Welcome to Gaia! ::

When she returned from her meeting with Captain Osumilite, her mood was not exactly dark so much as it was... gray. Foggy, one might say. But things were looking up: Even if she didn't have paperwork now, she had a name. The paperwork would come, after a time. Things didn't happen instantly in the real world, after all. Ivanna Morgenstern, she thought, and then she mouthed it aloud: Ivanna Morgenstern, Vanya for short. (It felt important to have a shorter version of a more professional name. She didn't even really need to rehearse it; there was no old name for her to over-write in her brain.

Though she knew others lived in the house she now resided in, she didn't know them well enough to immediately share her new name with them. Instead, she checked the common areas for Kess. And since she didn't find Kess, she decided it might be appropriate to check Kess's room--for all it felt forward, the woman who was also the General-King who had ushered Vanya into her new life, and she'd expressed actual interest in knowing Vanya's name when she had picked one to use.

So she descended the stairs into the basement, making sure to make enough noise that Kess would know she was coming down, but once she reached the bottom she's not sure what to say. She stared at Kess for a long, drawn-out moment, and then blurted, "I picked a name. I thought you would want to know."

Vanya took a few hesitant steps into the basement, didn't settle on the end of the futon although she did consider it, and returned the smile. She really did like Kess, for all she couldn't say why she felt she ought to. It was the same vague impulse that had driven her to want the woman's approval in the first place, even when they removed the part of the equation where Kess was Howlite from consideration. "Ivanna Morgenstern," she said. "But mostly I think I'll call myself Vanya?"

Her gaze flicked to the television screen for a heartbeat, and then she extended a hand for Kess to shake, uncertainly. What was the protocol for reintroducing yourself to someone who had, in all likelihood, known you before you were really you? A handshake seemed like a good place to start. She just hoped she didn't seem too ridiculous for it.

Vanya wasn't really that amused by Kess's joke on her name--that was why she'd decided to mostly go by Vanya. It just felt right to have a more formal name and then a nickname on top of it. That didn't mean the way Kess's hand lingered in hers was any less distracting; she worried she might have seemed like an idiot when she held on to Kess's hand a moment longer than Kess held hers, but it apparently had passed without notice.

She turned her attention to the box, gratefully, and reached inside. She found books, mostly nonfiction; a newly opened James Bond box set; a pair of oxfords that had clearly been worn often, though they were well-cared-for; a few knickknacks that she inspected for flaws; and clothing, which Vanya inspected the seams of before looking at the designs. "Who bought this," she wondered, examining the ashen blue and beige argyle sweater with its screenprint of cats and blue goggly eyes. After a moment's more thought, she realized: "These were mine, before?" It was the only way it really made sense--everything in the box spoke to a single mind organizing the purchase, and when she held the cat sweater up to her body it looked like it would fit too well for Kess to have just guessed her size.

None of the books or DVDs had a name plate in them. She frowned, thwarted in her attempt to learn of who she had been. "I had good taste," she admitted, pulling the cat sweater on over her head. It smelled… strange, she guessed. Like some kind of spicy perfume. Vanya didn't really like it that well--she'd have to pick a new scent, if she decided she wanted one. "Thank you, Kess. This means a lot to me," she said, looking up to the other woman from where she had settled near the box.