revenance_comms | 001 ▲ video.

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001 ▲ video.

[The video comes at an odd angle, all wild waves of vivid green hair, occasionally rocking nauseously to reveal pale, creamy skin and the flash of dark blue eyes or part of a nervous but friendly smile -- much like the voice that comes over the airwaves.]

I've... never used something like this before, so I hope it's working! [Her laugh comes soft, chiming a few times before dissipating. The screen shakes and a slender hand comes into view, gesturing as she speaks. Slowly her appearance becomes a little more visible; a sideways angle of about two-thirds of her face comes into focus. Though the angle is odd, it's clear that she is an attractive woman and while uncomfortable, she radiates warmth.]

I'm not really sure where I'm going with all of this, I hadn't had much of a plan in mind when I started. [Another soft laugh that implies she's lost in more than one sense of the word. It doesn't reach her eyes, nor does the smile any longer.]

I do have a question, though, if no one minds it. What now?

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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!

Maybe. I haven't experienced it like you have. I experienced loss and change, but... everything is the way it was when I left the Feymarch. It always is.

[ Rydia would beg to differ. He was taken advantage of, he'd suffered. Golbez was no different. If anything, it made her all the more sad. This man who had spent his life so full of misery and hate, forced into it as a small, scared child. And now he's alone, sleeping.

(She might strike him, frankly.) ]

An ideal home, I suppose. [ She stops in place, their little chat having carried her just as much as her feet had. ] ...are you already inside?

[ She seems nervous. It's not really like her, so surefire and confident. ]

Edited (html) 2013-11-06 23:04 (UTC)

Ha, no, I'm in a different world entirely! Here, hold on. [He turns to point the communicator skyward, showing off the permanent sunset of Twilight Town. Then, a few steps forward takes him through the portal between worlds, and into the eternal night of Traverse Town.]

There are four worlds here, all connected. The Moogle mentioned that to you? There are different Nightmares in each one, as well, and sometimes different rules for how things work. Don't worry, though, I'm coming.

[Though he doesn't know if he should hurry or dawdle. Some intuition tells him that things are changing. The comfortable familiar is being replaced by the alarming new... and after change after change, he's hesitant to embrace a new one. Particularly one involving Rydia, since historically those changes haven't been good ones.]

[ That only makes her more nervous. It's not like the moon. With the moon, it was one place. They were the only ones there other than those strange, cute folk that would hum, Fusoya, and Bahamut. The sleeping Lunarians didn't really count and Bahamut felt almost like coming home, almost like she belonged there as much as Cecil had. ]

Four, I see. [ She had some idea, it had been mentioned to her. It was just hitting her now. ] Anyway, we're fine. I should probably let Whyt out, but I'm a little worried about his reaction to this place.

[ She looks around on cue, like he'll get it. She isn't afraid of something happening to him, but he knows how it works: slay a summoner's Eidolon, slay a summoner. Maybe it's in the back of her mind and maybe that's why she hesitates. ] I think he'll be pleased to see you again, though. [ She bounces, shifting weight from one leg to the other. ]

[The thought never occurs to him -- in part, because he isn't familiar with the kill-Eidolon-kill-summoner rule the way she is, and in part because Whyt can generally put up more of a fight than anything he knows of here.]

[Also her bouncing is damn distracting...]

Yes, but the fourth one just opened recently. So likely we'll see more and more... we might even see someplace that looks like home. All these worlds are connected to people here.

[ She thinks she can handle anything, between her magic, her whip, and the chubby little thing following her. Hopes, at least. ]

That's unnerving. But it's how dreams work, right? They're memories and thoughts, all mixed up. I've never had one this vivid, though. [ Maybe all dreams are this vivid while you're having them and you just can't recall them when you wake? ] I can't remember touching and feeling like this. Or anyone else invading them.

[ That was practically a set-up for him to use a line on her. She regrets it. Just a bit. ]

[Amazingly, Edge misses the opening -- because he can impress her with his knowledge instead!]

These aren't people's dreams. These are the dreams of worlds. Hey, we can sleep here and have our own dreams in these dreams that we're in, so we're awake in a dream.

[Hopefully the knowledge would distract her from his failure to really communicate it.]

[ She frowns a little, staring at the chubby little creature she's named after the fair prince she met so long ago. ]

I see. I think maybe that makes it even more unnerving, in a way. [ Although in some ways it is comforting that things aren't going to change, that her body and its functions are the same. But imagine all the training she could do, all the things she could learn without sleep! ]

You're alright, then? [ She tries to sound as nonchalant as possible with her concern. ]

Of course I'm all right! After everything I've been through, this is nothing!

[And that's true, as far as it goes. Compared to the siege and sack of Eblan, getting revenge against Rubicante, traveling to the moon... what's this? Nothing at all.]

[...though he always had someone by his side, or at his back, before, be it Cecil and his friends, or the Eblan ninja clan...]

The people here are good, even the ones who aren't quite people, and there are monsters to fight, even if they're Dream Eaters.

