dpscheck | shadowbringers

shadowbringers

beneath the stars

It's been a week since our newest expansion officially launched! And, I know, I know... some of you already have a lot of feelings that you need to air out. But canon updating in your games is a struggle! And so is finding PSL partners! Luckily, that's what we're here for.

This is a post for you to play out all the Shadowbringers-related content you might be dying to write. Behind-the-scenes nonsense? Between-the-scenes angst? It's all welcome here!

1. Toplevel your character. Include any details you might think are relevant. Or don't. As always, we're not the cops.
2. Reply to other people's top levels!
3. Have fun!

⚔ Please clearly mark all spoilers in your thread subject lines. Clearly indicate whatever spoiler preferences you may have. We're only a week into the expansion, officially, and there's no shame if you're not far in it or haven't started it yet.

⚔ You are welcome to play characters who are new to Shadowbringers. However, please try to avoid topleveling with icons and descriptions that convey major plot-related spoilers.

If you aren't certain about a character's playability, feel free to PM

parser.

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Something like that. I have Lyna to thank for my interest in dancing in the first place - I thought I'd show it off to her.

[ That's not entirely true; she's always been a little interested in dance, but it wasn't until she tried mimicking her moves at the start of her journey that she'd been encouraged to actually try her hand at it. Still, she hides that with her usual smile and a slight twitch of her ears. ]

Thank you, though. I hope there's been peace in my absence? I didn't truly mean to startle you, though I've half a mind to ask for someone to tail you after...

[ Her voice trails off, and that easy smile slips a little as she looks away. ]

Well.

[That brought a touch of surprise, brief though it was. More often than not, it was the other way around. How many people had the Warrior of Light and of Darkness stepped into another's life and left them better than they had been, and how?]

Whatever she will have to say, I am sure she will be pleased to know she was your inspiration. Her place as head of the guard here in the Crystarium was not one earned lightly. She has kept us all well and safe in her time, but 'tis high praise, coming from the Warrior of Darkness.

[And then another, to know that she had been concerned about him after departing. This was turning out to be a day of humbling delights.]

All has been well here within the city and Lakeland beyond, I assure you. Now that the last of the Lightwardens have been vanquished and Emet-Selch is gone, the First has been able to rest easily. You have done this world a great deed, as you so often do, my friend, though I know your troubles in the Source were far from over when last we spoke. [He'll let that lead into a silence, bowing his head, only to look up again not long after. His voice has quieted then, as if to speak too loudly of it would make it only worse.] How goes that effort, if I may ask?

[ She quiets, and keeps her gaze away. There's much she could speak about, and yet, little she wants to say. ]

Seems we've reached a bit of a stalemate, as it were. There's been... unrest, but we haven't heard news yet on why.

[ Allumette lets out a heavy sigh, shaking her head. She looks about as lost as she feels, she knows, and she has to pull it together. Part of her almost wants to ask, how did everything go in his time? But... perhaps she shouldn't know. Perhaps knowing would alter the course of fate itself. She already knew too much, about her own death, about her friends dying as well... they were able to avert fate's course this time, but if anything else happened, she wasn't sure what would happen. ]

You praise me overmuch, though. [ She's quick to lighten the mood, reaching out and patting his head through his hood. ] As if you didn't have a hand in this whole plot.

[In the silence that follows, he considers her words carefully. No matter what the outcome of their brief time on the First, there was always going to be the war on the Source there waiting when the Scions and the Warrior of Light to returned. That was a reality even the Exarch, with his intermediate mastery of time and space travel, couldn't hope to help them avoid. By the look of her, the situation seemed more dire than she was letting on, but he didn't press for the details. He had done enough of that as it was in bringing her here to the First.]

I realize my being here on the First is of little help to anyone on the Source, but if there is anything I am able to do, you need only ask. We have both given up much to see that world saved, though your own sacrifices have been by far the greater.

