steps out in to the snow. It's not too deep this time of year thankfully. The environmental controls never let it get like this back when Afterlife had power over this domain.

"Did you ever get to see our house?," Kora asks and doesn't wait for an answer. She's already hiking in to the village to go back home. Home home, where she lived with mom and briefly with Daisy. It always felt so unfair that dad wasn't allowed to live with them but rules were rules.

She pauses at what remains of a stone entrance way. Bits of burnt wood poking out of the snow. There's not much left of it after the HYDRA missiles did their work. Entering the precipice feels strange to her now but she explains as she goes.

"Mom would keep a potted plant just here," she motions to where a wall would be. "Her study over there - forbidden. Living room. Kitchen. My bedroom," she says taking a few steps in to the remains of the house. Then she points, "My bed," and to the other side, "Your crib."

Daisy Johnson has posed:
"That explains the bleats..." Look, that's what you get for calling yourself a mountain goat to your sister. Daisy is merciless to those openings! She finishes getting herself ready, mountain equipment on and now that she's gone out with Lara Croft a few times she has began to learn WHAT to bring or not to bring so she's ready enough when they finally step out to face the cold.

Brrr, even for someone living in New York it's COLD here. She adjusts the jade sword on her back. The one Jia had been adamant they should bring on this journey. "Did mother ever tell you where she got this sword?" she questions, walking quicker to keep up with Kora's pace.

"I thought her house was ..., over there. At least it was where we met when I was here." she points towards another part of the settlement that's been buried. That this was their actual family home? It surprises her.

Eyes turn here and there, taking in the destroyed ruins, then where their room was supposed to be. It was like going back in time. Even if she didn't remember those early days of her life. But who does? Sometimes it's just the feeling left that matters. And the people. "It's just things." she says, "We will have a new home." hand resting on Kora's shoulder.

Kora Johnson has posed:
Kora scoffs a touch, "Every time I asked her she gave me a different story. Sometimes it was an old kung fu master with a long whispy beard. Another time it was an enchanted frog that was hungry for flies. Once she said the Empress herself handed it to her after she defeated an evil sorcerer attempting to conquer the kingdom."

The question about the house catches her off guard a moment and she looks back out trying to mind-palace remember where things were. It was a few years ago and there was no snow, pathways, gardens, other buildings. "No..."

She shakes her head slowly, "That was the administration building. Where all the governance matters of Afterlife were handled. But if that's where you met her then I can understand the confusion. She probably wasn't going to let strangers in to our home."

Kora raises an eyebrow and says, "Easy for you to say. Just things. These were -my- things Daisy. You had nappies. I had a life here once." A small sigh.

"Why'd she want you to bring the sword? because we're going to this mysterious temple?" Ulterior motives are Jiayings specialty. Usually these wiles were used to get Kora to eat her vegetables not sneak special swords around. "Do she even tell you what it is?"

Daisy Johnson has posed:
"If one can have nappies in such a cold..." Daisy mutters in complaint at the cold felt here today. She rubs her hands together and shakes her head, "Soundds to me like she has some kind of plan, but as usual she isn't telling me. Or us. Sounds like standard Jiaying behavior." Yes, Daisy had learned a few things about mother so far. Namely how mysterious she liked to be.

"And no, it's just really a sword? It does have a strange resonance though.." She points out, pressing lips together in thought. "Maybe we will figure it when we reach the temple.."

"Hope you are ready for the cougars."

Kora Johnson has posed:
Kora raises an eyebrow, "Huh. So she gave you my sword and didn't tell you what it's for..." She folds her arms a little indignantly. That's certainly the first time she's described it as -her- sword though. She clearly knows more about it than she's letting on. Jiaying has rubbed off on them both.

"Cougars?," she asks and starts to hike in the rough direction they're meant to be going. "This whole area was temperature controlled because of an Inhuman three hundred years ago. May be one day another Inhuman will come along with a similar gift and this place can be reclaimed. But I do kinda dig the tree house vibe of the new Afterlife."

Daisy Johnson has posed:
Daisy notes that inflection there on the 'my sword', and she also notes on how Kora doesn't seem to talk much on what the sword actually is. It makes her just stare at Kora for a time, in silence. That kind of disapproving stare. "Are you sure keeping secrets right now is what you want to do?" a beat, "Considering we are making this trip to help -you-."

"Also, it's totally my sword now. Keepsies..." she then adds with a bit more of a light-hearted tone to her. A nudge with her elbow to Kora for them to actually get moving and then off they go.

"Yep, cougars. Nasty ones too, specially in the mating season." She looks around again as they continue their path towards the mountain. "Maybe one day .., Hydra knows of this location now though so..., not sure if we'd want to return in the near future."

Kora Johnson has posed:
Kora walks quietly for a bit and then slowly shrugs her shoulders. "I mean, she thought I was dead so it makes sense. And it's not like I can use it safely anyway. I'd probably end up destroying the world or something." She sighs softly. "But I really did like learning how to use the sword - dreaming that one day I'd get to use it for real."

She stops walking and looks at Daisy. "I think I know why mom asked you to bring it along." She's not happy with this revelation but it makes sense. She wants her daughters to bond and if Daisy holds all the cards then what does Kora have?

"So I could tell you about the family secret... hint, it's to do with the sword." She smiles just a little and taps the side of her nose, then starts to hike again.

She frowns and goes quiet again at the mention of HYDRA. "Mom told me they .. yeah. They didn't do that to me but they... they did things." Her lips tighten and she looks down watching her feet as they crunch in to the snow step by step. "I wish they were all dead."