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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 ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small} parser. |
TEMPLATE CODED BY valoirs
valoirs
crystal exarch | the guy with the voice | OTA
For WoLs, also point me to relevant information that he ought to know and any... ahem, relevant dialogue choices that were made, or specify if you'd like something else!))
spoilers all good, done with msq
And it is one of those various whims that brings her back in the first place. Certain materials are just easier (and cheaper) to obtain on the Source, hastening some of the work for the Crystalline Mean she's been devoting herself to, but there's also a particular errand she had to run on the side, and going straight back to the Ocular just cuts half the journey out.
...Hopefully he's not out. Then again, where else would he go? Irhya shifts the weight of the bag on her shoulder and looks around.]
Are you about?
[OOC: Basic info page here, and I'm also open to PMs if you have any other questions down the line? C: Tl;dr she's a dark knight who is an avid crafter and has a very dry sense of humor. I'll try to avoid anything super character specific to her beyond that, though.]
/salutes!!!
Ah! Irhya, back so soon? [He turns around and it becomes immediately evident that he has his hands full of books. Like, enough of them that he could never see where he's going.] I thought they might have need for you in the Source— [His stack wobbles, but he manages to catch it. Just... barely.] —or I would have been prepared to receive you properly.
Pray forgive my discourtesy; you have found me precisely in the midst of some research.
no subject
[And maybe she shouldn't, but no one's ever complained. Or at least, it's never resulted in a compromising situation. Yet.
"Research" could be a blanket term for just about anything, she thinks. The Scions' predicament, or something else entirely... She shuffles over to him and lifts half the stack away from his eye level.]
You know... you could just make multiple trips. Or ask for help.
[A small grin.]
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[Why wouldn't he make room for her, honestly. She's done so much to help-- and she's still helping, right now, considering the things he's heard filtering in from the Crystalline Mean. He sees her eyeing his stack of books, though, and gives her a warm smile in return-- one that turns to surprise when she takes half the stack from him.]
Oh, you need not trouble yourself-- [Too late. He supposes he'll have to deal with the internal screaming as he steps aside so that Irhya can walk into the side room.] I thought it better to organize them myself rather than subject anyone else to the... questionable state of my private study. [It's hella messy. Floor to ceiling packed with books, a big desk with writing implements on it, and a settee that has obviously been used for napping (though not recently)... There are so many books. He sets his half of the bookish burden down on the desk and moves aside so she can do the same.]
What brings you to me today? Just passing through, or...?
[He would like very much if she were to stay, but he knows how badly this world needs its Warrior of Darkness, and how much the Source needs their Warrior of Light. His needs are far, far lesser than that of two worlds-- even if that means missing out on a few minutes with a friend.]
no subject
Mine's worse.
[Arguably so, but either way, she doesn't seem troubled by the mess in the slightest, stepping carefully around the edges of book piles to set her pile down atop his.]
Oh, you know... a little of both. Passing through, but while I'm here, I figured I'd carry over something nice with me.
[Irhya fishes a box out from her bag, inspecting it to make sure its contents remain undamaged before presenting it to him.
Inside is a round rolanberry cheesecake.]
I don't think you can find rolanberries on the First... at least, they're not the same. And I know you probably don't need to eat anymore, but I think it's still important to maintain that kind of normalcy. Besides, sweets are fun.
Oops i just realized i used a spoiler icon. this is why i shouldn't tag late at night LOL
[She says she brought something nice and he's... touched but also curious, head tilting, ears flicking too. It smells sweet-- and then she hands it over, and he witnesses this beautiful cheesecake firsthand. His ears perk up instantly.]
You brought this all the way here for me? [His tone is incredulous, but pleased, and there's some pink on his cheeks to go along with the strange cartwheels of his heart. Red eyes settle on her, wide surprise softening to fondness and gratitude and something else he dare not name.]
I... I do not know what to say. This is quite generous, and it looks perfect-- a taste of my old home. Did you make this all by yourself?
[He looks at it again for a moment, then his eyes bob back upward.]