Don't say things like that. [ It's less harsh or annoyed than usual. It's a serious, concerned tone she might have taken with Cecil, instead. (She always saved the best parts of herself for him, didn't she?) ] You can't know what might happen later.

[ Though so far she doesn't disagree. But she can't summon and it feels like... her magic might be weaker? They don't have anyone that can heal them, whether it be a White Mage or Paladin. The two of them alone were powerful, but... they couldn't have beaten Zeromus alone.

And in the back of her mind, she realizes the truth. This wasn't Zeromus. It wasn't nearly as awful. And, if it were, she has to have faith in herself and in Edge like she does so wholly in Cecil. ]

I've noticed. I'm going to seek out somewhere more secluded and try to see if I might be able to summon anyone other than Whyt and if my more powerful magics are sealed.

Sounds like a good plan. I'll go with you.

[He assumes without thought he'll be welcome; he's already falling back into old habits, where the party stayed together and fought their battles side-by-side.]

But, after the tea, right? I'm almost there...

[Actually he's slowed down just a little bit, out of a truly uncharacteristic sense of nervousness. He's been talking to her on the communicator, he shouldn't feel this way. Edge just plain doesn't understand what she does to him, or why.]

Alright, that's fine.

[ She's no different. She's never really liked being alone. It's why it was so easy for her to slip back to the Feymarch and carry on there. Especially since unlike people, Eidolons can't die. She'd never be alone with them. ]

After tea, of course. I seem to have missed a lot...

[ She's still showering attention onto the chubby catdog that she's named after Edward (she would hope he wouldn't take offense). She'd never admit to nervousness, but things have changed since they last saw one another. Quite a bit. She isn't really sure how to approach it, him being King. Maybe Edward had also ascended without her knowing? How far has everyone moved forward without her knowledge? More importantly, did they care that she didn't know?

The worry can be seen in the way her eyes narrow minutely and her eyebrows dip and furrow. It's almost huffy. ]

[Kings, Rydia. Kings everywhere. Edward, Cecil (and Rosa), Yang, Edge... Whether by strength or heredity or simple right, those who had labored to save the world now labor to restore and preserve it.]

[...any wonder Edge felt a little abandoned when she'd taken off for the Feymarch? Sure, Kain had also left everyone behind to go on his own quest, but that was different -- the guy blatantly needed to get his house in order.]

[Inhaling, Edge looks up at the tea shop sign, then flashes a mask-hidden smile at the communicator.] Okay, I'm here.

[That being said, he turns the device off, then steps in through the door.]

[ That left her and the twins, basically. Although if on wanted to be technical, she was the adopted princess of the Feymarch. Royalty all up in this game... ]

I'll meet you inside.

[ She's a little ways away, cooing at Von Muir. She mumbles something about asking him to stay outside because she doesn't know how things work here, doesn't know their policy -- and promises to bring him a treat if he waits patiently and is good. It seems to understand her well enough and sits obediently just outside the entrance.

She follows Edge shortly, turning off her communicator as she enters. Unconsciously, she pushes her wavy hair up with one hand and waves with the other. It's not like her to be shy and she quickly rectifies that, rushing toward him to demand something like a hug. Wrapping one arm around his as she folds herself against him -- like she can't decide over pride or her very clear and obvious longing. She doesn't really give him a chance to respond in kind, pulling away just as quickly as she'd launched herself on him. Punching his bicep even more swiftly, like it makes up for showing some sort of affection toward him. ]

That's for being a jerk. [ She doesn't say what the hug was for, though. Knowing her, it was just as likely for the same exact reason. ]

[Well, she very effectively short-circuits him from saying anything when she grabs him like that (which, let's face it, is probably for the best). He spends the duration of that clingy hug in shock, wondering if this is really happening, before the blow to his arm makes it clear that yes, it really is.]

Ow, hey! [He rubs at his arm. For some reason her punch seems to hurt worse than a lot of objectively more grievous wounds he'd taken in his time.] Tell me what the hug was for and I'll do that instead, if that's the reward!

[ She immediately wonders if hugging him was a mistake. Again, he's not Cecil. Cecil would've caught her, maybe spun her around, and then went on about his day as if it had never happened.

Part of her problem, she thought, was that he wasn't Cecil. ]

That's the sort of thing people do when they miss someone. Most people, anyway. You have to be difficult and do the opposite, though, don't you? [ So, it's something like forgiveness for ignoring her. Some weird understanding. Although if there's a next time, it's likely to only be the punch he receives from her. She gently brushes a hand against his bicep, ghosting it before letting it fall back to her side. ]

Come on, let's go.

[Cecil might have also anticipated a hug. Edge hadn't. And that isn't just because Rydia is Rydia, but because the life of a ninja prince isn't exactly hug-filled, outside of his parents...]

Oh, no wonder I didn't know that! As a master ninja, I never miss.

[This joke is so corny he can't deliver it with a straight face, but he does flash her a thumbs-up to sell it. In his own way, it's an effort to get past the awkwardness of all this and go back to a more normal conversation...]

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