revenance_comms | 001 ▲ video.

[Nope, but when your teams consists of people like Cecil and his brother issues, or Kain and his mind-control issues, it works out the same in many respects...]

You just answered your own question with your second statement.

[His exasperation is tempered by being right, which is something. He's finding it a lot easier to stay irritated when they talk by communicator, actually; it leads to less, uh, distraction on his part...]

No, I didn't.

[ All she did was get him to admit that he'd say something stupid instead of just asking her like a normal human being. Then again, that would mean he'd have to had something to her at all that night. She tries not to sound or look too bitter. It's not really becoming of her. ]

You ignored me. Do you think I approached you because I didn't want to see you? [ She's so stuck on this. It feels like she can't move forward until there's some sort of resolution. All she wants his him to admit he was wrong. ]

...I think the fact that I didn't hit on you as soon as I saw you confused you terribly.

[Okay, this is kind of honest and even a little self-aware. Lately he'd been hitting on girls purely for the sake of form, like a comfortable routine to convince himself that everything is normal and all right. It didn't work at all, and it had kind of clued him in to how much he'd flirted with her before.]

Right. That's it. That's my real problem, Edge. You didn't say something that made me uncomfortable or upset and that's what I'm angry about.

[ It's true, to some degree. But it isn't that he didn't flirt with her, it's that he didn't say anything at all. She's being honest here, for the most part. At least as honest as she's currently emotionally aware of. ]

When you're willing to admit that you were a jerk and apologize to me, you know where to find me. [ She doesn't think that it's much to ask. She pauses, deciding that it doesn't matter if it fits in or not. It's true. She'd wanted to say it then and she wanted to say it now, so she will. ] I missed you.

[He's kind of getting mixed messages here. Which, in his opinion, he's been getting from her since almost the beginning...]

[He looks down and away again.]

When you left for the Feymarch, I figured I'd never see you again. Seeing you at the wedding... was a shock. [To put it mildly.] You just get used to the idea that someone's gone forever, and then they pop back up. And you know once they leave again, then you're never gonna see them again. How do you pick up for just one day?

But seeing you here... again... I started to get the feeling our story isn't quite over yet.

[It's a complicated and extremely roundabout way of explaining himself -- both why he'd tried to avoid her at the wedding, and why he hadn't here. Is it an admission he was wrong? Well... not in HIS mind, of course, but he's not going to avoid her a second time.]

[ She's kind of been getting them since the beginning, too. To her, he's just a flirt. He's friendzoned because of the behavior he so frequently displays aside from that, the mixed signals, the bragging, the inability to say something that feels real, and of course, the way he gives himself so easily to anger. If he put forth any effort, really, that was his ticket.

It seems like he might be learning. Growing up just a bit. ]

All you had to do was say "don't be a stranger." Or, or something. [ Maybe her parents were right, maybe she did belong with humans. At least part of the time. If her desire to see him, see Cecil, see everyone again was so strong, who was she to deny something so simple as being in another person's presence? ]

You make a choice. You either make the most of that time and hope it leads to more of it or you can turn away and regret it. [ She doesn't mean to be conceited, but she'd like to think that he would have. And that he'd dwell on it. It bothers her that she cares at all. ] What was I meant to think other than you hated me? No one else had avoided me.

[ Edge was the only one she was certain would feel the same about her. He was the only one she thought she could count on to remain the way she remembered him. Funny how that went. ]

...you'll be seeing a lot more of me, so I'd like it if you could attempt to stop acting like that. Maybe be a little more honest. At least for a bit. [ She neglects, again, to inform him of her situation. She's feeling him out first. ]

[Sighing, Edge reaches out a hand; his Hebby Repp passes him the swords he'd dropped what seems like a lifetime ago. He sheathes them, using the gesture as an excuse not to look at the communicator.]

Maybe you'll be less of a stranger when you haven't lived months from one day to the next... Maybe it'll be easier to make the most of our time when we have a little bit closer to the same amount.

[If not for the time difference between the Feymarch and here, he might have taken things much differently. Convincing himself she'd come back would have been easy, after all, with the right combination of willful denial and egotism. If she'd gone somewhere he could have visited himself, even easier; what girl could resist a dashing monarch swooping down on her to give her a ride in the Falcon?]

But this isn't just a reunion. We have troubles here. There are dangers and enemies to face. Not every waking moment like old times, but we're needed here.

[He assumes she'll join the fight willingly and without hesitation... the same he'd assume it of anyone he liked and respected. Childish though he may be in some ways, Edge still has the ironclad determination and sense of right that makes some decisions easy for him no matter how conflicted others might be.]