[He would stand by that forever and a day. Banded together as they were, the Scions, the Ironworks, the nations' and their armies were a force like no other, and hardly to be trifled with even alone. But among them all, they had a keystone, and once that warrior fell, everything else slowly tumbled down with them. It was cruel, placing the fate of a world on one person's shoulders, but to know that person could still smile after everything? No wonder Hydaelyn had chosen her.]

[He can't help a soft chuckle at the head pat, though he endures it for the sake of doing so. It feels just this side of childish, but she does tower over him. Not that that has ever been hard to find in his life - he is rather short.]

I only speak the truth of the thing, regardless of my part in it. Ask anyone, and I believe they may only agree with me.

[ All this talk of sacrifices make her wonder. After a long moment, she raises her hand back to her own hair, leafing a hand through it. ]

Whether they agree with you or not, I myself still find it hard to fathom and even harder to see as reality. When I look up at this sky now, where ever-present Light used to be, it feels like a dream. Or perhaps a nightmare. I can't be certain of which anymore.

[ She extends her hand to the side, fingers unfurled. ]

To have learned all that I have of Zodiark, of the Ascians, of their forgotten and distant civilization... of Hydaelyn...

[ And then, she turns, unfurling her hand to the other side, and looking to her bare palm there. ]

And then, to come back to the Source... to come back here, where all have forgotten or are completely oblivious to it...

It feels as if the first did not happen at all. It feels as if coming out of a dark cave for the first time. I do not feel as if I sacrificed much when I think of the sacrifices they made, despite knowing I shouldn't... sympathize. And what of my soul? What of these -

Edited (html o999) 2019-07-15 22:59 (UTC)

[ She exhales sharply and shakes her head, ears slightly twisting to the side. As a Lalafell, Allumette had been ever good at hiding her emotions, but as a Viera, small tells give her frustration and her intent to hide away. ]

Oh, this is far too serious a talk, especially for me. The world's court jester shouldn't monologue.

[ She takes a glance around, before speaking once she realizes they're alone. ]

Can you drink, G'raha? I would hope the tower's effect on you wouldn't have spread to that point.

[She needed to talk, and he let her as long as she liked. What must it have been like for her, to have so much upon those shoulders, to have to be a pillar of strength for not one world, but now two, and to have to hold so much back? In a way, he understood those pressures now, as the head of the Crystarium. He hadn't wanted the position, but had fallen into it by virtue of his connection with the Tower around which the city had been built. Lives and livelihoods had been entrusted to his care almost overnight, it seemed. Time had eased the burden, if only by fractions, but the people were still his responsibility. He was their voice, their commander.]

[And as easily as he walked with that upon his shoulders, it was all one city.]

[It should have concerned him more than it did, but it did bother him a little on a level that she seemed so torn over everything until she began to belittle herself. Bewildered, he tilted his head and found he wasn't sure if or not she was joking about it. Had he been allowed a glimpse behind the curtain into a darker part of her life, or was this just light hearted play to lift the seriousness as she had said?]

Oh, my friend, you are far more than a court jester.

[He would have asked why she would say such a thing. He truly would have. But then she speaks his name again, effectively shutting him up for a moment. He has been the Crystal Exarch for decades by now, nearly as long as he has been on the First. It hasn't been long enough that he had forgotten his own name, but hearing it spoken again, as a friend, continues to put a wince in his heart and draw upon the memory of days long past. He bows his head, allowing it time to pass, before he will manage a response.]

Becoming a part of the Tower has given me more than it has taken away. I am still capable of taking in food and drink, though there is no longer a need. [He could eat, but the food would be better off with someone who could still feel hunger. He could sleep, but it was time he could put to better use studying or searching for a way to put the Scions back on the Source in their own bodies. But he had a feeling this was more about a deeper need for companionship and comfort than out of concern for his well being.]

There is the tavern in the Pendants, if you were so inclined. You must have noted the establishment in all of your travels around the city.