I may not need to eat, but I prefer it-- particularly with company. I would hate to keep you from your undoubtedly vital business, but if you are amenable, mayhap you could stay for a cheesecake and a spot of tea. I daresay there is more than enough to share.
npnp!
[Irhya pairs the sardonic remark with a laugh. She shouldn't know of that, really, but that dream she had was quite convincing in her belief that his published memoirs were one of those great influences in that far-flung future. Not that she's ever sat down to read it yet... something she ought to correct when she finds herself with some quiet time again.]
Of course! And if someone should come claim to the contrary, then I shall make time. This is important to me, too, so don't feel like you're keeping me from anything.
[For some reason, doting on him brings a particular lift to her own heart that never quite manifests with anyone else. It was a similar sensation with Haurchefant, too, though it has been... a while. But the way they both blossomed like flowers into smiles and glee at the attention... it makes her feel like walking on air.]
G'raha... You've been through a lot, perhaps far more than me, and have gotten very little out of it in a personal sense. It just isn't right. So don't think of it as a task so much as something I want to be doing.
no subject
It's like she sees right into his insecurities and plucks them right up, tosses them away, and reassures him all in the same motion. He has felt like a burden for a while, now-- particularly after he needed rescuing like a princess in a castle-- but here she is, telling him that he's worth the time.]
Then I shall track down the tea service, [he says with a bright smile.] It should not take long, and you may look around if you like. I had this room closed off because it would easily reveal the existence of the other Shards... among other reasons. For all the work we have done, 'tis still not recommended to reveal our origins to the people.
[He hasn't known this sort of attention in a long time. Though he kept himself at a distance, the marks of his warmth are everywhere-- from the children whom he played with at times, to the way the Crystarium's community leaders speak of his help. G'raha's generous and humanistic nature is written in the spires leaning against the Crystal Tower, in the way he opened his doors and allowed them to take nearly everything after the Flood. And yet, for all that, he never let people in... the one exception being Lyna, who still does not understand his secrets but knows she was raised with love.
And it's love that looks at him now, and calls him by his name. The reaction is immediate and instinctive, scarlet eyes widening, ears twitching-- and it's followed by a smile, surprised and warm and a touch bittersweet. It isn't the first time she's used his name. He prays it will not be the last, because he had all but locked that piece of himself away until she called upon it. This was a different sort of time travel than the magicks he'd used to visit the First.]
Irhya. [His tone is soft and warm, and it comes with a friendly cant of his head.] There is much and more that I would do to see my dreams realized. This is personal-- from the future that greeted me when the doors were opened, to the symbol that the Crystal Tower has become in this world.
You are hale and whole, and both worlds still stand. There is nothing—nothing—that I dare ask for, now that I have this.
no subject
Mmm... Perhaps, but sometimes I wish you would. You may have incorporated your body into the tower, but you yourself are not merely an extension of it.
[Irhya does not elaborate on that, and is content to withdraw utensils from her bag as if she'd planned on this whole thing, on his invitation, all along. Granted, it is a curious room indeed, but she can also see how he'd grow attached to it. For a long time, it must have been his only real safe sanctuary... a long, long time. That, and she knows how personal the contents of such places can be... she's almost afraid she'll stumble across his diary or something if she looks hard enough.]
Here, you sit. We're not doing that silly fidgety nervousness thing today, and that goes for me too.
[It sounds like a motherly chide at first, but she smiles in a way intended to grab his attention and hold it, locking eyes with him as she slides a piece of cake his way like an offer he can't refuse. It's not unusual of her, but lacks the gritty edge that often accompanies her commentary; she doesn't have it in her to be edgy at him when the possibility the edges will cut seems very real.]
/legit just finished fourth lightwarden but still nyooming through msq
Only now she had new worries. As if Eulmore and the light and the rejoining weren't enough to make her wish for another day's rest, she had heard enough. To be nearly struck down by one of her closest companions simply for the fact that she couldn't even be recognized, now she was hearing arguments behind closed doors because they'd forgotten how sharp her hearing was. Much worse to be confronted. Then the mines....her fingertips still felt wrong, somehow. Too much of her did, and it was not sitting right with her.
