Guess who's back? [Open] [Probable Shadowbringers spoilers]

[blackrose_born]

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[Certain persons in the cities will recognize, if not the individual, then at least the race of the person who's just popped onto the network. To the one or two likely to remember her, she looks... rather a lot more world-weary and worn down. Kind of sickly, to be honest. Still, she offers a wry smile to the camera.]

Have to say, I didn't expect to be summoned back here again. Thought I might be done with that for a while, after the Exarch did his thing. [No, she's not going to say his name here. He asked that she call him the Exarch, and so she shall.] That aside, if memory serves, I'm going to need a job. And directions - this key doesn't look like the one I got last time, which suggests that the Commons aren't the default rooming arrangement anymore.

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[It's easy to get lost in a city that's built for people at least double your height. Especially when you're having a little trouble with your vision, and your hearing, and... really all your senses. And what feels like the world's biggest migraine.

Is it any wonder, then, that she's ducked into a cafe to wait out the brighter part of the day? Odd that the sky outside is unaffected, but then, Genessia has always been resilient against the afflictions of its residents.

Sipping a cold drink - looks like iced tea, from here - and applying a bag of that same ice to the side of her head, she might be easily mistaken for a lost and confused child...]

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[corpsacorps]

Seems I mayhaps have been one of the last given a key to the Commons.

[Where there may be plenty that could mistake her for a child, Gale sure knows better.]

Seven hells. First an au ra girl, now a lalafell? Who next? Godbert bloody Manderville?

[He doesn't have the faintest idea of who this lalafell could possibly be, so there's no way in the hells he's saying anything about Aymeric.]

[blackrose_born]

Better than last time, when everyone thought I was a child at first. [And there's that wry smile again.] And let us hope that one never shows up here. This world isn't ready for him. No world is ready for him.

Guessing by your foreknowledge, I'm guessing the words 'Eorzea', 'Scions', and 'Garlemald' probably mean something to you?

[No, she's not going to assume anything here. He's almost certainly from her world, both from how he's dressed and the immediate recognition of her race, but there's no telling who or what he was there. Not with how this place screws around with time.]

[corpsacorps]

I do not know who I would dread more, Godbert himself or his son.

[Of course, there are far more people he would dread than the Mandervilles. Alphinaud, for instance, is a good contender. Though lalafells in general are also good contenders.]

Of course they bloody well do. T'is not like I've spent my recent life fighting for the former two.

[Only to have his actions repaid for in betrayal. But he'd rather not go there.]

You just missed Estinien. Should that name mean anything to you.

[blackrose_born]

Has he bathed recently, or is his armor still stained with the blood of Nidhogg? [Yep, she's got a pretty good idea now. Question is... when is he from? Revealing the future might save him some heartache, but it might also change things - and literally everything rides on things going as they must, now. As she knows only too well.]

When I was here before, there was another who claimed the title Warrior of Light, besides myself. I would lay gil against nightsoil in betting that you do, too.

[corpsacorps]

I could not say. He took residence on another's rooftop, thus I rarely saw him before his recent departure.

[Blood of Nidhogg? Well. At least that safely confirms to him that the wyrm doesn't remain a problem for long. He gets to look forward to that in his future. Then his eyes narrow.]

Well. You've all but confirmed one of my suspicions stemming from Estinien. [Technically Aymeric proved it first, but now that this one's here...] You've the right of it. Before you ask, tell me this, does a parley with Hraesvelgr mean anything to you?

[blackrose_born]

Quite a lot, aye. Do the names Yda and Lyse mean anything to you? Or perhaps Gosetsu?
[She'd learned of Lyse and Gosetsu not long after that parley; just after the assault on Baelsar's Wall, in fact.]

Also, you mentioned an Au Ra girl. Did you catch her name?

[corpsacorps]

Yda, yes. The other two, not so much.

[Gods, this was already confusing. It felt like only yesterday that he spoke to Estinien and realized other timelines were a thing, and then Gale's subsequent smacking of his head on the cafe table.]

She is not Yugiri, if that is what you're asking.

[He pursed his lips. He realizes he's being especially curt to her, and he knew it wasn't only because she's a lalafell. That was only a small part.]

You will have to excuse my curtness. After Alphinaud's damnable Crystal Braves, I can hardly trust those who appear from Eorzea.

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[youfool]

[As antisocial as Ted believes he has to be, he can't refuse to aid someone that made him a gunblade, the Reese's of ridiculous armaments.]

For directions, a mere name to the destination will suffice. For the latter, well, Fawn in Fayren is rumored to need another helping hand. So long as you're "true of heart". That won't be any trouble, I hope.

[Though he felt sheepish at the suggestion. It was a job working under an NPC, i.e., fake. He'd never known her position, awareness, or tolerance of that. Perhaps he'll find out.]

Welcome back Ms. Rose.

[So far he hadn't loosed a single short joke. Ted's in rare form.]

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[blackrose_born]

[Now there's a face she won't be forgetting. He gets the first real smile she's shown since arriving.]

Theodore. I trust the day finds you well? Fawn's master smith might not want me back, after I disappeared so suddenly before. Of more immediate concern is where I might find this 'Eden's Castle'. I have... someone who may be willing to lead me there, though.

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[youfool]

[It had been a while since he's heard the full name. He thought he might've stood to go without a while longer.]

"Eden", eh? That's high praise. A moment...

[A few minutes of Genessia Maps later, a ping comes on her phone for just the place.]

Living on the other side of the world might make commuting difficult, unless you avail yourself of the transporters. Nova City isn't strange?