[ Being both an orphan and a Lalafell, Allumette had fallen into good circumstances despite fate dealing her a bad hand at the start. She'd been adopted by a Hyur village, allowed to grow into someone who wholeheartedly believed in protecting the world around her, and championed that cause despite every single setback. Despite all that, Allumette struggled to be taken seriously, too small for the world that had welcomed her in, and often not given the respect she worked so hard for. Over time, she'd accepted it.

She didn't have a role to play as a grand hero, she mused, when her journey began. She wasn't doing anything noble or heroic, she thought, as she fought Ifrit, Titan, Garuda. She was just doing what her heart told her was right. She followed the compass of her soul and it pointed her ever forward. The heaps of praise given to her was easily shrugged off for her friends; her Hyur best friend brandishing sword and shield like the great Paladins of the Sultansworn, her Elezen comrade in Ul'dah who helped her stare down the Syndicate with gold, her Miqo'te confidant who had been with her by her side for years, now. They were more befitting of the title of hero than she, then. They did what they did out of valor and kindness, but she wasn't entirely mindful.

And was that worth looking up to? No, she didn't think so. She preferred to play her part as comedic relief and mood-setter. That was more her speed, as a Lalafell, and what most would allow her without being condescending. The amount of times she was looked over for one of her friends as the "Warrior of Light" was... well, it was numerous.

Her body may have changed but her mind was still the same; perhaps she 'looked' more like a hero, but at her heart, she was no more noble than she had been before. No more not truly 'worthy' of playing the main role. She would never understand why Hydaelyn had chosen her. Though now she wondered if she was chosen at all.

When she closed her eyes she could still feel those splinters of her soul almost coming apart at the seams. ... but it's unfair to explain any of that. He doesn't need to know all that. Instead, she presses her finger to her cheek with a slight pout, banishing the somber mood away. ]

... well, of course I noticed! But I kept being chastised, 'Allu, you can't drink now!', by everyone. [ By that, she means her friends. Allu actually isn't sure even the Scions would curb her from drinking. ] Now that the battle is won, surely I can take a drink or two with a good friend for company?

[Of course, his renewed smile said. It was hard not to have noted the busiest place in the city proper. A gateway to both the market and the tavern as well as to the residential areas along the river, the Crystarium's citizens were always present about the Musica Universalis. It was the one spot in the city that never seemed to sleep, even when all else fell still and silent in what were now the night hours.]

[He loved it there. When his work did not keep him holed up in the Tower, or the tension of his worries did not chase him to roam the fields beyond the Crystarium walls for a time, the Exarch would wander about in the markets, looking for nothing in particular, simply immersing himself in the lives of the people he kept watch over. It was soothing, a balm on his aching old soul.]

Is that so? [Truly? Had she been denied something so simple in the past? Surely it wasn't a problem of hers, he imagined, to overindulge, but given how much had been placed on those two shoulders, he could understand and permit a retreat of sorts. Not that she needed permission.] Well, you will have none of that here. After everything you have done for this world, a drink is the very least we can offer you.

[He turned, tilting his head.] Come. Let us retire to a seat at the tavern and carry on our conversation there.

After being poisoned once, everyone's a bit shy about drinking. I think more than enough time has passed, and I don't think anyone would poison me here.

[ Which is quite matter of fact; she closes the gap to stand by him, letting him lead, her hands folded behind her back. ]

Though I still admit to being surprised they pieced together all they had. I feel a little foolish for going along with keeping this all a secret when it seemed no one was fooled.

[That shouldn't surprise him, to know that attempts had been made on her life, and yet he can't hold back a note of dismay at it all.]

Someone attempted to poison you? [For all of the joy of their victories in the First, and so recently, something under his cowl might seem to darken as he turns away to lead down the walk to the tavern. However briefly it's there, it is there. It wouldn't be the first time someone tried to take the Warrior of Light and of Darkness from their worlds, nor would it be the last, and there was the sad truth of it.]

[But he shut it aside after a moment to gesture to the marketplace around them.] There will be none of that here either, I think you will find. I will insist upon it, and these are good people. We may have had our differences in the past, but if recent events have taught us anything, it is that we must always stand together and look after one another. You are one of them now.

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