She was so tired, yet the work needed to be done. None could do what she did, so who was she to condemn an entire world? No. So she smiled, made lighthearted jests, did everything in her power to weather the constant battles and keep her companions in high spirits. Yet it was tiring.
So she waited, the red dust of Ahm Araeng still clinging to her sandaled feet, letting the others leave the Ocular ahead of her, studying the way the light played across the gold and crystal floor as she let her thoughts run their course. Until it was only her and the Exarch, the sound of the doors closing behind her traveling companions almost unbearably loud in her ears.]
Exarch, might I trouble you for a moment?
[Her words were a low murmur, her accent as thick as ever no matter how much time she'd spent away from the Wood. Soft spoken enough to hide the exhaustion and pain. No one who saw her would see her tremble, they worried enough, she would not add to their woes, but by the Great Wood and the blessed Twelve she wanted someone to speak plainly and without needless riddles and cryptic nonsense. Just for the once.]
no subject
He could turn his gaze to the mirror at any moment he liked and act cold, dismissive. But without fail, each time, he watched the Scions leave the room after the meeting was adjourned. Today the Warrior lingers, and he tries not to let his eyes linger on her either; he doesn't want to make her uncomfortable or Twelve forbid think that she has done something wrong.
He... needs her to trust him, to keep trusting him, if the mission is to go as it should. For the ones they have lost. For the worlds they can yet save.
His grip on his staff remains calm and self-assured. When he stands in this room he is the leader no matter who might be tagging along, no matter his height... He seems taller. It's his unerring conviction and open compassion that lends him the loyalty of his people, despite all his mystery.]
I assure you 'tis no trouble at all, Mykha, [he says with similar softness, aware that voices carry. She must have so much on her mind: all the doubts, the questions, the pain of holding so much Light... He wants to take it from her, to ease her burden. Not being able to do so is pain, too, but it's just part of his own burden-- hopefully one that she shall never know about.]
You may always have a moment of my time—though by your expression I venture you may require a few.
no subject
[Her eyes fall shut for an instant, just to shut out the light that feels like hot blades buried in her eye sockets. A part of her aches to return to Fanow, to bask in the dark beneath the trees, a sorry replacement for something she'd lost ages ago but her heart is traitorous and her sisters had always warned her not to heed it, yet in the end it was what had led her here.
By far, she was too soft.
Yet Rak'Tika was not her wood, and she'd been severed from it, never to return long before she'd stumbled into the Waking Sands. Perhaps the path before her had been paved since before then. Back when she first turned her gaze away from the safety of the boughs. When she stared out over the ruins of Orbonne, curious and full of wonder for a world outside the Wood. She had no regrets, save for the ache of loss whenever she met with the viis. No, an ally of Ronka she might be, but she would not find solace in their wood.
Her claws catch in the sashes she wears, fingers tangling in chains and beads, feathers caught in a momentarily clenched fist before she lets out a ragged sigh.]
Did Y'shtola speak of you about her worries? Or Urianger?
[In the Ravel she'd been distracted. The mines had not afforded her such blissful ignorance when the pain had struck swift enough to leave her gasping. Even now it settled in her joints. In her very bones. Slowly she eased her fists open, gazing at her palm before letting her hand fall once more.]
Did they tell you she could not recognize me?
[Her frown is deep, but still there's a sense of numbness that follows in the wake of the anxieties. Lifetimes spent trying to school her face into hiding the fickle whims of her heart. She's mostly successful.]
Something has begun within me that is beyond what I can fathom, and it troubles me. Never once in all my battles has it plagued me thus, yet I know of no way to be rid of it. And I fear Y'shtola does not trust me like she once did.
[Had they not fought together for years? Separated, it was true, and yet...it tasted of ash and betrayal. A bitter draught like that to seeing a sister raise her bow to strike her down. She had hoped not to see it, and yet here she stood, an ugly fear taking seed within her that she might soon become the very thing she hunted before her work was done.
Or worse, that she would rid the world of woes only to become something far worse.]
no subject
But he can open his heart a little. She need only ask.]