[ For once, she's a little thankful for him to be avoiding her. For once, she's thankful that part of his expression is obscured by a mask. ]

Maybe you should try listening to what I just said. [ There's a bitter aftertaste in her mouth and her words are barked out just the same. Quick, almost ashamed. Not just that, though. She's still angry. He is still judging her, making judgements for her, acting as if he has the right to when he doesn't even hear the words she says.

Rydia folds her arms defensively, wrapping them a little too tightly for it to look like she's more angry than upset. ]

As far as I'm concerned, nothing is like "old times."

[ This time, she can't put forth the effort to sound bitter. It's just tired and sad. Rydia will fight (of course she will). She was thrust into this without a choice. Given one, she likely wouldn't turn around. She had abilities that could be of use and to deny them would be denying herself. For her, it is a natural choice. It's part of her self-identity. And she longs for those days where they would travel together and sleep beside the glow of a fire. This was the closest that she'd get to it. ]

Now you're the one who insists that everything be different.

[At this point it takes an effort of will not to draw his swords again, just because he's very used to having a weapon in his hands when his adrenaline is this high. But even angry, he knows that wouldn't be cool at all.]

Look, this isn't the wedding and things aren't like that. I'm not ignoring you now... [And he hopes he doesn't regret that when this all ends, and it's back to how things were, with him alone on his throne and her happy deep in the Feymarch.]

[His anger is always brief, intense flashes, and this one has peaked and is guttering out. Exhaling, he lifts a hand to his forehead as if to ward off pain.]

I never meant to upset you, you know. Not in my nature to see a pretty girl unhappy. If I'd known you wanted me to talk to you so badly...

[He can't finish this, because even he knows that after plenty of timing pining, he wouldn't have been able to deliver one of his usual lines like normal. Like he had when he'd first seen her here, which was only possible because he'd had so much to finally get his mind off her since he showed up here. (And almost no girls to flirt with, then despair because they weren't her.)]

[It's sort of an apology? At least he finally acknowledged his actions hurt her...]

And you're the one who insists on making it that way!

[ She can hear it in his voice. It's the same heated tone she gets. Sometimes she thinks they'd understand one another better if they took it to the battlefield instead of attempting to vocalize whatever current issue was at hand. ]

You can't very well ignore me now. [ Which is to imply that if they were home, if the others were here, none of this would be an issue. She legitimately believes that he would continue to avoid her to the greatest extent possible.

His anger is one of the reasons she doesn't take him seriously. Or, perhaps why she sometimes takes him too seriously. ]

There you go again. [ Maybe if he hadn't included the part about seeing a pretty girl unhappy, but that is in his nature. Even implying that it's only one-sided, that only she wants to speak to him. She'd have let it slide. She thought about everyone while she was in the Feymarch; admittedly, a great deal of those thoughts were toward Cecil. She tried not to think much on Edge, especially after their run-in at the wedding.

But he always popped up at the most inopportune times. Cooking, cleaning, playing with the children, eating. Thinking about anything other than him. What was he doing, what was he thinking, was he playing pranks on his seneschal again? Then his ninjitsu, how it's so scarily like magic but not. How she has only the vaguest memories of him without that mask of his on. She could read his tone, but there was always something in someone's eyes and mouth. She hates to admit that he's gotten under her skin, she hates that it feels like there's something missing and there's something they almost have, but not quite. She doesn't understand it.

She clears her throat and tries to look at him, but can't manage to look directly into the screen. ]

...when you get the chance, I would like to see you.

There's a tea shop. [He says this so quickly he's obviously been thinking of it for a while now. And no matter how irritated or upset they might get at each other, he'll still absolutely leap at the chance to go out with her, questionable as that description might be.] I know, not the kind of place you'd imagine me in, but it's good. It'd be great.

...even if it seems more natural to go fight a bunch of Nightmares together.

[He doesn't really know much about her likes and dislikes, or what she's like off the battlefield. But then, he also knows Rydia is not terribly complicated. And he doesn't mean that as an insult, because to him it just means she's a sweet, kind girl but with plenty of spirit, through and through.]

[ For the first time since this conversation started, she smiles. Small, and gentle, only made more obvious by how she closes her eyes and nods. ]

No, I think it suits you. [ Somehow, it did. She liked to imagine that every now and then, even he tired of his own behavior and acted like an adult. ] I've always enjoyed being with everyone when we aren't fighting, you know. I wish we'd had more time together.

