[Of course, many a time she had looked at him through their travels and felt a nagging sense of... something. She simply chalked it up to the unease of being so casual with an Ascian, smile unflinching even when his eyes remain so fixed on her own when he introduced himself. Many seemed fixed on her due to her title, and so she assumed the same of him - she was the obstacle in the way of his plans, after all.
But she wonders now if her title ever mattered. Her head throbs as the city forces her to remember, fragments of a time within the Allagan Empire - and a nostalgia of this place. She considered Ishgard her home, but this... This felt so truly like home, yet it was bittersweet. A home she could never return to.
It didn't make any sense, Persephone knew she was from the times of the Allagan Empire, but this city was from so long ago. Far from the time when she was part of one of the uprisings, when she first laid her eyes on him -
- Her head throbs, that memory both right and wrong. A hand cradles her temple as she forces herself to keep walking, jaw clenched as mismatched fragments float to the forefront. She... knew Emet-Selch? Not as he is now, but so far back then, when the Empire was at its most powerful - No that's still not right, is it?
Is this why he seemed so focused on her? Because they knew each other, once upon a many moons ago? But even back then, she was an obstacle, a force that was trying to drag down the Empire and even worse, she was failure - warped and changed into who she is now. A woman on the brink of her soul shattering, aether horribly corrupted - though her mind already feels as though it will shatter first.
Footsteps approaching her snap her from her stupor, her one eye flicking up at the figure that - narrowing as their paths start to pass. Wincing as there's another harsh tug in the back of her mind, pulling her memories from another direction. And as the figure steps past her, a hand reaches to stop them.
Then she stops. This is familiar too, reaching out with darkness obscuring half her vision - she did this before. So many times. With them, with others -
"I could heal it, but it's a good reminder to not get too cocky, yes? My own fault for thinking fauna with teeth was a good idea -"]
Ah... [That's all that escapes her, all she can manage as her hand recoils to against her blind eye, against the thorn-like scar that streaks across it obscuring iris and pupil. When... did she get the scar? Why did she become blind like this?
"I woke up with my eye like this, I'm not sure why - " " - The Empire didn't do this, it was always like this -" " - Being born with my eye like this doesn't make me less capable! I can still fight against the Allagans!"
"Really, it's fine like this. Makes me more dashing, don't you think so -"]
- Hades. [It comes out before she can stop herself. It takes a second for her to realize she even said it, shakily brushing her hair back to obscure her eye for the first time in centuries. Hades... Ah, even thinking of that name makes it feel as if her heart would burst.]
I knew you... I've known you for so long, and I kept forgetting. [First when she... She shattered, and again when she was shattered once more. Years ago she might've remembered, when fate brought them together on opposing sides, but then the Tower warped her so completely her memories left her again.
And here she is. Once more his enemy, once more having no memory of him.]
also let me know if i'm going too over the top!
But she wonders now if her title ever mattered. Her head throbs as the city forces her to remember, fragments of a time within the Allagan Empire - and a nostalgia of this place. She considered Ishgard her home, but this... This felt so truly like home, yet it was bittersweet. A home she could never return to.
It didn't make any sense, Persephone knew she was from the times of the Allagan Empire, but this city was from so long ago. Far from the time when she was part of one of the uprisings, when she first laid her eyes on him -
- Her head throbs, that memory both right and wrong. A hand cradles her temple as she forces herself to keep walking, jaw clenched as mismatched fragments float to the forefront. She... knew Emet-Selch? Not as he is now, but so far back then, when the Empire was at its most powerful - No that's still not right, is it?
Is this why he seemed so focused on her? Because they knew each other, once upon a many moons ago? But even back then, she was an obstacle, a force that was trying to drag down the Empire and even worse, she was failure - warped and changed into who she is now. A woman on the brink of her soul shattering, aether horribly corrupted - though her mind already feels as though it will shatter first.
Footsteps approaching her snap her from her stupor, her one eye flicking up at the figure that - narrowing as their paths start to pass. Wincing as there's another harsh tug in the back of her mind, pulling her memories from another direction. And as the figure steps past her, a hand reaches to stop them.
Then she stops. This is familiar too, reaching out with darkness obscuring half her vision - she did this before. So many times. With them, with others -
"I could heal it, but it's a good reminder to not get too cocky, yes? My own fault for thinking fauna with teeth was a good idea -"]
Ah... [That's all that escapes her, all she can manage as her hand recoils to against her blind eye, against the thorn-like scar that streaks across it obscuring iris and pupil. When... did she get the scar? Why did she become blind like this?
"I woke up with my eye like this, I'm not sure why - "
" - The Empire didn't do this, it was always like this -"
" - Being born with my eye like this doesn't make me less capable! I can still fight against the Allagans!"
"Really, it's fine like this. Makes me more dashing, don't you think so -"]
- Hades. [It comes out before she can stop herself. It takes a second for her to realize she even said it, shakily brushing her hair back to obscure her eye for the first time in centuries. Hades... Ah, even thinking of that name makes it feel as if her heart would burst.]
I knew you... I've known you for so long, and I kept forgetting. [First when she... She shattered, and again when she was shattered once more. Years ago she might've remembered, when fate brought them together on opposing sides, but then the Tower warped her so completely her memories left her again.
And here she is. Once more his enemy, once more having no memory of him.]