They have not spoken to me of this, not yet, like as they are to search their own resources before asking for my help. 'Tis likely they search for answers even now.
[He breathes in for a moment, a measured silence.]
... I... must confess I anticipated this risk. Would that another possibility had appeared in its stead, one that puts you in less mortal danger. But if you can see it, then Urianger and Y'shtola have also seen it, and they know what could happen.
[His tone is surprisingly gentle as he continues. The viera may get a sense that she is being watched with real concern.]
Your body has been absorbing the Light-aspected aether of the Lightwardens you destroy. Your blessing has protected you thus far, but it does not make you immune from such vast amounts of aether.
[He lifts his free hand for a moment, aching to provide some comfort. But he lowers it and quietly makes a fist instead.]
It is not too late to look for solutions. It is not too late to stop. You are still the woman you always were--
[A pause.]
-- and we shall rally behind you, whatever your decision.
no subject
I have no doubt.
[Breathe in, hold, breathe out. Each breath is a trial, yet she tries to focus more on the gentleness of his voice, the soothing blues of the crystal around them. For them she cannot fall, she would carry on until she broke herself to pieces and somehow would still find a way to keep pushing on if for no other reason than to protect them. This she knew within her heart, knew the moment she'd accepted the offer to be a Scion. The day she'd helped carry the bodies from the Waking Sands. She may be severed from the Wood, but she had left the Wood because she'd felt herself pulled by a greater need.
The very earth had been crying out, louder to her than even her Wood's sweet song, and she had followed. She had grown to love each of her companions as fiercely as she'd loved her sisters. If not more so, for these fragile peoples lived such fleeting lives and she'd clung to them with a desperate need to see those brilliant flames not snuffed out before their time. It was why, when she'd seen the tower, she'd demanded to know what had become of Graha Tia. The Exarch's flippant answer had made her bristle at the time, but now...
Now she lingered in the tower, tired and feeling as if she were shattering. She wanted to bury herself in her bed and pray Ardbert left her to sleep. Yet they had so little time, certainly not for her to while away hours and days in bed like a convalescent. There was never enough time away from the Wood.]
I suppose it was inevitable, in time.
[>She rubs her fingertips together, knowing that the sharp pins and needles pain was a good sign. If she can feel pain, her body was still her own, though the discomfort lingered was hardly reassuring.]
I cannot stop, dear Exarch. I know as well as anyone that Eulmore certainly shall not. Vauthry would see me crushed upon the marble tiles sooner than that. I could not leave your people to such a fate. I...we have all lost enough, have we not?
Nay. If not me, then who? Norvrandt has waited for night long enough, I could not leave them wanting simply because of my discomfort.
[Still, it does not stop her from wondering if there should ever be an end to it all. Would she be allowed to rest properly for once? Or would the endless march of greater threats rise up until there were no gods left to slay, or she would finally be struck down?
Dark thoughts, too dark for a magus that had fought to slay voidsent or a dancer who cleansed the darkness from the hearts of those around her. So with more effort than she'd like to admit, she smiles playfully, bowing her head as if trying to peek beneath his hood.]
Besides, what sort of hero would I be if I should turn my back on one who worked tirelessly to snatch me up from across the void? Or should I simply call that repayment for terrifying me by snapping up my companions one by one and making me think them dead?
no subject
[Despite her usual mien, he feels that she is ill-at-ease-- and who wouldn't be? He wants to do something, he wishes he could, but every time he holds out his hand it feels like she is pulled further away.]
It may have been inevitable, but we can still do something. It remains a matter of what. I and my people have been scouring the records searching for a way to relieve you of this sickness, this burden. We may yet relieve you of it.
[There's something that breaks in his expression-- what she can see of it-- when she says she cannot stop. He's grateful for that, but with her all-but-guarantee to die from this, it's a Pyrrhic one. He doesn't want a victory if it comes at the cost of the life he--]
There are... some things we can ill afford to lose.
[But still--]
Pray do not surrender your fate simply because you cannot see the night. You know it is there, much as the moon and stars, waiting for you to claim it. In the unknown surely there is something that can help you as you have helped us.