[ The second time, she doesn't mean everyone. Just him. As for her interests, most of them are very heavily focused to what he already knows: magic and Eidolons. She likes nature, she likes animals. She likes to read and she likes to fight. She isn't much of a cook, but she enjoys some of the things she's learned along the way -- how to bake bread, can fruit, or dry meats. Mostly, she doesn't think she enjoys staying in one place too long, despite the fact that she loves the Feymarch (and Mist).

She bounces a little, rocking on her feet. The kind of gesture she often saves for when she speaks to Cecil while looking a little starry-eyed. ]

I'd like to get a treat for this animal that's been following me first, though. [ She turns the screen to the Meow Wow that looks positively thrilled that she's showing it any attention. In that sense, he's like most people. ] From what I gather, he's mine. Cute, right?

[She's pretty when she smiles. She's pretty when she's happy. As pretty as any girl Edge ever knew, and then some. It's not just looks that keep him completely hooked on her, but they sure contribute.]

[Of course, he'd never guess she meant 'we' as 'her and him', since she... hasn't had any overt interest in that particular party configuration, not that he could tell. Then again, by now Edge's inability to read between the lines is perfectly clear.]

[Dream Eaters! Dream Eaters are a nice, neutral conversation topic! He practically jumps on it with relief.] Oh yeah, your Spirit. Here's mine! [He turns the communicator down to point at his Hebby Repp.] Great backup. Good companions, at that. Ha, come to think of it, I've been carrying the Figments around to make a couple others since I played that rigged game back at the party we had here...

[ She frankly has never really noticed that's how he feels. It's hard to pick through the flattery and find something that feels real to her. It's easier when it's just them, though.

Sometimes, she think he might not be too unattractive if she could see the rest of his face when he smiles. ]

Feels a little strange, everyone else having their own summons of sorts. [ Rydia holds her tongue and doesn't make a comment on the similarity between his spirit and a snake. She could tease well and fine, but after such a heated argument? They both could rest. ] Rigged? And somehow you managed to not be a victim?

[ A pause as she crouches to pet hers. ] I was thinking I might name him Von Muir. [ Of course she would name it after someone she knows. Whether she could get away with it or not was debatable... ]

Edited (I know how to use html, I swear.) 2013-11-01 16:53 (UTC)

Of course I was a victim! I didn't win the grand prize! [He might be a little petulant, but if she wants genuine from him, she couldn't get more genuine than his indignation at not winning a throwing contest. Of course, his only proof that it was rigged was his failure to win... but honestly, credit where it's due, that's probably proof enough.]

Guess I ought to go get the pieces made into something. Make introductions all around.

You sound a little bitter! [ She has to find out what kind of contest it was, now. She imagine it's something that would attack his pride: stealth, speed, ninjutsu or maybe throwing. Either way, she's enjoying it a little too much. It feels like they're on one of the airships again, discussing some event they stumbled upon in a town not long ago. ]

...Edge? How long have you been here? [ She'd been itching to ask the moment she found out that some people had been here for several months. It was just a little hard to do that when they were being unrelenting toward one another. But she's starting to move as she speaks, toward that tea shop. She doesn't know if he's there yet, but she can wait. ]

I should have been able to win no matter HOW rigged it was. [Yes, he's a little bitter, but her question takes him away from those thoughts as he tries to come at an answer.]

It feels like a couple of months. It's really hard to tell, honestly. Twilight Town is always dark, Traverse Town is always sunlight, and the Mother of Invention is a Lunar Whale that's far away from anything. There's no days... But a couple of months feels right.

[So not several, but quite some time from his perspective. A very lonely time, at that, though he didn't ever really allow himself to think of it.]

How difficult it must be for you, dealing with your pride being wounded so. [ She seems to think this is amusing. Well, of course she does. She can't really be blamed when his reactions are so comical. ]

A couple of months? [ She's already heard that time moves differently here. She isn't too surprised, but it still bothers her that she didn't know he was gone -- perhaps no one did. ] Time can be a strange thing, can't it? It can feel as if it's moving quicker and slower during the same day. Sometimes more literally than not.

I'm the most intimately aware of it when I'm alone. Funny how that works.

[The word 'intimate' and all of its forms is very distracting when she uses it.]

That's my guess. It hasn't been so bad... actually, to be honest, I'm enjoying it more than I did being King.

[That's not news for anyone who knows the ninja. He's never shirked from his responsibility -- meaningfully, anyway -- but he's never really welcomed it either.]