[He'd pegged her as one accustomed to high fantasy, but then she seemed pretty comfortable around the Holoplaza. Then again, it's called "Castle". The settings are getting schizophrenic.]

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[blackrose_born]

[She knows it and that's at least half of why she does it. The other half being that she wants to remind him that he has a duty to be a better person - especially with a weapon she forged in his hands.]

You wouldn't believe me if I told you about some of the places I've seen. Nova City isn't even in the top five. [Probably not even the top ten, now that she has seen the First.]

If my teleportation magicks worked here, it wouldn't be an issue. Though I'd have to devise some sort of replacement for an aetheryte... [She shakes her head sadly, sighing.] Under normal circumstances, I might even try it. I even have a small piece of one I could attempt to use to synthesize a more significant one. But I'm not even certain I could perform my normal handiwork, right now.

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[youfool]

So long as you're accustomed. Well, work isn't hard to get whatever city you're in.

[But then, she seemed the entrepreneurial type who'd rather make her own work. He remembered her first foray into making an adventurer's guild. Alas, there weren't many adventures to be had. At least not conventionally.

By now Ted has learned how to assume sense in the allusions of others. He's honed that skill to a science.]

I'm afraid we may have wholly different ideas of "normal". What's frustrating you?

PRIVATE from here on - Shadowbringers spoilers within

[blackrose_born]

[She sighs, visibly deflating. It makes her look even smaller than she is, and it's quite obvious something is badly wrong. And... she trusts Ted. Don't ask why. She makes a quick adjustment to her device - she's gotten a lot more adept at using things like this, apparently.]

I'm in... quite a lot of trouble. The kind that can't be solved with medicine or magic. I was called to a shard of my homeworld recently. A world inundated with Light aether. In trying to save it, I took a great deal of that aether into myself...

[She takes a deep breath, tries to center herself... and visibly fails. What the hell could shake her like this?]

This other world - this shard - is plagued by monsters called Sin Eaters. Beings composed mostly of light aether. They hunger for aether - any aether, but especially that of the living. The greatest among them are known as Light Wardens. ...I've absorbed the essence of four of them.

[Does she need to draw a picture?]

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[trollkeru]

I guess I should say welcome back then. I guess they liked you so much they decided to bring you back.

[Which was that really a good thing or not> He didn't know.]

[blackrose_born]

Kind of a bad time to get kidnapped, unfortunately. Maybe some time... away from what was going on will be good for me. But I'm not going to hold my breath hoping that it does.

[Considering when she was grabbed from? Definitely not a good thing.]

[trollkeru]

One can never know really.

[Hikari seemed to get better after some time and an talk here, so he could see it as possible.]

Just have to take it one day at a time.

[blackrose_born]

I'm afraid I probably don't have very many of those left. Not with the way things are progressing...

[She hasn't had the sharp, shattery spike of a reaction yet since she arrived, but she can still feel it clawing around inside of her, trying to find a crack, a seam, anything it can pry apart to rip free from its cocoon... focus, warrior. You're literally damned anyway, but you're not going to mope yourself to death. She sits a little straighter and looks up into the camera.] I'll do what I must, when the time comes.

[trollkeru]

[He couldn't help but be puzzled for a moment. Do what one must when the time comes? He had no idea just what they meant by that. Did something happen to them before they arrived here? That was his only guess and a guess he knew he shouldn't say out loud without being rude.]

So you are just sitting here instead of doing what you need to? I assume you need to do something.

[blackrose_born]

[That gets a sigh from her. She really didn't want to have to spell it out like this. Especially not to someone who looks so young.] Although I'd rather die on my own terms than become a monster, I really don't want to do it right this second.

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[adropofsunlight]

[Rapunzel was always happy when she could have the day to be able to go into other cities in order to grab somethings from painting supplies to things for something she was working on. One of the stops was a cute little cafe that she had been eyeing for a while.

So taking a step in she looked around, taking it all in before she soon found herself stopping for a moment.]

Oh... Are you okay? Did you hurt your head? Do you need help?

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[blackrose_born]

[Since this'd have to be before Gale showed up, she's still got most of her tea. Maybe she even ordered another cup later.]

Okay is debatable - but no, I haven't hurt my head. Just... a little ill, I suppose. [And she does look green around the gills, if one knows how to spot the signs. Aside from y'know, the migraine and all.] There isn't much that can be done to help me, I'm afraid, but thank you for asking.

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[adropofsunlight]

Did something bad happen before you arrived then?

[She paused for a moment, that probably was not the best thing to ask really.]

But I can help by getting medication, or is that something that really cannot help either?

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[blackrose_born]

[She shakes her head, no.] What's happening to me can't be fixed by medicine or magic. Not of the sort I'm likely to find here, at least.

[She takes a sip of tea, wincing a bit at the cold bite of mint in it.] Is there something I can help you with? I may not be at the top of my form right now, but that doesn't mean I can stop doing my job...

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[adropofsunlight]

[She couldn't help but feel bad for the other. It was something that couldn't be helped by pretty much anything. It made the other wonder just what that was. But she soon found herself shaking her head slightly.]

I'm sorry, I don't need help with anything right now. Unless you can think of fun games one can do for an event? Or Sports.

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[blackrose_born]

The world I'm from doesn't really... have much in the way of games or sports. A few basic card games, for the most part. ...Well there is one other thing. A tradition of sorts, on some ships out of Limsa. A dance battle - mostly a test of accuracy and endurance. Neither of which is in large supply, with the amount of rum they tend to drink beforehand.