[He isn't expecting for her to play at peeking beneath his hood. There's a moment of slight panic and he turns away slightly, trying to pass it off as nothing. Nope. Just super interested in this wall over here!]
Uh-- yes, well, I suppose I... deserved that.
[He sighs after a moment. He knows what she's trying to do, but what point is there calling her out on that when he is still hiding so much from everyone?]
As vital as our mission in the First is, I would not see you fall in pursuit of it. Your strength has carried you this far but it is not infinite. Mayhap this is the time when you should lean on others in turn. We can accomplish so much more through cooperation and trust.
[He looks up at her with resolve written in his visible features, in the slant of his chin and the edge of his jaw.]
Your world still has need of its champion. There is a way through this and we will find it.
no subject
Whatever the gods will, I shall not dwell on it. I was never one for healing or light-aspected magicks anyroads, though it pains me to say so.
[She might know small spells, but nothing on the scale that might dull the pain that had lanced through her earlier. Mykha wouldn't even know where to start. In this she was as helpless as she'd been at the Inn in Ahm Areang, and it was a bitter medicine to swallow. Her gaze softens when he pauses, and she leans close, towering over him as she studies how tired he seems. It is an exhaustion of the soul, if not the body, and she can sense it almost as well as her own.]
My dear Exarch, I do not intend to let them take me. I should think anyone would know better than that. And I know what it is to lose that which is loved dearly.
[She pauses, one hand flexing as if shaking off a spasm. How could she not understand? After all the battles, knowing what hung in the balance? For a moment she faltered, torn between what her heart wanted and what her head told her. The ever-chiding memory of sisters she would never again see, branded as she was for leaving the Wood. To lose that which mattered most...
To see him flinch away distracted her from her dark musings, a soft huff escaping her as a smile quirks the corners of her mouth. Were the conversation not bordering on dire, she might have been wont to tease him more, but no. It seemed inappropriate, no matter how she wanted to pull the others close and reassure them. Still, his words do catch her off guard, her ears perking higher. Then she huffs, one ear flicking as she shifted, head bowed.]
...I suppose I have grown too used to forging my own path alone. It is...comforting. To know that this path is not entirely my own puts my heart at ease.
For that, I thank you, Exarch. For that, and many other things. I trust you.
[It did not even give her pause to say it. Though she'd at first feared for the Scions and what she would be greeted with after her arrival, the Exarch may have had his secrets, but she did not sense the ill intent that often lingered about others when they veiled the truth. It was oddly refreshing after years of verbal backstabbing she'd had to cope with on her travels.]
I would not bear to worry you overmuch, and I've no intent to die this day or any day sooner than my three hundredth nameday. So I leave this matter to you and yours, and I pray we will be able to enjoy some quiet once 'tis all over. What say you, dear Exarch? Would you humor me and all my questions then?
oof sorry for the delay! i got sick and then Work Happened
[And everyone is still looking for a way to help the pain, because easing the symptoms is mildly more attainable than getting rid of the Light entirely... He wishes he could help her right now, but he has to-- he has to wait.
And yet she's so strong. He can't help feeling a strong sense of admiration for everything she has endured. Even now, as she opens herself up to him, her pages crisp and sharp, she is immovable, towering-- a mountain in his mind's eye. I do not intend to let them take me, she says, and he can't help the way his lips curve. A grim smile to be sure, but he understands.
At least his point seems to be sinking in. He looks like he's about to chime in with something, but she forges on without hesitation and says she trusts him and he feels shaken. In a good way, but in a sad way. Oh, how he aches to reveal himself-- to banish all thoughts of concealment and be by her side, no guile, but that... that is not his part to play.]
I... [He's a little flustered, perhaps.] I fear I have only made your life that much more difficult since I brought you to the First. Would that I could accept your burdens in your stead, but I am sure you tire of platitudes. [He would never last... Not long enough. He would only have a moment to do what is needed.]
Know that I trust you as well, and I—we all shall work tirelessly to see you well again.