It has felt long at times, though.

[ Of course he does. She isn't paying enough attention to that sort of thing now. Her guard's down. ]

I'm not very surprised about that. [ She thought of him as immature, but not irresponsible. Reckless, but not uncaring. She knew he loved his country more than anything. ] I.. didn't know that you'd become king. [ She admits, honestly. It isn't about the title itself and what comes with it but being out of the loop. ]

I was starting to think I should visit everyone, but... you all have your duties and responsibilities. [ She knew they'd always have a place for her, but sometimes it felt like they didn't. ] I suppose I grew use to seeing everyone every day.

Yeah, the... position was open. [He laughs without any humor to cover the awkwardness. That wound will always hurt, as long as he lives. You don't just lose your parents like -- like that, and not have it scar.]

Now, Rydia, can you imagine what Cecil and Rosa would say if they heard you thinking they were too busy to welcome you as a guest? They'd be scandalized! Any one of us would have loved to see you show up on the doorstep!

[It's a complicated chain of assumptions underlying with the statement, beginning with his conviction that she would have gone to Baron and Cecil would have sent word out to the others, urging them to come. Rydia showing up at Eblan seems completely impossible.]

...yes. I know. [ She'd been there. They'd been so regal, so incredible despite what had happened to them. If the circumstances were different, she had thought she would have liked to know them. They would have gotten along well with Leviathan and Asura, she thought. It wasn't one she liked to dwell on. ]

I... constantly miss them. Everyone. [ She pauses and she allows herself a moment to be vulnerable. Her mind rushing faster than her mouth can move. ] My most vivid memory is of Cecil. When he still wore that Dark armor. I remember the first time he took off his helmet so clearly. Edward's voice before his face. The way Yang would carry me. And Tellah. You never met Tellah, did you?

[ His death was so unnecessary. She missed him often. If he had been there when she returned, she could have relearned White Magic. There's no doubt in her mind. ]

I don't know what I expected. I knew things couldn't remain as they were, but I guess the change just came so abruptly.

[ She doesn't know if she'd feel welcome there, in Eblan. Not after how he had treated her. ]

Never saw the man in that armor. The way he is, I can believe it easily and yet I can't imagine it. You can just tell, you know, not by how he is but how he seems to expect himself to be. Never met the old man either.

[That's not a prejudicial use of 'old man', mind, just a descriptor. Edge sometimes finds it very strange that so much was going on elsewhere. The assault on Eblan, its destruction, the flight of his people... all of that seems so all-encompassing, like it's all the story the world can hold. But even he knows that's a self-centered view.]

Me, I miss it all! Sitting on a throne just isn't the same. You talk and talk and order and direct, and none of it feel like it's doing anything, not like putting a shuriken in the eye of a monster does!

It's meant to promote fear. It's all horns and spikes, grotesque looking. It was a strange contrast to the man beneath it. As for Tellah, he was as wonderful as all the stories about him claimed him to be. I could have learned so much from him.

[ A more human side of magic from him. Sometimes she wonders if things could have been different, if they'd found a way to Eblan sooner. But you can't dwell on things like that. It doesn't change anything. All it changes is how you feel about yourself and what you couldn't accomplish, even if it was impossible. ]

I know you never liked him, but I miss Kain, too. The sound of his voice was always reassuring to me. I only saw him with his helmet off once, you know. [ She'd never seen Edge remove that face mask of his. She wonders if it's some sort of tradition, but it's an odd thing to approach. ] Sometimes I wonder if I did the right thing, allowing him to walk off without ever telling him directly that I forgave him. Maybe I... should have went to Mist. Should have told him to come with me and find his redemption in creation instead of that lonely mountain.

[ Regrets, she has a few of her own. ]

I think it must be difficult for all of you. Everyone has suddenly been thrust into something unexpected after dealing with just that. I... guess I'm the odd one out. [ Aside from Palom and Porom, but they were still children. ]

Funny how something you've been preparing for and expecting your whole life can still be unexpected, huh?

[He isn't going to talk about Kain. Edge may have come to some grudging respect for the man after all their battles together at the end, but he can't get past the fact that the dragoon's conflicts are completely beyond his understanding. Edge's moral compass points straight and true, never flickering or wavering. Kain's did not.]

[...after all this buildup about his mask, it's going to surprise her to no end to find that he has no problem taking it off to eat and drink when they're not in the field or under combat conditions, isn't it? The simplest things could get so complicated.]

Ha ha, listen to us. Here we are in the world of dreams, and all we can talk about is back home!

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