[How could he do anything but trust her? If he can in some small way guide her, as he remembers someone did for him long ago, then perhaps--]
I shall look forward to that day. [He keeps his voice even by some grace he didn't know he possessed. It has been so, so difficult to stay hidden thus far... but he must. He must.] I believe it may be sooner than you expect. I can only hope that my answers to your questions are sufficient, then...
[That statement has some weight, until he adds cheekily:]
... else I shall find myself in the company of an understandably-aggrieved Viera.
No shhhh it's fine bb, I totally understand! It's given me time to finish MSQ ♥ /pets gently
[She sighs, more heavily than needed, for once laying on the airs of a Tragic Heroine of the stage before she gives a slight toss of her head that sends her ears wobbling. Instead, she smiles, and faintly, softly, so quiet it might have gone unnoticed, she makes a sound that could only be described as a purr. It's always been a rare sound with her, her emotions so tightly guarded for so long to save herself more hurts, but has grown rarer in the past years as one battle dragged into another and left her more tired.
She'd made the sound at the camps in Mor Dhona, watching Cid and Nero bicker like an old couple, beneath the stars and the rippling aether. Laughing at the antics of Biggs and Wedge as she'd watched them with open fondness. Easily lost in the night sounds of camp. Here there was little to mask her affectionate gnashing or the way her eyes became little more than dark slits as she squinted happily.]
You have done much and more, dear Exarch. I cannot imagine how much you tire from your bond with the Tower and how you have labored to come so far.
[A hand lifts, and she moves to gently brush her knuckles along the edge of his crystalline cheek, where glittering blue gives way to soft flesh. The motion slow enough that he could easily stop her if he pleased. Mykha knew she was prone to wanting to touch her companions, yet even after so long she never quite knew where the boundaries lay, and the Exarch was a private person from the start. She would not begrudge him his need to keep his distance.]
And I should promise I will keep my temper. It would not do to strike an old man, now would it?
[The serious expression on her face does not last more than a handful of heartbeats before her lips quirk and she begins to chuckle in earnest, the sound deep and throaty as she hides her grin behind her fingers.]
I love her..... 😭💕
Her smooth tone practically holds him hostage. Her name perches on his tongue and he's about to say something else, something that vanishes instantly with the soft touch to his scar.
He gasps, not overly loud but just enough to indicate he has never been touched like that before. There's a moment where he leans into it instinctively. Gods, how he aches to lay everything bare, to call on his old friend, to hear her answer--
He breathes out shakily and reaches up to gently touch his fingertips to her wrist, allowing her to escape if she likes, and then he covers that hand with both of his. The crystal one is... faintly warm, about as warm as the blush he tries to hide beneath the cowl.]
As always, I cannot help but be honored and humbled by your manner, and your words.
[His voice is thicker than usual. He's trying to hold it all back and he's almost succeeding. He can't help but smile when he looks up at her again, though-- an act of real bravery when he's near to trembling. He lets go of her hand.
By the Twelve, how he missed that laugh. It gives him enough of a push that he can chuckle too, only halfway hiding his own grin.]
I assure you, the children of the Crystarium have already lay claim to that particular ignoble feat.
uuuGGGHHhhh your exarch fills me with feelings send help (and thank you that means a lot!!!)
im having the time of my life and so is he, being topped by a giant lady... REACH FOR THE STARS DUDE
I mean she does have the urge to just. Pick him up and carry him off....oops???
please he is an old man his heart can only take so much
hence why she behaves, no sense breaking grandpa
spoilers all good, done with story and did a certain previous quest line
This was all but the last thing he expected to ever end up or see. This deeply unfamiliar place, with purple trees and almost white colored grass, the sky so bright above him that it immediately drove him to dig out a pair of shades from his pack, tucking them on his nose and carefully hooked behind his ears. Tataru, my friend, you would not believe this if I told you...
After a deeply unsettling and confusing conversation with an otherwise good-hearted merchant and his handsome chocobo, Sigr found himself on the path towards what he equally could not have expected to see when he came through to the other side - the Crystal Tower. It sat bright and brilliant against the even more brilliant sky, glittering, taller than anything visible for malms and malms. What did it mean, any of it? The beacon with an Iron Works symbol. The Crystal Tower being here when he stepped out into an unfamiliar world.
And then, something far *more* familiar. Guards telling him to stop, halt, who are you, what are you doing here-
Why did it feel like the coming into Ishgard, all over again?
But, for better or worse, everything someone had set into motion was happening. It was just like nothing he was expecting.
Sorry this is late too, but I'll backtag into infinity.
But he hadn't ended up in the Ocular. A quick glance through his crystal mirror showed Sigr just outside the gates. The Exarch dismissed the image and took off, sandals carrying him swiftly past the gates of the tower through the Crystarium's plaza, out another set of gates, and onto the selfsame road that the hero had been stopped on.
Right as Lyna was interrogating him. The Exarch still had an excited but low-key nervous spring in his step when he ran up to them.
"Ah, Lyna! I see you have met my guest." He looked at Sigr with a friendly smile despite the shadow over his eyes, a far cry from the desperate man who'd haunted the headspace of the Scions for a month or more. "Come, Sigr. We have much to discuss and not nearly enough time to do so." He added in a lower voice, so only Sigr could hear: "I will see to your undoubtedly numerous questions, but not here. We may speak freely within the Crystal Tower."
It was really only a short walk to the Crystarium, all things considered, but he took his time to allow Sigr's questions to simmer. This was one of those things that had to be seen to be believed, and he had already led the Scions through this drill before. After fetching them some clothes, that is.
"First, I would like to thank you for answering my summons. I was not sure you would do so, particularly considering the timing of it all."
No worries! ^_^
Consider him intrigued (and saved from the beautiful Captain of the Guard that looked ready to slice him open with one of her blades) enough to be able to follow, even more intrigued by the stunning city around the base of the Tower. Yet, how could this be? The Tower had nothing but ruins at the base of it, some inhabited by Gigas and serpents, a few by people trying to study the Tower they had worked so hard to clear out. Yet-
Sigr's head turned away from the city structures, ears forward, at that. Answering my summons... no wonder the voice sounded familiar! This, this right here, was the voice that had been in his mind!
"So it was you," Sigr rumbled quietly, the low tone and accent more pronounced in his near-whisper. "Why? What have you done to my friends?" The Scions, who had all been affected, their bodies laying in a comatose state in such a frightening way.
Throw wide the trainwreck
His smile vanished as he was questioned, but that was only polite. Of course he was asking after his friends-- Sigr had dived in to save them, no doubt. There was something comforting about that simply because Sigr had not changed. The Exarch's voice turned low, honest and yet with a quiet intensity.
"Your friends are safe. They are here in the First, though not at the Crystarium presently. 'Twas never my intention to summon them and not you, though I... quite understand if you do not take me at my word." His grip tightened on his staff. Even with his right hand made of the same stuff as the Crystal Tower, he was still mostly human, and still nervous; a trained eye like Sigr might notice the telltale signs of his anxiety, twitching fingers around the staff, the shifting of his weight. "The nature of such dire magic is that it is not exact. And so, while I fumbled for your aetherial signature across the rift, my hand closed around those closest to you... Apologies are not enough for the grief I have caused, I know this."
He paused, wet his bottom lip, and continued. "If you would like a while to gain your bearings, you may take it. Or we could proceed to the Tower apace, if you would prefer."
LOL
"I would prefer, by this point, as much information as I could get and proof that the others are in fact alive and unharmed." Most knew Sigr as a jolly giant of sorts. A flirt, a tease, quick with a joke or finding joy in every situation. However, he was also deeply protective of those he cared about.
In the end, it was how he ended up in the situation that got him labeled as the Warrior of Light, that protective streak. ...How he ended up right here and now.
His head tilted, looking back to unusual landscape and brilliant sky, and finally decided to voice his first question. "As we walk to the Tower," he guessed, for at this point where else could he possibly go, "maybe you could explain where I am?"
Or what had tried to attack him. Had killed and eaten the old merchant he had spoken with.